I do object to the conning of the less-well informed.
New potatoes have been in the stores for a month.
Oh, yes - Egyptian? Oh, no - British!!
Grown in Staffordshire.
So when were they lifted? Even the Jersey stock is not in yet.
I asked both Tesco & the Coop. A month ago.
The Coop responded after 2 weeks, after only one reminder.
"The aim of the Co-op is to supply it's customers with UK produced product
for the majority of the year, relying on alternative imported sources for
the least amount of time possible. In the case of new potatoes only a
small number of varieties, which exhibit the true characteristics of a
'new' potato are used, with the main variety used being Maris Peer.
Production in the UK will start in Jersey in April before moving to the
Mainland starting in the south and slowly moving north.
Production of new potatoes are managed in a way that meets the needs of the
varieties grown, and ensures that a product is produced that exhibits the
typical characteristics of that variety and of a new potato.
Clearly in an effort to deliver a UK product for as long a period as
possible there is a need to store these potatoes at certain times of the
year, ensuring that their organoleptic characteristics are maintained. The
length of time that the stored product is used is kept to a minimum."
Tesco, after 3 reminders, finally came back today with a phone call - I paraphrase -
" they have been in store" - so when were they lifted? - "sorry, that's sensitive information".
NEW POTATOES??
Tim, could not agree more.
But the average british consumer does not care or know what they are eating, they just want stuff on the shelves 12 months a year and at the lowest possible price.
At home on the farm we gave up on growing commercial vegetables years ago, the supermarkets have scr*wd the whole job to make it unviable and we could grow the best parsnips you have ever seen or tasted!
Disgusted of Sussex.
Jerry
And this is all by public demand!!
What if we were still allowed choice??
Quote from: tim on March 27, 2006, 13:16:51
And this is all by public demand!!
What if we were still allowed choice??
Not allowed to have choice, Tim. Their sales/marketing/research departments all ensure we are treated as homogenised lowest-common-denominators.
The only exception is that they (and we're talking about Tesco's here) acknowledge that some of their customers have more money than others. I don't rate their finest range, I cook better than that, with less salt, preservatives, additives, flavour enhancers, fat & E numbers than they do and it costs me less to boot.
I only go to supermarkets for cleaning chemicals and cat food now (as he's a fussy little bleeder!) I get veg from the lottie (hopefully) and the market stall; meat from Costco (very good meat at good value, need a freezer though!) and other bits from our deli (bit spoilt).
Hopefully more and more people will come to view life the same way - more power to the proposed legislation for supermarkets, their trading practices (including paying a fair price) and their approach to high street destruction.
Many people are ill informed/ignorant. One farmer I was speaking to wasn't sure what a fair price for his cheese was as he was afraid that we'd be scared off or try to scr*w him down to an unviable price; another said people wanted organic local lettuce and mange-tout... IN JANUARY! No wonder farms go under!
Agree 100% with all of you. I'm about as anti-supermarket as you can get, not least because they've forced my friends the fish man and the greengrocers (and others) out of business, and the more you read, the worse it gets. My tame butcher, thank goodness, is hanging on in there. But I'm not going to do any good by moaning about it on here, where most of you probably have similar feelings. They will hate you for asking them questions like that, Tim. Just rake a bag off the shelf and pay up, or better still, a garish box of value added potatoes. :) As you found, the replies you got as good as told you, 'if you don't like it, you know what you can do.' I hate that as much as you do. That, btw, appears to be the choice you spoke of. And probably the public who demand whatever-it-is are the members of their own publicity department, out of working hours. Slightly tongue-in-cheek there, but nothing would surprise me.
Jerry is right, the average consumer just doesn't care, and he sounds as if he's been closer than most, but I think there's little chance of any improvement, given the enormous power, and above all, greed, of these establishments. I don't hate much in this life, but they are the top contender.
OK, rant over. Hope I haven't offended anybody. I really had to restrain myself there. ;D
Geoff.
Justifiable and a sentiment echoed by many.
Too many people though will prefer the lower price than the true cost of what has happened. Everyone on this forum knows how superior what we grow is compared to virtually all the stuff sold by these monsters.
Also, I could not care less what shape/form some of it comes like - standard size/shape is not part of an equation for good food!
Quote from: Jimmy on March 27, 2006, 20:45:40
Also, I could not care less what shape/form some of it comes like - standard size/shape is not part of an equation for good food!
I agree, but as Tim said up there ^ they'll tell you it's public demand. ::)
Geoff.
I envy those of you have the option to go elsewhere - by & large, when I'm not at work, supermarkets are the only places open, so it's difficult to vote with my feet.
