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.

The only thing that causes food waste here is the bloody supermarket staff mishandling the products. Avocados that were evidently bruised, so a section starts rotting whilst they are still underripe, is the main one. Had it with some other fruit and veg recently and am finding increasingly irritating given how expensive everything is!

We also have an allotment so try to eat veg and fruit seasonally, so in June/July we eat a lot of strawberries but we’d never buy them at the supermarket any other time. Lots of our fruit goes into the freezer as it’s picked and lasts for months. Any peelings go into a tub and back to the allotment to the compost heap. We eat very little meat, only chicken breast so no waste and fish.
We meal plan so eat everything in date and have no waste.
We are however, retired so have the luxury of living like this. I can imagine that this would be much more difficult if we were in full time work.

Of course eggs go off, and yes sometimes there'll be one left over in the egg box that gets forgotten about. If it doesn't pass the float or sink test it gets binned.

We don't eat them that often. The last ones we bought were to do cakes for a school cake sale a few weeks ago and never got round to finishing the box. Why is that so hard to believe?

Dogs and chickens eat anything we don't!

Hardly anything. The odd slice of mouldy bread is about it.
I do plan meals and make an effort to use up leftovers - I really hate wasting food. Veg that are maybe a bit past their best will go in a soup.

Hardly any. We clear our plates. We serve food that the family like to eat in sensible portion sizes. If we cook too much we put the rest in the fridge and someone has it for lunch later in the week. I freeze extra portions and donate to Food Friends charity. Buy mostly frozen meat and fish so things don't get forgotten and go off in the fridge. We have five hungry people in the house so stuff like milk and bread nearly always runs out before going off. We compost fruit/veg bits.

Most weeks we have half a small green bag of food waste, mostly meat/fish bones, a few scraps from kids' plates, maybe the odd crumpet or hot x bun that got forgotten and mouldy.

Constantly amazed/appalled at how much food waste others generate.

Me neither.
I have ocd (diagnosed not the stealth boast cleanliness kind) and the thought of an indoor caddy collecting waste food sat on my worktop as our council advises makes me feel physically sick.

Food waste is a huge issue in this country so clearly everyone who has some is feeling bad reading this thread and not posting.

Bread is the biggest culprit (we waste millions of loaves in the UK) and one where I struggle as I rarely remember to freeze it, or if I do, it gets frostbitten quickly. My husband and I like sourdough and it's usually all used but DD likes brown bread and DS likes white and they can't get through a whole one each before it goes off. BUT I am trying to sort it by getting smaller loaves and buying less often.

I do go to a food waste food stall (not foodbank!) and try to help by getting things from there to use up. I make a lot of soup. But I'm still guilty of buying things I hope the kids will eat (fruit mostly) and not getting through it all.

We hardly ever waste food, we eat what we cook, cook what we buy. Occasionally I have to throw out a carrot but that’s because it was bad in the first place. The dog eats leftovers if appropriate but if not we freeze and use later. I don’t buy food we won’t use.

The people who waste more food than they are comfortable admitting to aren't posting. They're may be worried someone will come along and berate them, this is MN so their concerns are probably well founded.

I used to be quite wasteful with food but something in my mindset changed about 25 years ago and now I'm pretty obsessive about not wasting food. Its a good thing if this thread gives anyone tips on how to waste less. IME it means changing habits until you have a new normal, it feels like a real effort to begin with but soon becomes second nature.

Mustard wont go off, Ive got some thats years old. See also mint sauce and pickle

Just remembered to add to my OH's list of food waste crimes, he has gone through a phase in recent weeks of eating cheese and pickle sandwiches, lots of the bread would go in the bin as he woujld only have a couple of sandwiches per loaf. But he bought a jar of pickle, a few sandwiches in, he has gone off the whole idea now, he wont eat that pickle and so that will now go in the bin (I dont really eat pickle and have tons of jars of proper quality chutney to get through anyway)

Virtually no food waste. We use fresh veg only, rarely frozen or tinned. If its past it's best it gets used in soup, including lettuce which is good in Asian soup.

