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Trader Joe's Ex-President To Turn Expired Food Into Cheap Meals

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Re: Trader Joe's Ex-President To Turn Expired Food Into Cheap Meals

#31

Post by cdcarter »

drhodes wrote: post #25
anigbrowl wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it was more to discourage people from digging through and maybe leaving a mess (not necessarily the person in the story). It's true that there have been cases where someone is successfully sued in this manner; the source of the danger (which could be food or a uncovered hole in the ground that someone falls into) is known as an 'attractive nuisance', ie something dangerous that is also irresistible. However,…

my acronym research reveals: AN = Absolutely No, TINLA = This Is Not Legal Advice.

AN is "attractive nuisance"

Re: Trader Joe's Ex-President To Turn Expired Food Into Cheap Meals

#32

Post by septerr »

I have always felt bad about fresh produce going to waste in my fridge.Between my buying the produce and it going bad, there is always a point where I know I am not going to be able to use this stuff and in 2-3 days it will be unusable. I have looked for services in my area where I could take these items to. Something like soup kitchens who can then incorporate them into their cooking. But all the organizations I found took only canned goods and prepared food from large scale organizations like restaurants.

I had even thought it would be a great program for a charity register homes that are willing to give away soon-to-go-bad food. Then have volunteers stop by these homes on a predetermined schedule (once a week or so) to stop by and collect anything that the home might want to donate.

Re: Trader Joe's Ex-President To Turn Expired Food Into Cheap Meals

#34

Post by refurb »

yareally wrote: post #26
mansam wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I eventually realized that for perishable goods, they put the new stuff in the back of the shelves, so now I just head for the back of the shelf when I need to buy perishables there. This sucks for me, since buying at TJs used to be a stress-free experience, and now I check the 'use-by' dates on everything. I just wanted to mention that this is a standard practice called rotation. After all, putting new product in…

Yep, just look at milk. The newer milk is always in the back. If the expiration dates are too short and you won't be able to drink it in time, just look for ones towards the back and get those instead. I generally don't care though as long as the expiration isn't within a week.

Hackers new tip: Buy lactose-free milk and it will stay good for much longer than regular milk.

I don't consume a lot of milk, and I was getting tired of buying a half-gallon and having go bad two weeks later after I had only consumed 1/4 of it.

Lactose-free milk stay good for a long-time. Most of the time when I check, the best-before date is at least 6 weeks into the future. I've never had the milk go bad even if I've had it for 8 weeks. I'm not lactose intolerant BTW.

The only drawback is that the milk definitely tastes sweeter than regular milk. I'm used to it by now, but I'm sure some people would find it disagreeable.

I'm not sure why it lasts so long, even though there is no lactose in it, there is plenty of other sugars in it. Lactose-free milk is made by using enzymes to split the lactose into galactose and glucose. It tastes sweeter because both of the sugars have a higher perceived sweetness than lactose on a weight basis.

Re: Trader Joe's Ex-President To Turn Expired Food Into Cheap Meals

#35

Post by silencio »

refurb wrote: post #34
yareally wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, just look at milk. The newer milk is always in the back. If the expiration dates are too short and you won't be able to drink it in time, just look for ones towards the back and get those instead. I generally don't care though as long as the expiration isn't within a week.

Hackers new tip: Buy lactose-free milk and it will stay good for much longer than regular milk. I don't consume a lot of milk, and I was getting tired of buying a half-gallon and having go bad two weeks later after I had only consumed 1/4 of it. Lactose-free milk stay good for a long-time. Most of the time when I check, the best-before date is at least 6 weeks into the future. I've never had the milk go bad even if I…

It's because lactose-free milk (or at least the Lactaid brand that I see my roommate drink) is treated at higher temperatures. You can find regular milk that has gone through the same treatment labeled as UHT or ultra-pasteurized, like the Horizon Organic brand and another I've seen at Costco as shelf stable juicebox form factor milk drinks (UHT coincidentally removes the refrigeration requirement too if stored in an appropriate container).

No need to pay extra for the lactose-free variant if you don't really need it and the plain UHT-treated milk is cheaper :)

Re: Trader Joe's Ex-President To Turn Expired Food Into Cheap Meals

#36

Post by _lex »

backprojection wrote: post #17
_lex wrote: post #15

I HATE this. I previously shopped at Trader Joe's with confidence - I knew I wasn't being gouged on price, so I generally ignored prices. I knew the food was good, so I could turn my brain off and just buy whatever I fancied. However, maybe 7 months ago, I started to notice that I was buying expired or nearly expired things from Trader Joes - bread that would go bad the next day (got mouldy), cheese with mold, etc. I…

I generally agree with you - shopping at TJs is a fairly low-BS experience. But I feel that putting less fresh stuff in front is just common sense - its just a a FIFO buffer.

I'd agree with you, if the buffer had a sensible cutoff. The cutoff is currently "tomorrow" - so you'll buy stuff who's useby date is before you've even opened it. Sucks.

