Why did you buy such a lot of food

Задания, которые помогут закрепить слова so и such на практике:

Задание 1
Задание 2
Задание 3

Слова so и such (такой/так)

Слова so и such переводятся на русский одинаково – “такой/такая/такое/такие”, но есть грамматические отличия в их использовании. Так же слово so может переводится как “так”. So и such усиливают значение идущего после них слова.

so + прилагательное/наречие:
so stupid – такой глупый
so quickly – так быстро

such + существительное:
such people – такие люди

such + прилагательное + существительное:
such a stupid story – такая глупая история
such nice people – такие милые люди

The book was so good that I couldn’t put it down. – Книга была такой хорошей, что я не мог бросить ее.
It was such a good book that I couldn’t put it down. – Это была такая хорошая книга, что я не мог бросить ее.

no such – такого (объекта) нет:
There is no such thing as magic. – Такой вещи, как магия, не существует.

so long, но such a long time:
I haven’t seen her for so long I’ve forgotten what she looks like.
I haven’t seen her for such a long time. (not ‘a so long time’)

so far, но such a long way:
I didn’t know it was so far.
I didn’t know it was such a long way.

so much/so many, но such a lot (of):
Why did you buy so much food?
Why did you buy such a lot of food?

В этом уроке рассмотрим, как составить восклицательные предложения в английском языке, что является очень и очень важным аспектом в разговорной речи. Ведь именно эмоции наполняют предложения жизнью и делают нашу речь вдохновленной и зажигательной!

Восклицательные предложения в английском языке

Модель 1. What (a) + прилагательное + существительное! (самая простая модель)

• What a sunny day! — Какой солнечный день!
• What rainy weather! — Какая дождливая погода!
• What lovely pictures! — Какие чудесные картины!

Модель 2. How + прилагательное the + существительное  + вспом. гл.!

• How pretty the girl is! — Как хороша эта девушка!
• How lovely the pictures are! — Как чудесны эти картины!
• How tasty the coffee is! — Какой сладкий кофе!

Модель 3. It is/ They are + so + прилагательное!

• It is so hot! — Так жарко!
• They are so rude! — Они такие грубые!
• The woman is so beautiful! — Эта женщина так красива!

• It is such a clever cat! — Такая умная кошка!
• They are such loving parents! — Они такие любящие родители!
• It is such fine weather! — Такая чудесная погода!

Усилительные частицы so & such

Рассматривая восклицательные предложения в английском языке, нелишним будет упомянуть усилительные частицы so and such, которые делают предложения эмоционально выразительными.

1. So VS Such – разница в употреблении

ПРИМЕРЫ
so stupid – такой глупый
so quickly – так быстро

ПРИМЕРЫ
such a stupid story – такая глупая история

Запомните:
so long = such a long time (так долго — такое долгое время)
so far = such a long way (так далеко — такой дальний путь)
so many / so much = such a lot of  (так много)

Запомните:
I think so. – Я так думаю.
I don’t think so. – Я так не думаю.

• I haven’t seen him for so long (such a long time).
• I didn’t know you lived so far from the city centre / such a long  way.
• Why did you buy so much food (such a lot of food)?

Восклицательные предложения в английском языке. Упражнения

Упражнение 1. Составьте 12 восклицательных предложений по образцам 1-4.

• long – street
• old – cars
• bright – sunshine
• fresh – air
• huge – crowds
• tall – buildings
• misty – day
• changeable — weather
• attractive – idea
• pleasant – holiday
• calm – man
• excited – people
• exciting – journey

Упражнение 2. Вставьте частицы so, such.

• She has (such a, so a, such, so) busy life that she always forgets my birthday.
• You shouldn’t let (such a. a such, so a, a so) small child watch TV (such long, so much, such much, so many)
• The weather is (such nice, so nice, such a nice, nice so) today. Shall we go for a walk?

Упражнение 3. Вставьте частицы so, such.

Упражнение 4. Сделайте предложения восклицательными, используя один из вариантов.

ОБРАЗЕЦ. He has a long beard.

1 вариант. What a long beard he has!
2 вариант. You can’t imagine how long his beard is!

• It’s peaceful here in the country.
• Ann is much more beautiful than her sister.
• Time passes very quickly.
• It has been a very slow journety.
• These cats make a lot of noise.
• You speak English very well.

Здравствуйте! Для получения доступа к ответам необходимо оформить подписку. Ссылка в боковом меню — ОТВЕТЫ.

1. Перефразируйте предложения, используя модальный глагол might.