Eggs bought a few weeks ago are perfectly fine for baking now

You can bake some cakes with them and freeze the cake. Or make fritatta or mini egg muffins etc, and they can be frozen

Only peelings, fruit skins etc. But I suppose that's not waste really, if you don't have a compost heap. Actual waste as in buying food and chucking it away, basically none. Maybe beans occasionally as they come in such massive bags and don't last well. But I'd happily peel and eat sprouting potatoes, slightly soft carrots etc.

ETA I tend to spend a lot on food, so independent bakers, butchers, farm shops etc. I think that maybe helps make me determined not to chuck any of it out unnecessarily!

Very rare for us to throw out food.
We shop two or three times a week.

A fair amount, used to be nothing, but various health and diet issues, means now a lot gets bought but doesn’t always get used. I try and put anything veg/salad etc based in the raised bed compost bins though

We are much worse than I would like. Normally because plans change and whilst I’m furiously freezing stuff that can be frozen I’ve never yet worked out what to do with salad that’s gone slimy (having been 2/3 eaten). Or someone suddenly has an extra training session/orchestra rehearsal/volunteer meeting and I’m feeding one less mouth than I expected (DH and DS1 can both eat dinner in school if they are so inclined). And by the time everyone is home I’m usually cooking at 8:30pm for 1-4 people and not inclined to worry too much about that last quarter of red cabbage. I think it’ll be much less when things are less hectic in about a decade’s time! That said, we’re talking maybe a couple of things a week that should have been used up.

You can freeze bags or half empty bags of fresh spinach, it goes brittle so obviously only good for chucking in a curry or stew or whatever, but saves it going to waste

Carrots potatoes and leeks last literally ages in the fridge. Did you throw them because they were actually bad or just past their date?? Meatballs and prawns would be frozen here then you only defrost if you're going to use them.

Much less than I used to! Soup for old carrots etc. we always have a chicken soup made with a carcass once a week. Dd(5) loves it very simple and ds (13) likes a bit of Thai curry paste in it but either way you can chuck in some veg. Apple cake for soft apples. Bananas go in the freezer for milkshakes or banana bread if they’re looking a bit ropey.

Also meal planning and making sure there’s always space in the freezer for some rogue meat or leftovers that is on its way out. Ham seems to go off for me so I rarely buy it now and have tins of tuna in for a quick sandwich instead. I probably get rid of a small compost bin a week but that includes tea bags, veg peelings, egg shells etc also.

I need to work on half used cartons of passata and pesto and half tins of beans, I think they’re my kryptonite with waste currently. Maybe more freezing needed 🤔. I would buy the little snap pots of Heinz beans but they’re so much more expensive than supermarket brand. But maybe it’d work out ok as DD only has them occasionally as a quick dinner side.

eta going a bit boring with veg and having frozen peas, sweetcorn, spinach and fresh carrots a lot seems to help a bit too. Supplemented with salad and fresh veg too but not worrying about having lovely fresh things every single day. There’s no “just in case” veg to go off as it’s frozen.

Our council doesn’t offer compost bins sadly, it’s also a really shit excuse for recycling in that it’s all just put into one bin. I couldn’t believe it when we moved here having previously lived in a city with 4 different bins!

We try not to waste food, only buy what we need for the week, encourage DC to finish everything on their plates etc. I’d say it’s minimal, our green bin isn’t often overflowing in the way recycling is after 2 weeks!

We waste very little but we still have bones, peelings, skins, eggshells, cores and stones etc.

Definitely enough to need a food bin.

Ok ok, jeez, 30 days in the food waste slammer for me!

Freeze your ham slices people. I layer them over each other so that I can get one or two out at a time.

Im trying to be helpful

I dont berate anyone for food waste, I just know a lot of tips to avoid it.