Shameful isn't it?

[Ananke]

Matt, I regularly stop by Morrison's on my way home, just to check the cheap shelves. I keep my eyes open for reduced cream and milk to make butter and cheese or veg that I can freeze.

Last week they had about 8 punnets of apricots but in each there was only about 2 usable fruits, the others were brown mush so I asked if he would reduce the price again and he said no. No apricot preserve for me, I wouldn't pay the 25p lol. Next morning I stopped in again to pick up some milk and the guy was walking past me pulling along a crate of stuff for the bins and in there were the 8 punnets of apricots. I was really disappointed.

Alison, you are so right about the kids, when we were young you either ate what was on the plate or you didn't eat.

I have to admit that I used to be a terrible shopper when I was first married. I bought food with no real plan on what we would be eating that week and I did waste a lot. Nowadays, I know what I will be cooking each night and buy accordingly and have no waste at all.

[Madasafish]

I love the way supermarkets discount the best bananas: you know. The Really ripe ones. Brown and tender and easily digested.. They sell them at 20p/kg..

On the other hand they charge 68 to 95p for green unripe hard bananas..

And people buy them!

I am afraid some of the survey is rubbish.. Literally Anyone want to eat a soft onion? No thanks.

Or a brown brussel sprout ?
Or a apple with a worm hole in it?

Or potatoes with pits and scabs?

But leaving that aside, look at the sell by date sales - usually on a Friday. A lot of the steaks looks disgusting. I'll happily buy food past its sell by date (we regularly do) but not those where the food is off.

Predicted customer sales exactly is impossible. And customers do not like empty shelves.

Our food waste bin is full every 2-3 days: teabags, banana skins, peelings cores etc.. (I eat apple cores, the rest of the family do not).. No edible food.. And it all goes to the wormery.

[julesapple]

No one has picked up on one of the main reasons that Britons waste food; Marketing.

You're told never to ignore best by, sell by, use by dates. Common sense doesn't come into it. Good marketing encourages avid adherence to these dates. If you stick to the manufacturers' dates rigidly then they will sell more. Two minutes out of date? No, don't eat it, you'll die. Bin it, buy more.

Advertising tells us that we shouldn't be giving children the same meals their parents eat but adapted for them; they need their own special child-friendly meals and you are obviously not a fit parent if you don't buy specialised stuff.

Because of the nanny state generations of consumers are no longer thinking for themselves - they have to be told how to live, what to buy etc etc. Even the schools have stopped teaching cookery and proper nutrition. Also, we are lead to believe that proper vegetables, fruit and meat only come from supermarkets - anything else is deeply suspect. Look at the hoops traders at Farmer's Markets have to go through - the rules & regs make it almost prohibitive to sell farm produce. It's so hard that it's easier not to bother - leave it to the supermarkets.

So called Health & Safety legislation has encouraged all of this in order to line the supermarkets' pockets. It has nothing to do with the health and safety of the consumer, it has everything to do with profit and greed.

[redser]

I've only been growing 3 years and it's been a real eye opener and changed my attitudes completely. Not just about food but other areas of life.
I was as guilty as anyone mentioned on this thread for wasting stuff. I'd look funny at food that wasn't perfect, being used to the perfect specimens on display at the supermarket. Now I want to shout from the rooftops that's it all about bloody marketing! We're not human beings, we're consumers. Cash cows. Well moo to you, corporate mfs, I've got seeds and a freezer and I'm not afraid to use them!

[veggiechicken]

.....and we've got legs and are not afraid to walk away from the big retailers to support our local growers........

[VirginVegGrower]

No one has picked up on one of the main reasons that Britons waste food; Marketing.

You're told never to ignore best by, sell by, use by dates. Common sense doesn't come into it. Good marketing encourages avid adherence to these dates. If you stick to the manufacturers' dates rigidly then they will sell more. Two minutes out of date? No, don't eat it, you'll die. Bin it, buy more.

Advertising tells us that we shouldn't be giving children the same meals their parents eat but adapted for them; they need their own special child-friendly meals and you are obviously not a fit parent if you don't buy specialised stuff.

Because of the nanny state generations of consumers are no longer thinking for themselves - they have to be told how to live, what to buy etc etc. Even the schools have stopped teaching cookery and proper nutrition. Also, we are lead to believe that proper vegetables, fruit and meat only come from supermarkets - anything else is deeply suspect. Look at the hoops traders at Farmer's Markets have to go through - the rules & regs make it almost prohibitive to sell farm produce. It's so hard that it's easier not to bother - leave it to the supermarkets.

So called Health & Safety legislation has encouraged all of this in order to line the supermarkets' pockets. It has nothing to do with the health and safety of the consumer, it has everything to do with profit and greed.

