Change in law banning pre-packed fruit and vegetables at supermarkets - WTAF

[Agent Sparrow]

Veg boxes don't really work for people who are on a tight budget and actually want to buy less of something though - they're most definitely for those with more money to spend.
I love the idea of a "veg adventure" every week, but my life isn't in any way like that - it would result in me ending up with more stuff than I need, that I struggle to use, at twice the price that I'd spend on loose veg if I just choose the exact items in the exact quantity that I want.
It's not all about the plastic packaging, it's about the ability to buy the quantity of items you actually need - and while veg boxes are typically great at the former, they are dreadful at the latter - and not really for those on a tight budget.

They’re also pretty dreadful if you’ve got younger children who are even vaguely fussy. Actually the same would apply for older children/adults who have any limitations on the range of vegetables they eat and/or spoons to creatively cook.

 

[purenarcotic]

I’m really surprised people have an issue with this? You have always been able to buy a lot of fruit and veg loose. It’s great if you only want one carrot or whatever for a particular recipe. Can be cheaper too. And plastic coverings don’t remotely eliminate cross contamination; people touch and rifle through the boxes with the bags, people put the bags in their fridge… That’s why we wash fruit and vegetables before eating them and wash our hands before preparing / eating.

 

[purenarcotic]

I also don’t believe for a second that this will apply to pre-chopped veg / the ready made mash or veg with herby butter or whatever.

 

[JimW]

People don't just squeeze veg here, really hardcore grans strip off all the manky bits they don't want then weigh it. I buy a lot at the market off a tarp on the ground and nobody minds if you just buy one carrot or whatever, though only the real small timers don't provide flimsy plastic bags, so still not all that green.

 

[Epona]

They’re also pretty dreadful if you’ve got younger children who are even vaguely fussy. Actually the same would apply for older children/adults who have any limitations on the range of vegetables they eat and/or spoons to creatively cook.

This is part of it, we don't have a regular schedule and the idea that if we get 2 lettuces, jerusalem artichokes, 4 potatoes, 2 beetroot, some apples and an aubergine in a small veg box that is somehow going to be useful to me just isn't realistic - with one of us working nights I can't really be planning meals on the fly around that sort of randomness. I mean I love the thought of it, but it just wouldn't work with our lifestyle and meal planning.

I've always kind of idealised the idea of a veg box, but it's not practical or cost effective for us.
Even bin liners full of free veg when OH was working doing waste disposal in a big market wasn't practical for us (although one cannot argue with the value for money!) because it didn't really allow for meal planning which is somewhat necessary on a budget and when there is shift work involved and odd mealtimes - need something that can be reheated, it's no good having a load of stuff that is best eaten within minutes of cooking for example.

What does work for us - being able to go to the supermarket and buy a small head of broccoli, 2 carrots, 4 potatoes, a red pepper, a courgette and a small number of mushrooms - yes it is sometimes (but not always) possible to do this, but it should be always possible to buy loose rather than pre-packed stuff.

 

[purenarcotic]

It would put me off. I've wasted so much food and money over the years, as a single person, buying fresh broccoli and green beans etc, and then either throwing them all away or eating a little bit one night and then a week or so later throwing the wilted, perhaps mouldy, rest in the bin.

I really like broccoli and green beans. I have good intentions and buy veg to eat. But in reality, after working all day and commuting, I often get home and can't be arsed cooking. And sometimes, even when I want to cook, the thought of creating dirty dishes and having to wash all the pots and pans is too much.

Much like laundry, washing dishes is just too fucking relentless a task when you live by yourself and there's no one else to take a turn.

So a few months ago, I started buying those preprepared microwave vegetable 'side dishes', just a tub of mixed broccoli and peas and beans or leeks and cabbage or whatever, eating it with some precooked salmon or chicken.

If they stopped selling them, I'd probably go back to eating more microwave meals and pizzas, or just having a bag of crisps and a glass of wine for my dinner. I'm just fed up of doing dishes for no good reason. I mean, I'd see the point if I was making a meal for other people, but cooking for one is the domestic equivalent of shooting myself in the foot. I'm fifty-something and tired after decades of doing dishes.

[/Rant about doing dishes]

I buy the frozen bags of it. Microwaves in the same amount of time, is, even with all the price hikes, considerably cheaper. Only downside is I like broccoli stalks and the frozen bags are only the florets. But I waste so much less food since switching to frozen veg. Frozen chopped peppers are shit though. They’re not worth it.

 

[Artaxerxes]

I know veg boxes work for some households, but I've tried a veg box a handful of times, open it up, find a few potatoes, a couple of carrots and onions, something random like celeriac or fennel, and inevitably I'm left standing there thinking 'But I can't make a meal out of that, what am I supposed to have for dinner?'

