Do You Waste Food or Use up Leftovers?
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I had half a leftover bag of diced carrot and swede, an onion, 2 potatoes, third of a can of baked beans and stock cupboard stuff like herbs, worcester sauce, stock cubes and a pinch of chilli. The result was a delicious bowl of chunky soup/stew. I even threw in some super noodles just for the hell of it. Warm, filling and i can't tell you how much i enjoyed it even though i am not a vegetarian.
Well my other half has a thing for best before days and if there is anything in the house that's got out of date even if it's on the day he puts it in the bin so we waste food not my choice I know most are good to eat
Lynibis normally it's either going out of date that day or the next but as soon as he sees the date it goes in the bin same with frozen food I got a load of fresh meat from a place near me had dates on them he said we will freeze some of it but it had to be eaten by the 7th on this month or it's going out 
she we had meat for 5 days
Leannexxx oh dear does he not realise that freezing prolongs the life. It usually tells you on the pack something like 'freeze on the day of purchase and use within 3 months'. Otherwise may as well just keep in fridge and not bother freezing. I would find it a real pain having to buy fresh stuff every few days. Has he had a brush with food poisoning?
Use them as much as possible. Usually get large chicken do I can make it last a few days
Jerseydrew I can remember doing that as a young housewife 50 years ago. Roast on Sunday, then chicken pie, curry, stew or soup for following two days. That was in the days when I could get two carrier bags of shopping for a fiver!
I always use up leftovers. I hate food waste. I also love experimenting. Xmas I made a left over pie, it was amazing
I’m getting better not to waste food although I did find a yellow broccoli in the fridge hiding. It was way past its best so it went on the compost.
I always use left overs.I have strange eclectic tastes so don't mind a bit of mix and match.
MelissaLee1 I must admit I have become far less picky with age. My weakness is frying up left over potato whether it's mash or sliced potato. Delicious with fried eggs or sausages.
I made Chilli Sausage Casserole,yesterday, cross between a Chilli & Sausage Casserole using some of my left over Veg along with good quality Aldi Cumberland Sausages & Chilli packet mix....My partner & I had it with the Spicy Rice our Asian neighbour brought round & we really enjoyed it,he had it again today & really enjoyed it.
I put SHEFFIELD'S finest in there too,HENDERSON'S RELISH,none of that Worcester Sauce,we have our own ,it goes with most things & is available most places in the country!
janphoenix51 I would never have thought of that combination but it sounds good. Having normal chilli for dinner at my son's tomorrow. Have never heard of Henderson's Relish but am continually surprised that there are some things only available in certain areas, considering what a small country we are. Would you be able to post a pic please?
Lynibis ...Henderson 's Relish is a sauce like Worcester,made in my city of Sheffield & loved by thousands of people, not just us Sheffielder's. It's tag line is STRONG & NORTHERN, Hendo's as we call it has It's own COOK BOOK,certain Chefs on television use Hendo's too..
Hendos is famous as Sheffield bands,Pulp,Heaven 17,Arctic Monkeys, Human League,ABC!
Where do you live??
Most areas sell it now,on our SHEFFIELD PICTURES OLD & NEW FB PAGE it often crops up & people from all over the WORLD with a Sheffield connection comment on it & where its available..
My baby sister lives in Northwich, Cheshire, she used to come home to Sheffield & buy a box of our finest Sauce when she visited family, now it's available where she lives...
I will post a picture later,in bed till 11am ,having a rare lie in before I go for my 3pm-10am shift..
janphoenix51 I am down South in Essex, I will keep an eye out for it but don't hold out much hope lol.
Lynibis ....Just had the last 4 Sausages for Brunch,a rare treat as we don't eat a lot of fried food. I fried them off in a little oil,cut them in half as they were thick,fried some Leek & Mushrooms, added our very own Sheffield Sauce then put it in Seeded Bread for my partner & I,we loved it sooo tasty..
I will run the 20 min to work later to get rid of the calories!!
janphoenix51 had to laugh and remembered our chat on here about Hendos. There is a competition here I have just seen for Hendos!
Why waste food when you can make a meal out of It. It Is not that hard to conjure up a recipe with leftovers.
