What can we do to cut back on how much is wasted in our society?

[Venus193]

This is something of a rant.

This morning I had a very early lunch at the diner near my post office.  They are probably the #1 diner in the county and they make the best burger in the zip code, but I can't imagine how much food gets wasted there. When I took my seat the waitress automatically put a down plate of small muffins (2-bite size; 6 of them) and some pre-wrapped jelly and butter.  I told her I wasn't going to eat them and she shouldn't waste them, she said "They'll be decoration, then." 

I was about to eat a burger deluxe (burger patties are 8 oz before cooking) and I didn't have a ziplock with me to bag them for later or for the pigeons.  I had just spent $11 to send a 12 lb box of snacks to a regiment in Iraq which included 4 boxes of Entenmann's Little Bites, so this was really burning my tail.  You will all be proud that I didn't lose my cool over this.

I feel the same way when I see Starbucks customers pouring out 20% of their coffee into the garbage to make room for their milk.  If the barristas would only remember to ask every customer if they want space for milk before they pour, this wouldn't be so bad and they'd be even more profitable.  The waitress in the above story could just as easily have served that plate of muffins to another table 10 seconds later; the place was busy.

One diner in my area cut back their portion size by 25% after the first two weeks in business when they saw that nobody could finish their food.

Does this bother anyone else or am I out of touch?

[Lisbeth]

This is something of a rant.

This morning I had a very early lunch at the diner near my post office.  They are probably the #1 diner in the county and they make the best burger in the zip code, but I can't imagine how much food gets wasted there. When I took my seat the waitress automatically put a down plate of small muffins (2-bite size; 6 of them) and some pre-wrapped jelly and butter.  I told her I wasn't going to eat them and she shouldn't waste them, she said "They'll be decoration, then." 

I was about to eat a burger deluxe (burger patties are 8 oz before cooking) and I didn't have a ziplock with me to bag them for later or for the pigeons.  I had just spent $11 to send a 12 lb box of snacks to a regiment in Iraq which included 4 boxes of Entenmann's Little Bites, so this was really burning my tail.  You will all be proud that I didn't lose my cool over this.

I feel the same way when I see Starbucks customers pouring out 20% of their coffee into the garbage to make room for their milk.  If the barristas would only remember to ask every customer if they want space for milk before they pour, this wouldn't be so bad and they'd be even more profitable.  The waitress in the above story could just as easily have served that plate of muffins to another table 10 seconds later; the place was busy.

One diner in my area cut back their portion size by 25% after the first two weeks in business when they saw that nobody could finish their food.

Does this bother anyone else or am I out of touch?

It bothers me too when I see wastefulness.

For example, if I'm eating Chinese take-out, they put so many packets of sauce in the order (duck, soy, mustard) that I simply don't put on my food.  Or I see people throw away unused napkins.

And I hate seeing people order drinks, take one sip, and discard the rest.

I've seen in some fast-food, buffet, and cafeteria-style restaurants signs asking patrons to limit what they take to what they are actually going to consume or use, but somehow it doesn't seem effective.

I do remember an article posted in the original forum about a family who was refused service at a Chinese buffet restaurant because they were notorious there for filling plates with large amounts of food that they didn't eat.

[Venus193]

I remember that.  I was ready to applaud owners of the restaurant.

I don't use duck sauce, so if I remember when I order my Chinese food, I ask them not to include it.  I do use extra soy and hot sauces.  In fact, I put them together in a bottle with pieces of dried ginger.   

Another thing that bugs me is how much paper our fast food is wrapped in and what that does to the environment in the long term, but that is a separate issue.

[FolkRockFan]

Wastefulness bothers me too. I hate when I get double handfuls of napkins in the drive thru. I'm only going to need two, or maybe three. Sure, the extras go into the glovebox for the times when the workers forget to give me napkins at all - or for when I need to wipe off the windshield or something - but still. How many people just throw the extras into the trash? Quite a few, I've noticed.

[Emmy]

I agree, a lot of things are wasted.  I used to work at a food/ice-cream place and if something was wrong with the order, we were instructed to just throw it away.  I hated to do that and often kept the item in the back so I could nibble on it (maybe that was an etiquette violation in itself).  When I got out to eat and have left overs, I like to take it home for lunch the next day, but not everybody does that.