And so then I dig a pizza out of the freezer or have some cheese on toast.

I gave up our veg box cos we had a few months where one of the five items in it was chard


Now I’m sure it’s got it’s uses but it’s not a core component of a meal

 

[gentlegreen]

I guess I'm an outlier.
I visit Aldi about once a week and buy more veg than the average family.
Perhaps 4 bags of sprouts, one or two heads of broccoli, a bag of chopped kale, two 64og punnets of wonky mushrooms...plus a red cabbage and a kilo and a half of carrots and red onions every other visit...

I don't do recipes.

 

[Miss-Shelf]

I gave up our veg box cos we had a few months where one of the five items in it was chard


Now I’m sure it’s got it’s uses but it’s not a core component of a meal

Chard is the future for our food challenged planet. Its like dr Who for its capacity to endless regenerate in a variety of ways. I've got a plant in the back garden that survived the beast from the east in 2018. And there was a small plant in the front garden that seeded itself in a street planter and now there are out posts of it in the gutter and in the cracks in people's front walls. I'm still not mad for its taste though I guess I should get used to it and perhaps start eating the ground elder that is so generous in the back garden

 

[Epona]

I guess I'm an outlier.
I visit Aldi about once a week and buy more veg than the average family.
Perhaps 4 bags of sprouts, one or two heads of broccoli, a bag of chopped kale, two 64og punnets of wonky mushrooms...plus a red cabbage and a kilo and a half of carrots and red onions every other visit...

But is it all loose or is there packaging?

 

[gentlegreen]

But is it all loose or is there packaging?

Properly packaged.
I'm probably out of the place in under 10 minutes with a week's veggies.

 

[Epona]

Properly packaged.
I'm probably out of the place in under 10 minutes with a week's veggies.

The thread is about the proposed restrictions on plastic packaging on fruit and veg - not about how much of it you eat.

 

[gentlegreen]

The thread is about the proposed restrictions on plastic packaging on fruit and veg - not about how much of it you eat.

Just saying why this pisses me off. It makes no sense.

 

[Epona]

Just saying why this pisses me off. It makes no sense.

Right, OK then.

You don't think there's an issue with dealing with all that plastic when you buy vegetables?
Or how society should deal with all the plastic from millions of people buying vegetables wrapped in plastic?

 

[UnderOpenSky]

Veg boxes don't really work for people who are on a tight budget and actually want to buy less of something though - they're most definitely for those with more money to spend.
I love the idea of a "veg adventure" every week, but my life isn't in any way like that - it would result in me ending up with more stuff than I need, that I struggle to use, at twice the price that I'd spend on loose veg if I just choose the exact items in the exact quantity that I want.
It's not all about the plastic packaging, it's about the ability to buy the quantity of items you actually need - and while veg boxes are typically great at the former, they are dreadful at the latter - and not really for those on a tight budget.

Yes, it's much more expensive. My partner likes to get one, but I made the mistake at looking at the price per item recently.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

None of the market gardens I've worked on or bought from have ever bagged their kale...

Clearly I'm not going to argue with you, I guess it depends on how long it's going to be kept. I try and support our local fruit and veg shop as well, but they could really do with bagging some of their stuff.

 

[WouldBe]

That's fair - it is the exception rather than the rule though, most fruit and veg do not need to be bagged up or shrink wrapped for sale.

Quite often the sealed plastic is filled with nitrogen to stop stuff going off so quickly so you could end up with more wasted food.

 

[Epona]

Quite often the sealed plastic is filled with nitrogen to stop stuff going off so quickly so you could end up with more wasted food.

That is to prolong shelf-life in the supermarket, for their benefit, so that they can sell it for longer - not once I get it home and open it.

 

[Epona]

I just want to say I do often buy plastic packed or pre-wrapped veg - I don't always have much choice - I tend to have to buy the cheapest thing on offer (eg. a pack of saver peppers rather than buying loose) or just sometimes stuff isn't available loose where I can afford to buy it.
But I am dismayed when I go into a supermarket and see all the fresh produce wrapped in plastic - a lot of it is unnecessary and wasteful.

 

[souljacker]

Just saying why this pisses me off. It makes no sense.

Reducing plastic use makes no sense? Have you not being paying attention for the last 20 years?

Personally, it's great for me as a single person. The only way I can finish a supermarket pack of mushrooms is to eat them every day and I don't like them THAT much.

 

[Elpenor]

I buy the frozen bags of it. Microwaves in the same amount of time, is, even with all the price hikes, considerably cheaper. Only downside is I like broccoli stalks and the frozen bags are only the florets. But I waste so much less food since switching to frozen veg. Frozen chopped peppers are shit though. They’re not worth it.

