Food waste

[woodstock]

I have just found out in the last few days that Aldi staff have been instructed to dispose of food that is within one day out of date, I looked in the waste bin in store today there were pies, prime steak loads of fruit and veg with tomorrows date stamp, how mad is this.
I was also told if members of the public would like the food to give it to them at their own risk, utter madness.

 

[THOaken]

Really? Just one day out of date? Surely that's harmless? What a waste...

 

[Lupis]

Really? Just one day out of date? Surely that's harmless? What a waste...

I think he means they are still in date, they will be "up" the next day. Which makes it even more of a waste.

 

[Goatboy]

Along a similar line I was talking to a neighbour the other day about the fact that that there are raspberry and bramble bushes right by the village school that the kids don't touch. I know it's safe to say to kids not to touch fruit they don't know, but brambles and rasps! They wouldn't have lasted 5 mins by my school as a kid. Would've been a free feed as we loved a scoff. Hate food waste and for a supermarket to be throwing away safe food is pretty criminal when folks go hungry, (not just abroad but in the UK too). May have to get the bus into town and ask for some free nosh.

 

[woodstock]

Really? Just one day out of date? Surely that's harmless? What a waste...

No in date food with tomorrows date.

 

[Toddy]

Aldi's and Lidl's both put stuff that's dated out, or will be by the next morning, late in the day, past the tills for folks to pick up. Flowers, bread, biscuits....haven't seen meat or chill cabinet stuff though. I thought that was being rather sensible really, especially in this heat.
It must be really kind of hard to deal with for the supermarkets.
If it's Out of Date, then they have huge issues, potentially, if someone buys it and takes ill. Similarly if they pass stuff along and folks are affected badly.

There's talk of a new technology in the wrappers for meat that changes texture as the meat becomes 'off', so that the sell by date becomes redundant.

Our local Lidl's left over instore bakery stuff goes to feed horses

Cherries, rasps, wild strawberries, apples and plums and and beechnuts too....we gorged on them in their seasons
I still do

atb,
M

 

[CRAY]

I work for a really fancy firm full of high calibre suits that think they are all something special. They have a basically unlimited catering budget and just go crazy on entertaining clients and cocktail parties. And what they don't eat just gets thrown out in huge buckets. I once walked in and was just stood there in shock.

Managed to make friends with the kitchen staff so that now some of the nicer leftovers come my way at least. Still, human greed is one of the worst sins in my opinion

 

[British Red]

I know a chap who raised a couple of weaners on out of date food from markets and shops. He was an old boy and collected it on his bike - kept him fit and got him free bacon. Always struck me as sensible

 

[Toddy]

There's an old phrase that stuck in my mind.
"If we would all live a little more simply, then others will simply live"

atb,
M

 

[Toddy]

I know a chap who raised a couple of weaners on out of date food from markets and shops. He was an old boy and collected it on his bike - kept him fit and got him free bacon. Always struck me as sensible

Very practical man that


M

 

[dwardo]

If we had any butchers or local fruit and veg shops left we would receive our goods in a bag with no marked sell by date. We would then use our own smell and common sense to judge when something is off. Unfortunately we have become lazy and let the supermarkets take over so that we can spend less time shopping and more time at the office working.

With big business comes the threat of litigation against profit and share-holders. So they waste food rather than profit.

Only have our selves to blame.

Sorry folks, pinched nerve in my neck that feels like a failed Mafia hit attempt with an invisible ice pick. = grumpy.

 

[santaman2000]

Most of the supermarkets here will pull meat off the shelf a day or so before it goes out of date. They don't toss it though; they put a new sticker on halfway over the old one (so it's easy to tell what it is) and discount the price by about a third. If it doesn't sell by the end of the day, it goes into the frozen section. I stock a lot of my meats (particularly beef steaks, pork chops, and ground beef) from this source.

 

[cranmere]

Unfortunately the regulations about feeding pigs are now very strict and prevent that sort of thing. The rules say that food prepared for humans cannot then be fed to pigs, although as a smallholder friend of mine says, food prepared for the pigs can legally be fed to humans so the pigs can have a nice roast dinner and the rest go to the dinner table. There is good reason for it because food waste was a source of several diseases, but it's sad nonetheless because things like restaurant waste now end up in the bin rather than in the pigs.

I know a chap who raised a couple of weaners on out of date food from markets and shops. He was an old boy and collected it on his bike - kept him fit and got him free bacon. Always struck me as sensible

 

[Goatboy]

Most of the supermarkets here will pull meat off the shelf a day or so before it goes out of date. They don't toss it though; they put a new sticker on halfway over the old one (so it's easy to tell what it is) and discount the price by about a third. If it doesn't sell by the end of the day, it goes into the frozen section. I stock a lot of my meats (particularly beef steaks, pork chops, and ground beef) from this source.

Must say on the meat front here that meat approaching it's sell by date in the supermarket is probably only just reaching maturity of properly aged beef. (That's why if forced to buy in the supermarket I usually look in the clearance section first unless I'm after a specific cut. Remember on lassie on the counter saying would I like a different packet as the "meat's awfy dark" she was used to young unhung beef that's still bright red. Nowhere near enough taste yet. You tend to eat your meat less aged than we do in the States don't you Santaman? Good beef here (generally)starts with stuff hung for about four to five weeks.

 

[fishfish]

iceland bins are good for fruit and veg.

 

[Toddy]

We're very lucky here that despite the supermarkets there are still three butcher shops, and we still have real greengrocers too as well as independant baker's shops.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[mousey]

When I worked in a restaurant I quite often had the pick of produce going out of date. certianly made shopping bills cheaper.

Reminds me of a book I read once telling a story of a homeless man who would walk round markets at closing time to pick up stuff from sellers who wouldn't be able to sell it the next day - he ended up having a very healthy and varied diet of slighlty bruised fruit n veg. An amusing quote from him of 'I look after my body because if I don't I'll have nowhere to live'

 

[fishfish]

i used to do that on salisbury market,used to make wine too from some of it.

 

[ashby001]

My dad works for one of those fruit and veg packing firms. And the amount of food he comes home with is crazy!!
Christmas time is the best we don't bother buying dinner as we will get enough food for my family of six, my girlfriends family and my nan and grandad with food still going off that we can't find room for!!!!

 

[British Red]

Unfortunately the regulations about feeding pigs are now very strict and prevent that sort of thing. The rules say that food prepared for humans cannot then be fed to pigs, although as a smallholder friend of mine says, food prepared for the pigs can legally be fed to humans so the pigs can have a nice roast dinner and the rest go to the dinner table. There is good reason for it because food waste was a source of several diseases, but it's sad nonetheless because things like restaurant waste now end up in the bin rather than in the pigs.

Actually you still can - the chap was feeding the pigs vegetable and fruit matter - no animal products and they weren't technically "kitchen waste" - just out of date vegetables (they hadn't been near a kitchen)