View Full Version : Perishable foods in plastic containers
CathyA's post about Keurig cups reminded me about something that I just don't get. It seems like it is getting harder and harder to find fresh produce, cheese and other items that are not packaged in plastic. I have given up trying to find individual bunches of spinach as everyone seems to want the convenience of pre-washed leaves in plastic boxes or bags. And the cheese aisle has grown from just a couple of items to a whole row of packaged pre-sliced or pre-shredded. Do people not realize that shredded and sliced cheese has to be sprayed with a preservative to keep it from molding? Is it that hard to slice or grate one's own cheese from a block? Definitely a pet peeve of mine...we are drowning in plastic packaging and now people expect the convenience of just opening a container without a thought.
Agreed! It's just silly - our local grocery store changed suppliers/management philosophy recently, and now the aisles are full of that....stuff.
Tussiemussies
11-9-13, 6:19pm
So true and with the produce, I have tasted plastic on it when I went to eat it fresh...the types that sit on a styrofoam base and are wrapped in the plastic...
I very seldom buy produce in plastic because I want to see all of it, smell it, etc. Additionally, IME, produce stored in plastic doesn't keep as well. Fortunately, there are enough places around here which sell produce sans petroleum (besides the farmer's markets, of course). Ironically, though, it can be considerably less expensive to buy bulk bags of produce than it is to buy an equivalent amount of loose produce. I've seen that on several occasions. I don't like it. :(
As for cheese, I kind of get it. People are buying convenience. Cutting/grating one's own requires owning a knife/grater/food processor, knowing how to use the grater without adding a little piece of yourself to your meal prep, and cleaning the knife/grater/processor afterward. It also tends to preclude little kids from serving themselves. I always fresh-grate the Parmesan we use, partially because I can grate far better Parmesan than comes in those tubs or (yeesh) the green can. I bought a chunk of cheddar this week knowing we'll shred some of it for chili. But if I'm pressed for time, I'm not above buying pre-shredded cheese myself. And sliced cheese is fair game. Maybe some of that comes from my philosophy of whatever is going to kill me in small doses. Is that plastic bag a bigger environmental issue than the plastic/paper in which a chunk would be sold plus the water/soap used to clean the shredding tool? I think that's hard to quantify.
Joyous_5
11-22-13, 10:00am
CathyA's post about Keurig cups reminded me about something that I just don't get. It seems like it is getting harder and harder to find fresh produce, cheese and other items that are not packaged in plastic. I have given up trying to find individual bunches of spinach as everyone seems to want the convenience of pre-washed leaves in plastic boxes or bags. And the cheese aisle has grown from just a couple of items to a whole row of packaged pre-sliced or pre-shredded. Do people not realize that shredded and sliced cheese has to be sprayed with a preservative to keep it from molding? Is it that hard to slice or grate one's own cheese from a block? Definitely a pet peeve of mine...we are drowning in plastic packaging and now people expect the convenience of just opening a container without a thought.
Gross! I never knew that cheeses were sprayed with preservative. That's disgusting--thanks for sharing that.
And I agree--the plastic overload in our country and in just the grocery store as you pointed out is so discouraging.
catherine
11-22-13, 10:17am
Yes, I totally agree with you there.
Also, I try not to use the individual plastic bags that you use for each fruit/veggie. If I'm only buying one, two or three, or even four lemons/peppers/apples, etc., why do I need to put them in a bag? Just to make it easier for the clerk to ring up? You don't put individual cans of tuna in a bag of its own.
iris lilies
11-22-13, 10:39am
Our grocery store still sells lots of lettuces, spinach, and harder vegetables like green beans and Brussels sprouts loose, no plastic packaging. I can't say that there is much cheese, though, that is not wrapped in plastic. Other than the small selection at the "deli" where you can have it cut to size, all of the other vast arrays of cheese are in plastic.
I have to confess that I started buy shredded cheese last year. I felt guilty. Now I just buy it regularly and the guilt is gone.
Once I had one of those bagged lettuce mixes that was slightly old and the plastic taste on it was strong. That soured me on those mixes for a long, long time.
pinkytoe
11-22-13, 10:52am
Additionally, pre-packaged cheese and produce have become like ground meat. Giant vats of product, all mixed up together. Probably one of the reasons it is so hard to trace e coli in produce outbreaks.
