NOW CLOSED Share your views on food waste for CarrieMumsnet and Unilever UK and you could win £100 cash

[KatieBMumsnet]

CarrieMumsnet is talking about the issue of food waste at an event hosted by Unilever UK soon and she'd love to get your views on the topic.

Here's what Unilever UK says about food waste:
"At Unilever, thinking sustainably is at the heart of everything we do. Now we're working hard with WRAP (Waste and Resource Action Programme) and other organisations across the UK to help people to reduce the amount of food they dispose of. After all, throwing away food wastes money and it's bad for the environment too.
"According to recent research we've commissioned with the Fabian Society, the most trusted source of information about reducing food waste is our friends and family. People listed food going off too quickly, throwing away leftovers and cooking too much food in the first place as the key reasons why they waste food. We'd love to get your thoughts."

On 1st November, our Mumsnet co-founder, Carrie Longton, is going to be joining a number of influencers and experts in the world of sustainability to speak at a morning of debate and insight on the subject of food waste, hosted by Unilever UK.
Here are some questions to get you started - all views welcome:

• Do you throw away much food at home? Where does the food waste go? Do you have a kitchen caddy and compost bin?
• Does your local council offer a food waste collection service?
• What are the main reasons or circumstances that you throw food away?
• Of food you throw away, is it mainly cooked or uncooked food?
• If you don't throw away much food, how do you manage to keep waste to a minimum?
• How do you or how do you think you could make the most of the food that would otherwise be put in the bin?
• Have you got any great ideas for wasting less food?
• Have you got any top money-saving tips that also help you to throw away less food?
• Did you know that tea bags can be put into your local council food waste collection (if you have one) or composted at home?

Everyone who adds their comments to this thread will be entered into a prize draw where one winner will receive £100 cash.

Thanks and good luck,

MNHQ

Do you throw away much food at home? Where does the food waste go? Do you have a kitchen caddy and compost bin?
We live in a flat and unfortunately our Local Authority hasn't introduced a food waste collection scheme for flats and apartments (it has for houses). This means that food waste goes straight in the bin. To be honest though, we're quite careful with food and don't throw much away - largely because I meal plan (and stick to it) and because DH is a gannet who'll happily clear all our plates!

Does your local council offer a food waste collection service?
As above, yes for houses and low rise flats but no to multi-storey blocks - which they class as anything with three or more storeys.

What are the main reasons or circumstances that you throw food away?
Of food you throw away, is it mainly cooked or uncooked food?
We don't throw much away and that which we do tends to be bread that has gone mouldy round the crusts or stuff like Philadelphia that has gone mouldy. Rightly or wrongly, once I see any sign of any mould like stuff on food, I can't go near it!
We don't throw much cooked food away. I tend to measure things like pasta and rice before cooking and stick to recommended portions sizes, which means we don't waste much cooked food.

If you don't throw away much food, how do you manage to keep waste to a minimum?
The key things for us are meal planning and making sure we stick to it. It isn't always easy when you really fancy the chippy for tea but are meant to be eating some sort of veggie concoction, but it's usually possible to switch things round and relegate the meal with the longest sell by date to later in the week. Sticking to recommended portion sizes when cooking also helps because it means we're not left with mounds of pasta or rice in the pan.

Have you got any great ideas for wasting less food?
Meal planning!!

Did you know that tea bags can be put into your local council food waste collection (if you have one) or composted at home?
Yep. Friends and family compost their tea bags and it's something we'd do if we could.

• Do you throw away much food at home? Where does the food waste go? Do you have a kitchen caddy and compost bin?

I try to keep food waste to an absolute minimum. I have a compost bin, throw anything suitable out for the birds but do have to throw anything cooked away.

• Does your local council offer a food waste collection service?

No

• What are the main reasons or circumstances that you throw food away?

Forgotten about food in the fridge that goes too far out of date

• Of food you throw away, is it mainly cooked or uncooked food?

Mainly uncooked

• If you don't throw away much food, how do you manage to keep waste to a minimum?

Menu planning, not minding eating leftovers myself and trying to be inventive with leftovers

• How do you or how do you think you could make the most of the food that would otherwise be put in the bin?

Keeping better track of fresh items in the fridge

• Have you got any great ideas for wasting less food?

Nothing revolutionary, just buy what you need to stick to the menu plan

• Have you got any top money-saving tips that also help you to throw away less food?

