Food waste in the first world... what to do?

You would think so wouldn't you - or let it be known it's available to people maybe on income support that it would help (they make a lot of produce - cakes, croissants as well) or offer it to the hospitals or local old folks homes for free. It just seems such a waste to throw it away and it's all stuff that's been baked that day.

Wouldn't a baker make good money by turning at least part of extra bread into bread and butter pudding, and the like? Day old bread would be perfect for that.

It would take people realising how much of their money they are throwing away each year to make a difference I suppose - I thought a lot of the UK wastage came from supermarkets throwing food away that was no longer able to be sold? We have a bakery on the Island and I have been told that rather than reduce prices, they just throw away any surplus foodstuffs or give it away to some people that go to the bakery and ask - but even then, a lot of it is wasted and I doubt they are the only ones.

Maybe that's what's needed, Bogoff to bogofs.
Just reduce the prices. Take a bogof to the till, then say you want one not two, so can you have it for half price. If not, leave it at the till. If enough of us do that they might start seeing sense.

BOGOF offers can be a real help for large families, of course- but I think they are too tempting, without the thinking attached. If you do not have a very large family, BOGOFs have to be planned, frozen, cooked and frozen, etc- but it takes time and a bit more planning- which is sadly often missing.

I went to Tesco and bought a bag of tangerines- at the till, the cashier told me' go back and get another bag, it is a bogof offer'. I replied that there are only 2 of us and they will be wasted 'doesn't matter she said- just take them'. I have often got bogof offers and dropped the free bit at a friend's with children. Even worse with meat- where the second chicken often ends up in the bin after a week, instead of cooked into a curry or pot- for a few days later, or frozen. Tragic really.

I do wonder if the waste related to BOGOFs is not acutally part of the marketing and planning!

My father was disabled and was frequently unemployed so, like Grannyknot I learned early not to waste food. A lot of younger parents today were not taught this - any food left over is thrown away rather than being used to make another meal.

I made the comment on the other thread about how food is valued in poorer countries - made me think, we used to be careful with food when I was growing up, because my mother had to be with three of us and herself to feed on one salary - so perhaps that value has been inculcated in me so much so, that even now when I have more than enough money and food, I still don't waste it.

So for me it is a question of (family) values. I don't have an answer to how you instill not to waste food in people who didn't get that as children or from within their families. And I definitely don't think that it will help to impose some sort of "guidance" or "mount a campaign".

Sorry, that all sounds incredibly negative!