Waste Not Want Not

It’s a phrase we have all become accustomed to hearing at mealtimes, a phrase that some people associate with parents or older relatives, a phrase that, for many of us, has lost its meaning over time.  Everyone knows that the person who says “think of the children in Africa” clearly hasn’t actually thought about the children in Africa, who surely would be insulted if they were to receive half-eaten Yorkshire puddings with a side serving of congealed gravy that had been scraped off someone else’s plate a week ago.  So, if this particular version of ‘eat your food’ blackmail has lost its effectiveness, can we somehow bring the power back into ‘waste not, want not’ and save it from a similar fate?

This catchy phrase originates from the wartime era of rationing, when every piece of food was controlled and as little as possible wasted.  Nowadays, we are used to food being available everywhere, with cafes and restaurants just a muffin’s throw away. This makes it hard for us to understand the concept of ‘food shortages’, and until you are put into a position where you have to budget carefully i.e. become a student, the wasting of food doesn’t seem to be that much of an issue.  However, apart from the obvious point that wasting food = wasting money, there is the added factor of the environment to be considered.  Save the world whilst saving money; what’s not to like?

Before you get to the point of being able to enjoy your hand-prepared, delicious, student-cook-book-advised feast, there are numerous ways in which waste could be created; and therefore numerous ways in which you could minimise it.  If we go right back to the beginning of the process (food shopping), we can see that supermarkets are one of the biggest causes of waste.  Once the food on the shelves is past its sell-by date it has to be thrown away, even if the use-by date is a couple of days later, so looking out for the little ‘reduced’ stickers saves you cash and saves food from the miserable fate of the supermarket bin.  If, however, you are too late and worry that your chance to be a hero has passed, just like the sell-by date, never fear, because the option of ‘freeganism’ is still open to you.  This involves rooting around in the supermarket bins and finding your dinner there; not as skanky as it sounds, as many items will be in their original packaging.  This practice is getting harder due to supermarkets locking their bins behind heavy duty gates; ludicrous!

A few other simple things that could be done at this stage are to bring your own bags (which don’t have to be those weird ‘we’re not really plastic’ bags that supermarkets make you pay for… any bag will do!) and try to walk to the shops rather than drive.  Added bonus: extra toned arms and legs.  Buy only what you need.  It’s unlikely that you will eat 100 slices of cheese within 3 days of opening the packet, no matter how cheap this option seems to be… unlikely, yet not impossible.  Know your limits!  A mistake many of us make when cooking is to cook far, far too much at once.  A suggestion is to take a hint from the Spanish; no, not necessarily mix wine with Fanta, or start going to clubs at 4am (they’re likely to be shut here), or somehow get an insane tan without the aid of a salon.. Try tapas! That is, a selection of small dishes of which you can always make more.  Tapas were designed to be served with drinks; perfect for the student lifestyle. Plus if you serve tapas to your housemates they’ll think you’re well classy.

Alternatively, your housemates may think you’re being pretentious and stingy; in which case, stick to the old-fashioned outdoor BBQ, which doesn’t use up as much energy as an indoor cooker.  Though you may think this would be impractical in the freezing winter, it could be a lot of fun and any complaints can be fielded with the ‘but it’s festive!’ excuse.  Eating outside also saves washing up which, apart from making life easier, avoids wasting water.  It’s amazing how eco-friendly cooking can actually be cheaper for you, as well as enjoyably adventurous.  Think about it; the more money you save on water, the more money available for spending on other consumable liquids.

One exciting aspect of being eco-friendly in the kitchen is the selection of gadgets that are available to aid you in your efforts.  Although often expensive, these gadgets can provide hours of entertainment; the can-crusher comes highly recommended as a round of ‘World’s Strongest Housemate’, as does the old-fashioned pestle and mortar in place of a food processor.  When thinking what drink to have with your meal, consider investing in a Soda Stream machine, which carbonates your drinks for you, or squeezing the juice out of some home-grown fruit… if your student accommodation doesn’t quite stretch to having its own orchard (as so many don’t), then buy from the local grocer’s, or at least choose British fruit in the supermarket.

Although ‘waste not, want not’ is a saying which has been used for longer than most students have been alive, this does not mean that it has lost its relevance.  Even if we can’t send every left-over piece of food to people who need it, we can do our best to ensure that we don’t take that food for granted.  There is a tendency amongst people to think that what they do doesn’t matter because they are one in a billion.  The reality is that even if you don’t think you’re helping to save the earth by cooking in an eco-friendly fashion, you are saving yourself money.  Money, like food, is a commodity that students can’t really afford to waste, so there is no better time than university to discover the advantages of ‘waste not, want not’.  Hopefully the meaning of the phrase will then become clearer and get passed on to the next generations, freeing them from the bafflement and bemusement that haunted us every time an ancient aunt uttered those mysterious words.