No but will read everyone else's tips

• Did you know that tea bags can be put into your local council food waste collection (if you have one) or composted at home?

Yes, I compost all tea bags and coffee grounds

• Do you throw away much food at home? Where does the food waste go? Do you have a kitchen caddy and compost bin?

Hardly any now. Husband is obsessed with reducing waste and I can't bear the earache. Our eggshells etc go into a caddy.

• Does your local council offer a food waste collection service?

Yes, weekly.

• What are the main reasons or circumstances that you throw food away?

Young children, mostly. I keep most leftovers but not the half-chewed stuff (thanks, three year-old..)

• Of food you throw away, is it mainly cooked or uncooked food?

Cooked

• If you don't throw away much food, how do you manage to keep waste to a minimum?

Meal planning after a thorough fridge and freezer recce. I also eat low-carb and am not shy about eating leftover dinner for breakfast.

• How do you or how do you think you could make the most of the food that would otherwise be put in the bin?

I know I should have a compost heap of some sort but that would involve having a bigger garden and more enthusiasm for gardening! I have been known to bake up a load of stews / quiches etc and distributing them to unsuspecting neighbours.

• Have you got any great ideas for wasting less food?

I wish there was a decent web resource where you could input a list of what you have that needs using to generate a list of recipes. I usually just throw it into google. Love Food Hate waste is OK, but you can only input one ingredient at a time.

• Have you got any top money-saving tips that also help you to throw away less food?

eerrr.. Having a grumpy husband who grumbles about the contents of the waste caddy? (He's lovely in all other ways, honest!)

• Did you know that tea bags can be put into your local council food waste collection (if you have one) or composted at home

Yes indeed.

Do you throw away much food at home? Where does the food waste go? Do you have a kitchen caddy and compost bin?

We have very little food waste (on a weekly basis less than half of one of the tiny little indoor bins provided by the council, we don't even use the big bin the bags are supposed to fill). We have a dog, have had a wormery (and will do so next summer again) and don't buy food we won't use.

• Does your local council offer a food waste collection service?

Yes

• What are the main reasons or circumstances that you throw food away?

Waste food - e.g. peelings, egg shells. And occasionally food that has gone mouldy (e.g. last couple of slices of bread).

• Of food you throw away, is it mainly cooked or uncooked food?

Uncooked

• If you don't throw away much food, how do you manage to keep waste to a minimum?

Don't buy food we aren't going to use. Don't buy lots of food at one time. Scraps of leftover dinner go to the dog and, when the wormery is in action, vegetable peelings go in there.

• How do you or how do you think you could make the most of the food that would otherwise be put in the bin?

Wormeries - they are fantastic.

• Have you got any great ideas for wasting less food?

Plan what meals you are going to cook before shopping.

• Have you got any top money-saving tips that also help you to throw away less food?

Plan what meals you are going to cook before shopping.

• Did you know that tea bags can be put into your local council food waste collection (if you have one) or composted at home?

Yes

I've thought of something else - supermarkets should sell veg in smaller packets. You get a massive bag of curly kale, spinach or bean sprouts and it goes off before you can use it, if you're only cooking for two and a baby. And they shouldn't hike the price for smaller bags, either!

We have a special food waste bucket which lives in our kitchen so all veg peelings, tea bags, egg shells, food waste goes in that which then gets emptied into our brown bin - this also collects garden waste. In total we have seven different bags/bins for recycling and waste. When we first moved to this area (East Renfrewshire, Scotland) it took a bit of getting used to but now it's second nature.

Having the food bin has made us realize just how much food we used to waste. We now plan meals, measure portion sizes and use the app Love Food Hate Waste to help us get recipes for leftover food - some of which we freeze.

Do you throw away much food at home? Where does the food waste go? Do you have a kitchen caddy and compost bin?
Yes we have a kitchen caddy for uncooked organic food waste to go in the compost bin. leftover cooked meat and food goes into the kitchen bin and landfill but I try to minimise this.

