S02.E21: Food Waste

[Athena]

Producers, sellers, and consumers waste tons of food. John Oliver discusses the shocking amount of food we don’t eat.

[Delwyn]

The segment on food waste was pretty soul crushing. I feel bad if my spinach goes bad before I can finish it, but seeing all that fresh produce in the trash was heart breaking; I actually cried to see it. I have worked at the food bank and know that what people get is not a balanced diet. The sheer amount of waste was mind boggling to me and I'm grateful that at the very least my city has organic collection. I'm not sure I want to pull at the seams of that.

How could anyone creating regulations see that and not do something? I hope no one in a third world country ever has to know this is a thing.

The El Chapo bathroom tunnel story was pretty great, though. But: why was his bathtub nicer than mine while he was in custody?

[Jamoche]

Obviously, if you are ever stuck in a WWII POW camp, El Chapo is the guy you want with you.

 

And Laibach's videos are making me nostalgic for Craig Ferguson's Twitter theme videos. Bring on the dancing skeletons! Yeah!

Edited July 20, 2015 by Jamoche

[Hanahope]

When he started the food waste topic, I was expecting a report of people throwing away bad food from their fridge, or perhaps restaurant waste.  I wasn't expecting to see absolutely good food being trashed by the tons because it doesn't look "perfect."  That was terrible. 

 

I always have to convince my family that the dates on the food packages don't mean crap and that most of the time, its perfectly fine to eat.  Sometimes, things do get old, even dry goods.  I stopped buying Bisquick, for example, years ago because I could never eat it fast enough before it went "flat." 

[attica]

I wasn't expecting to see absolutely good food being trashed by the tons because it doesn't look "perfect."  That was terrible.

 

I do the 'pick your own apples' thing every year. Some years, when there's a hailstorm early in the fruit's development, there will be lumps and protrusions on the apples. They're perfectly good to eat; even the lumps are just apple-flesh, not bruise or scar tissue. But none of those can be sold at market, for just the reasons John pointed out. The orchards all post signs saying everything's okay, but that's hard psychology to get around.

[Human]

This episode has really stuck with me.  My partner and I are constantly failing at not wasting food.  It seems like even when we make menus and stick to it, we are still tossing out food every Sunday (yup, tossed a bunch just before John Oliver showed up to tell us we were contributing to all those stadiums of food).  To know just how much perfectly good food gets tossed out from the farm to the grocery store just makes me feel so sick, and most of it is because psychology is hard to overcome.  I mean, I ended up buying one of those big bags of chopped kale because I refused to take the last bundle of kale....and for no reason.  It looked perfectly fine, it was just the only one.  I got this huge bag knowing that there was no way we would finish it before it starts to mold.  

[futurechemist]

My city has mandatory food composting, so at least I can feel that the spoiled food is going to a better place.  But even with that, my family is not eating enough of the food we buy.  And I know that city composting is a fairly rare service, my parents in NJ still don't have mandatory recycling where they live.

[trow125]

My husband is on the board of our local food bank, and props to our local Safeway & Trader Joe's stores, they give away TONS of food (including produce) to the bank every year. He's planning to share the video with the rest of the board.

 

As for the "ugly" peaches etc., I would think there would be lots of uses for them, like making pies, jam, etc.? I wish there was a way to connect the farms with people who might be interested in using the discarded produce to make goods to sell at farmers' markets, or even industrial users (Smuckers, etc.). At the VERY least, how about using it for animal feed? A local urban farmer here in the Bay Area has written about how she fed her pigs with discarded produce from vendors in Oakland's Chinatown.

 

Very good piece and I hope it results in some changes being made.

[Wax Lion]

Oh, wow. Laibach. That is such a college flashback. They are so weird. John actually didn't get the whole story, that wasn't their only cover of Sympathy for the Devil they did 6 - 8 very different cover songs including a catchy club version with vocals from whisper-voiced female vocalists. They also did a cover of the entire "Let It Be" album.

 

That's amazing that John and his team found that the whole "Food Safety issue" legend is bunk. I've heard it so many times and it's probably a legacy of the conservative "Lawsuits have gone out of control and are ruining everything" meme.

 

ETA: A business I used to see at the farmers market used to sell peaches and stone fruit part of the year and jams and pastries the rest. I'm a little surprised they were the only ones I've seen like that.

