Expiration dates..

I often see fish reduced at Tesco to something like £4 reduced from £5 for fish due to go out of date the next day.  It's amazing what people will buy.

Smoked salmon is different, we often leave that open in the fridge for a while and no one has died yet.

Do you all prefer that, though UK food doesn't last as long as long, that it doesn't have the preservatives in it?

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Do you all prefer that, though UK food doesn't last as long as long, that it doesn't have the preservatives in it?

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Oh, definitely.

As a Brit, when I lived in the US, the long expiration dates freaked me out... I wondered what on earth they put in the food to make it last that long, and whether it was even that safe to eat!

Do you all prefer that, though UK food doesn't last as long as long, that it doesn't have the preservatives in it?

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Definitely.

I often see fish reduced at Tesco to something like £4 reduced from £5 for fish due to go out of date the next day.  It's amazing what people will buy.

Smoked salmon is different, we often leave that open in the fridge for a while and no one has died yet.

I'd buy that. But I'd plan on cooking it that evening.

Do you all prefer that, though UK food doesn't last as long as long, that it doesn't have the preservatives in it?

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This only applies to fresh foods. There are WAY MORE in many packaged foods, soaps, all sorts of things. It's been rough for me.

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Do you all prefer that, though UK food doesn't last as long as long, that it doesn't have the preservatives in it?

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It's mixed for me.  Bread has all sorts of weird crap in it already.  So I kind of wish they would throw the bits in that made it last longer.  It would be nice to see less food waste.  I feel like there is a LOT of food waste here.  And then all the plastic packaging with fruit and vegetables (which I know people are trying to change). 

Basically, I think you can get great fresh food in both countries - it's all in what you choose. 

This is the land of the ready meal. So tons of crap in there. 

I get particularly annoyed with all the "Your using plastic is BAD!" campaign when there are no other alternatives offered. 

I'd be fine with my meat/fish wrapped in butcher paper that could be recycled/composted. I mean, that's the way it was sold for years and it worked well. I already buy my veg "loose" and just put it in my wicker shopping basket to avoid all the shrink-wrapping.  I'd LOVE to have milk in glass bottles and would be fine with washing and returning them. Or taking my empty bottle of laundry soap back to a dispenser for a refill. But that's not an option. Even when it's not a ready meal, everything comes on those darned little black plastic trays that can't be recycled!

I did notice that everything is wrapped in plastic. Herbs, pre packaged cut veggies, etc. I worked in a grocery store back in Louisiana and I had fresh veggies that I cut then wrapped in a paper type thing. The bottom was Styrofoam though which isn't good, but I was shocked by all of the plastic here!!! Esp when they've stopped handing out plastic bags. 


I guess it goes both ways. The plastic the US  "saves" is wasted 10fold in plastic bags.

I will admit though it's been an adjustment in itself to get used to my food going bad so quickly!

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Where I live we can't even recycle clean plastic bags. In the US you brought them back to the store for recycling. But it seems there aren't recycling facilities for plastic in the UK? There's a huge amount sent overseas and apparently not always being recycled and ending up in waterways etc It's a big scandal right now.

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Where I live we can't even recycle clean plastic bags. In the US you brought them back to the store for recycling. But it seems there aren't recycling facilities for plastic in the UK? There's a huge amount sent overseas and apparently not always being recycled and ending up in waterways etc It's a big scandal right now.

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The supermarkets used to have the bag recycling facilities, but ever since they can charge per plastic bag, they want to crank out more and more........ 

The supermarkets used to have the bag recycling facilities, but ever since they can charge per plastic bag, they want to crank out more and more........

I tell Tesco to deliver my order without bags.  They charge a flat rate of 40p if you want bags, or no charge without bags.  I say no.  They still use bags.  They're not even making money off of me!

When I go out to shop, I bring my sturdier 9p bags to re-use.  I've been using the same lot since we got the car in June.  And I've been shopping with Tesco a lot less, so fewer bags from there.  I recycled the carrier bags before (though, as Margo pointed out, I'm not sure how much good that did), but I don't have to remember to do it so much now.

I did notice that everything is wrapped in plastic. Herbs, pre packaged cut veggies, etc. I worked in a grocery store back in Louisiana and I had fresh veggies that I cut then wrapped in a paper type thing. The bottom was Styrofoam though which isn't good, but I was shocked by all of the plastic here!!! Esp when they've stopped handing out plastic bags. 


I guess it goes both ways. The plastic the US  "saves" is wasted 10fold in plastic bags.

I will admit though it's been an adjustment in itself to get used to my food going bad so quickly!

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Yeah, it takes a different shopping strategy. If it's in a can or a dry good you can buy in bulk. For your perishables, though, you have to pretty much shop for them weekly (if not twice-a-week). I have a shelf groaning under the load of soups I bought from Tesco when they were at a significant discount. (Better the Tesco guy lug them up the stairs than me!) But, aside from meat that's going into either the crockpot or the freezer within a day or two, there's little meat in my fridge. Veg/milk is the same - I go get it twice a week. (Butter freezes well, so when it's on sale I load up.) We go through eggs so fast they don't have a chance to go bad. The same with bread. Assuming I've bought the right size loaf. (Small, not "family".) [They even sell bread with the crusts cut off here! Soooo weird.]