Preparation, Preparation, Preparation
I think for this blog I would like to look at the cost of food and the benefits of shopping on a budget. By addressing this, you will not only benefit your pocket and the environment, but will also eat more healthily and control your weight.
I personally have always been a shopper that hardly ever had a shopping list. I am guilty of being a hardened impulse purchaser.
Now I am not saying that this has changed much (old habits die hard and I still love to shop) but, like many, I have to be careful with the pennies. So, this for me is one of my life changes that has a direct effect on my finances as well as my weight.
When researching on the Internet, it surprised me to find out (and these figures change from site to site) that approximately 15 million tonnes of food is thrown away each year - and half of this is from households. That’s you and me!
I couldn’t imagine what that amount of food looked like so, to make it more real for me and you, I checked and found out that it means that an average couple wastes between £470 and £700 each year. That’s up to approximately £60 per month for a typical family.
Who wouldn’t want to save that kind of money?
Between 2007 and 2012 the avoidable food waste would fill 23 MILLION wheelie bins - and we have to pay to have these emptied and then to sort and process what is in them.
We can help the environment and save ourselves money at the same time - and this is where every little helps.
What is the cause, why is it all wasted?
There are two reasons: one is we cook too much and the other is we don’t use it in time.
One item that is often wasted is fruit. This is because it is usually placed in a fruit bowl and only eaten when we feel the urge. All too often it “goes off “before we get around to eating it.
However, I read that if we put our fruit in the fridge it will last 2 weeks longer.
I have tried this and it certainly does.
I did a test on various types of fruit- including bananas. Don’t worry about the banana skins turning black in the fridge because they can be perfect inside and they do last longer in the fridge - especially on hot days when they are inclined to ripen pretty quickly.
It has to be said that most foods we waste are vegetables, salad items, fresh fruit, and bakery items such as bread and cakes.
When appropriate, select items from the back of the shelf and check the “use by” dates as most supermarkets stock rotate and the longer dates will be at the back. Two days more might just stop you throwing away that food.
I realise that it’s easier to buy frozen “ping” meals, but they are processed and this has a direct effect on your energy levels. I will chat in detail about this in a later blog
One of the things you might like to do is calculate how much food, in money, is thrown away in your house, just to give yourself an idea. Then turn that into how many hours you have had to work to buy that food. If we are throwing away about £60 worth of food per month and if you work for the average minimum hourly rate you could in theory be working one day less per month and get the same pay. Or look at it this way; you are working for one day each month for nothing!!!
Mmmmm, personally I think I could have gone part time many years ago
Here it is at a glance. £60 of food per month wasted represents:
Retire early (1 day per month over a 40 year working life is 480 days or 96 working weeks. That’s about two years). Alright, I know you wouldn’t retire - but you could take the extra cash!!
You could also afford that extra weekend away every year.
Or a meal for four each month.
How do we address this weekly overspend and contribute our bit to the environment?
Whichever way you look at it it’s all in the preparation.
We prepare for work, and prepare for holidays, we prepare when visiting friends, our retirement, a wedding - the list goes on and on - and prepare even when cooking the evening meal so why wouldn’t we prepare for eating and shopping instead of relying on random impulsive guess work?
Make your list of foods that you have thrown away and turn this into money. Keep this figure in mind, and then let’s make a start.
First, try to shop only once a week, supermarkets love us to impulse buy so why not top up with a free delivery of food purchased online if necessary. (Some evening deliveries cost only a pound.)
Make sure all the items with “use by” dates will last at least 1 week or from shop to shop.
Here are my thoughts on working out how much fresh meat and fish you eat every week.
In using the new healthy eating plan and using the PortionBuster or scales, if every portion of meat or fish was 100 grams per main meal for each person over 7 days a week that means no one person should consume more than 700 grams of meat or fish from your weekly shop. You obviously know roughly how many members of your family there are eating at home in a week so multiply this amount by the number of family members.
Shop with this in mind. Every packet of meat has the weight marked on to help. Include your Sunday roast in these calculations. Don’t buy more than you need and then you will make it last.
And what’s wrong with a vegetable curry, bolognaise or vegetable chilli? They can be tastier due to the fact they have fresh ingredients in them and a great way of using vegetable that are not quite perfect anymore.
Look at the recipes for the healthier spaghetti bolognaise I make.
Add fresh fruit to natural yogurts as the fruit in a shop-bought flavoured yogurt is a very small amount and can only count as 1/5 of a portion of fruit out of your “5 a day”-and these flavoured yogurts are full of sugar too.
The secret of making pasta part of a low calorie diet is simply a matter of controlling portions. A recommended size portion of pasta is 2 ounces or 56 grams dry weight and represents about 200 calories.
I am typical of most folk in that, when I have made a pasta or rice dish in the past, I have filled the plate with pasta or rice first, and then added the sauce. It’s one of the biggest mistakes I have made and, to think about it more, why wouldn’t we fill our plates with more of the tasty good stuff, all the veggies and sauce, rather than the rice or pasta. Now I am not saying don’t have any rice or pasta, I am saying have much less because the meal will taste just the same and be much healthier for you too.
