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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Western Canada-prairies, mountain & ocean
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    6,984

    Food waste during holidays & beyond

    We watched this documentary about food waste : http://www.foodwastemovie.com/about/ from restaurants, producers..and from us, residents who may buy too much food. Not surprising it's shocking amount of perfectly good food we throw out because it doesn't look "aesthetically" perfect, etc.

    In the film, couple met their goal of eating from perfectly good food salvaged from dumpsters in Metro Vancouver for 6 consecutive months. This is food still in their packaging, not broken into.

    Occasionally I forget to drink up last 1/4 c. of warmed milk and feel guilty pouring it down the drain next morning.
    Having restaurant food dishes that are too large doesn't help if one doesn't take leftovers home.

    Every time before I go on vacation, I try to eat up perishable food in fridge. THis time I succeeded only 90%. My freezer isn't as large as the fridge appears from outside.
    My Personal blog on cycling & other favourite passions.
    遙知馬力日久見人心 Over a long distance, you learn about the strength of your horse; over a long period of time, you get to know what’s in a person’s heart.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Troutdale, OR
    Posts
    2,600
    It is really sad to see so much waste. But what I am curious is how does one go about setting expiration date on food? Some of it is set by the government but how do they figure? Is it some arbitrary number? And what if it is not stored properly?

    Consumers have become accustomed to expect blemish free, really pretty looking food. I'm guilty of that too. And the biggest enabler for food waste is your giaga-enormous fridge. Next biggest culprit is big box stores and mega grocery stores. It is just too easy to overbuy food and haul all of it back to the house.

    If everyone's kitchen is as small as "Little Paris Kitchen" BBC show with Rachel Khoo, maybe we would have less waste. Look how small her fridge is!! Too bad the series didn't last all that long. It is just amazing what she can do with two burner stove and what comes out of her tiny fridge and out of her tiny tiny kitchen!!

    And yes, shocking movie but well worth it. And yes as a farmer, its really sad to see nearly half of it goes to feed our birds, animals and us. It's perfectly good but its got few bug holes or bruises... And they want it dirt cheap, chemical free and out of season. What! season for food you ask? It just amazes me that many have no clue as to when produce becomes available or what time of the year. No you can't have zucchini in November, Dec, Jan... and no we don't grow ginger or papaya...

    Thanks for posting the link to the video.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Western Canada-prairies, mountain & ocean
    Posts
    6,984
    The film indicated in North America that up to 30% of food waste...is from homes.

    As for the expiration dates..it depends on product. They are indicators not absolutes. ie. eating something a few days after expiry will not kill you if it was properly stored in the lst place. I do dig into my yogurt to finish the tub when it's a few days after expiry. One has to look at the food /smell it first. My stomach might be abit more iron... I do cut out and discard parts of fruit that is damaged, overly ripe, etc.

    As for size of fridge, it would depend if people in a family regularily cooked from scratch vs. resorting to impulse buying of fast food, etc. For certain a big family ie. 4 children or more, need a big fridge PLUS a walk-in cold pantry to save money from bulk purchasing.

    Yea, smilingcat even my partner, the ex-farmer does sometimes expect the blemish free veggie/fruit as a consumer. And I should discard spaghetti sauce jar from 5 years ago.

    According to my partner's son who runs a butcher and sandwich shop, there's not much waste from his shop. Well, that's what he tells his father who lives thousands of km. away. However he does offer chicken, bone marrow broths, pates, different handmade sausages, meat pies and they have on-site supper clubs, to deal with all these smaller cuts of meat and bones.

    It is amazing how much people will pay for chicken or beef broth when they know it really was prepared from the bone sources. But hey, how many people want to buy even half a chicken to make a pot of broth, especially for 1-2 people?
    Last edited by shootingstar; 12-29-2017 at 08:21 AM.
    My Personal blog on cycling & other favourite passions.
    遙知馬力日久見人心 Over a long distance, you learn about the strength of your horse; over a long period of time, you get to know what’s in a person’s heart.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Concord, MA
    Posts
    13,394
    That is kind of what I face, Shooting Star. Most recipes are for 4. I sometimes cut them down, other times, I will use a leftover for lunch. I just started doing this, as I dislike eating the same things in a week, except for stuff like eggs, bread, veggies, or fruit. I have a couple of larger frozen left overs (pasta with veggies and a bean/quinoa stew) that I need to use. Sometimes they get so freezer burned, I throw them out. I am pretty good at figuring out the perishables, though.
    2015 Trek Silque SSL
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  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Traveling Nomad
    Posts
    6,763
    One thing about living in an RV with a 7 cubic foot fridge is that it has cured us of overbuying perishables! We do have a decent size pantry that stays pretty full of non-perishables, but we have to rotate things (other than condiments) in and out of our fridge and freezer pretty quickly. At the grocery, we always have to think about whether we'll be able to store cold items before we buy too much. We can only keep about one meal worth of leftovers in the fridge or freezer, so we don't make big pots of anything any more; and we don't even have the huge pots we used to to make such things. Our largest sauce pot is 2.5 quarts, and our crockpot is 1.5 qt. Our saute pans are medium sized, and we make most casserole type dishes in an 8x8 casserole (four servings or two meals). So not much food waste in our tiny house!
    Emily

    2011 Jamis Dakar XC "Toto" - Selle Italia Ldy Gel Flow
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  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Troutdale, OR
    Posts
    2,600
    Quote Originally Posted by emily_in_nc View Post
    One thing about living in an RV with a 7 cubic foot fridge is that it has cured us of overbuying perishables! We do have a decent size pantry that stays pretty full of non-perishables, but we have to rotate things (other than condiments) in and out of our fridge and freezer pretty quickly. At the grocery, we always have to think about whether we'll be able to store cold items before we buy too much. We can only keep about one meal worth of leftovers in the fridge or freezer, so we don't make big pots of anything any more; and we don't even have the huge pots we used to to make such things. Our largest sauce pot is 2.5 quarts, and our crockpot is 1.5 qt. Our saute pans are medium sized, and we make most casserole type dishes in an 8x8 casserole (four servings or two meals). So not much food waste in our tiny house!
    Love to hear it. This is why we went with 3qt Instant Pot. Like you, I only fill it with about 1-1/2 qt of stew/soup. Not much left over. We are getting better. Something are not as easy as in head of broccoli or cauliflower.

 

 

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