 

And I have totally bought the last item at the grocery store or farmer's market. If I'm looking for daikon, I'm getting daikon when I find it. Never looked that hard for chard, tho.

Edited July 20, 2015 by Wax Lion

[ganesh]

It would be very informative if the presidential candidates were asked stuff like this. Do you support tax breaks for food donations? What are you going to do about fixing infrastructure? etc. They're all still stammering over how awful it is that gay people are getting married and have health care. This is the day to day stuff that helps people and keeps this country running.

[iMonrey]

North Korea: the Earth's Florida. 

 

Loved the segment on Boehner and Graham protesting the Iranian deal before even knowing what was in it.

 

As for the food waste story - I was glad to see it book-ended with that god-awful monstrosity Hardees is pushing these days. Seriously - a cheeseburger with hot dogs and potato chips, why? Because: 'murica dammit! Seriously, there are people who will eat that shit up, both figuratively and literally.

 

As for the waste itself, I'm not 100% convinced the main reason so much is thrown out versus donated is because lack of government assistance, tax breaks, etc. I'm not sure the government is really the necessary catalyst here to make it easier for supermarkets or farms to donate to food banks, that sounds more like a convenient excuse. It was certainly an eye opener to see what happened to that House bill once it made its way through the Senate, but honestly that could have been about any issue these days.

 

I'm also going to hell for saying this but they fail to grab me emotionally with the young mother of three who struggles to put food on the table, because whenever I see something like that my immediate reaction is to wonder what the hell this woman is doing with three children when she can't even afford to buy food.

[attica]

my immediate reaction is to wonder what the hell this woman is doing with three children when she can't even afford to buy food.

 

We don't have enough information to know if her food-buying ability tracked time-wise with her kid-having. It's possible being food insecure is more recent that having kids. And will hopefully be of short duration.

 

Not too long ago, I wanted to buy a rotisserie chicken at my local megamart. I was too early in the morning to buy one of that day's batch, so I asked if they had any leftover from the night before. I was told they weren't permitted to sell it to me. I don't know whether the regulations on prepared food are different, so all I could do was be sad and disappointed. Not long after, the same store started carrying chicken pot pies and chicken salad made from, you guessed it, unsold rotisserie chickens. Some progress there, at least. 

[Victor the Crab]

Loved the segment on Boehner and Graham protesting the Iranian deal before even knowing what was in it.

 

And comparing the two of them to a four year old brat who won't eat his broccoli, even though he's never tried it before, seems the perfect and appropriate example for that situation.

 

Sorry Ollie, seeing Laibach perform The Sound of Music is not going to convince me to step foot in North Korea. Come to think of it, seeing Laibach perform anywhere won't convince me to go there.

[cattykit]

 

I'm also going to hell for saying this but they fail to grab me emotionally with the young mother of three who struggles to put food on the table, because whenever I see something like that my immediate reaction is to wonder what the hell this woman is doing with three children when she can't even afford to buy food.

That, and one of the kids was sucking on a drink from a cup that obviously came from a fast food place.

 

It would be nice, too, if stores would sell food in smaller quantities (for us single people who can't go through Costco-sized products) without charging a higher unit price.

 

I've brought food home that is well below its sale date that was rotten when I opened it, and food that is past its sale date that is just fine.  I won't go to the extreme of my late mother, who thought that refrigeration eliminated spoilage.  Sale dates are a relatively new phenomenon--they didn't exist when I was a kid, and sometimes they seem like a gimmick to get people to buy more product.

Edited July 20, 2015 by cattykit

[Irlandesa]

I'm also going to hell for saying this but they fail to grab me emotionally with the young mother of three who struggles to put food on the table, because whenever I see something like that my immediate reaction is to wonder what the hell this woman is doing with three children when she can't even afford to buy food.

Unexpected job loss.  Or a divorce where the father/s don't pay child support.  And if she has a minimum wage job, she'll likely be short somewhere.  (Not that I know anything about her life but I can envision numerous scenarios where it'd be easy to end up in a similar situation.)

 

That, and one of the kids was sucking on a drink from a cup that obviously came from a fast food place.

That's because fast food is cheaper.  See some previous Last Week Tonight episode.   It'd be great if they could sell those aforementioned chickens half off. 

 

 

I'm not sure the government is really the necessary catalyst here to make it easier for supermarkets or farms to donate to food banks, that sounds more like a convenient excuse.