Does your local council offer a food waste collection service? No

What are the main reasons or circumstances that you throw food away?
usually burnt or overcooked food or rotting/mouldy food as I only cook what we need to eat to reduce food waste

Of food you throw away, is it mainly cooked or uncooked food? both

If you don't throw away much food, how do you manage to keep waste to a minimum? cook correct portion sizes, plan meals and buy fresh food regularly and in small quantities, freeze leftover food when possible

How do you or how do you think you could make the most of the food that would otherwise be put in the bin? Have you got any great ideas for wasting less food? check the fridge regularly to catch food before it goes off and use up in soup/casseroles

Have you got any top money-saving tips that also help you to throw away less food? meal planning and only buying what food is needed

Did you know that tea bags can be put into your local council food waste collection (if you have one) or composted at home? we don't have council food waste collection but yes we compost them

Oh goody, a subject close to my heart:

• Do you throw away much food at home? Where does the food waste go? Do you have a kitchen caddy and compost bin?
  No, but unfortunately the waste does go in the bin. If we could afford organic veg then I'd keep the peelings for stock, but I don't fancy pesticide stock. We have no compost heap (no use for one as yet) so not much point having a kitchen caddy.

• Does your local council offer a food waste collection service?
  No

• What are the main reasons or circumstances that you throw food away?
  Food left uneaten by the children and too slobbered over to be eaten by anyone else or frozen.

• Of food you throw away, is it mainly cooked or uncooked food?
  Cooked. Uncooked food hardly ever, only due to a mistake on use by dates for perishables (if they look/smell off) which is very rare and makes me feel very very guilty if it does happen.

• If you don't throw away much food, how do you manage to keep waste to a minimum?
  If the children leave food, wherever possible I keep it for freezing/reheating. If it's lunchtime I'll often eat what the children don't instead of making lunch for myself, or make less lunch than I would have done. Otherwise leftovers go to the cats and only as an absolute last resort in the bin.

• How do you or how do you think you could make the most of the food that would otherwise be put in the bin?
  I so rarely put food in the bin it's hard to say. Overripe bananas usually go into a milkshake or banana cake.

• Have you got any great ideas for wasting less food?
  Buy less food

• Have you got any top money-saving tips that also help you to throw away less food?
  Buy less food

• Did you know that tea bags can be put into your local council food waste collection (if you have one) or composted at home?
  Yes

Do you throw away much food at home? Where does the food waste go? Do you have a kitchen caddy and compost bin?
We try not to throw much food away. We do have a compost bin a and caddy, waste cooked food has to go in the normal bin and sadly ends up in landfill.

Does your local council offer a food waste collection service? No, although in nearby streets they do have brown wheelie bins for compostable waste.

What are the main reasons or circumstances that you throw food away?
If something has gone bad, or if I have cooked too much rice or pasta.

Of food you throw away, is it mainly cooked or uncooked food?
I would say mostly cooked, the too much rice or pasta or chicken bones, fat and skin off meat.

If you don't throw away much food, how do you manage to keep waste to a minimum?
Meal planning and keeping an eye on fresh food and using things up or freezing things before they spoil.

How do you or how do you think you could make the most of the food that would otherwise be put in the bin?
Have you got any great ideas for wasting less food?
Have you got any top money-saving tips that also help you to throw away less food?

Did you know that tea bags can be put into your local council food waste collection (if you have one) or composted at home?

Yes!

We did a cooking course with WI through the Children's Centre and it showed us how to cook from scratch and to use up leftovers.

Banana bread from bananas past their best, bread into bread and bitter pudding, odds of cheese into sauces, soft tomatoes into soup,

All sorts of ideas and not always obvious to some people.

We do have food caddy but it goes into green garden waste bin and is collected fortnightly so I don't use it. All fruit veg tea bags goes into the compost bin.

I think supermarkets should give all leftover food to homeless hostels rather than just throw it away. Also stop BOGOF offers and make small portions of stuff cheaper.

Hello Carrie, I hope you enjoy your day with the movers and shakers of the sustainability world. Here?s the turquoise household answers:

• Do you throw away much food at home?
  No, we don?t throw much away.
  *Where does the food waste go?
  It either goes into the brown bin to be collected and recycled by the council (we?re in Gloucester) or it gets fed to our chickens or cats, or wild hedgehogs, or it goes into our home composter.
  *Do you have a kitchen caddy and compost bin?
  Yes, both.

• Does your local council offer a food waste collection service?
  Yes.

• What are the main reasons or circumstances that you throw food away?
  Sometimes the children leave a little of their food at mealtimes. We used to get food delivered and I found when I took on more work hours it was hard to plan meals using the things that got delivered. (It was a box scheme, so I didn?t always know what I?d get.)
  Last summer we had a glut of apples on the trees in our garden. I used what I could to make jams and chutneys, we gave lots of bags away, but we still found a lot had to be thrown away. That was when we decided to get composters.

