Recently, I read that something like 25% of all food purchased
is thrown away.  This does not include food scraps like carrot tops --
just edible food that could have been eaten.  This percentage seems
awfully high.  So i got thinking about where kitchen waste comes
from and how to reduce it.

Do you waste a lot of uneaten food?  What do you do to reduce wasted
food in your kitchen?

15 responses total.

    yikes!!!  That could go to feed a lot of people. I particularly, try to
buy/prepare just enough for 1 meal and possibly some leftovers. I do, include
space for leftovers in my food budget for the week. I do know some people who
refuse to eat leftovers (even after 1 hour). But, I am guilty of tossing out 
some food that I knew that could have been givto the hungry.

   When I am driving, if I *do* buy too much, I give the leftovers to my
sister, or to a homeless person if I happen to cross thier path. I have a 
"menu" set and try to abide by it daily.

We don't waste a lot (certainly not 25%), but some waste is
unavoidable.  I think you have to plan your meals around what you
purchase.  For example, if you buy sour cream, but only need half of
it for what you're making today, think of what you can make within the
next week that will use the rest of it.

I recently tossed out a signicant amount of "hairy" food from the 'fridge.
It's really annoying to see good leftovers turn moldy.  My son refuses to
eat leftovers.  As such, I quit worrying about making things that he likes
and have concentrated on making dishes that result in good leftovers for
myself.  In my experience, it's not good to keep more than about two 
dishes worth of leftovers in the fridge.  More than that tend to get pushed
back to the back and forgotten.  

re 2: ja, when i started planning my meals and making shopping lists
the amount of moldy ingredients i threw away went waaaaay down.
buying food in bulk at the co-op helps, too, because i can buy
exactly the amount i plan to use.

 The ONLY time I have thrown out non-spoiled food in my house is when I made
a big pile of spaghetti & garlic bread for myself (my son had already eaten
his dinner), and my son swiftly jumped up on the couch, stole 2 pieces of 
garlic bread, & ran off with it.

        There was a lot of leftover spaghetti when I was done eating, and I 
made a deliberate effort to let my 2.5 year old kid see me dump the pasta into
the sink's garbage disposal (SOP is usually to give him any leftovers).

(standard reminder: tnt's "son" is a Vietnamese potbelied pig)

I just invite keats over. Never have to worry about leftovers that
way...

We have Damon.  His nick-name is Hoover for a very good reason.  (As in give
it to the Hoover.)

keats did the stunt-eating for "The Flash".

We used to call my dad "the garbage can".
Kinda the opposite of the kid Mikey on the Life cereal commercials.

This response has been erased.

re #10:  My dad was kind of like that, too.  He used to always eat the
burned stuff that no one else wanted.  I used to think that he was just
being cheap, but now I really think he likes the burnt taste.

   We used to waste a lot more food than we do now.  We aren't
perfect, but at least whole veggies don't go store -> our place ->
dump anymore.

i think i'm being discussed.

(i'm also kinda hungry right now, strangely enough...)

I cna't remember the last time I threw away food, really. Ummm, maybe when I 
moved and there was too little left to transport, but that's about it.
  
I scrub, not peel. Cook *for* leftovers so that I can improve the quantity-out
for time-spent, and freeze quarts or 1/2 quarts. 
 
And this pattern has been in effect for as long as I've been cooking. Maybe
it's just me .......
  
Oh, and I am forever being "accused" of having a 'hollow leg', just in case
someone needs some un-wanted food disposed of ......... 

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