Wasting food is a "sin"

[AlaMoi]

I'm in the camp of US restos (generally) putting out really big serving sizes . . . more than the average person, and certainly a 'senior' can eat.

this never appeared as an issue when we lived in Germany/traveling to adjoining countries.  it was really neat because we always had room for desert!

 

higher end places - big dish, little plunks of food . . . - are the exception.

 

now, the only time we do not ask for a container/by-any-other-name is when on the road/traveling - minimal potential to eat up the leftovers...

Edited April 22, 2023 by AlaMoi (log)

[liuzhou]

3 hours ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

asking for a "baggy dog", conflating American terminology with French style grammar.

 

I'm puzzled where you are seeing French style grammar but in French it is 'le doggy-bag' although the powers that be campaigned for 'gourmet-bag' which campaign, in usual French style, was almost totally ignored.

But in 2016, a law was passed in France mandating that all restaurants with a large number of covers (around 150 and over, although the exact number is variable depending on other factors) must offer such a service and supply appropriate containers.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

5 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

This is good to know about China.  I've read a lot in the past about Europeans looking down on Americans for doing this.  I found this blog post from 2008 from an American heaping contempt upon her fellow citizens for "doggy bags".  I think (hope) things are changing in Europe and that's good.  I have to say that I love when a restaurant packs up my leftovers for me and presents me with a neat package.  I mean, if we are trusting them to cook our food, can't we trust them to wrap it up?  Mr. Kim and I recently had this discussion - I really find it ungracious and unwelcoming when a restaurant hands you a container and a plastic bag and basically says, "go for it".  I end up contorting myself trying to get the food into the container with a dirty fork and not getting it on me or the floor.  I end the evening feeling ungainly instead of taken care of.  My favorite thing is when they whisk it away and bring you a claim ticket and you pick up your bag when you leave.  

And then there are those French restaurants who return your leftovers in foil, sculpted into a swan.

[MetsFan5]

I remember those ducks! 
 

My previous comment wasn’t fully truthful; I have asked to take home steak bones (I know!) for my dog. But I still don’t think I said doggy bag. 🤣

[Anna N]

I found it thought-provoking that Nikki Segnit in her latest book* suggests that a rigid reliance on recipes is a factor in food waste. I confess to being recipe-reliant and agree that a more instinctive approach to food preparation would likely reduce food waste. When one goes to the store with a list of ingredients to prepare a specific dish, chances are excellent that some of what is purchased will never be used. It will sit in the fridge or the pantry or the freezer until it is finally binned.   

*Flavour Thesaurus: more flavours: Plant-led pairings, recipes and ideas for cooks

[Margaret Pilgrim]

I guess early poverty established my shopping and cooking styles.    I infrequently shop for a specific recipe but rather keep a pantry and cook from it.    Even then, an errant veg will occasionally die in the crisper bin.   But basically, I buy what I know from experience we will use.

[AlaMoi]

recipes need a sanity check for serving size, and serving quantities.  I've seen it go both ways - 20 servings @2 ounces each (!)

and the other extreme, , , four pounds of potatoes for 4 servings . . .

just made an apple crumb pie - it's in the oven - recipe from Food Network.  

note to self.... don't try to put three pounds of apples in a 9 inch pie pan - it does not work . . .

 

with a couple of intentional exceptions, I try to reduce recipes to two-people-no-left-overs.

 

tonight is pork chop & spaetzle - so food waste has been rescued by an apple compote side dish.  apples and pork are a good combo.

actually I'd just baked the remainder and eaten it with a spoon comma anyway . . .

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Since retired and therefore both at home most days, I intentionally cook excess quantities.    Usual lunches are from a "refrigerator buffet" of several nights' planned-overs.   Essentially nothing goes uneaten, either said lunches or as an ingredient in a subsequent meal.    Large batch leftovers are scarfed by son's family, same day or frozen with them in mind.

[AlaMoi]

yup.  there are items which make a tasty lunch - e.g. flat iron steak  typically comes in at 12 ounces , , , remainder thin sliced makes really nifty sandwich . . . salmon/steelhead - filet chunks make a yummy lunch . . . etc etc

but this kind of 'leftover' is too small for 'dinner-for-two'

certain/some  stews / casseroles do produce dinner size leftovers - and those need to be incorporated into the 'week menu planning' cycle.

 

example:  went to Costco.  cannot leave without a rotisserie chicken . . . which is two meals for us, , , and with left over tuna noodle casserole already in the fridge,,, menu plan adjustment(s) required....

[Margaret Pilgrim]

1 hour ago, AlaMoi said:

....went to Costco.  cannot leave without a rotisserie chicken . . . which is two meals for us, , , and with left over tuna noodle casserole already in the fridge,,, menu plan adjustment(s) require+

We have made it a practice to stop at a village store to pick up a rotis chicken on our way to our weekend place.    instant dinner on night one, chicken sandwich for dh on day two, creamed chicken or pot pie dinner on day three or four.    After broth, bones tossed out to garden animals who include a feral + several neighbors' cats + several foxes.   And I recently noticed that we have caught the attention of a murder of crows.   Not a scrap wasted.

Edited May 13, 2023 by Margaret Pilgrim (log)

[kayb]

I once experimented to see how many meals for two I could get from one rotisserie chiv

cken.

1. sliced chicken breast, gravy from drippings, mashed potatoes, green peas.

2. rest of the breast in a chicken and broccoli casserole. Two meals for two.

3. Thighs, legs, wings, meat plucked from bone and served in a curry sauce. Two more meals for two.

4. carcass, boiled for stock. Foundation of, I don’t know, maybe 2-4 more leaps for two?

 

Rotiisserie chickens ate $4.99 at Sam’s. I can’t beat $4.99 for five-%plus meals for two.

[liuzhou]

Interesting, balanced take on food waste in the Grauniad today. It's more complicated than it may appear.

 

 

The scandal of food waste and how we can stop it