Every so often, the whole Big Brother-cum-Nanny-ness of our society gets to me. That and the jobsworths… but that is a whole other story and now not the time to tell it. I object to being on camera pretty much everywhere I go, traceable by any one of the myriad numbers that now identify us to ‘the system’ and subject to its herd instinct whether I like it or not. Invasion of privacy seems to be a forgotten concept in many areas of our lives and we are growing more and more accustomed to being told what we can or cannot do at the most basic levels… areas where common sense alone should suffice. And let’s not even mention some of those superfluous Health and Safety warnings that are just too ludicrous for words. It is as if we are being insidiously conditioned to be obedient to every sign and label… starting with food.
It is no longer enough to choose fresh food by the look and feel of it, nor are our children taught how to do so in school any more. More and more foods are being sold under plastic and I can tell you the looks I get when choosing a nice, ripe camembert are worth filming…
Yes, something got my goat; the realisation that, in spite of common sense being very much part of domestic education around here, I had lost a battle I have been waging for years. Retailers 1-0 Mum.
It was the eggs that did it. A dozen of them. They had, admittedly, been in the special box in the fridge, bought specifically to prolong shelf life, for a couple of weeks. Checking (under instruction) on the best-before date printed upon each one of them, it was duly noted that said date had passed.
Not a problem. There is a very simple way of checking the relative freshness… and therefore usefulness… of an egg. It was one of the very first kitchen tricks and almost certainly the first lesson in food hygiene that I ever learned. I remember well my great-grandmother, frugal by dint of having survived a couple of wars, food rationing and life as a Yorkshire mill lass in a pre-refrigerated world, showing me how it was done. All you do is immerse the egg in a large jug of water. If it touches bottom and stays there horizontally, it is fine. If it hovers half way, then it is okay but not at its best. Anything that floats you don’t touch with a bargepole.
The science too is simple. Between the shell and the inner membrane is a small pocket of air. The older the egg, the bigger the pocket… which makes it float.
All twelve eggs were tested. Two were okay but were discarded anyway, the other ten perfect. Fine… I’d hard boil them to use them up. No, said my tormentor… and, in spite of my protests, into the bin they went. A criminal waste.
I know the arguments inside out from having heard them from all of the young people around me over the years. Yes, science and the knowledge of food and bacteria have moved on. Yes, we know a lot more than we used to. But honestly… do we really have to be ruled by the labels, sell-by dates and arbitrary display-till dates on the packets? If a sinking egg hasn’t killed off the population of the planet in the tens of thousands of unrefrigerated years prior to this generation, aren’t we worrying a bit too much?
And that is quite apart from the fact that globally we waste around 40% of the food we produce every year… food that could have been both safely and palatably eaten.
The egg thing stems from the requirement of larger retail grocers to ensure efficient stock rotation and a tempting display of fresh foods. It doesn’t matter how often I explain the system, there is now a very real fear attached to disobeying those labels and anything past a date will be thrown away by young men who shall remain nameless.
Just to clear things up here, UK food labels have a number of dating options:
Display until and Sell by – these are intended for supermarket staff, not shoppers, to ensure stock rotation and appealing shelves. They have no impact on the quality of the food.
Best before – refers to food quality and is not a safety measure. Taste and texture may begin to deteriorate. After this date food is still okay to eat providing common sense is applied (and eggs that do not float are fine as long as they are thoroughly cooked…)
Use by – is the only one of these printed dates that means do not consume after this date for safety reasons. And even this can be extended if the fresh food is home-frozen.You should also follow the storage instructions.
I do not buy what I do not need, use what I buy and any leftovers end up either as something else entirely …or in the dog. Food waste bothers me… and as far as I can see, one of the biggest reasons good food is thrown away is a misunderstanding of a labelling system which was originally designed to serve and inform, not rule with a rod of iron. Please… a bit of common sense goes a long way…
Sue Vincent's Daily Echo 
We have gotten very good and waste very little. I hate throwing away food almost as much as I hate throwing away a book. It bothers me. Besides, I have three permanently hungry dogs.
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The digs are excellent disposal units 😉
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Reblogged this on perfectlyfadeddelusions.
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Thank you!
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Well said, Sue. And thanks for the explanation of the label variations
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Thanks Derrick
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What’ with the creepy mind game Sue? The vet came back from college last night and scoured the fridge for food. A box of eggs, admittedly with an October date caught her eye. ‘Out she says’ No lets test them first says I (same as you). But the box says… she was insistent. Wouldn’t even let me cook the up for Mylo. Bloody hell! He’s got stomach acid that would rot Mars. Something in the Westerly wind…
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This a strange phenomenon this slavery to printed and arbitrary dates..