Например: Perhaps the children will be naughty tonight. – The children might be naughty tonight. (Возможно, дети будут капризничать вечером.)

1. Perhaps it will snow tomorrow.

2. Perhaps I’ll travel to the islands for my holiday.

3. Perhaps he won’t send the flowers to her.

4. Perhaps you’ll get a brand new car for your birthday.

5. Perhaps she’ll be late because of a traffic jam.

2. Поставьте модальные глаголы have to, has to или had to. Переведите предложения.

3. Выберите подходящий модальный глагол в скобках.

4. Расставьте слова в предложениях с модальными глаголами по порядку.

1. chairs – have – to – many – you – did – buy – so – why?

2. after – to – you – tree – have – look – this – carefully – very.

3. have – doesn’t – my — correct – she – to – mistakes.

4. invite – wedding — should – our – we – cousins – the – to.

5. shouldn’t – today – without – an — outside – go – she – umbrella.

6. socks – the – wash – must – every — their – boys – evening.

7. mustn’t – son – lighter – my – play – with – a.

8. I – off – can – day – have – a?

9. aren’t – in — you – shout – the — to – allowed – museum.

10. could – to –have — station – he – gone — the.

1. It might snow tomorrow. (Завтра возможно будет снег.)
2. I might travel to the islands for my holiday. (Возможно, я поеду на острова во время отпуска.)
3. He might not send the flowers to her. (Он, может быть, не пошлет ей цветы.)
4. You might get a brand new car for your birthday. (Ты, возможно, получишь новую машину в день рожденья.)
5. She might be late because of a traffic jam. (Она, возможно, опоздает из-за пробок на дороге.)

1. have to (Я вижу тебя не очень хорошо. Мне нужно надеть очки.)
2. have to (В Лондоне мы должны ездить по левой стороне.)
3. has to (Джэку нужно носить костюм и галстук в школу.)
4. had to (Вчера мне пришлось остаться на работе до полуночи.)
5. has to (Ей нужно идти сейчас, или она опоздает на поезд.)
6. have to (Если я потеряю работу, мне придется продать бриллианты.)
7. have to (Ей не нужно покупать дорогой подарок.)

1. must not (Ты не должен ходить в школу с высокой температурой.)
2. must (Экзамен на следующей неделе. Поэтому ты должен много заниматься.)
3. don’t have to (Я все приготовлю для вечеринки, поэтому вам не нужно приносить никакую еду.)
4. should (Ему нужно больше заниматься, ему следует пойти в тренажерку.)
5. have to (Женщины обязаны покрывать голову в храме.)
6. can’t (Я не могу очень хорошо говорить по-итальянски, так как не изучал язык в школе.)
7. couldn’t (Мы не могли спать вчера из-за шторма.)
8. had to (Сэму пришлось уйти с вечера рано, так как его жена исчезла.)
9. will be able to (Если будешь больше тренироваться, ты сможешь бегать быстрее.)
10. able to (Я смог купить посудомоечную машину по кредитной карточке.)
11. ought (Тебе следует извиниться.)
12. needn’t (Нам не обязательно бронировать номер заранее. У них всегда имеются свободные номера.)
13. should (Твои волосы выглядят ужасно. Тебе следует их подстричь.)
14. need to (Я обессилена. Мне нужно немного отдохнуть.)
15. able to (Когда они были богаты, они могли путешествовать заграницу каждый месяц.)
16. may (Посетителям отеля разрешено пользоваться автостоянкой.)
17. aren’t allowed to (Собакам не разрешается входить в помещение.)
18. could (Не уверен, но, может быть, Боб сейчас в Англии.)
19. May (Могу я воспользоваться вашим телефоном?)
20. must (Том не отвечает на звонок. Должно быть, его машина сейчас находится в туннеле.)

1. Why did you have to buy so many chairs? (Почему тебе пришлось купить так много стульев?)
2. You have to look after this tree very carefully. (Тебе нужно ухаживать за этим деревом очень бережно.)
3. She doesn’t have to correct my mistakes. (Ей не обязательно исправлять мои ошибки.)
4. We should invite our cousins to the wedding. (Нам следует пригласить кузенов на свадьбу.)
5. She shouldn’t go outside without an umbrella today. (Ей не следует выходить на улицу без зонта сегодня.)
6. The boys must wash their socks every evening. (Мальчики обязаны стирать свои носки каждый вечер.)
7. My son mustn’t play with a lighter. (Моему сыну нельзя играть с зажигалкой.)
8. Can I have a day off? (Могу я взять выходной?)
9. You aren’t allowed to shout in the museum. (Не разрешается кричать в музее.)
10. He could have gone to the station. (Возможно, он уехал на вокзал.)

