New government figures have revealed that Britons waste almost seven million tonnes of food EVERY year. Unsurprisingly, the overwhelming majority of that food waste consists of fresh fruit and vegetables. How much does this cost us? An annual eight billion pounds EVERY year, that’s how much. The full story can be found at the BBC Newsnight website.
I’ll admit that I’m guilty as charged in this instance. In the past, our household has ended up chucking away all manner of past-its-sell-by-date produce that’s lain mouldering in the botto
m of the fridge for however many weeks. Why did we do this? Buying the food in the first place seemed like a good idea at the time – after all, the five-portion-a-day guidelines have been drummed into us all by now - but then the days passed by and everyone in the house just seemed too busy to bother preparing it. Instant, ready-to-eat foods just seemed more appealing. They were always to hand, and required no troublesome chopping or washing. Meanwhile, the days turned into weeks, and when one of us did get around to reaching for the fruit, it was no longer fresh, so into the bin it went.
So it’s easy to blame the busy nature of modern life for this wastage. I’d imagine that most of the seven million tonnes is thrown away for the same or similar reasons. But in a world blighted by famine, poverty and rising costs in every sector, simple excuses no longer cut the mustard. So let’s turn this around and stop the wastage.
‘Eat your greens’ never seemed like such good advice.
Filed under: Musings | Tagged: cost, food waste, fruit and vegetables, wastage