Creams with coffee are another thing, often in drive through they will just throw several cream and sugars in the bag and not everybody uses that much of it.

[Venus193]

Throwing away extra napkins is a sin.  I take extra in Starbucks, but they go into my desk drawer at the office and get used.

Another big waste is the number of half and half portions in other places that sell coffee.  I only ever use half of one, but they always give at least 3.

[Brentwood]

I agree, a lot of things are wasted.  I used to work at a food/ice-cream place and if something was wrong with the order, we were instructed to just throw it away.  I hated to do that and often kept the item in the back so I could nibble on it (maybe that was an etiquette violation in itself).  When I got out to eat and have left overs, I like to take it home for lunch the next day, but not everybody does that.

Creams with coffee are another thing, often in drive through they will just throw several cream and sugars in the bag and not everybody uses that much of it.

I'm sure being instructed to throw away incorrect orders is due to health code restrictions. The items can't be put back or resold (which is, of course, precisely Venus' problem with the unwanted mini muffins she was given).

[Venus193]

I don't know how often foodservice personnel get orders wrong, but I don't suspect it happens that frequently.  Last week a place got my colleague's takeout order wrong and asked for the wrong item back.

Throwing away anything else bothers me more. 

I could never be in foodservice, though.  Watching the waste of stuff would utterly depress me.

[Brentwood]

I don't know how often foodservice personnel get orders wrong, but I don't suspect it happens that frequently.  Last week a place got my colleague's takeout order wrong and asked for the wrong item back.

Throwing away anything else bothers me more. 

I could never be in foodservice, though.  Watching the waste of stuff would utterly depress me.

I hate to throw away food also. I'm always on my children about wasting food and not asking for more than they care to finish. I understand that sometimes their eyes are bigger than their stomachs, but I do encourage them to take just a little at a time until they know they are full. I really, really hate wasting food.

When we go to restaurants, we always bring home leftovers. I can never finish a restaurant-sized meal.

[Suze]

I know what you mean - Mom and I went to a local sandwich shop the other day and we each got a breaded tenderloin sandwich (around here the bigger they are the better) and the silly thing was at least as big as a large paper plate if not a little bigger.

We ate on them for 3 days.

No wonder America has a weight problem.........

[Venus193]

No kidding.

There is a deli restaurant in midtown that Jen and I ate in last winter where the corned beef sandwich has an entire pound of meat in it.  I took home about 2/3rds of the meat and the remaining pickles in the bowl.

A couple from the midwest sat at the next table and the man consumed an entire sandwich like that; they were not going immediately back to their hotel.

[FolkRockFan]

I don't remember the last time that I actually finished a normal restaurant portion of anything.

But, that's why they have takeout trays. Nothing quite like a Bennigan's angus cheese and bacon burger reheated the next morning

[Venus193]

I have nearly a full order of Double Sauteed Pork in the fridge as we "speak", but I'll have to eat something else because that would take too long to reheat (I don't have a microwave). 

I sometimes wish I hated food.

[Suze]

http://www.snopes.com/photos/advertisements/bigburger.asp

how about this one -- a burger with anywhere from 2 pounds to 10.5 POUNDS of meat in them.

I know this is a stunt for the resterant but still.......

I really do  not know how people can eat that much in one sitting.  If I tried to do that I would be Sooooooo sick.

And I have seen guys eating TWO of those huge tenderloins in one meal.

[Brentwood]

http://www.snopes.com/photos/advertisements/bigburger.asp

how about this one -- a burger with anywhere from 2 pounds to 10.5 POUNDS of meat in them.

I know this is a stunt for the resterant but still.......

I really do  not know how people can eat that much in one sitting.  If I tried to do that I would be Sooooooo sick.

And I have seen guys eating TWO of those huge tenderloins in one meal.

I wish restaurants served 1/4-pound hamburgers (other than on the children's menu). Half a pound is too big, and so many are actually one pound! If I order a burger, I always wind up taking half home. I never order the fries either, because most would go to waste. I order vegetables (cooked or raw) with a burger and can usually eat all of them.