Food waste

Duck59

Duck59

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Without wishing to appear smug, I can honestly say that this house wastes nothing in terms of food (OK, we don't eat eggshells or orange peel, but you get the gist).

By contrast, we have neighbours who chuck out absolutely masses of food, most of it perfectly usable. Last Christmas, I estimate that they bought enough to feed a large village for several months. Predictably, much of this got slung into the bin in the new year.

Don't know about anyone else, but I view this as bordering on criminal. Not to mention more money than sense.
 
We waste very little ourselves. Unless you are counting the zip lock bag of mashed potatoes I found in the back of the refrigerator last night. If we do have bits leftover, the outside cats get them.
 
Duck59 said:
Without wishing to appear smug, I can honestly say that this house wastes nothing in terms of food (OK, we don't eat eggshells or orange peel, but you get the gist).

By contrast, we have neighbours who chuck out absolutely masses of food, most of it perfectly usable. Last Christmas, I estimate that they bought enough to feed a large village for several months. Predictably, much of this got slung into the bin in the new year.

Don't know about anyone else, but I view this as bordering on criminal. Not to mention more money than sense.
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What about peeling veg. Do you ever do that? I try not to but sometimes its necessary.
 
A little peeling, but not to a vast extent.

Really, though, I was railing against throwing away stuff in industrial quantities. I've seen whole bags of potatoes, onions, etc. plus things like unopened packets of biscuits, full boxes of eggs and all sorts. Frankly, I find it unbelievable.
 
Duck59 said:
A little peeling, but not to a vast extent.

Really, though, I was railing against throwing away stuff in industrial quantities. I've seen whole bags of potatoes, onions, etc. plus things like unopened packets of biscuits, full boxes of eggs and all sorts. Frankly, I find it unbelievable.
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Yes it dreadful. Unopened biscuits is an odd one. They don't really go off! Best before and sell by dates have a lot to answer for and I'm sure that in many cases food is being thrown away because its past the date rather than because it has become mouldy.
 
I peel all our vegetables. Most of the time, the peels go outside to become compost or whatever wildlife wants to eat them. As far as old biscuits (either Uk/us) go, I just throw them out to the flying pigs (aka birds).
So food really doesn't go to waste, but a lot of food goes to waist.
 
My criteria for "wasted food" is whatever I buy for the two of us to eat and we end up not eating it. Doesn't matter if I'm tossing it to the birds and squirrels, I didn't eat it. They have their own personal larder (seeds and suet for the birds, peanuts and dried corn for the squirrels) and never waste a bit. So we try to be like our outdoor "kids". We really don't waste anything. We generate very little trash of any kind. Our trash collection is every other week simply because the services around here refuse to pick up on a monthly schedule. The 90+ gallon rolling bin we have for trash looks so empty, and the recycling bin doesn't go to the curb any more often than every six. We sure don't get out money's worth.
 
Very little wastage here.

We have chooks that take up everything except egg shells, onion/citrus peels. Though I often keep onion peels for use in stocks.
 
We don't peel veg here. OK Lemon rind and orange rind does go, onion skin, garlic skin, yes, but anything else?. I don't often peel ginger either, squashes are not peels, nor are any root veg I can think of. If a recipe says peel, I ignore it and don't. I had one recipe recently that told me to peel aubergine! S** that for a game of laughs. Not happening...

Ahh runner peas and mature peas are peeled. All of those peelings go to the compost bin (including the citrus and onion/garlic). We eat the green parts of leeks, never seen what the problem is there. things like cauliflower stalks are eaten, even the leaves from cauliflowers are used to make delicious soups.

No food gets wasted here. It is eaten or frozen. The chickens don't get scraps because there are no scraps for them to have and I refuse to feed the wildlife. I have seen the effect of that in the past and all it does is increase the rodent issues which I don't wish to do.

Anything past its BB date is usually still eaten. Anything with mould starting to grow, well its removed and the product eaten. I can't think of the last time I personally threw anything away in the way of food. Bread ends, which don't make good sandwiches according to my hubby, well I eat those for lunch as toast with eggs or peanut butter or similar. It is a real treat for the chickens to get bread because any that has dried out (rare because it is usually kept in the freezer) is simply made into breadcrumbs and put back into the freezer for when I next need breadcrumbs.

I think the chickens waste more than we do!

Typically 1 black plastic sack of waste is taken to the tip (equiv of the bin men here) once a month. Anything burnable is burnt on the fire (usually when lighting the fire rather than actually burning it for the sake of burning it). Anything recyclable is recycled or more often repurposed. Even our black bins are actually used for the chook feed rather than for general waste.

Egg shells are eaten by our chooks. I bake them (actually all I do is put them in the oven when it is cooling down) and then they go crisper and easier to break up. Our chooks (only the layers) love them and there is no issue with chickens eating eggs! The shells contain vital minerals for them and it is a great natural recycling system (many birds eat the shells when their chicks hatch). When we didn't have chickens, we still baked the egg shells and then added them to the compost. The shells break down far more quickly baked than unbaked.
 
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I peel older carrots. Younger ones, like from the farmers' market, and potatoes usually get a good scrubbing with my stiff veggie brush. I figure I don't have wobbly skin on my upper arm because I hand mash skin-on potatoes and cook with cast iron. Who needs to go to the gym?
 
Lynne Guinne said:
I peel older carrots. Younger ones, like from the farmers' market, and potatoes usually get a good scrubbing with my stiff veggie brush. I figure I don't have wobbly skin on my upper arm because I hand mash skin-on potatoes and cook with cast iron. Who needs to go to the gym?
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Hubby can't eat peels and I have a hard time with them. On the russet potatoes.
 
Very little waste here too. I rarely peel vegetables and use grated lemon, lime and orange peel in baking Stale bread is rare, but I do have bag of bits in the freezer either to make breadcrumbs from or a bread pudding. Egg shells go in the dog or the compost. Any leftover cooked food is either put in the fridge for the next day or frozen, or it goes in the dog. Green leafy vegetables that are just starting to go yellow can usually be rescued by blanching them; otherwise they go in the stock pot. Plain biscuits can usually be rescued by putting in the oven to crisp them up again, and stale cake (as if there is any :roflmao:) can be used in desserts. I do have a compost bin in the garden but most of what goes in that is from the garden; very little is from food waste.
 
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