Selling out-of-date food

[SaligoBay]

Those shops that specialise in food that has passed its sell-by date.

There are two opened recently nearby, one called Kadyeco, the other (I think) PromoStock.

I went into Promostock on Saturday, just to look.  Surprisingly, out-of-date litre cartons of orange juice were 80centimes, dearer than in-date from Lidl.  Washing-machine liquid was 10euros a bottle, which I've never paid en grande surface. 

Nice to see Bagdad Cola tho.

My neighbour is outraged at the very thought that these places exist, she had a nice little rant about the disgrace that poor people had to put up with out-of-date food because it's all they can afford etc.

Do you shop in these places?  Maybe Kadyeco's better than the Promo one? 

[Jonzjob]

Don't know. The Bio supermarket in the centre of Bass Carcassonne is good, they don't sell 'out-of-date-stuff' and is reassuringly expensive..

John

[Alexis]

There is one in St Meen le Grand which some Engish people told me about.  I went to have a look and bought some Italian rosé in half bottles.  So good I went back and bought the rest of the stock (9).  There were quite a few people buying.

I must say that for certain things, ie coffee, I like my brands so have to go to a supermarket, but I think I am being adventurous if I go to Lidl.

Mind you, if it has a nice label or wrapper.....!

[Hereford]

We picked up a couple of choc mousses in a small supermarket recently. I admit we did not check sell-by date.  The cashier (owner probably) noticed they were out of date and refused to charge us at all !  They were only one day out of date and tasted fine.

We were slightly embarrassed but she seemed to realise we had not done it deliberately (they were in fact the only two mousses she had left).

H.

[SaligoBay]

French supermarkets and shops are often careless with what's on the shelves date-wise, but these shops I'm talking about sell out-of-date stuff deliberately, they advertise the fact!

What surprised me most about the one I went into was that it wasn't even very cheap.   

I'll continue with Lidl and Ed, with the odd foray into SuperU when I need a bit of luxury.  

[opas]

Always bought certain items from Lidl, even when I worked and got staff discount at Asda, check out some of the labels in Lidl , the product is better than the brands ie lidl squeezy ketchup, no crap there, and certainly no E numbers.

As for the stores selling stuff out of date, we used to have one in Oldham in uk, It sold old Asda stock dearer than you could buy it in date in Asda!! , some bargains to be had in those places ie pickles, mayo and jams  which tend not to go `off`anyway.

[Mpprh]

Hi

Due to a c o c k up on the catering front we both bought 500gm jars of marmite

at the same time 10 years ago (it was unobtainable in Sweden and we were on separate trips to UK).

As we still had half a pot left it has taken until now to start the second jar.

It says best before 1997. And on past experience we won't have finished it until around 2008. Should I be worried ?

Probably less worried than my mother in law. She recently found some of the meat served at my mid 40's wifes confirmation lurking at the bottom of the freezer. She has relabelled it and returned it back to the freezer. It is probably 31 years old ?

Peter

[SaligoBay]

LOL Peter, you expect us to believe that a French freezer has lasted 31 years? 

If you're worried about the Marmite, bring it my way and I'll test it for you.    Obviously I'll need all of it.

I see that only my neighbour is worried about exploitation of people's poverty by making them eat old food.   If Tony Blair had suggested it, I bet there'd be an outcry.    

[Mpprh]

Hi

Well, they also have very old washing machines, microwaves, etc.

They say they won't replace them because "they don't make them like they used to".

And it is the same freezer, never broken down, never had any repair/service of any sort. It has always been pretty well full of meat. They have kept pigs, chickens, ducks, etc and used to swap half a pig for a quarter of a veal with family who kept cattle.

When I've pointed out that the supermarkets are open 6 days per week these days, the answer is " And if there is another war ?".

There is no answer to that !

Peter

[Richard-R]

Shops that sell out of date food. What next car dealers selling cars without breaks? My folks are also hoarders of food. Something my father got from is parents during the war. They planned to have enough food stored, so that if the Germans invaded England they could eat like kings for 2 months before the krauts made it down to Cornwall. Now living out in the sticks i only go the the supermarket once a month, so have taken over the family gene. I have even got Colemans mustard powder and a couple of bottles odf HP sauce in the freezer.

