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Food - How much do you waste? (1 Viewer)

IC FBGCav

IC FBGCav

Footballguy
We waste more than I would like to admit.   Much my our fault but what the heck are you supposed to do with crappy produce?

 
any leftover/soon to expire produce we have gets tossed into the juicer - not always for the faint of heart, as a banana/lettuce/beets/lemon/tomato smoothie is no ####### bargain on the innards - but it beats the #### outta tossing it  :shrug:

 
otb_lifer said:
any leftover/soon to expire produce we have gets tossed into the juicer - not always for the faint of heart, as a banana/lettuce/beets/lemon/tomato smoothie is no ####### bargain on the innards - but it beats the #### outta tossing it  :shrug:
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Man that sounds bad but much props for not wasting.

 
Not too much.  My wife and kids devour our leftovers.  We're worse with bread and milk.  Without the college boy in the house these two things just don't get eaten fast.  Thank goodness American cheese has a long expiration date or we'd be chucking that too.

 
otb_lifer said:
any leftover/soon to expire produce we have gets tossed into the juicer - not always for the faint of heart, as a banana/lettuce/beets/lemon/tomato smoothie is no ####### bargain on the innards - but it beats the #### outta tossing it  :shrug:
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there's a composting station set up by our subway stop. but that means teaching the wife not to throw it all away first. or just dump it into the sink... despite our lack of garbage disposal, which after 15 years she still apparently hasn't figured out.

 
Not much. If things get a bit old, I have a dog that will happily help out ;)

Re leafy produce, I buy very little short lifespan stuff, and if I do buy it I have a plan on how to use it

 
Very little. We are really particular with using up as much as possible. I'll freeze someolder veggies and throw them in when boiling some chicken for chicken salad or other things. We even save old bread and toss them to some birds in the park on occasion.  I hate wasting food.

 
Hardly any.  Immediately cook and eat or blend/juice any produce that is starting to turn.  Actually want the bananas to go bad so we can make banana bread.  Have a large freezer to freeze meat.  Vacuum seal other perishables for the freezer.  Also into canning most of the produce from the garden after harvest.  Have a potato/onion/garlic box in a cool dark spot in the garage, if I didn't have too many projects already I would build a root cellar.  

 
Food for thought: with a perfect distribution system and no household overpurchases we'd have no hunger in the world

(Me, and FAO) just saying...

 
Godsbrother said:
We throw away so much produce it is ridiculous.  Just don't get around to eating it all.
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This used to be my family, but we bought a Vitamix and now I'd say we waste 80% less. 

 
Juxtatarot said:
I doesn't have to be perfect.  What type of produce to you buy that's bad?
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I feel like a lot of stuff we buy looks great in the store (Whole Foods or gourmet market inside our building) and quickly looks and tastes like #### the second it gets home. the wife is convinced it has to do with the stores freezing the produce and somehow thawing (or "dethawing" as she likes to say) during the day the set it out... completely "dethawed" by the time it gets home and finally showing all the bruises etc.

 
I live alone and like to cook.  Unfortunately, it is impossible to shop for one person.  I end up throwing away a ton of food.  I swear it would be easier for me just to eat out everyday. 

 
Juxtatarot said:
I doesn't have to be perfect.  What type of produce to you buy that's bad?
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Yesterday, corn that had no taste and honeydew, watermelon and cantaloupe tray where the dew and lope were below par but I ate them.  Corn got tossed.

 
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To put it in terms of cost:  If you didn't waste you could afford meat from the butcher and the best fresh produce from farms for roughly the same cost.  At least that's how I look at it, plus all the added health benefits.

 
FatUncleJerryBuss said:
Man that sounds bad but much props for not wasting.
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well, i may have embellished just a tad on the combos, but we did do that one i mentioned a couple times - a kind of "gross out" dare w/my gf - and we both successfully sucked 'em down. 

she is very good at compartmentalizing the produce for redistribution in soups/smoothies, etc.   can't honestly think of the last time we threw any out. 

