FOR METRO VANCOUVER YOUR HOUSEHOLD S FOOD AND DRINK WASTE DIARY NOVEMBER 20-27, 2014 November 20-27, 2014
Welcome to your household s food and drink waste diary Please Read! Please read these tips and advice carefully as they will help you complete the diary. Thank you very much for agreeing to take part in this important research for Metro Vancouver our regional government. This research will help us to understand what types of food and drink are thrown away and why. You can really help us by filling the diary in as fully as possible for everything you throw away, no matter what it is or how much. To help everyone in your household remember to write down all the food and drink that gets thrown away during the week, please place this diary somewhere in your kitchen that is easily visible and accessible. Included in your pack there is also a weigh scale, measuring cup and spoons to estimate the food or drink waste and a pen for completing the diary; these items are yours to keep and use after the week. It s really important that you write down all the food and drink that is thrown away: by all the people in your household; no matter what it is - even if it is food which normally is not eaten, such as vegetable peelings or bones; no matter what the reason is for it being thrown away; no matter how much or how little is thrown away; in your home only (so not what you throw away at school, work or in a restaurant); in the general waste bin, green bin, home bin, thrown down the sink or garburator, toilet or fed to birds or animals. If it ended up in one of these, we need to know about it!
Things to remember: Start your diary on Thursday, November 20th and finish at the end of Wednesday November 26 th 2014. Do what you would normally; so if you normally clear out your fridge or cupboards after a weekly shopping trip or when housekeeping, carry on as usual and record these items in the diary. Remember, no-one is judging what your household throws away so don t worry that you re throwing away too much. If anything unusual occurs - for example, if you had a party or were ill - please provide details in the daily comments and thoughts table. Describe the waste as fully as possible, filling in all of the required boxes on each row. Where there is a mixture, the ingredients as fully as possible, e.g. homemade stew with 2 pieces of meat, one potato and 2 medium carrots. This level of detail will help us to work out the overall weight of food waste more accurately. Do not record any food or drink waste disposed of outside of the home for example, at school, work or in a restaurant. However, if you throw away uneaten food from a school lunch box or takeaway in your household waste please record this. If any member of your household does grocery shopping on any day, please record the approximate amount spent. Please do not include any purchases of food or drink consumed outside of the home (such as a morning takeaway pastry or a lunchtime salad at work) Don t leave any pages blank, so if there is no food waste to record tick one of the reasons at the top of the page. Use the extra tables at the end of this booklet if you run out of space. Don t include food purchased with the intention of being fed to animals, such as pet food. However, if the item was bought for human consumption but then fed to a pet or wildlife, please record it. Although it is best to record the waste as it occurs, you or other household members may occasionally find it useful to put your waste aside until you can record it in the diary. Before you begin the diary please ensure the scale is correctly set to zero (refer to instructions included with the scale) You do not need to record tea/tea bags or coffee/coffee grinds.
How to measure the amount of food and drink waste that is thrown away It is really important that the amount of waste thrown away is recorded as accurately as possible: Do not include any packaging or containers that the food or drink is in when weighing it. Please use the scale or alternatively use the measuring cup or spoons. Remember to write in the unit that you re using, e.g. Remember! Please ensure the scale is correctly set to zero (refer to instructions included with scale). - liter - gram - ounce - pint - teaspoon, dessert spoon, tablespoon - flat handful, heaped handful - cup, tumbler, wine glass, bowl - the number of items (e.g. 2 whole carrots, half a loaf, 5 bacon slices Weight (g, oz) Volume (liter, pint, oz) A tablespoon A Heaped Handful Number (1 apple) We Need to know about it all! On some occasions, you might think a tiny bit of yoghurt left in the bottom of the pot is not worth recording. However, that bit of yoghurt thrown away by your household will be multiplied up to estimate the amount thrown away by all households in Metro Vancouver; so please be sure to write everything that is disposed of, otherwise our results will not be accurate. Thank you for your help At the end of the week, please return the entire booklet in the enclosed postage paid envelope (no stamp required) by December 1 st. You will then be entitled to a $100 gift certificate as a thank-you for your time. If you are unsure about anything at all, please call our Diary Support Team at 778-588-5405 (Monday to Friday 4:00pm to 9.00pm, Saturday 11:00am to 4:00pm and Sunday 12:00pm to 5:00pm), or email foodwaste@mustelgroup.co and we ll be pleased to help. Mustel Group is a member of the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association. You and your household will not be identified by this research and all your responses will be kept confidential and only shared anonymously with Metro Vancouver. No-one else will contact you as a result of the information that you provide in this diary.