• Of food you throw away, is it mainly cooked or uncooked food?
  Mainly uncooked.

• If you don't throw away much food, how do you manage to keep waste to a minimum?

Now I only buy fruit and vegetables I know will get used up one way or another and I have the plan of what we will have for meals and snacks on paper or in my head. I shop the night before I will do a bulk cook, and cook the meals up in the dishes that they will be served from, or separate into smaller portions in Tupperware.

• How do you or how do you think you could make the most of the food that would otherwise be put in the bin?
  We got chickens recently and I learned on Mumsnet that the chickens will eat leftover porridge, cooked rice, bread crusts and other scraps. Before we had chickens we would put food out for the birds, but now we get eggs in return. The egg shells go back on the garden to keep slugs off the herbs. I have a friend who runs a restaurant and she brings around food scraps for our chickens which would otherwise be thrown away.
  One of the things that we do still seem to waste is the energy drinks my children buy which get half drunk and then the rest is poured down the sink! I?ve just decided we can?t afford to do this anymore. I?m going to buy or make healthier squashes/cordials and flasks for them to reuse and take to school. It will mean less wasted packaging as well.

• Have you got any great ideas for wasting less food?
  Keep an eye on the fruit bowl. I know my children won?t eat fresh fruit if it is a bit blemished, so if bananas start to go spotty or apples get the odd scratch or bruise, I try to use them in cakes and muffins. These are great in a packed lunch, or the whole lot gets taken to the kid?s sports club, as there?s always a hungry hoard of teenagers who will eat non-stop there.
  When my children brought their packed lunches home from school, I used to notice that they would leave their crusts (but eat the chocolate bar or cake and other snacks). So I simply stopped putting the other snacks in, they got a sandwich or two, and some fruit and maybe a yogurt, and a drink. I said they could start having their treats again when they ate up their crusts. One soon started to eat their crusts and now quite likes them. The other doesn?t really like bread anyway, so makes up wraps for most lunches.

• Have you got any top money-saving tips that also help you to throw away less food?
  My parents lived through WWII and I was brought up on a mantra of ?waste not, want not? and ?make do and mend?. The sorts of things that seem to have gone out of fashion are coming back round again, out of necessity.
  Reduce the amount of food you buy in the first place. Refuse to buy or accept what you know you can?t use.
  There was a harvest festival when I needed to find some tins to send into the school to give to the local food bank. I was shocked to find I had tins and packets of food that were past their use by date! I?m sure I?m not the only. They were the types of food we don?t normally eat, bought on a whim and then left at the back, forgotten. So now I go through my cupboards after I defrost the freezer and check all the packets and tins. Any that are going to be past their best before date in the next 6 months, I use up somehow, make into meals and puddings and put in the freezer, or put on a list of meals to be cooked in the next few weeks.
  One way of looking at the issue is to not make waste in the first place by getting the most from what you have.
  ¬Don?t peel potatoes, scrub them and leave on most of the skins (where most of the vitamins are).
  If you?re cooking something precooked, from frozen, make sure it all gets eaten up for that meal, as the leftovers are not supposed to be recooked or refrozen again. It?s better to freeze smaller meal portions and put some together to feed extra people (or add to it from things in the cupboards) rather than put all the bulk cooking in large dishes or boxes to be used up in one go. If your children eat vastly different amounts to you, then put their portions in separately, and label everything up really well.
  If you have leftover pastry after making a quiche or pie, cut the rest into little strips and coat with honey with a bit of chili powder and sesame seeds, or cooked onion and grated cheese, and have as little nibbles, with a dip.
  If you are using a recipe which uses only part of an ingredient (such as egg yolks) find another recipe which uses up the rest of that ingredient (e.g. meringues).
  When cooking, you usually don?t need to stick strictly to the ingredient list. You can make substitutions. For example, if your recipe asks for spinach and it isn?t available, substitute cabbage or lettuce (depending on whether it is to be cooked or not).
  If you have big meals to use up before going on holiday or so that you can defrost the freezer, invite friends and family or neighbours around to share it rather than waste any.