When I can I buy locally, but weekends are precious and not to be wasted on shopping if at all possible ( or housework - that gets done early mornings yawn)
how many of us really eat seasonally? how many of us buy in 'exotic produce'? i use a local green grocers to buy my fruit and veg but that doesn't necessarily mean its fresh or local. they are selling asparagus from chile as the moment. the customer demands all year round produce. and where would i be without my grapes, avocagoes and bananas? so in a sense, the supermarkets are responding to demand. (not that i am pro-supermarket AT ALL!)
If someone had not made it possible (to make themselves very rich, at the expense of so many real people), no one would have thought of Spring Onions from Mexico in February - or whatever??
So sad that there's no going back. Not like penicillin.
In the 'olden days', we never sought out all these fancy items, & we suffered little. And, I believe, more healthy, on average, than today??
OK - I'm ducking!!
No need to duck, I agree whole heartedly.
We are now about self sufficient in veg, if I dont have stuff to harvest or in the freezer we move on and eat something we do have available to us.
No boredom or monotony if you plan well and enjoy honest food.
Jerry
Quote from: fbgrifter on March 28, 2006, 18:32:05
how many of us really eat seasonally? how many of us buy in 'exotic produce'?
You're right, as a nation we have become used to having what we want when we want it.
Our reasons for getting an allotment (other than enjoyment and the rather smug self satisfaction at managing to grow dinner!) are: for flavour, knowing what goes onto the plants and - most importantly as our shop is a new venture - cost. This way we can be sure that our budget is met with high standard (but probably deliciously ugly) fruit and veg.
The shop has also woken me up to the possibility of a good quality life without supermarkets. I'd rather spend a few extra quid on a top quality local product even if that money would have bought a larger portion of a lesser quality product in a supermarket. It's also important to us to support other independant shops as we are one too.
The more people support local produce (and it is a noticeable shift in perception: we sell a Hertfordshire milked/made fresh goat's cheese that isn't cheap, but people want it as it's quality and *local*) the more the starting momentum against supermarkets can continue.
Don't know about you guys, but I loathe dictatorial preconceptions about how anyone should live their lives and believe that supermarkets embody those preconceptions.
Could not agree with Tim and Jerry more,supermarkets could not give a toss where things come from as long as they can keep getting rid of the small shopkeepers. Public demand my ar*e sounds like the government saying we have listen to what the people have been saying. Do not no why we need all this foreign muck coming into the country we used to do without it as fbgrifter said, the same as we used to do without heating in the bedrooms years ago ( I wonder why so many of us suffer from colds and suchlike nowdays ). Like Jerry my family grew veg and supplied most of Birmingham's greengrocers shops with Quality vegetables throughout the year, then the supermarkets came along and a good honest family market garden had to be sold, never forget the day it was sold and my Father breaking down not only was it is livelihood gone but mine as well. Like Jerry does now if I cannot grow it myself I do not eat it, Bugger the super markets made me glad the other day when I heard Morrisons had lost about £350 million I long for the day when all the super markets go bust, and we get back to the old ways, noticed a posting on the teletext last night some one was on about turning the clocks forward for BST they said, it was a pity we could not turn the clocks back 50 or 60 years I think I see there point.
Bloody hell longest letter I have wrote in years. ;)
We might just as well moan among ourselves about supermarkets because I daresay we all basically agree with each other, and we're never going to 'beat' them are we? They're not about good food anyway - they're just dealers and the bottom line is the balance sheet and shareholder value.
Not sure about shops costing any more either bennettsleg, because in the supermarket you invariably have to buy more than you want, but I'm with you on the dictatorial preconceptions. However, this is bringing me dangerously close to my other favourite rant: television advertising. Love to try some of your cheese btw, so next time I'm in your area...
Sorry Tim, if you're still here, we seem to have drifted a bit don't we?
Geoff.
Hey! Just keep growing, cooking and eating. The more of us do it, the less supermarkets there :) :)'ll be. And all our potatoes will be new (maybe full of slugholes, but new ;))
I brought some Nadines from the co-op the other day and they were beautiful to taste, they were grown in Staffs when i looked on the pack, second earlies, how do they do it?
Oooh, Oooh I have some inside information ;)
Tesco actually source in the UK from one supplier (Branston Potatoes).
They then sub-contract the sourcing and storage of spuds to growers etc
in each region. Jerseys are imported as a separate commodity and they
also from time to time source from Egypt and Cyprus (imported via Sheerness Docks)
The UK season generally lasts from the beginning of July through to the
end of October. So I guess that means they are likely to have been stored for a minimum 5 months at present. :P
Noddy.
Supermarkets should at least give customers full information on products, even so when a customer is asking them about their product.
TESCO - evil company, they treat customers really badly (from my personal experiences).
GB & Noddy - that's exactly my point - 5 months at least! Creeps!!
And to say that those are new & persuade folk that that's what they should expect.........!!!
Keep growing & love the difference.
i do love the difference, unfortunatly my garden allotment lacks space and with four children and hubby things run out quickly!!! abundance of stuff in the summer but come winter its all gone, but on a positive note ive just taken up a huge overgrown allotment so i can start growing more stuff and hopefully last through the winter. i need a bit of educating on overwintering stuff!!! ill get there, eventually.
