Dealing with extra treats sitting around the house for the holidays?
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ongoingwhy wrote: »Amberonamission wrote: »Kay because other people don't have is no reason to continue damaging your progress to healthy. Most food kitchens and public pantries won't take opened packages. Don't make people feel bad for getting rid of unhealthy things.
I am not the one making you feel bad, it's your conscience.susan100df wrote: »I'm giving the family one more day and then everything is going in the trash. I'm done with the excess calories. I feel awful today and the scale is way up. No way could it all be water. I'm disgusted with myself. Getting right back to my routine now.
I have zero guilt about throwing food away. My family doesn't need all these empty calories either. We are all moving around like slugs. Enough is enough. They will complain for a couple of days but they know I'm right.
I live in a first world country. All my problems are first world problems.
The people in the shelters don't need my half-eaten, stale, empty calories food. Not only that but it would be illegal for the shelters to take it due to food laws surrounding commercial kitchens.
Fine, let's say that everyone here had reasons that made it impossible for them to properly get rid of the food without wasting them. However, let me ask you this. Will this happen again next year? Are you going to have new reasons for throwing away food? Why did you buy so much if you weren't going to eat them? Why didn't you refuse the gifts? Is it out of politeness? Do you think that it's polite to throw away gifts? In the end, it's all just excuses and you know it.
I apologise if I have upset some of you, but isn't it ridiculous that no one here seems to be upset about food wasteage? I guess no one ever taught you guys not to waste food when growing up?
I can't judge people for throwing away food if its the only way they can manage to stick to their goals, but it saddens me, too.
We have too much food and I hate that we are wasteful.0 -
WinoGelato wrote: »
I agree with the sentiments that planning ahead and prelogging what you intend to eat helps make moderation easier. I also agree that taking extreme measures like throwing out perfectly good food or pouring water or dish soap on it is concerning. If you can't find other strategies or ways to work the food into your day, you either shouldn't have made it or shouldn't have accepted it in the first place.
I honestly don't get this either. I wouldn't buy something if I didn't intend to eat the whole thing (eventually), and I wouldn't open a food gift I had no intention of eating just to get a couple bites out of it either... I'd regift it or give it away instead.
Basically just because I can't moderate an item doesn't mean it's not my favorite thing ever. For example, you're at work and you buy a serving of fries from the cafeteria. You really only wanted a couple maybe a dozen pcs at most and there sure as heck ain't anyone to give your half eaten fries (frankly, on some level this concept of giving away left overs grosses me out. I understand there are various ways to go about it, but this is just my own hang up).
I wouldn't order an item that I have no intention of finishing, personally... not just because it's a waste of food, but because it's a waste of money. If I wanted fries that much, I'd just make my own at home (and they'd have less calories and probably be tastier too!). Or if I want a brownie, I'll just go buy a single brownie.. I can't imagine making a whole pan and throwing away most of it...
A lot of people wouldn't even routinely order lunch at work, whereas I pretty much do all the time. Just about anything I could make at home would be much much cheaper than buying lunch outside my home0 -
callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »Throw the extra in the trash and put something gross on top of it...so you aren't tempted to save it. It's not super wasteful if it isn't a habit.
how is waisting food ever an option? dont eat it.... maybe i was brought up to never waste food due to the millions of starving people in the world.
I've never understood that logic (as a child or as a parent). What you eat or don't eat has no effect on anyone starving ANYWHERE (unless of course its someone in your own home/vicinity). Flawed logic at its best, and surely must be a contributing factor to so many people being overweight (both adults and kids) - after all, you 'have to' finish everything on your plate. no you don't.
I have no problem throwing away food. it's food. not killing puppies.
in my personal opinion you should care about other people becauce we are human. You can waste food and I will choose to not throw away food because I lack self control.... do you need to force feed yourself because of starving people? nope.. do you need to throw away perfectly good food because you cant handle a cookie in ur vicinity? sorry but i find that pathetic.... i care VERY MUCH about starving people, homless animals, and wildlife and spend my free time volunteering in those subjects to make a difference.0 -
callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »Throw the extra in the trash and put something gross on top of it...so you aren't tempted to save it. It's not super wasteful if it isn't a habit.
how is waisting food ever an option? dont eat it.... maybe i was brought up to never waste food due to the millions of starving people in the world.
I've never understood that logic (as a child or as a parent). What you eat or don't eat has no effect on anyone starving ANYWHERE (unless of course its someone in your own home/vicinity). Flawed logic at its best, and surely must be a contributing factor to so many people being overweight (both adults and kids) - after all, you 'have to' finish everything on your plate. no you don't.