 

Maybe.  Maybe not.  But it is kind of ridiculous considering how many tax breaks are given to business for less positive reasons that a win/win for pro-business peeps and anti-poverty peeps can't get passed.

 

I knew about food waste because I had seen the Food Network Special whose clips appeared in last night's segment.  I know I'm guilty of it.  I wish I had a grocery store closer that I could walk to.  When I lived in Europe, that's how I had to get my groceries.  I only brought home what I could carry and I wasted so much less. 

Edited July 21, 2015 by Irlandesa

[ganesh]

And comparing the two of them to a four year old brat who won't eat his broccoli, even though he's never tried it before, seems the perfect and appropriate example for that situation.

 

 

At this point it's a farce. Obama could say he likes olives on his pizza and they'd vote against olives. 

 

I'm hopeful the deal with work and Iran won't get weapons. I don't think they actually want weapons, actually. But I hope the deal is so great that 15 years later, it's hailed unanimously as one of the great foreign policy achievements of the early 21st century. Same thing with the ACA. I want history to look back on these people and say, "you could have been a part of this. What was wrong with you? Why didn't you help when you could?" 

[shok]

 

what the hell this woman is doing with three children when she can't even afford to buy food.

 

 

Unexpected job loss.  Or a divorce where the father/s don't pay child support.  And if she has a minimum wage job, she'll likely be short somewhere.  (Not that I know anything about her life but I can envision numerous scenarios where it'd be easy to end up in a similar situation.)

 

Or she works for Hobby Lobby where the owners think they have the right to dictate whether or not their women employees should get ObamaCare covered birth control.

[fastiller]

1. Loved the segment on Boehner and Graham protesting the Iranian deal before even knowing what was in it.

<snip>

 

2. I'm also going to hell for saying this but they fail to grab me emotionally with the young mother of three who struggles to put food on the table, because whenever I see something like that my immediate reaction is to wonder what the hell this woman is doing with three children when she can't even afford to buy food.

 

1. It was especially interesting to see Chuck Schumer interviewed about the deal.  He's a staunch Israel supporter and his stance on the deal is that he's not going to make an assessment until he reads it in full.  Amazing! Thoughtfulness on a complex issue instead of knee-jerkery!

 

2. As others have mentioned - unexpected events can conspire to create food insecurity: job loss, illness, etc.  Also, just because the child was drinking out of a fast-food joint's cup doesn't mean they were there recently, or that they go there often; perhaps that's what the family keeps in the cupboard?

[Human]

 

2. I'm also going to hell for saying this but they fail to grab me emotionally with the young mother of three who struggles to put food on the table, because whenever I see something like that my immediate reaction is to wonder what the hell this woman is doing with three children when she can't even afford to buy food.

I think it's less about the choices the mother has made and more about three children who are food insecure.  

[ALenore]

I thought for sure John would bring up this: http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/12/09/369613561/in-europe-ugly-sells-in-the-produce-aisle

 

The European Union declared 2014 to be the Year Against Food Waste and Intermarche, a French supermarket chain started a campaign which:

 

 made hideous fruits and veggies the star of the show. In TV commercials and print ads, the supermarket promoted absurd-looking produce like "the grotesque apple," "the failed lemon," "the disfigured eggplant," "the ugly carrot" and the "unfortunate clementine."

The campaign was a temporary experiment in a store in Provins, outside Paris. Intermarche bought up the lumpy and bumpy stuff that would have gotten discarded and gave it its own aisle in the supermarket, selling it at a 30 percent discount. To convince shoppers that looks may have suffered but taste did not, the retailer also sold soups and shakes made with them

That initial campaign, launched in March, was quite successful: Marcel, the creative agency behind Intermarche's campaign, says overall store traffic rose 24 percent.

 

I'm sure something like that could work here in the United States, especially with something like the 30% discount. 

[TudorQueen]

That, and making the 'ugly' fruit somehow seem trendy.

[possibilities]

A teacher's aide I knew told a story about how the kids in her class were asked by the head teacher to draw pictures of what they ate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner the day before. One kid drew the McDonald's "Golden Arches" for all three meals. The teacher yelled at him, saying that isn't true, no one eats out for every meal, and told him to do the assignment again and tell the truth about what he actually ate, not what he wishes for. The kid started crying, and said, "but it is true, we eat at McDonald's because we don't have a refrigerator."

