I saw a programme the other day, it was about a competition between 3 chefs. What they had to do was promote and make people aware of exactly how much food we waste, by going to the market and farms and good scavenge perfectly good food, fresh fruit, vegetables, meat that would go in the bin because they are a bit damaged or too small, too soft and therefore do not meet the supermarkets standards and that nobody would buy. Then with the food scavenged they had to make a starter, main course, dessert which would then be given to guests at an event. The guest had to judge which chefs made the best meals.
After watching this programme it made me think, how much food do we actually waste, either because it was left in the fridge for ages and eventually gone bad and gets thrown away or we put abit too much salan, kebab, roast chicken, rice that we do not end up finishing and gets thrown in the bin.
Also thinking about the amount of food we waste, how many poor people from poor countries like Pakistan, Africa and others could we be able to feed, and how fortunate/ lucky we are to have such nice food that we take for granted.
What can we do, so that we do not waste food.
Please share your views
MEZ
Eat more.
"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.
Order or make less food.
Too many times I have seen hungry people who think they can eat the whole world so they order loads. They only realise their mistake halfway through so they throw the food they can't eat away.
if you live with parents then most likely you won't realise food is going to waste and even if you do, parents will not listen to you, because they are used to doing things their own way. But you could try making them listen...good luck, never worked with me.
When you move into your own home you will realise, if you are fortunate to know how to cook, even so you won't be an instant good judge in quantites, especially if you came from a big family like me. First year or so i used to make too much food, especially with curries. If you cook a curry once the veg and water is added for the sauce, it can turn into a bigger dish than what you thght it would be. The only way is trial and error. Few years on here are my tips:
1) don't buy food in bulk that includes meat and fish. It will go off, and with meat especially if it's fresh from halal butchers you won't know how old it is, as there are no labels. Only buy what you need. rather than buying several chickens for example maybe buy 2 or 3 use 1 leave the others in the freezer. this may sound like bulk but for me it's not my mum used to buy the whole sheep have it chopped and bagged into quantities, and whole fish, and bengali fish are big trust me, and she would buy trays of chicken not 1 or 2.
2) Try to buy any cooking vegetables the night before cooking, that way it is fresh and you know exactly what dish it's going to be used for.
3) don't be fooled by the buy 1 get 1 free offers, especially if you don't need 2 of the same product. These sort of offers on food are usually because it is near its use by date. So unless you're going to use it within 1-2 days don't bother.
4) bear in mind how many ppl you are feeding, and measure up quantities. i know in my house a baby chicken curry can last for more than 2 days especially if 1 member of the family misses a meal. Personally i get bored of eating the same food more than 2 days. Asians in general aren't in the habit of measuring, everything is done by hand, even measuring flour. i know my mother thght it hilarious when she saw me using half a chicken lol.
5) if you do have leftovers rather than binning it try to invent another dish using the ingredients. For example this is a bengali thing, my mum used to get rid of old curry by adding some small dry red chillies to a bit of ghee butter and bit of crushed garlic, add the old curry with the sauce, cook it until it goes darker like grilled meat and dry. It doesn't look appetising but it tastes roasted and me and my siblings used to fight for the last bits. If you have a dry veg dish, may want to throw the veg into eggs make an omlette with it. I usually have lots of sauce left over from curries coz i like saucy curries more than dry ones. So i end up making chappatis to finish that off rather than dumping it down the sink. Suits me fine i like chappaties, nice treat from eating rice 24/7. If you have too much fruit lying around,make trifle or fruit cocktail add bit of cream or tiptop and put under any young person, that will be gobbled up straight away.
6) curries can go off easily, if you don't have a cool pantry then cool your dish and put the dish into tupaware in the fridge. That way less likely to go in the bin in the morning.
7)If you've made a fresh dish and you know immediately its too large a quanitity invite family or friends over to share it, or bag some up and take it over to your siblings or cousins. no need to mention you never intended it for them, just don't take it over when it's old that is not a nice gesture lol
9) in scotland apparently they're gona introduce food bins, where only waste food has to be stored. these will be collected fornightly. sounds disgusting, im sure it will attract maggots, rats stink. Anyways i thght im gona try not to waste but apparently no food peels can even be put in with general waste otherwise you face a fine. soo...whether i use the compost or not, i think investing in a composter is a good idea, especially if you grow your own food. That way no stinky bin out front or fines.
basically not wasting food is hard work, most of us are too lazy to do it, especially if we;ve been working all day. But when you're in your own home, or you are paying the food bills you will care enough to lose that lazy attitude.
anyone got tips for me please do share?
“O my people! Truly, this life of the world is nothing but a (quick passing) enjoyment, and verily, the hereafter that is the home that will remain forever.” [Ghafir : 39]
Hajjar, this is like what my mum would say.
Anyway, the buy 1 get 1 free are pretty cool for big families.
MAuritian culture, its on meal, eat till finish then another meal. But when we make big meals and people start to get bored then we freeze it and make something new.
Parents instilled the "fear" of wasting food from a young age in us. SO i'm damn-near tears when i find something moudly in the fridge and we usually try to find somebody to blame to throw it in the bin, as just the action is guilt-tripping.
