Vinny
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Vinny
Geordie living 'ower the watter'
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I am not a stranger to the reduced isle but I might try an experiment and only buy reduced food. The two criteria would have to be any meat on its last day would need to be frozen if not consumed, and on the fresh produce on the last date, only buy enough that I could eat that day or the next.
Its not a financial ploy as I could afford full priced produce but would probably add a bit of interest to my meals. A downside would be that I would have to shop for small ammounts more frequently and my main shopping area is a 1/2 hour drive, so the financial benefits would be minimal.
One other worry I have is that I am depriving another more needy family of a meal, but there is also a likelyhood it could finish up in landfill if no one bought it?
I can't start just yet as my freezer is jam packed with produce so I need to whittle that down a bit before I start. It also means i might have to be a bit more flexible with my eating habits as at present I have set plan for my one meal a day. Variety is the spice of life so they say.
"The problem with retirement is that you never get a day off"- Abe Lemons
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Veggie
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That's about how I shop all the time.
All the meat /fish things go straight in the freezer unless it eaten that night or the following day. I buy any sort of cheap meat for the dogs. Liver and kidneys seem to be ignored by many shoppers but the dogs love it.
Bread is also frozen for later.
Fruit and veg always last a lot longer than the sell-by date. You'll know from growing it when something is past its best.
Yogurt and cheese keep well past the dates until they opened - then they start to deteriorate.
I've frozen cheese and milk successfully too.
I visit Morries about once a week - do very little shopping otherwise. I'm lucky that its only 10 minutes away and can drop in on my way home from other places.
Do it, its fun and a challenge to your menu.
The Moneyless Chicken says:-
Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.
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Vinny
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Vinny
Geordie living 'ower the watter'
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I kinda new you were the Yellow Sticker Queen Veggie. Do you live on reduced food exclusively or are you an amateur?
My plan is to only buy yellow stickerd stuff and nowt else!
"The problem with retirement is that you never get a day off"- Abe Lemons
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Veggie
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Not exclusively because some basics are never reduced - coffee, butter, tinned stuff, flour - but fresh foods like meat, fish, fruit, veg, often bread & cakes and some ready meals are 99% yellow stickered.
My 12.5kg of spuds that I bought on Sunday for £1.60 were marked "Display until 14 November" but there's absolutely nothing wrong with them......and they're huge, perfect for jacket potatoes. They're also "Wonky" potatoes but the only reason I can think of - they're too big!
Shop like your parents did, with your eye, nose and touch - its the best way to tell whether something is fresh enough to eat, not an arbitrary date set by legislation. So much food is wasted because of these almost worthless dates. It really annoys me!!
The Moneyless Chicken says:-
Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.
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Vinny
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Vinny
Geordie living 'ower the watter'
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Yep, never could understand how you could put a date stamp on a spud! The majority of my family wouldn't buy reduced food items and Helen wouldn't buy them either.
I do agree about using your common sense, using smell and sight as much as sell by date to buy food, just like our forebears. Sometimes stuff seems to be reduced when it's nearing its sell by date,rather than on the date, but I have bought stuff before which still had many days left.
"The problem with retirement is that you never get a day off"- Abe Lemons
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Veggie
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My brother's like that - he'll throw out a tin of beans because they're past their use by date. I've tried to tell him that tinned foods lasts for years but he doesn't listen!!
When we kept bees and sold honey we had to put a use by date of 12 months from the date of bottling. That honey could have been in the tub for months, years even, before being bottled. Honey "never" goes off; honey they found in the tombs in Egypt was still edible. Some of these Food Safety laws are just daft!
The Moneyless Chicken says:-
Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.
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Bren
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I'm a bit envious my nearest shop is Aldi its only a 5 to 10 min walk away but they rarely have yellow stickers reduction then its only a few pence of, but I do have a Jack Fultons that's full of bargains I buy most of my freezer stuff and cheese's from there.
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Vinny
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Vinny
Geordie living 'ower the watter'
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I will probably shock people by saying I have used tinned stuff a couple of years past its sell by date that I found in the back of the cupboard. Two days ago I made broth with lentils,split peas and broth mix that must have been 2 or 3 years old. They were kept in storage jars and I left the jars half full for another day. The broth was a gorgeous and a welcome addition to my Meatless Monday! It was so nice, I froze half of it for another day!
"The problem with retirement is that you never get a day off"- Abe Lemons
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Vinny
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Vinny
Geordie living 'ower the watter'
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(17-11-2021, 06:34 PM)Bren Wrote: I'm a bit envious my nearest shop is Aldi its only a 5 to 10 min walk away but they rarely have yellow stickers reduction then its only a few pence of, but I do have a Jack Fultons that's full of bargains I buy most of my freezer stuff and cheese's from there. Our local Aldi reduces meat on a regular basis by 30%. I like Ribeye steak which is quite an expensive cut, but I have two in the freezer that were reduced by 30% even though they were still well in date. Lidl reduce most stuff that isn't meat or fish to 20p!
"The problem with retirement is that you never get a day off"- Abe Lemons
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Veggie
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(17-11-2021, 06:34 PM)Bren Wrote: I'm a bit envious my nearest shop is Aldi its only a 5 to 10 min walk away but they rarely have yellow stickers reduction then its only a few pence of, but I do have a Jack Fultons that's full of bargains I buy most of my freezer stuff and cheese's from there. Our local Aldi reduce end-of-date fresh foods by 30% and, if unsold by 75%. About 6.30 pm here.
Never heard of Jack Fultons though!!
The Moneyless Chicken says:-
Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.
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