Money Moral Dilemma: What should Baby do about Johnny's stalk?

fruitbat_2

I think a lot of you are missing a very important point here. You don't need to snap the stalk off, because it is perfectly ok to eat, as pointed out by all the cooking tips above. The prepackaged florets are there for the poor ignorant souls who don't have the brains or the imagination to use their broccoli stalks - if you want to show yourself up in the supermarket as being one of those ignorant lazy people, snap away!

orangeface

redmoorphil says:"I think I am quite entitled to buy what suits me!"

thecraftybear says: "I don't make enough brocolli soup to need the stalks every time and it weighs in very heavily - not a good thing for a money-saver!"

icky says: "I give plenty of money to supermarkets and dont have any difficulty, morally or practically, leaving long stalks behind"

It is interesting to note that some of the posters who snap off the stalk refer to themselves as Money-Savers as if they were members of an exclusive club. One of them even says "I give plenty of money to supermarkets..." Really? I'd like to work in those supermarkets, do you go around handing out fivers to the staff?

Apparently, either one saves, or one does not. Membership of this exclusive club also becomes a handy excuse (no, not an excuse, a duty) in the noble pursuit of thriftiness. This soon becomes a bench-test: if you do not remove the stalk then you are not a truly dedicated Money-Saver. This seems to be a very handy position to be in, one that confers nobility of purpose; a sort of knight on a quest for a far-off consumer's Nirvana, where everything is as cheap as possible, no premiums paid for quality guaranteed produce or the costs of shipping and packaging - a mythical moral high-ground and all in the pursuit of economy and justice (for the poor, beleagured shopper). Our Money-Saver says: "Who-me? I'm not nicking something, I'm a Money-Saver!"

Isn't this just low grade theft? The shopper is free to purchase, or not to purchase the broccoli; but it is unethical to remove the stalk just because they (the shopper) have decided which parts of the broccoli they would like to pay for. They are more than welcome to decide to throw away the stalk after they have paid for it since they have now become the owner of the broccoli. The possibilities for the stalk (listed below include soup, stock, stirfry etc) also tie in nicely with the whole recycling ethos. No waste and no bin full of perfectly good food.

The consumer already has a choice, to buy or not to buy; to shop or to shop elsewhere.

As for me, I'm off to get some steak. But first I'll rip open the packaging and trim off all the excess fat and gristle - I'm not paying for that! I'll then demand that the steak be re-weighed and re-priced accordingly before I pay for it. This is my right as a consumer, I am entitled to this. But, hey! I don't want you all to think it's all about me, I'm a fair kind of guy. I'll put the fat and gristle back in the packaging, and that way someone who prefers the fat and the gristle does not have to buy all that unwanted lean meat........

Angel13_2

I do the same!!! (but only if no one watching!) I don't understand why the stores leave so much stalk on other than to bump up the price. Once I actually bagged what I needed then bagged the same same full floret size -the difference in price 59p! not much but it adds up, especially when on a budget. The other day my local ASDA was selling a whole cucumber for 30p (not a reduced price) but the half "packaged" one for 60p, but people don't look at prices at were still buying halves.

tomos42

Can I chop off the bits I don't want?

rsbystry

Keep the stalk!! Its fab in a stir fry if you have run out of bamboo shoots. Lovely crispy texture!! yum yum. In our house the girls eat the florets and I have the rest and some florets too. Happiness for everyone. :-)

fridgetdigit

I cook, so I do the shopping knowing what we need. I remove stalks from brocolli and carrots. I remove excess leaves from cauliflower. As all these are usually sold by weight, why should you pay for stuff that you have to throw away (unless you're a rabbit of course!) I do draw the line at peeling the potatoes though!

irishwench69

timmo44 wrote: »

Depends how big the stalk is. Let's face it, it's the heaviest part of something that is sold by weight. I think if there's 4" of stalk doubling the weight, snap it off by all means. You wouldn't buy bananas with half the branch still attached.

Hmmm, the problem with this being:

Banana branch - not edible
Brocolli stalk - edible!!!

Can't believe the people who would snap the stalks off - there's cheap and then there's just nasty :rolleyes:

IW x

zippy99

The supermarkets do not choose to have really long stalks - that is how it arrives - they are also paying by weight. Whilst this sort of behavior may not impact the big supermarkets - this mentality being repeated in independent Green Grocers and Farm Shops can seriously affect their profits and the livelihood of these specialist suppliers.

The price of the brocolli represents the fact that there is 'stalk' attached - after all you can buy brocolli heads at double the price. Same with leeks - I pay more and buy extra-trimmed to save wastage - I do not go around cutting the tops off - so as not to pay for the part I wont use.

There is no moral issue here - it is wrong.

....On another thought - what do they do with all those unwanted vegetable parts??? do they get composted??? do they get given away for compost??? do the very same people who abandon their stalks go to collect left over veg parts for free for compost????

Ingsy

I buy our fruit & veg on the market. It's tastier and cheaper, so I don't worry about paying for the stalk. In fact I'd never even thought about not paying for it. Haven't eaten the stalk yet, might give it a try though...

ooohshiny

If I were Baby, I'd tell him to stop being so ridiculous! That kind of pickiness is possibly acceptable in a five-year-old child, but not in an adult. The issue of money doesn't even come in to it. Snapping off the stalks is wasteful and if I were shopping with him I would be highly insulted that he'd assumed I didn't want it.

As has been stated many times, the stalk is perfectly edible and actually quite nice. Most people just don't seem to be able to process that fact. People who pick at their vegetables irritate me to the point of stabby thoughts!

Bah! Bah, I say!