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My mother used to tear them off so she didn’t feel beholden to them; many a battle with my dad over that
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Not a bad idea at all…
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It’s just about criminal to waste food .. buy what you need. And I agree re: plastic … ugh. Indoctrination begins early – what better way than with food …the supermarkets have got us hook line and sinker.
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That’s my fear.. And where will it end?
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Common sense is getting rarer than hens teeth, and I for one am sick to the back of mine at the loss of it. You can see the gaping holes where it should be, almost everywhere you look!
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Common sense – getting less and less common all the time. 😦
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unfortunately…
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A rare commodity I agree. And not encouraged .
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I want to cry when i see so much food wasted – and too much bought. I ignore all labels and use my nose!
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That us usually sufficient, isn’t it?
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oh, how you’ve hit a kindred nerve with me
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It really does bug me, this…
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That’s a good tip about testing eggs. I’d never heard it before. Incidentally, when I jump into a swimming pool, I float somewhere near the top, which I guess means I’m getting past my sell-by date.
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I tend to turn turtle and sink to the bottom of the pool head first!
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That’s great! It means you have a fresh and healthy brain. Er… it also means your under the water, though, so you’d best have someone on hand to rescue you. 🙂
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You and me both, Bun…
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🙂
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😛 Love this side of you, all feisty! I “recycle” food into something else often. And admit to *sometimes* giving something to KT, though since my Doctor doesn’t like her to have it, it’s a rare “treat”. Don’t get me wrong she can eat all the veggies she wants, and she absolutely loves them, carrots are her “chocolate,” but other foods I try to keep her away from. Left overs, I won’t touch them, I’ve never really liked them, so to be un-wasteful I started dating, Yeah I know, the sacrifices I make for the betterment of society. 😉
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Ani is a definite omnivore… With a good instinct for what she’s not allowed. Except chocolate… X
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The hubby and I differ on the life of our food. I like you, hate to throw something out just because of a arbitrary date printed on a carton. He on the other hand believes a product magically goes bad at the stroke of midnight on its appointed day. Regretfully since the kids came into the mix, the hubby wins the argument more often than I do.
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It really does drive me nuts that my sons share that view…
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Thanks for the egg trick Sue. I agree with the amount of wastage with food, and I do practice finding uses for foods that are on their way to the wasteland. Besides the amount of people starving in the world, the price of groceries alone is a good deterrent. 🙂
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It seems criminal on all fronts to waste food willy nillly…
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Thanks so much for the tip about testing eggs – a new one! I also hate wasting food and a lot of times just use common sense – along with the senses of smell, sight and touch – to determine if outdated food is still good. Those senses haven’t failed me yet! The US is becoming one HUGE nanny state – the stuff that goes on with food in the public schools is a crime!
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Same here Noelle sadly.
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I was taught the egg trick years ago. And the nose trick for milk – sniff the carton/bottle and your nose tells you immediately if it’s okay or not.
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Works for most things! That and the ‘squish’ test. 🙂
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Yep…the senses are designed for that…
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Hear, hear! ‘Guidelines’ have now become hard and fast rules. It is as if they don’t want us to think for ourselves anymore. On the other end, we could blame lawyers, because surely, these ‘guidelines’ come from a CYA point of view on the part of the retailers who don’t want to be sued.
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Yes, a lot of it is legal overkill .. And they have done such a good job, we believe them..
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Sue, I agree with you wholeheartedly about the food dates – but your first paragraph says it all for me, especially “we are growing more and more accustomed to being told what we can or cannot do at the most basic levels… areas where common sense alone should suffice.”. Two things come to mind. One is that I spent a long time in Africa, where there could be quite dangerous situations and not a health and safety message within a million miles (tho there may be now for all I know) – we simply had to do what you and I did when we were growing up – we used our common sense. And two, a child psychologist friend tells me that todays’ kids don’t have the common sense and “survival skills” that we have, because they are growing up in such ultra-safe, sheltered and fearing environments – they do not have the life experience that you and I picked up looking after ourselves. And Eliza is right too – we can certainly also blame lawyers. Adrian
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That second point is the one that really gets to me, Adrian. If we protect and cosset and direct too much, how can our children learn to stand when support is taken away?
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That egg test is very useful and I use it. The one date I find holds true is the date on the milk here. Usually if you go over it smells bad so I’ve found it to be true. I still smell it. Also, if it curdles in something hot, that’s a definite no-no.
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Our senses are pretty efficient aren’t they?
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Well, I got to the end of the post and was about to put a wry “Rant over?” comment down – then I saw the shit storm you’d stirred up and realised it could go on for a bit. Got to say, we’re pretty sensible in our household. We’re both pretty proud of the fact that our bins are rarely put out with more than half a load in them, and most of that is packaging. Then again, there aren’t any youngsters around.
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Mine seldom goes out with anything in it apart from dog food packaging these days, but there’s usually only me and the canine disposal unit. The bins of those nameless sons, however, are a different matter…
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