 

This will also be true for homeless families, with no place to cook, or store, food. The more poor you are, the more stress you are under, and the choices you make are influenced by different things than if you have more resources, energy, and options.

[biakbiak]

This will also be true for homeless families, with no place to cook, or store, food. The more poor you are, the more stress you are under, and the choices you make are influenced by different things than if you have more resources, energy, and options.

 

Also, many low-income neighborhoods are "food deserts" where there are not stores where you can by fresh food even if you have a place to cook but do have fast food places and convent stores. 

[mjc570]

My local grocery store was giving away "soup corn" - ears that obviously failed the attractiveness test.  I thought that was a good idea, to encourage people to think about using "leftovers" (so to speak) in different ways. 

 

I have to admit that I am one of those people who really doesn't like to buy less than perfect produce.  I could be induced, perhaps, by a substantial discount and some creative ideas, but I am really picky.

[TudorQueen]

I think it also depends, to some extent, on what you're using it for. As someone pointed out above, irregular fruits can be used in pies, preserves, etc. "Ugly" vegetables are fine for soups, stews, etc. But we're encouraged to be a society that judges on superficialities. A lot of rejected produce probably tastes better than the perfect, still life versions we see in supermarkets. Check out the better farmers' markets and you'll see lots of blemishes and misshapenness - and taste lots of flavor!

And this is one of the reasons I love John Oliver so much - he is sincerely outraged and tremendously informative and riotously funny all at once, and can inspire a serious and interesting debate such as what I've been reading here over the last two days.

Oh, and this seems to be the place to note that I would actually love to hear Leibach's version of selections from "The Sound of Music".



 

[fastiller]

Just wanted to report: for the past few evenings, I've had salad for dinner.  Salad from a bag* that had a "Use By" date of 07.10.2015.  I've suffered no ill effects from this.  Also in these salads: grapes that were less than perfect, 'ugly' peaches, mushrooms that I trimmed to get rid of some less than pleasant bits.  All in all they've been tasty as all get out.

 

 

* yes, I know, I know: salad from a bag is wasteful in its own way.

[b2H]

I'm interested to get home from a business trip and watch this show with hubby.  He's already aware of how much waste there is in the food industry as he's been in the business for some 30 years.  He already said he will be surprised if he learns anything new from it.

[iMonrey]

 

yes, I know, I know: salad from a bag is wasteful in its own way.

 

Not necessarily. I make a salad every week after buying iceberg and green leaf lettuce, green peppers, onions, etc. and it tends to go bad before I finish it so I end up throwing about 20% of it away every week. The good thing about bagged salads is they come in smaller portions so there's less chance of waste. The problem I have with bagged salads is that sometimes I'll get one that has a nasty smell to it. 

[ganesh]

I actually make a big thing of salad and store it in a vacuum sealed container. Then I scoop out little portions during the week. I can get about 5 lunch servings out of it.

[stillshimpy]

On the mother with three children who struggles to always keep everyone in her household fed:  I don't claim to know what led to her situation, I don't really think it matters or should exclude her from being worthy of compassion. But for the hell of it:  we live in a country that is trying to limit a woman's access to birth control and employers try to dictate whether or not it can be covered by health insurance.  Also, access to abortion and stigma against is also a factor, but really the readiness to judge a person with hungry children or people in their household as somehow being at personal fault for it in a country that is pitching literal tons of perfectly good food is part of the problem. 

 

She doesn't need to pass some approval-of-personal-choices test to warrant compassion.  We're a country that is rich in a monetary sense and in every kind of resource.  The real shame lies not in "what could that woman possibly be thinking in having those children if she can't provide for them" but that she has a family that might go hungry in ye olde land of plenty.    I'm currently living in a state that thinks it is appropriate to limit and dictate what food stamp recipients buy, as if they ought to be on some sort of Diet of Shame.  

 

Plus, I know darned well I end up pitching food because it didn't get eaten.  So I guess if I was going to be handing out any shaming scoldings, I'd start with my own privileged butt.  It would keep me occupied for kind of a long time....and I'm fairly certain that was part of the point of piece. 

 

 

 

I think it's less about the choices the mother has made and more about three children who are food insecure.

