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Do you throw a lot of food out?
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Gordon Brown says people do (so it must be true 
)
When I was single and buying food for myself I used to throw about 1/4 of food out. Partly because I'd usually shop on an empty stomach and eat with my eyes. Now that I live with my boyfriend I don't throw much out, partly because I enjoy using leftovers, partly because he hates seeing food going to waste and partly because he eats it all (I mean, :grump: )
Might be a good time to turn this into a thifty food thread?
If I have leftover sauces, like tomato sauce or pesto, I'll put them into ice cube trays and freeze them so I can add them to dishes later on.
I freeze chicken bones from roasts, stick them into freezer bags and freeze them so I can accumulate them and use them to make stock at a later date.
Vegetables at the bottom of the fridge make a very nice frittata.
)When I was single and buying food for myself I used to throw about 1/4 of food out. Partly because I'd usually shop on an empty stomach and eat with my eyes. Now that I live with my boyfriend I don't throw much out, partly because I enjoy using leftovers, partly because he hates seeing food going to waste and partly because he eats it all
(I mean, :grump: )Might be a good time to turn this into a thifty food thread?
If I have leftover sauces, like tomato sauce or pesto, I'll put them into ice cube trays and freeze them so I can add them to dishes later on.
I freeze chicken bones from roasts, stick them into freezer bags and freeze them so I can accumulate them and use them to make stock at a later date.
Vegetables at the bottom of the fridge make a very nice frittata.
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I always save food when I cook a lot though and eat it the following day.
The things I tend to throw away mostly are yoghurts and bioactive drinks...which I buy when I feel healthy but never end up drinking. They tend to have quite short shelf lives.
- Half a tub of mouldy philadelphia. Ate the first half and then ran out of stuff to put it on, and then forgot about it.
- 1/4 tin of pineapple chunks that I didn't eat in time.
- End of a carton of orange juice that I bought and it was very sour so I didn't drink it all.
I try to freeze as much stuff as I can, which is tricky sometimes because we have a small freezer. I don't throw away leftovers, instead I put them in the fridge and incorporate it into next day's lunch or dinner.
Go_away, I have a question: when you say you freeze tomato sauces, do you mean ones that you've made yourself or ones from a jar, eg Ragu? (Before anyone shouts at me for using sauce from a jar, shush it's not a crime and I do know how to make my own sauces but this works better for homemade pizza than a homemade sauce does) I've wondered about freezing Ragu but it doesn't say whether you should or shouldn't on the jar.
Oh I also threw away half a tub of Stork because I went to make some cakes just now and realised that it said November 07 on it and I hadn't realised
I think Gordon Brown is right about people throwing food away, but that's not why food prices are rising. Food prices are going up because he's a greedy cunt. Funnily enough fuel prices are going up because he's a greedy cunt too. Here's hoping Red Gordon has a heart attack and burns his house down, with him in it :thumb:
Also funnily enough Gordon Brown had a 6 course lunch and an 8 course dinner today at the meeting about the food crisis ...
But to answer the OP: I throw away less food than a lot of people (don't bother with use by or best before unless it looks or smells off or it is pork or chicken) but I throw away more food than I would if I was living in a time of rationing or famine.
I've eaten yoghurts two weeks after their use by date before, they've been fine. They always were cautious with the use by dates to avoid getting sued but things are getting silly now. My tomato ketchup tells me to keep it refrigerated and use within a month of opening. Why? The three main ingredients are sugar, water and sugar again. Sugar doesn't go off.
also worth bearing in mind that "Best Before" indicates a quality date, rather than a "this could make you ill if you eat it after this date" and so most things are fine with that on.
"Use by" is less of a quality thing and more of a potential food poisoning issue and "Display Until" is just for bread I think and there are different rules for when supermarkets have to take it off the shelves.
I normally cook enough for the next day, buy essentials only (e.g. I used to buy a pack of chocolate biscuits- feel guilty then chuck the rest of the pack away!) I shall be a resident on this thread though, I like the idea of freezing leftover sauces, and shall be reading for plenty more tips!
How?? Why????? :eek:
bread last ages though. the display til on most brands is followed by '(2)', so the shop has to sell it at least 2 days before the display til date, then it takes a while to go mouldy anyway.
Sometimes leftovers get chucked if there's not enough to make another meal, but then there's usually not much so it doesn't matter so much
If i accidentally make too much dinner i'll share it with the others, same with them. That way barely anything gets wasted.
Argh, I saw that show! But I wonder if he keeps it up now that the shows over. The meat thing was the worst. I know that all the bacteria will be dead but just the SMELL would put be right off.. UGH
Anyway, in my family of 5, we have hardly any waste at all as my parents will finish off whatever us kids don't eat and vice versa. When I'm on my own though, I end up throwing lots of stuff away because if I want to finish a tin or packet of something in a week, I'd need to eat it everyday for three days and I just don't want to.
The rats you mean.
Still tasted normal. Im sure its got that much salt in it that it will never go off.
I actually dont chuck that much food out. The main thing I do throw out is bread thats gone a bit stale at the ends, but usually i save it for the ducks. Most unwanted leftovers go to the dog. She even eats the vegetable peelings and offcuts.
Apart from that i use most things, even if theyre out of date as long as they smell ok.
Im only joking. Despite thinking i can pull off a recipe i can screw it up so bad it has to be thrown away because it isnt even worthy to be fed to the dog.
This recipe springs to mind. I panicked when it didnt emulsify. It did eventually but then it just tasted of hard potato and really strong lemon. Eurgh. The bin ate the lot :yuck:
I agree that the best thing to do with leftover veg is in a frittata. Bubble & squeak is also good.
The only thing I sometimes end up throwing away is fruit because I forget to eat it and it goes off easily. I try and plan meals though so I don't end up throwing stuff away.
If I have leftover wine that I don't want to drink, I pour it into ice cube trays and freeze it, then I use the wine cubes in cooking. It's really useful when you need a bit of wine in a sauce but don't want to open a bottle.
Only if it's gone off or spoilt. I think it's immoral to throw away unspoilt food.
I've become a lot better though, and after failures in the kitchen I've learnt what goes together and what not so much - and even managed to cook up delivious 'inventions' of my own such as sweet potato lasagna, and now always manage to throw in vegetables to whatever I am cooking to add to the flavour.
I end up throwing out most of the time is veg and meat. Though that's because I don't eat a lot of meat but then get tempted by the bogof offers. Even when I have a list, I always manage to get something else. I buy on impulse and when it comes to food I don't want prohibit myself and have a weakness for the mediterranean section.
Basically I hope that I'll live nearer a supermarket this year as it creates less waste when buying things as you go, rather than in one big shop.