We have just been
up-country, as we say in Cornwall, visiting family, having a belated Christmas
dinner together (for the first time in about 20 years!) and seeing how grown
and wonderful my great niece Amelia has become.
So that’s why I haven’t written for a bit.
Whilst there I picked up a leaflet from the East of England Co-op who have had a good idea. They will now sell products past their ‘Best Before’ date in their 125 food local stores for a nominal 10p. I don’t know if they intend rolling this out to the rest of the country, but it is surely worth investigating.
According to the
leaflet …
BEST BEFORE DATES – A SHORT RANT
I really don’t want to encourage
anyone to take risks with their food but would nevertheless like to moan on a
bit about ‘best before’ dates.
Whilst I am, of course, as delighted as the next person by a bargain I am also often irritated. Fruits and vegetables have sometimes not reached their ‘best after’ date when being offered as past their prime. I have bought out of date ‘ripen at home’ avocadoes that weren’t soft for weeks, I once lost a bargain white cabbage in the car when bringing in the shopping and it was still OK when I found it there ten days later (it was cold out) and I even snapped up a healthy growing basil plant with roots for 10p because it was ‘past its best before date’!
Whilst I am, of course, as delighted as the next person by a bargain I am also often irritated. Fruits and vegetables have sometimes not reached their ‘best after’ date when being offered as past their prime. I have bought out of date ‘ripen at home’ avocadoes that weren’t soft for weeks, I once lost a bargain white cabbage in the car when bringing in the shopping and it was still OK when I found it there ten days later (it was cold out) and I even snapped up a healthy growing basil plant with roots for 10p because it was ‘past its best before date’!
Cheese is another case in point. Bearing in mind that it was developed
as a way to preserve milk and that many cheeses improve over time I was
surprised last Christmas to see small gift cheddars, coated in wax, which were
supposedly out of date by 9th January. Why? What would happen then? And don’t
get me started on honey!
‘Are best before dates a cunning
ruse to make nervous people throw food away and buy more?’ I ask myself
cynically. According to Defra these dates indicate how long a food can be
expected to retain its optimal condition and yet in my own experience many
bargains have not even reached optimal condition by that date. May I therefore
suggest that you rely on your own brain and your senses of smell and taste?
‘Use by’ dates are an
entirely different matter as they concern food spoilage and safety and I don’t
recommend you mess with them.So, as I’ve said before …
Please, please, please learn to cook so you can use
up all the food that you have available in utterly delicious ways. This is just one of my 7 Excellent Reasons to Learn to Cook. Go for it!!!
Oh, and don't forget to pop down the
Co-Op if you happen to be in the East of England!
In Other News …
A new edition of my
book is to be released on 1st March.
It is now titled Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers and can be ordered here.
I look forward to
meeting it myself!
No comments:
Post a Comment