 

True, but she counts too.   No one deserves to go hungry, even if he or she has made choices that contribute to the problem, if we're being absolutely frank here, I make crappy choices every.day.of.my.life  I just suffer few ill-effects because I have access to just about every kind of resource to mitigate them :-/   

 

If I eat a piece of cake, I just hop on my elliptical machine until I've burned off the calories.  

 

Plus, there's kind of a scary food graphic from A Place at the Table which is a documentary about Food Insecurity in America about what something like 2$ can buy in healthful foods and what it can buy in junk foods.  For sheer bulk (which means more calories to fuel more people) junk food is the cheaper buy.  

 

I'll tell you what, that "look at the mountain of perfectly good food we throw away" segment made think "be careful what you wish for" after my own kvetching about "jeez, another sports piece?" last week.   Yipes. 

Edited July 23, 2015 by stillshimpy

[fastiller]

I actually make a big thing of salad and store it in a vacuum sealed container. Then I scoop out little portions during the week. I can get about 5 lunch servings out of it.

 

I used to do that; I should again.  Here's hoping you'll inspire me to do so, ganseh!

 

<stillshimpy's entire post>

Preach it!

[Irlandesa]

On the mother with three children who struggles to always keep everyone in her household fed:  I don't claim to know what led to her situation, I don't really think it matters or should exclude her from being worthy of compassion. But for the hell of it:  we live in a country that is trying to limit a woman's access to birth control and employers try to dictate whether or not it can be covered by health insurance.  Also, access to abortion and stigma against is also a factor, but really the readiness to judge a person with hungry children or people in their household as somehow being at personal fault for it in a country that is pitching literal tons of perfectly good food is part of the problem.

Yep.  And when I saw it was a white woman with white kids they chose to showcase, I couldn't help but think how much worse the judgment is for women of color.

[b2H]

We finally watched the episode this weekend, my corporate chef husband and I.  Although he knows about most of this first hand, he told me that his corporation would never do anything about it because of the greed at the top - it might actually cost the CEO (who makes an insane amount of money) a pittance of his income.  He agreed with John's position that there was nothing illegal or dangerous about donating the food - just that his corporation would never do it.  

 

I asked him if society in general might be able to shame them into doing something - he said they know no shame, or he'd be making a little bit better than minimum wage after 20 years with the company.

 

He's hopeful that at least some of their purveyors might jump on the bandwagon (if they aren't there already).

[larapu2000]

I'm not sure those peaches on the ground weren't sold as ingredients to fruit packers for pie fillings or juice or concentrate...I have a hard time believing there's not a buyer for that product, considering there is a buyer for most "waste" or byproducts in the food industry.  There was an article a few years ago about the catastrophic dangers of the whey created from Greek yogurt being dumped into the environment, and there is no whey being dumped into the environment because it's being bought by companies that use it as an ingredient.  Food companies are pretty good scavengers.  I think the biggest problems are at the retail level where that control is surrendered to consumers.  I believe our local food bank receives donations from all of the nearby grocery stores, so I'm guessing it varies by region, but John is right-stores and restaurants deserve a guarantee on donation incentives.  

 

I think the sell by dates are more important for meat and dairy-products where eating past the sell by date could make you very, very sick (as meat and dairy are the preferred bacteria breeding ground).  The sell by/use by dates on the products my company makes (aseptic dairy products) refer to the fact that after that point, quality degrades and it is not aesthetically appealing, taste is affected, etc.  We do sell quite a bit of what we refer to as "salvage" product-close to or past the sell by dates, which is generally sold to jails and sometimes food banks.  Another problem with Americans that goes along with our obsession with perfect fruit and veg-we think aseptic products are inferior where our European friends use them much more readily because of their lack of refrigerator space and the product is perfectly fine.  The product is not necessarily more "processed," when it's shelf stable, but Americans really do have weird food hang ups.

[NextIteration]

That, and one of the kids was sucking on a drink from a cup that obviously came from a fast food place.

 

My assumption was that the family was bought a fast food meal as compensation for the interview.  Everyone deserves compassion and the right not to be food insecure, and there are a multitude of reasons why families may become temporarily or permanently food insecure.

 

There are a couple of useful websites that give you the "actual" use by dates for most things.  Milk is usually a week past the use by date, one in particular is also helpful with prepared food leftovers dates.  I have a hard time getting my spouse to understand that you can trim the bad bits off fruits and veggies and render them perfectly edible - he freaks out at a speck of mold.

