To hack off the stalk of the broccoli

[Kangar00]

Not an AIBU but was he being unreasonable. I've just seen a man take a knife into Waitrose and hack off the stalk of the broccoli, presumedly because he doesn't eat this bit so doesn't want to pay for it when it is weighed....

very good idea, take a knife and peeler and make sure you remove the peels of carrots, apples, and any fruit and veg before you get them weight. Bananas are an obvious culprit, and don't get me started on pineapple and melons! Why should I pay for a bit I will not be using!

It gets a bit tricky for the eggs.

I wouldn't go as far as the chap in the OP, but I do look for the head of broccoli with the smallest stalk. I would also say, after DD's experience of working in Waitrose, that if this kind of thing was to happen anywhere, it would have to happen in Waitrose. Waitrose shoppers can be quite arrogant!

@ikeepaforkinmypurse 😂😂

That's mind bogglingly tight!

My MIL used to do this with mushrooms. She'd be ages hovering over the loose mushroom snapping off the stalks and leaving a crate full of stalks for the next poor sucker that came along.
If she'd thought of it she'd probably have cut the stalks off broccoli.

Mind you she thought most vegetables were dangerous in case they gave you vitamins or something I suppose.

A peeled chunk of broccoli stalk is lovely to chew.

I saw someone in Morrisons once removing the stalks from mushrooms!

MIL does this too but you all who are considering it are seriously unreasonable.

It's the best bit. Slice it and steam it.

But most broccoli is priced by head, not weight, so no actual money saved? Though if you don't like stalk, I can see you'd choose one with best ratio to your taste. (I do, so just choose the largest )

Peel the stalk and slice very thinly.

No, it’s not right.

I don’t eat the stones on the peaches but I don’t take them out before I weigh the peaches.

Or avocados.

Whaaaat?

I’d have scooped that up in a nano second! I love the stalk. I just trim the bottom, slice it & fry it in butter. Food Of The Gods.

If they’re priced per piece, fine. If they’re priced on weight, not fine. They aren’t likely to have many people like me who will buy a discarded stem so it’s lost money.

Overseas where I used to live they have bins beside the veg where you can discard the big outer leaves of cauli etc if you want to and they are happy for others to take bags of that for free - we always took it for our Guineas pigs.

What a waste. I nibble on the raw stalk whist I cook the rest of our dinner

there was a thread a while ago where a woman thought people who do not pick up the biggest eggs to make a box of "Mixed weight" were stupid.

I love a bit of stalk.

I once went to a pick your own as a girl guide. I love fresh peas so me and my friend picked loads and removed the pods before putting the peas in our box. When we went to weigh them the owner went mad and charged us 4 times the weight. I gave him all the money I had but it wasn't enough. I remember crying all the way home on the coach. When our guider found out she told me that it was a lesson learnt but she also bought the peas from me so I wouldn't upset my single parent mum who couldn't spare the money.

I will never forget her or that day.

The stalk is the best bit!

i always break it off! No need to pay for things you done eat!

The stalk on broccoli is the nicest part.
When I was a little girl, staying with my grandmother, in a supermarket buying mushrooms, she would pull all the stalks off them, as she didn’t want to use the stalks.
(The mushrooms were slightly different years ago, in this shop anyway they had definite stalks, longer than the Button mushrooms today )
And I remember being a bit horrified and embarrassed, as she was there for a while doing it.

Oh stayingaliveisawayoflife ...poor young you. It wasn’t your fault after all, not the girl who shelled the peas, she probably wasn’t to know,
But your Guider was kind x

Nor the other girl*

I am a fruit and veg manager for a large supermarket chain. We regularly (daily) have at least 20 stalks left per tray, 50/60 on a busy day. They are snapped off or customers use pen knives to remove them. At one point the ‘loose’ broccoli was replaced entirely with pre-packed broccoli to avoid the food waste. The loose broccoli has now come back but with a higher price point to cover the waste bill.

stayingaliveisawayoflife
the owner was awful! He should have handled it better with the child you were

In the early 70s we used to be able to buy mushroom stalks and smoked salmon trimmings very cheaply from Ridley Road market in Dalston , London .
They were discards from the restaurant industry .
I think it was the Cranks cookbook of the same era that had a soup entitled “ garbage soup “ made from all the vegetable peels and trimmings that were saved during the week.
Ah happy days when our housekeeping was £1.50 each !

Theresomethingaboutdairy that's really interesting, and a very neat illustration of how all the people chopping off the stalks ends up making it more expensive for everyone.

(Incidentally, I am totally now going to look in the crates for the chopped-off stalks, as that's the only bit I really like.)