Are you a "user up" or a "thrower out"

I'm a User-Upper, I quite enjoy the challenge of creating a menu (for myself) based on what's gone out of date.
Mrs.HBZ is a Thrower outer and it's drives me nuts.

Steve "HoweBzar" (HBZ)

I throw out anything past its sell- by date except for herbs and spices and even those I do check from time to time. I tend to be a daily shopper so food usually gets used anyway and there isn't much to throw out. DH would eat things regardless so.i have to discard before he gets his hands on them. I had to laugh about Jacky's garden rake with the one "tooth" as it sounds so familiar. We have a few rusty implements too but they won't be thrown away. I have to double wrap anything I want to get rid of so that it's not on show from a cursory look inside the bin liner.

Deffo a userupper and so is husband. I also do the fabric thing Indinana. I run my little language school and the kids do a theatrical production every year. The clothes for the little actors and actresses come out of my fabric box - I rarely buy any fabric for them - and my wardrobe of old clothes come in handy too. Husbands workshop is an aladin's cave for anyone who is into mechanicking - is that a word? And he is forever using up old bits to make new things - the fruit cage for the strawberries this year was something else before - as was the shelving in my mothers library - an old wardrobe, i believe. The list goes on...

A user up. I also really hate food waste and my daughter makes me cross at times by not using stuff up.
Things like spices tend to lose flavour if very old as do other things. Sell by dates on sealed jars of jams and chutneys are ignored by me.

I have got into a habit of freezing tired but not really manky veg to use in soups. Those packs of tasty leaf salad you cannot manage to eat before they go off. I freeze them and use in a lovely soup recipe.

I'm a user-upper. Hate wasting food. Felt really bad the other day for throwing way a whole pack of tenderstem broccoli - unheard of in this house. But dh had been away 9 nights and I had been on jury service for nearly 2 weeks and couldn't be bothered to cook for one, was eating M&S ready meals each night - another thing that happens once in a blue moon in this house.

I don't take too much notice of dates on tins, as long as they're sound. When we cleared the flat of Dh's old aunt after she died, we found several tins WAY beyond their dates, and by that I mean years, not months. But the tins looked fine, not blown or rusty, contents looked and smelt fine, we used them all with no ill effects.

I'm a bit of both. I throw out foods that smell dodgy (sometimes my imagination maybe?). But I take no notice of use by dates - I just do the sniff test, sometimes the touch test too. If sausages or bacon feel 'sticky' then they go in the bin, not worth chancing.
The cut edge of peppers are inclined to get a bit slimy, but the rest of the pepper's usually OK, so the edge gets sliced off and put in the compost bin.
If cheese develops a bit of mould, I slice it off and use the rest. If it hasn't been wrapped properly and starts to go dry, I wrap it in a piece of wet cloth to rehydrate it - 24 hours later it's good as new!
Some jams can go mouldy on the top, even when stored in the fridge. That gets scooped out, discarded and I use a clean piece of kitchen roll to clean the inside of the jar above the jam line. Everything underneath is absolutely fine.
Apart from food, there's fabric! I'll save a garment if the fabric is good and I might be able to use it. I'll wash it, take it apart, discard waistbands, collars, seams etc and save the rest. Buittons get removed and saved. Even the ribbons stitched into shoulders for hanging get removed and saved!

Quite agree Marmight the eyes have it!
My gran would say that you need to work your way down and should use your brain, your eyes and your nose before putting in your mouth!

I pay no heed to sell by dates. If it looks and smells okay, I cook it.

However, today the Bodach lifted the hall carpet before the new floor fitters arrived, and I was soooooo tempted to keep the underlay, as " somebody might make use of it ?"

At home I used up something the other day that had a sell by date of 1998. And at my mother's I finished up the last of her chicken Oxo cubes - sell by date: 1996. Her Marmite, however was unspreadable with a sell by date of 2006. Will probably do in soups and gravies.

I'd love to try a 'measle' spanishsue Sounds delicious!
I am bit of both. If in doubt chuck it out. I tend to over cater even though I am on my own now so get left with a lot of curled up bits and pieces with blue attachments. I'd rather be safe than sorry but I do eat a lot of stuff which is well past its sell by date. I have a very good 'nose' and rely on that.

Definitely a user upper, me! Absolutely hate throwing food away but I hate clutter so things are 'recycled' on a regular basis! Sister in law throws away leftover anything from a meal, but when I' m there, she knows I'll have 'Red Cross' parcel and packs up everything for me! Quite often we have 2 measles from them! Thank goodness we're all different!

Oh yes! DH is just like that. His shed is packed full of jars of screws, and other odd bits and pieces. He even asks any repair people we might have in to leave the old bits behind because they might come in useful. And, yes. I know they often do.

We're both user uppers. DH's workshop is full of STUFF because 'you never know when it will come in handy'

He's right. We're putting a new wash basin in the mobile home shower room and we'd never cope with 'old to new' fittings without all his bits and pieces to call on.

I just can't throw food away so we sometimes have some very inventive dishes.

That's alright then! I was going to say that is not DH's reaction when something 'goes missing'!
I have to say that I sometimes get accused when things are merely mislaid!

That was to ga

Phew!

We are both user-uppers and DH is very good at using all the bits and bobs to make something interesting in a 'leftovers' meal.
Pickles, chutneys and jams are made to preserve food so why chuck them out if they can be eaten.
We both hang on to clothing to get the most out of it and all items have a 'natural progression' in how they are used. It is hard to realise just how long we have had things though and our DC are the ones who generally bring to our attention the fact that we were in old photographs wearing something they feel should be 'moved on'. DH likes his comfy things though and has to have his clothing 'surgically removed' when he isn't looking!

He has other redeeming qualities jingl.

chucker not 'checker'

With food, definitely a checker outer. Or a freezer-er if it's well within it's use by date.

And you still married him?!

My husband's motto, that he shared with me before we married:

Use it up
Wear it out
Make it do
Or do without

...and that's the mantra we've lived by ever since and which my husband especially is very true to. Sometimes I do think it gets taken to extremes (when he goes through the rubbish bin to ensure that a recyclable hasn't been slipped in!! Aaargh!!), but overall we are definitely 'user uppers'.

I'm a user up of all things edible. If there are a few mushrooms, half a salad pepper, some spring onions I'd make a stir-fry whereas DH would throw them away. I regularly have a wardrobe clear out and give to charity shops but DH likes to keep his clothes for ever (and I mean FOR EVER!) He still owns a leather waistcoat from the 1960's but fortunately never wears it...would look like a coalman! and jars and jars of rusty bolts and strews...don't get me started on those.

A user up, oh yes!

A keeper - often way past sell by, use by, way past it, eat and it will kill you, dates.

We had a clear out of our kitchen cupboards -- one jar of a spice that could not be identified by it's smell (it didn't have any) was dated 1963 !!!, but I'm sure we will use it soon.