Example of completed entries Breakfast If no food or drink waste, please say why: All food consumed x Meal not eaten at home x Other (write in) it cooked, prepared or too much Porridge - Oat so Simple sweet cinnamon - made with skimmed milk X Half a bowl X X Rind from a slice of bacon - Schneiders Country Naturals X 3g X Bread crusts from a toasted slice of Dempster s white medium sliced loaf X Crusts from one slice X X Apples, McIntosh X 3 whole apples X X Cereal (Kellogg s Frosties) X 100g X X Dairyland Organic Milk X 50ml X X
Example of completed entries Midday Meal If no food or drink waste, please say why: All food consumed x Meal not eaten at home X Other (write in) it cooked, prepared or too much Everyone at work or school
Example of completed entries Evening Meal If no food or drink waste, please say why: All food consumed x Meal not eaten at home x Other (write in) it cooked, prepared or too much Johnsonville pork sausage X 2 sausages X X Our Finest Angus Sliders burgers with onion X One burger X X Not cooked on BBQ; didn t want to risk refreezing it Mashed potatoes made from 5 large Farm Fresh potatoes and Dairyland milk and butter X About 2 tablespoons X McDonald chicken nuggets X 3 nuggets X Cauliflower cheese made with fresh cauliflower, Dairyland skimmed milk, Kraft cheddar cheese X Half of a 9 casserole dish X X Coca cola and Smirnoff vodka made up as a glass X 100ml X X Potato peelings (for the mash above) X from 5 potatoes X X
Example of completed entries All Other Food/Drink te (e.g. from clearing out cupboards/fridge/freezer or from snacks) it cooked, prepared or too much Yoghurt pot (Activia) strawberry X 2x125g pot X X 500 ml Jar Hellmann s light mayonnaise X 1/3 of jar X X Home-made vegetable soup (carrots, potatoes and onions) X 75ml X X Daily Comments & Thoughts Please tell us about any unusual circumstances today or your thoughts on food and drink waste below The food waste at supper was more than usual because we were having a home-cooked meal and my husband forgot and bought the kids McDonalds. I m not sure if you can keep leftover fast food another day? I went shopping today so had a bit of a clear out of my fridge/cupboards. Lunch was not eaten at home because we were all at work/school. Any household food and drink shopping today? Please write in an approximate amount spent on groceries today. Exclude food and drink purchased for consumption while at work, school or out and about. Amount spent: $ 97.00 This page is here to show you the level of detail we would like to know. It s important that you give as much detail as possible on the brand, ingredients and amount.
Day 1 Thursday 20 November 2014 Breakfast If no food or drink waste, please say why: All food consumed x Meal not eaten at home x Other (write in) it cooked, prepared or too much
Day 1 Thursday 20 November 2014 Midday Meal If no food or drink waste, please say why: All food consumed x Meal not eaten at home x Other (write in) it cooked, prepared or too much
Day 1 Thursday 20 November 2014 Evening Meal If no food or drink waste, please say why: All food consumed x Meal not eaten at home x Other (write in) it cooked, prepared or too much
Day 1 Thursday 20 November 2014 All Other Food/Drink te (e.g. from clearing out cupboards/fridge/freezer or from snacks) it cooked, prepared or too much Daily Comments & Thoughts Please tell us about any unusual circumstances today or your thoughts on food and drink waste below Any household food and drink shopping today? Please write in an approximate amount spent on groceries today. Exclude food and drink purchased for consumption while at work, school or out and about. Amount spent: $ This page is here to show you the level of detail we would like to know. It s important that you give as much detail as possible on the brand, ingredients and amount.
Overflow Pages Please use this sheet to record anything you didn t have space for Date? Which day did you throw away this food or drink waste on? Please give a full description of the food or drink waste including brand. (If you run out of space you can use the overflow pages at the back of the diary) it cooked, prepared or weight, volume, number or amount? Please give reason for disposal. Some possible answers by be: too much