Eat Ethically Are you a waster?

Date Published:

03/03/2008

Every year we each throw away enough food to fill Wembley stadium eight times over. Sam Jordison comes clean about his bin habit

Here's what I (and my girlfriend) chucked:

In short a lot of stuff - especially since most of it, barring a couple of the jars, was bought within the last fortnight. Since then I've been keeping a regular food diary and have had to add to the total: half a bowl of chilli, another packet of egg fried noodles, another quarter packet of butter, a handful of raspberries, a cup full of cooked rice, half a bowl of muesli, half a Thai green curry and an old packet of shortbread biscuits that I found in the car.

So much for my green status. It turns out that in terms of food wastage, I'm as environmentally unsound as someone driving an SUV in the fast lane to Heathrow airport for a European city break, having left all the radiators on full blast at home.

The question now is what to do about it. Acknowledging the problem exists, I guess, is a start and for the next week or so I'm going to keep on recording how much I waste and publicly confessing to my shame here and with daily updates in this facebook group. If you want to join me in keeping a record of your own food waste there, I'd be delighted. Together we are stronger.

In fact, if everyone in the country stops throwing out all that food, it would be equivalent to taking one fifth of British cars off the road, claim Wrap. According to their Love Food Hate Waste website, it's an easily achievable target. "This issue isn't just one more thing to feel guilty about," a spokesperson from Love Food Hate Waste campaign told me. "It's not another ticking off campaign. The solution to the problem is really simple - and will actually save you money."

Over the next few days I'm going to be investigating how true that claim is by trying out a few food saving strategies myself, making sure I shop more sensibly and trying out a few new recipes to make the most of my leftovers. I'll be reporting back on my progress here. By the end of the campaign, I'm hoping that I won't be squandering anything like as much food. I might even achieve the same level of worthy food-smugness I had before.

Make the most of your weekly shop. Read our guide to dining off the leftovers