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Original poster

So, how much food do you chuck out?

112 replies

2sugars · 07/07/2008 07:36

Have to say, if I - for examply - buy strawberries for dds one day and they don't want them, they're rank/soft the next. I could make an eton mess from them, but they'd still detect the softness. Or a smoothie. But nine times out of ten I don't.

I think - as I shop every day anyway - I've just got to get into the mindset of shopping for just that day.

OP posts:
SixSpotBurnet · 07/07/2008 11:26

I really don't understand throwing away cooked food leftovers. Most things taste fine cold or reheated next day. Some things, like curry, even taste better next day.

Gobbledigook · 07/07/2008 11:26

Yuk, I detest reheated food. However, I meal plan so don't throw anything out. I can find a use for most things!

WilliamGray · 07/07/2008 11:27

oh no i DO MENUPLAN
bt not liek theem nights
i just write down meals fro eahc day( bearing in mind the boys movements)
if it changes thats no prb but i haev everythign IN
nad it saves a LOT of £££

WilliamGray · 07/07/2008 11:27

i love leftovers
i think alm,ost my fave.

Hecate · 07/07/2008 11:27

Practically nothing these days. Food's too expensive to waste! And menu planning means you use what you buy.

SixSpotBurnet · 07/07/2008 11:29

And I make homemade stock [preens].

mckenzie · 07/07/2008 11:53

I've just rescued the jar of chocolate sauce! I bought strawberries today so the DCs are having a treat for tea and if they're unwell later I'll be back to complain . Now let me just write down the name of the mumsnetter who said the jar would be okay.................

kiskidee · 07/07/2008 12:04

i found it very patronising for Gordon Brown to be telling us to throw away less food. Doesn't he think that it is the first way people attempt to economise when they are being squeezed financially? Where has this man been living? Hasn't he noticed that prices have been climbing for at least a year?

Seems like he'd rather say that than address the elephant sitting in the corner: fuel and fuel duty.

Biofuels: these consume grain which ought to be reaching people's plates.

Watch the price of veg oil go up since Joe Schmoe is now putting that in his tank over diesel.

MsSparkle · 07/07/2008 12:20

We don't throw away alot in our house. I have recently started to buy all my fruit and veg from the green grocers and i must say they are 10 time better than the supermarket! They are cheeper and last longer. You don't have tiny, sad looking peaches that go brown the day after, you get nice, big, juicy peaches that last more than a day. Plus the green groucers don't wastefully put 4 peaches in a plastic punnet!

Plus giant Maris Piper potatos with dirt on them! Lovely I got fed up with the supermarkets bag of tiny maris piper potatos with at least 1 green one in that cost way more!

I recommend everyone stop buying supermarkets expensive, rubbish fruit and veg and buy local! It's much nicer!

LittleMyDancing · 07/07/2008 12:30

We're getting better. Have started making our own small loaves of bread (new breadmaker, hooray!) so big ones don't go mouldy (and I know what's in them...)

also doing much better on using up leftovers, and not buying so much.

ironically, losing the car has made a big difference as we can only buy as much as we can carry, so I shop almost every day for one or two meals.

good tips on here about freezing salad for soup etc!

KayHarker · 07/07/2008 13:44

yeah, I read this on the BBC, and honestly, my first thought was 'Fuck off, you patronizing little twat'.

Which is very harsh from me, I know, but I'm in a very bad way at the moment, and being patted on the head and informed how to suck eggs by that smug prat just about tipped me over the edge.

Hecate · 07/07/2008 13:52

I just wonder how much food they waste at all these banquets and things they have all the time. I bet more gets thrown out each time than I spend on food in a year.

Bramshott · 07/07/2008 15:33

I tend to throw the DDs cooked food away because they have usually mashed it round the plate - regurgitated some and mixed that in etc, and I can't tell what is what. Is it just my children who do this?!?

madamez · 07/07/2008 15:39

Bramshott: No, my DS is the same, so his plate gets scraped into the bin - though mostly there isn't much of it left. Mind you last week when he wouldn't eat his dinner I put it in the fridge and reheated it for his tea - and he threw up all night, which has rather put me off that idea.

tatt · 07/07/2008 15:44

sometimes I find food at the back of the cupboard that is so far past its date that even dustbin friend will not eat it . It will then be composted - so the only food waste in our bin is bones - and I'm afraid I haven't made stock with them - and giblets. Have tried to use them in the past but I'm not that good a cook.

