"wasting" food?

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Replies

  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    I prepare most of my meals at home and only prepare as much as I'm going to eat or prepare enough to have left overs for a lunch or two in the future. I always clean my plate, but that's because I'm only eating an actual serving of each thing...I'm not overloading my plate.

    At a restaurant, my wife and I usually split entrees or I eat about half and take the rest home for sometime later...most things I would order are completely viable re-heat options.

    I do think people in our society tend to be extremely wasteful and do not realize what they have...but they never will until they don't have it. I grew up very poor and every little morsel counted...I remember dinners of sauerkraut and bread when I was a kid...I refuse to waste my food.
  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
    I don't feel guilty per se about the starving children. I feel guilty that I've wasted money on something

    That's a shame...

    Let me clarify, since you feel obliged to snark. Me finishing my plate of food has nothing to do with the state of political strife in foreign countries. Guilt tripping me into finishing food I don't need because foreign dictators prevent food aid from reaching oppressed populations is counterproductive to the goals of a website like this.

    Edit to add: if everyone "pre" cycled their food and other products and thought consciously about their choices when they're in a store, I think the world would be a better place. But I do value your opinion, as well.
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,740 Member
    I refuse to waste food. The only time I ever do it is when I go to a restaurant and the amount of food left on my plate is too small to bother taking home in a container. That's even rare though because I tend to order exactly what I know I will eat, or have enough left to take home. I may waste 1/2 bun, 2/3 order of fries, or 1/2 serving of cole slaw but that is usually because it was a special "basket deal" and I just finished the (rest of) sandwich and drink.

    As a kid I wasn't taught that I had to clean my plate, but I struggled enough financially during my college years and early 20s that the idea of wasting food makes me sick! It really bugs me if I go out to eat with someone who just picks at their huge plate of food and doesn't take any of it with them, or if my husband and I accidentally buy too much of a certain food that winds up going bad and has to be trashed. It's kind of a hang-up for me. I'm not saying it is the right way to be.
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,740 Member
    I did Weight Watchers and was in a group with some amazing ladies. One of them had this saying "In your gut and out your butt", lol...

    I think this is why I would not last 5 min at WW, that kind of thing grosses me out.
  • kygirlnco
    kygirlnco Posts: 1
    Most likely your Mom was a depression age baby like mine. They learned never to waste anything because they went without during that era. Stop and think what the real lesson was behind the "Children are starving..." line then you can let go of the guilt of not finishing your plate. Leftover make great lunches the next day.
  • hasta_la_vista_belly
    hasta_la_vista_belly Posts: 103
    To be honest I wouldn't feel bad about it at all. I for one can't stand leftovers and so I try to cook everything fresh as I want it and only in an amount I can eat right there. You should never overeat just because its wasting food. Some starving kid in China didn't get the other half of your sandwich when you decided not to eat it. Some leftovers keep better than others, don't feel guilty about the one's that don't.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    If you were "really full" after eating only half of it, it doesn't sound like you were particularly hungry to begin with. Perhaps the solution here would have been to not start snacking on it in the first place.

    That makes no sense. If you order something that comes in a very large portion and don't eat more than half of it, you weren't really hungry? Judging by that, I haven't been hungry any time I've eaten at a restaurant in almost a year now because I pretty much always get a box for the other half or so of my meal.

    but a little egg and cheese on a roll is not like a giant portion of food or something...I believe that is his point. It's not like she ordered the 2 chicken enchilada plate with a side of re-fried beans and the equivalent of 2 servings of Spanish rice with sopapillas to finish off the meal...
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    To be honest I wouldn't feel bad about it at all. I for one can't stand leftovers and so I try to cook everything fresh as I want it and only in an amount I can eat right there. You should never overeat just because its wasting food. Some starving kid in China didn't get the other half of your sandwich when you decided not to eat it. Some leftovers keep better than others, don't feel guilty about the one's that don't.

    I don't think the point is really the starving children in whatever country...I think it's a matter of realizing and having some appreciation for what you have and how fortunate you are that you are here and not there...when you could just as easily be there or otherwise broke and struggling to feed yourself and/or your family.
  • WhiteRabbit1313
    WhiteRabbit1313 Posts: 1,091 Member
    I prepare most of my meals at home and only prepare as much as I'm going to eat or prepare enough to have left overs for a lunch or two in the future. I always clean my plate, but that's because I'm only eating an actual serving of each thing...I'm not overloading my plate.

    At a restaurant, my wife and I usually split entrees or I eat about half and take the rest home for sometime later...most things I would order are completely viable re-heat options.

    I do think people in our society tend to be extremely wasteful and do not realize what they have...but they never will until they don't have it. I grew up very poor and every little morsel counted...I remember dinners of sauerkraut and bread when I was a kid...I refuse to waste my food.

    Yep. I grew up poor, too, but in America. My mom had meal planning down to a science. One portion each for me and mom and 2 each for my father and brother. It wasn't until I became an adult that I knew what leftovers were...and I though they were AWESOME! haha!
  • hasta_la_vista_belly
    hasta_la_vista_belly Posts: 103
    To be honest I wouldn't feel bad about it at all. I for one can't stand leftovers and so I try to cook everything fresh as I want it and only in an amount I can eat right there. You should never overeat just because its wasting food. Some starving kid in China didn't get the other half of your sandwich when you decided not to eat it. Some leftovers keep better than others, don't feel guilty about the one's that don't.

    I don't think the point is really the starving children in whatever country...I think it's a matter of realizing and having some appreciation for what you have and how fortunate you are that you are here and not there...when you could just as easily be there or otherwise broke and struggling to feed yourself and/or your family.

    Fair enough point and one I definitely agree with.

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