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.

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thanks and good luck
MNHQ

Strawberries. Why do they only ever have 3 minutes before getting them home from the shop and them going mouldy?

Courgettes - missed one in the back of the fridge and it had decomposed horribly - rancid sludge... Hummus gets forgotten sometimes and I always seem to abandon celeriac. Like it, but it always seems daunting to prepare.

The ones I seem to forget about is always finishing a jar of mayonnaise.. I always feel guilty as we always say we'll use it more (even if we buy a small jar!) And also fresh tomatoes, I always forget about the last one and it ends up in the vegetable draw at the bottom all alone.. And occasionally it is joined by a half-sliced onion..

Garlic for me is one thing that can last quite a while so that's always great to have in the fridge!

I regularly bin assorted vegetables, AKA 'the veg of optimism'. I'll buy veg with every intention of using it, then find I CBA to prepare it so use frozen.

The things I always, always use up are tomatoes, eggs and mustard. Not all at the same time.

Cucumber when it is slimy or liquified.
Cream cheese/cheese spread when covered in green mold.

Bacon seems to have the best chance of surviving being hidden and forgotten then still being in date when re-descovered.

We never manage to finish coleslaw or hummus. Or if I buy creme fraiche or cream for a dish, half usually gets chucked in the bin. Can't bear to throw out fruit and veg though so when they start to look past their best, I make a soup, crumble, banana bread etc

Usually a variety of salad stuff - brown lettuce, mushy cucumber, floppy carrots et al...

Sometimes yogurt which is so out of date it looks more like a science experiment!

And some sort of condiment - ie. Salsa dip.

I hate throwing food away though and get really annoyed when I do it!!

Yes, it's often veggie matter than gets pushed to the back and is found in a festering state too late on to put to good use (other than as compost!).

Also, we always use up leftovers...well except the ones which get pushed to the back (things like a bit of leftover mashed potato) and forgotten. Only to be found a week or so down the line covered in fine white mould....

And other slatternly fridge habits...

Pesto goes off quicker than I expect, as do other jars of stuff.

Big pots of yoghurt often don't get finished.

Fresh herbs often get half used and the rest goes to mush.

Grapes, always a few get squashed and go mouldy.

And my husband hates waste so every bit of leftovers get put in a pot in the fridge and then a week later I quietly throw them out.

Always half a left over tub of hummus. Always. And for some reason a random slice of ham.

Very little really. I don't overbuy and every couple of days I go through the contents to use up anything that is approaching the end. I don't really take notice of sell-by and use-by dates rather I use common sense using my eyes and nose. I have a fully stocked store cupboard and can rustle up lots of dishes from this.

DH is guilty of this though. He buys lots of things that need to be eaten in the next week including dips. I mean how much dip can one family consume?! He does the same with prawns. It's a good thing he loves them in all guises.

I am happy to bake lots and any fruit or veg that remains can be turned into cake or bread and then frozen.

My hero is tomato puree. Even though the tube says use within a week or something stupid ours has easily been open for 6months and absolutely fine!
We always seem to bin half full/empty tubs of cream, sour cream etc. we just never finish them in a couple of days. Struggle to finish a bag of potatoes too so should make an effort to meal plan better.

I buy cauliflower to make cauliflower cheese for dd then never get round to it.
Celery lasts forever.

Potatoes keep for months in the fridge. Just cut those little growing bits off and eat. I'm not dead yet.

My daughter who is just 2 only ever eats half of anything like spaghetti tins or ravioli so i always have tupperware tubs of rotting heinz products dotted around the fridge.....

It's usually veg. We eat a lot of fruit but sadly veg gets over looked. Usually carrots - they end up soft and wrinkly.

Cheese has a habit of getting a bit mouldy but I usually just cut those bits off.

Anything else, well if it looks ok and smells ok, then I'll more than likely eat it.

I'm very bad. Beans, pasta sauces, just bits of left over lunch/ supper... I do have good intentions but I find the days fly by and before you realise it, its been there for a week and I feel like I only put it there yesterday.

Every week I buy a tub of beetroot salad, every week I have about a tablespoon out of it and the rest sits there for quite some time.

Its such a waste but everything I'm in the shops I'm like "ooh beetroot salad".

hmm... it has to be the cheese...

There is always a lonely and limp carrot at the bottom of the fridge (I seem to overbuy)

I often chuck cream cheese which hasn't been finished but has stopped to grow plants on the surface.

Filter coffee hasn't gone mouldy on me yet

Nothing really sticks around long enough to languish as we try and stick to a budget but I do make up soups from whatever veg is looking a bit sad - every batch tastes different.

The only strawberries we have in this house are the furry ones which sit unnoticed at the back of the fridge.

Celery never, ever goes off. Neither does the last green pepper in the bag.

Always have a couple of pots of leftover meals which DH swears he will 'eat for lunch' and never does.

very little. Rinds of Parmesan cheese that I imagine I will put in a soup one day and never do. My DP overbuys on yoghurt, but he does usually finish it - although sometimes it does get a layer of mould on it.

Lettuce. Always browning and going off in veg drawer. And tins of beans and pulses been in cupboard for years.

Celery / spring onions - never need as many as come in a bunch