В среду 15 декабря 2021 года состоится XV международный игровой конкурс по английскому языку «British Bulldog» 2021-2022.

Подготовлено пять вариантов заданий: 2, 3–4, 5–6, 7–8 и 9–11 классы. Вариант заданий для участников из 2-х и 3–4-х классов состоит из 30 вопросов, для участников других возрастных групп из 45. На каждый вопрос нужно выбрать один из четырех вариантов ответов. Время на выполнение заданий – 45 минут.

Предлагаем вашему вниманию вопросы и ответы на конкурс «Британский бульдог» 2021-2022 для учеников 7 и 8 классов.

Listen to dialogue and find the right answer

1) Who visits the girl?

• A) David
• B) Jim
• C) Susan
• D) Tom

2) What does she offer the visitor?

• A) Tea
• B) Milk
• C) Coffee
• D) Smoothie

3) Who is the last to agree on the plan of the route?

• A) Writing poems
• B) Preparing for exams
• C) Writing a thesis
• D) Revising the rules

5) What is marked on the map?

• A) Hospitals
• B) Sights
• C) Airports
• D) Police stations

• A) 22nd
• B) 23rd
• C) 24th
• D) 25th

7) How are they going to get to Paris?

• A) By car
• B) By bus
• C) By plane
• D) By train

8) Why have they booked a sleeper?

• A) It is the cheapest
• B) They would like to sit up all night
• C) They didn’t want to sleep
• D) They want to have a good sleep

9) Why don’t they want to have meals in restaurants?

• A) The food isn’t tasty
• B) The service is bad
• C) So they can save money
• D) So they can save time

• A) walk a lot
• B) enjoy the scenery
• C) watch TV
• D) cook their own food

Read the text and answer the questions

The Equator passes through the land of eleven countries of the world, such as Kenya, Indonesia, Brazil and so on. Bolivia is nearer the Equator than Greece, but Greece is nearer the Equator than Denmark. The countries on the Equator mostly have tropical rainforest or an equatorial climate. Places nearer the Equator are hotter, and average annual rainfall is quite high. But why? The Equatordivides the planet into a Northern Hemisphere and a Southern Hemisphere. It is halfway between theNorth Pole and the South Pole. The Earth is widest at its Equator. The heat comes from the Sun. The heat is the same at the Equator and at the Poles. But near the Poles the heat covers a larger areathan at the Equator. So at the Poles each place gets less heat and it is colder. That’s why places farther from the Equator are colder.

11) Which of the listed countries is the nearest to the Equator?

• A) Denmark
• B) Greece
• C) Bolivia
• D) Russia

12) How many countries does the Equator go through?

• A) Brazil
• B) Kenya
• C) Greece
• D) Indonesia

14) What is typical for the most of the countries on the Equator?

• A) Taiga
• B) Glacier
• C) Steppe
• D) Tropical rainforest

• A) colder
• B) chillier
• C) hotter
• D) cooler

16) How many parts does the Equator divide our Earth into?

• A) One
• B) Two
• C) Three
• D) Four

17) Where is the Earth widest?

• A) At the North Pole
• B) At the Greenwich Meridian
• C) At the South Pole
• D) At the Equator

• A) stars
• B) Moon
• C) Sun
• D) clouds

19) Is the heat from the Sun the same at the Equator and at the Poles?

• A) Yes, it is
• B) Yes, they are
• C) No, it isn’t
• D) No, they aren’t

20) What size area does the heat from the Sun cover near the Poles?

• A) Large
• B) Small
• C) Tiny
• D) Little

Choose the correct option

• A) so many
• B) too many
• C) too much
• D) such much

• A) as well
• B) also
• C) either
• D) neither

• A) Both
• B) Either
• C) Neither
• D) Both of

• A) these
• B) which
• C) whose
• D) whom

• A) which
• B) where
• C) who
• D) whom

• A) such
• B) such a
• C) so
• D) so much

• A) so
• B) such
• C) too
• D) enough

• A) so many
• B) such much
• C) such a lot of
• D) so a lot of

• A) many
• B) enough
• C) too many
• D) not enough

• A) so a
• B) such
• C) too much
• D) too

Help to write the story by filling in the right words

People play games for many different reasons. Some games offer excitement and a challenge, while others are (31) because they are a way of relaxing. People first (32) using boards to play games (33) 4,000 years ago. In chess, the board (34) originally meant to be a battlefield and players would move (35) order to take their enemy’s ‘soldliers’. Today, there are thousands of different games. Many games can be played with a (36) of cards. Some (37) skill and need a good memory. But there are others (38) are quite simple and children can learn to play them easily. Some games, like chess, have the same (39) everywhere, but others, such as card games, change from (40) place to another.

