Food waste ?

[Bill]

Asp

 

I know nobodies forcing me to buy these BOGOF deals and I don’t and as for going somewhere else well I would if I thought it would make a jot of difference. They all do it and it just encourages waste, which is the whole point of this topic.

 

I say that we should never have a situation forced upon us where having got what food you need, you’re encouraged to take another one that you don’t need simply on the pretence that’s it’s free. It wouldn’t be too bad if the items weren’t perishable but stuff like pre-prepared ready meals need to be eaten within a day or so of purchase otherwise they’re in the bin.

 

Bill  

[observer]

But Asp, even the S/markets are moving out into residential areas now to provide convenience (corner) shops; so the wheel has turned full circle - the only difference is, that the majors control the market, which means they carry on the same procurement practises.

[asperity]

Bill, you are still talking as if you have no mind of your own. NOBODY IS FORCING ANYONE TO SHOP ANYWHERE THEY DO NOT WANT TO!!!!!! Okay there are loads of people in this world who are easily convinced by the slightest evidence, but that shouldn't affect someone as worldly wise as yourself surely? As for BOGOF deals, the same goes. If you don't want two items then just get one. If you don't like the price if you only get one for that price, then don't buy it there go somewhere else. No-one is forcing you!!!! Good grief, no wonder maketing men are laughing all the way to the bank if this is all the opposition they have. As for you Obs, I have already said that if the customer doesn't want the shops the shops will fail, because the customer will go elsewhere. It's called a market economy.

[observer]

... not if the market is monopolised by the majors.

[asperity]

So Obs are you saying that the major supermarkets would stay in business if nobody used them?

[observer]

Lots of things would cease "if nobody used them"; but the driving force behind our shopping habits appears to be cheapness and convenience; plus an inability through lack of time, laziness or ignorance to prepare a proper meal. It's this drive for cheapness that leads to short cuts in the food chain.

[asperity]

So the moral of the story is don't buy cheap ready meals from supermarkets if you don't want to. But who are you to stop other people buying rubbish if they want to? It's a free country and the last time I checked there wasn't a supremo called Observer making the rules.

[Bill]

Asp

 

Lets not make this personal if you don’t mind. I’m more than aware of some of the tricks that the supermarkets use and I don’t fall for any of them. I’m also (unlike my wife) a very careful shopper and always check the information that gives the effective unit price to find the true cost.  So in a nutshell, the supermarkets don’t have one over on me and if everyone took my approach then they’d be the ones having to change. 

 

As for not using supermarkets, well I’m with Observer on that one because it’s an academic argument that’s never ever going to happen. The issue as the topic name says is food waste and I’m simply saying that in my opinion, the supermarkets are just as much to blame as the public and its far easier for them to change their policy than to expect the whole of the general public to change.  

 

Bill

[asperity]

Bill, I am not making this personal. All I'm saying is that the supermarkets are giving the majority of their customers what they want (the customer is always right?) and if they didn't they would go out of business. I believe that in the old Soviet Union there was no food wasted, mainly because of a lack of food to waste. So be thankful that in this country you have a choice as to whether you buy something and how much of that something you buy. The supermarkets aren't going to change what they see as sound marketing practice just because they are told it is wasteful. They could just as easily point to over-regulation which forces them to discard perfectly good food because it has passed some arbitrary best before or sell by date. I believe it is the general public that has to change if food waste is to be eradicated and the chance of that happening is more than remote.

[Bazj]

Bill.... go shopping with a friend and then you can both buy the same items and split the cost so the items only cost 50% of what you would have paid on your own!!

[observer]

... and if your buying meat, go with a NEIGHbour!