to want to take a sharp knife into Sainsbury's and...

[MardyBra]

... trim down the extremely long stalks on their broccoli before buying it. They're bloody heavy those stalks. Probably double the cost of the broccoli.

[FellatioNelson]

Exackerly cumfy. cynical ploy see? I don't object to a bit of stalk but too much woody tough stuff is just not on.

[MaryZezItsOnlyJustNovember]

That's an interesting point cumfy.

How come we pay for broccoli by weight, but cauliflower per head?

Why not charge for cauliflower by weight.

dh came home with a cauliflower the other day which was about 3 inches across once I had trimmed off all the leaves. And it looked huge in the packet

[peeriebear]

DH snaps a good chunk of the stalk off if it's silly long. I do cook some of it- it can be blended into the cheese sauce for broccoli/cauliflower cheese (ditto the cauli core).

[cumfy]

They trim cauliflowers of excess tough bits so why not broccoli?

Possibly because they are not sold by the kg.

[FellatioNelson]

But you cannot buy the banana without the skin. It's necessary. They trim cauliflowers of excess tough bits so why not broccoli? It's a cynical ploy to get you to pay more for it. They'll be deliberately leaving wodges of mud on potatoes next.

[cumfy]

Indeed Felatio and I'm sure

if Sainsbury's think the yellow skins are a valid part of bananas then I'm sure they'll have a queue of people happy to buy the leftover skins

[FellatioNelson]

I feel your pain. I am always one of a determined and slightly furtive crowd standing there with furrowed brow trying to snap them off. I know technically they are edible but the really long thick stalks are tough and ropey - who wants those? And they weigh a ton. Take a swiss army knife in your handbag in future. You are doing nothing wrong - not stealing - if Sainsbury's think the tough stalks are a valid part of broccoli then I'm sure they'll have a queue of people happy to buy your leftover stalks.

[cumfy]

Yes indeed.
I like to sit down, peel bananas and slice any brown bits off, discarding all the grotty bits and skins, depod peas, core and peel apples.

Then the coup de gras, snipping the tips off of all the asparagus and discarding the rest. I at whole asparagus; I'd be spending £40+ to get a kg of asparagus tips if I bought whole asparagus.
Duhhhhhh.

What could possibly be unreasonable about this ?
Who on Earth would think the supermarkets are selling their produce as seen ?

[Mayisout]

I like the stalks best. The fluffy heads are alwyas cold and bits stick round your mouth. . . . . . broccolli broccolli, don't get ideas.

[piprabbit]

Apparently the bad weather this year means that the supermarkets are struggling to source nice plump broccoli heads - so we are getting smaller heads on longer stalks. If you start looking, you'll see that where the cling-wrapped broccoli used to be a single head, it is now often two smaller heads fastened together with an elastic band.

[KurriKurri]

Mine loves raw carrots and chunk of raw swede too Grimma (in fact she will pinch carrots from the vegetable rack if she thinks no one is looking )

[GrimmaTheNome]

Hadn't though of trying it on the dog - he likes leftover cooked broccoli (esp in cheese sauce)

[KurriKurri]

My MIL used to fiddle about in the mushroom section of supermarkets removing the stalks (and putting them back in the tray for some other poor bugger to sort through) she said she wasn't paying for something she couldn't eat.

When I said you could eat mushroom stalks she looked at me as if I was a mad revolutionary. I also pointed out that on the not paying for what you can't eat principle, she should peel bananas before paying for them. She wasn't pleased

I eat some of the broccoli stalk - it has lovely tender flesh if you peel it - and give a bit to the dog to crunch.

[GrimmaTheNome]

those sneaky buggers at cadbury's who've changed the shape of their caramel bars. It's just means you get less, and the filling to chocolate ratio is not quite right. Bastards.

Or even worse the Whole Nut bars. The slogan used to be 'A hazelnut in every bite' - I bought one recently and it had a grand total of 4 nuts in it, unevenly distributed so that half the pieces had no nut at all.

[Lio]

Chop broc stalk into matchsticks and put in a stiry-fry, yum.

[ArbitraryUsername]

The lengthening stalks are nothing on those sneaky buggers at cadbury's who've changed the shape of their caramel bars. It's just means you get less, and the filling to chocolate ratio is not quite right. Bastards.

I just buy the plastic wrapped broccoli because I know how much it'll cost. The main issue is that sainsbury's often have no broccoli left, no matter what time/day you go shopping.

[PtCatalyst]

This is why I buy the pre-cut broccoli in packets (usually the broccoli and cauliflower packets, so no extra cauliflower leaves or stalk either) There's only so much stalk my pet mice and I can eat...

YA(probably)BU though, but then again, so are Sainsbury's. It's quite comfy on this fence here...

[GrimmaTheNome]

I also ask butchers and fishmongers to trim off the bits of bone and fat on meat too. They charge by weight, so why should I pay for the bits that I dont want to eat.

Fishmongers usually weigh the whole fish and then do whatever filleting you require. Not reasonable to expect them to get paid less for doing the knife-work for you.

"The stalk is reflected in price you pay. If they cut off stalk for you, then you would be charged more (per kg) for the rest. You're cheating supermarket of profits if you cut it off. Quite cheeky."

Yup. By extension with the broccoli question, presumably some of you reject the trimmed leeks, then pick up the (much cheaper per kg) untrimmed ones and take a knife to them? That's clearly wrong (surely) but its the same thing.

[anklebitersmum]

I like broccolli stalks but I used to bend asparagus so I only paid for the good bit when I bought them from the supermarket.

But now they sell them per elastic banded bunch spoil sports

[maddening]

My friend's oh snaps the stalks off.

[MardyBra]

"The stalk is reflected in price you pay. If they cut off stalk for you, then you would be charged more (per kg) for the rest. You're cheating supermarket of profits if you cut it off. Quite cheeky."

Well first of all, I'm convinced the stalks are stealthily getting longer. It's a bit like when they reduce the size of choc bars and still charge the same.

Secondly, it's not like the supermarkets are that hard-done by. They are an oligopoly squeezing margins like crazy on suppliers. look what they did to the farmers over milk margins. Now they're doing it to me on stalks.

[MardyBra]

Frozen broccoli is mushy and disgusting. Besides I only have a small freezer and prefer to use it for ice cream, oven chips and ice for my gin and tonic

[raspberryshake]

I have seen people in our Sainbo's with penknives cutting the stalks off broccoli. Then I see the same people by the eggs searching through the boxes of Basics eggs (all mixed sizes) putting the biggest ones in their boxes!!!

[AdoraJingleBells]

I use broccoli stalks in soups and pull tomatoes off their vines pick the toms that have fallen off the vine.

[squeakytoy]

I always snap off the florets and just buy them. I also ask butchers and fishmongers to trim off the bits of bone and fat on meat too. They charge by weight, so why should I pay for the bits that I dont want to eat.