Food Waste

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

My sister and I get into a bitter argument every week about our food expenses. She thinks I'm a pain in the ass because I tell her to stop buying perishables for an army every two weeks. Every two weeks, her friend comes and delivers a box with I guess at least $40 worth of perishables. What's even more outrageous is that she buys stuff in between deliveries.

Here's the organic perishables my sister bought this week:

- 5 boxes of cherry tomatoes
- 2 bags of 25 apples
- a bag of 10-15 pears
- something like 3 pounds of mushrooms
- A bag of celery.
- A bag of broccoli (4 of 'em)
- 2 small boxes of blueberries
- a bag of 20 oranges
- a big bag of potates
- and a lot of miscellaneous vegetables like peppers and onions.

We throw away 1/4th of all the perishables, so I suggest her to buy-as-you-eat to avoid waste, but it's like I'm insulting her. I used to tell her nicely, but I've begun to say things like, "stop being stupid and buy less." I even volunteer to buy the perishables but she insists on buying them herself so it's all organic. I wouldn't mind that much if all she was wasting was her money, but I give her a good chunk of my salary for expenses around here.

[BryanM]

Can bring a horse to water, but once you get there all you can do is drown the motherfucker.

My advice: If you can stand eating this food, eat all of it.

[Ed Oscuro]

I go through a bit of the same whenever I go home for the weekend.

Here at college I almost always eat every last crumb, no matter how many plates I took with me. Western Michigan got rid of trays around the beginning of this semester (or maybe at the end of the last one) and there was some kind of competition on waste. I still see people returning big heaps of food, though.

[Jockel]

buy-as-you-eat.

Thats all.
It saves a lot of money.
I buy food every 2-3 days, so its almost nothing that gets thrown away.

[Lordstar]

back in the day shops would be open really standard hours so you usually got one chance a week to do a big shop. now that everywhere is 24 hours with super markets open around the clock and lots of stuff priced and in bags of serving for one there is no excuse to realy have that much waste.

[moozooh]

I buy food every 2-3 days, so its almost nothing that gets thrown away.

Doing the same, except usually buying food every 1-2 days. It's easy since all the necessary shops are within 5 minutes' walk.

[jpj]

i don't have your problem because i only eat bread and meat

in fact i had never even heard the word perishables before forty bucks a week sounds like a lot for fruit & veg

edit: 100 posts before i self destruct

[Lordstar]

edit: 100 posts before i self destruct

well thats not true! you need to hit 9001 before you implode.

[Mortificator]

i don't have your problem because i only eat bread and meat

How's scurvy these days?

[Khan]

i don't have your problem because i only eat bread and meat

in fact i had never even heard the word perishables before forty bucks a week sounds like a lot for fruit & veg

edit: 100 posts before i self destruct

im the same, first time I actually started eating salad with my chicken and roast potatoes was last year! I even take a banana/apple with me when i go to work and two years ago I would laughed in your face if you told me that I should be eating my fruit and veg but now im trying to embrace a healthier lifestyle.

its so hard though lol I had junk food no less than 5 times last week

fish and chips,masala fish and naan,chicken tikka and naan,donner kebab burger,chicken breast burger.....i really gotta sort myself out lol

[Jockel]

i like breasts.

[bkk]

You should eat more of the vegetables, they are good for you.

[elfhentaifan]

i eat too less anyway but i often do eat stuff from a day ago (or sometimes 2 days ago or older), i only throw stuff away if i really cant stand it or am afraid, if its already rotten, but then i didnt buy it myself anyway.

Due to my eating habits, which usually dont change this fast i know what to get (apple addict) and ill use it all up always

[jpj]

i don't have your problem because i only eat bread and meat

How's scurvy these days?

who's that?

and is beef a vegetable? in all seriousness, i personally go through about 2 kilos of animal flesh a week vegetable wise, only really stuff i cook in with sauces (onion, peppers, mushrooms, etc)

and (formerly) at my works, i was situated between a mcdonalds and a kfc...

luckily i have hollow legs

[Jockel]

and (formerly) at my works, i was situated between a mcdonalds and a kfc...

I have a McDonalds and a Subway, both really close (like 1min to walk) to my home- that really isn't good. Whenever i feel too lazy to do the dishes i tend to consume overpriced junk food or sandwiches :/

(btw god-awful billy avatar >.>)

[jpj]

billy mitchell is #3 on my list of people that i wish were my biological father

or do you just miss the last one?

[Jockel]

but he is the bad guy from king of kong

[Nate]

Jockel:

(btw god-awful billy avatar >.>)

That's Lemme from Motorhead...oh, no it's Billy Mitchell.

[Sonic R]

buy-as-you-eat.

Thats all.
It saves a lot of money.
I buy food every 2-3 days, so its almost nothing that gets thrown away.

This.

I agree to go about like this. Not only is money saved, but less food is wasted.

I am at the grocery almost every day. Its not to troublesome as they have U-scan and I can get what I need and be out promptly. I buy things like meat to be used that evening. Things like produce are bought in sparing quantities and are used quiclky and waste is at a minimum.

[Nate]

UnscathedFlyingObject wrote:

I wouldn't mind that much if all she was wasting was her money, but I give her a good chunk of my salary for expenses around here.

It kinda sounds like it's essentially HER place, and you're living there by providing a more-than-reasonable amount of financial support; which is great. I think maybe you should lean towards a truce and offer some suggestions on how to disperse and coordinate the produce. For instance: you might "candy" a lot of those apples - carmelize some sugar or molasses and mix in some cinnamon and butter - maybe a clove? You can serve that on a stack of blueberry pancakes every Saturday morning - or afternoon.

