"No date, helps reduce waste" For whose benefit is this?

p00hsticks

I'm still enjoying 'ripen at home' plums which I got from the Co-op reduced over a month a go because they were at their sell by date. They've been kept in the fridge and are still beautifully plump and juicy.

pumpkin89

Salamat said:

I'm not checking every orange, individually, in-store, before buying!

Why not?  It would have taken only a few seconds and avoided this scenario!

p00hsticks

Salamat said:

I'm not checking every orange, individuallty, in-store, before buying!

I always do - whether dated (in date) or not dated, as others have said I've found that oranges, satsumas, clementines etc bruise easily and you often find one in a bag that's soft or going off, whcih will pretty quickly take the others with it if not removed. So I'd always check each one individually if in a net.

Katiehound

jon81uk said:

Katiehound said:

and I have a bag of carrots bought on Tuesday- no date- just a code and more than half the carrots have rotten parts. Not good.

Did you not spot that when picking up the bag? Might be better buying loose ones? Before Christmas I went through about 10 bags before I found one of the 19p ones that wasn't full of split carrots.

Well of course if I had spotted that I would not have bought them!! I think the 19 pence ones lasted better. If there are loose ones they will be dearer (actually I don't think there are loose ones) I don't mind wonky ones, just not rotten ones!
I shall be watching in future- just for once forgot to collect the till receipt- or they could have been returned. .

Salamat

Mnoee said:

Salamat said:

Today's shop! Get home and start putting away, and finger sinks into a rotting orange! Even came from the tray underneath as I expected them to be fresher! I'm not checking every orange, individuallty, in-store, before buying! "No date helps reduce waste" Yes, sure!!!

The 001 on the label means they're pretty old. Check that instead. 

Wasn't sure about that as it also showed 'L' which could have suggested December, but there was no number alongside it, for the day!

jon81uk

Katiehound said:

jon81uk said:

Katiehound said:

and I have a bag of carrots bought on Tuesday- no date- just a code and more than half the carrots have rotten parts. Not good.

Did you not spot that when picking up the bag? Might be better buying loose ones? Before Christmas I went through about 10 bags before I found one of the 19p ones that wasn't full of split carrots.

Well of course if I had spotted that I would not have bought them!! I think the 19 pence ones lasted better. If there are loose ones they will be dearer (actually I don't think there are loose ones) I don't mind wonky ones, just not rotten ones!
I shall be watching in future- just for once forgot to collect the till receipt- or they could have been returned. .

Assuming there are no special offers such as the 19p Christmas one, carrots are the same price loose and bagged, 49p per kilo.
Sainsbury's British Carrots 1kg | Sainsbury's (sainsburys.co.uk)
Sainsbury's British Carrots Loose | Sainsbury's (sainsburys.co.uk)
(out of stock at Tesco but they appear to be 45p and it was same loose and bagged last time I was instore)

As there are only two of us I avoid the packed ones most of the time for vegetables. Potatoes are harder as the only option often is bagged. Also there is almost always a pack of apples on offer so I usually get a bag instead of loose. But I rarely look at the date and just buy the ones that look best.

Katiehound

I don't think there are loose carrots on sale in Aldi- both supermarkets you are quoting are 30 mile round trip! Aldi is in town.
 I get through a fair number of carrots as dogs get them to eat every day. 
 As I said forgot to collect till receipt but I think 1.5kg is around 58 pence

jon81uk

Katiehound said:

I don't think there are loose carrots on sale in Aldi- both supermarkets you are quoting are 30 mile round trip! Aldi is in town.
 I get through a fair number of carrots as dogs get them to eat every day. 
 As I said forgot to collect till receipt but I think 1.5kg is around 58 pence

It’s great that you need that many carrots for the dogs, but I often only want 2-4 so loose is often better so shopping at Aldi wouldn’t help me much. But yes if Aldi doesn’t have loose then it can be harder to tell if greengroceries are in good condition.

Longwalker

born_again said:

Katiehound said:

unfortunately some silly people throw things away on the date, even the day before the date! because they are obsessed by best before dates.

Prime example of that was Friday before Christmas. Bought some coleslaw. Woman next to me was rooting through them all and moaning they are all use by dated 26-12. 
Still sat in my fridge & tastes just the same as the day it was bought. Will either all get eaten or thrown out once mould start growing. So use by date is now 5 days ago...
Vegs bought earlier the same week are sat in garage & all still fine.

The sooner ANY date is removed the better & let you decide if it's still editable. 

Sorry, but you are dicing with a dodgy tummy with coleslaw

5 days sealed and 3 days opened. Not even I would mess about with coleslaw

And tonight Ive just used the last of the 60p cauliflowers and 19p carrots bought the 20th December

Longwalker

I wouldn't be so hung up on dates of fruit and veg, your spuds, carrots, onions etc have been in cold storage for MONTHS. Main crop potatoes were lifted in the summer - they will still be in shops until easter, then the imports will start coming in before our new season spuds are pulled 

Crops out of season here? Usually weeks or months old before they make it to the supermarket 

Where I work, we get carrots from 15 miles away - whilst in season - October to end of January here - within 2 days of lifting, we process within 24 hrs and give 5 days shelf life. Then we have to import from Israel till the Spanish and French come on the market. All these are at least a month old before reaching us, we process in the same 24hrs and still give the same 5 days shelf life 

We supply a coleslaw manufacture who makes on a Monday. They want the grated carrot and cabbage on the Monday at 7 am so they can give a shelf life to the supermarkets. That cabbage and those carrots are delivered to us on a Friday , we process on a Saturday for them. So your coleslaw isnt actually "fresh"

There is far too much importance put on dates in supermarkets. Use by is the only date you need to follow for safety and theres no use by on whole fruit or veg

Swear to god, if you worked anywhere along the food chain, you would die of starvation if you were in anyway concerned about BB dates  ( and Ive worked all along the chain at some point in my life )