Out of date meat products from supermarket; worrying.

I have used Sainsburys online shopping for a number of years now with very few problems. All supermarkets are under pressure with staff shortages etc so some leeway should be given. The people working in them are ordinary people who have to work & are very likely scared off getting the virus. I take what I can get on deliveries & think I am lucky to get a slot every week. Being disabled I cannot carry shopping & there are no shops locally that I can get to anyway so am very thankful that I have Sainsburys to shop at online.

My use by dates, so far, have been very good with Asda. My only recent grouse was asking for disposable gloves and getting a large packet of Marigolds! I have small hands, I did phone them and was given refund and told to give them to someone who could use them!

I have been shopping online for over 20 years and there's rarely a problem. Obviously something's going wrong at your supermarket, hopefully they can sort things out. They have picked up a lot of the demand and have vastly changed the way they operate so I think that the public needs to cut them some slack in the present conditions.

Gagajo make cheese cake with double cream and mascapone. Xxx

I am shielding so doing online shopping and I hate it because I like to check dates and choose my fruit and veg.However it is working OK and my only problem was when they sent watermelons instead of honeydew melons!

As for meat as per 25Avalon’s post, I’ve had two different meat boxes and they come well packed in cold boxes. No problem with those at all. I get a veg/fruit box on Friday from a greengrocer in the market - my only complaint is the cabbage but I give that to my neighbour.

I just had my Ocado delivery. Everything had a reasonable sell by date and looked lovely and fresh. A couple of reasonable substitutions and no passion fruit.
I stopped using Tesco about 6mo this ago because they didn’t seem to bother with substitutions and some of their stuff wasn’t up to the standard I would expect.
I rather imagine it depends on the pickers and right now I imagine they have a lot of extra temporary staff.

At the moment a lot of supermarkets won’t let you refuse items for any reason. If something isn’t right you contact them by email or phone for a refunded. Having said that sending you items particularly meat that has gone by its sell by date is an unacceptable and dangerous practise. You could eat it and be seriously ill which on top of all worries at present is something you can do without.
Could you try another supermarket who aren’t so lacksidasical in their approach? Or you might find a local farm shop or organisation to click and collect from for meat products. M&S have started doing food boxes and you can get meat online in proper refrigerated boxes. Just google for where you live.

I have never used on line shopping until now. I have had one order from Tesco which I was pleased with, 1 at Sainsburys and have used Asda for the others. I think my picker was having an off day this week. My replacements were not the best and I have ended up with a lot of crisps, which I do not eat. But as much as I miss doing my own shopping I am grateful that at least I can get my shopping, it is delivered and I am not a risk. I am thankful to all the staff.

I’ve not noticed any problem going on to the shop ( Sainsbury’s). Sometimes they’ve had reduced items needed to be eaten, cooked or frozen on the day, but nothing out of date. I will keep checking. Have never had delivery for this sort of reason, but appreciate some people have no choice.

GaGaJo pork mince makes a lovely meatloaf

MrGruder - since I am only shopping once a week of course I choose chilled items with the longest possible date. Why would I buy things which need to be consumed within a day or two? Milk, cream, yogurts etc really do need to be within date to be good to eat. The date thing is the main reason I prefer to choose my own.

I had my Tesco order. It was all fine. BUT the invoice had a corner torn off and there was blood over the rest of the paperwork. I was furious. Many years ago I was a manager for Tesco and know this is totally unacceptable. Despite the late hour dot com lines for Tesco are open up to midnight. I phoned them straight away. The person I spoke to was horrified and apologised and that was it. I offered to send a photo and she wasn’t interested. I was offered no compensation. So I have therefore stopped having home deliveries. I also don’t require £40 a week of shopping which is their minimum order.

I have noticed that the use by dates on products in the shop itself is sometimes very tight so I'm guessing it is because of manufacturers taking longer to get them to the shops.

I've been online shopping with Asda for years and have never had anything out of date, and am always notified if something has a shorter than they'd like shelf life. Even in this difficult time for shop workers, when I've been given substitutes they've always been very acceptable. Top marks to all the workers from me. The management have also promised a weeks extra wage to all their staff in June to say thank you to them for all their hard work. They get full marks from me for showing their appreciation to their staff, and not just grabbing the higher profits they must be making right now.

For me the problem is with salad and vegetables. I have received wilting lettuces and celery, carrots and sweet potatoes with black "age" spots, and very wrinkly courgettes. I would never pick up veg like this in store, in fact I don't recall ever seeing veg in this state of decay on display. Like others I have received fresh foods with very short best before dates (eg a large pack of humous with only two days remaining) It seems that the pickers are instructed to select the oldest products to send out. This is from both Tesco and Sainsburys. The supermarkets must be one of the few businesses to be making huge extra profits out of the crisis, it smacks of greed that they are taking advantage of the situation in this way

Oh not everyone has a freezer. Really wish I did now!

"Blondiescot" - Sorry but I hate when people do that as you never know whether people have washed their hands or even got a virus they could pass on. Especially at the moment. Even those items that are bagged or cellophane.
Nice to know that companies take notice of Twitter. Very useful hint.

I think we are mostly old enough to remember a time before use by and sell buy. We used our nose to check if things were off. We often eat foods way out of date, just judge by sight and smell, so far so good. However hubby has worked in the food industry all his working life and knows all the technical side of food safety, so t trust his judgement

The trouble is all available staff are being used on tills . So when there is time to stack the shelfs there is no stock rotation being done . The pickers them self's are in such a rush to keep up with orders , they don't have time to look at dates . My daughter works in a supermarket and it is utter madness at the moment . They are being abused daily because things are not in stock , or they are being rationed on items . I know this is no excuse for out of date food . On the Asda web site you get refunds on line ( This not the company my daughter works for ) . These are difficult times at the moment and being this has happened more than once to you , perhaps buying frozen meat would be safer . Hoping all goes well with your next shop .

Sainsburys always gives us the longest date they can and tells us if they can't.

I ordered some Lamb Chops on my order. Because they only had a pack with a 2 day expiry date they sent them free of charge! Well done Waitrose!

I was going to suggest you share it on GN ?

I did think of meatballs with the pork. I like Spanish albondigas. That is very true about a quick meal. Given the hours I'm working they'd be good with some pasta for 4 or 5 meals.

Oooo cheesecake! Good idea. I don't have lemons but have loads of lemon juice bought in case of C19 (honey and lemon). So funny. FREEZE the cheesecake. It wouldn't last long enough for that.

Cheesecake, GagaoJo if you have lemons or limes. I don't use ricotta normally, but did use it for a cheesecake at DD's as she had a huge block of it.
You can freeze both too, in portions.
Or freeze the cheesecake