Carrots and milk

Mary Berry recommended decanting mushrooms from plastic packaging to a paper bag, and I find that it also works with other veg. Even without that, my Tesco carrots bought a week ago are still nice and firm, as is a head of broccoli and a couple of peppers.

If DH buys bagged carrots (he does most of the grocery shopping), I remove them from the bag before putting them in the fridge in a plastic 'basket' box which is lined with kitchen paper. They last ages.

I tell him to individually choose NICE carrots if they are available unbagged. Ditto for parsnips. Also neeps.

In fact, I unwrap any vegetables that come in bags unless it's those bags of salad leaves. With those I open one end and cut the corners off the bottom of the bag so air can move around the greens. Seems to help.

We buy whole milk in four pint bottles from the Co-op. We freeze ones we are not going to use immediately. We haven't found it go sour on us though other brands sometimes have done.
I decant from the four pint bottles into a jug. Started this because DH is not capable (it seems!) of screwing a lid on properly. Perhaps not opening and closing the bottle so often helps with keeping?

I’ve found that too, the best idea is to go to a market if you can for vegetable but as for the milk, wherever I buy it from it never lasts until it’s use by date. I’ve started buying smaller quantities twice as expensive but at least it’s fresh and no time to go off.

No. Perhaps you are buying carrots that are past their best or expecting them, and milk, to last too long. Don’t keep them in plastic packaging. Look at the ‘best before’ dates when buying packaged goods. I don’t know when I last had to throw away any foodstuffs.

We don’t have a market any more though madaleine

It’s not just carrots and milk I find a lot of my vegetables and fruit don’t last more than a day or two even in the fridge and
I ve had to throw tomatoes, lettuce mushrooms cues away after a couple of days I ve only noticed it this last 6 months or so which is mysterious as they ve been done up the same for some time

I do think washing carrots affects the time they last. Personally I buy most of my fruit and vegetables from the local market. This means that I can get very fresh and unwashed things. They last better and I can choose the amount I buy as I live alone. Think it is worth supporting a market or local greengrocers if you have one near you.