Panic buying and rush hour in supermarkets is on the rise as news of the new mutant strain of COVID-19 being more deadly is announced. Foodbanks are struggling as the number of people seeking their help quadruples however the food given halves. On the contrary, one of the hobbies most common during this pandemic is eating – but how much of this produce is actually being eating and not wastefully being thrown away?

 

I had the honour of interviewing multiple students covering the ages of 13-17 on their views of their food buying and eating habits before and during the pandemic. My wholehearted regards go to all who helped and gave me their precious time to answer these questions:

 

Initiatives like Food Banks have suffered tremendously due to COVID-19, what ideas do you have to help them?

 

“Food banks have been vital during this period of time and have selflessly kept thousands of families and people afloat. Everyone who helped run the food banks and all the other key workers truly deserve an award. But nonetheless, keeping them open has been hard and I think if every family made a meagre contribution of just a tin of canned food or a packet of fruit to their local food bank, it would help tremendously.” – Shameela Fairooz (AS Student)

 

“I think food banks could have a lot more help in terms of funding/volunteering/donations” – Zoha Momin (AS Student)

 

Do you think COVID-19 and the national lockdowns have affected the amount of food your family buys monthly?

 

“Yes, it made a huge difference! We don’t go out because my parents are scared and they are going less often. As well as that, we buy more as things run out a lot quicker due to the fact that everyone is at home together. In fact, we try and do 2 weeks’ worth of shopping and it’s going well.” – Kanigha (GCSE Student)

 

“Monthly shopping has definitely increased. During the first lockdown everyone was panic buying and stocking however as the situation became more normalised and stabilised, we stopped stocking. But overall, I would say shopping has increased because people have turned to baking and cooking as a way to alleviate boredom.” – Shameela Fairooz (AS Student)

 

“I think COVID has affected it yes. We eat a lot more whilst being in lockdown so monthly we have a lot more snacks in the house.” Zoha Momin (AS Student)

 

Has the amount of food you put to waste increased or decreased during this time period?

 

“I think it fluctuates from both as sometimes entire loaves of bread are thrown away yet sometimes all of the produce is consumed”- Mathusha (KS3 Student)

 

“Waste hasn’t increased, I think it’s stayed the same/decreased because there’s more time to make new food out of leftovers, if that makes sense.” – Zoha Momin (AS Student)

 

“Since the amount of food bought and consumed has increased overall, I would say that the amount of food waste too has naturally increased also, even if we do recycle. The volume or trash has increased in general. Both food waste and recycling.” – Shameela Fairooz (AS Student)

 

How does the amount of food you waste differ from before? If it differs, how drastic is the change and what do you think the cause of this?

 

“I think it differs to before as it has made us more aware that we have food left to eat as we are at home whereas when we are going places the idea doesn’t cross our heads as we are busy.” – Mathusha (KS3 Student)

 

“The change is not overly drastic. The average UK household produces around 2 full bin bags of trash weekly and I would say we produce as much. I don't think lockdown and COVID has drastically affected the volume of food waste however, it has increased a bit.”- Shameela Fairooz (AS Student)

 

“It sort of has but we do recycle as much as we can! The reason why our waste is increasing is because most of the food we buy are most likely sealed with plastic packaging.” – Kanigha (GCSE Student)