I would not recommend reading grocery and food trade magazines; the truth will make you think twice about processed food. Or you can just not think about it I suppose.
Some things are just hard to avoid. I pretty much only shop for groceries in stores that have bulk bins and can get a variety of groceries without any of the advertising or excessive packaging, but certainly not everything. I wish we had a grocery co-op nearby. Actually, since leaving work I do a lot more cooking from scratch and avoid a lot more processed foods, which not only saves on packing, but ingredients with long ingredient names in foreign tongues. I only buy non-dairy rice or soy cheese, but slices still come wrapped.
Miss Cellane
11-22-13, 2:12pm
About the shredded cheese--I avoid it. But I've discovered that pound for pound, the shredded cheese is frequently cheaper than a block of the same cheese.
Part of what's changed is how people eat cheese. I don't remember the need for so much shredded cheese 40 years ago. Sure, we grated some. But these days, it seems as if every third recipe calls for shredded cheese.
ApatheticNoMore
11-22-13, 3:47pm
Shredded cheese always has extra ingredients added to it, to keep it from sticking together etc.. Ugh. I use a lot of shredded cheese I guess (too much :)), I just grate it, though it if starts turning hard it is best to try to remember to grate it and freeze it before it becomes a rock or goes bad.
One of the "convenience" items that always amuses me is pre-crumbled feta cheese. I mean feta is already so crumbly all you have to do is mash it slightly with a fork! And the pre-crumbled costs twice as much per pound! Every time we have feta I come the the table stating how exhausted I am from having to crumble the feta myself.;)
feta cheese
We discovered the feta cheese at a mid-east grocery nearby. It is made in large blocks set in brine. They cut up a hunk for you by weight and then cover with brine. The pre-crumbled grocery stuff seems tasteless by comparison.
We are switching schools and need Ideas- storage and food wise. Thanks for the pattern and instructions! I always intend to make lunches more fun in our house as like bento boxes in these type of boxes in (link removed by moderator) are so, creative to make things.
CathyA's post about Keurig cups reminded me about something that I just don't get. It seems like it is getting harder and harder to find fresh produce, cheese and other items that are not packaged in plastic. I have given up trying to find individual bunches of spinach as everyone seems to want the convenience of pre-washed leaves in plastic boxes or bags. And the cheese aisle has grown from just a couple of items to a whole row of packaged pre-sliced or pre-shredded. Do people not realize that shredded and sliced cheese has to be sprayed with a preservative to keep it from molding? Is it that hard to slice or grate one's own cheese from a block? Definitely a pet peeve of mine...we are drowning in plastic packaging and now people expect the convenience of just opening a container without a thought.
I feel your pain. I try not to buy prewashed, plastic wrapped food. Ever notice the E Coli breakouts nearly always link bag to the bagged and plastic wrapped stuff? What is that? But organic stores sometimes have better selections.
One of the "convenience" items that always amuses me is pre-crumbled feta cheese. I mean feta is already so crumbly all you have to do is mash it slightly with a fork! And the pre-crumbled costs twice as much per pound! Every time we have feta I come the the table stating how exhausted I am from having to crumble the feta myself.;)
you are so right! it tastes better than the crumbled stuff. Big difference. You won't be sorry.
There is another mechanism at work here. Around here, there are many vegetables that are packaged in plastic, and not because they're sliced or peeled or anything like that: Whole zucchini, whole Thai tips, etc. So it isn't for convenience but evidently in response to what has happened in the past when some foods were not packaged in plastic.
Yes, I have noticed whole produce in plastic here too, such as six organic apples in a formed container. I recently learned that our large regional grocery has a specialized facility just for sanitizing produce. They use a very strong chlorine based solution. I would concur that many of the e coli outbreaks come from the produce mixed from different sources, - lettuce, spinach, etc.
iris lilies
1-3-14, 9:43am
My grocery store has 90% of its produce NOT wrapped in plastic. Loose spinach, apples, etc--no plastic. There is of course the bagged lettuce section but that's clearly for bagged stuff.
