Shameful isn't it?

[rustylady]

^ ^ ^ Ancee, I do that too. The kids used to call them Mum's mixtrys

[julesapple]

A child guest once asked me why I had bits and pieces of odd foods in my fridge; some cold sausages, a leftover chop, half an onion etc. Why have you kept things that should be thrown away?

Lunch that day was a sort of frittata. To the eggs I'd added the finely diced sausages and the meat from the chop, the onion, some peppers and a handful of frozen peas. The child was a bit surprised that lunch wasn't a sandwich and that I had cooked something. I had to coax her to even try the frittata as she was most unwilling at first. She did enjoy it eventually and afterwards when asked, I told her that the 'odd bits' of food were in it and she was amazed. Her mother threw all leftovers away as soon as the plates were cleared from the table because it was 'unhygienic'

VVG I think your children are very lucky with their school. It sounds as good as mine was, thirty years ago. My younger two boys went to the same school as the DD, and it has improved since. It did have an excellent catering class but that class was for troublesome kids, not mainstream, and it was fairly concentrated. It was an excellent class and a lot of the kids went on to catering/hospitality. I think that's where almost all of the Food Technology (I think that's what it's called this week) budget was going. Since the teacher who ran that department retired, the standards have got better for the normal classes. The Boy certainly did a lot more practical cookery than his older sister!

I'm always rather taken aback to meet women of my age (46) who say they cannot cook and were never taught either at school or at home. I was brought up with the mantra of 'If there was another war.....' which could end in several ways; If there was another war, you'd be glad of that sausage/egg/lemon peel/whatever or If there was another war you wouldn't throw that away.....waste not want not.

And yes, you're quite right, there is only so much school can teach you. So, perversely, if your parents can't/won't cook then you're up the creek. It's quite sad really.

[PAULW]

When I was growing up born in 55 food was more seasonable as kids we used to look forwards to the oranges coming into the shops and we rarely got a bad one now the supermarkets have oranges in all year round but at certain time the are so acidic you could strip paint with them, the same with tomatoes how tough are sour are these out of season, is it any wonder that so much food is dumped when it is inedible

[binley100]

As I said on another thread , citrus peel, apple cores and peelings go in the freezer to be cooked up for a jelly type thing.........overripe bananas are best for banana cake ....chicken carcass for stock .....any other vegetable type things I cannot find a use for go on the compost heap. Stale cheese or stale bread go out for the birds (as long as they're not mouldy) ..Excess cooked veg can go in soup or the dog ...
As for sell by dates ......most of it is complete tosh as long as you use your eyes and nose to check first,.
My friend gave up being a home ec teacher when they moved away from actually teaching kids to cook but I think they are moving back towards the practical side of things because realisation has set in that there is a whole lot of kids growing up who live on processed food.

[Potstubsdustbins]

My mother had a great way of educating me to eat correctly. First she was a great cook you had to be in the early 50s. Takeaways consisted of a fish and chip shop, full stop, there wern't even fish fingers.

But the show stopper was the first time I left my dinner on my plate when I was about 8. Didn't like it wouldn't eat it. Next morning for breakfast my cold dinner appeared and I was left in no doubt that it would keep appearing until I ate it or died of starvation.

Potty

[binley100]

I remember the first time my mum dished up pasta wheels..........no sauce with them . Three hours I sat at the table ....

She didn't cook them again..........then she discovered spaghetti bolognaise which was yummy

[veggiechicken]

My Mum has never cooked pasta in her life. Rice is only eaten in Rice pudding. Olive oil is put in your ears for wax! The only ready meals she buys are battered fish or a meat pie. Every day she cooks a "proper" meal of meat or fish and fresh veg. Eats lots of fresh fruit. She never wastes food - never!! She doesn't smoke or drink, is very independent, has most of her teeth, goes out every day on the bus somewhere and apart from slowing up a bit with her walking, you wouldn't know she was 92. She also laughs a lot and will talk to anyone!! I'm glad she's my Mum, because she taught me how to be thrifty although I have developed a few bad habits along the way

[Newton]

If there is a positive to be had from this story it is that maybe we are in a better position regarding food production than we think.........