• A) popular
• B) unacceptable
• C) tiresome
• D) inappropriate

• A) got
• B) took
• C) started
• D) stopped

• A) at
• B) till
• C) until

• A) has
• B) was
• C) had
• D) were

• A) at
• B) in
• C) by
• D) on

• A) band
• B) pack
• C) store
• D) quality

• A) hold
• B) join
• C) involve
• D) connect

• A) who
• B) what
• C) which
• D) whose

• A) rules
• B) orders
• C) winners
• D) stadiums

• A) a
• B) the
• C) one
• D) any

Do you know the British Queens?

41) She was the daughter of Henry VIII

• A) Anne
• B) Victoria
• C) Elizabeth I
• D) Elizabeth II

42) She was called «the Grandmother of Europe

• A) Anne
• B) Victoria
• C) Elizabeth II
• D) Mary I

• A) Anne
• B) Victoria
• C) Elizabeth I
• D) Mary I

45) This queen has given regular evening audiences to ten prime ministers.

• A) Mary I
• B) Victoria
• C) Elizabeth I
• D) Elizabeth II

Если вы нашли ошибку или не согласны с каким-то ответом — пишите ваш вариант ответа в комментариях!

Political reaction

Natalie Bennett, Leader of the Green Party, tells me lecturing people on their behaviour is not the way to fix the problem. Rather, she says, the focus must be on building social structures which support people in their endeavours to waste less food.

On a broad level, she said, alleviating poverty would help reduce food waste because one of the causes of wastage was the impulse to buy cheap, ageing food. Low income household’s struggling with energy bills may be forced to turn off fridges or use inefficient appliances in order to save money.

«People are just making the best choices they can in the circumstances available to them.»

Bennett said the culture of long working hours also contributed as tiredness undermined our ability to plan and spend time on food management.

On top of these broad social issues, Bennett said practical measures such as education in cooking and gardening would give people the skills to reduce their waste.

Finally she said supermarkets must take responsibility for promoting waste reduction.

«We really do have to tackle the supermarket model of heavily over-packaged sale things that don’t give you a choice of what quantity you buy.»

Kerry McCarthy, Labour MP and author of the Food Waste Bill sent me her thoughts:

This report from WRAP is very welcome, giving us a clear picture of the current level of household waste, those foods we persist in throwing away and what steps we can take to reduce it. It’s also very welcome that household food waste has continued to drop, although the rate of reduction has slowed more recently. This reduction has been driven by much more consumer awareness – and the success of Wrap’s Love Food Hate Waste campaign – but it is also a consequence of rocketing food prices and the cost of living crisis.

I feel that government policies have largely ignored the contribution of supermarkets to food wasted by consumers – through offers such as Buy One Get One Free on food with a short shelf life – and the failure by the food industry to reduce the waste it generates throughout the supply chain, from farmer and manufacturer to back of store. Indeed half of all food wasted is generated by the food industry. Even in small ways, in the face of industry resistance, the government failed to honour its promise to abolish the use of «sell by» and «display until» labels, instead opting to include them in voluntary Food Standards Agency «advice».The industry has set itself a very low voluntary target — under the Courtauld Agreement, which is facilitated by Wrap — to reduce household food waste by 5% by 2015 (as well as to reduce their own manufacturing and retail waste by just 3%).

I am concerned that these targets simply aren’t ambitious enough to drive the level of reduction needed, eg, in order to meet the target set by Wrap to reduce avoidable food waste by 50% by 2025, which is also the target set by the European Parliament. Nor is it possible to see how well individual supermarkets and manufacturers are performing against these targets – which could help to name and shame have been particularly slow to act, or to showcase those which are achieving significant reductions and showing what is possible to achieve in a short space of time.

But I think that if the industry cannot drive the level of change which is actually needed, then there may be a need for government action. We know that the landfill tax, for example, was one of the most successful waste policies ever for driving behaviour change and for creating markets in more environmental forms of disposal such as anaerobic-digestion. Something similar may be needed to reduce industry food waste. Whether it’s a requirement on large retailers and manufacturers as proposed in my Food Waste Bill of last year, or a ban on sending food waste to landfill or a system of financial incentives or penalties.

