I am really naffed of with Sainsbury's at the mo as they never seem to have their shelves stocked and also their sell by dates always seem to be so short. I was in a rush on friday and did the weeks shopping and we have just looked in the fridge and a big pack of fresh chicken fillets, a leg of lamb and cooked chicken tikka bits were all sell by date on Saturday :( £25 down the drain :(

Should I complain or is it my fault for not taking time to look ? I know what the answer is but do we all have time to look at everything we buy with such close scrutiny ? This was a big 24 hour shop as well so they can't make the excuse of low turnover :rolleyes:

Lucy
xx

i dont know, but will give you a tip. Fresh food always get the stuff from the back ;)
The shops always put the use by soonest at the front/rotation. so i always reach as far back as I can and hope for the best LMAO.
you could always freeze it and give it to the dogs seeing as it is only 2 days out. Would use the leg of lamb myself tho as you can hang them for weeks without any problems and seeing as they have been refridgerated you will be ok. wouldnt trust the chicken tho, although, if it the fillets dont smell it should be ok. use by dates always tend to be a few days before they go off.
Sorry i havnt been much help have I. LOL.
Lea :)

I normally do Lea but not when I am in a rush ! I was more intent on getting back home so I could have an hour to take the girls out for a lovely walk as had been away for some of the week and missed them  :)

The leg of lamb is still in the fridge and I think will be eaten but still naffs me off that they have such a short shelf life :rolleyes:

Lucy
xx

Also, sell by date is not the same as use by dates ;)

ah yes, has it got a number in brackets after the sell by date??????
Lea :)

if it says .....
Sell by 17th September (2) it means the use by date is 2 days later so the use by date is today.
And yes. I tend to grab the closest one when i am in a rush ::)(meant to be an embarressed face!!!!!) LOL
Lea :)

I bought a chicken on a Friday for Sunday dinner the other week in Sainsburys, it was use by the Saturday.  I would think most people buying a joint on a Friday uses it on the Sunday.

There fruit and veg go off quickly too.  I usually use Waitrose, never have a problem there.

Fish or chicken is not a thing I would risk though :)

Tried to do an embarassed face but failed miserably :rolleyes: :D

Lucy
xx

I can totally sympathise with you. Our local Tesco is much the same, and particularly poor on fresh fruit and veg. We live semi-rural so it's the main supermarket around here. I often moan about it especially when you get all the fancy dan adverts popping up. At least I can go down a few times a week due to p/t work so stand half a chance of getting better quality produce.I do tend to have to shift half empty crates of mushrooms, tomatoes etc to get to the slightly fresher stuff though- I mean really it's C**P! And not great value....
I do buy frozen veg these days- but it's sad when you have to..

Frozen veg is usually fresher than so-called 'fresh' veg ... unless of course you grow your own!

Listen Lucy, Salad in the bags that is going off is almost worse that meat or veg.. the things you get from that YUCK. I have thrown out a lot of stuff this week most was in date.

Sainsbury's used to be my fave supermarket but they have plummeted downhill over the past 6 months or so, so badly that I now won't go in there at all.  My local Tesco is very good and for that "special" something, Waitrose, who are always dearer but their meat is fab.  I just heard on the news last night that Sainsbury's are spending millions on a revamp - new trollies, new lorries, new image etc.  IMHO, if they just concentrated on what was (or wasn't in most cases) on the bloody shelves, they might be in with a chance :rolleyes:

THey are normally so good but I tell you I am a bit miffed with a few of the super markets all just now I have had dodgy chicken, strawberries this week . I bought Carrots on Saturday and went to cook them on Sunday and they had the wet look already.

I never have time to taketo take them back so the get off with it..This week I am taken note as it is a lot of money.  Cheeky beggers .

Hi Lucy it is a real bummer isnt it. What I do is get the supermarket to deliver all of the basics, If they send me a product with a short sell by I phone up, complain and get it refunded :) All the stuff like veg and meat comes from local farmers makret and farm shop - makes shopping SO much more civilised :D  

I have just decided after a year or so to try online shopping again. I went away from it as they never delivered ontime and also the issue about sell by dates. I will see what happens this time as they have said they have improved their service. We shall see :)

We do try and use our local farm shop or the new local shop that has just been opened by a friend in our village where ever we can as the food is so much nicer and really not that more expensive when you weigh up quality vs price :)

Lucy
xx

I went shopping to Sainsbury's last night and was gutted to hear that the've stopped doing their Xtra Garlic Garlic Bread.  :-(  Me and OH loved that and used to buy a pack as a treat once a week.

Gutted!!  (Still, no garlic bread will help with the diet I suppose)!!  ;-)

I have gone back to having it delivered when I worked out that it was costing me nearly a gallon of petrol to drive to the supermarket, that made the delivery charge look cheep. Also I do tend to buy from them every other week and buy in bulk, so I let them do the lifting of heavy boxies :) Our service has certainly got better over the last year or so, dont know if it is training or because I complained so much that i now have a special mark against me.

We have just had a thing through fro Ocardo offering £15 off your first shop, so I think Ill be trying that next week.