Another way to look at this is, don?t throw away leftovers as they can be the start of your next delicious meal. Reuse your left overs.
Leftover potatoes are delicious fried up with sausages, or in a Spanish omelette, or as a topping for a pie, or made into fish cakes.
The carcass from a roast chicken dinner can be picked over for the best flavoured brown meat (great in a curry or pie) and the carcass itself can be cooked up with some veg and a stock cube to make great broth/stock. This is all sieved; the liquid is kept and can be used for soups, stews, risottos or a base for sauces. The rest is thrown away, the remains of the carcass in the main bin, the veg goes on the compost. I suppose if I had a way to crush the bones, then they could be converted into fertiliser since I do buy bone meal for the garden! My teenager suggests that a good reuse of the carcass is to put a candle in it and make it into a spooky Halloween decoration.
The crusts of a loaf of bread can be used to make breadcrumbs to coat chicken joints, or for a savoury crumble topping.
Leftover roast dinner can be put into pastry to make little pasties.
If we have a portion of food left over from an evening meal, often my husband will take it to work for lunch the next day.
Left over soup can be taken to school in a good thermos for packed lunches for older children.

• Did you know that tea bags can be put into your local council food waste collection (if you have one) or composted at home? Of course! So can coffee grounds, in fact almost any food stuffs can be put in our council waste bins. The only foods we cannot put into ours are oils or other liquids and animal carcasses (although the odd bone is alright, according to their website). I prefer not to put cooked meat into our own composter, so that goes in the brown bin too.

Bonus question: Mr Turquoise and the children were talking about what fruit or vegetables we would all be if we had to be one. Mr Turquoise said I?d be a peach! (He?s learning!)

We have good weeks and bad weeks with food waste - I try to menu plan and only buy what I need, sometimes that goes to pot because we don't fancy whats on the plan, or meat goes off before we get to it, or Tesco fails to deliver half the order..
So uncooked food is mainly wasted if we don't cook it in time or we forget about veg in the cupboard.
We do waste a bit of cooked food too, ds has a variable appetite and its impossible to predict acurately how much he'll eat - dh can be a bit like that too, if he has frequent back problems and if he is suffering his appetite vanishes.
We are quite good at freezing batches of food - its food reheated from frozen that gets wasted.
We have no food caddy scheme where we are (Hampshire) so food waste goes in the bin sadly.

I did know that tea bags could be composted, but I don't compost!
I think if I had more time I'd waste less - casseroles and stocks are great for using up food, but can only be done on days I don't work.

I have a kitchen compost which goes onto my garden. But this usually has peelings and apple cores in it, not usable food. and yes I put tea bags in there, and egg shells and even some cardboard (my rabbits eat some of the stuff that would go in this bin too)

Council don't collect food, they do collect green garden waste. (our council is pretty good, collects plastic, tins, paper, cardboard, glass on the doorstep)

We thrown away very, very little food. Occasionally food goes off before it is used, or left overs go off (but both are rare - see below) Most food thrown away would be scrappings from plates, so cooked I suppose.

Why do we have so little waste?

1. I plan the weeks menus. I buy what I need.
2. I cook from scratch and know how much my family eats
3. I have a freezer. I think actually this is the key. When I go shopping I pick up special offers, extra meat on BOGOF sales etc. They all go in the freezer. In fact if I shop on Monday, then the meat for tues and wed stay in fridge, but the rest goes in the freezer.
4. when we have left overs, they often go in the freezer (labelled eg one potion chilli) or are used up for lunch next day
5. If fruit bowl is full and starting to go off I get everybody to eat it!

what would help food waste? - it is fresh fruit and veg that is often the culprit, yet the supermarket often have large bags of fruit on 2 for 1 offers. It is often hard to buy smaller fresh fruit and veg portions. Fine if you are abig family, hard if not.

• Do you throw away much food at home? Where does the food waste go? Do you have a kitchen caddy and compost bin?
  No, not much. It goes into the non-recylable bin (no food waste collection service here).

• Does your local council offer a food waste collection service?
  No

• What are the main reasons or circumstances that you throw food away?
  Fruit gone mouldy. Child's snack left in bag for too long, and gone yucky.

• Of food you throw away, is it mainly cooked or uncooked food? Uncooked

• If you don't throw away much food, how do you manage to keep waste to a minimum?
  
  I always freeze leftoevers, even tiny amounts. I only meal plan a couple of days ahead and shop locally to get the things I need for the next couple of days, therefore I can make sure I use up anything that's going off. I often eat bizarre combinations of food just to use them up.

