Household meal planning as anticipatory practice: the role of anticipation in managing domestic food consumption and waste

Food waste is a major contributor to various environmental problems and food wasted at the household level makes up a significant proportion of the overall estimated totals. Fundamental questions remain about this waste as an aspect of domestic consumption and the appropriate policy response. Deficiencies in household food planning have been posited as a potential factor related to food waste production in the home, but this has not been developed in a way which connects clearly to existing sociological studies of meal planning. This paper therefore engages with feminist literature on domestic meal planning and material culture approaches to food waste. It moves the concept of anticipatory practice to the domestic space, to address forms of domestic meal planning and other food-related practices as anticipatory practices which are inherently oriented to the future. The paper draws on a number of semi-structured interviews, research diaries, and images completed and submitted by participants to highlight the establish meal planning practices as anticipatory, and to identify other forms of anticipatory practices around food. As part of this, the association of additional food in the home with food waste is also questioned and practices such as batch cooking are reassessed along with related practices. Meal planning is ultimately described as an anticipatory practice, a broader designation of organisational practices involved in food consumption which may be relevant for policy and research concerning food waste reduction.