I have no problem throwing away food. it's food. not killing puppies.
in my personal opinion you should care about other people becauce we are human. You can waste food and I will choose to not throw away food because I lack self control.... do you need to force feed yourself because of starving people? nope.. do you need to throw away perfectly good food because you cant handle a cookie in ur vicinity? sorry but i find that pathetic.... i care VERY MUCH about starving people, homless animals, and wildlife and spend my free time volunteering in those subjects to make a difference.
so who are you helping by eating more than you need to?0 -
WinoGelato wrote: »
I agree with the sentiments that planning ahead and prelogging what you intend to eat helps make moderation easier. I also agree that taking extreme measures like throwing out perfectly good food or pouring water or dish soap on it is concerning. If you can't find other strategies or ways to work the food into your day, you either shouldn't have made it or shouldn't have accepted it in the first place.
I honestly don't get this either. I wouldn't buy something if I didn't intend to eat the whole thing (eventually), and I wouldn't open a food gift I had no intention of eating just to get a couple bites out of it either... I'd regift it or give it away instead.
Basically just because I can't moderate an item doesn't mean it's not my favorite thing ever. For example, you're at work and you buy a serving of fries from the cafeteria. You really only wanted a couple maybe a dozen pcs at most and there sure as heck ain't anyone to give your half eaten fries (frankly, on some level this concept of giving away left overs grosses me out. I understand there are various ways to go about it, but this is just my own hang up).
I wouldn't order an item that I have no intention of finishing, personally... not just because it's a waste of food, but because it's a waste of money. If I wanted fries that much, I'd just make my own at home (and they'd have less calories and probably be tastier too!). Or if I want a brownie, I'll just go buy a single brownie.. I can't imagine making a whole pan and throwing away most of it...
+1
For me, it's the money thing. I'm not forking over cash ... just to destroy the item I get.
And I think about it ... do I really want this item? Will I eat all of it? Will I survive without it? How much does it cost? ... and most of the time I decide it's not worth it, and I go buy a pair of earrings or something I can have and wear for years to come.
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There have been so many good suggestions & points here! Thanks
One point a number of ppl made was that if it's not mine to throw away, it's not mine to eat. Tbh, that's something that I've struggled with. I have stolen other people's food at various times, most recently my Dad got a package of chocolates as a gift and I ate them all when I was home alone. My Dad can hide food effectively when I ask him to, and I've asked him to hide the cookies but he hasn't. I've probably had about 9 each day aka I ate them until I felt unwell. I'm guessing this behaviour is disordered, as long as there's snack food "available" somewhere I'll pretty much always eat it. The more I resist the more "distracted" I become by it, I get irritable and snippy, it's hard to think about much else. Then after I eat it I feel intensely guilty.
It's a possibility.I'm thinking I will ask my Dad again to hide the cookies, and show him that I've eaten too many already. He's the kind of person who can have one cookie (or even half a cookie) and not think about the cookie box again for a couple of days.
I'm like your Dad ...
I was rummaging through the cupboard yesterday and discovered I have 2 boxes of a particular kind of cookie. Didn't realise that! So I put them both back without taking a cookie because that wasn't what I was looking for. I know they are there, and if I really want a cookie, I can have one ... so I'm OK with that and the cookies can stay in the box.0 -
There is one and a half times more food in the world for everyone's needs. There is only a food distribution problem.
Unless you've got a matter teleporter in your kitchen, it doesn't matter if you throw away what you can't eat.
I don't even have that problem. I've got a family sized bar of chocolate and a box of fudge next to my bed that have been there for at least a month.
I make room for a treat every day. I can have treats lined up that I don't eat because I don't eat what I don't have the calories for.
I have a plan and I stick to it. I don't allow myself to make excuses. It's not hard. Just think clearly.0 -
callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »Throw the extra in the trash and put something gross on top of it...so you aren't tempted to save it. It's not super wasteful if it isn't a habit.
how is waisting food ever an option? dont eat it.... maybe i was brought up to never waste food due to the millions of starving people in the world.
I've never understood that logic (as a child or as a parent). What you eat or don't eat has no effect on anyone starving ANYWHERE (unless of course its someone in your own home/vicinity).
Yes, it does have an effect, and very much so.
We have some obvious examples of disordered thinking about food in this thread so I would rather direct them to a psychologist or other specialist for help than try to poke climate change and world hunger in their faces.