TIP FOR THE BOOZERS- i did try a "BloodHound" one hungover Sunday afternoon - Vodka/Tomato/Grapefruit ... at first i was all  :X  - but, once the buzz hit, it was all  :pickle:

 
Personally, I waste very little.  It's a big pet peeve of mine.  I'll also offer to finish others' instead of seeing them waste it. Most often my wife, who is a huge culprit. 

Hence the chubbiness. 

 
Zow said:
Personally, I waste very little.  It's a big pet peeve of mine.  I'll also offer to finish others' instead of seeing them waste it. Most often my wife, who is a huge culprit. 

Hence the chubbiness. 
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my wife calls me the seagull for doing this to her and the kids' plates. also chubby. :lofive:

 
Probably 25% of what we buy.  Maybe more.  I am out of town a lot and I am not sure I really want to know.  I am the only one in the house who can eat leftovers.

 
Funny this has come up. Last week as I finished off my plate, I made mention that I dont waste enough food. I did better over the weekend though. 

 
Nugget said:
Probably 25% of what we buy.  Maybe more.  I am out of town a lot and I am not sure I really want to know.  I am the only one in the house who can eat leftovers.
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BS. Anyone can eat leftovers. You're the only one in the house that doesnt take everything for granted and refuse to eat leftovers....but I digress. 

 
Not a ton. I think key here is buying the right mix of fresh/frozen product and good meal planning.  

 
Used to waste a ton of produce.  Now I usually go to the produce market on Sunday morning.  When I get home I take 30 minutes or so to wash, cut, clean and separate all the produce so it is ready to eat.  Since then we use almost all of our produce.   If I open the crisper and it is sitting there in the plastic bags I bought it I never feel like cleaning and eating it. When it is ready to eat it is gone.

 
I like to think not much.

Maybe a small amount of produce and pasta each week if I don't get around to preparing it. I generally try to buy small amounts of fresh food frequently to avoid waste.

 
sbonomo said:
Outside of peas, I cannnot eat frozen vegies.  They just taste so stringy/blah.
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I buy most of my meat frozen from local farmers, this allows me to get higher quality protein and without the risk of waste at the same cost.

Most veggies I will get fresh, but will plan the portions correctly.  I don't use very many frozen veggies at all. 

 
Quite a bit. I tend to buy too much at once. Produce in particular. If I had a bigger freezer that would probably help.

 
Our crows, squirrels & groundhogs are big enough to be in Jules Verne movies. In fact, our crows are big enough to direct one.

 
Nugget said:
Probably 25% of what we buy.  Maybe more.  I am out of town a lot and I am not sure I really want to know.  I am the only one in the house who can eat leftovers.
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I hear people say this all the time, but I dont get it. If you make good food, you have good leftovers. :shrug:

When I go to the grocery store, I always ask my kids "what do you want for your lunches" and they always answer "LEFTOVERS!".

To answer the original question though, we waste very little. Maybe one piece of produce a month, one or two dairy items a year, and I dont recall every throwing away meat? Its mostly the result of good planning/cooking and the fact that we eat 90% of our meals at home.

 
We waste a lot and it drives me up a wall.  We are trying to be better about it by creating menus but with two full time jobs and two kids it's hard to stick to a firm schedule.  And then some of the menu items often lead to us purchasing additional ingredients that becomes waste when we don't follow through.  

I actually have a grocery app idea that I'd like to create to address this problem.  Any programmers here want to go into business and make billions?  

 
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I waste more than I'd like also. Because I am unable to drive (medically) I am only able to shop once a week. I have to then purchase enough for 5 (3 teens) for the week. Sometimes we have unexpected events that cause me to have to vary my meals or we have to go out due to need for quickness. Part of me dislikes frozen meat, mostly because I tend to forget to take it out, and am forced to try and thaw it quickly; one of the problems with this is the annoying quickness that raw chicken goes bad.

