Is our food too cheap?

Food Waste

I have been following the BBC TV series "Food & Drink" presented by Michelle Roux Jr. The first episode of series two was based on the topic of food waste. Watching this got me thinking about how easy it has become for us to just bin excess food. This has inspired me to write about the problem at hand and hopefully open peoples eyes whom may not realise.

Food waste has become a major issue in the U.K. Here are a few shocking statistics I found about the problem:

• British families are throwing away the equivalent of 6 meals per week in food waste
• Resulting in throwing away an average of £60 a month for a household
• Foods that are commonly thrown away; bread, milk, fruits & vegetables
• 86 million chickens were said to be discarded each year

This just gives us a small view into this major situation, but what can we do about it? Here are a few handy tips that can help:

• Understanding the difference between "use by" and "best before". These are labels that have to be used for legal reasons. However, we as a consumer need to use our senses to decide whether a product is perished or not. Vision, smell and touch are key elements on deciding if a product is gone off and NOT the date on the packaging. Note: For health safety reasons please follow them when it comes to meat & fish products.
• Your freezer is your best friend. If you have excess food building up in the fridge why not turn into those 6 meals? You can freeze and store them for up to 3 months.
• If the vegetables are looking a bit sad you can bring them back to life. Prepare your vegetables, place them into a pan of boiling water for a couple minutes, drain them and pop into ice cold water. Once that process is completed place them on a tray and into the freezer. Finally, when the vegetables are frozen store them in a container safely in the freezer.
• Help yourself by gaining knowledge on preservation methods. For example, left over fruits can be preserved by turning them into jams.

Questions I have been asking myself: How have we as a nation let food waste build up? Why don't we have the knowledge on how to purchase and preserve sensibly? Do we buy more due to constant offers in the supermarkets? Is our food too cheap?

What are your thoughts and tips on this subject?