A bit of a pondering about us throwing away a lot of food

I think you're right. As my 50 year old colleague always tells me whenever I'm having a bit of a panic about out of date items, "we didn't have best before dates in my day, and I'm still alive!"

Judging by the posts on hitched there's a lot of people who don't know how to tell if food has gone off or if they do don't trust themselves and rely on best before dates. Perhaps with increased processing we have lost track of what "real" food looks like as much and expect meat to be bright red and apples to have perfect skin etc.

I also think ecomonic wealth has something to do with it along with the availability of cheep food. I know I don't bother saving most left overs (not that there ever is much left over in our house) and don't think twice about eating out or eating what I fancy even when I have other food in that needs to be used up. I certainly didn't do that as a student!

I know I thow away a whole lot less food than I use to.

The difference is I now work part-time and menu plan each week. I have a list of everything in my store cupboard and freezer which I update regularly and I cook using what I have got rather than buying lots of new ingredients each week.

I appreciate that not everyone has the time to do this though. In my opinion, we do live in a throw away society these days and there is no reason why that wouldn't extend to food I suppose.

I'm another who will eat something past it's date after a quick sniff and look test. I don't throw an awful lot out TBH. My biggest culprit is fresh fruit and veg, in particular cucumbers and mangos. I only throw it away if it is completely unusable and soggy, or after it has festered in the fridge for a good while, stinking most things out ?

Mr Chunk used to be a bit religious about dates. He preferred not to cook with something slightly past the date, but would gladly eat and enjoy something I prepared. I've trained him though, and will only throw things out if they truly are inedible, which again, really leaves the fresh produce.

I think the BBE dates might be part of it, but I also think we mostly have too much money, so don't (as a rule) have to really think about what we buy and cook, or how to eke several meals out of one piece of meat.

Essentially we don't learn proper home economics, which is essentially how to plan, budget for and cook a balanced diet for a period of time.

So perhaps more food ed at school, would that work? We never really did proper food technology. Or should it be taught at home? I can cook and bake because I've learnt from my Mum and Grandma.

I used to go mad at uni when my flat mates would throw things like parmesan away cos it was past the date, there was absolutely nothing wrong with it!

Not sure I agree. I was brought up like this - my mum is naturally frugal and my godmother, who lived with us and cooked a lot, was absurdly frugal and simply refused to throw anything away - she treated her body like a dustbin, bless her. So when I was living alone I reacted by not giving a toss and happily binning stuff I didn't want or was 5 minutes past its BBD. It's only recently that I've caught the waste not, want not bug.

I also think supermarket shopping has a lot to do with it, years ago we used to shop daily, whereas now we tend to go once a week. We also pop to the supermarket for one thing and come out with loads.

I would say that a significant proportion of the current generation of parents don't have the skills to pass on but i'm not sure how effectively it can be taught in school. you can educate a child but they don't usually make the food choices at home.

i think its a symptom of a percieved time poor society that doesn't have time to plan their week, doesn't see why they should, don't eat meat with bones or fat, happily shop without a list and with good intentions once a week and then buy a takeaway or ready meal a few nights to save time, chucking away the fresh stuff.

i think pre packed veg is a bad idea - you buy a kilo of onions and a couple sprout before you can use them but its easier to pick the bag than pick up 2 onions loose. same with 2.5kg potatoes in bags etc.

people can also afford to waste food now.

Why can't I quote?

Anyway, I agree with the supermarket comment, but perhaps from a different angle. Many things from the supermarket are pre-packed and therefore labelled, whereas when we bought from e.g. fruit and veg market everything came in a paper bag and it was up to you to determine whether it was edible or not. I also think people lack skills to use up things that are past their best e.g. baking with over ripe bananas etc.

I think it's probably a combination of factors - lack of knowledge and prepacked food do come into it, I think. I'm obessively frugal and Monday meals generally consist of soup made from leftover veg and sandwiches from the remains of the Sunday roast -it's probably too easy to throw things away rather than turn it into another meal for many people. But then I am a lazy swine and would cook a large pot of something for a few day's meals (or the freezer) rather than get in and cook from Monday to Thursday.

I don't go by use by dates - I use the "see and sniff" method!

Meal planning has definitely cut down the amount of food we waste, and the amount we buy. We started for practical reasons, rather than economic ones (shops here are only open for limited hours, and as we both work we can really only shop on a Saturday - no popping down to little Tesco to get what we fancy that evening), but I have been very imrpessed by how much we save.