Buying loose fruit and veg

maman

McKneff wrote: »

Morrison do loose fruit and veg as do most supermarkets. I dont see where the problem is

I can only assume that OP hasn't been looking around lately. Agreed not everything but our Sainsbury's has quite a range of fruit and veg that's sold loose and then there's a greengrocer and an Asian store that sells all of their veg loose in a small shopping street.

Slinky

I think the small Express size of supermarkets tend to have their fruit and veg prepacked, whereas the larger stores give you the choice of loose veg. They also tend to be more expensive than the larger stores. If you don't have a local independent grocer or access to a market, try your bigger supermarkets.

Pollycat

Maybe the OP could say where he's shopping, what shops he has access to and what fruit/veg he usually buys.
I can buy a single carrot in my local Tesco Extra and also in a couple of independent local greengrocers.

trailingspouse

I think even the shops that aren't selling loose at the moment will be in the near future - with all the talk of plastic waste, it's definitely the way things are going. Aldi seems to sell a mixture of loose and packaged, depending on what you're buying. But watch the prices - if, for example, you want 6 apples, then 6 pre-packed apples are likely to be cheaper than 6 loose apples. However, if you only need 3 you're probably better going for the loose option.

dan958

My local Sainsburys does this, and they also use brown paper bags rather than plastic.

PipneyJane

DWhite wrote: »

Apologies if this has already been asked before. I’m a regular lurker on here and I’m fairly sure I haven’t seen it.
I’m a child of the 80’s. I remember going to shops and the fruit/veg etc being sold loose. You’d choose how much and which ones. Like potatoes still are now...
Does anywhere exist that still does this? I find it so frustrating to have it dictated to me how much of something is in a pack. Not to mention the excess packaging! I live alone and fill one, sometimes two recycling bags a week plus a black bag of general waste that can’t be recycled.
I don’t have lots of disposable income to spend on organic places, or specialist places etc just wondering if there’s such a place as grocers/supermarkets that still do this?

I buy most of my veggies from a farm shop, attached to a local National Trust property. They grow all their own veggies, while the eggs they sell are from a local poultry farm. Their veggies last for well over a week. Prices vary from 50p for a huge onion to £1.50 for an unsealed bag of purple sprouting broccoli. They use bags to portion things up for sale, but don't usually seal them, so the veggies breath.

We spend less than £10 there every other week.

HTH,

- Pip

joedenise

What annoys me is when I go to Mr Ts that bagged apples, for example, are cheaper than the loose ones! You then have to put them in a plastic bag which quite honestly defeats the object of buying loose!

Over in France the supermarkets are using compostable bags rather than plastic bags which are big enough to use to line the food caddies proved by the Council. I always save them when we go on holiday there and use them in my caddy when I get back home.

Denise

kerri_gt

joedenise wrote: »

What annoys me is when I go to Mr Ts that bagged apples, for example, are cheaper than the loose ones! You then have to put them in a plastic bag which quite honestly defeats the object of buying loose!

Over in France the supermarkets are using compostable bags rather than plastic bags which are big enough to use to line the food caddies proved by the Council. I always save them when we go on holiday there and use them in my caddy when I get back home.

Denise

Yes, I am irked by the price for loose pet kg being greater than bagged.

I do save vegetable and fruit bags and put them in the carrier bag recycling points when in store (same with bread bags and toilet roll wrapping)

joedenise

Never thought of that Kerri. Thought they were just for carrier bags.

Denise

Fire_Fox

joedenise wrote: »

What annoys me is when I go to Mr Ts that bagged apples, for example, are cheaper than the loose ones! You then have to put them in a plastic bag which quite honestly defeats the object of buying loose!

Denise

Unfortunately plastic wrapping extends the life of many fruits and vegetables, so there is less wasted produce throughout the supply chain. That alone saves the company money.

Why do you have to put loose produce in a new plastic bag? If you do not want a new bag, take your own reused bags or just use your hands.

Please do not try to recycle different plastics together unless they are supposed to be, check the rules/ guidelines carefully. Too much recycling ends up as landfill because it is contaminated by incorrectly recycled items.