Must admit we are very good and have minimal food waste, I tend to loosly meal plan and think this works really well. I hate to see food wasted.
I must admit I waste quite a bit, especially if it's out of date or near it's best before date, I just can't eat it
martinlufc5637 I can understand if it's out of date but not near to as they say it can still be safely used a couple of days after. If it smells and looks ok, then it's ok.
martinlufc5637 Lynibis If you could consider 'best before' dates meaning it highly likely tastes better before, maybe you could change your mind set.
And I'm sure they got rid of most 'out of date' dates and changed them to 'best before' to stop people throwing edible things out - isn't it overly presumptuous to foretell a food is 'out of date' 1 second after midnight from the printed date? - As a kid, I have always wondered how they guess such a specific day - I mean it can't suddenly rot the next day can it?
Most people just need to learn and experience when food starts to look/feel/smell a little dodgy - that's when I put it in the 'eat now' category.
hky COVID ended my smell and taste, first time I had it , it went away but gradually came back, second time it went all together
Lynibis ah, I apologise if it sounded like I was aiming at you, I just wanted to put my thoughts out and see if you had any other insight at before dates (I've come across your comments in other threads too, and you seem very knowledgeable/experienced). I also tagged you as I misread you commented someone you knew throws out food on the before date but it was a reply to you.
martinlufc5637 I personally rarely use smell as a test and usually go by eye and touch the most - squish things a little. Often when I do smell it, the food is becoming direly bad.
But I had this subject come up and I think some leaflets given to us at uni once that we need to learn how long different foods last rather than only rely on the before date, which is why I mentioned.
hky absolutely fine, no probs, glad to see so many folk are not wasteful. I think people are either wasteful or not, probably due to financial status so I guess they won't change. There have been lots of posts on how to save on food which I have found really helpful, if it's freezeable that would seem the way to go, even if you have to blanch or cook first.
It is very rare we waste food in our household. It is usually just tea bags and bones that go in the ‘food bin’. I try to make sure I only buy what we are actually going to eat.
Available in Scotland too,look in B & M ,Sainsbury & Home Bargains ,you can thank me later! On the Henderson Relish FB there is even a photo of Bottles of Hendos next to that W Sauce we don't mention taken in TOKYO JAPAN!!!
Henderson Relish turn out LIMITED EDITION Bottles,sometimes supporting local Charities like our own BLUEBELL WOOD,ypu could get both Sheffield Wednesday & Sheffield United Bottles too..A Pinch Of Nom use Hendos in their recipes in their BUDGET Cook Book & to mark that occasion Henderson Relish made a LIMITED EDITION Pich Of Nom Bottle.Sheffield's BOSH! Boys used Hendos in their Vegetarian Recipes on This Morning too@
Look how long Hendo's has been around, doesn't that tell you how good the SHEFFIELD SAUCE is??
janphoenix51 hey you'll get no argument from me. The word relish made me think it was some sort of relish as in chutney type. I am doing an online shop so will see if it comes up.
I try to use up food rather than waste it, but sometimes it's hard to eat up lots of different foods types. Would be easier if we ate up leftovers as a family rather than it falling all to me!
We rarely have leftovers but when we do we always use them up. I hate food waste. We don't have a lot of food waste in our house.
I never have leftovers they all get used. Today I had softish spuds and parsnips, carrots, half swede and sweet spuds to which I added my yellow sticker haul of 4 bags of mixed veg (carrot, sprouts, broccoli, cauli) making a very large pan of multi mash. Some is getting used as a topping tonight the rest frozen, great for not having to do separate veg.
I try not to waste food. I ignore dates and go with the smell and mould look. You can often tell I'd something is off
Jerseydrew I agree, I would never bin something that looked and smelled ok. A lot of things can be frozen if I can't use in time.
I always use leftovers - I'm against food waste as it's not necessary. It's like throwing money in the bin.
I never waste any food ever, I've always said 'l bet no one is eating what we are eating tonight' it's great rustling up something from leftovers rather than making a new meal every evening 
I try my best to use up left over food, I don’t mind eating the same thing for a few days straight as I think it saves money and i can just have what i want later in the week.
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