[Nick Trollope]

[quote]Shops that sell out of date food. What next car dealers selling cars without breaks? My folks are also hoarders of food. Something my father got from is parents during the war. They planned to have en...[/quote]

OK Richard, I give up. Just what is your avatar? I can make out BR symbol but (even with the benefit of Photoshop) nothing else? Please tell....

[Richard-R]

It's an ashtray from an old BR train that is now mounted outside my front door. We have a no smoking house, so i have to stand out in the cold ( or lean out of the study window ;-) ) Do not ask our i came by it and i will tell you no lie's, but i think it involved rather a lot of beer!!!!!

[Mpprh]

HP sauce in the freezer ?

Peter

[Mpprh]

[quote]It's an ashtray from an old BR train that is now mounted outside my front door. We have a no smoking house, so i have to stand out in the cold ( or lean out of the study window ;-) ) Do not ask our i ...[/quote]

Hmm

we use an upside down plantpot on the original saucer.

Protects it from wind & rain ?

Use a rounded stone on the hole to extinguish the last "stogey" otherwise you have a fire which can continue for hours.

Peter

[Richard-R]

Only visit the U.K. every 18 month's or so, so pop the plastic bottle's in the freezer to keep them fresh......god forbid that we should run out of the stuff. Not planning on vistiting England until 2006 now.

[Russethouse]

Rather embarrassingly I have to admit on stocking up on Branston pickle after I heard there had been a factory fire....no matter how my family tease, Christmas just wouldn't be the same without cold turkey, mash and Branston on Boxing Day ( sorry I don't have a blushing smiley)

[Coco]

I heard that one too Gay  I also heard that there is a shortage of lard which will lead to a shortage of mince pies and Christmas Puds.  Don't quite follow that one; if the lard shortage is current it shouldn't affect Christmas Puds, which should have been made quite a while ago.

As for out of date goods in France.  You don't need to pay a visit to a special shop, just don't pay attention to what you put in your trolley at any supermarket and half of it will be out of date by the time you get it home.  I gave up buying creme fraiche a few months ago because every pot was curdled.  Eggs HAVE to be checked, not just for broken ones ut to make sure that they are still in date.

Yesterday I made a wonderful new find - Patak's Naan bread in the foreign food section - one more thing to knock off the UK shopping list from kind visitors!  It's that vacuum packed stuff that lasts for months and although it's new to our Champion shelves, when I got it home yesterday I discovered that it went out of date last Saturday.  Tasted fine to me but I wonder whether they bought it from an out of date shop in the first place!!

[Jonzjob]

I'm not sure if I am missing the point here, but I thought it was against a raft of EU rulings to sell food that's out of date! If you check the bottled water even that's got a use by date on it. Mind you it has been around form the beginning of the Earth so I assume that it has to go out of date sometime. It's a budgar that it has to be next week or sometime soon like that.

The idea of date stamping food is so that it's in tip top condition when you buy it, so how can anyone legally sell it when it's outside those limits?

When my parents finally shook off their mortal coil and I sorted through the stuff they had in the cupboard some of the dates were in Roman numerals on a small stone tablet attached to the bottom of the stone jars... And my old mate next door, 93 when he died, had enough solid bags of sugar to build a wall with. He used to have 4 heaped spoons of sugar in an ordinary cup of tea. I used to tell him that he would never live to collect his pension if he didn't cut down, bless him , the lovely old fellar!!

John.

[SaligoBay]

[quote]I'm not sure if I am missing the point here, but I thought it was against a raft of EU rulings to sell food that's out of date! If you check the bottled water even that's got a use by date on it. Min...[/quote]

The information posters outside these shops say something along the lines of...

"The sell-by date on many foods (in tins, packets, etc) is only a recommendation, and the food is still safe to eat after that date, often for many years.

This does not apply to perishables, such as fresh meat or dairy products."

The shops don't actually seem to be all that busy, I can only assume it's because they're not even very cheap.