What a waste!

I saw on the news last night that half of the food produced in the world never even reaches the plate, what an utter waste of time, resources and food! We are told there are starving in the world yet how can this be with all this food going in the bin and not even being fed to animals. Crops are left in the field as they do not meet the EU standards or the cosmetic that supermarkets require. How bloody stupid!

To read more on this or to see the video from sky news click HERE

This Christmas was probably the first year that our food waste amounted to one tub of cream that went out of date and had to be thrown out unopened. We used up all that we had and any food scraps are fed to the chickens and they did not get much.

This was possible because I only bought in what I needed and what I know we would use. I made a lot of cakes, biscuits and pastry things and these were all eaten. We were not entertaining so there was no need to buy just in case  someone popped in as I keep a well stocked store cupboard and can whip up a cake or some pastry in a few minutes or even a loaf of bread. My cupboard is not still full up with Christmas food that will end up in the bin as it runs out of date as it has in the past.

Some people will say I am being a Scrooge or tight fisted and yet this is not the case. We don't go without and we still eat well. It is down to choice and my choice is to be sensible in what I buy, why would I want to throw £'s straight into the bin?

As I have said in previous posts writing out my monthly menu has really helped to save us money where food is concerned and also cuts down on food waste (there isn't any!) Before my menu making days we would often buy a takeout even though we had a freezer full of food, my shopping would be about £100 a week and I would forever be throwing uneaten food in the bin.

I have found some great resources on how to cut down on food waste in the home.
http://england.lovefoodhatewaste.com/  Is a great site for finding out more on how to save on your food wastage. It has all the facts and figures on food wastage, a recipe page, a page where you can type in your leftovers and it comes up with a recipe. Portion planning and how to store food which is also important to stop your food wastage.

This is not only about saving money but also the impact food wastage has on the environment. It is staggering the amount of water that is used in food production and with food being wasted so is our precious water resources. The carbon footprint is staggering in food production, from imports to the packaging and food thrown away in the landfill sites.

Taking a step back and looking into something can be truly eye opening and amazing. It wasn't until I thought I would post about food wastage and looked into the facts that I realised the amount of other resources that goes in to food production and then for it all to be wasted in excess is quite saddening when there are starving people in the world.

I will step of my soap box for now, until next time x

(No money was earned through the mention of the above websites, the opinion is my own)