May I laughed at your description of the rigor of crumbling feta cheese, don't work so hard! haha.
We have options to avoid plastic (Whole Foods, local co-op, etc.), but very few of those live at our neighborhood grocery store. I've been working on a greenhouse plan to try to extend the garden out for 12 months. With a forecast "high" around 0* on Sunday I obviously still have work to do.
A prior mention of the plastic produce bags causes me to ask...does anyone here bring their own mesh or fabric (reusable) produce bags from home? I have some nice mesh ones I got years ago, but for some reason always forget to take them. And now I think I would need more since I'm eating more fresh produce than I did then. But I always worry they're a nuisance for the cashier. (I know, that's co-dependent).
Yes, I have noticed whole produce in plastic here too, such as six organic apples in a formed container. I recently learned that our large regional grocery has a specialized facility just for sanitizing produce. They use a very strong chlorine based solution. I would concur that many of the e coli outbreaks come from the produce mixed from different sources, - lettuce, spinach, etc.I suspect as more and more grocers get hit over and over again with such incidents we'll see the use of plastic protection increase.
ApatheticNoMore
1-3-14, 3:07pm
A prior mention of the plastic produce bags causes me to ask...does anyone here bring their own mesh or fabric (reusable) produce bags from home?
Yes when I remember, the remembering thing is hard. I have mesh, I have small cotton bags for dry goods etc. - it's all about remembering really. I don't worry about the cashiers it's mostly by the pound, they weigh it anyway - if they're going to give you a few pennies off your dry goods for what the bag weighs or something then some cashiers do, some don't, but honestly that's not worth worrying about really either. I've reused plastic produce bags too, but that also is all about the remembering.
If I don't remember - I put a lot of things on the belt naked, like who really cares if onions or bananas or avocadoes or tomatoes or potatoes or mangoes etc. are in bags, there are times I haven't even bothered with a bag for lettuce but wet stuff tends to be a contender for a bag, sometimes I'll put multiple things in the same bag - this only works if it's not by the pound obviously and most things are but .... I try to use the minimal bags possible, if I've yet again forgotten. I don't tend to shop where most produce comes prepackaged PERIOD. But yea a few things come prepackaged, oh well I guess. If I remember I recycle the package.
Two websites are useful for reducing your use of plastic and/or waste. One is "My life without plastic," and the other is the "Zero Waste" website. Google these words and you should find them. All I can say about pre-packaged foods, such as grated cheese and whatnot, is that the flavors are so awful that it should be an easy decision to buy whole and process yourself. Do a taste-test sometime and you will see (taste) the difference. Don't succumb to convenience and eating processed, tasteless, chemical-filled food! Resist!
The co-op, of course, is quite tolerant of produce placed right on the conveyor belt, BYO bags, and so on. About the only things I will put in plastic bags are freshly-misted produce that still is dripping when I select it, or very ripe fruits in which the skin is eaten (apricots, pears, etc.) -- and then I make sure there's enough air retained in the bag to cushion the fruit. I also have no problem re-using plastic produce bags if they're clean after a quick rinse at home.
The tricky bit about remembering to bring my own bags is to make sure they hit our "landing spot" right by the back door that leads to the garage. If I see it, I'll remember to bring it out to the car next time I go there.
I use alot of the convenience type foods just because with my MS things like grating cheese are impossible for me to do most days. I go with what I can physically do. Buying prewashed bagged salad mix may not be the best way but it works for me. And I imagine the elderly or anyone that is disabled appreciates the convenience foods too....better than to have to go without.
i reuse clear plastic produce bags. I also cut all the identifying labels and bar codes from the bottom of the plastic mesh bags that oranges and some potatoes come in.
I use those plastic mesh bags when I purchase vegetables. They weigh almost nothing, last forever, and the cashiers are starting to expect them rather than searching for a bar code.
I remember reading about a (possible?) new law that stated all fruits and vegets needed to have a label. I don't remember if it became law or not but it was considered to be just another way to push small organic farmers out of business due to yet another needless expense. Did this become a law and could all this extra plastic be a part of the response to it? Sorry I don't have more information than that.
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