Waste versus Cost

How competitive can you be about the amount of food you have left on your plate at the end of a meal?

The Love Food Champions of West Sussex certainly can!

Take-away food and bread seem to be the worst offenders. There was a feeling of frustration in the group expressed by those who had small children, about predicting how much a toddler will eat/leave.

The topics for discussion this week were portion sizes and meal planning.

As we settled down with a glass of wine to discuss how we plan our meals for the week, Nick’s husband is sitting at home looking for new and different ideas for their meals for next week. He is probably surrounded by cookery books and recipe cards; he may also be checking a website or recalling a TV programme. When Helen plans her meals she checks the freezer to see what she has left from previous special offers. Sue has decided that because of their busy lifestyle it is better to shop on a more frequent basis so as not to waste so much food.

The members of the group seem to enjoy talking about food and the many ways in which to obtain recipes.

Portion size discussion led us to the inevitable portion control of spaghetti/pasta and rice – everyone seemed to find this a problem. Referring to the portion guide on the Love Food Hate Waste website we decided that we probably ate more than the recommended portion size, and that getting it right was an acquired skill. On a day-to-day basis, with a little practice we could get it right but when preparing for guests this could and probably does lead to surplus food waste.

The group would like to pose a question:

Waste versus Cost.

For example - If you can buy a whole fish for less money than it would cost to buy the particular portion you require and knowing you will waste the rest of the fish what do you do?

Janice Langley