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My Kitchen Table

One Poll

6 January 2011

Brits are hoarding a staggering #295million worth of out of date tins, tubs, herbs and spices in their kitchen cupboards, a study found yesterday (Weds).
Research discovered the typical household pantry contains nine items - worth around #12 - whose sell-by date has long since passed.
Mixed spices, soup, herbs, baking soda and tinned fruit are the most common goods to be found languishing at the back of cupboards.
Sauces, stock cubes, mustard and pickled onions also emerged as items which are rarely used.
The study also found six in ten women have deliberately fed their other half out-of-date food.
A spokesman for My Kitchen Table. which carried out the survey to launch their new range of cookery books, said: ''Over recent years, there has rightly been considerable focus on the amount of food wasted in Great Britain.
''This survey shows that the problem extends past fresh food to numerous wasted store cupboard ingredients.
''By letting these ingredients go forgotten and run past their sell-by date, we are wasting a lot of money and food.
''The message is clearly to think before you buy - ingredients can often be substituted for something you already own and with a bit of creativity, you can easily use up ingredients such as spices, herbs, baking products and tinned goods.
''You almost certainly have enough items to make one or two complete meals for your family from ingredients you already own.
''Anyone looking to save money in the New Year would do well to have a root around the store cupboard and will probably find the basis of numerous cheap meals - best used now before they're forgotten about.
''Discovering a handful of new recipes to use up those long forgotten ingredients is a great place to start.''
The stats show the total number of items past their sell-by date in the nation's cupboards  could be as high as 222 million taking into account the UK's 24.6million households.
They also revealed the average person wastes #10-a-month buying items they will use very little of.
It also emerged the typical householder throws three out-of-date jars, boxes or tubs a month in the bin.
Six out of ten of the 3,000 people polled said they had eaten out-of-date food rather than throw it away.
One in four people said they don't ever clean out their cupboards, while one in five said they carried out a sell-by check once a month.
More than one in four admitted knowingly using up out-of-date ingredients.
A spokesperson added: ''It's a great idea to get into the habit of having a quick regular sell-by check and make a list of ingredients which need using up - and then find a recipe to inspire you.
''And don't hoard items for the sake of it, but keep your cupboards in check, and certainly don't feed anyone out of date food stuffs.''
TOP 40 OUT OF DATE ITEMS
1.            Mixed spices
2.            Tinned soup
3.            Mixed herbs
4.            Baking soda
5.            Tinned pineapple/fruit
6.            Bicarbonate of soda
7.            Flour
8.            Stock cubes
9.            Soy sauce
10.          Cake toppings (hundreds and thousands etc)
11.          Cinnamon
12.          Jam
13.          Flavoured vinegars
14.          Casserole Mix
15.          Custard powder
16.          Icing Sugar
17.          Dried parsley
18.          Flavoured oils
19.          Curry Powder
20.          Dried coriander
21.          Dried basil
22.          Tinned tomatoes
23.          Mustard
24.          Dried thyme
25.          Lasagne Strips
26.          Chutney
27.          Pickled Onions
28.          Vanilla Essence
29.          Raisins
30.          Paprika
31.          Mint Sauce
32.          Marmalade
33.          Tabasco Sauce
34.          Red Wine Vinegar
35.          Oregano
36.          Cumin
37.          Fish Sauce
38.          Nuts
39.          Oyster sauce
40.          Piccalilli
Research conducted by global market research company www.onepoll.com