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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think people would want free apples?

140 replies

MsFannySqueers · 29/09/2022 14:53

We have one apple tree in our garden. Some years we get barely any apples but this year we have had a large amount of apples. They are large organic cooking apples with not a blemish on them. They are very tasty when cooked. I have peeled, chopped and frozen about 50 of them so far. I will use them over the coming winter for pies,crumbles, muffins etc. I have given some to one neighbour who wanted them.
So to my AIBU. I then left a big pile of them in a container on my gatepost for days. Put a sign up for anyone to help themselves. How many have gone? Two! Two apples. I even left paper bags out to put them in! So!

YABU People can’t be bothered with all that faff, they are busy and haven’t got the time/additional ingredients to prepare and use apples even if they are free. Plus how can they afford to cook them!

YANBU It’s free apples, a bit of preparation, a few added basic ingredients and you could have some tasty treats. The cost of cooking them will be somewhat offset by the fact they were free.

OP posts:
nokidshere · 29/09/2022 19:10

I'd use them, where are you? 😁

RedAngel19 · 29/09/2022 19:12

We live in London. We picked a huge box of apples from my dad's garden and left them out with a sign telling folks to help themselves. They were gone in less than 30 minutes!

Shebelievedshecouldbutshecba · 29/09/2022 19:39

We used to leave apples out and they would usually go. But then we bought a cider making kit. You should try it! I was very sceptical and thought it would be grim. In fact it is more like apple prosecco! Lovely stuff!

OldTinHat · 29/09/2022 22:27

What's your address?!

My neighbour normally shares her apples but her tree has only managed to rustle up six this year! No glut here...

Nannewnannew · 30/09/2022 16:06

200degrees · 29/09/2022 15:50

I wouldn’t say I’m weird but I live in a city and wouldn’t be picking up loose food from the pavement - I don’t know where it’s been. I don’t know if it’s hygienic. I don’t know if it’s been tampered with. If it hasn’t been tampered with, a passer by could have coughed on it, a bird could have shat on it - it’s exposed to the elements isn’t it.

Ha, ha, this made me laugh and also reminded me of a friend who refused free vegetables from a budding organic smallholder because she didn’t know where it had been!

Johnnysgirl · 30/09/2022 16:34

PlasticSheetingRTÉNews · 29/09/2022 15:43

I wish I lived near you!

There’s a house about a five minute drive from me that I pass most days. For the last week, they’ve had apples out with a sign saying
“Free Apples for our NEIGHBOURS”

”Neighbours” is indeed underlined and written in bold.

I keep debating with myself as to whether I count as a neighbour.

It just feels a bit Tubbs and Edward. Local apples for local people.

That's really odd. If you only want to share with your neighbours you should walk up and down the street handing them out / leaving on doorsteps.
Leaving it in the street with a sign saying they're only for the chosen ones is insane.
I'd grab a load for sheer divilment, tbh!

Pava22 · 30/09/2022 18:17

Yep so many apples this year. I have given away 15 budgens sized bags and 2 big cardboard boxes. The boxes of apples where gone within an hour of popping outside my house with free apple sign. 1st time I left bags too. Not paper as I did t have them but a roll of plastic bags. More than enough. Within 10 minutes someone took the roll of bags.... so I never put bags out again!

But I still have loads that have fallen off that I couldn't get too in time and still at least 100 on the tree. I have a picker for the tall branches but even that is not tall enough!

Antarcticant · 30/09/2022 18:20

Home made apple sauce is very quick and easy to make. YANBU.

Elphame · 30/09/2022 18:21

MsFannySqueers · 29/09/2022 14:53

We have one apple tree in our garden. Some years we get barely any apples but this year we have had a large amount of apples. They are large organic cooking apples with not a blemish on them. They are very tasty when cooked. I have peeled, chopped and frozen about 50 of them so far. I will use them over the coming winter for pies,crumbles, muffins etc. I have given some to one neighbour who wanted them.
So to my AIBU. I then left a big pile of them in a container on my gatepost for days. Put a sign up for anyone to help themselves. How many have gone? Two! Two apples. I even left paper bags out to put them in! So!

YABU People can’t be bothered with all that faff, they are busy and haven’t got the time/additional ingredients to prepare and use apples even if they are free. Plus how can they afford to cook them!

YANBU It’s free apples, a bit of preparation, a few added basic ingredients and you could have some tasty treats. The cost of cooking them will be somewhat offset by the fact they were free.

Goodness - I can't keep up. I have 6 apple trees here and every year give away hundreds (literally!)

I have to fill the box at the end of my driveway twice a day at the moment! I'm glad now that most of the crop has gone.

Oddly though I can't give away greengages. They never go.

Rowthe · 30/09/2022 18:32

With the pears in the garden.

I have never used any pesticides or fertilisers.

I just leave the tree to it, and see what we get every year. This year we loads and they look like they're in really good condition too. The pears are very sweet when they are ripe and my mum asks me for a sackful each year

So I wouldn't say they are organic, but they will have had way fewer chemicals sprayed on them than the ones you buy in the supermarket.

Oldfriends22 · 24/09/2024 12:14

Do you have the same problem this year? Our search for free apples has so far proven largely fruitless would be good to find a ready source!

Dreamskies · 24/09/2024 12:16

Cooked fruit is awful. Can’t stand apple pies or crumbles etc. I wouldn’t want them either 😂

A nice eating apple, yes. A cooking one? Nope.

Elphame · 24/09/2024 17:27

Oldfriends22 · 24/09/2024 12:14

Do you have the same problem this year? Our search for free apples has so far proven largely fruitless would be good to find a ready source!

Not such a heavy crop this year unfortunately. We have however yet to start picking

JohnTheRevelator · 24/09/2024 17:55

I think some people are just a bit reluctant to take anything edible in case it's been tampered with!

TangerinePlate · 24/09/2024 18:23

@Elphame I’d gorge on your greengages!

OP,I’d happily take some apples off your hands. Apple cake season is in full swing,so is the chutney.

Sometimes I knock on people’s door and ask for fruit. I barter with home made stuff. Nobody ever refused 🙂

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