Mark Rice-Oxley for the Straits Times 13 Jul 08;
Kingston, England - Prime Minister Gordon Brown would be proud of me. It was the end of another messy mealtime with my three young children. As usual, large quantities of perfectly edible food were left on the plates.
There was a time when this would have gone straight in the bin. But not any more.
Here's how we divided it up: The eldest didn't like his potatoes, but the middle child did, so he got the spuds. His leftover beans went in the opposite direction. And the two-year-old's chicken pieces, well, I was a bit peckish so I ate them.
Leftover vegetables went in the composter. We didn't even need to open the bin.
So when Mr Brown says that Britons are throwing away more than 4 million tonnes of perfectly good food every year, I like to think we are not guilty.
And yet... A quick nose around my kitchen and a review of our shopping habits reveal that we could learn a thing or two from Mr Brown's 'waste-not-want- not' exhortation.
For a start there are several ancient jars and tubs in the fridge which I just know are going to end in the dustbin.
There's too much bread in the breadbin as well, and some of it has a distinctly furry look about it.
The fruit bowl has some small apples of indeterminate vintage that appear to have taken on a life of their own.
And in the back of one cupboard is something that used to be carrots, but now is just an unpleasant suppurating mess.
How did we get to this pass, a situation where time pressure, affluence and complacency have combined to warp our ability to shop properly?
Britons spend less than one-tenth of their household income on food - down from around 30 per cent a couple of generations ago.
This new-found affordability has tended to mean that people are inclined to shop now and think later, filling their cupboards with supermarket fare not all of which will be eaten.
Mr Brown wants this to change. He called it 'unnecessary demand' last week when he urged Britons to 'do more to cut our food waste which is costing the average household in Britain about £8 (S$22) a week'.
Newspapers have responded by publishing self-help guides to remind people how to plan, shop, cook, and use up leftovers.
Essentially these can be boiled down to five main themes:
1. Avoid supermarkets. Easier said than done.
Supermarkets are ubiquitous, accounting for around 80 per cent of UK grocery spend.
The biggest store, Tesco, now takes £1 in £7 spent in all British shops.
Yet the way they package goods invites waste, according to Liberal Democrat MP Steve Webb.
'Supermarkets make it harder for householders to avoid food waste,' he said. 'They refuse to stock small portions, which are essential for the growing number of one-person households, and offer too many 'buy-one, get one free' deals on perishable goods.'
We are listening: Now we get all our meat in a once-a-month delivery from an organic farm.
2. Avoid BOGOF deals. They're everywhere, the 'buy one, get one free' offers that often result in that extra pack of cakes going to waste. I'm rarely tempted, to be honest.
3. Shop daily for perishables. We're better at this, thanks to a fruit and vegetable stall nearby.
More and more Britons are signing up to vegetable box deliveries too, which bring in-season fare to the front door - fresh, low food miles and interesting.
4. Meal-plan for the week. We used to do this, but it's a little regimented. Life's too short.
Now the tactic is to check what's in the cupboards and invent something that uses as many leftovers as possible. Yum!
5. Grow your own. Well, we started on this, but have only a small urban back garden, good for a few tomatoes and carrots but not much else.
Evidence is mounting however that Britons are taking to GYO in large numbers. There are long waiting lists for allotments that once stood fallow. Sales of potato and vegetable seeds are shooting up.
'Grow your own is great,' says amateur gardener Vincent Brannelly. 'I eat my tomatoes straight off the plant. They're delicious. When you buy them from the supermarket, they sit in the fridge for three or four days and they're gone over.'
And as if to prove that money really does grow on trees, he points out the purple sprouting broccoli on his allotment plot. 'Sainsbury sells it for £1 a bunch. I can grow 50 bunches on one plant and I've got 12 plants.'
It's the kind of resourcefulness that Mr Brown would do well to ape.
For after advising the country on how to shop and eat, he then went on to a lavish eight-course banquet at the Group of Eight summit in Japan. Whether he finished everything on his plate remains unknown.
