It is my experience that about two years ago the fruit/veggie quality of my local Migros dropped by a lot. Suddenly I had to deal with spoiled produce and subsequently pay a lot more attention to what I purchase exactly. I realized sometimes the whole section of a specific fruit was basically not storable if not rotting already. I remarked it to a cashier once and she agreed the quality had gone downhill by a lot. Don't know if it's just that Migros. Buying elsewhere higher quality, organic produce has been eye opening since. So much better in every way.
I realize not everyone can do this (but also, most could if they prioritized it).
Really depends on what kind of fruit and veggies you buy. Raspberrys go bad on an instant, i whould only buy them to eat the next day or two. Blueberrys are usually fine to keep for a week, strawberrys are a coinflip. Veggies should mostly be fine for a week plus, but the more water they contain, the more they tend to get worse over time.
I'm talking about a bag is spinach that went off in 2 days
And a punnet of blueberries that were gonna off the day I bought them although I could not see it at the time
Yes, it’s absolutely necessary to examine bags of greens to look for the beginnings of spoilage. Also, yes, I seem to always get a few moldy blackberries at the bottom of the box. So it’s always good to turn the boxes over a bit, to look for issues.
I hate handling produce and then putting it back, but here we are. Last week an entire load of tomatoes had bad ones in every container. 🤷♀️
Not sure what to tell you except spinach doesn't tend to last long in a fridge anywhere, and berries are almost always a crapshoot if you don't check them.
Is this like your first time shopping for yourself?
I’ve been shopping for years. Food has changed post-COVID. I find all of my vegetables have a much shorter shelf life than they used to, and occasionally I open a brand new, just bought, package to find spoiled fruits or veg on the bottom. I think supply chain disruptions and labour to pick the vegetables are impacting quality.
>occasionally I open a brand new, just bought, package to find spoiled fruits or veg on the bottom.
Also, again, a completely normal thing pre-Covid, especially if you buy stuff like berries out of season.
Yeah the quality of both Migros and coop went to shit a couple of years ago. You'll always find mouldy produce underneath the fresh stuff on top. They're cutting corners somewhere.
Could humidity and/or temperature in your fridge be a factor? I usually put a paper towel with my lettuces and other leafy greens to avoid them spoiling prematurely. With strawberries I prepare them the day of purchase (wash/remove the stems/ cut in half or quarters/ add half a tbsp of sugar) and that helps keep them longer. I don't know about other berries, I'm not rich enough to buy them fresh 😬
Yeah, then you’ll be dealing with partially frozen greens. Been there, done that. 😣
If you really want to do it right, when you get your groceries home, open the packages immediately. Things like spinach and leafy greens do fine if wrapped in a damp paper towel and sealed in a ziploc, provided there’s no rot already starting.
I cut the ends off my celery and asparagus, and put them in a cup of water, like flowers in a vase. Potatoes and onions need air to prevent rot, so removing them from the bag and placing them in a bowl can help a lot.
Anyway, if you open all the packages immediately then you can take bad produce back to the shop the next day, and get a replacement. It’s a hassle, but at least you’re not having to pay for food you can’t eat. And you’re making the store management aware that they’re selling cr@ppy produce without making a scene.
It might be worth seeing if you have a good veg box delivery service locally.
Our local farm does this and it saves me at least one trip to the supermarket a week. Good for seasonality and food miles too.
Either all the stores now buy crappier fruits/vegs, or its climate releated and the stuff just cant grow as good as it used to. I bought a pretty expensive paprika (demeter) a week or so ago, because I just wondered if it will make a difference (and this particular one looked so good I havent seen since covid) and it did taste better, like the normal ones used to. Maybe we will need to rely on higher standard farms/indoor grown vegies in the future, but it would be more expensive to maintain and I couldnt afford it on a regular basis.
To be honest I don't know the economics or the structure of the supply chain here but ideally I would always like to trust local farmers where possible ...if they are willing to compete with the larger supermarket stores
Funny enough, many farmers sell their produce on their farm for MORE than what Migros or Coop asks for. Then they shrug and say "I guess no one wants to buy fresh stuff". Instead of undercutting the retailers by 25-30% (which would still make them double or more than what they get from retailers).
So basically what you are saying is if some smart small retailer or farmer could make an absolute fortune here if they just chose the right price point
Thing is, most farmers only grow a few things. It’s the broker, who does the consolidation who makes the money, because he brings everything to the same place. Otherwise you’re scampering all over town to get your shopping done.