The worst section I find in any Supermarket that I steer well clear of now is the Fresh Reduced section, where the sell by date is that day or the next!!  These are some times so full that they can't be at the temp they should be because sometimes so much is crammed in together - I have bought something from this section once, when I got it home and went to cook it the smell was awful, straight in the bin - never again - the bottom slapping supermarket are the worst offenders for this!

I find that the worst section these days is the meat in big T's - always bloody and fatty :( and those bags of sileage they call salad - no matter where they come from :rolleyes:   When they first started selling them they were lovely and fresh - but now!!!   It doesn't matter if you see them being put on the shelves from the boxes, they are still wet and manky when you get them out of the bag, and I only buy them to eat when I get home from shopping, but never again :(

I think you can't go past Sainsbury for their meat :-)  a bit more expensive but decent cuts.

Problem with beef ( now please don't jump on me) is that you have to watch where it is from..

Scottish beef is the best, followed by British then Irish.   So look for the Scottish beef. You can tell the different :-)

>the bottom slapping supermarket are the worst offenders for this!< :-D

I think they have really went down hill.

I still like Sainsbury and I do shop at Tesco also.

if you shop online at Tesco you get a £10 coupon every couple of shops :-)

Trouble is I would try and shop online for Tesco's but they deliver from a very small shop and so you don't get half the stuff you order :rolleyes:

We have to travel over 30 miles to get to a decent supermarket from where we live ! Our choice I suppose to live in the sticks :)

The bottom slapping shop is very questionable for food but everything else in their big store I think is very good value including the clothes :)

Lucy
xx

I am wondering wether the region has anything to do with unhappiness at the bottom slappers store...
I notice a few of you complaining about meat and veg, but i honestly can say that the meat and veg at my local store is great, cant really fault it. I have had veg last a week in my fridge ( mind you that might just be my fridge) and my meat is good quality and doesnt seem bloody ( well its not actually blood as the animals are hung when slaughtered but i know what you mean :) )

would be interesting to see where the stores are that people arnt happy with :)

Swindon one is the one we have been to and haven't been impressed :)

There is nothing - no matter how cheep that would induce me to buy food from the bottom slappers. In my experience the quality of food leaves a lot to be deisred. We are lucky in that we have a branch of just about every supermarket within about half an hour of us. I think the exception is Morison. Tesco is definately the best for 'ethnic' type foods, Waitrose is great for fresh stuff and ready meals, but not really big enough to stock a full range of other stuff. Sainsburys has been very variable and annoys the hell out of me as there is always someting that is not in stock and dosent come in for weeks. Lately it has been the big tubs of margarine, but that could be because Tescos have stopped stocking them.

Im looking forward to getting a local costco, although I may need to have a good sort out to make space for all of theose bulk buys :D
  

Within a 15-mile radius we have three Tescos, a Sainsbury, a Morrison and an Asda. One Tesco does excellent bread, but another one is better for household goods. The Morrison does good pies and cakes but that's about it, the Asda has good clothes and doughnuts. The Sainsbury is a waste of time. Poor quality at high prices.

Agree re: Salads Dill - I think they are kept in far to cold a temp IMO

We're getting a Costco and a bottom slapping supermarket locally all in the space of a couple of months - can't wait!  Got my Costco coupons this morning,and it just isn't worth going down to Watford ever week to take advantage of all the offers - but when the new one opens here it will be :D

OOh you must be near to me! Just got an M&S food as well (not good for the housekeeping though) :D

If I can be fagged to travel over 30 mins then I get to shop at the bottomslappers or more-reasons. IMO both have much better quality fruit and veg than the 'every little helps'  local store that I usually shop and they are situated in a more deprived area. It would be interesting to see if there's an every little helps store near to the others to see whether it's better than our local. 

We have two Tesco's (one of which is brand new) but they are both in different towns to each and to us! We have an Asda down the road, and then a load of cheapy ones like Netto and Lydl.

The old Tesco is quite small, and is certainly stocked for ethnic recipes - not much good for us, when you have a hubbie that won't eat anything with even the slightest bit of powdered onion or garlic in it.

The new Tesco is much better, but it is b*oody freezing in there!!! Last time we went it was nearly 30 degrees outside, but we had to put our coats on to go in it!!!

The Asda is quite big, but does have a problem with mice so that is a big no no!!

And then the cheapy ones - they are good for cheap beer deals at times but we could never do a big weekly shop in them, not only is most of it foreign (so you have never heard of it before), but you can go in one week and find some nice things, and then go in the next and there is completely different things on the shelves!!!

We have recently been having the shopping delivered (it now comes from the new Tesco) so we don't have to get hypothermia whilst we shop!!!

LOL Natalie - I always end up taking my coat into ASDA with me, even in the middle of Summer!  I always freeze by the cold food counters!!