• How do you or how do you think you could make the most of the food that would otherwise be put in the bin?
  See above

• Have you got any great ideas for wasting less food?
  Buy only what you need. Be adventurous in how you cook things.

• Have you got any top money-saving tips that also help you to throw away less food?
  Buy in bulk and freeze what you don't need straight away.

• Did you know that tea bags can be put into your local council food waste collection (if you have one) or composted at home?
  yes.

Do you throw away much food at home?
More since having fussy children!
Where does the food waste go?
Recycling- compost (raw veg peeling etc) and kitchen caddy (cooked food, meat)
Does your local council offer a food waste collection service?
Yes- cooked food waste goes to local biodigester plant
What are the main reasons or circumstances that you throw food away?
Throw away very little food except that which the children decide not to eat
Of food you throw away, is it mainly cooked or uncooked food?
Cooked food
If you don't throw away much food, how do you manage to keep waste to a minimum?
Careful control of what we buy and portion sizes
How do you or how do you think you could make the most of the food that would otherwise be put in the bin?
I think we do this already
Have you got any great ideas for wasting less food?
Make sure to keep an eye on dates and label foods clearly, freeze leftovers which can be used again
Have you got any top money-saving tips that also help you to throw away less food?
Have lots of different sizes of pots, or use rinsed out margarine tubs etc to store leftovers for freezing
Did you know that tea bags can be put into your local council food waste collection (if you have one) or composted at home? Yes

• Do you throw away much food at home? Where does the food waste go? Do you have a kitchen caddy and compost bin?

Not much at all. We have a dog happy to eat anything inedible to us humans. Stuff like potato peelings goes in the compost. Mouldy bread goes to the birds.

• Does your local council offer a food waste collection service?

No

• What are the main reasons or circumstances that you throw food away?

Buying too much of something that cannot be eaten before going off e.g multipack being only pennies more than the single item.

• Of food you throw away, is it mainly cooked or uncooked food?

Uncooked.

• If you don't throw away much food, how do you manage to keep waste to a minimum?

I try not to get swayed by offer and try to buy only what I think will be used. This doesn't always work!

• How do you or how do you think you could make the most of the food that would otherwise be put in the bin?

Planning meals to make better use of what is due to go off.

• Have you got any great ideas for wasting less food?

Use common sense rather than follow 'use by'. 'Best before's a fine to eat after their date. Try not to be lazy and order a takeaway when you have food to be eaten!

• Have you got any top money-saving tips that also help you to throw away less food?

Buy reduced food and freeze, freeze, freeze!

• Did you know that tea bags can be put into your local council food waste collection (if you have one) or composted at home?

Yes

Sounds slightly strange but I have found I have recently seriously cut down my food waste by actually eating it! I used to buy it all in but then decide I couldn't be bothered to cook and so would end up with take away. Since having to tighten the purse strings and refusing to pick up the phone to the chinese I actually get through my food! Also decide what I will eat that evening based on what goes out of date first in my fridge.

I used to be a stickler for best before dates but are much more relaxed around them now- if it looks and smells fine it goes in my mouth, not in the bin!

• Do you throw away much food at home? Where does the food waste go? Do you have a kitchen caddy and compost bin?
• Does your local council offer a food waste collection service?
• What are the main reasons or circumstances that you throw food away?
• Of food you throw away, is it mainly cooked or uncooked food?
• If you don't throw away much food, how do you manage to keep waste to a minimum?
• How do you or how do you think you could make the most of the food that would otherwise be put in the bin?
• Have you got any great ideas for wasting less food?
• Have you got any top money-saving tips that also help you to throw away less food?
• Did you know that tea bags can be put into your local council food waste collection (if you have one) or composted at home?

We have a weekly food recycling collection. There isn't usually that much - potato peelings, bones, teabags and coffee grains etc, and loads of leftover DCs food that has been thrown from highchairs onto floors

Rarely throw fresh veg or fruit out. If it starts going off I cook and freeze it either as part of a meal or just chopped/puréed etc.

I also put all meat/fish etc in freezer as soon as I buy it except what we plan to eat that day. Then if DH decides he is working late or I can't be bothered to cook for whatever reason then it can be saved for another day.

