I hate waste!

29 September

Elements within the Dorktown rank and file have caught Americana it seems. I have long dreaded that happening. An individual on Streetlife no longer sees that its fine say he has items going for free, or to give away, oh no, he wants to ‘gift’ them. Doesn’t he see how stupid that sounds! Ye gods, what next I wonder? Fish and French fries stores? Walkers potato chips? Color paint? Scouts honor? Oh come one, give us break!!!

I’ve just been looking through the MSN home page and came across a piece in Food & Drink section that claims there are simple ways to reduce food waste. Perhaps the easiest way to not to buy so much. To prevent that all you need to do is to check your fridge and cupboards before you go out shopping. We have a small notebook that we use for our shopping list and we write down what we need as we find we need it. Some weeks we have just the odd one or two items, and then the next week we have quite a long list.

What we do not do, simple because we can’t afford it, is to take into our heads to go into a shop and buy fresh items for that day’s dinner. Something else we don’t do is to buy packs of fresh veg. A kilo bag of carrots is far too much for us and would be wasted but buying just four lose carrots as and when we need them works fine for us. The only fresh foods we do buy in packs is fruit and that it because I eat so much of it and by next week I will be ready to buy more. Fruit is rarely wasted in Jaronland.

Supermarkets are in a difficult place with ordering in fresh foods. There’s narrow line to tread by buying too much or not enough of the various items that customers demand. I like fresh plum tomatoes but I rarely see the see the full sized version, only the ‘baby’ ones. There’s tube of those in our fridge after yesterday’s shop. So I can’t really expect them to order the full sized versions just for me, simply because I don’t buy them all that often.

What happens when they do over-order? They throw it out, and get jumped on by charities and celebrity chefs for throwing out good and useable food. If they under-order and run out, then customers may go elsewhere and never come back. Apparently they use weather forecasts along with algorithms that work out how much and when to order goods. It doesn’t always work though, as I said yesterday the programs and forecasts are only as good as the people writing and using them.

From what I’ve seen on telly, the Yanks are biggest food wasters by far. It seems that unless they eat until they are full they feel that they haven’t had value for money. Here in the UK there are rules on waste and wage payments which means that food is more expensive here than in the States. That may be so, but just thinks wee bit; when was the last time you finished a full fish & chips carry out? I can’t remember when it was for me. A normal Chinese take away will give two meals, not the one I bought.

No matter where we look, where we live, in western countries obesity is on the increase, but not everyone is getting fatter are they. Oh no, not by a long chalk. Those who remain slim are either fitter all round, and perhaps they watch what they are eating much more than those who are getting fatter. It’s a case watching what and how much I eat that is making me lose so much weight. Now, a large plate full of food put me off and I rarely eat it all anymore. And that my friends is waste, and I don’t like waste, especially when it’s me causing it.

Today’s photo has to be …

One of my favourites that never gets wasted. And yes, I know, it’s not very healthy and I don’t have a clue what is in those burgers, but by heck, I do enjoy them every so often. See, I’m not a do as I say kind of guy …

Today’s funny …

Have you heard about the lawyers' word processor software?
No matter what font you select, everything come out in fine print.