A lot of of the veg I buy is frozen as otherwise I never finish it in time,

 

[polly]

Chard is the future for our food challenged planet. Its like dr Who for its capacity to endless regenerate in a variety of ways. I've got a plant in the back garden that survived the beast from the east in 2018. And there was a small plant in the front garden that seeded itself in a street planter and now there are out posts of it in the gutter and in the cracks in people's front walls. I'm still not mad for its taste though I guess I should get used to it and perhaps start eating the ground elder that is so generous in the back garden

I sometimes use chard to make a cheat's saag. It works really well.

 

[JimW]

Reducing plastic use makes no sense? Have you not being paying attention for the last 20 years?

Personally, it's great for me as a single person. The only way I can finish a supermarket pack of mushrooms is to eat them every day and I don't like them THAT much.

I scoff them raw while I'm chopping so I'd be fine but it's also easy to buy loose here. Also I work from home so can pop out in the afternoon for what I need to cook tea, which I realise is a luxury.

 

[polly]

Also, recycling is not the answer and not having the plastic packaging in the first place is much better, but just in case anyone doesn't know, you can take your soft plastics (film, bubble wrap etc) to most supermarkets now for recycling. There's usually some kind of receptacle in the doorway. We've been doing this for about a year and it is an immense amount of plastic. We hardly ever put our landfill bin out now.

 

[Epona]

A lot of of the veg I buy is frozen as otherwise I never finish it in time,

Frozen peas are just brilliant tbh, big fan.
Also do frozen sweetcorn, spinach, and occasionally green beans or shredded runner beans, depending upon what there is room for in the freezer.
I take to heart the advice that it is better to ram your freezer full of stuff, in terms of energy efficiency.

 

[WouldBe]

That is to prolong shelf-life in the supermarket, for their benefit, so that they can sell it for longer - not once I get it home and open it.

And the time taken to get from farm - distribution center - supermarket. Not much use if it's gone mouldy before it gets on the shelves.

 

[Epona]

And the time taken to get from farm - distribution center - supermarket. Not much use if it's gone mouldy before it gets on the shelves.

Well maybe in environmental terms we need to be looking at having a bit less choice in what is available at a distance from where it is grown, if processing it to make it to our shelves is very intensive and requires a lot of plastic.

 

[Poot]

Inspired by this thread, I went to check out healthy organic veg boxes. Then I remembered that last time after spending 3 evenings up to my elbows in muddy root veg I realised that I didn't have the time, the money and that everyone hates beetroot anyway. Also, thirty quid? THIRTY QUID?

I'll stick with Aldi. I hope they do get rid of packaging, but they're pretty good, really.

 

[planetgeli]

And the time taken to get from farm - distribution center - supermarket. Not much use if it's gone mouldy before it gets on the shelves.

And that farm might be in Chile. For a product we grow in the UK.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

Get a dishwasher I love it, they will pry mine out of my cold dead hands and even then they will have a fight for it.

Ah.

[The Dishwasher Saga]I bought a little 'tabletop' dishwasher with the intention of putting it under the sink. I measured the alcove and it should have fit. Bought a new ceramic sink. Paid a neighbour to remove the old kitchen cupboard and stainless steel sink and also knock out an old pantry cupboard on the other side of the kitchen.

Neighbour didn't unscrew cupboard and remove it carefully, he must've yanked it apart and pulled it out and caused a leak in the plumbing. So I was without a working kitchen sink for a while, was washing dishes in my bath, because I didn't dare trying to get anyone else to do it, because I have disastrous luck trying to get anyone remotely competent to do any work in my flat.

A friend eventually took pity on me and asked a plumber friend of hers to do it for me.

But then it turned out that the washing machine wouldn't fit on the other side of the sink under the draining board. Because I didn't realise that when the council were renovating the kitchens in other flats, they must've removed a row of bricks, so I'd assumed my washing machine would fit because lots of neighbours had their washer under that side of their sink.

So my new ceramic sink ended up mounted on a makeshift wooden frame by my lovely friend and her plumber friend who improvised to at least give me a working sink again, which I was (am) really grateful for.

But I've had the brand new dishwasher in a box for about 4-5 years now. And I can't install it until I take about 10 steps backwards and find a builder to remove a row of bricks so I can install the washing machine and a cupboard and the dishwasher.

I had a part-time job in 2022 and got a loan to do my tiny kitchen. I got someone out to give me a quote but they ghosted me. Then I changed job, then I was let go from my new full-time job after only a week due a conflict of interest. So then I ended up unemployed for nine months and spent my kitchen money on living expenses.

And I still have a knackered old kitchen in need of renovation, still no closer to installing the dishwasher that's still in its box, because fml. I just want a simple life but everything goes wrong.

It's like that thing about a battle being lost for want of a horseshoe nail, the whole dominoes disaster effect.

[/The Dishwasher Saga]