Author Topic: Wonky Veg  (Read 2369 times)

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Wonky Veg
« on: 01 October, 2020, 08:47:37 pm »


When placing an order with the supermarket, I noticed they have something listed as "Buitenbeentjes box", which google translate says is a "misfits box". Basically it's the veg that doesn't meet appearance standards. It was €4.99 for the box and you've no idea what will be in it. Well the delivery arrived today and the contents of the box are:




I don't quite get it, it all looks just fine. I had also ordered two bell peppers separately, from the normal range, and well having put them on the side, I couldn't tell you which came from which.

Makes me wonder, just how much perfectly good fruit and veg are we dumping. How high are the standards to be considered normal sellable fruit/veg?

Great value box, depressing implications :(

J
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ElyDave

  • Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society member 263583
Re: Wonky Veg
« Reply #1 on: 01 October, 2020, 08:50:17 pm »
Nothing wrong with any of that lot, I'd pick that on a market stall any day
“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.” –Charles Dickens

Re: Wonky Veg
« Reply #2 on: 01 October, 2020, 08:55:56 pm »
Maybe the scheme is such a hit they don't have any ugly fruit, but feel obliged to stuff your box full of perfectly adequately formed fruit.
Rust never sleeps

Mr Larrington

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Re: Wonky Veg
« Reply #3 on: 01 October, 2020, 09:07:03 pm »
29 tonnes of carrots dumped outside London university refers, peripherally.  I'm not sure whether this qualifies Rafael Perez Evans for the Super-Twat thread upstairs or not.
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Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Wonky Veg
« Reply #4 on: 01 October, 2020, 09:31:14 pm »
Maybe the scheme is such a hit they don't have any ugly fruit, but feel obliged to stuff your box full of perfectly adequately formed fruit.

I think there's a bit of this going on at Mr Sainsbury's Emporium of Toothy Comestibles, where I've been alternating between kilo bags of wonky and non-wonky carrots on the basis of whichever has the best use-by date.  While you get the occasional bifurcation or rudley-shaped one, the main criteria for wonky status - at least as far as carrots are concerned - seems to be being a bit on the small side.  Parallels with another thread, in that how much that matters depends mainly on what you're planning to do with it...

cygnet

  • I'm part of the association
Re: Wonky Veg
« Reply #5 on: 02 October, 2020, 11:09:54 pm »
Off the cuff -

Cucumber: too bent
Pears: too bent, too elongated.
Carrots: too wonky
Peppers: too cellulity/surface pitted
Apples: too blotchy

Can't 'see' anything 'wrong' with the oranges.

I'd buy the lot, looks tasty.
My local House of Toothy Comestibles requires purchase of wonky potatoes in units of 2.5kg which means a heavily potato based meal plan or buying smaller amounts of averagely sized/shaped etc veg.
I Said, I've Got A Big Stick

Re: Wonky Veg
« Reply #6 on: 03 October, 2020, 12:14:27 am »
Wonky or not, that doesn't look like a lot for your money.  Have you estimated what it would have cost if you'd bought the items separately? 
But yes food waste is shocking, at least some of it is being sold, a lot of stuff that won't fetch a worthwhile price never leaves the farm.  It's somewhat hypocritical that supermarkets are cashing in on these rejects, considering it was mainly them that set the standards. I try and avoid them, I either buy fruit and veg from a farm shop or the market.  If I want to save money and am not feeling fussy, the market at 4pm on a Saturday is the place, a fiver will get me as much as I can carry and no plastic wrapping.

Re: Wonky Veg
« Reply #7 on: 03 October, 2020, 09:35:52 am »
The Lidl that I use has taken to putting boxes about twice the size of the one shown with a selection of assorted 'below standard' fruit and veg at each check out. I haven't bothered with it because by then I've already done the fruit & veg shop for the week at Wolverhampton market and also there are usually a fair amount of potatoes in them (and I've already bought a sack). I will check what price they're asking if I remember next time I'm in.

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: Wonky Veg
« Reply #8 on: 03 October, 2020, 11:30:10 am »
Wonky or not, that doesn't look like a lot for your money.  Have you estimated what it would have cost if you'd bought the items separately? 
But yes food waste is shocking, at least some of it is being sold, a lot of stuff that won't fetch a worthwhile price never leaves the farm.  It's somewhat hypocritical that supermarkets are cashing in on these rejects, considering it was mainly them that set the standards. I try and avoid them, I either buy fruit and veg from a farm shop or the market.  If I want to save money and am not feeling fussy, the market at 4pm on a Saturday is the place, a fiver will get me as much as I can carry and no plastic wrapping.