But for the rest of us, especially for those who genuinely feel throwing away food might be wrong but think they can compensate by giving money to charity or a guy in the street instead, overconsumption in rich countries is directly linked to climate change and world hunger (and thirst for that matter):
(Edited to add some sources that spell it out more clearly than the first one I posted:)
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/cop21-how-unhealthy-greedy-diet-causes-climate-change-natural-disasters-hunger-1531520
"The food chain contributes around a quarter of all greenhouse gases emissions from food production (the largest source by far), packaging, distribution and retailing; land use for agriculture, transport/travel and food waste."
http://www.worldhunger.org/env_hunger.htm#Developed_country_consumption_
There's more out there, these are just top-of-my-google examples.
Throwing away/spoilin that big batch of whatever you had and didn't need is not the problem, it's the symptom to the problem. Half a portion of chips thrown away because the portions in some places are too big anyway? Not a big deal. Throwing away/spoiling whole batches of food you didn't need in the first place? That is blatant overconsumption (in terms of purchasing behaviour, not eating).
To me that is an issue. And that's without the spoiled food people in developed countries throw away every week because they bought too much and never got around to it. The purpose of @ongoingwhy in my interpretation was not to berate anyone, as some one put it. It was to raise a quastion for the future: what will happen next year? Next week? Given the title of the thread, that is a very valid question.0 -
If it isn't yours to throw out, then technically it's not yours to eat either. Maybe look at it as guest food only.0
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Wiseandcurious wrote: »callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »Throw the extra in the trash and put something gross on top of it...so you aren't tempted to save it. It's not super wasteful if it isn't a habit.
how is waisting food ever an option? dont eat it.... maybe i was brought up to never waste food due to the millions of starving people in the world.
I've never understood that logic (as a child or as a parent). What you eat or don't eat has no effect on anyone starving ANYWHERE (unless of course its someone in your own home/vicinity).
Yes, it does have an effect, and very much so.
We have some obvious examples of disordered thinking about food in this thread so I would rather direct them to a psychologist or other specialist for help than try to poke climate change and world hunger in their faces.
But for the rest of us, especially for those who genuinely feel throwing away food might be wrong but think they can compensate by giving money to charity or a guy in the street instead, overconsumption in rich countries is directly linked to climate change and world hunger (and thirst for that matter):
(Edited to add some sources that spell it out more clearly than the first one I posted:)
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/cop21-how-unhealthy-greedy-diet-causes-climate-change-natural-disasters-hunger-1531520
"The food chain contributes around a quarter of all greenhouse gases emissions from food production (the largest source by far), packaging, distribution and retailing; land use for agriculture, transport/travel and food waste."
http://www.worldhunger.org/env_hunger.htm#Developed_country_consumption_
There's more out there, these are just top-of-my-google examples.
Throwing away/spoilin that big batch of whatever you had and didn't need is not the problem, it's the symptom to the problem. Half a portion of chips thrown away because the portions in some places are too big anyway? Not a big deal. Throwing away/spoiling whole batches of food you didn't need in the first place? That is blatant overconsumption (in terms of purchasing behaviour, not eating).
To me that is an issue. And that's without the spoiled food people in developed countries throw away every week because they bought too much and never got around to it. The purpose of @ongoingwhy in my interpretation was not to berate anyone, as some one put it. It was to raise a quastion for the future: what will happen next year? Next week? Given the title of the thread, that is a very valid question.
^ I feel you're attempting to edit what someone else said. With statements like "didn't anyone teach you this was wrong", it seemed like they were expressing their own moral outrage and wondering why others wouldn't comply
But let's look at your points for a second. Who's to define "need" and how do you figure those throwing out batches of food did not need them at some point? Other than those who've chosen to not say no to food offered to them that they didn't want, have you really taken a minute to understand the context under which those batches were created?
I did attempt to read your link but it seemed like a list of other links. May I suggest finding one single link that describes what you are attempting to communicate, so that we may understand a bit better. Because right now the only conclusion I can draw from seeing that list of links is that people who throw away food are responsible for everything that's wrong with the world, and I'm guessing that's not what you intended to communicate.
Edit: added the quote I was responding to! Now I'll go read your updated links0 -
Oh, goodie! "Unhealthy and greedy diet", I just know I'm about to read a truly objective article!
