Standard of food in supermarkets.

[sevenfourate]

A friend of mine went over with his then girlfriend while she worked for a few months and he fell in love with the place and now lives there full time.

Not surprised ! Two friends gone in last few years. One School mate been there years. My neighbour got offered a placement with work too. Went over for a look for 2 weeks. Haven’t seen them since. That was 5 (?) years ago 🤣

 

[Mike_P]

There's some really awful food but too many people get fooled by a stores reputation. Having to avoid gluten breaded fish is limited to start off with and the M&S freeform breaded cod is awful but as it's M&S people buy it. The Co-Op use to do a really good chunky breaded cod but haven't seen that for ages. Thankfully Sainsbury's offering has noticeably improved, it use to be comparable to the M&S one.

 

[mudsticks]

Hi, I dont know if its just me but I think a lot of food is now completely tasteless and inedible. I buy things/make myself my lunch/tea, then take a bite and just cant eat it. I try to get the freshest fruit and veg and refuse to shop at places like Iceland etc. But I still struggle because I think a lot of things are poor quality and tasteless. Does anyone else have this problem?

The supermarket produce offered will necessarily have many priorities before taste and even nutrition.

Their buyers generally demand conformity, and long shelf life, and they will nail the producer down on price to the last penny, so volume production, and ease of harvest via mechanisation will be at the forefront of their decision making.

None of the above, encourages or allows the larger scaled grower to spend much time thinking about how things taste.

If you want good tasting fresh produce, and you're concerned about provenance, production methods, and even the wellbeing of / economic return to the farmer then you'll most likely have to buy in places other than from the long supply chain model as is represented by the multiples right now.

Or if you're lucky enough to have the space, time and skills to grow your own, then go for it.

Not everyone has those opportunities though.

So if we're going to make tasty nutritious fresh produce available to everyone we're going to have to adapt how we produce and access fresh food.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Hi, I dont know if its just me but I think a lot of food is now completely tasteless and inedible

Post covid symptoms?

 

[Slick]

A few years ago I stayed in a smallholding in the south of France. The owners grew all their own fruit and vegetables, I couldnt belive the difference they actually tasted nice and had a good flavour.

Got to be honest, nothing is going to compare to that. Maybe a weekend farmers market or an honesty box at a farm road end, but you can't compare that to the quality or price of a supermarket.

 

[simongt]

Fruit and veg are seasonal?

And therein lies the problem. Back in t'day, fruit & veg were available according to their particular growing season and tasted as they should.
Now that the massive buying power of the supermarket giants and apparent 'demand' from Jane & Joe Public has taken presidence, we are supplied with fruit & veg from all over the world regardless of airmiles, cost and all that jazz.
That's why I use a local greengrocer as they won't buy anything that's out of season because of the lack of taste and quality. Limits the choice at times, but it makes things worth looking forward to; like proper Fenland celery ( complete with it's own mud - ! )in the late Autumn.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

51 and 3/4 here 😎 Do I still qualify as an old fart or merely a middle aged bottom burp ?

You're only a youngster yet.

 

[gbb]

So tonight, after a fair binge on kebab and chips thursday evening and a macdonalds yesterday, we trued to get back on track with a salad.
Supermarket salad ingredients, salad potatoes etc etc. Gotta say, it was reasonably underwhelming, a bit meh. Most of it from Aldi, we usually shop at Asda, not top flight stuff, but better it seems than Aldi.

 

[Reynard]

I dunno... Had a fabby dinner this evening made with supermarket (Tesco) ingredients. Except for the apples, which I picked in the community orchard back in the autumn...

Newmarket chipolatas (Powters, 83p on YS)
Clapshot made with Mozart potatoes (79p for 2.5 kg on clubcard offer) and a small swede (20p on YS)
Organic green beans (44p on YS)
Pan fried apples with chilli, rosemary & honey (apples free, rosemary free)

Other ingredients - cooking oil, butter, cream, seasonings all also from Tesco.

Seasonality and knowing where to get good quality / good value in the product lines is a big thing. I do buy as seasonal as possible when it comes to fruit & veg (though all bets are off when it comes to YS), and when it comes to meat & fish, I do prefer to go for the higher welfare as the flavour is so much better. Though again, when it comes to YS, I'm not terribly fussy. Except for cheap chicken breasts. I refuse to buy those - the cats won't touch the stuff and I respect their judgement LOL!

I find it's the ready made stuff that's disappointing, though I don't really buy that much of it. Though with things like pork pies and sausage rolls, it's always worth spending just that little bit more.

 

[Mike_P]

Fruit and veg is a bit of a lottery in stores I find and in the last year have had refunds from Sainsburys (a bag of salad leaves rotten and damp on opening) and Waitrose (bag of oranges that had a couple dried out)

 

[mudsticks]

So tonight, after a fair binge on kebab and chips thursday evening and a macdonalds yesterday, we trued to get back on track with a salad.
Supermarket salad ingredients, salad potatoes etc etc. Gotta say, it was reasonably underwhelming, a bit meh. Most of it from Aldi, we usually shop at Asda, not top flight stuff, but better it seems than Aldi.

Fruit and veg is a bit of a lottery in stores I find and in the last year have had refunds from Sainsburys (a bag of salad leaves rotten and damp on opening) and Waitrose (bag of oranges that had a couple dried out)

This is (one of) the problems of fresh produce being sourced via these outlets very - very often it does taste a bit meh - sometimes downright horrible.

I have to eat it sometimes, I know what you mean..

So people are naturally less attracted to it, compared with the other 'tasty' and easier things on offer.

It becomes a downward spiral and the inclination is towards less 'fresh' veg more highly processed stuff.
Which is very often cheaper too.
- So those on lower incomes tend towards eating more c@rp, because it's easier cheaper, and more accessible.