 
Raise hand, but mostly the wives fault.  She always buys way too much produce/fruits, etc thinking she's going to eat healthy and then it goes to waste.  I tell her to only pick up 3-4 bananas, yet she insist on getting a big bunch when it always ends with only me eating them.  Yes I hate over-ripe bananas...Like mentioned above for some reason I'm the only one that can eat left-overs...oh and then there are the other staples like meat that goes bad because she has to have it yet is too tired to cook it so we go out to eat and then it goes bad...

 
yak651 said:
Raise hand, but mostly the wives fault.  She always buys way too much produce/fruits, etc thinking she's going to eat healthy and then it goes to waste.  I tell her to only pick up 3-4 bananas, yet she insist on getting a big bunch when it always ends with only me eating them.  Yes I hate over-ripe bananas...Like mentioned above for some reason I'm the only one that can eat left-overs...oh and then there are the other staples like meat that goes bad because she has to have it yet is too tired to cook it so we go out to eat and then it goes bad...
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Banana Bread! Yummy, easy to make, freezable. It is best made with very ripe bananas, easier to mash.

ETA: Always add chocolate chips, much better!

 
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The thing that drives me crazy with this is my kids' fickle tastes. I buy a bunch of bananas and they're eaten in 2 days. So I buy another bunch, and they only eat 2 bananas and the rest rot. 

Same thing with yogurt, clementines, cheese sticks, kiwi. Sometimes they scarf them down, other times they barely touch them. 

ETA: Potato chips never go to waste. Who'd have thunk it? 

 
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Luckily the wife and I have a grocery store a mile from the house, so that helps with the waste. We'll buy our staples on our weekend trip (coffee, almond milk, granola bars, bread, etc...).  Then we pretty much buy meat and veggies for the meal and subsequent leftovers since we don't have to go far to get them.  

The things we do tend to waste are fruits / veggies. I like Spinach and tomato on sandwiches, but rarely get through all of it. We normally buy only 2-3 bananas at a time, but without fail the last one of the bunch will have gone bad. 

 
MikeIke said:
The thing that drives me crazy with this is my kids' fickle tastes. I buy a bunch of bananas and they're eaten in 2 days. So I buy another bunch, and they only eat 2 bananas and the rest rot. 

Same thing with yogurt, clementines, cheese sticks, kiwi. Sometimes they scarf them down, other times they barely touch them. 

ETA: Potato chips never go to waste. Who'd have thunk it? 
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:goodposting:

Sounds awfully familiar!!

 
WAY too much. It's shameful. Usually in leftovers that don't get eaten but a lot in food that simply goes bad. It seems like we clean out our fridge completely every 6 - 9 months and we still find stuff over two years old. Our cupboard is like time travel. I find stuff and go "they don't even use that label any more".

 
sbonomo said:
I live alone and like to cook.  Unfortunately, it is impossible to shop for one person.  I end up throwing away a ton of food.  I swear it would be easier for me just to eat out everyday. 
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In the same situation, but without much waste. I cook about 3 times a week and eat leftovers the other days. I plan my cooking to have versatile leftovers, so I can mix and match.

Oh, and :hifive: on the frozen veggies and peas. In general I don't buy frozen or canned stuff, with tomato paste the lone exception

 
yak651 said:
Raise hand, but mostly the wives fault.  She always buys way too much produce/fruits, etc thinking she's going to eat healthy and then it goes to waste.  
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Not to defend your wife...  I throw out a lot of fruits and veggies.  I know I should eat more of them, and less vending machine chips.  If I don't have apples and bananas around, there is a 100% chance I snack on chips.  With the apples, probably 50% chance  I eat healthy.  Maybe some weeks 90-100%

Wasting food is BS - there is enough to go around.

 
When I cook , we hardly ever waste food cause I will always bring the leftovers into work.  When my wife cooks different story kids barely eat their food, and that's why we have dogs, although sometimes they won't eat it either.  

 
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