Wasted Food

[SalixIncendium]

When you prepare a meal, what do you do with leftovers...both unserved food or any food remaining on your plate?

In a restaurant, if you can't finished the portion served to you, do you leave it behind or take it home in a "doggie bag" and eat it later?

For me, personally, I find it unsettling to see food wasted knowing there are those less fortunate than me that go hungry. In my personal life, I always prepare individual portions that I know I can finish in one sitting, unless I plan to cook a batch of something, in which case, I freeze it for future meals. Bread that begins to turn gets thrown over the fence for the birds and other animals in the thicket.

When dining out (usually at a Chinese buffet my daughter enjoys) my plate is always picked up clean. My daughter has largely picked up on these values as well, but my granddaughter is still the finicky eater, and my daughter will put a variety of things on her plate, much of which won't be eaten (save the food my daughter scavenges when she's done). I find it unsettling when this happens or when I see anyone else taking more food than they can eat and leaving it on their plate.

It would also bother me to see food discarded in a commercial setting. The QSR chain I managed for years wasted on average of 1% of the food they purchased due to over-preparation. It unnerved me to the point where my district typically ran the lowest waste numbers in the company.

This is why I have an admiration for businesses like Panera Bread, who donate any non-perishable food left over at the end of the day to the homeless. Unfortunately, the business I managed served perishable food that would have presented a food safety concern had it been donated.

I thought of this today as I rinsed my porridge bowl this morning and watched the residue from the side of the bowl get rinsed down the sink and wondered how much residue over time would have made a full meal for someone who goes without.

How concerned are you about the food you waste (if any)?

 

[Eddi]

How concerned are you about the food you waste

Not at all

I don't care one bit

 

[SalixIncendium]

Not at all

I don't care one bit

How much food would you say you waste in an average day? An average week?

 

[Koldo]

When you prepare a meal, what do you do with leftovers...both unserved food or any food remaining on your plate?

In a restaurant, if you can't finished the portion served to you, do you leave it behind or take it home in a "doggie bag" and eat it later?

For me, personally, I find it unsettling to see food wasted knowing there are those less fortunate than me that go hungry. In my personal life, I always prepare individual portions that I know I can finish in one sitting, unless I plan to cook a batch of something, in which case, I freeze it for future meals. Bread that begins to turn gets thrown over the fence for the birds and other animals in the thicket.

When dining out (usually at a Chinese buffet my daughter enjoys) my plate is always picked up clean. My daughter has largely picked up on these values as well, but my granddaughter is still the finicky eater, and my daughter will put a variety of things on her plate, much of which won't be eaten (save the food my daughter scavenges when she's done). I find it unsettling when this happens or when I see anyone else taking more food than they can eat and leaving it on their plate.

It would also bother me to see food discarded in a commercial setting. The QSR chain I managed for years wasted on average of 1% of the food they purchased due to over-preparation. It unnerved me to the point where my district typically ran the lowest waste numbers in the company.

This is why I have an admiration for businesses like Panera Bread, who donate any non-perishable food left over at the end of the day to the homeless. Unfortunately, the business I managed served perishable food that would have presented a food safety concern had it been donated.

I thought of this today as I rinsed my porridge bowl this morning and watched the residue from the side of the bowl get rinsed down the sink and wondered how much residue over time would have made a full meal for someone who goes without.

How concerned are you about the food you waste (if any)?

Unfazed.
I am aware of the insignificance of my actions.

 

[Guitar's Cry]

I get pretty concerned about it. I've been a cook and thus have wasted much food against my will.

I have gone from a vegetarian to more of a flexitarian due to this. If I see meat products that are going to be wasted if I don't eat them, I will eat them. Better in my opinion to honor an animal's death by receiving the nutrition of its body than to throw it away in landfills.

That's not to say that I think "throwing it away" means it won't be used. Afterall, humans aren't the only creatures in the world. I will use leftovers as spiritual offerings for wild animals to eat (where this is appropriate and ethical) and I have my own compost pile.

But I do think if we are going to industrialize animals and their slaughter, being wasteful is extremely immoral because it is further denying the life of these living beings.

 

[Koldo]

I get pretty concerned about it. I've been a cook and thus have wasted much food against my will.

I have gone from a vegetarian to more of a flexitarian due to this. If I see meat products that are going to be wasted if I don't eat them, I will eat them. Better in my opinion to honor an animal's death by receiving the nutrition of its body than to throw it away in landfills.

That's not to say that I think "throwing it away" means it won't be used. Afterall, humans aren't the only creatures in the world. I will use leftovers as spiritual offerings for wild animals to eat (where this is appropriate and ethical) and I have my own compost pile.

But I do think if we are going to industrialize animals and their slaughter, being wasteful is extremely immoral because it is further denying the life of these living beings.

I find this perspective so.... weird.
I mean... if I imagine myself having the opportunity to watch what happens to my dead body, it would never cross my mind to feel honored if someone/something happened to eat it. And I am talking about the hypothetical supernatural me, someone capable of feeling honored in the first place.

 

[Estro Felino]

Fortunately I have several pets...nothing is wasted.

 

[Nimos]

When you prepare a meal, what do you do with leftovers...both unserved food or any food remaining on your plate?

In a restaurant, if you can't finished the portion served to you, do you leave it behind or take it home in a "doggie bag" and eat it later?

Rarely eat in restaurants, but when I do I don't really have the issue of any leftovers, usually just order what I can eat

In Denmark the leftovers from households are collected in a special container and then they will go to a landfill where they can decompose or it will end up being used for creating energy.

