What do you do with your roast dinner leftovers?

It is high time plastic packaging was better controlled. Tesco’s Danish pastries and the like come in a clear plastic tray and lid. M&S are either in a cellophane bag on a tray, but also available loose to put in a paper bag.

I think we should change our shopping habits so we can buy unpackaged fresh food that may not have the shelf life that prepacks give; just shop more often.

Ready meals could come in aluminium foil containers that can be fully recycled; decant into your own dish if they are microwaved.

You mention tinned sardines. If I am home late I often open a tin, strip out the backbones, mash with a little vinegar, spread on toast and stick under the grill. When we were young and had picnics and parties, sardine sandwiches (still with a little vinegar) were often on the menu.

M&S do better than Tesco in some ways but worse in others: https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/shopping-sustainably/article/what-are-supermarkets-doing-about-plastic-ahzAC2s22tXv

Perhaps the differences between supermarkets could be used to establish best operating practices. In the case of eggs it might be best to take your own box. If packaging is essential there are three common options – a traditional cardboard carton, a foam plastic box or a transparent plastic box. My guess is cardboard but that may ignore some important consideration. If cardboard is best then perhaps supermarkets should be told to use this option. In packaging other products there may be two good options and others to be avoided. As I see it, we need to share good practice to move forward.

As consumers we are at the mercy of the supermarkets and our only choice is to be selective in the packaging that is presented to us. The initiative must be with the shops and not the customers. The shops have to provide food and provide it in a convenient and useful way. The balancing act is to make sure that various foods are able to go on the shelves for the customer to take while packing them in an environmentally friendly manner. There is a limit to ways in which liquids can be presented. and other perishables need specific packing in order to present them to the customer and for the customer to be able to store them at home. I am not sure how much of a draw it would be to potential shoppers to be told that one supermarket was better than the others at packaging their food, especially if it was found that their produce was more expensive because of this. It would not be seen as good if produce was then difficult to place in cupboards or in the fridge or it broke more easily, spilling the contents. I expect shops are being encouraged by environmental groups to improve packaging and I hope this is an ongoing trend leading to improvements and new designs in the things we see in the aisles.

But we got by in “the old days”, even without a fridge. Tea was in paper packets, potatoes and other fruit and veg sold loose or in paper bags, milk in reusable glass bottles, fish and meet wrapped in greaseproof paper, sweets and biscuits weighed loose, cooked meats sliced to order………. We just shopped a little more often when we needed food.

Even fish and chips, once wrapped in newspaper, now come in cardboard boxes and a paper carrier bag.

I used to collect the fish & chips on my bicycle and put it in the saddlebag. Now people use their leather-upholstered fully-carpeted motor cars to get their takeaways so a cardboard box and a carrier bag are necessary to protect the interior from whatever fluids might emerge from their meals.