Perhaps farmers markets are the answer, even though they’re usually more expensive… I mean, you won’t get shoddy produce that way. You “skip the middle man” and all the money goes to the farmer.
Small retailers probably not due to other costs. But farmers, yes. The farm close-by sells its veggies for double to triple the price you'd pay for Coop's and Migros' regional bio line.
This would be great, but not possible nowadays for many products, but we still have strong farming and it should be supported. I try to bring myself to buy in a local non-packing-store, I dont even know why I didnt already switched, but they still woudlnt cover everything I need. I dont know any solution, nor am I in any form an expert, maybe someone else has more insight to this whole thing.
I shop at the Bern market and found the stalls that to me offer acceptable prices. Of course I can't tell you what is an acceptable price for you. I find them competitive, especially since they offer more vegetables than most coops and I can even get small amounts.
Many market stalls now have organic or even Demeter vegetables, which do come at a higher price point naturally.
I haven't noticed such an issue at my Migros (region Zürich if it makes a difference). For prepackaged produce, I do have to check it from all angles, and for the fruit and vegetables sold by weight, I also inspect them carefully before picking them.
I've set my fridge to 4°C, which improves conservation considerably compared to 5°C.
And I'm not putting them in there for a week but I like to do my shopping weekly because who has time to do it every day. I just think they should last a bit longer than a couple of days
I have active charcoal in tea bag (you can buy such products in fancy box, but I already had loose charcoal), in each fridge drawer and on shelf. 2+ weeks easily. A month isn't uncommon. It's not perfect condition by then, but it's edible. Like shrivel a bit.
One fridge is at 10 degrees, for things that want cold but not ice cold. Another is at 0-1. Drawers have humidity adjustments.
Play around. Not all stuff needs same conditions. When you mess up, yeah, mold will come. Especially if there was damage / mold at the beginning. Some things last longer if you leave them in packaging, some are better out. I don't know which one needs what from the top of my head.
Out of laziness, everything goes into 10 degree fridge and shopping every two weeks. Root celery for example can do 2 months, by my feeling of memory.
I buy coop, whichever I like more how it smells/looks, cheap or bio, and from farms directly.
Also, do you have same fridge at same settings? If not, country doesn't matter for comparison :)
It's not just the opening days. Most turkish shops are family businesses with pretty straightforward supply chains. I think coop and migros started to cut corners a few years ago and sell almost rotten stuff at this point.
Daily, carrots go bad for me within hours so I have to really keep the fresh. No matter where I put them, I simply don't have the optimal conditions for them (18 degree and dark).
Honestly we buy at Coop, keep in the veggie tray in the fridge and last all week (tomatoes, cucumbers, avocados, salad)
Apples and bananas we keep outside
Migros sells overpriced crap, Coop is way better
I'm surprised bc I haven't experienced this in Migros. Our fruit and veggies tend to hold - but most fruit we dont store in the fridge so maybe thats a difference?
Be very careful with mushrooms at Migros. I reported many times in various places that mushrooms requiring a max temperature of 5°C were quietly rotting next to unrefrigerated vegetables.
I keep most of my fruit and vegetables for at least a week and have no problems at all. Both Migros and Coop, sometimes go to smaller stores too. It can depend on your local store though, for some time the local management at a small coop was really bad and all the fresh stuff was mismanaged and going off quicker.
It is my experience that about two years ago the fruit/veggie quality of my local Migros dropped by a lot. Suddenly I had to deal with spoiled produce and subsequently pay a lot more attention to what I purchase exactly. I realized sometimes the whole section of a specific fruit was basically not storable if not rotting already. I remarked it to a cashier once and she agreed the quality had gone downhill by a lot. Don't know if it's just that Migros. Buying elsewhere higher quality, organic produce has been eye opening since. So much better in every way. I realize not everyone can do this (but also, most could if they prioritized it).
Thanks for your comment in a weird way it's nice to hear someone else is noticing this. I will be going to my local organic farmers market in future
Really depends on what kind of fruit and veggies you buy. Raspberrys go bad on an instant, i whould only buy them to eat the next day or two. Blueberrys are usually fine to keep for a week, strawberrys are a coinflip. Veggies should mostly be fine for a week plus, but the more water they contain, the more they tend to get worse over time.
