Carrots and milk

I think vegetables have suffered from having so much rain, that certainly seems to have affected my favoured Maris Pipers. I prefer carrots unwashed, they haven't been up to much either. Milk hasn't been a problem.

I don’t have any problem keeping vegetables or milk but I do run my fridge on the cold side. Grateful for the tip about filtered milk lasting well if you’re going away.

Organic milk turned with two days to go before UBD just yesterday. Yes, carrots, mushrooms, tomatoes and worst of all strawberries and raspberries all seem to go the day they are delivered or bought. I buy frozen ones now, but the flavour is not anything like fresh. I'm growing my own berries and will seek out pick your own this summer. Brexit? Yup, I reckon fruit and veg sitting around... Not sure why the milk though...

I buy all fruit, salads and vegetables from our market, always loose and I don’t keep any in the fridge except salad stuff. Most of these last a week.
I don’t buy cow milk (think of the calves!)

In my experience the fruit and veg purchased from budget supermarkets only last a day or two, whereas the same items bought from one of the big four supermarkets last much longer.

Sometimes buying cheaper is just false economy. I've never had a problem with milk, it often lasts a day or two longer than the use by date.

My SIL has a complicated arrangement for her milk. She likes full fat milk to drink, semi skimmed on cereal and skimmed in tea. As it's just her in the household all of her milk goes off before it is finished....................... except she never seems to notice!

Visitors are advised to suggest making the refreshments themselves, that way a covert sniff of the chosen milk can ascertain whether or not to opt for black tea or coffee!!

yes I've found carrots tend to go bendy..lettuce don't keep as fresh either..I'll try puting them on kitchen paper,,,thanks for the tip...

I remove carrots from the bag, cut off both ends of each carrot, place in a paper bag, place in the fridge, seem to last forever.

Mamardroit. I did not know that about sell by dates, thank you very much!!!

It may be worth checking your fridge temperature. We had this problem then moved house and inherited a different fridge. It keeps thing much colder and milk and veg are lasting much longer.

I use a, fairly, local organic farm shop but since it's just the two of us I've started planning meals for the week and buying exactly what I need. However, that works well until DH decide to go off piste and cook something completely off the schedule and uses nothing that is planned. However, I find that buying from the farm shop, especially, with the dirt of some veg, they do last longer. Occasionally, when I've asked for carrots/turnips/leeks, I've been asked if I mind waiting as they are just being harvested. Fresh is definitely better.

Have you tried almond milk yet?

It takes ages to perish, and tastes lovely and creamy, just it's a bit different.

Well glad not just me then over vegetables going off so quickly. Not had a problem with milk but veggies from Aldi I just seem to be putting on the compost heap. Yesterday when I went found it most interesting when I came to pay with my card at the till asked to tick 1, 2 or 3 as to the quality of the veggies. So I gave them the worst mark, obviously they are becoming aware of the problem.

No market available near me. Carrots are so wet nowadays, and packing in polythene doesn't help. I usually take them out, place in the fridge veg drawer with a lose sheet of kitchen roll. Sometimes works but no guarantee.

A ‘use by’ or ‘best before’ date is a legal requirement on perishable foodstuffs. I have found they can be difficult to find and sometimes difficult to interpret, being wholly in figures. I was convinced that some mushrooms I bought weren’t properly labelled until I managed to decode the date. It should be plainer.

Polomint, I have definitely found that no matter what store I buy them from but in particular where best before dates are no longer printed on them.

Root vegetables will not keep if they have been washed before being sold, nor if they are kept where daylight or artificial light reaches them.

No vegetables should be kept in a fridge unless you intend to use them in the course of three or four days. Carrots should be kept in a bucket of sand, or be peel,ed diced or sliced and frozen, then used as and when you want them. Any vegetable that has become damp through being sold in a plastic or cellophane wrapping will deteriorate quickly.

Milk is no longer fresh when sold - it is three or four days old before ever it reaches the shops, so it should not come as a surprise that it does not keep once th carton has been opened. Eggs too, are not fresh - even although they are called fresh, just as the milk is, and their shells have been washed too, before the eggs were packed. Those of you whose mothers kept hens will know that the shells must not be washed if you intend to store eggs for a while.

Once had a conversation with a buyer who told me the cheaper supermarkets buy the cheaper products as the turn over is quick and give the most profit. The higher up the chain you go the better quality you get.

Not sure if this still applies as was pre covid and pre cost of living crisis we spoke

BlueBelle

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 agree. I think it's a result of supermarkets no longer showing Best Before/ Use By dates in their bid to appear to be "sustainable" by pushing the wastefulness on to customers with short-lived products and increasing their profits at the same time.

Seems to be a hit and miss. Some of you have no problems at all with milk and carrots. All I know is that I'm not doing anything different than I have for over 50 years and yet milk is turning quicker than I think it should and carrots are soft and slimy after only a few days. Sometimes even like that on the day I buy them and open the bag. I'm curious and a bit miffed as I'm just storingbthem in the same way

I agree polomint Just lately I have found that my semi skinned tastes a little bit off before the sell by date. My husband can’t taste it but I can. I buy Cravendale to leave in the fridge when I go in hol, but it does cost more. I have a few carrots left over from last Sunday and they went from looking hard and fresh to hairy soft and grey looking within a few days. I bought the green bags a while ago and was very impressed- but even they don’t seem to work very well now.

I keep carrots in a mesh bag in the fridge, also new potatoes. They last a good while. As for milk, I only buy a litre at a time and I can’t remember the last time I had any that had “gone off”.

They last for ages here which makes me very suspicious. What are they putting on them?

polomint

Emptied

I like 'tempted', it conjures up a lovely image.

I store carrots in water in a box in the fridge and they are still lovely and crunchy 2 or 3 weeks on. Mine come in a weekly organic veg box.

My carrots are definitely not lasting like they used to do