In many cases buying fruit & veg in plastic packaging is cheaper than the same loose

MSE_Oliver

This is the MoneySavingExpert discussion for our investigation revealing that in many cases buying fruit & veg in plastic packaging is cheaper than the same produce loose. Read the blog first then click "reply" below to discuss it.

"Plastic-free shopping aisles proposed, but MSE investigation reveals in many cases buying fruit & veg in plastic packaging is CHEAPER than the same produce loose"

[Deleted User]

Hi,

fruit and veg is always cheaper loose, I checked it out one day in Tesco, 5 naked bananas, of the equivalent weight, were cheaper than the packaged stuff.

NineDeuce

Never if you compare it to getting in a market.

Supermarkets hire people to make deceiving price strategies all the time. You wont get this from your local F&V store.

Ectophile

I find you're more likely to get special offers on bagged things than on loose. The trouble is that some bagged fruit is sold by numbers, rather than by weight. This makes it impossible to compare the price of a bag of 6 apples with loose apples at £2 a kilo.

zeupater

Hi

That's likely due to everyone & their neighbour in the do-gooders 'wrap everyone in cotton-wool' sphere telling us all that there must be a 200 mile total exclusion zone between foodstuff & even the tiniest spec of anything which looks like dirt or dust ... of course, if someone else has touched a potato or carrot, or either of them has ever toughed the ground, we'll all come down with a case of the dreaded lurgy! ... :eek:

... I know that the old 'peck of dirt' saying is a metaphor, but, like most others, there's a degree of truthful observation in there somewhere ... needless to say, the potatoes & carrots we grow in the garden have touched the ground (at some time!) and the ones we buy are unwashed until we want to eat! ... :cool:

Nanny this, nanny that & nanny the other ... perhaps it's time that someone started to re-introduce & apply a little common-sense ... this could be the beginning of the long road to sanity ...

HTH
Z

jackieblack

[Deleted User] wrote:

Hi,

fruit and veg is always cheaper loose,

No it isn't. Sometimes, but not always

[Deleted User] wrote:

I checked it out one day in Tesco, 5 naked bananas, of the equivalent weight, were cheaper than the packaged stuff.

But in the last few weeks alone I could have bought carrots, parsnips, sprouts, apples and baking potatoes cheaper in plastic packaging than they were loose. (Tesco)

jackieblack

Ectophile wrote: »

The trouble is that some bagged fruit is sold by numbers, rather than by weight. This makes it impossible to compare the price of a bag of 6 apples with loose apples at £2 a kilo.

I always use the scales they have for weighing the loose stuff to find out what that pack would cost, at the price for loose - it's easy to compare then

Eric_the_half_a_bee

It's possible that in some cases spoilage rates are lower on the packaged version. That would give supermarket a rational incentive to offer them at a lower price. It might even (in some cases I stress) be better for the environment, once the environmental costs of spoilage are weighed against the environmental costs of packaging.

PasturesNew

Sometimes true, sometimes not.

It depends on what, precisely, you're comparing - on the day.

Often the bags work out cheaper/Kg, but you can buy a single item loose.
Sometimes the bags are much cheaper; sometimes loose is cheaper.

It will vary on every day, in every shop, in every season.

Bit of a cr4p thread this innit

Nick_C

I think the main reason for selling bags of fruit and veg is so it can be barcoded. This speeds things up at the checkout. It also prevents stealing at the self checkouts by people buying one thing but saying it is something cheaper when they weigh it.

MrsPear

Can someone please explain what veg with it is own natural wrapper needs to shrink wrapped? I am thinking cucumbers, swede and celeriac to name a few.