Almost everything here is sorted and recycled, each apartment block has loads of garbage containers for all kinds of stuff, like plastic, metal, electrical, paper, cardboard, glass, hazardous and batteries. And the rest people drive to a recycling centre and then it will be sorted there as well. All building materials from construction also go to these, or the companies will get a fine.

And the cans (cola, beers) and soda bottles, beer bottles etc you take to the supermarket and they pay you money for each of them, and then they are recycled as well.

 

[Eddi]

How much food would you say you waste in an average day? An average week?

Not much

I tend to eat everything that's on my plate

Although sometimes I buy things and forget about them and they then go past their use by date and need throwing

 

[SalixIncendium]

Unfazed.
I am aware of the insignificance of my actions.

I find this perspective disturbing. I see no difference in this mindset and the mindset of a rich person who takes more than they could ever use at the expense of the poor who can't make ends meet or a person that kills for sport. Seems to me to be a rather selfish position.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Unfazed.
I am aware of the insignificance of my actions.

I find this perspective disturbing. I see no difference in this mindset and the mindset of a rich person who takes more than they could ever use at the expense of the poor who can't make ends meet or a person that kills for sport. Seems to me to be a rather selfish position.

^ this

 

[ChristineM]

How concerned are you about the food you waste (if any)?

Wasted what???

It's not something that happens (much). Typically what ever is on the plates is eaten.

Exception...Last night hubby was not feeling well and didn't eat his meal. It went in the fridge and he will have it warmed up tonight, hopefully. He is feeling better but not sure he's up to a full meal yet. Whatever he can't eat will be given the cats or binned.

​

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

When you prepare a meal, what do you do with leftovers...both unserved food or any food remaining on your plate?

In a restaurant, if you can't finished the portion served to you, do you leave it behind or take it home in a "doggie bag" and eat it later?

Our refrigerator is a refuge for leftovers. They often grace remarkable crockpot soups.

 

[Vinayaka]

When you prepare a meal, what do you do with leftovers...both unserved food or any food remaining on your plate?

In a restaurant, if you can't finished the portion served to you, do you leave it behind or take it home in a "doggie bag" and eat it later?

For me, personally, I find it unsettling to see food wasted knowing there are those less fortunate than me that go hungry. In my personal life, I always prepare individual portions that I know I can finish in one sitting, unless I plan to cook a batch of something, in which case, I freeze it for future meals. Bread that begins to turn gets thrown over the fence for the birds and other animals in the thicket.

When dining out (usually at a Chinese buffet my daughter enjoys) my plate is always picked up clean. My daughter has largely picked up on these values as well, but my granddaughter is still the finicky eater, and my daughter will put a variety of things on her plate, much of which won't be eaten (save the food my daughter scavenges when she's done). I find it unsettling when this happens or when I see anyone else taking more food than they can eat and leaving it on their plate.

It would also bother me to see food discarded in a commercial setting. The QSR chain I managed for years wasted on average of 1% of the food they purchased due to over-preparation. It unnerved me to the point where my district typically ran the lowest waste numbers in the company.

This is why I have an admiration for businesses like Panera Bread, who donate any non-perishable food left over at the end of the day to the homeless. Unfortunately, the business I managed served perishable food that would have presented a food safety concern had it been donated.

I thought of this today as I rinsed my porridge bowl this morning and watched the residue from the side of the bowl get rinsed down the sink and wondered how much residue over time would have made a full meal for someone who goes without.

How concerned are you about the food you waste (if any)?

I'm with you. At home we waste very very little, way less than 1% for sure. I don't have solutions for restaurants though. They can hardly re-serve stuff on a customer's plate. I think grocery stores are the largest culprits.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

This is why I have an admiration for businesses like Panera Bread, who donate any non-perishable food left over at the end of the day to the homeless.

Just to be clear, we're talking about unsold product, not meal leftovers. See Day-End Dough-Nation Program.

 

[Guitar's Cry]

I find this perspective so.... weird.
I mean... if I imagine myself having the opportunity to watch what happens to my dead body, it would never cross my mind to feel honored if someone/something happened to eat it. And I am talking about the hypothetical supernatural me, someone capable of feeling honored in the first place.

For me it's the acceptance that my body is borrowed energy and matter in the first place.

My body is continually being eaten, whether it's mites feeding off my dead skin cells or my own lysosomes eating waste material in my cells. Something eventually uses my bodily material for its own existence, and it continues this cycle of life and death we all must experience.

 

[SalixIncendium]

Just to be clear, we're talking about unsold product, not meal leftovers. See Day-End Dough-Nation Program.

Thanks for clarifying this. In retrospect, the wording in the post of mine you quoted was admittedly a bit sloppy.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Not at all

I don't care one bit

^ telling

 

[SalixIncendium]

I'm with you. At home we waste very very little, way less than 1% for sure. I don't have solutions for restaurants though. They can hardly re-serve stuff on a customer's plate. I think grocery stores are the largest culprits.

I never worked in a grocery store, but I look at things with "best if used by" dates and often wonder how much they waste.

I bought a pack of queso fresco yesterday for my saag "paneer" and noticed there was a large amount of it in the bin, and it was misrotated with the packs that expired last on the top. There must have been at least 40 packages there, and I can't imagine that item is that good of a seller.

The waste of produce must be insane.

 

[RestlessSoul]

My partner is a parsimonious Frenchwoman who absolutely abhors waste. Plus both of us were brought up - her in France, me in England - by people who had lived through WWII when food was scarce. So not much gets thrown away in our house.