You can also make a kickass vegetable stew - maybe mix in some ground turkey with it? You can also stir fry those cherry tomatoes w/ the peppers/onions and have sirloin steaks with it. Make a mushroom gravy, too; and a bunch of mashed potatoes! Do that like twice a week, that'll make use of those spuds!

Juice those oranges daily - that vitamin C will give you the energy you need to do all that cooking!

Steamed and raw broccoli is damn good for you. Melt some butter , add flour then cheese and some milk and some bacon salt...you got cheese sauce for the broccoli! C'mon, man! Make use of yourself!

Also, here's a crazy secret - pears make a great grilled food! Sprinkle some cinnamon and sugar on them - start them off in tin-foil with some butter - finish them over the open grill.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Those are some really creative and suggestive ideas you've got there, Nate. Are you a gourmet chef or a professional chef?

[elfhentaifan]

i thought the guy on jpj's avatar was HELGE SCHNEIDER zomg!

[null1024]

I wish people would do like me: prepackaged just-add-hot-water food. Like ramen, oatmeal, and microwave rice [which, tastes so damn good.]. I'm not even kidding, almost nothing in my house has a short expiry date. Except for milk, and even that is about 1-2mos. into the future.

[Nate]

PC Engine Fan X! wrote:

Those are some really creative and suggestive ideas you've got there, Nate. Are you a gourmet chef or a professional chef

I've just picked a lot of ideas up through the years - and yeah I can cook like crazy. Did you know you can crush up croutons and use them for breading for fried chicken and shrimp?

[GaijinPunch]

$40 worth of perishables.

- 5 boxes of cherry tomatoes
- 2 bags of 25 apples
- a bag of 10-15 pears
- something like 3 pounds of mushrooms
- A bag of celery.
- A bag of broccoli (4 of 'em)
- 2 small boxes of blueberries
- a bag of 20 oranges
- a big bag of potates
- and a lot of miscellaneous vegetables like peppers and onions.

If you get all that for $40, it's not worth bitching about. No joke, I couldn't get 20 apples for $40...even the bad ones. Be thankful you live in a country smart enough to rape and pillage other countries for oil.

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

I have no idea how much that stuff costs because I don't buy perishables but I expect a pretty good price from buying that much. I've never asked her, though. Too afraid I might insult her even further.

You might want to move back over here and get "cheap" (a subjective word) foods and gas. You'll probably live somewhere not the size of a closet and half the price .


As for me cooking, it's not gonna happen, so my sister should have enough fricken common sense to buy less if she doesn't feel like cooking 4 out of 7 days.

[Randorama]

If you can convince her to buy half the amount of food, but for one week, you have good chances not to throw away stuff. As as a "desperation move", you can having a "stuff-myself-least-the-food-is-wasted" session per week.

Also, a general suggestion: if one can plan a bit of a stable diet, it is easy to buy the right food in the right quantities.

In my case, I buy food for the week, and eat out in the week-end (Australia can be very cheap for this). I have never thrown away anything, and my usual budget is around 40 A$ (say, 25$ US) for a rather healthy diet. It is also true that Kangaroo and Saffa cod is stupidly cheap here.

Oh, and Subway, for being a fast-food chain, is the least shitty, but any place that sells cheap sushi or gimbab is always ten times better (or: just buy plain bread at the nearest bakery!).

[BryanM]

Subway

I think of Subway as the Starbucks of sammiches. 1000% markup minimum from supermarket pre-marked up items is insane.

Rather have a $8 steak, potato, and bread item at a restaurant over a $6.50 toasted (you'd better believe I'm gonna have'em toast that SOB) sammich. As with a lot of things in our culture, we're paying for convenience.

Convenience... or, it could be said, lack of foresight.

[Nate]

BryanM:

Convenience... or, it could be said, lack of foresight.

Yeah, I actually feel like an idiot when I find myself getting Subway's "Fresh Value Meal" on Friday - the one w/ the 6" tuna, chips and a drink... but, see $5 covers it; and, to expand your point, I think the "$5.00 meal" is the real problem. Average working (single) folks that live "paycheck-to-paycheck" typically try to calibrate about $12 a day to eat. This is $60 a work week!

I'm even guilty of not taking the time the night before or early in the morning to make my own lunch and take it to work. I could easily make tuna better than Subway, but I don't...until times are getting rough of course.

BTW here's what I like to do w/ tunafish:

Drain a can of solid chunk light tuna.

Mix it with some REAL mayonnaise and a little bit of poppyseed dressing - this makes it a little sweeter. Add some minced celery and a little bit of chopped red onion - and some black pepper. My mom used to add chopped apples and pecans...

Then heap a couple spoonfuls of the tuna-mix onto a toasted onion roll with some greenleaf lettuce and a slice of tomato (optional). Best thing to have with it is a small bag of Bar-B-Cue flavored potato chips and a Mexican Coke (real sugar - no HF corn syrup).

A couple of Boar's Head horseradish pickle chips (if you have them around) and you have one "well-rounded" lunch!

It's better to have a little "good" food than to have a bunch of "so-so" food IMO.

[Randorama]

Out of curiosity: how many people here have a small kitchen at work? I work in Academia-land so it is a given ( I have my own espresso machine...), so I can even cook rice at work (!). It helps A LOT to save money.