When we learn not to waste as much it can be out to better use throughout the world..........

It is disgusting though that "we" waste so much.

I love morrisons reductions..........they are making my green smoothies really cheap!

[zazen999]

My mother had a great way of educating me to eat correctly. First she was a great cook you had to be in the early 50s. Takeaways consisted of a fish and chip shop, full stop, there wern't even fish fingers.

But the show stopper was the first time I left my dinner on my plate when I was about 8. Didn't like it wouldn't eat it. Next morning for breakfast my cold dinner appeared and I was left in no doubt that it would keep appearing until I ate it or died of starvation.

Potty

My mum did this too - it taught me to like cold food but I've been veggie for 29 years this year so it also taught me to learn reasons not to like certain foods.

Anyway - there is a website to assist people, not that anyone here needs assisting...

Love Food Hate Waste | Stop Food Waste, Find Recipes, Save Money

[Nicos]

Good site Zaz!

[hamsterhead]

.overripe bananas are best for banana cake ....
.

Any overripe bananas we have, which is very rare, go into the freezer and once frozen whizzed up in a blender to make brilliant ice cream

[kentishgal]

I think that reliance on processed foods has done alot to give us a skewed view on food. Its only recently since I started growing fruit and veg and cooking that I have become less wasteful TBH. Growing something yourself then turning it into a tasty dinner makes you pay more attention to potential waste.
Today I noticed that some of the veg in the fridge had gone abit rubbery and before I might have thrown it out but now I turned it into a really tasty roasted veg soup! I can also look at bruised, iffy fruit and see cake potential rather then rubbish....and most stuff I dont use goes to the dogs dinner, bird table or compost bins!!

[legume]

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.

Couldn't agree more. I once read, with an open mouth and incredulous expression, an entire article in a well-known woman's magazine which solemnly informed readers, in meticulous detail, how to wee properly. Yes, really. Oh my god! To think that all these years I've just sat down, had a wee, and pulled my knickers back up. It's a miracle I'm still alive frankly, after performing my urinary functions with such reckless abandon.

And I was also recently curious to note that on one of my bottles of nail polish there is a helpline number so that customers can obtain guidance on 'the most successful and stylish ways to apply this nail polish'. ("So let me get this straight: you're saying NOT on my forehead?")

That said... one woman I work with throws food out at least one to two days before the use by date 'just in case'. She also throws out everything - and I do mean everything - in her fridge and freezer once every month and washes the whole lot down with dettol because 'you can't be too careful'. Too careful about what?! Is there a risk that aubergines are going to leap off the shelf and sink their fangs into her jugular vein?

So who's at fault here? The people with so little basic common sense that they actually need to be constantly guided about basic food hygiene, or the people who constantly over-supply advice on basic functions, making people over-anxious and reliant on 'professional' advice to manage day to day life?

OK, I am going to wipe the spittle off the soap-box now and hand it back...

No, wait: there is one more thing. There was a feature on the news tonight about a 'food boxes' initiative being started in the south east by a local charity, because there are some people - even families with young children - who literally do not have enough money to buy sufficient food to eat to avoid going hungry. They have to be given some food to supplement the little they've got (and boy, are they grateful for it! Tins of spam, sardines, a few potatoes: they will eat anything they are given). Set that against the everyday waste of food due to gluttony and ignorance and yes: it is shameful.

Now I am done with that soap-box.

[binley100]

I blame a lot of it on the EU ...........does it matter if a banana is straight or not? And why do we follow these stupid rules in this country ........go abroad and fruit and veg is not all uniform sized and neatly prepackaged in plastic in their supermarkets. It must have been awful during the war with rationing etc but nobody wasted food or worried about whether their runner beans were straight or curly.

[smallblueplanet]

...Mine got used to the line "eat it up, there are kids starving in Africa!"

That's how I was bought up - not sure they do it now, but you know what, there still are kids starving in Africa.