Oh it isn't just by the cold stores, it is as soon as you enter the store!!! I am guessing that because it is such a new store, the air con is still brand spanking new is running a bit too well!!! ;) :)

I do really feel the cold, which probably makes it worse, but even my hubbie who walks around in shorts and t-shirts in the depths of winter feels the cold in there!! I am honestly surprised they haven't got icicles hanging off of the shelves!!! :P

Maybe the young male 'shelf stackers' turn the air-con up, then lie in wait for us un-suspecting women to walk through the door with thin T-shirts on!!  Could poke your eye out ;) :D

LOL I will have to keep an eye out for them, then whip my coat off, believe me, if they get an eyefull of me, they will not be turning the air con up again!!! :D :D :D

LOL!! :D

Wasn't there a supermarket that had an evening for nude shopping a few years ago? just rings a bell, but I could be making it all up. I didn't go if there was anyway. The mention of icicles just got me thinking..

LOLOLOL Yuk!!! :P

Can you imagine taking part, and then bumping into your neighbours down the bread aisle? LOL

:D  :D :D

>Wasn't there a supermarket that had an evening for nude shopping a few years ago?

that'd be enough to put you off sausages for life! :P

I buy all meat from my local farmer who slaughters and sells on site.  Fab quality meat and very fresh.  Its a 60 mile  round trip but I only go twice a month and spend about £60 a time. 

All my fresh fruit and veg is from another local farm shop.  All organic so the veg doesn't look like the perfect plastic looking things in the supermarket but the taste is superb.

Tins and stuff I don't really care where I buy them from because it just doesn;t matter.

I always double check my sell by dates, but do be aware.  The poster (sorry can't remember who) who said get from the back of the shelves is technically right, but watch out because I always pull from the back but have noticed that in some stores, the assistants are too lazy to pull the old stock forward and sometimes the best dates are at the front!!

I've been the "victim" of this too Lucy. And yes, when I've got the time, I do hunt about at the back to get the longest "use by" date but this isn't always successful as sometimes they're all the same bloody date

I've even got my Dad "shelf hunting" now as he suffers the same problems when shopping on the hop.

I prefer my meat to come from the butchers but if I have to buy from the Supermarket, I make sure that it's scottish and comes from S'burys.

The only real gripe I've got about where I live, apart from the fact that I live in the back of beyond, but my choice ;) is that Waitrose just doesn't exist up here. According to them, their closest branch is in Harrogate, Yorkshire, 200 miles away!!!!!

When we lived down south, we used to do pretty much the same Balibee, but since we moved up here, and are now surounded by farms, the only one we can find that sells anything, is only down the road, but all they sell is eggs and manure!! It doesn't seem worth the bother of going just for eggs. :(

The Asda is quite big, but does have a problem with mice  so that is a big no no!!

So did the M&S in Bristol and that was from someone who worked there!!!!

We actually saw the mouse ourselves, my hubbie was waiting at the end of the aisle whilst I went up to get something, I got whatever it was, turned around to walk back to the trolley, and this mouse hopped out from under the shelves and ran across the aisle in front of me and hid under the shelves on the otherside! We convinced ourselves that it had probably come in from the back doors, which are always open wide, and had got scared inside and was trying to get back out, but the next time we popped in for something, all around the edges of every shelf/stand there was a sticky substance on the floor, which we guessed was some sort of deterrant and we have never been back in there!

I think there is nothing worse than mice/rats crawling around, especially when you imagine that when the store is shut at night, they don't empty all of the fresh fruit and veg off the shelves, and those mice were probably having a field day!!! EUGH!! Makes my skin crawl! I would have thought that health and saftey would have made them to shut the shop until they were gone, but apparently not!!!

It is stupid really because I am sure that the fruit and veg would have had all sorts crawling over it in the fields, but it somehow seems vile to think of them crawling and nibbling it when it is in a shop.

>>I always double check my sell by dates

Now didnt i see on tv or hear on the radio ( sorry cant remember which) something about food having its sell by date changed to a slightly later date if it hadnt sold yet and the date was close...... not sure if it was suppliers or the actual stores doing this
but seem to remember something about it not that long ago...

Anyone else heard of this?? or am i just having really vivid daydreams again :D

Hi Liz,
I agree it anoyes me, that every think in the stores now, has short sell buy dates.
Asda are the same, cakes have to be eaten today or tomorrow. waste of time.
You buy a weeks shopping, and have to use every think the next day egh!! I do go
to Icland now there dates are a little better. or get fresh meat from the Butchers,
or meat market in Birmingham and freeze it my self. It never used to be like this,
in the Supermarkets.
Regards
Denese

I never realised anybody took any notice of 'sell-by' dates, let alone 'use-by' dates! However did we survive before they were instigated? And when we didn't have fridges and freezers? Oh yes, we used our eyes and noses ... ;)

Must admit I don't adhere to them strictly.  I leave it to OH (chef) to tell me if somethings off or not!

...if the government wants us all to eat more fresh fruit and veg they need to get the message across to the supermarkets that people will be reluctant to change their eating habits if the quality of the produce is poor.  Countless times I've bought fruit which is either tasteless, already bad inside or goes off within a day or two.
At least when you buy a chocolate bar or a packet of biscuits there's a good chance you won't be disappointed with the taste or quality.