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Original poster

To never eat broccoli again?

68 replies

ToastyFingers · 04/12/2018 21:06

Went to make dinner earlier and my broccoli is absolutely covered in these hideous bugs! Some of them are very much alive and wriggling. Gahhh.

I can't bin it because my bins don't get collected for over a week and I don't want the buggers to spread to anywhere else. I'm also concerned about the rest of the fruit bowl. Envy

OP posts:
WindinTheWillowsLover · 04/12/2018 22:42

@ToastyFingers

What sort of recycling do you have?

We have black bin for recycling plastic etc, brown bin for garden stuff and a brown caddy for food. Everything goes in the food caddy that's food and in summer it's full of maggots.

Just put it where you put food waste and stop whinging.

I once found a cooked caterpillar in some organic brocolli- I'd cooked it and spotted it just before I ate it.

BlackeyedGruesome · 04/12/2018 22:42

I bisected a maggot its entire length when cutting apples for cooking. It was quite small so pretty impressive to cut right down it.

cheesemongery · 04/12/2018 22:42

Did you know OP there is a 'legal limit' or something like that of bugs allowed in food - so 1 can of tomatoes is allowed 3 maggots... add to that a bit of rat poo and love your little flies - boil em rinse and eat, or just chuck it in the compost. Bleaching is hilarious.

MereDintofPandiculation · 04/12/2018 22:47

They're greenfly. Aphids. They're harmless, and they haven't been flying around putting their feet into nastiness. Of all the things you could find on broccoli they're the least worrying. Rinse it under the tap - they're a lot easier to get rid of than pesticide residues. Or if you're really anxious, soak it in a bowl of salted water for a couple of hours before rinsing. Quite ridiculous to throw it away - no wonder we have a problem with waste food.

LuckyDiamond · 04/12/2018 22:48

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
ToastyFingers · 04/12/2018 22:49

We have separate cardboard, plastic, glass and paper bins, plus a caddy for food waste and a bag for unrecylables and a separate one for nappies and absorbants.
Only the plastic/card/glass/paper is collected weekly though and it's about 10 days till our next food/general waste and we don't have any outside space.

OP posts:
KonaMum · 04/12/2018 22:53

Just wash it, cook it and eat it?

AndThereSaw · 04/12/2018 22:55

I knew it would be coop. loads moaning about it on our local facebook.
I had the same thing with fruit flies in a packet of flat peaches from Tesco in the summer except I opened it before noticing....took about 3 weeks to get them out of the kitchen and I scrubbed and scrubbed!
Freeze the broccoli and then bin it. Or freeze then wash (really well) and eat.

cheesemongery · 04/12/2018 22:57

Good point MereDinto - flies on food in the summer that just get swatted off at a BBQ or such like - regurgitating their vomit onto the food to more easily digest it, probably after landing on a local dog poo.

Toasty, put it in a public bin then if you really don't want it and really have no space for it in waste - it's a head of broccoli wrapped in film.

Unwrap it and the local rabbits will have a feast Grin

RedTulip86 · 04/12/2018 22:58

MN hysteria at it’s best! Night night, sleep tight, don’t let veg bugs bite!

BruegelTheEIder · 04/12/2018 23:02

It's shrink-wrapped isn't it? So why wouldn't the rest of your veg be okay?

I can't really get squeamish about bugs tbh. I would put it in an outside bin though. (and if you live in a flat, that means a public bin on the street I guess.

BruegelTheEIder · 04/12/2018 23:03

Omg I forgot to close my parentheses!

...)

mortifiedmama · 04/12/2018 23:05

I had a ready meal from Asda once. Bit in to a piece of broccoli and as i pulled it away from my mouth I saw hundreds of tiny black bugs on it. Disgusting!

Jaguar2017 · 04/12/2018 23:18

The bugs give it extra flavour!

AutumnEvenings · 04/12/2018 23:31

We live on the edge of a country market town. I avoid putting things out for the birds as we have found rodents arrive from the fields to feast as well.

I do feed the birds in really cold winter weather, but now use the RSPB half coconuts to hang up instead of a bird feeding tray.

AutumnEvenings · 04/12/2018 23:34

As for the broccoli, my Mum taught us to soak it in not boiling but very warm water with lots of salt then rinse well. If the bugs are still there after doing this then I bin it. I also avoid shrink packs.

defineme · 04/12/2018 23:40

It took me a while to get over the discovery of the half a large black beetle on the bag of frozen spinach that I.had already cooked and eaten a lot of. The massive caterpillar in my cauliflower was fine because it fell out when I was chopping it up...poor thing splattered all over the chopping board!

Gwenhwyfar · 05/12/2018 08:26

"I had the same thing with fruit flies in a packet of flat peaches from Tesco in the summer except I opened it before noticing....took about 3 weeks to get them out of the kitchen and I scrubbed and scrubbed!"

Fruit flies are awful. Once I get them, they stay all summer.

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