Jules, the schools do still teach Home Ec and nutrition/meal planning is part of that. It's compulsory curriculum for senior school kids until they take their options in Year 9, which it was for me - thirty years before. So I'm afraid there are no excuses. As for parents being marketed and compelled to feed their children different meals from their children - again not true, I suspect parents do it because they can't be bothered to have the argument or cook properly. A shepherds pud takes no time at all, but a friend of mine can't be bothered with that. She works full time (as did I), kids go to a childminder, who feeds them "tea" and once are kids are collected, bathed and in bed, she and hubby have dine in for two. I once asked her why she had kids!
On the subject of sell by dates, however, you're bang on!

[Tripmeup]

I'm with Jules on this one....
( Note to VC: as in, I agree with her, I am not actually at her house or anything like that!!)

[veggiechicken]

I'm with Jules on this one....
( Note to VC: as in, I agree with her, I am not actually at her house or anything like that!!)

As if I'd think that........

[Sheneval]

I'm with Jules on this one....
( Note to VC: as in, I agree with her, I am not actually at her house or anything like that!!)

If Jules had been the Barmaid we wouldn't have believed you!

[julesapple]

The DD did Cookery & Nutrition at school a few years ago. When she chose the subject, I was expecting her to produce a weekly ingredient list that we would need to go out and buy so that she could cook the dishes at school. In the two years in which she took this subject, she cooked about half a dozen times. The dishes were neither edible or healthy. When we went to open evenings, most of the work was about packaging and how to understand what was written on it. Pupils were encouraged to buy convenience foods, not to learn to cook, or to know what constitutes a healthy nutritious meal.

The syllabus had changed by the time #2 Son took the same subject four years later, but the emphasis was still on convenience meals instead of cooking from scratch. The theory was that the students would be too busy working to have time to cook, so they would need to know which were the best convenience foods to buy.

I still believe that there are fewer and fewer young people out there who know how to think for themselves. Common sense is a misnomer. My mother is a fabulous cook and she taught me. I was also taught by two of the best Home Ec teachers going. I have passed on everything I know to my children. However, there are people out there who don't cook and don't have any skills to pass on. This seems to be the norm these days and then, of course, you can add in the laziness too. I also think it's harder now that the norm means both parents are working all hours.

[julesapple]

If Jules had been the Barmaid we wouldn't have believed you!

So what are you saying? I'm not as good looking as that barmaid?

[VirginVegGrower]

The DD did Cookery & Nutrition at school a few years ago. When she chose the subject, I was expecting her to produce a weekly ingredient list that we would need to go out and buy so that she could cook the dishes at school. In the two years in which she took this subject, she cooked about half a dozen times. The dishes were neither edible or healthy. When we went to open evenings, most of the work was about packaging and how to understand what was written on it. Pupils were encouraged to buy convenience foods, not to learn to cook, or to know what constitutes a healthy nutritious meal.

The syllabus had changed by the time #2 Son took the same subject four years later, but the emphasis was still on convenience meals instead of cooking from scratch. The theory was that the students would be too busy working to have time to cook, so they would need to know which were the best convenience foods to buy.

I still believe that there are fewer and fewer young people out there who know how to think for themselves. Common sense is a misnomer. My mother is a fabulous cook and she taught me. I was also taught by two of the best Home Ec teachers going. I have passed on everything I know to my children. However, there are people out there who don't cook and don't have any skills to pass on. This seems to be the norm these days and then, of course, you can add in the laziness too. I also think it's harder now that the norm means both parents are working all hours.

Then mine must go to an exceptional school as they get a list and do theory work on a Monday and cook/do practical on a Friday; every week. We have had beef stew, garlic chicken, Christmas cake recently, a cooked breakfast, savory scones, the list goes on. The schools have to pick up the slack where parents can't be bothered. The buck really stops with the parent in my eyes. But the kind of foods I cook, I was never shown. I think as in many things, you have a natural ability in certain things, not so in others. The schools can't teach everybody everything. Parents should!

[northepaul]

I think I can sum it up with this:

Someone at work brought in a fruit basket for her birthday to share, acouple of people had the odd apple or orange but by hometime most of the fruit was still there. When I went in (after eyeing up the apples/plums/pears etc) one woman was complaining that the person who had brought the fruit in was a cheapskate for not bringing in a cake (as usual.)
I pointed out that the apples looked really nice and she scoffed at me "Apples? I cant stand them! Infact I dont like any fruit!" when asked why she said that she'd had an apple as a child and it was sour, so she never touched them again.....

(She takes a size 30 clothes and has trouble moving about....need I say more? )

[Tripmeup]

So what are you saying? I'm not as good looking as that barmaid?

Do you remember that barmaid Jules ???

Believe me, you dont want to be as "good looking" as her !!!!

[ancee]

My two kids - and I am not lying, love the food I make with the left overs from the day before! I go a bit Delia, flinging stuff into a pan with gay abandon, taste it, add something else equally as random, and serve it up! When asked what it is I give the food a name (usually Steve, John, Dave) as food is supposed to have a name, lasagne, shepherds pie etc. The only disappointment is they love it and I can't ever make it again as I wasn't watching what I was doing!