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That is true. I see it also on how my parents act with leftovers. If I have leftover food of certain things, I tend to throw it away and rather buy fresh. I am

That is true. I see it also on how my parents act with leftovers. If I have leftover food of certain things, I tend to throw it away and rather buy fresh. I am throwing it also sometimes away because I know for sure now that I won't eat it in the future. On the other hand, my parents put away all leftovers and eventually also eat it. It is pretty similar with many other every-day things. I just lived with my parents for a few weeks after living abroad for 5 years and noticed how they have kept so many things that I have seen when I was a child. I am not even talking about 1 or 2 things, but many (or most) things.

dagss 9y ago
IMO throwing away good food is morally wrong. Luckily there are movements ("food redesign" etc) that try to reverse the trend.
- Benji_San 9y ago
  I'm kind of surprised that some people don't eat leftovers. While it's understandable from a taste perspective the time required to cooking fresh food every day, assuming you cook most meals, seems staggering.
  - dagw 9y ago
    the time required to cooking fresh food every day, assuming you cook most meals, seems staggering. Sure, but it's time I enjoy spending. Some people play computer games or watch TV for an hour after work to relax, I cook dinner.
    - emj 9y ago
      Using left overs is a way to cook more complex meals! If you enjoy handling food then learning about handling left overs is a big part of that. If you go back and look at weekly food schedules from the past you will see patterns, were people cook one type of food day one to have base or ingredient for the next few days of cooking.
      - dagw 9y ago
        My comment was not so much about leftovers as it was about the time it takes to cook. And while I certainly do use the leftovers I end up with, I also try cook in such a way that it minimizes leftovers.
  - padraic7a 9y ago
    A lot of food is nicer the next day. Anything spicy improves with a little time, and I've found the same to be true with tomato sauce and cooked cheese - so curries, chillies, lasagna etc etc all improve. soup is often better the next day too.
  - SeeDave 9y ago
    My father taught me to never waste meat. Something alongs of the lines of "that animal didn't want to die. So don't it go to waste."
    - zafka 9y ago
      It gives me a warm feeling to hear advice like that being taken to heart. I would like to say that I always do the same, but I know that this will stick in my mind.
      - SeeDave 9y ago
        Glad I could share my father's wisdom :)
    - dagss 9y ago
      I agree to focus most on the meat, mainly because it takes 10x the resources per pound to produce compared to vegetables, so it's the most valuable resource.
- arkades 9y ago
  This happens at our family gatherings all the time. Our day-to-day consumption habits are a lot healthier than our "treat ourselves at a family gathering" food selection. At the end of the gathering, everyone "fights" (politely, but very insistently) not to be the ones to take it home, 'cause they'll be forced to not let it go to waste. I usually throw these because I don't mind binning unhealthy food I can easily replace rather than further harming my health. The latter is a far more useful and expensive acquisition than a quarter-pound of $25/lb cheese.
- sol_remmy 9y ago
  Is your argument: people are starving in the world, so it is morally wrong to throw away food?
  - dagss 9y ago
    It's more that if you use the rest of the food the next day, you will consume less new food the next day, and thus consume less resources, and a little less resources is spent on food production. A staggering 50% of the food produced is wasted somewhere along the line. If you look at moving towards a sustainable society, food waste is actually a huge sub-problem of that, which has to be solved at some point, instead of cutting down ever more rainforest every year etc. etc. to sustain the current wasteful lifestyle. Our parent generation didn't waste food, and the next generation will probably not be able to either (simply from rising prices). In a world that sustainably generated enough food for everyone, it would not be wrong to throw away food. It might be that we can get there. Food production today is not sustainable, so at least let's not waste it. If you press me, yes, I'm sure there's an element of "it's in bad taste" there too that made me react so strongly (it's similar to how rich kids pour out good champagne on the floor to display their wealth). That's closer to your suggestion.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- chrisper 9y ago
  How is it morally wrong to throw away something I know I'm not going to finish? What am I supposed to do with it? I can't buy smaller sizes. It would be morally wrong if I bought 5 loafs of bread and threw out 4. Then I agree.
  - dagss 9y ago
    The morally wrong part is with not finishing it later. Stick it in the fridge and eat it for lunch or evening snack next day. Or make a meal which includes the leftovers as ingredients (leftover pasta sauce goes as pizza topping, and so on) It obviously depends on the circumstances. I am more talking about the pattern of wasting, than accidentally wasting food now and then.
analog31 9y ago
My strategy on leftovers is to make just enough of a surplus for supper, that it furnishes my lunch the next day.
rangibaby 9y ago
I was ramen poor for a year or so after moving countries on my own as a teenager. Since then I must eat everything I make. My parent's generation will often leave food on their plate to show that they can afford to do that, so I guess it goes around in circles.
chimprich 9y ago
> If I have leftover food of certain things, I tend to throw it away and rather buy fresh. I find it difficult to appreciate this viewpoint. There's a certain elegance in using your resources efficiently and not wasting things. I find it significantly more satisfying to find a use for things rather than discarding them. This also applies to possessions, and more abstract things like writing code and not wasting lines of code or memory, or writing and not wasting words.
- sol_remmy 9y ago
  You seem to be making a moral argument for why to save leftovers. I prefer to buy fresh food because I believe it's healthier and I have the money to do so.

dagss 9y ago

IMO throwing away good food is morally wrong. Luckily there are movements ("food redesign" etc) that try to reverse the trend.