When they say that they were from Staffordshire do they really mean that they were repacked in Staffordshire to sell on tesco
I often wonder when i read the labelling in supermarkets how true it reallly is. Things exactly like that Richard, where "Staffordshre" potatoes actually means they were packed in Staffordshire and grown elsewhere.
Someone once worked out that the average sunday lunch had travelled over 1200 miles as part of the supermarket distribution network, 1200 miles.
It was sad to see that Dewhurst is down to 35 stores and struggling from their height of about 1700 stores. Supermarkets have killed the high street and village stores but times are changing, more and more people use allotments and markets, look at the rise of the farmers market for instance, the likes of rick stein do a lot to promote this.
To ge the low price and travel ability supermarkets cut choice and increase chemicals etc, but we demanded it, now we have to change it back.
Supermarkets have too much power, they make farmers see the bogof's to them, they will turn away a load of good produce if the temp is one degree too high/low and animal farmers are dumping sheep and the like on the RSPCA because it isn't worth breeding them.
Quote from: NoddyChelsea on March 29, 2006, 10:42:39
Oooh, Oooh I have some inside information ;)
Tesco actually source in the UK from one supplier (Branston Potatoes).
They then sub-contract the sourcing and storage of spuds to growers etc
in each region. Jerseys are imported as a separate commodity and they
also from time to time source from Egypt and Cyprus (imported via Sheerness Docks)
The UK season generally lasts from the beginning of July through to the
end of October. So I guess that means they are likely to have been stored for a minimum 5 months at present. :P
Noddy.
I live just down the road from Branston potatoes and it might seem a silly question but how do they manage to grow spuds in the same ground year after year? I suppose the answer will include the word 'chemicals'!
Also, while I'm thinking about it, the advertising blurb on the side of a well-known frozen pea manufacturer's trucks always amuses me "Frozen to be fresher" What can be more fresh than er... fresh!
I know they claim that the peas are 'flash frozen' but they don't taste anything like the ones I grow and always seem too green (if that makes sense!)
Yes good point too, chemicals, doesnt bear thinking about, does it, what crap you actually are eating.
Quote from: euronerd on March 28, 2006, 20:25:09
Not sure about shops costing any more either bennettsleg, because in the supermarket you invariably have to buy more than you want
What used to end up rotten and thrown out at home was shameful. Since switching to the market we buy what we need and no more.
The cost aspect was based on dodgy maths: 1 packet of beans = £1.50 (for example), bit of graft and recycled pots and a significant harvest can be achieved through the season. This beats the £1.50-£2.50 for a small pack at the supermarket *and* home grown ones will taste better.
Quote from: petemason on March 30, 2006, 02:45:11
the advertising blurb on the side of a well-known frozen pea manufacturer's trucks always amuses me "Frozen to be fresher" What can be more fresh than er... fresh!
I know they claim that the peas are 'flash frozen' but they don't taste anything like the ones I grow and always seem too green (if that makes sense!)
It makes sense when you think of people buying peas in their pods at the s'market which have been harvested before their ready and by the time they are eaten a fair number of their nutrients have gone as well. Frozen will never beat home grown though if you don't grow, then frozen peas are the better way to go for "freshness" and nutrients. Even Gordon Ramsey uses them.
ok, people you have to help me out here. i would love to eat local grown (preferably by myself) produce only. so i take it that curry and most herbs and spices are off the menu completely. italian food only in summer, chinese food mainly in winter with parsnips and cabbage being the staples for about 6 months of the year. is that right?
that begs 2 questions. should we see trade as a negative thing and curse the day that routes were opened through constantinople. people with no greenhouses should simply restrict their diets.
individuals should not be given the right to choose where to buy?
tim>> its a fact that britain was healthier during the rationed years. no dispute there.
I think there's a middle way rather than either extreme. I hope to be pretty self-sufficient with regard to most of the veg I usually eat, however I'm not about to plant orchards or attempt to grow avocados or oranges or stuff like that because I can't, but I'm still going to eat them. I think that for me the argument is about things like the pale insipid flavourless tomatoes that supermarkets sell "out of season" or the Chrismas green beans imported from Kenya. I'd rather do without and eat the "real thing" in season. But I'm not saying anyone else needs to. Of course there's another side to the Kenya thing too, in that Third World countries depend on our trade. Oh dear! I'm getting a headache. ::)
i'm not disagreeing with anyone, i just think its a many sided coin.
btw - my local grocer was selling jersey royals....does that mean they've been in storage for a year?
i must admit that this whole thing had got me reading labels a lot more closely.
No - you're safe on that score!
For those without earlies, Royals are often marked down to 1/2 price. They can then be frozen fpr 'after'.