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Original poster

Food from the supermarkets not lasting as long?

51 replies

dodeca · 19/07/2023 20:37

We’ve noticed milk from two of the big supermarkets has gone off within a couple of days of purchasing, recently. When it has at least a week left to go on the date! Today we bought a garlic bulb from one of them and opened it tonight and it’s mouldy inside

Isn’t to do with fridge temp as other stuff is alright, and when we buy milk and fresh produce from a higher end supermarket it lasts for days. Anyone else had this? Do we just need to resort to shopping more expensively?

OP posts:
LemonDrizzle10 · 19/07/2023 22:16

Yes. I was going to post this today. No dates means Tesco can send any old rubbish in my online order and it all goes off the next day. My food waste bin has never been so full!

NaughtyCatsHome · 19/07/2023 22:17

Carrots last two days rather than two weeks. It has happened with every bag I've bought. They go blotchy, soft, and floppy - huge disappointment

Blackbyrd · 19/07/2023 22:26

I had a litre bottle of each of the three Cravendale varieties and every one was off, over a week before their use by dates. So I now buy UHT milk! Bananas are awful, having wasted so many I now buy them individually when I fancy one. I am buying whatever I can frozen where practical as sick of the constant waste. This all makes it very hard for us to budget

piedbeauty · 19/07/2023 22:29

I've noticed that carrots and new potatoes go off really quickly this year. Just been in Sweden on holiday and this didn't happen with the veg there! Different weather in spring?

HarrietofFire · 19/07/2023 22:37

I only buy veg to use on the day now. I've wasted more in the last year having to throw it out than in the last five years. It's shocking.

GwenogJones · 19/07/2023 22:52

It's all brexit, isn't it?

Not fridges, not the weather... anything coming from Europe is being held up at the ports whereas it used to roll right off the ferry and into our warehouses. Anything coming from further afield is held up even more while the European backlog is being cleared, and anything from Britain isn't being picked at the right time as there is no longer fruit pickers to do it.

Taking the dates off never really had anything to do with food wastage. It's so they can still sell us the fruit and veg that have been sat at the ports for days which - pre brexit - would have got to us much earlier without us realising how old it already is.

The fruit and veg is lasting just as long, it's just hitting supermarket shelves later.

We need to rejoin the single market. It really will solve all these problems overnight.

SkaneTos · 19/07/2023 23:02

We are in the middle of the summer. "The Dog Days of Summer".

Allthegoodnamesarechosen · 19/07/2023 23:09

‘It's all brexit, isn't it?’

But this really won’t explain previously mentioned problems with bananas, pineapple and British carrots and potatoes.

nice shoehorn, though.

QueenOfHiraeth · 19/07/2023 23:10

I find stuff from our local traditional supermarkets is OK but have had stuff from both Aldi and Lidl go off very quickly. I actually find shopping at them is a false economy.

earsup · 19/07/2023 23:12

I returned tomatoes to asda, sainsburys and waitrose recently as mould in a few days.

FridayNeverHesitate · 19/07/2023 23:21

@donutosaurus I have never cleaned my fridge drip tray. Is it easy to access?

Maraudingmarauders · 19/07/2023 23:31

Lidl and aldi always used to be able to sell fruit and veg cheaper buy buying it in later in its life span. I do wonder if the big supermarkets are following suit in a bid to reduce prices/make as much profit as they can (depending on your level of cynacism) now they don't advertise BB dates.
I've found carrots and potatoes particularly bad, though apparently we should kep carrots in sand drawers rather than the fridge or a dark cupboard. I've also bought a few rotten onions from sainsburys recently despite usually being quite good at the squeeze test.

HighEndGrifters · 20/07/2023 00:22

Your fridge needs to run at 4 degrees and your freezer at minus 18. We have had two fridges in the twenty three years we have been in this house, the first when we were broke we had to sell a kidney for, but saved on food wastage, twenty years we bought the same model.

Liebherr

Food has to be waving at us, after a long period before it perishes.

Not saying supermarkets aren't part of the problem, but in general a large outlay for a fridge/freezer pays dividends.

