house hold food waste dilemma

We never have much left over to put in our food waste bin - any peelings, etc, go into the compost. But shells, fruit stones and bones go in the food waste, as do teabags. We use loose tea most of the time, but any fruit or herbal tea still comes in the bags. We put ours out overnight, as the bin has a sturdy lock. I can't see any scavengers getting in.

Yes, bread and most cakes can safely be frozen- the quality might suffer slightly,but there's no risk to health. Soups and stews can be refrozen if they've been thoroughly reheated first. Anyway, why would you thaw more than you want? If it's all frozen in a solid block, you can leave it to start to thaw, then tackle it with a bread knife once it softens slightly. Cut off the amount you want, and it's safe to refreeze the rest of it if it's still substantially frozen with ice crystals in it.

I will happily freeze and refreeze, as long as the gap between the two halves is short. I might partially defrost a 1lb of mince, break of fhalf and then refreeze the rest. Sometimes there is a bit of a drop in food taste and quality, but no safety problems.

I wouldn't defrost a chicken leave it on the side on the kitchen all day and then refreeze. Like so much, you have to use your common sense.

Yehbutnobut
Not too painful one hopes?

No food waste bins here. The council haven’t got around to it. We’d usually only have bones to put in ours anyway everything else either goes on the compost heap or chopped up on the bird table for our local rooks, jackdaws and blackbirds.

Tonight we had a lovely joint of mutton which DH found in the bottom of the freezer. It must have been there 18 months! The birds will relish the hard fat tomorrow. I never know what to do with the runny fat though. It usually gets bagged up and dumped in the landfill/incinerator bin. Certainly not in the loo.

I'm still trying to fathom out the logic of putting food down the lavatory and imagining tripping to the bathroom, casserole dish in hand! If it's thin like a soup, then it can go down the sink and if it's thick it can be disposed of with normal household waste.

Tell them to clean their plates - or learn to lock the food bins.
Our street had them introduced - the whole street stank for about 2 weeks and then we all stopped using them.

NfkDumpling I NEVER put fat down the loo. Or anywhere .
We don't eat greasy stuff.
I've even stopped cooking fried fish, omelettes etc.

ps and I wouldn't want to put soup down the sink.
I'm probably wrong, but think the sewage system is more able to cope with such things than the grey water system as from kitchen sinks.

re drains etc, this is advice from Lanes For Drains:

What cannot be washed down the drain?

In particular, the following items – which we call the Big Offenders – are known to be major causes of clogged pipes, and should never be put down the drain or toilet:
•Food waste
•Fat, oil and grease (FOG)
•Plastic bags
•Nappies
•Sanitary towels, including tampons, applicators and wrappers
•Cotton buds
•Condoms
•Bandages and plasters
•Baby wipes
•Cleaning wipes
•Razor blades
•Medicines, needles and syringes*

*These should be taken to your local pharmacy or heath authority for safe disposal

All of these are common culprits when it comes to blockages, whether they are localised to the drainage system of an individual home, or come in the form of a giant fatberg clogging up an entire sewer. It’s particularly dangerous to flush away old medical supplies – they need to be taken to a local pharmacy or health authority for safe disposal.

What to watch out for in the kitchen

When working in the kitchen, it’s most important to avoid putting any waste food, cooking oils, fats, coffee grounds or anything solid down the drain – scrape these into the bin instead. Although they often wash down the plughole easily enough, they will inevitably end up creating a blockage further down the pipes.

What to watch out for in the bathroom

Although it might seem like an easy thing to do, you should avoid flushing wet wipes, kitchen roll or anything other than toilet roll when in the bathroom; the same also goes for cardboard toilet roll tubes, cotton buds and dental floss.

Food waste????? Seriously?!?! Why buy so much or cook so much that you cannot eat it all? Disgraceful waste of food! Our uncooked vegetable/fruit peelings go in the compost, we only cook what we can eat unless batch cooking for the freezer and that's where leftovers go, in the freezer.

I think you are wrong, Fennel. From what I've read, the size of pipe and the way the pipes are configured for sinks and toilets are different, which is why food shouldn't go down the loo. It might have been okay when we had giant cisterns mounted six feet up on the wall but with today's modern, low-water cisterns, flushing stuff right down isn't so easy. Debris could be mounting up just beyond your eyeline.

There’s nothing wasteful about having bones, fish/chicken skin, nutshells, fruit stones, olive pits, teabags etc to dispose of.

I can't see how you can never have any food waste. We have very little, but what do you do with the bones of a chicken, or the odd bit of veg left on a dinner plate. I don't like egg white so there is always cooked egg white. As for putting it down the toilet I have never ever heard of anyone doing this unless they were sick.

How can you know exactly how much you will feel like eating?
Our food caddy (as in pic) sits in the kitchen with a recyclable liner. The liner is tied and its put in the recycling bin.

I've just read about all the things you can refreeze. We used to be warned against it. Good to know!

The only things that should EVER be put down the toilet are the three P's - pee, paper and poo - NOTHING ELSE WHATSOEVER! I have just taken part in Unblocktober month which aims to raise awareness mostly of what should NOT ever be put down toilets!

How annoying. Sweep it onto their drive and talk to them, and if that doesn't work, put a brick on their lid?

I don’t have much food waste, but in the summer I freeze any smelly leftovers until bin collection day. It solves any ‘smelly bin’ problems.

Sue - ok I stand corrected, things have changed.
We have a compost box outside but I don't like to put cooked food in it because it attracts rats. Just raw veg peelings.
We used to give all these things to our chickens, dog and cat when we had them. I think you're not allowed to do that now in the UK, since some outbreak of disease in domestic animals.

ps I see someone has just started a thread on 'sewer' rats.

I should add our recycling bin is a wheelie bin. No animals can access it.

For food waste to smell there needs to be an awful lot of it, all cooked. Perhaps they way to deal with it , is to look at your shopping and eating patterns and why so much food is being thrown out then work out how to reduce it.

Summer or winter I have never had a problem with smells.

I don't know about others but I throw out food waste and never have a problem with smells. Sealed in a recyclable bag.

you got it there .we have two communal food bins ,the council meant to clean them out monthly .do they ? they do not .they stink .esp in summer .maggots everywhere...a neighbour and i sometimes bleach it out .but the stink returns.