Well given said supermarket sells the peppers for €0.99 each, that just means the rest needs to add up to €3. Which I think it does. Veg is expensive here.

Farm shop? I'm in the middle of a capital city, and I don't own a car. I also don't have the time to cycle the many kilometres to a farm shop (the only one I've found is a 43km round trip), just to buy some potatoes and peppers. As for the markets idea. Nah, not round these parts. Not cheaper, not better quality, not easy to access, and as for the plastic wrapping. Hahahahahahaha

J
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http://b.42q.eu/

Re: Wonky Veg
« Reply #9 on: 03 October, 2020, 10:12:33 pm »
Weird for veg to be expensive in a country that's a massive agricultural exporter. Wonder whether that's just an Amsterdam tax, or a national thing? It's been years since I lived there; when I last visited I did think food was a bit more expensive, but put it down to the post-Brexit exchange-rate crash.

Davef

Re: Wonky Veg
« Reply #10 on: 04 October, 2020, 08:53:43 am »
Wonky or not, that doesn't look like a lot for your money.  Have you estimated what it would have cost if you'd bought the items separately? 
But yes food waste is shocking, at least some of it is being sold, a lot of stuff that won't fetch a worthwhile price never leaves the farm.  It's somewhat hypocritical that supermarkets are cashing in on these rejects, considering it was mainly them that set the standards. I try and avoid them, I either buy fruit and veg from a farm shop or the market.  If I want to save money and am not feeling fussy, the market at 4pm on a Saturday is the place, a fiver will get me as much as I can carry and no plastic wrapping.

Well given said supermarket sells the peppers for €0.99 each, that just means the rest needs to add up to €3. Which I think it does. Veg is expensive here.

Farm shop? I'm in the middle of a capital city, and I don't own a car. I also don't have the time to cycle the many kilometres to a farm shop (the only one I've found is a 43km round trip), just to buy some potatoes and peppers. As for the markets idea. Nah, not round these parts. Not cheaper, not better quality, not easy to access, and as for the plastic wrapping. Hahahahahahaha

J
Marginal I would say. Peppers are expensive. Most of the rest is cheap. The box will have cost more than the carrots. Worth it though for the excitement of seeing what turns up. They should occasionally throw in something freakish like salsify or Jerusalem artichoke to scare people.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Wonky Veg
« Reply #11 on: 04 October, 2020, 11:31:27 am »
The only thing I can see that might have any impact on eating is the peppers are a bit waxy and pitted, and one of the carrots is a bit greenish at one end. Minor minor.

Obviously the rest of it must fail some appearance standard but apart from the wonky cucumber (Brexit!) I have no idea what.

Perhaps the worst thing is that it won't taste worse or better, because most of our fruit and veg is bred for appearance over taste.  :(

And I wonder if the high prices as well as the absence of farmer's markets and similar are a consequence of the thriving horticulture industry? That things are grown for bulk export and there isn't anything left over (except stuff which is dumped cos not up to standard; maybe that's a tax-deductible... ). That and the per-item pricing.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: Wonky Veg
« Reply #12 on: 04 October, 2020, 11:58:03 am »
Obviously the rest of it must fail some appearance standard but apart from the wonky cucumber (Brexit!) I have no idea what.
I suspect these boxes also get filled with stuff that simply isn't selling well.
We are fickle and do buy on appearance even when it has no relevance. I guarantee if a greengrocer put those apples with slight blemishes next to ones without they'd be the last to sell. How produce is presented is a whole industry in itself (Why do you think supermarkets place the fresh produce where it's the first thing you see?), and it works both way, organic needs to be the right amount of muddy to sell well, there's also ways to promote stuff as cheap even if it isn't (A computer shop I know used to rough up boxes and put them on a pallet in the middle of the floor with a handwritten "Managers Special" sign). There's also production to consider, for a supermarket to sell a cucumber for 50p, the producer can't spend much effort fitting the right quantity in a box, likewise pears into a plastic bag.

