Money Saving gone TOO far?

foreversomeday

JackieO, I was born in 1988 and I remember my mum cutting off the mouldy bits of bread and scraping the mould off jam too - I still do this and OH thinks I am mad! Then again his mum threw out two of his (nearly new) t-shirts because they had a tiny hole in!

We were clearing out the freezer yesterday and found some Sainsburys value chips, neither of us like frozen chips much anyway and I think they had been left by our lodger. I went round next door and asked if they would like them because I hate throwing things away. He said it didn't matter because it wasn't our money that paid for them, but it was the waste aspect to me. Can you feed frozen (thawed now!) chips to birds or any other wildlife?

The best thing was when we moved house in 1997 and qabout 2-3 years later were clearing out the cupboards, we found some cocoa with no best before end date on it but a competition to win a paint box which stated "Closing date 31 Dec 1989"!

I think my mum did throw that one away but thinking back I'm sure it would have been fine...

Caterina

Olliebeak wrote: »

I've recently stopped using my veg rack altogether. Potatoes are now kept in my green Asda-bag-for-life in a cupboard where the door remains shut until I want potatoes out. All other veg is now kept in the salad drawer of the fridge wrapped in newpaper. Get rid of all plastic bags as soon as I get home. My veggies are now lasting MUCH longer than they used to do.

Hi Ollie

I agre with all of the above EXCEPT for keeping fresh herbs. I used to put fresh bunched herbs (parsley, coriander etc.) in a little vase/jar with the stems in the water and they used to go yellow very quickly.

I have since started putting them in plastic zip-bags (since an American friend of mine left one in my house after we ate the contents!) in the fridge and the herbs keep fresh for much longer.

HTH

Caterina

Caterina

foreversomeday wrote: »

We were clearing out the freezer yesterday and found some Sainsburys value chips, neither of us like frozen chips much anyway and I think they had been left by our lodger. I went round next door and asked if they would like them because I hate throwing things away. He said it didn't matter because it wasn't our money that paid for them, but it was the waste aspect to me. Can you feed frozen (thawed now!) chips to birds or any other wildlife?

Hi Foreversomeday,

I would not feed the chips to birds but if you want to do something with the chips, could you do something interesting with them that make them much more palatable, rather than throw them away.

For example you could put them in the oven and roast them then mash them with cabbage to make bubble and squeak, or you could make Spanish Tortilla (bake the chips first, then fry some onions and a pepper, add the baked chips and top all the veg with beaten egg).

HTH

Caterina

catkins

There was some woman doctor on breakfast tv this morning saying we should all be taking notice of sell by and use by dates!!! The presenters said they use foods after the dates and she said they should not.

Personally I think that is rubbish. I eat things long after the dates as long as they look, smell and taste ok.

Primrose

Caterina- thanks for the tip about storing herbs. I also find that herbs (particularly parsley) quickly turns yellow when the stems are kept in water so I'll try the zip bags in the fridge. I'm a great fan of these since I discovered them - so useful for freezing bits and bobs.

EagerLearner

foreversomeday wrote: »

JackieO, I was born in 1988 and I remember my mum cutting off the mouldy bits of bread and scraping the mould off jam too - I still do this and OH thinks I am mad! Then again his mum threw out two of his (nearly new) t-shirts because they had a tiny hole in!

I always wondered about mould on top of jam - I have scraped it off before, but read somewhere recently that you should only remove mould from hard items (like cheese) and this is ok but soft items (like yoghurt, jam etc) are not safe as the mould spores 'grow' longer tentacles (eeeugh) into the food so you can never be sure you got it all? It made me think... I haven't died yet but... might get bad tummy ache!

lizzyb1812

About the doctor on TV saying pay attention to use by dates - as a doctor she would know that viewers would take her comments seriously simply because she is a doctor and she wouldn't want to be sued by someone who ignored use by dates. She's being "better safe than sorry". As individuals we have the right to make up our own minds. Sell by dates are dates supermarkets have to put on their perishable goods. But use by dates are suggestions and completely unenforceable.

parsonswife8

I have found that things like chives, spring onions and herbs keep a lot longer when wrapped in a sheet or two of paper towel and then, into a plastic bag if needs be.

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Menolly_2

I have been trying to convince my friend that the contents of tins that appear to be "out of date" are (usually) perfectly OK unless the tin appears to be "blown"/seriously damaged/distorted. She had pounced on a tin in my storecupboard dated BBE Jan 2008 and was railing at me for keeping it.
Herbs and spices tend to lose their potency over time, so it is a "quality" issue rather than a food safety one.
Yogurts...........hmmm, I have opened, used and survived the Total Greek Yogs (they have an amazingly long lifespan, going by the Use By dates stamped on their lids) when well past their "approved " dates!. If I find one unopened and lurking in the back of the fridge, I gingerly take off the lid then do the Look, Sniff and Taste Test (only gets to the Sniff and Taste sections of the test if there is nothing visibly growing!).
My Nana was an amazing cook - she also used to pickle, bottle and jam-or-jelly just about everything growing in her garden. She had lived through two World Wars and brought up four children during the Depression, alongside caring for my grandfather who had been blinded and paralysed during WW1. When Nana died, we found jars of homemade jam in her storecupboard which, when opened, were found to be positively alcoholic (all the sugars had definitely turned to alcohol). Not sure what my parents, aunts and uncles did with the stuff but we kids didn't get any of it!

lauzjp

one of my bosses at work today gave me a load of out of date yoghurts, and they were perfectly yummy! still some left in the fridge - those Rachel's organic ones.