Wasting food is like steeling from the poor. Pope Francis

It makes sense to reduce the waste in our lives given recent forecasts of rising food prices.  Wasting anything is immoral but wasting food is the same as wasting money, and so why not start the New Year with the resolve to do better during 2017?

Listening to TV and Radio experts, the general advise to households is to switch to the budget supermarkets such as Aldi and Lidl, as well as down grading purchases to include more of the basic value ranges.

 

But what about those people who already made the switch years ago in order to manage?  What can the people already doing their weekly shop at Aldi or Lidl or in other budget shops do to make ends meet?

 

I can only see two options;

Option one is to eat less.  Most of the UK start a diet every New Year, making resolutions to eat healthily, to stop drinking sugar filled fizz or alcohol etc etc etc., but once those extra few pounds have been lost what then?  Eating less long term because your finances will not stretch to include sufficient food to satisfy the entire family is not a long term solution.   Food banks can help those who have fallen below the line but they are not available to everyone.

Option two is to get more out of the food you do manage to buy.  It is more of a long term option than number one and is based on the English saying ‘waste not want not’.  This sentiment may be an old one but it is not outdated.  It is as relevant today as it was during our great grandmothers day and should be used in tandem with ‘take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves’.

With option two in mind, education is the key.  The kitchen bin and the composter should only be used as a last resort, never as a first choice.  Wasting less may require inventiveness, it will definitely test your resourcefulness, but it is worth trying.  

WW2 One person’s week ration (http://www.lavenderandlovage.com)
The ration was the maximum allowance but not all items were available every week. 

Butter: 50g (2oz)
Bacon or ham: 100g (4oz)
Margarine: 100g (4oz)
Cooking fat/lard: 100g (4oz)
Sugar: 225g (8oz).
Meat: To the value of 1/2d and sometimes 1/10d – about 1lb (450g) to 12ozs (350g)
Milk: 3 pints (1800ml) occasionally dropping to 2 pints (1200ml).
Cheese: 2oz (50g) rising to 8oz (225g)
Eggs: 1 fresh egg per week.
Tea: 50g (2oz).
Jam: 450g (1lb) every two months.
Dried eggs: 1 packet (equivalent to 12 eggs) every four weeks.
Sweets & Chocolate: 350g (12oz) every four weeks

Think back to your high school history lessons, specifically those on world war two.  Schools teach pupils about battles and alliances, they concentrate upon enemy defeats but they do not teach students about the home front.  Some lesson plans may touch upon rationing, illustrating a typical weeks supply, but they do not go into detail on how young families coped with shortages. I bet many people have forgotten that rationing continued beyond the 1940’s, beyond the war itself, until 1954.  Even after rationing ended, the resulting supply and demand caused higher meat prices which in turn ensured families remained deprived of specific food items. 

During my own high school week, girls received one and a half hour instruction in Domestic Science, sometimes referred to as home economics, but those lessons did not include any reference to cooking on a budget, to thrift or frugality.  Is it any wonder, therefore, that generations of home cooks struggle to feed their families?  But, if our great grandmothers not only fed themselves as well as their young families for fourteen years on limited food supplies, maintaining nutritional content, surely with all of our education and easy access to information, we can do the same?