Benji_San 9y ago
I'm kind of surprised that some people don't eat leftovers. While it's understandable from a taste perspective the time required to cooking fresh food every day, assuming you cook most meals, seems staggering.
- dagw 9y ago
  the time required to cooking fresh food every day, assuming you cook most meals, seems staggering. Sure, but it's time I enjoy spending. Some people play computer games or watch TV for an hour after work to relax, I cook dinner.
  - emj 9y ago
    Using left overs is a way to cook more complex meals! If you enjoy handling food then learning about handling left overs is a big part of that. If you go back and look at weekly food schedules from the past you will see patterns, were people cook one type of food day one to have base or ingredient for the next few days of cooking.
    - dagw 9y ago
      My comment was not so much about leftovers as it was about the time it takes to cook. And while I certainly do use the leftovers I end up with, I also try cook in such a way that it minimizes leftovers.
- padraic7a 9y ago
  A lot of food is nicer the next day. Anything spicy improves with a little time, and I've found the same to be true with tomato sauce and cooked cheese - so curries, chillies, lasagna etc etc all improve. soup is often better the next day too.
- SeeDave 9y ago
  My father taught me to never waste meat. Something alongs of the lines of "that animal didn't want to die. So don't it go to waste."
  - zafka 9y ago
    It gives me a warm feeling to hear advice like that being taken to heart. I would like to say that I always do the same, but I know that this will stick in my mind.
    - SeeDave 9y ago
      Glad I could share my father's wisdom :)
  - dagss 9y ago
    I agree to focus most on the meat, mainly because it takes 10x the resources per pound to produce compared to vegetables, so it's the most valuable resource.
arkades 9y ago
This happens at our family gatherings all the time. Our day-to-day consumption habits are a lot healthier than our "treat ourselves at a family gathering" food selection. At the end of the gathering, everyone "fights" (politely, but very insistently) not to be the ones to take it home, 'cause they'll be forced to not let it go to waste. I usually throw these because I don't mind binning unhealthy food I can easily replace rather than further harming my health. The latter is a far more useful and expensive acquisition than a quarter-pound of $25/lb cheese.
sol_remmy 9y ago
Is your argument: people are starving in the world, so it is morally wrong to throw away food?
- dagss 9y ago
  It's more that if you use the rest of the food the next day, you will consume less new food the next day, and thus consume less resources, and a little less resources is spent on food production. A staggering 50% of the food produced is wasted somewhere along the line. If you look at moving towards a sustainable society, food waste is actually a huge sub-problem of that, which has to be solved at some point, instead of cutting down ever more rainforest every year etc. etc. to sustain the current wasteful lifestyle. Our parent generation didn't waste food, and the next generation will probably not be able to either (simply from rising prices). In a world that sustainably generated enough food for everyone, it would not be wrong to throw away food. It might be that we can get there. Food production today is not sustainable, so at least let's not waste it. If you press me, yes, I'm sure there's an element of "it's in bad taste" there too that made me react so strongly (it's similar to how rich kids pour out good champagne on the floor to display their wealth). That's closer to your suggestion.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
chrisper 9y ago
How is it morally wrong to throw away something I know I'm not going to finish? What am I supposed to do with it? I can't buy smaller sizes. It would be morally wrong if I bought 5 loafs of bread and threw out 4. Then I agree.
- dagss 9y ago
  The morally wrong part is with not finishing it later. Stick it in the fridge and eat it for lunch or evening snack next day. Or make a meal which includes the leftovers as ingredients (leftover pasta sauce goes as pizza topping, and so on) It obviously depends on the circumstances. I am more talking about the pattern of wasting, than accidentally wasting food now and then.

analog31 9y ago

My strategy on leftovers is to make just enough of a surplus for supper, that it furnishes my lunch the next day.

rangibaby 9y ago

I was ramen poor for a year or so after moving countries on my own as a teenager. Since then I must eat everything I make. My parent's generation will often leave food on their plate to show that they can afford to do that, so I guess it goes around in circles.

chimprich 9y ago

> If I have leftover food of certain things, I tend to throw it away and rather buy fresh. I find it difficult to appreciate this viewpoint. There's a certain elegance in using your resources efficiently and not wasting things. I find it significantly more satisfying to find a use for things rather than discarding them. This also applies to possessions, and more abstract things like writing code and not wasting lines of code or memory, or writing and not wasting words.

sol_remmy 9y ago
You seem to be making a moral argument for why to save leftovers. I prefer to buy fresh food because I believe it's healthier and I have the money to do so.