• Do you throw away much food at home? Where does the food waste go? Do you have a kitchen caddy and compost bin? Yes, I throw away a fair bit every week, into the bin destined for landfill. Yes, I have been supplied with a kitchen caddy and a bin into which cooked and uncooked food and gardening waste can go. No way is a caddy sitting on my work top until it needs emptying when the appropriate bin is just outside.
• Does your local council offer a food waste collection service? Yes, see above. I have a brown wheelie bin for this purpose. But I've never understood how cooked food waste and other composting materials are compatible in one bin. With a fortnightly collection.
• What are the main reasons or circumstances that you throw food away? DS won't eat it. Simple as. He's been taught at school that food past its date will poison him. Or DH is on a diet this week that I didn't know about and is not now eating carbs / protein / eggs.
• Of food you throw away, is it mainly cooked or uncooked food? uncooked.
• If you don't throw away much food, how do you manage to keep waste to a minimum? When dh works away, I can meal plan better.
• How do you or how do you think you could make the most of the food that would otherwise be put in the bin? I could do with being backed up from school that use by dates are guidelines, and not limits on poison!
• Have you got any great ideas for wasting less food? Don't buy it! Bogof not always used.
• Have you got any top money-saving tips that also help you to throw away less food? Soups and stews. I do do this, I'm not as bad as I'm making myself sound.
• Did you know that tea bags can be put into your local council food waste collection (if you have one) or composted at home? I do. But they stick to the sides or bottom of the bin, and don't get emptied. And they, and other waste, stink in a wet bin. I'm quite sure that hosing it out periodically into the road drains doesn't impress the water company very much.

Do you throw away much food at home? Where does the food waste go? Do you have a kitchen caddy and compost bin?
We try not to throw too much away. Food waste goes in the kitchen caddy

Does your local council offer a food waste collection service?
Yes, a new service introduced this year. We are provided with a kitchen caddy and a larger food waste bin to keep outside. The waste is collected weekly.

What are the main reasons or circumstances that you throw food away? Food that has gone rotten (recently a spate of raspberries not lasting until their 'best before' date, or food that my daughter of 21 months has rejected/chewed up and spat out/thrown onto the floor.

Of food you throw away, is it mainly cooked or uncooked food?
Mainly uncooked

• If you don't throw away much food, how do you manage to keep waste to a minimum? When possible, excess quantities are frozen, or stored in the fridge to be recycled into the next night's dinner.

How do you or how do you think you could make the most of the food that would otherwise be put in the bin?
At the moment, I don't think I can do any more than I am doing already.

Have you got any great ideas for wasting less food?
Only the concept of 'recycling' leftovers to make new meals, or making smaller portions of meals in the first place.

Have you got any top money-saving tips that also help you to throw away less food?
At present, no.

Did you know that tea bags can be put into your local council food waste collection (if you have one) or composted at home?
Yes, I do this. Before the council provided food waste collection services, I used the compost bin in my garden.

Do you throw away much food at home? Where does the food waste go? Do you have a kitchen caddy and compost bin?
We don't throw much food away - not paranoid about 'best before dates' and DC are expected to finish their food within reason. Any cooked waste is thrown out (or meaty bits given to cats) but raw stuff is composted. We have several composts bins in the garden. (Not sure what a kitchen caddy is).

Does your local council offer a food waste collection service?
No (Glos)

What are the main reasons or circumstances that you throw food away?
Sometimes bought and just not used or sometimes bits left after a meal.

Of food you throw away, is it mainly cooked or uncooked food?
Mainly cooked.

If you don't throw away much food, how do you manage to keep waste to a minimum?
Freeze food if it's not going to be used or if I made too much.

How do you or how do you think you could make the most of the food that would otherwise be put in the bin?
Freeze more. More meals from left overs.

Have you got any great ideas for wasting less food?
Don't give people too much food to start with - have the option of 'seconds'.

Did you know that tea bags can be put into your local council food waste collection (if you have one) or composted at home
Oh yes - have always composted them.

Do you throw away much food at home? Where does the food waste go? Do you have a kitchen caddy and compost bin? Not if I can help it. I have 2 freezers, one of which is used just for cooked meals and leftovers. I hate throwing food away, and I'm extremely careful to only cook what I need (unless it's a roast, or I'm doing double portions for the freezer).

Does your local council offer a food waste collection service? No (Cumbria)

What are the main reasons or circumstances that you throw food away? Only if it actually goes off before I use it, many things say 'once open use within 2 days' or similar, it's frustrating.

Of food you throw away, is it mainly cooked or uncooked food? I never throw cooked food away, unless it's rice, but I usually do the best I can to measure portions accurately.