Hmm... I'll keep this clean. The article was actually pushing towards less processed food and consuming a plant based diet. Which is interesting, because the items that go bad in my house are fruit that have to be stored outside the fridge, and items like potatoes. The meats are stored in the freezer and I've eaten some that are um... not too new because they keep quite well and thaw nicely. Sodas and many other packaged foods pretty much don't go bad, ever
Lots of talk about developing countries in the article. Coincidentally, I was chatting with an African doctor who now practices in the USA about illnesses seen in children. They still mentioned kwashiorkor as being a common one in poor areas, due to them mostly consuming the very plant based carbohydrates such as rice
I don't know - the article wasn't really discussing this topic and was a bit, well, all over the place0 -
There have been so many good suggestions & points here! Thanks
One point a number of ppl made was that if it's not mine to throw away, it's not mine to eat. Tbh, that's something that I've struggled with. I have stolen other people's food at various times, most recently my Dad got a package of chocolates as a gift and I ate them all when I was home alone. My Dad can hide food effectively when I ask him to, and I've asked him to hide the cookies but he hasn't. I've probably had about 9 each day aka I ate them until I felt unwell. I'm guessing this behaviour is disordered, as long as there's snack food "available" somewhere I'll pretty much always eat it. The more I resist the more "distracted" I become by it, I get irritable and snippy, it's hard to think about much else. Then after I eat it I feel intensely guilty.
I would very much prefer we didn't buy so many treats for the two small dinner parties we had. If it were me, I would have chosen to get only one of the many options we had, so that it would be gone after the parties, or only have a few small leftovers. Unfortunately, my parents worry that people need options. I think vanilla ice cream is pretty much a crowd favourite, so only having that would have been fine. But the cookies are still here, the panettone is still here, the Christmas cake is still here, etc. The rest really goes to waste either way, because it's open. I don't agree with the culture of excess around Christmas, but again it's not my choices to make at this point. I opted to get a donation for a charity for Christmas this year instead of a big present, so if I did throw away half of a box of cookies I hope it would balance out.
I'm thinking I will ask my Dad again to hide the cookies, and show him that I've eaten too many already. He's the kind of person who can have one cookie (or even half a cookie) and not think about the cookie box again for a couple of days.
I spend a good part of my day following up with people, reminding them to do things. It's worth it to get the results I want!
Maybe next year remind your parents of all this year's excess in the hopes of cutting down?0 -
callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »Throw the extra in the trash and put something gross on top of it...so you aren't tempted to save it. It's not super wasteful if it isn't a habit.
how is wasting food ever an option? dont eat it.... maybe i was brought up to never waste food due to the millions of starving people in the world.
I've never understood that logic (as a child or as a parent). What you eat or don't eat has no effect on anyone starving ANYWHERE (unless of course its someone in your own home/vicinity). Flawed logic at its best, and surely must be a contributing factor to so many people being overweight (both adults and kids) - after all, you 'have to' finish everything on your plate. no you don't.
I have no problem throwing away food. it's food. not killing puppies.
While the "Clean Plate Club" message I received from my mother as a child did me no favors, the larger message about waste is still valid.
Let's take recycling. Sure, my own recycling efforts are insignificant. But statewide, we recycle so much that the opponents of the proposal to add water bottles to the bottle bill were able to defeat the measure using the recycling stats.
Also voting. I could say that my vote doesn't matter, and not vote. But when the electorate as a whole is motivated, change happens.
The same is true with food waste. Sure, my efforts are insignificant, but if as a culture we value reducing food waste, change will happen.0 -
kshama2001 wrote: »callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »Throw the extra in the trash and put something gross on top of it...so you aren't tempted to save it. It's not super wasteful if it isn't a habit.
how is wasting food ever an option? dont eat it.... maybe i was brought up to never waste food due to the millions of starving people in the world.
I've never understood that logic (as a child or as a parent). What you eat or don't eat has no effect on anyone starving ANYWHERE (unless of course its someone in your own home/vicinity). Flawed logic at its best, and surely must be a contributing factor to so many people being overweight (both adults and kids) - after all, you 'have to' finish everything on your plate. no you don't.
I have no problem throwing away food. it's food. not killing puppies.
While the "Clean Plate Club" message I received from my mother as a child did me no favors, the larger message about waste is still valid.
Let's take recycling. Sure, my own recycling efforts are insignificant. But statewide, we recycle so much that the opponents of the proposal to add water bottles to the bottle bill were able to defeat the measure using the recycling stats.
Also voting. I could say that my vote doesn't matter, and not vote. But when the electorate as a whole is motivated, change happens.
The same is true with food waste. Sure, my efforts are insignificant, but if as a culture we value reducing food waste, change will happen.
I've really liked the way this thread turned, thanks for all of the helpful & insightful ideas everyone! I feel like this Holiday Season has been a big learning experience for me. While I personally cannot control what my parents buy, I can bring up suggestions, like just picking one or two deserts we know we like, and maybe avoiding the cookie platter that never really gets eaten by guests & we end up with an insane amount of leftover cookies that neither I (obese) nor my mom (diabetes) should have access to. My Dad enjoys them, but doesn't eat them in such vast amounts to validate buying so many. Even a smaller cookie selection would be better. I will bring this up, and mention food waste like so many of you have mentioned.
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