So, how much food do you chuck out?

[2sugars]

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.

i can't be bothered meal planning. i've tried, i've looked at other people's meal plans but they always seem to include sausage stew and there i lose heart entirely.

is there anyone out there who is a Good Cook and who meal plans? i want to see that one. No baked bean hot pot, just a good smattering of pre-cooked and quick meals. (nothing against snags and beans in their place, i should say. as part of a fried breakfast in a pub, for example).

Frank, wasn't there someone on a thread recently who posted a truckload of lovely veggie meals? did she ever get round to the recipes do you know?

Oh aitch did you see my thread the other day? DD might be in Gill Rapely's BLWing book! We gave my BFC some photos for a local weaning leaflet and Gill contacted her for photos (the original BLW dvd was done with people from my bfing group) and the BFC passed our details on.

oh wow that's great! i didn't see it, i've been away recently. fingers crossed!

Well, we are not too bad in this house[semi smug emoticon}, still I would love it if Gordon Brown could give us all a few practical tips, although I realise he is very busy, poor love

Oh and yes, agree with Aitch, would love to see a meal planner full of delicious veggie delights, not sausage mush. Then I could graduate from semi smug to super smug. Anyone??

I Know this thread has probably gone off on a tangent by now, but I wanted to say

I now only buy fresh bananas and potatoes as I know we eat them and everything else is tinned or frozen. And I am growing my own lettuce and tomatoes in the garden in pots in case I fancy a salad.

And.....Buy 1 get 1 free and 3 for the pice of 2 offers do not encourage us to buy more than we eat. They actually help us budget and make out money go a little further....grrrrrr

Some pleb e-mailed Skynews saying that such offers were making us buy more and I got so cross.

Also, while I am ranting, Tesco advertise loads of price cuts to help people keep food bills down, what was it last week....?

Toblerone, hobnobs and crisps, oh and lasagne sauces, where I would still have to buy pasta sheets and some sort of mince. Not exatly helpful when feeding a family of 4 on a budget of £60 every week!!

Thanks
Rant over

RegenerAitch, have you seen the July/August edition of the M&S magazine? They have obviously cottoned on to the food waste debate and so have published a week's menu with shopping list to go with it. We're only on day 2 so far but it's been delicious, easy to prepare and cook.

great, mckenzie, i'll have a look. thanks.

Well I have just eaten half a packet of Sainsburys sliced roast beef that was ONE DAY past its useby date. WHo wants to lay odds on me not dying in the night?

We throw out lots of food and are probably exactly the people GB is aiming his message at. I have been trying to get better for ages, but I am just not very good at food-planning. We have improved a lot in the last couple of months.

like expat, i rely on the whiff test more than the sell-by dates. my mother had a very liberal interpretation on sell-bys and i don't remember us suffering overly because of it.

I dont throw away a lot. Sometimes there is stuff left on the plate as dd hasn't finished her tea, or I cooked too much rice. All such waste is fed to the chickens so not really wasted. As they then eat less pellets which saves me money!