Wasting food? I think not!

[lainey lou]

[QUOTE=

Every week, my wheely bin is never more than a 1/4 full - makes me angry when next door's is overflowing and there's black bags next to hers too - I took a peek once (what a scutter I am!) and most of it could've been recycled [/QUOTE]

I get frustrated by my neighbours too, our wheely bins are collected fortnightly and ours is never more than 1/2 full, I don't think thats bad for a family of four. Most of our neighbours struggle to close their bin!! This is despite the fact that we have a fortnighly collection for garden waste and a green box for recycling, and just up the road we can take our plastics etc the recycling centre, people are just lazy!


I would defo recommend Bokashi for the inevitable small amounts of food waste, it's not as dear as it was to set up, in fact most local councils do a deal now via recycle now, got my kit for about £24 and just pay out about £12 every 3/4 months for my bran ( bulk buying with family).

[Alison]

Re the bin thing, we still get weekly black bin pick ups but often don't bother putting it out as there's nothing it in. My friend is married with three young kids and put hers out last week for the first time in a month although her neighbour who lives alone fills his every week - don't get it at all!

[Winged one]

I try to reuse whatever leftovers we have, and keep portion sizes under control when cooking. Leftover pasta and mashed potato are often frozen if I have no immediate use for them (within 2-3 days planned), as well as cooked chicken, turkey for later stirfries. They are all usually fine when defrosted. I also use a rough menu on a weekly basis, and am quite happy to come home and do a larder raid for makey-uppy meals.

And we have always tried to keep the bin levels low. Between recycling and composting, we have never put the black bin out on a weekly basis (even before it was a chargeable lift) since we got our own house. It tends to be approx once a month, often 5/6 weeks between lifts. And that's even with a toddler in nappies (we use cloth intermittently but can't use them totally so have a certain amount of disposable ones).

But then we go down to our parents homes and the black bins are overflowing, there is little or no composting or recycling, and there is so much food thrown away on a weekly basis it's unreal. (I think my mother hasn't yet managed the reduction in household from 8 to 2, which is part of the problem there).

[moggssue]

I try to menu plan on a weekly basis, so I can just buy what's needed for what I know I intend to make. There's not a lot of 'what do we feel like' except maybe changing Tues meal to Wed and vice versa, but also no waste. I dont have time or opportunity to shop every day, but generally manage on a weekly basis, with a couple of storecupboard meals thrown in, they're often quite unusual but who's counting!!

My dread coming up to christmas is allll that packaging - all those boxes and packages, cardboard and plastic ... hohum

[Alison]

I dont have time or opportunity to shop every day, but generally manage on a weekly basis, with a couple of storecupboard meals thrown in, they're often quite unusual but who's counting!!

You never know when you'll discover a totally new recipe though - you could make a million

[shirlthegirl43]

If I am making mash then I always make plenty extra. When the boys were little and being picky, it was easy to mince up all the stuff they wouldn't eat and mix it with mash and an egg, make into patties dipped in flour and fry patties until nice and brown. They would scoff these with ketchup and bread and butter, never realising that they had just eaten what they left the day before. Roast meat gets eaten hot on Sunday, cold with chips and beans (or any leftover roasties and veggies) on Monday and then will make a curry or casserole or pie or stovies or rissoles later in the week (depending on the size of joint obviously). If it was a chicken then there is also a pot of soup. I hate throwing food away and can't wait to get some chooks to recycle what currently gets binned.

[moggssue]

You never know when you'll discover a totally new recipe though - you could make a million

I've discovered a few new 'recipes' but nothing worth publishing yet - living ever in hope!!

Tonight is leftover, leftover roast chicken either curried or with pasta and cheese sauce, then soup for lunch tomorrow! Together with last night's chicken'n'chips and today's sandwiches that's four meals from one bird, not bad going really.

[Madasafish]

I understand most of the waste is at shops and supermarkets - out of date food.

We cook to basically weights measured on past experience so little is left over. We use everything cooked... and peelings and sprout leaves are fed to the turkeys.
Bones make soup.

Animal fat is melted down to make fat balls for the birds.

Stale bread is toasted, cut up and given to wild birds.

[smallblueplanet]

.........Stale bread is toasted, cut up and given to wild birds.

Do wild birds like toast then?

[Paulottie]

Do wild birds like toast then?

Often yes....If they are still there for breakfast....serve with coffee or hair of the dog.

if my fading memoy serves me right

[Alison]

Do wild birds like toast then?

Have to make do with it as stale bread at our place!

[Polly Fouracre]

With two greedy gut's(Jim and I)ten dogs,hens,a wormery and the compost heaps,absolutely nothing goes to waste in our house.
We put out our wheelie bins about three times a year!