553 Eating, do you take it for granted?

How many times do you question where you will eat tonight? Or what takeaway you are getting? I am going to guess you don’t think about it all that often, I mean unless sparked why would you? Many people I know don’t think twice about picking a restaurant to eat at or if they can afford to buy a takeaway.

To put eating into perspective, there are people in this world that are asking very different questions to the one I mentioned right at the beginning. They are asking if they are going to eat tonight? Or what if there isn’t enough for everyone? They haven’t ever eaten at a restaurant or had a phone to order a takeaway meal. Some of those people, it is because they dropped out of school, maybe they can’t be bothered to get a job, or they don’t want to work. Others out there can’t provide food for their families because they had a flood in their house and they didn’t have insurance, some have fallen on hard times in unpredictable circumstances, and others just never had the opportunity to be able to provide for their families.

Next time you are looking at what restaurant you should eat at, or you’re trying to pick as a family what takeaway you want to get, think about those who are not as lucky. Think about those families that are left petrified of starving to death. I wish there was a way to keep the food we don’t eat and safely give it to those who can’t afford food or who have fallen on hard times, the amount of food we cook and it was just too much to eat so it gets thrown away, or you buy so much food that you forget it was there or don’t cook it on time and it has now gone out of date, think how many people that could feed.

I’ll admit, up until recently I had never thought about it, I had never appreciated the food I had in front of me three times a day. I never took the time to think about what I was eating, where it comes from, and the work that goes into making it. I just ate it and threw away the bits I didn’t want. I didn’t fancy what was in front of me, so I didn’t eat much of it. People are sitting wishing they could have our food. I can’t remember what kick-started my brain to thinking about food and how everyone I know takes it for granted.

I thought about it for a while and tried to decide what I could do to help. I have also been trying to cut down how much money I spend on food, which is tear affects the amount of food you buy and the amount of food that gets wasted. Every week I was throwing away food because it was out of date, or I cooked a batch and never finished all of it. To try and really change the way I use and buy food here is what I am working on.

• I am thinking about the food I need when I go food shopping, not just grabbing what I fancy.

• I am using the food I have in the fridge and freezer before I go to the supermarket.

• I am putting items in the freezer before they go out of date.

• I am planning what I am going to eat while I buy the food in the supermarket.

• I am reducing the takeaway I buy; I have started buying takeaway when I have run out of food instead of when I fancy one.

• Checking the fridge for any food that is due to go out of the day every couple of days so I can use it or freeze it.

Keeping an eye on the food you bring into your home is beneficial for everyone, you don’t run out of room in your fridge or freezer, you use everything instead of having random bits lefts over, then it can’t go out of date because you have used it etc. All you must do is think about the food you buy a little bit more and do a five-minute plan before you go to the supermarket or while you are driving to the supermarket.

The point of this post is to get people to think about what they have and appreciate it before they lose it. Enjoy the food that is in front of you instead of just pushing it around the plate because it wasn’t what you most wanted, or you have it in your head that you wanted a takeaway Chinese.

Right, that has been more of a serious post than I usually do so to lighten the mood a little bit, what meal do you enjoy and what meal do you not enjoy much?

The mean I love is a good homemade shepherd’s pie or a roast dinner but only because I have a strong love for Yorkshire puddings, other than the Yorkshire puddings and gravy I am not a huge fan of a roast dinner. The meal I do not enjoy as much as a jacket potato with pork chops, pork chops were just not meant for me, I will eat them, but I don’t love them.