Hopskiplou · 20/07/2023 00:28

For anyone saying no dates on fruit and veg anymore - there is, at least on anything wrapped. This is a sell until date which is like best before and is a code on all packs which says a letter than a number. The letter is the month. The number the date. Eg G:20 is July 23rd (G for July, H for Aug etc)

Hopskiplou · 20/07/2023 00:29

Sorry, G:20 is July 20

donutosaurus · 20/07/2023 07:42

@FridayNeverHesitate

My fridge has a little hole at the back of the fridge but I think some fridges have it on the back of the fridge.

I know mine needs doing as the fridge starts 'collecting' water - there will be excess water on the shelf or the trays at the bottom.

I never realised it was a thing and did it recently - I don't think it had been done in a long time (we inherited the integrated fridge with our house!)

It was full of mould!! It really was grim!

FridayNeverHesitate · 20/07/2023 08:21

@donutosaurus Thank you. We also have an integrated fridge which collects water at the bottom and we have been here ten years without emptying it, so I am expecting it to be very unsavoury.

donutosaurus · 20/07/2023 08:24

Oh no!!!

It's def the hole that's clogged then!

Ime, buy a slimline baster so you can suck water out of it - this is how I got the mould out. I flushed it through with clean water but worked hard to remove all of the water. A Baster was the best I had to hand (and is now my fridge cleaning baster) 🤢

It's grim but it's a satisfying job once you realise it needs doing and how bad it is!!

Good luck!!!! Your grudge will work so much better after you've cleaned it out!!

curlywurlylover666 · 20/07/2023 09:24

I was thinking I was just unlucky but seemingly not. I dont think fruit and veg are any where near as good as they should be.

I opened a bag of carrots the other day from tesco, 2 were slimy. Potatoes, I threw 3 of them away as they were soft and the strawberries are not lasting any more than 1 day after being washed, dried and put in the fridge. I should return them to the shop but really, who has time for that?

I have started to split a shop now in the week so I can top up with fruit mid week rather than buying it all at the start of the week but that has its own issues which mean I usually buy more stuff.

pambeeslyhalpert2 · 20/07/2023 11:36

I just went to make a crumpet and they're all mouldy- only brought them a few days ago

MamaDollyorJesus · 20/07/2023 12:22

donutosaurus · 20/07/2023 08:24

Oh no!!!

It's def the hole that's clogged then!

Ime, buy a slimline baster so you can suck water out of it - this is how I got the mould out. I flushed it through with clean water but worked hard to remove all of the water. A Baster was the best I had to hand (and is now my fridge cleaning baster) 🤢

It's grim but it's a satisfying job once you realise it needs doing and how bad it is!!

Good luck!!!! Your grudge will work so much better after you've cleaned it out!!

I read this as a slime baster & thought "that's a good idea for the fridge hole" 😂

Thanks for the reminder mine needs cleaned this weekend!

As for fruit & veg going off it's always been the same if you get deliveries because the gormless teen picking your food just takes the first one & shoves it in!

I'm that annoying person who inspects the fruit & veg before putting it in my trolley (even before they removed the dates) & I don't have any issues with food going off - if people were going by the dates before is it that they just don't know how to check fruit & veg so that they're not buying almost off bananas/oranges/carrots?

tkwal · 13/10/2023 22:42

I buy filtered milk which is more expensive but there's no waste with it. Some potatoes carrots and especially onions have been awful.For cauliflower, broccoli , green beans and peas I'm only buying frozen now

Justhonesr · 09/04/2024 16:53

dodeca · 19/07/2023 20:37

We’ve noticed milk from two of the big supermarkets has gone off within a couple of days of purchasing, recently. When it has at least a week left to go on the date! Today we bought a garlic bulb from one of them and opened it tonight and it’s mouldy inside

Isn’t to do with fridge temp as other stuff is alright, and when we buy milk and fresh produce from a higher end supermarket it lasts for days. Anyone else had this? Do we just need to resort to shopping more expensively?

I have noticed veg and meat is also off very quickly

CheeseSandwichRiskAssessment · 09/04/2024 17:38

Yes!! I'm not sure if throwing money at the problem helps though (besides going to the farmer's market), my local supermarkets are lidl and Waitrose and I've had some shockers from both.

SammyScrounge · 12/07/2024 01:20

YarisKaris · 19/07/2023 22:12

We shop at tescos but had to bin the bananas after 3 days this week as they were mushy and the carrots were bendy after 3 days too

Raspberries get mouldy very quickly