I hope in the run up to 2014, which has been declared “the European Year of fight against food waste”, we may start to see real strides towards meeting the European Commission’s aim of halving food waste by 2025.

Conservative MP Laura Sandys said one of the wards in her constituency had 80% privately rented accommodation.

«Some of these properties are institutionally and structurally creating huge challenges for families to manage food effectively. Some have got microwaves, they haven’t got proper cookers in them. That means that you’re trapped in firstly expensive food but secondly have very very little resilience when it comes to making leftovers work for you and eating more healthily. Because you can eat healthily on whatever budget, but you’ve got to have a) the skills and b) the equipment to do it. So some poor families are absolutely disadvantaged by the structure in which they are in.»

Sandys said all consumers, rich and poor, were being encouraged by promotions that encouraged over-buying.

«Often these promotions are driving certain behaviours that are in the interests of the supermarket, not necessarily the interests of the consumer.»

Updated at 4.18pm GMT

Welcome to the eco audit

A new report released by the UK’s Waste Resources Action Programme (Wrap) has found that every year British people buy 7 million tonnes more food and drink than they consume. More than half of this food is edible at the time of its disposal.

In a time when concern over household budgets is constantly in the news and living costs are rising faster than income, why are we still so wasteful?

Today I’ll be talking to consumers, supermarkets, food waste activists and consumer advocates to try and understand this anomaly.

But I also want to hear from you. This effects everyone, both in terms of their bank balance and their environment. How much food do you waste? What do you do to control it? Why is it so hard to eat the food we buy?

Please contribute your thoughts in the comments below, tweet me, or email me. If you are quoting figures or studies, please provide a link to the original source. Later I will return with my own verdict.

Updated at 10.05am GMT

Late reaction

I asked Martin Taylor, managing director of plastic packaging manufacturer Sharpak, whether he felt the supermarket industry was driving innovation in packaging. Not surprisingly he told me his clients were:

«Committed to reducing food waste and they realise that packaging plays a large role in ensuring food is maintained at the highest quality. Without the support of the retail industry we would not be able to manufacture meat packaging which has the potential to counteract the large scale waste of food across Britain.»

For those interested in how packaging is evolving, Sharpak says they are focussing on developing anti-microbial packaging, which «eradicates the harmful surface bacteria present on raw meat products».

He said: “The packaging industry must demonstrate exactly how it can drive home the importance of reducing food waste. For example, offering packaging which enables consumers to reseal their fresh meat products will drastically increase fridge life, and tray design which allows easier freezing of meat packaging can offer simple portion control measures.»

Your comments

Late last night, I received this lovely email from Beatrice which I think helps to chart some of the cultural aspects of this debate:

The belief which is coming across that you can only have perfect meals if you buy it ready made is wrong. Cooking your own food from scratch puts you more in tune with what you are eating. If you are living further away from farms and in towns and cities you cannot know where your food is coming from. If you buy all your food from the supermarket you are one more further step away from where your food comes from. If you buy food ready prepared then it is one more step away. You have children now where if you tell them that carrots are grown in the ground then do not believe you. They cannot handle that fact. The soil is dirty and you want me to eat food that has been in the ground. No they cannot handle that fact as they are so far away from the reality that it is an alien concept.

So why would they believe that to waste food is wrong? Why would anyone believe that to waste food is wrong? Most people have never had to dig the soil, produce compost, plant seeds, raise these seedlings, transplant them, water them, weed the beds, harvest the crop. Such a lot goes into growing the food. But that is never seen. We buy it all from the supermarket and it comes gift wrapped in plastic. So it is not really important. The shelves are always packed full and there is never any shortages. Waste does not matter.

I cannot understand this mentality. I have not brought my children up to believe in this either. But I have seen and heard it. Waste is morally wrong but educating people to understand that and then doing something about it is a really big task.

Updated at 10.41am GMT

Comparing supermarket intiatives

I have compiled a list of the consumer waste initiatives of Tesco, Morrisons, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and Co-op. I’d be interested in your feedback. Do you see these initiatives happening in your local? Do they really help you to cut down on waste? Do they sway your buying choices? Let me know in the comments below.

Supermarket reaction

I have started compiling a list of the ways that supermarkets say they are helping consumers to reduce waste. The major initiatives include the cessation of buy-one-get-one-free promotions, customer education and culinary advice, changing labelling and innovation in packaging to keep food fresher for longer.