In the past month we've composted half a tub of dairy free margarine bought for one of the kids friends (no-one liked it, even the friend, but we ate half of it), quite a bit of broccoli stalk when the rabbit won't eat it all, lots of cauliflower stem, half a loaf of bread, some cabbage, some celery, bulgur wheat (from the back of that cupboard), some vegetables that visiting kids ask for then won't eat and some mouldy fruit.

It is difficult if you buy food especially for guests and they don't eat it all....

TeaDr1nker · 07/07/2008 16:00

today i have thrown out 1/2 bag of mouldy carrots and two tubs of yogurt - way past sell by date, some slimy salad, rasberries - i was going to make jelly but they are mouldy...

I do meal plan, so we are definaely not as wasteful as we used to be. TBH i only shop once a week so we have the fresh produce at the start of the week and frozen/canned meals at the end of the week.

I would love to have left overs to freeze, but DP eats everything in site

MilaMae · 07/07/2008 20:27

I always freeze my bread the minute it gets home about 5 loaves a week and any meat. Then I just take it out as I need it -no mouldy loaves or meat past it's sell by date. The bread seems fresher too.

We gave up the veg box and eat a lot of frozen veg this has got rid of the furry unidentifiable veg lurking in the bottom of the fridge.

moondog · 07/07/2008 20:30

I don't throw away anything.
If there are scraps, they go on the garden wall for the birds and squirrels.

moondog · 07/07/2008 20:30

I don't throw away anything.
If there are scraps, they go on the garden wall for the birds and squirrels.

sandy4 · 07/07/2008 20:35

If we don't eat it we compost it

fishnet · 07/07/2008 20:36

I have had a nightmare this week. Did the food shop on sunday along with DH and both DSs. BIG mistake. The bill for the shopping trolley with everything they fancied thrown in came to £167 It included lots of things like strawberries, rasperries, blackberries which will go off realy quickly.

They are NOT coming shopping again. The previous week I meal planned and spent £59

MakemineaGandT · 07/07/2008 20:42

I spend about £100 a week on all groceries, nappies etc for 4 of us. I menu plan (but not in a written-down spreadsheet kind of way, I just do a freezer audit about once a week and keep in mind what we have, and plan in my head the next week's meals).

We throw away very little - I just buy what we are going to eat, and use up first what is going to go out of date first.

Anything which is close to useby date I turn into something - even if we're not going to eat it that day. Eg use veggies to make into soup and freeze for another day.

We batch cook

We freeze lots of things e.g. bread, milk, cheese (if near use-by date)

I don't understand how people can throw food away - i.e. how do they get to the point where they suddenly realise they have xyz which has gone out of date?

fishnet · 07/07/2008 20:45

Happens to me all the time. I buy lots of stuff I have every intention of using and then when it comes to it I can't face the thought of cooking and chuck something easy into the oven. Half of the fresh stuff then goes off.

There is definiely soemthing going on with supermarket fruit and veg though. It goes off so quickly at the moment. I'm wondering if they buy it in later at cheaper prices or something

DaisySteiner · 07/07/2008 20:49

We throw away virtually nothing - most leftovers get fed to the chickens and turned into eggs or taken for lunch by dh, meat bones get made into stock etc etc.

I just don't get how anyone can manage without menu planning at least a bit. I'm not totally organised about it but have a vague idea and make sure I've bought enough for 5 or 6 meals when I do our main weekly shop and then buy a bit more to do us at the weekend. I'd forget so many things if I didn't do this and be permanently at the shop!

meridian · 07/07/2008 20:50

did the shopping today.. well tesco's direct did... but in making room for the new groceries I threw out 4 oranges that DH bought the week before that he didn't eat and DS didn't eat and they had gone mouldy a bit... and threw out a gu pud that DH loathed and i wounldn't eat as I don't mix cocolate and orange...

ummm oh and a half tub of taziki dip that had gone all watery and a little fuzzy too... my dad is a big believer in "Refridgerator SOup" which is basiclaly whatever needs using up in the fridge being made into soup... and i freeze all meat and any fatty icy bits get given to the cats so everyone is happy.