We all know how much food goes to waste in supermarkets and it’s shameful to admit that we all waste food at home. Yes, all those vegetables we buy in the ‘buy one get two free’ offers (a great idea at the time, but not so much in our busy everyday lives), which get left in the bottom of the fridge for two weeks all go to waste as we find that soggy cucumber, no longer something fresh and cool, but now wrinkly, wet and soft, so without a thought, in the bin it goes. It’s so easy to take food for granted as it’s so readily available to us all especially when we think of the starving people in both the UK and other third world countries, (don’t worry this isn’t a guilt trip). It’s just something to think about next time you go shopping, don’t get excited when you see ‘special offer’ or ‘buy one get one free’, think to yourself, do I really need all of this or is it going to go in the bin in a weeks time?
So we know that there’s a huge amount of food going to waste in supermarkets and in our own home but there’s a third one which we probably don’t think of, restaurants. They buy their ingredients in bulk, so there’s a lot of food to make tasty meals for us all to eat, but imagine how many people there are who don’t actually finish their meals, yes, all of that food that’s left on plates goes straight into the bin! Which is why the doggy bag is being introduced to more and more restaurants across the UK. It’s an excellent way to prevent food waste and all that food you couldn’t quite eat for dinner, well it’s now breakfast too!
Here at Poppies of Spitalfields, we are now providing our customers with the option to take home a doggy bag if they can’t quite finish their meals. All you have to do is ask and you’ll have your leftovers packed away neatly in a doggy bag ready for you to take home and eat when you’re next peckish.
Preventing food waste is an important factor in society, coinciding with Climate Week (12th-18th March), we should all have a think about the food that we buy and asking for a doggy bag next time you can’t quite finish a meal in a restaurant. It’s these little things that will maintain and provide us with a sustainable future.