A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said:

“Customers expect Sainsbury’s to lead the way on cutting waste and we support all efforts to reduce food waste, whether it be in the food retail supply chain or in the home. We stopped ‘buy one get one free’ promotions on produce over a year ago when we began offering ‘mix & match’ across our produce range, which allows customers to receive the value of a multi-buy without causing waste.

Quentin Clark, Head of Sustainability and Ethical Sourcing, Waitrose:

«It’s such a shame for food to be going in the bin — it’s a waste of both money and environmental resources. Within our business we do everything we can to prevent food going to waste — and we now send no food at all to landfill. We’ve been trying to help our customers prevent food waste in the home too, through simple steps such as changing our packaging or providing tips and advice.»

In their half yearly report for 2013, Tesco said:

Food waste is an urgent global challenge. A recent report showed that 1.3 billion tonnes of food are wasted each year. This costs producers around £460 billion annually. It also puts extra pressure on the environment.

We want to lead in tackling this challenge and galvanise change across the value chain: the supply web through which we operate.

A spokesperson for the Co-Operative Food said:

“The Co-operative Food works hard to help its shoppers keep food fresh for longer and reduce food waste in their homes, and we work closely with Love Food, Hate Waste to raise awareness of the issue.

“We were the first retailer to introduce storage instructions on to loose fresh produce bags, and are working with Wrap to introduce clear, customer-friendly labelling onto other high wastage categories, including bread and morning goods, to give our customers the information they need to avoid wasting food at home.

“We are constantly looking at our packaging and utilising new technology to extend the shelf life of fresh produce, meat and poultry. We use skin-pack packaging on all our fresh British steaks, which eliminates the oxygen from the packs and keeps the meat fresher for longer, and, earlier this year, we worked with our tomato supplier to extend the life of our fresh tomatoes by two days, simply by changing the size of the holes in the packaging.»

A Morrisons spokesperson said:

“We understand how important it is to tackle the issue of food waste and make an effort to do so in every area of our business – from our manufacturing facilities right through to store.

“We don’t currently offer buy one get one free offers on our fruit and vegetables, have relaxed our specifications on this produce to accept more ‘wonky’ crops and offer clear labelling for customers.”

Updated at 5.13pm GMT

My verdict

On the surface, this issue seems like a true unifier of opinion. It’s hard to imagine anyone being openly against food waste reduction. Speaking to politicians from the Greens, Labour and Conservatives today, I sometimes found it hard to remember which party I was talking to. Consumer groups, supermarkets, consumers, NGOs and scientists toe the same line. All agree it is good that food waste appears to be declining, but terrible that it is still so high.

Key issues contributing to food waste include supermarket promotions and packaging, poverty, a diminished cultural focus on the preparation and management of food and household size.

On the upside, the problem is gaining an increasingly high-profile and this is leading to the reduction of waste. While the environmental impact of food waste is concerning, it is clear this renaissance of conscience has been driven by back pocket interest in a time of austerity.

Poverty’s effect on food waste is complicated. On one hand, it creates an environment in which consumers are compelled to cut down on waste. But deprivation, especially at the extreme end of the scale, can drive consumers to buy bulk or spoiling food. Social housing may lack the equipment to successfully manage and prepare food. Long hours and low wages can exacerbate this as workers lack time and energy to plan shopping and meals in advance.

Cooking education for adults and children could not only reconnect Britons with one of the great joys of life, it could also give them the skills to save money and reduce waste.

In this audit we focussed specifically on the consumer end of the supply chain. There is a conflict of interests for supermarkets in this area. Waste in the home is waste that has already turned a profit.

In my opinion, Tesco’s statement that their supermarkets are responsible for less than 1% of the waste in their supply chain is slightly disingenuous. Across the industry, supermarkets may actively throw out only a tiny percentage of the overall waste (although we wouldn’t know because, apart from Tesco, transparency is lacking). But the larger point is the shifting of responsibility onto both farmers and consumers. We know consumers buy too much because of supermarket packaging and promotions. So while the retailer does not actually bin the bread, they are complicit in the squander.

Incidentally, I asked every supermarket whether they had conducted any research into how effective their mitigation measures are at reducing household waste. None of them replied. Indicating their concern is probably more about being seen to have the policies in place, rather than if they work.

Rather than seeking to bash supermarkets, who, after all, have shown the intent to change. What this highlights is the point made to me by Niki Charalampopoulou from Feeding the 5000. She said the onus must be on consumers to articulate their desire for waste reduction to retailers. Enough consumer pressure will create a corporate responsibility race as supermarkets compete to help consumers buy food more intelligently. Without this impetus, supermarkets will simply pay lip service to the problem.

