I hate throwing food out on principle. Sometimes its perished and has to go, but I usually push sell-by dates to the limit. I estimate we throw out no more than $10 worth of food per month.

I've cut back on how much of something I make. More and more leftovers were not being eaten so I no longer cook as much. Of course that's not right either when there are complaints there's "none for tomorrow's lunch" but it's better than wasting.

What particularly annoys me is when someone consumes, say, milk at a faster rate than is normal for the household then complains "we need milk"...so I buy a 4l bag instead of a 2l carton and then they barely touch it. Then complain it's off when they do want some later.

Perhaps it would help if people had smaller fridges?

I always get the 2.2l bottles to avoid that situation. And still only £1 each, such a bargain.

I used to buy 4l jugs of 2% and didn't have a problem using it before going bad, but I changed tactics and now buy 1l cartons of Half & Half 10% ($1.99 at Wholesale Club) because I like that better in coffee and when I need a cup of milk I just put some in a cup and add water.

Well my point is the new online grocery models don't make sense. They appear (and point me out if I am wrong here) to just add a service on top of existing bricks and mortar supermarkets, which is just adding cost.
When you look at greenfield supply chain solution urban and rural areas can be serviced with reasonably the same cost basis.
I get back off the ground after hearing that. Can I ask on what base line the 60% is on? Surely not retail price in supermarkets? Is this linked to above about less dense area? But 60% charge seems a rort ??or are you ordering in each's

Its all those buy one get one free offers that causes a lot of unnecessary glutton and waste.
Smaller fridge freezers with just in time ordering (for groceries) should reduce this wastage

Absolutely right. I am in the UK so no problem with the small freezer or JIT purchasing, but the BOGOF offers drive me mad. I think they should be banned (in favour of a non volume 50% discount).

Appears to me that supermarkets discount products we don't want or really need. For example $1 per litre soft drink (maybe different in Canada to NZ).
We then hear about all these rebate charges back to producers/suppliers for shelf space. That's just cost added into a supply chain that does not need it. Therefore increasing cost to consumer and reducing return to producer/supplier which eventually adds further cost and no reinvestment in their respective processes.

I find many of the offers are for items I do want, but simply do not need the quantity offered. Even produce is being oversold, for example packs of peppers containing 2-3 when you only need one. And some supermarkets are even doing 'buy three for the price of two'.

So why not just buy the number you need, you don't have to buy three, if you only want two?

At my preferred greengrocer (Family Food in the St. Lawrence Market), one carries the basket to the counter where the woman adds everything up and then asks a seemingly random price a bit less than shown on the register. I like this as it discourages anything but collecting what's actually wanted. It also saves the trouble of reading the posted prices as that's not what will be charged anyway.

I tend to do just that. But I am a bit OCD about optimal pricing so it usually sticks in my gullet when I know that I am paying artificially high prices.

OK. Buy what the offer promotes and give the excess to a food bank or a homeless person.

We all know that this is exactly what I do

Urban and rural areas here are on a completely different scale of distribution here though. I'm 50 minutes drive from a grocery store. The depot the distributes produce for my business is Vancouver, 4 hours away. The rural population here (c250 permanent, which swells to 5,000+ during holiday seasons) isn't big enough to support a reasonably priced distribution model. It's not untypical of Canada generally outside of urban centres.

I can buy 4l of milk at $4.50ish retail in a grocery store. Delivered it costs me a fraction under $10. I buy as much as 240l per week - what I spend in time and gas driving to Kamloops, I more than save on delivery costs. That's one example of 50+ items I regularly order.