Published On: Jul 11, 2011
Last updated on:: Jul 11, 2011
Views: 299
Waste away
On our travels around the back streets of many a city, town and village haunting in the small hours we have been appalled by the amount of waste food being dumped into bins ready to be transported off to landfill sites. And why? It is all because here in the UK in particular we are obsessed with sell by and use by dates on food packages. The fact that this food is edible days, some times weeks, after the sell by date.
We at Green Ghost Towers (by the sea) have been buying up food on the sell by date and leaving it for a day, then two days, then a week to see if it is something we would like to eat. We took no risks as to cause unfortunate ghostly instant follow through of the unpleasant kind yet found the food to be as tasty as in date food stuffs. Having the benefit of a freezer helps when it comes to bread, sandwiches for our haunting shifts and even pastries that are suitable to freeze for up to six months.
With so many people going hungry all over the world, and the UK is no different, is there no way that the food can be turned into a nutritional soup, paste or mash that can then be frozen and shipped to areas of the world in need. Perhaps this is being done over the world yet we have been researching and found little or no attempt to reuse sell by date food – just a ‘oh well not my problem’ attitude from so many people.
Our mission at GGT is to see if we can work with small businesses to begin with and see if there is a way of saving food, the planet and a few more people to boot. Do get in touch if you know of a reuse programme to make use of sell by/use by date food that is being diverted from landfill. We do know that in London there is an incinerator that uses food stuffs to produce electricity so perhaps that is a start for the food that really is ‘off’and yet so much can be put back into the food chain. Visit the web site of the month www.lovefoodnotwaste.com for more ideas on thrifty food.
On the allotment we have a glut of mini marrows so have been making some great vegetarian dishes and chutneys that we will be reporting on soon. Thank you for reading and we have heard the fashion ghost is back from her recycling clothing tour with even more lively ways of brightening up your wardrobe.