Updated at 6.13pm GMT

Expert reaction

He told me there were two main factors in household food waste. First was over-purchasing in stores. He said this was caused by confusion over labelling and sales offers that encourage shoppers to buy items they don’t need, or can’t consume. Consumers confuse sell-by dates with use-by dates. The sell-by date is used by shops to know when they can display a product. It does not indicate the food is inedible. But consumers often throw food away on this date and purchase unnecessary extra items to replace them.

Retail practices such as buy-one-get-one-free (Bogof), says Fox, are used by supermarkets to push products onto consumer that they hadn’t planned to buy.

«People go into the shopping environment, they see opportunities to buy two for the price of one, half price offers or radically reduced offers and they take too much stuff away and they actually never get around to using it.»

Fox says the second major cause of household food waste is cultural. There has been a widespread disconnection with culinary skills. People don’t know how to deal with food as it goes through various stages of decomposition (but still remains edible). Instead of cutting away rotten parts of vegetables, or making older items into a soup. People are hypersensitive to older food and throw in into the bin because they are «scared», says Fox.

A study by The Prospectory found that «on average people find only 2 forms of food attractive – raw ingredients and food which is cooked and ready to eat». All other forms of food elicited a strong emotional repugnance.

Fox said our reaction to food and the loss of food management skills was compounded by a long decline in concern about waste. «In recent decades, clearly on a generational basis, there’s been a shift in the perception of waste.»

But he said this trend appeared to be reversing, possibly because of austerity and pressure on household budgets. This was illustrated by the Wrap figures, he said, which showed a reduction in waste figures since 2007. Fox said it was his feeling that the issue had become even more prominent in 2013 and a further study (Wrap’s ended in 2012) would see even more improvement.

In the past, supermarkets have been motivated by selling as much food as possible to consumers, regardless of actual need.

«The marketing sales and promotional practices that have been practised by retailers and supermarkets in recent years would indicate that increasing sales has been a prime objective,» says Fox.

But recently, big retailers were becoming more aware of the marketing advantages in helping consumers reduce their waste.

«From a supermarket positioning point of view the issue is whether taking on corporate social responsibility will drive business in a similar way to straightforward sales promotion. That’s the elephant in the room.»

Fox said it was not yet clear whether recent supermarket measures to reduce waste were being effective or cosmetic.

Updated at 11.58am GMT

Twitter reaction

unbelievable that households waste £700 worth of food a year! that’s 6 meals in the bin a week — what a shame

Seriously. Fuck off already with this food waste guilt. Until they address what the supermarkets waste and deal with it, I’m not interested.

Updated at 4.27pm GMT

NGO reaction

Friends of the Earth Food campaigner Vicki Hird said the problem, and its impact on the environment, must be tackled by supermarkets and consumers together:

“The figures on food waste are staggering. There is no excuse – we are wasting millions of tonnes of food and billions of pounds, but on top of that we’re wasting the water, energy and land used to make the food. This cannot continue.

“That we’ve cut food waste by a fifth is great news and shows what progress can be made. It’s clear there are barriers that need to be tackled by strong Government and business action – consumers have a major role to play, but blaming them will not help.

“Supermarkets must help consumers by taking a good look at their supply chains and stopping multi-buy promotions which encourage unnecessary purchases.”

Feeding the 5000 campaign director Niki Charalampopoulou said the Wrap figures were good news, but there is still much work to do. She said consumers needed to actively pressure supermarkets to develop policies that make it easy for them to further reduce food waste.

Charalampopoulou said the issue of consumer food waste was only part of the bigger picture in the food waste supply chain.

«It’s important not only to look at consumer waste but asking retailers to also report in detail how much food they waste because I think that’s going to help reduice food waste dramatically because it will increase competition between different retailers so they compete to show ho is least wasteful.»

Eating Better made this comment:

The good news from the WRAP report is that we’re wasting 21% less food in the home since 2007. Less good news is that there has been no reduction in the amount of meat and fish we waste. WRAP says we’re still throwing away the equivalent of 96 million chickens a year. Eating Better’s message of valuing our food — as well as the people and animals that produce it — means we’d also waste less. That means people buying ‘less and better’ meat and supermarkets stopping piling it high and selling it cheap.

Updated at 3.58pm GMT

Details of the Wrap report

My colleague, Rebecca Smithers, has written an article on the Wrap report. She says the figures «reveal the scale of the ongoing challenge to reduce household food waste».