If you don't throw away much food, how do you manage to keep waste to a minimum? I only cook what I need. I plan our meals for the week on Sunday, that way I know what we'll need and not buy anything else. Anything like leftover Sunday roasts are sliced up and frozen, or used the next day as part of a planned meal.

How do you or how do you think you could make the most of the food that would otherwise be put in the bin? Freeze it. Blanche and freeze veg, freeze everything except rice (I'm a bit funny about that). Freeze milk, meat, everything. Then plan meals around what is in the freezer.

Have you got any great ideas for wasting less food? Plan meals, using what's in the freezer or cupboards. Only buy or cook what you need. Weigh/measure portions.

Have you got any top money-saving tips that also help you to throw away less food? Milk can be frozen in ice-cube trays, then use a cube in a cuppa, it's just about the right amount. Same goes for pasta sauces and the like, freeze in small portions to use at a later date. Buy smaller helpings, like the smallest carton of cream or hummus (or similar).

Did you know that tea bags can be put into your local council food waste collection (if you have one) or composted at home? Tea bags don't disintegrate well at all IMO. I have to tear the bags open before I put them in the compost, otherwise they stay whole for ages.

We waste quite a lot :( I feel guilty about it as its such a waste of money and also a waste of good food
I keep meaning to do strict meal plans to avoid this, but somehow I never get round to it.
The things that get wasted is mainly the fresh food like by buying too many vegetables and salad and not using it within the required time, so have to throw it. Because we do big shops rather than little and often or shopping locally. when I had a fruit and veg market right outside my front door this never ever happened because I could buy daily, but now I worry about running out so buy too much and then end up wasting
but I need to make more effort on this i think.
It just gets chucked in our normal bin - council dont have any special bins or collections for this as far as i know

• Do you throw away much food at home? Where does the food waste go? Do you have a kitchen caddy and compost bin?

we mainly throw away veg/fruit peelings and left over food that the children waste from their meals. The council takes the food waste. We have 2 caddies. One for in the kitchen and a bigger one in the garden that gets emptied weekly

• Does your local council offer a food waste collection service?
  yes. Weekly collection

• What are the main reasons or circumstances that you throw food away?
  mostly peelings or kids leftovers. But I am guilty of letting bread go off

• Of food you throw away, is it mainly cooked or uncooked food?
  main,y uncooked due to the amount of food prep

• If you don't throw away much food, how do you manage to keep waste to a minimum?
  i try and freeze left overs or use left overs in another meal

• How do you or how do you think you could make the most of the food that would otherwise be put in the bin?
  planning to use the leftovers in future meals

• Have you got any great ideas for wasting less food?
  only cook what you can eat. If you cook too much, freeze left overs straight away

• Have you got any top money-saving tips that also help you to throw away less food?
  meal plan. Only cook what we can eat. Portion food on a plate before you cook it

• Did you know that tea bags can be put into your local council food waste collection (if you have one) or composted at home?
  yes am aware

I have only recently realised I can get food caddy bags. (They are compostable). This should be made known as despite cleaning the bins regularly, they stink and get maggot infested in the summer. Now I've got the bags and I can tie them up, this shouldn't be so much of a problem.

Also, if you have space on your freezer, you could freeze the food waste until the day of food waste collection. I do t have the freezer space!

I don't throw away loads of food but I do usually end up chucking away one thing or another every week. It just goes into my main bin as I haven't got a garden so I don't have a compost bin, as nowhere to put compost.

My council is hackney and they don't have a food collection service, or a least not on my street. My street does not even have wheels bins or any kind of recycling, we just have to put out black bin bags on the street.

The main reasons I end up throwing food away are buying too much on Bogof (often seem to do this with yogurts and don't always manage to get through them all), and buying fruit which doesn't last long, or which is rock hard when i buy it but seems to go over ripe almost immediately when brought home (Tesco nectarines are terrible for this), and just the fact that as I am single sometimes a packet contains too much and the food won't keep for me to have it again.

The food I throw out is mainly uncooked.

I try to keep waste to a minimum by freezing things I've bought on offer if I don't think I will get around to eating them before they go off.

I suppose I should meal plan more to make the most of the waste instead of throwing

Ideas for wasting less could be to bulk cook more and freeze it,so I'm not left with the uncooked remainder of food lying around

To money save I should really meal plan and try to reduce the amount I throw away, as buying Bogof then throwing half is not really a bargain in reality!