Come on, be honest: what ends up languishing at the back of your fridge at the end of the week? 'Fess up about your most neglected foodstuffs to Unilever Project Sunlight - and be in with a chance to win £250 NOW CLOSED

[AnnMumsnet]

Most of us make an effort to plan our shop and minimise food waste, but even with the best will in the world, all too often we end up with items left over - and the people from the Unilever Project Sunlight would like to know which are your repeat waste offenders. Is there a fruit that always gathers mould at the bottom of the bowl? Or what about the last spoonful of pasta sauce that you swore you'd use up? Are you afflicted by unconsumed anchovies? Stressed out by surplus celery?

Please share what - despite your best efforts - you find yourself regularly binning on kitchen clean out day. And just to even things up a bit, why not let us know which foods you'd rate as your enduring heroes: the ones that could sit happily on your shelves and emerge perfectly edible even in the event of a nuclear apocalypse ...

Add your comment to the thread and you'll be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a a £250 voucher for the store of their choice.

Please note your comments may be used by Unilever and MN on the web, social media channels and possibly elsewhere. Please only add your comment if you're happy for it to be used like this. All comments used will be anon.

thanks and good luck
MNHQ

I forget about jar's of condiments such as mustard/apple sauce/mint sauce etc,only I like apple sauce and it can be forgotten from one week to the next,I did have intentions of freezing in small pots but that was another of my saving ideas that went on the back boiler.
Any veg though is now used on a Monday for a soup no exceptions as to what goes in it what the eye's don't see and all that !!
Slices of cooked meat opened and put back in fridge without being re-wrapped correctly causes me lots of wastage mr.g. is famous for this his excuse is he doesn't know where the foil is kept or where I keep small containers so not always me to blame thank goodness.

half a bag of salad - I'd really like it if you could bag your own, smaller portion

half a tub of cream cheese

the last two inches of a cucumber

tomatoes - DH and the DC don't like them, and generally the ones you buy loose are rubbish and watery, so I buy the packets, and then forget to finish them off.

I regularly chuck out jars of chutney & other weird & wacky sauces that were a good idea at the time but only tried once & then there's the shrivelled grapes that always end up in the bin!

My food heroes are tomatoes, olives & chocolate puddings.. Always scoffed up before I have a chance to get to the shop for more!

Cream. I sometimes buy it for a recipe then don't use the whole pot.
Grapes. Dd loves them but can't get through a whole punnet. I wish it was easier to buy them loose.
Kids yoghurts. I buy a box of frubes for example then notice that the use by date is a couple of days away. I'm happy to use things 3-4 days past their use by date, but not more than that.
The stubby end of the cucumber.

The stub of a cucumber and a few slices of ham. Both used in DDs sandwiches which she would eat up if I let her eat them every day but as I force her to eat other things they always end up getting past their best.

Celery, mini tomatoes, cream, tofu, peppers.

Veg usually - I over buy it and don't use it all before it goes off. Also big tubs of fresh yoghurt, and tubs of cream cheese - I have it for lunch but somehow never get through it all. Oh and usually half a lemon going mouldy somewhere from having an odd gin , or half a tomato

Corn on the cob. We love it, I buy it, we ignore it, I bin it. Rinse and repeat.

Nothing. My fridge is Tiny. So small that its a fridge freezer actually but it fits under the worktop. So there's no rrom for stuff Im not going to use. And anyway if Ive bought it I have to eat it bcos it cost money. I do sometimes end up with a couple of out of date eggs tho. They havent killed me yet so I'll keep eating them.

Usually one of the kittens

Cheese, yoghurt and a few scraps of meat for sandwiches.

Ham, salad, hummus and leftovers. I hate throwing things out

I am really fussy about use by dates which doesn't help.

Hard cheeses are a good standby.

Usually spring onions, opened jars of tomatoe puree, beetroots, yoghurt, cream cheese and eggs! Sometimes there's the one that got away wrinkled mushroom too. Half eaten jam is another. Funny thing is that you go in the fridge every day but some things become almost invisible because they are there every day? There's never any desserts left over when you fancy one :(

Yoghurts , go past sell by date , don't realise and end up lurking at back if fridge

Tubs of hummus, have a couple of spoonfuls then it goes off too quickly.
Yoghurts, the children's ones get eaten quickly but ones for me just lurk there.
Cucumber which regularly turns to liquid.

Hard cheese always gets used up in this houe, as do carrots (even when they go floppy!)

It us usually some cheese and chives or garlic cheese, I am the only person who eats it in my house so half the tub usually ends up getting chucked.

Many furry fellas. Olives and tomatoes being the main culprits.

Usually once opened jars of pickles that are out of sight and out of mind!

satsumas and garlic cloves spend too much time lurking there!

A cucumber -every week - I don't know how it happens!

I'm pretty good at using things up but packet of fresh herbs usually end up being thrown out - sometimes I get around to freezing them but mostly I don't. From time to time I buy the living pots of herbs but then forget to water them and they die anyway!

Oh and salad bags, there's only me who eats salad!

Half empty jars of Branston pickle and Picalilli. Part used pack of pate past it's use by date which usually ends up in the bin (I just don't know why I buy it). The bit of cucumber that will end up all squashy and be thrown in the bin. A couple of cans of Ginger Beer.

It is always the lettuce - good intentions but not many salads are made!

At the back of my fridge at the end of the week will be a half eaten lettuce, a couple of tomatoes, a tub of coleslaw with most of it eaten already and pack of ham that will have a couple of pieces all curled up x

Has to be all of the healthy things I said I was going to eat