Where older daughter works, slightly past it veg produce goes to soup kitchens etc. There's no excuse - if you buy loose veg, take a bag for weighing/transporting it. It isn't difficult. I often wonder how people managed before we had all these dates too. I'm old enough to remember going to the shops with my mum and she just picked what she wanted, but I suppose she went shopping most days, as was the norm back then, and shops were smaller, or you had a separate greengrocer, butcher etc, rather than a big supermarket selling it all. The sprouts still went on to cook a month before C'mas though, so maybe it wasn't always great The main problem nowadays is that folk seem to think everything should be a perfect shape, a perfect colour, a perfect size, regardless of what it is, and they can't seem to apply that great concept. Common sense. I couldn't care less. If stuff [veg] I've bought is a bit ropey, it goes into the soup, or gets roasted, even if I have to cut off mouldy rotten bits. It's all fine.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
The other thing that helps is to make the meal plans/shopping lists flexible. For example, if I want a cauliflower but they all look a bit ropey (which is fairly often) I'll leave them and get something else instead.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
No local shops or market here so I shop once a week with meal plans but with flexibility in case there's something not good enough or not available. The only long distance imports we buy are root ginger, bananas and avocadoes.
9Everything else is French/Spanish/Belgian so we eat seasonally and locally when we have nothing in the garden. Judicious storing in the pantry or fridge keeps it all fresh eg, onions and garlic give off gases that will ripen other veg, especially casuing potatoes to sprout so they have their own basket.
Our SM is good about stocking local produce and a Vergers de Vendée has just opened up nearby with almost everything from their own farms and orchards plus local meats and dairy produce.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
I try to shop in Scariff (half a mile's walk to the centre) most days. It's a bit like the England of my childhood... Scariff is classed as a town but has a population of less than 800 - but has a greengrocer, butcher, chemist, health food shop, hardware shop, tiny supermarket, flower shop selling compost and basic gardening needs... plus doctor, dentist, library, hairdresser, vet, cafe... etc. Why go anywhere else? Things cost a little more than in the next big town, but I don't have to pay for petrol to get there, and the shopkeepers know me. Other than the supermarket, they stock mostly local produce. They're a bit behind the times, on the whole, when it comes to packaging, but tolerate the odd English woman who brings her own bags to put apples & carrots into, rather than using their single-use plastic ones.
Not sure why I'm posting this as a Curmudge because it definitely isn't one.
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
On a different subject, a friend took Wee Uff for a walk in the woods and and the hound was covered in red mud and spruce twiglets when he arrived home. Gawd above you've never seen a dog in such a state. I've mentioned before, he's a cocker spaniel but has delusions of grandeur of becoming a gun dog and feel it's his duty to quarter the ground no matter how many muddy puddles it takes him through. He excelled himself this time though. I've just spent at least an hour in showering him and then cleaning the bathroom up afterwards.
Anyone thinking of getting a dog, steer clear of spaniels. I'm ruddy knackered.
Please convince me I'm being paranoid but the recent outages with American flights and post office computers smacks of someone trying out their cyber attack systems. Most of our technology has elements of cheap Chinese software / hardware/ whatever.
Gloucester City Council was hacked and held to ransom. They had no insurance against such an attack and have taken around a year to sort things out. I don't know if they have completely recovered yet.
According to the website they are still having problems. Whilst searching to check, l came across this article. You might enjoy the use of language.
With regard to use by dates on packaged fruit and veg, Morrisons label theirs "D29", "J14" etc. With my razor sharp brain, l cracked it. "December 29th", "January 14th" . GCHQ here l come.
@AnniD I wonder when they are going to put out an English language version of that article. Talk about gobbledigook!
Posts
There's no excuse - if you buy loose veg, take a bag for weighing/transporting it. It isn't difficult.
I often wonder how people managed before we had all these dates too. I'm old enough to remember going to the shops with my mum and she just picked what she wanted, but I suppose she went shopping most days, as was the norm back then, and shops were smaller, or you had a separate greengrocer, butcher etc, rather than a big supermarket selling it all. The sprouts still went on to cook a month before C'mas though, so maybe it wasn't always great
The main problem nowadays is that folk seem to think everything should be a perfect shape, a perfect colour, a perfect size, regardless of what it is, and they can't seem to apply that great concept. Common sense.
I couldn't care less. If stuff [veg] I've bought is a bit ropey, it goes into the soup, or gets roasted, even if I have to cut off mouldy rotten bits. It's all fine.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
9Everything else is French/Spanish/Belgian so we eat seasonally and locally when we have nothing in the garden. Judicious storing in the pantry or fridge keeps it all fresh eg, onions and garlic give off gases that will ripen other veg, especially casuing potatoes to sprout so they have their own basket.
Our SM is good about stocking local produce and a Vergers de Vendée has just opened up nearby with almost everything from their own farms and orchards plus local meats and dairy produce.
Not sure why I'm posting this as a Curmudge because it definitely isn't one.
I've mentioned before, he's a cocker spaniel but has delusions of grandeur of becoming a gun dog and feel it's his duty to quarter the ground no matter how many muddy puddles it takes him through. He excelled himself this time though.
I've just spent at least an hour in showering him and then cleaning the bathroom up afterwards.
Anyone thinking of getting a dog, steer clear of spaniels. I'm ruddy knackered.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
@AnniD I wonder when they are going to put out an English language version of that article. Talk about gobbledigook!
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”