Reducing our food waste

Since we lost the chickens I have really started to notice how much food goes to waste in our house. There are all the peelings to start with, and then the food that BB drops on the floor or leaves on his plate. Even I leave food on my plate at times! Then there's the stuff in the freezer that says to use within one month (some of it dates from May), the over ripe fruit in the fruit bowl and the slightly rotting salad items in the fridge.

I suppose we didn't bother so much when we had the chickens - it didn't seem like waste when they ate it and made us eggs, it was more like a treat for them - some slightly out of date lettuce. Even now when we prepare the veg or if he has had enough dinner, BB says "Chickens like it!" which is usually followed by "more chickens". I still haven't fully decided on the chickens, but either way I want to do something about our food waste, to save us money as much as anything, but also because it saddens me for many reasons every time we throw something away.
Since going paleo I have found we need a lot less space for food. I don't need jars of pasta or rice, packets of noodles and lentils, or a collection of flours - that's pretty much emptied one cupboard. I also have a small chest freezer that used to contain cooked and portioned legumes, emergency pizza and loaves of my favourite oatmeal batch. That freezer is pretty much empty now, and just a waste of electricity so think I will sell it within the next few weeks (I'm just holding off in case I do get pregnant - I survived the first few weeks of BB's life on the freezer stock of meals prepared before he was born)

We have been on a tight budget for a few weeks as we recover from a big bill for repairs to my car, so where possible we have survived on what we already have in the house, just topping up with fresh food items as we need them. BB is quite a berry addict at the moment, and this habit sees us going to the market or supermarket every few days for fresh supplies anyway, so I haven't actually done a big shop since July.

Our cupboards and freezer are getting empty now, and this is weird for me. I guess I have always been a bit of a food hoarder, perhaps as a result of growing up on a farm where the freezer was always full of produce and getting to town once a week or so always meant for a well stocked pantry. As I get used to it though, I am enjoying our new streamlined food store. I am thinking I might finally get into this menu planning thing and shop for fresh food every two or three days. Food that we are actually going to eat!

Today I heard via BritMums that it is Zero Waste Week here in the UK. You can sign up on line and pledge to reduce your food waste - this seemed like a great idea for us right now. The things you can pledge to do are listed below - I think I can do most of them - this post is me doing my bit to "Spread the word".

Why not join in yourself


Achieve better portion control
Resist BOGOF offers
Use up stored food
Share a zero waste recipe
Spread the word
Buy unpackaged food
Menu plan
Ignore best before dates
Not shop when hungry!
Eat leftovers