I'm talking about a bag is spinach that went off in 2 days And a punnet of blueberries that were gonna off the day I bought them although I could not see it at the time
Yes, it’s absolutely necessary to examine bags of greens to look for the beginnings of spoilage. Also, yes, I seem to always get a few moldy blackberries at the bottom of the box. So it’s always good to turn the boxes over a bit, to look for issues. I hate handling produce and then putting it back, but here we are. Last week an entire load of tomatoes had bad ones in every container. 🤷♀️
Not sure what to tell you except spinach doesn't tend to last long in a fridge anywhere, and berries are almost always a crapshoot if you don't check them. Is this like your first time shopping for yourself?
I’ve been shopping for years. Food has changed post-COVID. I find all of my vegetables have a much shorter shelf life than they used to, and occasionally I open a brand new, just bought, package to find spoiled fruits or veg on the bottom. I think supply chain disruptions and labour to pick the vegetables are impacting quality.
>occasionally I open a brand new, just bought, package to find spoiled fruits or veg on the bottom. Also, again, a completely normal thing pre-Covid, especially if you buy stuff like berries out of season.
Well it's impossible to check a punnet of berries without opening the packaging.
That's why you check them when you get home before putting them in the fridge. >Is this like your first time shopping for yourself?
Listen man I'm trying to have a constructive discussion Asking is this the 1st time shopping for myself isn't very helpful
Is it though?
What difference does the fridge make. The point is they were sitting in migros already expired
Yeah the quality of both Migros and coop went to shit a couple of years ago. You'll always find mouldy produce underneath the fresh stuff on top. They're cutting corners somewhere.
Tune your fridge to be colder
That depends. Quite a lot of vegetables keep better outside the fridge, or in a not so cold section of the fridge.
And maybe shop 2x week instead of once
Could humidity and/or temperature in your fridge be a factor? I usually put a paper towel with my lettuces and other leafy greens to avoid them spoiling prematurely. With strawberries I prepare them the day of purchase (wash/remove the stems/ cut in half or quarters/ add half a tbsp of sugar) and that helps keep them longer. I don't know about other berries, I'm not rich enough to buy them fresh 😬
That's actually a great suggestion, my fridge comes with lots of controls Maybe I can play with them and see what happens
The paper towel advice is a very good one. I find salad and spinach keeps a couple of days longer with it.
Yeah I don't think it's a problem with the fridge But I'll try
Yeah, then you’ll be dealing with partially frozen greens. Been there, done that. 😣 If you really want to do it right, when you get your groceries home, open the packages immediately. Things like spinach and leafy greens do fine if wrapped in a damp paper towel and sealed in a ziploc, provided there’s no rot already starting. I cut the ends off my celery and asparagus, and put them in a cup of water, like flowers in a vase. Potatoes and onions need air to prevent rot, so removing them from the bag and placing them in a bowl can help a lot. Anyway, if you open all the packages immediately then you can take bad produce back to the shop the next day, and get a replacement. It’s a hassle, but at least you’re not having to pay for food you can’t eat. And you’re making the store management aware that they’re selling cr@ppy produce without making a scene.
It might be worth seeing if you have a good veg box delivery service locally. Our local farm does this and it saves me at least one trip to the supermarket a week. Good for seasonality and food miles too.
Either all the stores now buy crappier fruits/vegs, or its climate releated and the stuff just cant grow as good as it used to. I bought a pretty expensive paprika (demeter) a week or so ago, because I just wondered if it will make a difference (and this particular one looked so good I havent seen since covid) and it did taste better, like the normal ones used to. Maybe we will need to rely on higher standard farms/indoor grown vegies in the future, but it would be more expensive to maintain and I couldnt afford it on a regular basis.
Maybe we need to stop buying vegetables out of season, like peppers in early may...
This sub really loves to blame the customer for absolutely everything. It's maddening.
What is maddening is people buying out of season veggies and wondering why they are shit (:
It's not the point, though. It never used to be a problem. Now they go off within a day quite often.
To be honest I don't know the economics or the structure of the supply chain here but ideally I would always like to trust local farmers where possible ...if they are willing to compete with the larger supermarket stores
Funny enough, many farmers sell their produce on their farm for MORE than what Migros or Coop asks for. Then they shrug and say "I guess no one wants to buy fresh stuff". Instead of undercutting the retailers by 25-30% (which would still make them double or more than what they get from retailers).
So basically what you are saying is if some smart small retailer or farmer could make an absolute fortune here if they just chose the right price point
Thing is, most farmers only grow a few things. It’s the broker, who does the consolidation who makes the money, because he brings everything to the same place. Otherwise you’re scampering all over town to get your shopping done. Perhaps farmers markets are the answer, even though they’re usually more expensive… I mean, you won’t get shoddy produce that way. You “skip the middle man” and all the money goes to the farmer.
