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.

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.

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

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 )

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.

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

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 ?

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.

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

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.

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

Possibly because they are not sold by the kg.

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).

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

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