«The average UK household throws away the equivalent of six meals every week, costing us as a nation £12.5 billion a year, or almost £60 a month to the average family, despite a significant drive to reduce food waste a new report reveals.The ground-breaking report into UK food waste by WRAP, also reveals that since 2007 we have cut avoidable household food waste by an impressive 21%, which saved cash strapped consumers almost £13billion. Yet we still throw away a staggering 4.2 million tonnes (Mt) of household food, which could have been eaten. Almost half of this food goes straight from our fridges or cupboards to the bin and doesn’t even make it onto our dinner plates.WRAP has also carried out work which shows it could be possible to reduce avoidable household food waste by a further 1.7 million tonnes a year by 2025. The top three foods that Britons are throwing away uneaten include every day essentials: bread, potatoes and milk.

The equivalent of a staggering 24 million slices of bread, 5.8 million potatoes and 5.9 million glasses of milk are wasted daily. Chicken also made the top ten with the equivalent of 86 million chickens thrown away each year.

Buying more than we need, lack of clarity around storage and labelling and over-estimating portions are just some of the reasons for the waste.»

The improvements have been «supported by a number of factors including local authority initiatives and changes to packaging, including clearer date labels by retailers and brands. Consumers are also more aware of how to store and use their food more effectively».

Wrap is a government-funded, not-for-profit. It was established to encourage recycling and waste reduction in the UK.

A brief on the statistics from Wrap is available here.

Updated at 11.28am GMT

Industry experts

Letsrecycle.com editor Steve Eminton says supermarkets and consumer culture had colluded to create a situation where food waste is almost inevitable.

«It is very difficult for people to manage their food waste, partly because it’s almost impossible for supermarkets to get the sizing right.»

He said people struggling economically found waste particularly difficult to control.

«Sometimes it’s cheaper to buy something large because you get a lot of it for a low price, but of course there will be food waste, but you’ve almost got to accept that.»

Eminton said British dining culture lent itself to cooking too much per meal, which led to a lot of scraps being thrown away.

«It’s supermarket problems, it’s cultural problems, it’s not just the retailer.»

Wrap CEO Liz Goodwin said:

«I think it’s interesting. There’s still a lack of awareness about the issue. You still talk to people and they think they don’t waste food. We’ve improved enormously. We’ve got better at planning and writing lists, there’s still more we can do in terms of improving use-by dates. Single people is certainly an area we’ve been talking to retailers about, about providing portions to single households.»

Updated at 5.11pm GMT

Why do single households waste more?

One-person households threw away, on average, over 40% more avoidable food and drink waste than the overall amount per person in the UK, worth £290 a year compared to the UK average of £200 per person.

The higher the number of people in a household, the greater the amount of food waste generated, although the increase was not proportional, i.e. an average four-person household wastes less than four times the average single-occupancy household.

Updated at 4.20pm GMT

Pressure on budgets is driving households to cut food waste

A study released in September by consumer group Which? found evidence that 45% British people are reducing household food waste in order to save money.

Rising food prices are consistently one of consumers top financial concerns, and now new Which? research reveals around 14 million people say they are reducing food waste due to financial reasons.

The cost of food has rocketed over the past six years with prices rising around 12% over and above general inflation yet incomes are stagnating. Eight in 10 of us (78%) are worried about rising food prices with nearly half (45%) saying they’re spending a larger proportion of their income on food compared to 12 months ago.

In the past 12 months, nearly half of shoppers said they freeze food (47%) or cook with leftovers (47%) to avoid waste. The survey also found that two in five (39%) said they are cooking smaller portions, so there is less chance of meals going in the bin.

We found that consumers are changing their shopping habits in an effort to reduce food waste, with a third (35%) saying they are buying less food and a quarter (26%) doing more frequent top-up shops rather than one main food shop.

Four in 10 (43%) say they have started to check the ‘use by’ or ‘best before’ dates more frequently and, worryingly, a third (35%) have even stopped adhering to use by dates on food packets.

Separately, our monthly consumer insight tracker shows there has been a significant increase over the last year in the number of people dipping into their savings to pay for their groceries, with around a third (36%) now compared to a quarter (25%) last year.

Which? executive director, Richard Lloyd, said:

“Rocketing food prices are changing consumers’ habits, with more people helping themselves by cooking with leftovers and preparing smaller portions to avoid chucking expensive food in the bin.

“Our research shows that, with more people feeling the squeeze, they are also buying less food and even paying for it with their savings.

“We want supermarkets to help people find the best deal by displaying simpler pricing and ensuring that special offers are genuinely good value for money.”