[b2H]

Though not connected with this week's episode, there was an article this morning on CNBC that hearkens back to the first season (I've linked this article there, as well):

 

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/29/ftc-investigating-online-college-univ-of-phoenix.html

 

Someone has been listening to John.

[ganesh]

My neighbor gives me flak about the milk because I get squeamish if it's past like 2 days. "I drank my milk 5 days after!" And then she pokes me and freak out. 

[ALenore]

The sell-by date on milk can be useful, but it can be misleading if the milk was left out at room temperature for too long, which makes it go bad much more quickly.   Many years ago I saw a chart on a carton of milk that showed how much faster it went bad when left out at 60 degrees, at 70 degrees, at 75 degrees, etc.   I haven't been able to find that chart since.   I do occasionally get milk that goes bad before the expiration date, and I suspect what happened is someone at the supermarket accidentally left the cartons out on the loading dock or something for several hours, which would make it go bad early even if it got put back in the refrigerator.   

 

I heard on the news the other day that some company is coming out with a cap you put on a milk bottle that will sense when it is going bad, but until then I think just sniffing it is probably the best way to tell.   

Edited July 30, 2015 by ALenore

[Jamoche]

My brother and I think that milk tastes funny before anyone else in the family does - if I buy the freshest possible milk, in 2-3 days I'll consider it undrinkable. It's not even worth buying in anything larger than half-pints.

[Athena]

On occasion, I will buy micro filtered milk. This process makes the milk last much longer in the fridge. It is much more expensive as a result, but more worthwhile if you do not drink milk every day or have a small household/no kids. For normal fresh milk, I sometimes discard it because it turns so quickly and I can't drink or use it up within the time.

 

I think North Americans are really spoiled with fresh milk. Most places in the world, including Europe, sell only UHT milk or alongside fresh milk. I even drank UHT and powdered milk when I was growing up, but once we switched to fresh milk, I've always found it hard to go back.

[fastiller]

The sell-by date on milk can be useful, but it can be misleading if the milk was left out at room temperature for too long, which makes it go bad much more quickly.   Many years ago I saw a chart on a carton of milk that showed how much faster it went bad when left out at 60 degrees, at 70 degrees, at 75 degrees, etc.   I haven't been able to find that chart since. 

 

I recall every carton of milk having this chart on it when I was a kid.  Then it was replaced with 'lost kid' photos.  Maybe we should consider the chart a lost child so we can get it back on the back of milk cartons.

[walnutqueen]

I live alone, and could potentially waste a fair amount of food, but I have a worm bin and a slew of wild & semi/tame backyard critters who happily devour most (if not all) of my leftovers.  I may not have much $, but I take great pride in conserving energy, water and resources at every turn (one small trash bin every 2 weeks goes to the curb).  Having no kids to save the future for doesn't stop me from trying to save the environment around me.  I don't expect everyone to live as frugally or responsibly as I, but most folks could do just a little bit more ...  [/soapbox].   ;-)

[Wax Lion]

One thing I'm curious about after watching that episode is if milk "use by" dates are standard. I use them when I buy milk presuming that the latest "use by" date is the freshest carton, but if the wording is inconsistent I wonder if I can rely on the date for freshness or if those dates are inconsistent, too.

 

Once that date has passed, I keep using the milk until it smells sour. My husband is lactose intolerant and those products don't come in packages small enough for finish before they reach the "use by" date. They're also expensive so I don't throw it out until I'm sure it's gone bad.

 

Honestly, I don't feel bad about wasting produce because that goes in the compost pile or worm bin which feeds my plants (and, even though they say not to put dairy in compost, I'll throw sour milk on it since I've been told the main reason for not composting dairy is the chance of the fat attracting rats, I figure that's not as big a risk with lowfat milk which probably adds nitrogen). I'll bury an old piece of meat, too if it smells bad and hasn't been salted and have been lucky with those. It's the packaged ingredients that I end up wasting. For example, when I buy tahnini to make hummus, I only need a few tablespoons and it usually goes moldy before I can use it all, a few tablespoons at a time.

Edited July 31, 2015 by Wax Lion

[dusang]

One thing I'm curious about after watching that episode is if milk "use by" dates are standard.

