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There's one thing in particular that upsets me. If I'm out at a pub or a restaurant and I see someone waste good food because they have over ordered. I just think it's really disgusting, especially with so many people starving in the world. I think the phrase; "eyes bigger than their belly" would best describe these people. Food waste is simply inexcusable!
It's something that's been with me all my life. As a youngster I was always expected to clear everything on my plate and the sound of a knife scraping leftovers into the bin was quite unheard off. Kids these days it would seem are allowed to be picky with their food and I have seen so much perfectly edible food get thrown out. Perhaps our modern junk food mentality can be apportioned some of the blame though.
Food waste - We live in a throw away society...
Parents nowadays don’t seem to mind that their children leave food on their plate. We live in a throw away society and the media isn’t exactly a good role model either. I’ve seen countless TV programmes where someone will get up and walk away from a plate of food half eaten. American lifestyle has also had a marked affect on our eating habits. Huge portions of fatty foods and less fresh vegetables have become very common. Should we be surprised the kids can’t finish their meal?
Some people would argue that the suppliers and manufacturers have a hand in the problem of society wasting food. Every thing has a ‘sell by’ and ‘use by’ date. However, I think sometimes there is a bit of a buffer built into the date and some foods will keep quite well. As a society we’ve survived quite well without a ‘use by date’. Is it a ploy to make us buy more food?
Poor planning and a busy lifestyle will also lead to a great deal of household food waste. How many of us can admit to having made an impulse buy, then several days later having to dispose of food that has gone off in the fridge?
Back in the days when the saying “waste not, want not†actually meant something, you had to plan what would be bought, cooked and exactly how to use the leftovers. Nothing was thrown out and there was time to cook. None of the pre-packed, date-stamped unhealthy supermarket rubbish that we consume these days!
Hard times are a thing of the past and we don’t really appreciate how good things are until it’s too late. It is particularly sad when there are so many in the world that don't have enough food to eat.
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That's them nasty Tories depriving us again.
As I have said before, you can't eat a Playstation, Xbox, Ipad-Pod thingy, or those £50 trainers.
Wasting food just because you've overcooked it and don't find it tasty enough is not the answer!
Yuk food.
If I go for a bogof I make sure it's something I'm going to use. I don't throw any food away, I always use it before it goes off, or freeze it; which people don't seem to do much these days. Can't fathom why, big chest freezers are cheap and soon pay for themselves.
Dates on food are rubbish, you just need a bit of common sense. We used to manage perfectly well without them.
BUY ONE GET ONE FREE
BUY ONE GET ONE HALF PRICE
BUY 2 for £3, 3 for £4, 4 for £5....
£5 OFF WHEN YOU SPEND £25
£20 OFF WHEN YOU SPEND £100
Seriously I mean who spends £100 on food in one go?
or, if your kid was having a small version but suddenly gets a big one at a restaurant, ask the waiter if you can take it home, so the kid can eat it at home
I do have a healthy appetite but very rarely have a starter as I prefer to have my pudding! (I then have to sit there while the grumpyoldman eats his starter which he prefers to dessert but he can often manage 3 courses anyway). Even then my main course is sometimes so huge that I have to leave some to have room for dessert.
I would like to have 3 courses sometimes, if only the portions were smaller! The irony is that the restaurants are losing money on this because I would happily pay the same for smaller portions, but would be able to pay for and eat 3 courses instead of 2!
However, I loathe and abhor nouvelle cuisine, I believe it was Michael Winner who called it "a series of decorated plates".
Large portions are to some extent behind the global obesity epidemic, and this is now particularly bad in the UK, particularly amongst women many of whom are just obscenely fat, and I have no sympathy when I see them cramming doughnuts and chocolate bars, washed down by half a litre of sweet coffee or Coke, into their mouths - and then doing the same to their obsese children, perpetuating the cycle of obesity.
Marketing is partly to blame for this, there's the 'value' perception whereby many people would rather have a large plate of mediocre quality food placed in front of them, along with a pile of chips, than a properly crafted quality meal of a reasonable size, although I'm certainly not advocating the overpriced miniature portions that used to called 'nouvelle cuisine'.
We can fight back. Ask for smaller portions, share, refuse starch, and so on. There is this compulsion to finish everything that's put in front of us, specially if we're paying for it, so the simple answer is to ask for less, or go for two courses instead of three.
Nick