 

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Wonky Veg
« Reply #13 on: 04 October, 2020, 03:32:09 pm »
How produce is presented is a whole industry in itself (Why do you think supermarkets place the fresh produce where it's the first thing you see?),
Years ago (1998) I remember a Turkish student in Britain getting very animated about the cultural differences he observed between the two countries on the basis of supermarket layout. He'd decided that fruit and veg were incredibly important to British people because they were always the first thing you see. In Turkey it's always dairy produce, which occupies an important place in Turkish diet and culture. I also remember being struck by the different layout of New Zealand supermarkets, though I can't remember what occupied pride of place there except it wasn't either produce or dairy (although what we'd call a convenience store or corner shop they call a dairy). But actually I wouldn't say the UK was a particularly veg-focused place. I'm sure there's a whole study to be done of international supermarket layouts and their relationship to local diets and cultures.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: Wonky Veg
« Reply #14 on: 04 October, 2020, 07:17:16 pm »
How produce is presented is a whole industry in itself (Why do you think supermarkets place the fresh produce where it's the first thing you see?),
He'd decided that fruit and veg were incredibly important to British people because they were always the first thing you see.
Apparently it's aimed at your mind rather than your stomach.  The impression of freshness is intended to stay with you as you stuff the trolley with processed junk.
Quote
I'm sure there's a whole study to be done of international supermarket layouts and their relationship to local diets and cultures.
A quick google will bring up the results of plenty of studies into the phycology of retail, some of it so clever it ought to be criminal.

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: Wonky Veg
« Reply #15 on: 04 October, 2020, 09:15:38 pm »


Housemate ate the oranges (turns out they had a shelf life of about 20 minutes...).

Peppers have been diced, and put in the freezer.

One carrot went into yesterday's dinner. (Pork chops and potateos cooked in cider, rather al denté, but worth further experimentation). Another got fed to my housemate today with the Sunday roast. 

The apples got turned into apple sauce to go with the roast pork of today's dinner. Which due to total incompetence on my part, means we actually have enough to make apple crumble tomorrow, and maybe Tuesday too. Turns out you get a lot of apple sauce from these things...

J
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Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Wonky Veg
« Reply #16 on: 04 October, 2020, 09:54:29 pm »
Apple crumble means you always get your just desserts.  :D I like mine with custard, some prefer ice cream or cream. Or just plain crumble. You can't go wrong with it.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: Wonky Veg
« Reply #17 on: 04 October, 2020, 10:14:12 pm »
Or custard, cream and ice cream. Come on man, where's your inner cakeiness ?
Rust never sleeps

Clare

  • Is in NZ
Re: Wonky Veg
« Reply #18 on: 05 October, 2020, 12:26:48 am »
When I cheffed, one of our Sunday lunch regulars would always have apple pie with custard and ice cream. We would put the apple pie with custard in the dumb waiter along with a tub of vanilla ice cream and an ice cream scoop. When it got to the service area Helen (it was always Helen*) would put two scoops of ice cream on the custard and run with it to the table so that it got to the customer before the ice cream melted.


*Bit of a twat customer - 'What's the plaice'
Helen (for twas she) - 'It's a big flat fish'

Another time:
Helen - 'Who ordered the lesbian vagina?'**


**Vegetarian lasagne

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: Wonky Veg
« Reply #19 on: 09 October, 2020, 02:36:01 pm »

Went to add another of these to next week's shop. They are out of stock. Looks like they are popular.

J
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http://b.42q.eu/

ElyDave

  • Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society member 263583
Re: Wonky Veg
« Reply #20 on: 09 October, 2020, 03:22:58 pm »


Housemate ate the oranges (turns out they had a shelf life of about 20 minutes...).

Peppers have been diced, and put in the freezer.

One carrot went into yesterday's dinner. (Pork chops and potateos cooked in cider, rather al denté, but worth further experimentation). Another got fed to my housemate today with the Sunday roast. 

The apples got turned into apple sauce to go with the roast pork of today's dinner. Which due to total incompetence on my part, means we actually have enough to make apple crumble tomorrow, and maybe Tuesday too. Turns out you get a lot of apple sauce from these things...

J


My brain totally misunderstood that and asked me why you would be putting leftover roast pork in a crumble.  I've said I'll get back to it later when I've worked it out.
“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.” –Charles Dickens

Gattopardo

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Re: Wonky Veg
« Reply #21 on: 09 October, 2020, 07:13:26 pm »
Do love an apple crumble...opens up the custard/ice cream/evaporated milk or dulche de leche ;)