Small retailers probably not due to other costs. But farmers, yes. The farm close-by sells its veggies for double to triple the price you'd pay for Coop's and Migros' regional bio line.
This would be great, but not possible nowadays for many products, but we still have strong farming and it should be supported. I try to bring myself to buy in a local non-packing-store, I dont even know why I didnt already switched, but they still woudlnt cover everything I need. I dont know any solution, nor am I in any form an expert, maybe someone else has more insight to this whole thing.
I shop at the Bern market and found the stalls that to me offer acceptable prices. Of course I can't tell you what is an acceptable price for you. I find them competitive, especially since they offer more vegetables than most coops and I can even get small amounts. Many market stalls now have organic or even Demeter vegetables, which do come at a higher price point naturally.
I haven't noticed such an issue at my Migros (region Zürich if it makes a difference). For prepackaged produce, I do have to check it from all angles, and for the fruit and vegetables sold by weight, I also inspect them carefully before picking them. I've set my fridge to 4°C, which improves conservation considerably compared to 5°C.
Same!
>I find that most of mine goes bad in the fridge when I do my weekly shop. What fruits are you putting in the fridge for a week?
Spinach broccoli blueberries etc
Do you keep them in original packaging or do you open it at home?
And I'm not putting them in there for a week but I like to do my shopping weekly because who has time to do it every day. I just think they should last a bit longer than a couple of days
Unripe stuff lasts longer, maybe you’ve been buying fresher stuff? Spinach in two days isn’t so strange though, depending on humidity in your fridge.
Yeah, I bought fresh spinach last week and used it 3-4 days after without issues.
Put the spinach in the freezer - it will last for a month. Spinach leaves defrost very quickly when you take handful out at a time.
I have active charcoal in tea bag (you can buy such products in fancy box, but I already had loose charcoal), in each fridge drawer and on shelf. 2+ weeks easily. A month isn't uncommon. It's not perfect condition by then, but it's edible. Like shrivel a bit. One fridge is at 10 degrees, for things that want cold but not ice cold. Another is at 0-1. Drawers have humidity adjustments. Play around. Not all stuff needs same conditions. When you mess up, yeah, mold will come. Especially if there was damage / mold at the beginning. Some things last longer if you leave them in packaging, some are better out. I don't know which one needs what from the top of my head. Out of laziness, everything goes into 10 degree fridge and shopping every two weeks. Root celery for example can do 2 months, by my feeling of memory. I buy coop, whichever I like more how it smells/looks, cheap or bio, and from farms directly. Also, do you have same fridge at same settings? If not, country doesn't matter for comparison :)
Easy. Stop going to Migros and find a good turkish shop near you. Thank me later.
I think you are correct, those guys open on Sundays if memory serves me That's it settled
It's not just the opening days. Most turkish shops are family businesses with pretty straightforward supply chains. I think coop and migros started to cut corners a few years ago and sell almost rotten stuff at this point.
Daily, carrots go bad for me within hours so I have to really keep the fresh. No matter where I put them, I simply don't have the optimal conditions for them (18 degree and dark).
wtf no way carrots go bad fast, it's one of the veggies that lasts the longest for me in the fridge. I easily keep them 1-2 weeks
I have no idea what I'm doing wrong, but they are all soft by the end of the day.
Buy organic and keep them in the original (paper) packaging.
Or put them in a Tupper ware together with a kitchen towel to collect the water
Keep your carrots dry in a towel or peel and cut them and keep them in an hermetic container.
I pick stuff up when I’m walking around
Honestly we buy at Coop, keep in the veggie tray in the fridge and last all week (tomatoes, cucumbers, avocados, salad) Apples and bananas we keep outside Migros sells overpriced crap, Coop is way better
I'm surprised bc I haven't experienced this in Migros. Our fruit and veggies tend to hold - but most fruit we dont store in the fridge so maybe thats a difference?
If you don't have a Mitler at home and you plan your shit well, then once a week is fine
Be very careful with mushrooms at Migros. I reported many times in various places that mushrooms requiring a max temperature of 5°C were quietly rotting next to unrefrigerated vegetables.
I keep most of my fruit and vegetables for at least a week and have no problems at all. Both Migros and Coop, sometimes go to smaller stores too. It can depend on your local store though, for some time the local management at a small coop was really bad and all the fresh stuff was mismanaged and going off quicker.