 

Fun fact, I recently learned from NPR's Planet Money podcast: after joining the EU, Greece couldn't put any trade barriers on dairy products.  To protect the smaller national dairy industry from multinationals in Europe, Greece made it law that the "Best Before" date on milk had to be within 7 days of leaving the udder.  Logistically, this is nearly impossible for producers outside the country to get product to shelves before they are "expired."  Of course, this will probably be prohibited under the new Euro/Greece deal.

[attica]

I even drank UHT and powdered milk when I was growing up, but once we switched to fresh milk, I've always found it hard to go back.

 

I drink UHT almost exclusively (NE US), and I've never found a difference in taste between it and the stuff in the dairy case. A friend who lived in Europe  in the 70s has told me he'd found the boxed stuff awful, but either they've improved processes over the years, or my palate just doesn't care.  (I'm not a big milk user, so the ability to have a new quart in the pantry at any time is a big plus for me. If I don't use the one in the fridge before it goes off, I always have backup.) I never even look at dates. If it smells, it goes. If not, it goes on my cereal.

[ajsnaves]

I think one of the problems is that there are really three different dates to look for.  Use by/expiration dates, are dates that the item should be used by, and I would not trust it much past that date.  I would put meat in that category.  Sell by dates are the when the store will pull the perishable items off the shelf, probably after it is discounted for a day or two.  The items are still good, and can be consumed for some time after that date. For example milk,  eggs, and other dairy and packaged breads.  Milk will usually be good for at least a week, and eggs can last several weeks after the sell by date. (Put them in water, if they float, they're bad).  Finally they have "Best By" dates, which are what appear on most non-perishable items.  That is when your pasta sauce will not taste as good as it is supposed to.  A few weeks ago I bought a six pack of bottled soda.  I drank one, and it tasted a bit off.  I looked and it "expired" a few days earlier.  That means it sat on a shelf for a few months.  Still good, but not as good as a bottle from the next six pack which have a Sept. 29th date.  Most "best by" dates are completely fine as long as the package is not damaged.  These are the things I learned working in a grocery store for 15 years.  However, most people do not know what those dates mean, or how to interpret them.  Even I will sometimes err on the side of caution.  When all else fails, I just ask my Mom if she would use it.  The answer is usually yes.

[dcalley]

For example, when I buy tahnini to make hummus, I only need a few tablespoons and it usually goes moldy before I can use it all, a few tablespoons at a time.

My tahini package says to refrigerate it, and I do. I take a long time to use it up and have never noticed it going bad.

 

Slightly bad milk can be used to make pancakes, biscuits/scones, or bread. Fruits and vegetables can be frozen for later use in cooked foods. You might want to blanch them first.

 

I've long been frustrated by our ample trash allowance in this country. I live in a two-person household, and the amount of trash we produce is much less than what we pay to have collected. At my first house, most of my neighbors elected for the standard twice-a-week pickup from the big trash company, but I found a smaller company to do it once a week (and still I didn't fill the bin). In another community I was happy to have the option of an every-other-week collection that saved us money over the weekly collection, but then I moved away and had to go back to a weekly plan. I think it would help to reduce individual food waste if we were given more size and frequency options for trash service.

[purist]

 

I've long been frustrated by our ample trash allowance in this country. I live in a two-person household, and the amount of trash we produce is much less than what we pay to have collected.

 

Wait, you have to PAY to have your trash collected?? In Australia that cost is covered in our council rates. If we had to pay extra for it, there would be rioting in the streets!

[dcalley]

Wait, you have to PAY to have your trash collected?? In Australia that cost is covered in our council rates. If we had to pay extra for it, there would be rioting in the streets!

It varies by local government. Some provide trash collection, and some leave it to private companies. I've lived in two cities where I could choose from 2 or more companies (or haul it to the dump myself and pay for it there, I guess--no thanks). Another city had an exclusive contract with a certain provider, so there was no choice if you wanted curbside trash pickup.

Edited August 13, 2015 by dcalley

[Wax Lion]

My tahini package says to refrigerate it, and I do. I take a long time to use it up and have never noticed it going bad.

 

To some degree it's probably the brand I buy, it's got a lighter texture that's I think contributes to a better hummus when I make it from dried (not canned) beans. However, I think that difference makes it more likely to grow mold in the refrigerator. The manufacturer might be aware of it since it's sold in a smaller container but, a few tablespoons at a time, I still don't make enough hummus to use it all.