With all associated problems, health etc, that come with that.

But, enable people to grow for a living, and others access really tasty fresh stuff, and the balance shifts in the other direction.

I have customers who claim - only half jokingly - that they can't move away from this area because they risk not getting decent food where they end up.

It's quite difficult making a living from growing and distributing good fresh, seasonal 'natural' food.
But it's not impossible, with the right conditions.

It's only really difficult because it has been 'allowed' to become so..

The actual growing of it, is undoubtedly a complex craft skill, which takes time and effort to learn, like fixing a bike, or building a house, or whatever, but we could do the whole thing much better if the system was adapted away from how it currently stands.

 

[gbb]

This is (one of) the problems of fresh produce being sourced via these outlets very - very often it does taste a bit meh - sometimes downright horrible.

I have to eat it sometimes, I know what you mean..

So people are naturally less attracted to it, compared with the other 'tasty' and easier things on offer.

It becomes a downward spiral and the inclination is towards less 'fresh' veg more highly processed stuff.
Which is very often cheaper too.
- So those on lower incomes tend towards eating more c@rp, because it's easier cheaper, and more accessible.

With all associated problems, health etc, that come with that.

But, enable people to grow for a living, and others access really tasty fresh s7tuff, and the balance shifts in the other direction.

I have customers who claim - only half jokingly - that they can't move away from this area because they risk not getting decent food where they end up.

It's quite difficult making a living from growing and distributing good fresh, seasonal 'natural' food.
But it's not impossible, with the right conditions.

It's only really difficult because it has been 'allowed' to become so..

The actual growing of it, is undoubtedly a complex craft skill, which takes time and effort to learn, like fixing a bike, or building a house, or whatever, but we could do the whole thing much better if the system was adapted away from how it currently stands.

Then choice comes to the fore, and how you make informed choices.
We buy our potatoes from a local grower, have done for 10 years or more. He doesn't irrigate, his processes are simple, yield not being his ultimate aim, although important nevertheless. He could irrigate, increasing yield butat a cost to quality and perhaps storage times.
He sells other stuff, but its all stuff he buys at market, its hit and miss what he has so you can't plan.
I used to go to a local PYO who has stalls selling fruit, veg, craft products...all really really quite expensive but with no provenance, no idea where it came from and how good it was. I did ask but the poor sap behind the counter simply didn't know. It could have been market stuff repackaged and made to look great...but it guaranteed nothing.
Its quite difficult to find good fresh veg, maybe having an allotment may expose you to people that would be an ideal source...but I don't know anyone that does lol

 

[oldwheels]

The supermarket produce offered will necessarily have many priorities before taste and even nutrition.

Their buyers generally demand conformity, and long shelf life, and they will nail the producer down on price to the last penny, so volume production, and ease of harvest via mechanisation will be at the forefront of their decision making.

None of the above, encourages or allows the larger scaled grower to spend much time thinking about how things taste.

If you want good tasting fresh produce, and you're concerned about provenance, production methods, and even the wellbeing of / economic return to the farmer then you'll most likely have to buy in places other than from the long supply chain model as is represented by the multiples right now.

Or if you're lucky enough to have the space, time and skills to grow your own, then go for it.

Not everyone has those opportunities though.

So if we're going to make tasty nutritious fresh produce available to everyone we're going to have to adapt how we produce and access fresh food.

Is it not also down to variety.
Tomatoes varieties for example are bred for quantity rather than quality.
My father was a professional gardener and was very particular about variety.
On the country estates where he served his early days they used to use the contents of what was really a septic tank for watering. This was said to improve the taste.

 

[mudsticks]

Then choice comes to the fore, and how you make informed choices.
We buy our potatoes from a local grower, have done for 10 years or more. He doesn't irrigate, his processes are simple, yield not being his ultimate aim, although important nevertheless. He could irrigate, increasing yield butat a cost to quality and perhaps storage times.
He sells other stuff, but its all stuff he buys at market, its hit and miss what he has so you can't plan.
I used to go to a local PYO who has stalls selling fruit, veg, craft products...all really really quite expensive but with no provenance, no idea where it came from and how good it was. I did ask but the poor sap behind the counter simply didn't know. It could have been market stuff repackaged and made to look great...but it guaranteed nothing.
Its quite difficult to find good fresh veg, maybe having an allotment may expose you to people that would be an ideal source...but I don't know anyone that does lol

Yes of course choice is key.

As you've pointed out, a lot of people don't have much choice as to how or where they source their food, for many reasons

So we need to make it easier for people to choose to either grow some of their own food, and / or for people to be able to choose the job of growing good food for other people as their occupation.

There's a few (quite a few) things standing in the way of either of those positive choices atm, though.

Is it not also down to variety.
Tomatoes varieties for example are bred for quantity rather than quality.
My father was a professional gardener and was very particular about variety.
On the country estates where he served his early days they used to use the contents of what was really a septic tank for watering. This was said to improve the taste.

Yes indeed .

Some varieties, have excellent flavour, a reasonable yield, and do well under systems that don't use pesticides, artificial fertilisers, and so on.

But those grown where conformity, ease of picking and packing, and transportability / long shelf life are of vital importance, won't have been bred with the above attributes so much in mind.

 

[tom73]

Is it not also down to variety.
Tomatoes varieties for example are bred for quantity rather than quality.
My father was a professional gardener and was very particular about variety.
On the country estates where he served his early days they used to use the contents of what was really a septic tank for watering. This was said to improve the taste.

It get even more bonkers than some stuff is grown to fit the packaging. Such as having a given set number of tomatoes on each truss.