As the eldest i get those weird annoyances parents have passed down to me. I dont know about you, but sometimes i find the fridge MESSY. So i unmessy it and its all neat and i get happy and i close the door and reopen and stare at the tidyness of it all. then you find stuff that needs to be finished (=leftover night) Stuff that need to be thrown away. Stuff that you can stuff down your throat right there and then. No waste!
Most of the time we dont cook what we want. We look at the fridge/veg etc.. and we cook something so that we can use up stuff thats gonna go bad.
Like if there is a lot of different veg we might just make soup (havent had soup in ages!)
MY mum, as a mum, knows how much each kid will eat, hence no waste and when there is leftovers, they are popped in the fridge for tomorrow. Or my dad eat it there and then.
Btw Mez. I'm Lilly. I dont think we've been acquainted. Being hanging around on the site for a few months now and used to come on AGES ago. Nice to meetcha
Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary?
My parents buy meat in bulk, and it doesn't go off. We have two freezers btw.
We do our main shopping on the weekend so no-one is bothered to go shopping for vegetables the day before cooking.
My parents are very much into sales and buy 1 get 1 free so there's no stopping 'em.
Mummy measures everything by hand.
In London there's already optional food waste bins so there is no fine for putting it in general waste atm.
I've learnt to eat small amounts of food at a time rather than taking loads and then throwing half of it away.
we measure with a glass.
and we have one of those black thingy in the back garden where we throw peels and stuff. But my dad got tired coz he's the only one who has to go and put stuff in it.
o.o! OMG! when you open it! there's like ALL those flies coming out!!!! MY dad was saying, one day you're going to open the thing and teh flies are going to take you and drag you down in the compost bin with you.
So at the mo, no more adding to te compost bin, waiting for it to become compost! :S *excited*
Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary?
muslims bro...loool about 2 freezers erm u wouldnt believe me if i told you how many freezers my parents home has...4. that's 3 refrigerators and one deep freeze. personally i think its wastage in itself. it's not about meat going bad ...u could buy meat say a fornight ago, then 2 weeks later buy more of the same meat, and if u dont circulate meat. u could be eating the new stock rather than old. On top of that bills i think its excessive eating and living. Also does meat not have a sell by date coz it's frozen, anyone know, im pretty sure it does? I've noticed red meat can look a lot darker in colour if left in freezer for a long time. i would not want to consume such old meat, even if it was edible.
i remember growing up in 80's one refrigerator was more than enough, why in this day and age do we need more than 1? Truth is we don't we wana stock up thinking about not tomorrow but next month, we've become lazy to the core. it's insane i've come to hate excess in anything but you should understand why i hate it, come on 4 freezers?
i've got one regular refrigetor in my home. usually in bottom you get 4 compartments, and yes we struggle even though i have a small family. But a family friend here has 6 kids and she also managages with 1.We barely have any western frozen food so that helps more room for meat and fish, but even so we do asian shop once a week and get by, but veg is usually shopped for, more often. I don;t think ppl want to make that once a week trip anymore especially for meat, that's the problem.
when i lived next to asian grocery stores i would go out on the morning of cooking get fresh meat and veg, it felt great doing that. But now im not so close to the stores so cant head out with my kids easily. husband does it for me, he says he prefers things fresh. i know not everyone can or will do this. but there are lots of other things we can do to reduce wastage. im mentioned a few, im sure other ppl have pointers.
this is a great topic, ive grown up having excessive amounts of food, and parents holding huge dinner parties all the time. i think they were neglectful of wastage in their bid to be generous to guests and even their kids. So i've learned moderation the hard way out of fear. yes fear, i don't think i realised what a big sin it was wasting food, when i was younger id just bin any food i didnt want. Now its a different story. hopefully my kids won't be ungrateful and ignorant about food wastage like i was, it's a sunnah right?
“O my people! Truly, this life of the world is nothing but a (quick passing) enjoyment, and verily, the hereafter that is the home that will remain forever.” [Ghafir : 39]
hamdoulillah we live NEAR Green Street, so good old butcher not too far. We recently bought a freezer coz the one on top of the fridge is just TOO small.
Havent eaten fish in ages..we dont usually buy fresh except when on sale.
the only "western frozen food" we have is fish fingers, pizza, (sometimes chips) and all them frozen veg (mum) spinach, peach, beans blah blah blah blah, keep those tasteless thing away from us
Me and my dad vs My mum and my bro. Mum complaining about how me and dad eat what we want whenever and dont get fat so we cant talk when she and son have to watch what they eat. I say "well mum...cant help it if we like/enjoy healthy food can we now?" >:)
Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary?
Hmm...
It's not that simple.
Read this.
yep old boy! who knows? you might even know my dad!
Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary?
Hi Lilly, nice to meet you too. It has been away for a while. As you have been here awhile now, I can not ask you the newbie questions that I would usually ask. One of the revival Traditions, not unless somebody else did that for us. Anyways look forward reading your posts.
Mez
Who is the cat of the Forum? MEZ!
Your damn right!
Parents are big on not wasting and everything.
We don't bulk buy cuz everything is within walking distance.
Parents do love special offers though! lol But we only get stuff thats
on special offer if we need it or are definitely going to use it.
Mum doesn't measure food but obivously has an good idea and just knows how much to put in.
We do eat left over food but still throw too much food away aswell :/
and Hajjar - 4 freezers!!
"How many people find fault in what they're reading and the fault is in their own understanding" Al Mutanabbi