Tis The Season To Be Jolly...

I know there are many around the world starving and serious problems that make many of those we see as being important are in reality unimportant.

You have to judge problems by the situation and society that you are a part of.
A story has broken in the press as featured in the Daily Mail which I read earlier today.

The Waste and Resources Action Programme(A Government Quango)the £80million a year state body set up to encourage recycling and to reduce the amount of food we waste is said to have issued a press release and the article's headline was "Families urged to eat ice cream rather than Christmas pudding to save the planet"

And upon the first reading of the article it does seem a stupid idea. The suggestion is that cooks should consider mince pies and reheat whatever leftover mincemeat and serve it with ice cream.
If you look at the press release here what was actually said was:"Heat small amounts of left-over mincemeat in a pan and spoon over ice cream for an alternative Christmas pudding"

I suspect many families up and down the land have always adapted recipes and reheated/reused food from one meal and recreated a new dish using ingredients left over from a previous meal.

We may live in a country that is seen to be one of the most prosperous economies in the world but I sometimes wonder how anyone earns enough from working to afford to pay for decent food and pay their ever increasing household expenses.

There is some truth in how healthy and clever/economic this country was during WWII when food was rationed. There is a wonderful food writer(I forget her name)but the Government used her during these hard times to advise what could be done and she still sometimes appears on television now and has so many great ideas.

Unfortunately, so many times things are taken out of context.

Most of any food that is not eaten in my household is given to the birds that visit my garden(as that would be mainly fruit and bread etc...)so very little food is thrown out.

I do however believe that if there is something I really would like to have and I know there is going to be too much for me to use I will not do without. But in general I think I am very careful about avoiding food wastage, I don't always necessarily worry about the dates on food. Often they'll say something has to be used within two days of opening but I'll stretch it over three days.

It's often been said that where some food wastage could be saved and it probably is perfectly safe to eat is because of understandably strict rules of food safety perfectly eatable food has to be discarded, there have been schemes(I think America)has some policy on this where food normally thrown away is given to charities or residential homes so those who would normally be unable to enjoy or afford some items are given it.

Maybe some similar scheme could be instigated in the UK and other countries across the world.
I am sure that I read or saw a report showing people raiding supermarket garbage cans and finding food that was of a high enough standard and safe for consumption.

Whatever, enjoy your Christmas lunch if you have managed to get it together, for many the festive season is the one time of the year people push the boat out and try to have something that they perhaps are unable to the rest of the year. It's awful to be lectured and told what you shouldn't be doing at this time of year.

They may see it as appropriate or an easy target but BBC Radio 5 were scroogelike in two of the topics they chose to discuss this holiday weekend...Do we take too much time off at Christmas(and yet the rest of the year we are told that we work the longest hours in Europe)and yes, once again the other topic was the amont of alcohol we drink.

For one weekend in the year, though for some it is a difficult time, let's try and enjoy ourselves. Before too long it will be another year and for many all the worries will start again.