Right. That's it. I'm not buying milk from M&S any more.

[BroccoliSpears]

I'm fed up with tipping M&S milk down the drain. It seems to go off so much quicker than Sainsburys milk.

To be fair to M&S, it doesn't go off before the use by date; it must just have a much shorter shelf life.

[squeaver]

You have to really root around at the back of the shelves at M&S. They are masters of putting the soon-to-expire packs at the front.

[Cies]

Maybe the other stuff has horrid stuff in it that stops it going off.

[Bubbaluv]

I opened a bottle of M&S milk the other day and there was a red thing (not sure what) floating in the top!! Went down the sink.

[BroccoliSpears]

I wondered that Cies. I but organic at both shops though.

I suppose Sainsbos just has a higher turnover.

[sophy]

I have noticed that lots of M&S food has a shorter shelf life than food from other supermarkets.

And I think that is a Good Thing. I assume it has fewer preservatives etc and will therefore be more nutritious.

[BroccoliSpears]

Does milk habitually contain preservatives then?

[SoupDragon]

I never buy anything bigger than a 2 pint carton from anywhere as it stays fresh when unopened.

[luvaduck]

just discovered dairy crest and its free delivery - to your doorstep
AND they do organic milk in glass bottles. love it.

[Marina]

I assume there must be degrees of pasteurisation which might influence how long milk stays fresh. So not preservatives, more processing. Doesn't that Cravendale stuff stay fresh for yonks even though it is not longlife .
And I also wonder what effect homogenisation has. Some organic milk is homogenised, other brands are not.
I suspect the dairy M & S uses does not cook its milk for as long as Sainsburys, or fiddle with it to distribute the fat around.

[Egg]

I always find M&S (full fat) milk has lumps of cream in it like Gold Top used to. Not a prob in itself but DS1 finds they clog up the spout on his beaker cup thing.

I have 6 pints of milk in my fridge to be drunk by end of today .

[SoupDragon]

Waitrose isn't homogonised. You get a lovely thick wodge of cream on the top of the organic milk

[ChopsTheDuck]

freeze it rather than chuck it or make sauce or custard with it.
I do find M&S bad for milk though. Their food has short dates, but it doesn't actually seem to go off that quickly. I ignore the dates.

[LittleMyDancingForJoy]

You can freeze milk to keep it longer, if that helps.

We have milk deliveries too - lovely non homogenised organic milk, glass bottles back to milkman, foil tops in recycling.

It's fab.

[SorenLorensen]

I've just bought some grapes in M&S which were marked "Half price" with a big sticker on the pack (but no price on the pack). Looked at the receipt when I got home and I paid £3.29 for them - they surely are not £6.58 normally? I shall take my receipt and the pack top and go and investigate tomorrow

[Marina]

We will only get non-homogenised milk too
I'd be up for non-pasteurised, myself

[traceybath]

M&S are very naughty with their sellby/useby dates in my opinion. I bought an organic chicken from there on a friday for over £10!! to roast on a sunday.

Stupidly i didn't check the date but when i got it out on sunday it was very off and had actually had to be used up on the friday i bought it at full price.

When i complained they did give me my money back but said it was their policy to sell food on the day it had to be used at full price. I think thats a bit crappy to be honest although legal.