[Steph Hen]

I have a dog and chickens and a caste iron gut and am creative in the kitchen so don't really understand food waste. The only thing I am guilty of is leaving a stripped chicken carcass in the oven which I've forgotten to make stock from or finding a couple of soggy carrots or potatoes under the veg... But since it's home grown isn't so bad.

I read a book about cooks from around 1930s or so. They'd leave game till it was full of maggots. I have rediscoverd that Even meat that is properly high and gag worthy is perfectly safe once cooked, and really tasty, so no need to steer clear of the discounted joints at the supermarket if you don't want to. -just seen northfifeducklings post, I've only done this with beef and pork so far.

It is true that loads gets "wasted" before it gets into the system by being misshapen and stuff... But lots of this gets spread back on fields, so it's kinda just composting on a larger scale. With some things like carrots, if they're sold dirty they last way longer than those that are washed, but people seem to want the clean washed ones.

[northfifeduckling]

Steph, I agree to a certain extent, "well hung" game is quite a different thing from battery raised and cling-filmed meat these days! No pheasant will give you Salmonella 

[JulieWall]

We shouldn't be importing food from some of these places as by doing so we are also importing their water supply. The best way to eat is to use seasonal produce grown as locally as possible, the more we can do that the better for everyone.
Putting people out of work is a moot point if the food production itself is depriving them of their own land and food. There are too many places in the world where the people have barely any water because it is all diverted to grow luxury crops such as asparagus or Kenya beans. The only way to prevent this injustice is for the likes of us to stop buying them, read the labels and consider the origin of the product. Be an ethical shopper and have a fridge purge twice a week, you'll have some very inventive meals that way too.

[Cactus Jack]

I live in an orange and mandarin growing area and about 1/3 of all the fruit is rejected because it is too small or the skin is marked. It is either left to rot on the ground or piled up and burned.
I asked around this year if I could collect the 'bad' fruit for my animals and they all said just go ahead and help yourself.
Most of the fruit I juiced and fed the pigs with the rest, none of it was bad!
Just this week I was given three crates of peaches that had marks on the skins. Approx 30 kilos of waste fruit? I gave a load away and me and the pigs and my donkeys enjoyed the rest. None of it was bad!
If some of the ridiculous regulations were changed or removed altogether, there would be a lot less waste.

[ZaktheLad]

It's a crazy world    3 crates of peaches - yummy!

[JulieWall]

A friend of mine used to get citrus peel delivered by the lorry load for their cattle when they lived in Lincolnshire.

[Ina]

It is true that loads gets "wasted" before it gets into the system by being misshapen and stuff... But lots of this gets spread back on fields, so it's kinda just composting on a larger scale.

I actually think most of the waste happens before it gets to the consumer. Having worked for a local veg producer for the past 5 years (mostly just packing veg boxes once a week), I know how impossible it is to produce just what is needed: you don't know in advance what the weather will be like - how many customers you will have - how much you'll lose due to an attack of various pests - what other influences there may be to change the demand side of it... And the same goes for the large producers. They can cancel orders at will, and then the farmer is stuck with produce they can't sell, even if it is perfect. (I remember the times I worked for a fruit grower, and how often he was desperate because his perfect strawberries were rejected - just because the demand wasn't there that particular day... But the cost for growing/picking had been incurred.)

A lot of loss that incurs in other countries is also due to lack of proper storage facilities (I'm thinking of developing countries here - if they have a good harvest, they don't necessarily have the means to provide secure storage to protect from pests).

"Gleaners" are these days addressing some of the problem (there was something on BBC recently - sorry, won't let me post the link). But that's only really feasible in fairly densely populated areas.

To get back to the problem of shelf life and modern technology: our household must have been the last to get a fridge back in the late 60s; we never lost food - my mother was far too canny for that! Raw milk didn't go "off", either - it went thick and was eaten like yoghurt. And I am sure I've been throwing out less since I got rid of my fridge and freezer a few years ago. You just buy differently and keep a closer eye on what you have if you know you can't rely on technology for it to keep. (And no, I don't go shopping daily - more like fortnightly.)

