How do you work out vegetable best before dates at Lidl?

[YouLookGood]

I want to work out the dates so that I can select the freshest stock on display rather than selecting a bag of carrots that's been on display for a week.

Do they not have normal dates on?

Otherwise get the ones from the back. They will be the freshest.

You don't. You have to guess how old the stock is.

Just look and touch. That’s all you need to do to judge freshness. It’s far more accurate even than dates on stuff.

People have lost the ability to think.

@Happyspud is correct. Use your eyes, touch and smell .... the good old fashioned tools for judging freshness!
Next thing we will be wrapping fresh vegetables in plastic just so we can stamp a date on them ..... oh hold on, this is what we do

Please read the OP. I know that vegetables don’t have a use by date and I do use my eyes

The point is that, as we all do in the supermarket, we want to select the freshest produce there. You can have two punnets of strawberries that look identical, but one punnet will go off tomorrow whereas the other will be fresh for a few days yet.

Ditto carrots, potatoes, etc.

I want to be able to select the freshest stock.

No, they don’t have normal dates on @PancakeAndKeith, which means that you can come home with some veg which looked fine in the shop but very rapidly goes off, as it had been sitting there for a few days.

Well if you’re looking and touching, you should be able to tell. There’s no magic vegetable freshness identification wand, just common sense. Carrots and potatoes are easy, gentle touch will tell you which are most rubbery. Those are the least fresh. Strawberries you want also to be firm, not too dark red etc. Not losing liquid, no furry bits. Really not sure what you’re asking if you know how to look at veg etc and know they dont have dates on?

I didn't know Lidl didn't put dates on fruit and veg, what a fab idea I hope the other supermarkets follow suit.

OP you really don't want to know how old some of your fruit, veg, cheese, eggs, milk meat etc actually is . An extra day here or there probably won't make a huge difference.

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2003/jul/13/foodanddrink.features18

I'd imagine they move the oldest produce to the front/top of the pile when restocking, but no guarantee other customers won't move the display.

The date is meaningless information.

Potatoes and carrots have been stored for months after harvest so it really is all about the condition. You have to examine the produce and decide for yourself.

Lots dont have a date as they dont use preservatives or chemicals hence why it's cheaper but means they cant tell you a presice amount of time it will last before it goes off. Unfortunately it is just a case of having a look. Some items will have a week and month dated on them and that will when it was packed so that may help.

They also don't put dates on because apparently some people see a best before date on perfectly good carrots etc and throw them away on that date regardless of condition .

They don’t put dates on BUT they do show a 2-digit week number plus a 2-digit day (01-07).

So, even if you don’t know what week number it is now - I’d guess week 34 if they start from 1st Jan - you can still rummage through to find the freshest (the highest number).

Aldi used to do it that way too before they started with actual dates.

I bought these tomatoes early last week - L3106 will be the packing date - week 31 day 6 (w/c 29/07 I assume). Even though it’s approaching 3 weeks since they were packed they’re still perfect!

Turnover will be faster for some produce than others.

HTH

@GiantKitten you’re a legend!! Thank you 🙌🏾🙌🏾

Even though it’s approaching 3 weeks since they were packed they’re still perfect!

This would put me off buying them at all.

I use my magic crystal ball while I’m there...
Seriously, what do you mean? The dates aren’t there - you can’t know, that’s the whole point

Heratnumber7
Even though it’s approaching 3 weeks since they were packed they’re still perfect!
This would put me off buying them at all

Your loss - they’re delicious

I work for Lidl the higher number ie 33 will match the week of the year and the lower number ie 6 will be the day of the week it was picked so 3306 means week 33 on Saturday.

Thanks, Claire!

So is this current week 33 or 34?

Is week 01 the week with the 1st of January in, or the week with the first Monday?

The current week is week 34, so it follows the calendar correctly if that makes sense? Then the smaller number will also related to the day picked and Lidl starts there week on the Monday. But some of the products will show the week it was collected plus the date so it would look like 33/26 just to be confusing.

Thanks for the info, so glad I posted

Yes Giantkitten they probably do taste good. But think what's been done to them to make them taste good that long after being picked.