Do You Waste Food?

[nailit]

Apparently the average UK family throws away 60 quid a month on food wastage.http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/nov/07/uk-households-food-waste
I find this both morally reprehensible (when people in our own country are resorting to food banks) and frankly just plain bad housekeeping.
Im a single bloke living on benefits and cant afford to waste food but even when I wasnt I found it wrong to do so.

My actual food waste for the month could fit in a shoebox.
Any 'leftover' food gets recycled into a curry, vegetables such as carrots and potatoes get cooked whole (instead of peeled) and any fruit or veg that maybe is on the turn is blended into a smoothie. Even any food that has become uneatable to me is used to feed the local wildlife that CAN eat it.
I just find something wrong in wasting food.
Is it just me that thinks like this?

[Gavmacp]

I have met a few people who I didn't understand their life choices. Then through friends etc I discovered what had happened to them. I have discovered not to judge but to listen. I have discovered that when you begin to ask questions you are met with appalling stories of abuse.

[Jackdaw33]

People who fall through the safety net do so usually as a result of alcohol or drugs, neither of which are easily controllable. I cannot tell the difference between a professional beggar and a genuine one, but I give regardless if I have the means.

[RATTER15]

We waste very little food, I do however chuck out anything more than a day or two out of date, or the hounds get it!

[boxtops]

I am truly appalled by people who don't comprehend that use by dates aren't an instruction to throw it away. There was a food programme recently where a young couple just chucked out hundreds of pounds worth a year of perfectly good part-used stuff because the date was out. It's just so wrong. We keep stuff and eat it as long as it's good - I was eating January yoghurt last week, it's find, you know when you open it if it's not. We keep stuff in our freezer for at least six months, and fruit and veg for longer than that.

Our food waste bin has a tiny nappy-sized bag on genuine waste in it each week - fruit stones, chicken bones, the odd scrap of meat fat. Any greenstuff and fruit skins go in the compost bins. Apart from anything else we just can't afford to waste quantities of food these days.

Nailit, you are not alone....

[RATTER15]

Boxy, calm down, we rarely have anything going out of date, it doesn't usually get the chance, but if it does, generally the hounds get it. ;-)

[boxtops]

Not getting at you, ratter, it's people like my neighbours whose food waste bins are literally bulging each week.......

[tamborine]

We have urban warriors that live in the woods. They supply plastic boxes to restaurants & pubs for left overs. 1 dirty b€$$ar waiter pizzed over the slops & was beaten up. Generally theres a good relationship all round.

[woofgang]

Seriously though, why is wasting food worse than wasting other resources and how does my not buying more than I need feed people who are hungry? I do know that wasting food is an emotional subject but objectively is it worse than buying an outfit, wearing it once and throwing it away or wasting water?

[Prudie]

None of it is actually wasted though is it, even what goes in the recycling gets used for fuel/fertiliser etc. Surely it's only wasted if you bury it a plastic bag and forget about it. I don't think I'm being wasteful if I can't eat all my pizza.

[naomi24]

I don't see how me not wasting food will help you or anyone else.

[Retrochic]

Reading through some of the replies and justification for waste its obvious some people just don't shop around. Firstly -at any supermarket you can buy 'one' of any fruit and veg,you aren't obliged to buy 6 and throw 3 out. Secondly, bread is sold in most supermarkets as individual rolls or you can get small loaves,if your bread goes a bit stale make fresh breadcrumbs or a bread and butter pudding. Just because your salad says 'use by the 5th' does not mean it has turned toxic by the 6th -and 'best before' is just an advisory that the quality of the food may have deteriorated,not that its become inedible. Personal food waste is a drop in the ocean to the amount Supermarkets throw away. At least Sainsbury's and marks and Spencer are now giving their spare food away to charities instead of sending it to the skip.

[maggiebee]

I tend to shop on an almost daily basis for what I need so very little, if anything, is wasted. Birds round here are well fed! When family were at home and I did a big weekly shop I think I may have wasted more.

[Retrochic]

Maybe the change in shopping habits -ie one big shop a week, has meant people waste more food. I'm lucky in that the place I work has a good selection of grocers and butchers so I can pick up stuff every day if needed rather than have food sat in the fridige. I rely heavily on frozen veg and products which are probably bettter for you than fresh stuff sat for a week in the fridge.

[woofgang]

I don't think I justified any kind of waste, just asked why wasting food was worse than wasting other things and how my not wasting food would feed someone who is hungry?.....and I haven't had an answer......

[Retrochic]

woofgang -no one is saying wasting food is any worse than wasting other things. All waste should be avoided if possible.

[dannyk13]

I buy only enough for a week's meals, so no waste.