[RUSTYME]

I waste very little , can't afford to . Being the one who grows , buys , cooks and dishes up what i eat , i know exactly what i want and how much .
Between me and the dogs nothing goes to waste . Stale bread goes out for the birds , if they can get it before the dogs .
I find bought sausages can go a bit iffy , but the dogs still eat them with no side affects , very rarely happens though .
If i make too much mashed spud , i will just reheat the next day , or fry for bubble and squeek . I only ever cook what spaghetti and rice i will eat in one meal , same with veg .
Living with hardly any money , and growing your own food , makes you think about food waste .
 Many , these days , buy huge amounts of food at the supermarket , how do they eat so much ? Why eat so much ?
I am not a foodie , but it seems that many , if  not most , are .
 It seems like
an  obsession , a constant stream of kack going down their gullets , they must spend more on loo roll than i do on food .
Life has been easy for a long time , and we have changed lifestyle , and
live a throw away lifestyle ( being a womble i don't ) .
The times they are a changing though , many are in for a big shock .

[Marches Farmer]

I can't remember when we last "wasted" any food but we have a holiday cottage on the farm and the amount of wasted food in the guest's dustbin is truly staggering.  Perhaps if they knew how much hard work goes into producing it .....?  We always look in the last wastebin liner they threw out when they were emptying the fridge before leaving. Our dogs dine royally some nights!  Mind you, they sometimes also drink more alcohol in a week than our whole family gets through in a year, but that's another story .....

[Ina]

Our dogs dine royally some nights!  Mind you, they sometimes also drink more alcohol in a week than our whole family gets through in a year, but that's another story .....

What - your dogs??? Oh dear...

I agree - I don't waste anything, either. But then I know how it's produced, and have been involved in that for most of my life... I still think a year on a farm should be compulsory for everybody! (But then I also think a year on a bicycle should be compulsory for everybody who wants to get a licence to drive a car...  )

The only thing that sometimes gets "wasted" (i.e. composted)  in my household is veg or fruit that had been graded out - I sometimes can't resist "rescuing" those items after the veg packing, and occasionally it's just more than I can eat... I do often give surplus to neighbours, too.

[Steph Hen]

Another tiny thing I've noticed, semi skimmed milk goes 'off' faster than whole milk. Whole milk tastes and smells exactly the same several days after it's use by date.

[john and helen]

To answer fleece woman's original post…the world is not a community, well not in a friendly helpful thinking way..
its simply a greedy group of power crazy people who couldn't arrange a p/// up in a brewery, by keeping people hungry allows a hold on countries, ..why is it, the leaders of those countries always look well fed and drive around in nice cars ,wearing expensive clothing and jewellery ,

we are wasteful, simply because we can be..if we couldn't , we wouldn't…
it got me thinking the other day ,when i saw a cartoon strip with a little coloured lad speaking to a little white lad, the title was….you poo into water, what clean water …..

how would things change, if we all started to be ..lets say more careful  and more considerate, on the way we buy food,,, it would be lovely to think all that surplus food could be sent to the starving, but that then would cause another problem….they would be dependent of free food, would they really want to start helping themselves…

and something tells me, certain greedy powerful groups, would start to pinch the food and sell it on the black market, actually we all know that happens now…

is it a shame the world wastes so much, yes coarse it is…but i can't see how we can make any difference, without getting rid of the greedy and powerful idiots that run this world

[northfifeduckling]

yes, many years ago I saw a childrens' movie on TV with Bette Midler that raised the issue of speculators in food and how they keep people poor and hungry...I was shocked then and still am... this should absolutely be banned. Food is not a commodity for bankers to play with. I am so glad I am growing some of mine myself - really appreciating every leaf of lettuce I don't have to buy!

[shygirl]

we honestly barely waste food, with 4 kids, 4 dogs, goats etc nothing gets wasted and on unedible veg/eggs shells get composted. we rarely have food in the cupboard long enough to even go close to its sell by. we do sometimes use "approved food", which helps stop food wastage too.
i really dont understand how it happens, im sure they must have too much money.
.

[JulieWall]

It's easy to see why it happens, you only have to walk round a supermarket. There are so many seductive offers selectively placed at eye level so that people buy more than they need. We all know the saying about not going shopping when you're hungry but despite heeding that I still find myself having to remember that cut priced salt and sugar are just cut priced toxins (not a rant, it's just how I discipline myself).
What is it about bogof selling that is so seductive? Are they preying on our lust for a bargain? If we really wanted/needed these items they would be the grocery list before we left home, and yet we buy them because they are 'on offer'. It's fine with household products and non-perishables that I would buy routinely as it saves money but so much of it is perishable food.
Whole companies are employed by supermarkets to manufacture situations we consumers can't resist, it's big business. They don't produce anything, don't make any contribution, just focus on advertising and product placement. They study our buying patterns in order to subtly manoeuvre us into making their preferred decisions and get paid handsomely for doing so.
It's a good discipline to make a list and stick to it if you can but you'll need to go round the shops wearing blinkers