More than 30% of our food is thrown away - and it's costing billions a year

Tesco recently announced huge record profits and part of the BBC report pointed out that Tesco accounted for £1 in every £3 spent on groceries in the UK. Put that together with this report and it is like saying that the equivalent of everything that Tesco's sells grocery-wise in the UK is landfilled [or occasionally composted].
As the report points out, that's a terrible waste in a world where there is hunger and concern on how to feed the growing poulation of the world.

The problem is in part the way that we buy food. I recall that once when we used to go food shopping less, we would waste things because we didn't get round to eating them before they went out of code or even spoiled as a result of over-buying on our once in a while shopping trip. I've noticed [I'm the chief shopper in the house] that there has been less waste since I have gone shopping often solo with a back pack and walked. So I buy less on Saturday [normally] and then simply top up during the week with what we really do need. Result is less money spent and more of what is bought really is eaten. It's also healthier because I tend to by fresher food. There's something to be said for the 'old' habit of the chief shopper [once upon a time, it used to be the 'housewife'] going every day or two to get the shopping for the next day or two and carrying it in bags in their own hands.

Of course to encourage that to happen means putting into reverse the social revolution caused by the car, resulting in out-of town shopping etc.

It also means addressing the fact that supermarkets make money by what they sell and so it is in their interests, in a sense, to encourage waste -that's what those BOGOF offers are partly about. They don't care if you eat the stuff, just buy it and take it off their hands. I don't mean we should outlaw them selling us stuff, I do think though, that it is clear that we could pay more for food and that might help us to value it better.

As it is, we are externalising the costs of food into the environment which means our cheap food is going to be paid for in the future when it comes time for the planet and human society as a whole to pick up the bill for what we are doing now. Food production is heavily implicated in fossil fuels, for example, part of the reason it is cheap is that it is effectively subsidised by fossil fuel exploitation which is not paying its true costs to the earth. Carbon taxes might help. Yes it might mean higher food prices, but that might mean less waste and less fast food. The first is fairer to the planet and potentially to the poor, the latter is better for our health and so we don't have such big healthcare costs in 5-50 years time.

Swings and roundabouts: we pay more for food now and less therefore in the future for environmental costs and health costs or we pay less now and have big helath and social dislocation costs [including warfare?] in the future.

PS another tip for shoping to avoid waste. If you only intend to buy a small number of items, don't take a basket or take a basket rather than a trolley. They wnat you to take a basket or a trolley because you will tend to buy more if you do ... get them out of your head; no basket or no trolley!
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