Posted on 12/04/2017 10:48:37 PM PST by Oshkalaboomboom
Hurrah for the Co-Op! I’m no fan of supermarkets, but I’m delighted by its decision to introduce a ‘10p aisle’ to sell food that is past its ‘Best Before’ date in a determined effort to reduce waste.
The Co-Op isn’t known as an innovator, so it has stolen a march on Tesco and Sainsbury’s with an initiative that means a selection of products — tinned goods, dried foods etc — will stay on sale for one month after their ‘Best Before’.
I believe this is perfectly timed to take advantage of the public’s desire for a return to common sense when it comes to what we consume and an end to the needless binning of perfectly good food.
The average shopper spends — wastes — up to £60 a month on fruit, veg, bread and other perishables that will be thrown away because of spurious ‘Best Before’ dates. Worldwide, around 1.3 billion tons of food is dumped annually. This is madness — just as it’s crazy that British food banks and charities won’t accept food after its ‘Best Before’ date.
The reality is that supermarkets have groomed us, the food shopping public, to expect sanitised perfection. I feel especially sorry for younger generations brought up to think that ‘fresh’ food comes in a box or a plastic pot and that ‘Best Before’ dates must be religiously adhered to.
After the terrifying food safety lessons they had at school, many youngsters are scared of food in its raw state, whether it’s meat on a butcher’s slab or unpackaged salads in a market.
And if a piece of fruit is blemished, or a vegetable is wonky, they reject it.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
I loved peas as a kid. Still think they’re alright. Even liked spinach. Mom said I was her best eater. Carrots are what I hate.
I recently bought some beef stew and noticed one of the cans was dented at the side near the top rim and the top was bulging near the opening tab so I threw it out.
Intestines, livers, stomach, kidneys and other assorted internal organs and parts.
PASS!!!!
It’s a constant argument in our household. *Past date* doesn’t bother me at all, unless it is yogurt, or some dairy product.
Someone else in this household throws stuff out, e.g. Worcestershire sauce. I might use a dash of it when making meatloaf, or a gravy, but it doesn’t get used past its expiration date. GRRR! Aggravates me to no end b/c it isn’t cheap, yet I do like it on hand; I even buy the smallest bottle they make. Happy days. :)
FWIW, I saw a Verizon ad the other day, touting their technology to monitor the freshness of seafood as it advances through the food stream to market.
https://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/verizon-to-launch-ad-campaign-touting-its-iot-efforts
Management at work decided it would be a good idea to have our group spend the day helping out at a food pantry as a way to “give back” to the community. I didnt put up too much of a struggle because over the years I learned (1) resistance is futile, and (2) some of these outings can be amusing. We get to the food pantry and were given the job of sorting expired from non expired food out of 6’ square boxes. Dozens of them filled with mostly junk food. When I asked why a bunch of people with Ph.D.s and Masters degrees were doing this instead of the people who actually used the food bank? After all why shouldn’t the people who receive free food be expected to “give back” to the community? I was met with a mixture of nervous laughs and dirty looks. I was used to it. In any case the vast majority of the food was only slightly past the expiration date and the packaging was perfectly intact. Our instructions were that anything that was expired was considered to be garbage and thrown out. I opened some packages of cupcakes and tasted them. They were fine as were the things others had tasted. I asked why if “so many people were going hungry” were we throwing away perfectly edible food? More dirty looks. Turns out that State regulations reguired it. In the end it was a fun day. Not only did we get to stuff our faces with free snacks, we also got to track down and kill mice (we were instructed to kill any mice we saw). I was glad I went.
I need to take your wife [wish you lived closer] to a darling *hole-in-the-wall* place in NH.
Basicially, it’s a warehouse of VERY inexpensive *expired* namebrand foodstuffs. These prices can’t be beat; I trek up there every month or so, and stock up; example Domino cane sugar 5# bag 89¢; Heinz seafood cocktail sauce 79¢, etc.
If you are careful and read the dates, many things are not expired. Even if you shop w/ coupons the stuff is still waaaaaay cheaper. And there is no sales tax. [bingo!]
After a holiday, the candy is very, very cheap. Last Thursday they still had some Easter candy on the shelf. LOL
Lindt chocolates almost free. 6 bucks for a 5# box of Whitmans ...and so it goes.
Several specials...buy-one-get-two-free on cereals. I found a box of Celestial Seasonings tea [crushed on one corner] for 39¢.
It’s not a place where you can do all your shopping, b/c one time they’ll have items and another you won’t see them at all. Hit or miss.
Your wife would love this place. And you’d be cross with me.:)
It was in a cave for 2 years BEFORE you put it on the shelf!
Ain't that the truth! My wife freaks when I shave the white stuff from the Parmesan. She'll change her tune during he Zombie Apocalypse!
They opened it, smelled it, declared it was OK and fed it to the museum cat. The feline promptly chowed down on it and returned to her usual business of killing rodents which had invaded the building.
In Post 16 of this thread there’s a link with some interesting info. That same story was posted there, and the meat was (I think) veal, and it was from one of Admiral Perry’s expeditions.
The cat lives in both stories. :)
Pfl
I’ll be getting a fruitcake for Christmas from my brother. It’s a really cheap fruitcake, more cake than fruit. It is at least 26 years old and still looks to be edible.
We’ve been giving it back and forth to each other for that long. Actually, it’s not the fruitcake, it’s the way we wrap it. Concrete, glued inside a split tree trunk, wrapped in 50 lbs of rubber, welded into a steel box etc. I work for an adhesive company and he is a shop and engineering teacher. We’ve both got access to some cool stuff. Last year, he got it from me in a Rubbermaid bin embedded in layers of rocks and really strong glue. The really fun part is, we live 600 miles apart, so in addition to making it, we gotta figure out how to transport it.
Speaking of prepping, a ship we’re working on asked us to properly dispose of some of their expired medications. I was asked how to properly dispose of them. After looking at the ton of 500mg amoxicillin tabs, IV bags, and lots of assorted of other stuff (including some medications I won’t name) I told them I knew exactly how to dispose of them. They also had a ton of tetracycline but I am going to dispose of those. I felt like I hit the jackpot. I think in the future I’m going to start asking the ship’s crew if they have anything that has expired and needs to be discarded.
LOL!
What a great saga...Assume that you both have photos over time. Publish them to youtube. What a hoot.
Is there just the one, allowing the most recent sender to rest, recuperate, and conceive of new infernal contraptions?
Just one fruitcake, so we’ve got a year to plan our nefarious actions. I never get around to taking pictures. Just let it lay around for 10-11 months then hurry up and open it.
If I lived closer, I want to put it in a waterproof box with a weight and drop it in the lake near him then just give him a card with GP coordinates and make him go diving.
I was surprised when I heard a lot of people just throw things away.
it's a gut pile...
I actually love fruit cake and stollen and make my own. Mine has rum as an ingredient. They do not look like the store made variety. Nor do they taste like the store made stuff.
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