Wednesday 30 April 2014

Cleaning the fridge: My new outlook on throwing out food

Hello Internet,

Yesterday I had a new string of thoughts. Something my husband will be happy about as he is often nagging me about the amount of food I bring home, put in the fridge, wait and then throw out because it has gone bad.

My most popular item to throw out: veggies. And chicken. Yes, lettuce, mushrooms, courgettes/zucchini and peppers. Them and chicken - I'm not very good at that either.

Sometimes Derek will open the fridge and line it up on the counter with a judging expression of - look what you bought and you didn't eat - he does this because god forbid he eat a veggie now or then!

I have always just rolled my eyes and dropped it in the bin, just thinking it didn't cost me much - veggies are so inexpensive these days - so no big deal.

Until yesterday.

I read this article about food waste and the documentary 'Just Eat In' and I started to think about the steps involved to get that food to my fridge - and later the bin.

Throwing out the chicken breasts that went off the day before it's just a waste of a meal it's also the complete and total waste of a Chicken - an actual Chicken! and the lettuce that I buy is pre-washed and in a nice bag so I started to think of the effort it took to put my lettuce in that bag, the seed, the plant, the water, the sunlight (or light at least) and then the picking, shredding, bagging and delivery.

I don;t think I'm stupid when it comes to food, or naive, I just wasn't thinking. So I'm going to make an effort. I will freeze early when I buy too much chicken, I will add an extra salad when I can to my meal and I will keep eating my veggies!!!

I shared these thought with Derek last night, he rolled his eyes and judged me (I think he missed the point) and then this morning told me that 6 of his yogurts went off 4 days ago. I was tempted to try and work out all the steps from cow to bin in this case but knew it just wasn't worth it....

Later!