I think for this blog I would like to look at the cost of food and the benefits of shopping on a budget. By addressing this, you will not only benefit your pocket and the environment, but will also eat more healthily and control your weight.
I personally have always been a shopper that hardly ever had a shopping list. I am guilty of being a hardened impulse purchaser.
Now I am not saying that this has changed much (old habits die hard and I still love to shop) but, like many, I have to be careful with the pennies. So, this for me is one of my life changes that has a direct effect on my finances as well as my weight.
When researching on the Internet, it surprised me to find out (and these figures change from site to site) that approximately 15 million tonnes of food is thrown away each year - and half of this is from households. That’s you and me!
I couldn’t imagine what that amount of food looked like so, to make it more real for me and you, I checked and found out that it means that an average couple wastes between £470 and £700 each year. That’s up to approximately £60 per month for a typical family.
Who wouldn’t want to save that kind of money?
Between 2007 and 2012 the avoidable food waste would fill 23 MILLION wheelie bins - and we have to pay to have these emptied and then to sort and process what is in them.
We can help the environment and save ourselves money at the same time - and this is where every little helps.
What is the cause, why is it all wasted?
There are two reasons: one is we cook too much and the other is we don’t use it in time.
One item that is often wasted is fruit. This is because it is usually placed in a fruit bowl and only eaten when we feel the urge. All too often it “goes off “before we get around to eating it.
However, I read that if we put our fruit in the fridge it will last 2 weeks longer.
I have tried this and it certainly does.
I did a test on various types of fruit- including bananas. Don’t worry about the banana skins turning black in the fridge because they can be perfect inside and they do last longer in the fridge - especially on hot days when they are inclined to ripen pretty quickly.
It has to be said that most foods we waste are vegetables, salad items, fresh fruit, and bakery items such as bread and cakes.
When appropriate, select items from the back of the shelf and check the “use by” dates as most supermarkets stock rotate and the longer dates will be at the back. Two days more might just stop you throwing away that food.
I realise that it’s easier to buy frozen “ping” meals, but they are processed and this has a direct effect on your energy levels. I will chat in detail about this in a later blog
One of the things you might like to do is calculate how much food, in money, is thrown away in your house, just to give yourself an idea. Then turn that into how many hours you have had to work to buy that food. If we are throwing away about £60 worth of food per month and if you work for the average minimum hourly rate you could in theory be working one day less per month and get the same pay. Or look at it this way; you are working for one day each month for nothing!!!
Mmmmm, personally I think I could have gone part time many years ago
Here it is at a glance. £60 of food per month wasted represents:
Retire early (1 day per month over a 40 year working life is 480 days or 96 working weeks. That’s about two years). Alright, I know you wouldn’t retire - but you could take the extra cash!!
You could also afford that extra weekend away every year.
Or a meal for four each month.
How do we address this weekly overspend and contribute our bit to the environment?
Whichever way you look at it it’s all in the preparation.
We prepare for work, and prepare for holidays, we prepare when visiting friends, our retirement, a wedding - the list goes on and on - and prepare even when cooking the evening meal so why wouldn’t we prepare for eating and shopping instead of relying on random impulsive guess work?
Make your list of foods that you have thrown away and turn this into money. Keep this figure in mind, and then let’s make a start.
First, try to shop only once a week, supermarkets love us to impulse buy so why not top up with a free delivery of food purchased online if necessary. (Some evening deliveries cost only a pound.)
Make sure all the items with “use by” dates will last at least 1 week or from shop to shop.
Here are my thoughts on working out how much fresh meat and fish you eat every week.
In using the new healthy eating plan and using the PortionBuster or scales, if every portion of meat or fish was 100 grams per main meal for each person over 7 days a week that means no one person should consume more than 700 grams of meat or fish from your weekly shop. You obviously know roughly how many members of your family there are eating at home in a week so multiply this amount by the number of family members.
Shop with this in mind. Every packet of meat has the weight marked on to help. Include your Sunday roast in these calculations. Don’t buy more than you need and then you will make it last.
And what’s wrong with a vegetable curry, bolognaise or vegetable chilli? They can be tastier due to the fact they have fresh ingredients in them and a great way of using vegetable that are not quite perfect anymore.
Look at the recipes for the healthier spaghetti bolognaise I make.
Add fresh fruit to natural yogurts as the fruit in a shop-bought flavoured yogurt is a very small amount and can only count as 1/5 of a portion of fruit out of your “5 a day”-and these flavoured yogurts are full of sugar too.
The secret of making pasta part of a low calorie diet is simply a matter of controlling portions. A recommended size portion of pasta is 2 ounces or 56 grams dry weight and represents about 200 calories.
I am typical of most folk in that, when I have made a pasta or rice dish in the past, I have filled the plate with pasta or rice first, and then added the sauce. It’s one of the biggest mistakes I have made and, to think about it more, why wouldn’t we fill our plates with more of the tasty good stuff, all the veggies and sauce, rather than the rice or pasta. Now I am not saying don’t have any rice or pasta, I am saying have much less because the meal will taste just the same and be much healthier for you too.
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