How much food do you waste,if none how do you manage that?

[SundayFunday555]

Intrigued as to what is deemed as a good amount and how people get to zero.

Oh, okay to us it's just one and the same really. We compost pretty much any food waste (but don't really eat meat).

We genuinely have no food waste.😁

Food waste bin is filled with peelings, eggshells, teabags etc but never actual food.
Done by keeping an eye on the larger/fridge etc and using accordingly.
Maybe it means having the same meal 2-days running or having toast instead of cereals if the bread is a bit stale but it is easy enough to do. Alternatively if something is getting to the end of its date and there is still no chance of it being used, it goes into the freezer.

Me - virtually none, tea bags, coffee bags, the odd bit of peel like onions, pepper tops, bits of spring onions etc. I freeze virtually everything in portions, I eat things past their use by date as they're nearly always fine. I dont buy lots of fresh veg, only those that last forever in the fridge, I only cook up precise amounts that I freeze. I buy what Im planning. I dont eat fresh fruit

OH - huge amounts of waste, he over buys and overcooks. wont eat vegetables but cooks them up and they're left on the plate, he cant eat normal portion sizes but cooks up enough for a family of 4. I dont eat the food he eats which is fairly junky or tasteless muck as far as Im concerned. Splodges huge amounts of brown sauce, mustard or whatever on the plate and proceeds to have minscule amounts on each forkfull, so that is scraped off in the bin. He wont eat left overs or things that have been in the freezer longer than a few weeks. Wont eat things that are already open more than one night. Goes through phases of buying things and eating them constantly so buys tons of it and then goes off it and wont eat any more. Buys a pack of rolls, only eats one roll. Wont meal plan. Wasteful

We waste quite a lot but we are in a household full of autistic eating and ARFID which means you want to have food available for the moment someone might want to eat it but that’s rare and unpredictable. I have four week old apples going out today because they have gone past the point of crispness despite having been kept in the fridge and no-one will eat them now. No-one will eat cooked apples, so it’s time for them to go. Other times we get through 5 apples a day so it’s hard to get right. I think the more people you are catering for the harder it is to avoid waste.

I'm obviously not perfect and some things get chucked. I live alone so there's not that much waste, but sometimes I forget what's at the back of the fridge, or I might buy something that I just don't like and can't freeze or use otherwise.

I freeze bread, cakes (!), fish, mash, veg, fruit, milk, butter, if fact anything I can safely. I also used canned, tinned goods and jars of say mayo, they last forever!

I'm in awe of the perfection of some posters not to even waste a carrot top!

I'm human though and I err now and then.

Too much. I am trying to get better organised but I can't get into meal planning so buy all sorts, forget I have it and then rediscover it when clearing out the fridge ahead of the next shop. I need to do better.

Virtually none as I have the same meals every 7 days, so know what I need to buy.

I’m bad at this - hate cooking and everything associated, and life is so busy I can’t keep tabs on the dates. I do meal plan. In the last month I’ve thrown - pack of meatballs, pack of prawns, 2 leeks, 1/2 bag carrots, 1/2 bag potatoes, bag of salad and probably other bits. Gutted every time. Sometimes I get the wrong date in my mind, others plans change and we don’t eat the meal we expected to.

None. It’s not a conscious thing at all. We just eat what food we have.

No food waste here at all.

I make a food plan for a few days, then shop for that plan. Anything that for any reason isn't eaten is frozen and used later e.g. veg in soups or bread is made into stuffing.

Peelings go in the compost.

Rather than cooking to recipe, freestyle around what you've got in stock that is older. Meal planning and careful shopping sound too much effort to me, we get a veg box and eat what's in it, starting with the things that keep least long.

Oh and we don't eat meat so don't need to worry about that going off!

Hardly any waste here - I meal plan for the week and buy what I need . The only time there is waste is if someone is ill and not got an appetite . If there is anything leftover then I plan it into the first meal of the new week . I’ll also freeze things like bread if it’s obvious it’s not going to be used . I come from a family where both my parents lost their dad at the age of 10 - pre welfare state - so have been brought up to be careful . It’s not something you shake off I don’t think

Unlike many people on here, I and my family are not perfect and so sometimes have food waste. Sometimes we don’t eat everything on our plate for various reasons so that will go in the food waste. Sometimes we overcook and it’s not something that will keep well. Sometimes my son with ARFID will all of a sudden refuse to eat something he previously ate. So we have a small caddy of food waste every 2 weeks when it’s collected. I’m fine with that.

See I would make soup from bendy carrots and sprouted potatoes.
Do eggs even go off if unopened ?
We only have signifcant food waste if the meal plan goes wrong.

We have very little mainly because I menu plan

I disregard use by dates.
My parents didn't have a fridge until the 1970s and there were no dates food.
We weren't poisoned.

As long as items look and smell OK I use them.

I do very tight meal plans so I have very little waste.

Plus also have a dog who eats anything that looks a bit dodgy for me, although there isn't very much of that as I only buy what I've planned to eat.

Very little, the key is to think through what you need eg if you are cooking a meal that needs half a pack of coriander, cook another meal the same week that also requires half a pack, alternatively the freezer is your friend, using the same example, coriander, you can chop in and freeze it. I’ll freeze chops and chicken thighs if using half a pack too. The amount of food waste is probably a fist full per week at most not including peelings or the ends off bread which I don’t like (dh will eat them) the the waste is usually down to me putting too much on my plate

Just in case you want to know for next time

If the meatballs and prawns were in date they can go in the freezer

The leeks, carrots can be grated up or chopped up, put in a freezer bag and used for soup, chucking in a casserole. I have grated carrot in the freezer at the moment which I break chunks off and put in carrot cake.

Potatoes never go off, or virtually anyway. But in any case I often freeze mash.

Unfortunately waste a lot. I would love to be the family whose kids will eat anything. I have two who are just so incredibly fussy, I can’t just whip up something with what’s in the fridge. My ds wanted olives, none of us likes olives. He hasn’t eaten them and eventually I threw it away.

Hardly any. I buy fresh, frozen and tinned fruit and veg and use in order. I won't buy or make anything new when there's still food to be eaten or ingredients to use and I tend towards sauce based meals that make it easy to use up veg. I'm vegan so my ingredients last longer which helps. I'm also not that fussed about what I eat at any time, so will eat a curry three days running with different sides to use it up if necessary. I'm a bit obsessed with food waste.

None

Sorted food make an app that is designed around reducing food waste - you get packs of three recipes that use a shared shopping list that will use up the entire amounts of each item you buy (and they take into account the most common packaging size for each item).

It's quite handy for learning the basics needed to aim for zero food waste.

My food waste is almost zero. My food waste bin contains tea bags, egg shells and vegetable scraps. In the last year I have binned one orange that went moldy in the fruit bowl (the others from the same bag were fine), a portion of rice I grossly overcooked because I got distracted by a phone call and some fresh ginger which I noticed was bad when I got it home from the supermarket.

I live alone so its probably easier for me to keep track of what I have and what needs using. This thread made me realise it's just habit for me to check the condition of fresh food daily. I plan meals around what I already have rather than buying new ingredients. I batch cook and freeze or freeze ingredients I know I won't use all of before they go off. It also very convenient if I want diced peppers or minced garlic for example but can't be bothered with prep.

I rotate non-perishables to make sure I'm always using items with the closest best before date first. Perhaps the strangest thing I do is write best before dates on food packaging in Sharpie so I can see the date at a glance without having to find my glasses and the right lighting to read the manufacturers date when I'm getting things together to cook a meal.