Give someone a LEG UP this Christmas

It is no secret that Christmas is a wasteful time of year. Behind the glittering tinsel and twinkling fairy lights, there is 227,000 miles of wrapping paper, 17.2 million Brussels sprouts and 7.5 million mince pies being thrown away each year. Thankfully, we are collectively becoming more conscious of the waste we produce at Christmas and how we can all reduce our environmental footprint, whilst still enjoying the celebrations and time with our loved ones.

Here at Field & Flower we are committed to reducing food waste and we do this in a number of ways. First and foremost we source your cuts to order. We have a 5 day lead time because Shannon, our Product Manager, works directly with our farmers and producers to order the right number of cuts each week. It’s part science and spreadsheets, but also part art, so this is where the second element of our no waste strategy comes in.

For any forecasts that have gone awry (unpredictable British weather certainly makes it tricky in BBQ season) we’ve been partnered with FareShare South West for the past few years. At the end of each week, we clear our shelves by delivering any excess products to the team at FareShare, who then redistribute it to people in need across the South West.

Thirdly, we operate an approach to butchery that is both as traditional as it gets, but somewhat ground-breaking for the modern day. Sam, our Supply Chain Manager, calls this carcass balancing (or eating in natural proportions). This is the art of using the whole animal instead of just the most popular cuts. Take chicken breasts or thighs as an example. When we enjoy this cut, we often turn a blind eye to the legs, drumsticks, offal and carcass that was also produced from that one animal. Carcass balancing aims to create a use and demand for these secondary products – reducing waste and getting a better price for the farmer.

It is every butcher’s dream to balance a carcass in its entirety. But for logistical or price reasons, not every butcher works in this way. At Field & Flower, we commit to whole carcasses as opposed to individual cuts to honour our commitment to reducing waste. We also apply these principles to our new product development. If Stu (our chicken farmer) needs to sell more drumsticks, we develop a product that uses chicken drumsticks.

This brings us back to Christmas. Food waste at Christmas is not just the piles of sprouts that mysteriously made their way into the bin, or the mince pies that were purchased with eyes bigger than our stomachs. There is a food waste crisis every year in the farming world that is hardly ever spoken about.

Thousands of turkey legs are forced into storage each year because not everyone has the space or preference to enjoy a whole bird. The farmer is forced to accept a very low price to get rid of the legs and waste is highly likely. It has been estimated that around 70% of turkeys bought at Christmas are done so either as a crown or a pre-prepared joint. With 9 million turkeys being eaten in the UK on Christmas day, that’s a staggering 12 million legs and 6,000 tonnes of meat potentially going to waste – enough to fill more than 250 artic lorries.

This year, we’re changing that.

In partnership with FareShare South West we’ve launched our LEG UP campaign for Christmas 2022. If you order a Turkey Crown from us this Christmas, we’ll automatically donate the legs to FareShare South West. One pair of legs is enough to serve 2-3 vulnerable people who might not have access to a Christmas dinner, reduce food waste and therefore environmental footprint, and support our free-range farmers. We’ll also be listing our free-range Turkey Legs on our website for you to buy and enjoy this Christmas. The slightly darker meat is both tender and full of flavour.