broccoli shame, am I the only one?

blue_monkey_2

I do that with grapes as well, if I don't want a huge bag I'll take some out. I am sure there is more I do but I can't remember off hand. I don't buy tomatoes on the vine as I won't pay for stuff I am not going to eat. I don't only do it at Tesco I do it at the farm shop as well. I usually buy frozen but sometimes it is nice to have fresh and yes I snap the stalks off then, I usually eat it that day and I buy the rest of the floret. If the price goes up then so be it, because then everyone would snap the florets off and the stalk bit usually costs the same price as the florets so double the price for buying without the stalk - and I don't think it would make a lot of difference for most people.

If I am buying by weight then I'll buy the food I am going to eat, not pay 50p a pound (maybe more depending on the season) for chucking something in the bin, I don't have the money to do that and if I did that every day that would be £3.50 on food that is not going to get eaten. That's a bit of a waste in my eyes as £3.50 would easily feed 4 of us a main evening meal (or 2 depending on what we have) in this house!!

The thing is, it is cheaper to buy it frozen anyway and then you don't get the stalks, that is why we usually have frozen. Oh, and it is cheaper to buy a bag of frozen brocolli and a bag of frozen caulifower seperately and mix then yourself rather than buy the brocolli and cauli mix - what is all that about?? I've always wondered!!

Dan_Thunder

To those that snap the stalk off, have you considered the fact that broccoli might be priced as it is because it still has the stalk attached? If it didn't I'd imagine that the charge per lb/kg would be higher.

blue_monkey_2

I am not so sure, you can buy fresh but pre-packed, washed and ready to cook now without the big stalk - and in tesco it is 96p so cheaper than buying the broccoli with the stalk. I haven't bought fresh broccoli for a long time now because I don;t like paying for the stalk. Frozen is the way to go. i did however get brocolli and cauli mix reduced to 48p in Tesco last week. Yum!!

PS. I've worked in a major Supermarket, anything loose that goes off is chucked in the bin and loads of people used to take the stalks in our supermarket. The depasrtment manager even did it for the old people as many of them never wanted it on. It went in the bin with the rubbish and was never declared as being a loss in monetry value. And this was 10 years ago. If it was going to go up then it would have done by now.

Newgirl_2

Dan_Thunder wrote: »

To those that snap the stalk off, have you considered the fact that broccoli might be priced as it is because it still has the stalk attached? If it didn't I'd imagine that the charge per lb/kg would be higher.

I was wondering this and decided I would look next time I was in the supermarket whether the pre-packed ones where priced on weight rather than unit price... as in when you buy meat it is x per kg or some is y per pack.

I can see both sides to this idea - I have been known to knock the odd loose piece of skin of an onion or split a bag of grapes, basically because the former falls off and weighs basically nothing, and with the latter, the grapes can still be sold - perhaps added to the bag of someone who wants more.

I don't know what I think about splitting something that is one complete piece. It's not like splitting a bunch of bananas for example. Interesting debate.

Newgirl

bylromarha

Anyone remember when the grapes used to have a pair of scissors chained to the stand purely so that you COULD cut the bunch to the size you wanted?

babyangel10

Erm, well in addition to the onion peeling (loose layers), grape-bunch shrinking etc, I don't very often put my fruit or veg in the plastic bags until I've weighed them! :rotfl:

MIL says I'm daft because 'they don't weigh anything' but it's pretty obvious that they do (albeit a twelfth of an ounce or whatever!) But if you get a whole box full of those bags and weigh them, then they don't register as zero do they?

I'm sure that if you roughly calculated how many bags you use in a week and work it out over a year, then weighed them, you'd see what I mean.

A bit like the old saying - which is heavier - a ton of lead or a ton of feathers? Everything weighs something - apart from perhaps air, or whatever...

Am I the tightest of the tight?!!!

kit

I snap the stalks off if its possible to do so.
I never put things in the plastic bags..... why do I need them?! They are bad for environment and I manage fine without them.

babyangel10

I agree that I don't need the plastic bags for fruit and veg, Kit - I use them to wrap my sarnies, meat, cheese and other things about the house in, and try to reuse them as much as poss - much easier to handle than cling film too!

I always get in a mess with that stuff and end up throwing a great lopsided, torn, raveled chunk in the bin!

RHemmings

MRSMCAWBER wrote: »

Hi there

Im one of those who prefer the stalk... but here in Germany in front of all the veggies in the supermarket there are bins so you can pull of old cabbage leaves etc before you weigh and tag it yourself.... the look i got the first time i just picked up a cabbage and weighed it -without removing the outer leaves :eek: ..they obviously thought i had lost the plot :rotfl: so they actually see it as the norm to do that here....

I prefer the stalk as well. Chop it into cubes and cook it as part of a stew or curry. It takes a while to cook, perhaps a similar time to similarly sized cubes of potato. But it's delicious.

kit

RHemmings wrote: »

I prefer the stalk as well. Chop it into cubes and cook it as part of a stew or curry. It takes a while to cook, perhaps a similar time to similarly sized cubes of potato. But it's delicious.

I have never even thought of cooking the stalk..... my daughter loves broccoli so I will be trying this! Does it taste like the florrets?

Re the bags... didnt mean to seem like I was 'having a go' at anyone who does use them.... just stating my views... I also use them for sandwiches etc if I have to use bags for things like plums, sprouts.