Re: Trader Joe's Ex-President To Turn Expired Food Into Cheap Meals

#37

Post by _lex »

jlgreco wrote: post #18
_lex wrote: post #15

I HATE this. I previously shopped at Trader Joe's with confidence - I knew I wasn't being gouged on price, so I generally ignored prices. I knew the food was good, so I could turn my brain off and just buy whatever I fancied. However, maybe 7 months ago, I started to notice that I was buying expired or nearly expired things from Trader Joes - bread that would go bad the next day (got mouldy), cheese with mold, etc. I…

Interesting... a few months ago I noticed exactly the same thing. I've begun walking a half mile further a few times a week to a Safeway rather than go to the Trader Joes two blocks from my home because of this. (I refuse to use store club cards, so I don't encounter the trouble you have with them). I actually prefer some trader joe's branded food to the alternatives, but it isn't worth it to go there. Food from othe…

Exactly. Most people aren't realizing that my frustration is with the extremes of the rotation - food shouldn't be going bad/ have a use-by date that is the day after you buy it.

Trader Joe's obviously has had a significant change of policy recently to reduce losses to perishables, and it's foisting those losses on customers. I hate it.

Re: Trader Joe's Ex-President To Turn Expired Food Into Cheap Meals

#38

Post by _lex »

mansam wrote: post #20
_lex wrote: post #15

I HATE this. I previously shopped at Trader Joe's with confidence - I knew I wasn't being gouged on price, so I generally ignored prices. I knew the food was good, so I could turn my brain off and just buy whatever I fancied. However, maybe 7 months ago, I started to notice that I was buying expired or nearly expired things from Trader Joes - bread that would go bad the next day (got mouldy), cheese with mold, etc. I…

> I eventually realized that for perishable goods, they put the new stuff in the back of the shelves, so now I just head for the back of the shelf when I need to buy perishables there. This sucks for me, since buying at TJs used to be a stress-free experience, and now I check the 'use-by' dates on everything. I just wanted to mention that this is a standard practice called rotation. After all, putting new product in…

That would be totally fine if this was Safeway or somewhere else that isn't selling fresh goods that go bad quickly. This isn't the case for things like bread and cheese at Trader Joe's - those things go bad just after their sell by dates. I'd agree that it wasn't unusual or shady if it wasn't a significant departure from their standard practices - I've shopped at TJs for years, and this change is fairly recent.

The Safeway experience is agonizing, though I'm sure it must be profitable for them at least in the short term. I just avoid them now, even though they have things I just can't find at TJs.

Re: Trader Joe's Ex-President To Turn Expired Food Into Cheap Meals

#39

Post by _lex »

ars wrote: post #28
_lex wrote: post #15

I HATE this. I previously shopped at Trader Joe's with confidence - I knew I wasn't being gouged on price, so I generally ignored prices. I knew the food was good, so I could turn my brain off and just buy whatever I fancied. However, maybe 7 months ago, I started to notice that I was buying expired or nearly expired things from Trader Joes - bread that would go bad the next day (got mouldy), cheese with mold, etc. I…

> I HATE this. I previously shopped at Trader Joe's with confidence Um, this has NOTHING to do with Trader Joe's! Is it too much to even read the title? Never mind the actual article?

I read the article. You need to read my comment.

It's about the fact that food often DOES go bad by the sell-by date, and that Trader Joe - where this guy got his experience - has changed their policies to aggressively push older, effectively near-expired goods on customers. That's what I hate, and it's pretty relevant.

Re: Trader Joe's Ex-President To Turn Expired Food Into Cheap Meals

#40

Post by jmspring »

backprojection wrote: post #17
_lex wrote: post #15

I HATE this. I previously shopped at Trader Joe's with confidence - I knew I wasn't being gouged on price, so I generally ignored prices. I knew the food was good, so I could turn my brain off and just buy whatever I fancied. However, maybe 7 months ago, I started to notice that I was buying expired or nearly expired things from Trader Joes - bread that would go bad the next day (got mouldy), cheese with mold, etc. I…

I generally agree with you - shopping at TJs is a fairly low-BS experience. But I feel that putting less fresh stuff in front is just common sense - its just a a FIFO buffer.

FIFO is common at many stores.

I mostly shop at a handful of local stores, one in business for around 100 years, the other around 40 now. The younger of the two is more "hippy" (for lack of a better term) and has had many expired products on the shelf I've had to point out/return (when I wasn't paying attention). The older, not so much. I don't shop at the local Safeway -- a wholly different issue.

A lot of stores go with the FIFO approach, but some staff don't necessarily pay attention. In other cases, the vendor rents space and is responsible for stocking their own shelves...this happened to me recently...juice 2 weeks past due (didn't check when purchased, returned an hour later) -- store honored the return, but mentioned it was the vendor's responsibility.

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