No Time (Or Food) To Waste.. let’s get stuck in!

No Food To Waste
Jul 23, 2017 · 3 min read

Over the past few weeks, I’ve spent quite a bit of time chatting about various different ways to stop wasting food in the home & I’ve dabbled with one or two experiments.

The time has come to now commit to some weekly pledges over the next 5 weeks & see how much of a difference they make to my family life.

The pledges will be fun, not arduous or too time consuming (believe me, with the summer hols about to start, it has to be straightforward) & I’m hoping they will actually help to save stress, time, food & money (again, a big plus with the hols approaching). Big promises, I know.. but the headline pledges are simple and it’s up to you how much you want to delve into them each week.

It’s all about the kitchen bin this week…

I’ll be broadcasting one pledge a week on Sunday evening via my various platforms (Insta, Twitter & FB). This will be the pledge I’m committing to for the week. I may decide to continue with previous weeks pledges, if I’m enjoying them, however the Sunday pledge will be my focus.

Challenge Number 1:

Record ALL Food Wasted in a week

OK, I’ve kicked off with a relatively easy one — you just need to keep a pen & paper by your kitchen bin. But, this may be the eye opener we need to realise how much money is being thrown away in a week, or not, perhaps?

Some simple guidelines —

Do what you would normally do — if you clear your fridge/cupboards after a weekly shop, just make a note of any item that you throw in the bin (and any other disposals throughout the week).

Record rough quantities, eg 1/2 tin of beans, 3 x yoghurts, 2 slices of ham, etc

Leave space to put a monetary figure next to the item — eg, if you throw away 1/2 loaf of bread which costs £1.30, jot down 65p. It all adds up.

If you want to go the full hog (like I’m planning to do), remember to include any waste that is left in lunchboxes & on plates. This will help you to consider portion sizes going forward.

This may be a step too far for some of you, but I’m also planning to log my veggie peelings (we do have a guinea pig living with us temporarily, so he will help with this) & crusts of bread (my kids have suddenly refused to eat sandwiches unless I cut them off, however I now freeze them to make other meals, such as bread & butter pudding — I’ve never made B&B pudding in my life, I may add!)

So that’s it, I think — hopefully I haven’t missed out anything vital. Remember, this is new to me too, but I’m weirdly excited to see how this experiment goes. Let me know how you’re getting on — I will try and post a daily update, but my main focus will be checking in with you all at the end of the week!

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