Kitchen

[Just Bling]

Didn't buy the nectarines but both the yellow and white peaches purchased at Wal-Mart were sweet and juicy. I think we're at the end of Georgia peaches but those were awesome this year.

[gardenman]

This discussion reminds me of a neighbor I had who was hated by every local grocery store. She almost got herself arrested a couple of times. Anything she'd buy in a jar, she'd open a second jar and use some of the contents of the second jar to fill the first one to the very top then put the lid back on them both return the partially emptied one to the shelf and keep the full to the brim one in her cart. She used the "I'm paying for a full jar and I want a full jar!" argument and years/decades of trying to reason with her never changed her behavior. If she bought oil, she'd open another bottle of oil and fill hers to the top and then put it in her cart. She'd carry a fork for things like pickles and open the two jars and transfer pickles until her jar was absolutely full and then leave the partially emptied one on the shelf. Store managers and clerks pretty quickly figured out her game and if they saw her enter the store would follow her around to try and deter her activity, but she didn't care. She was paying for a full bottle and by God she'd get one.

She almost got arrested when the Tylenol tampering was going on and she was caught opening a bottle of cough syrup in the drug store and transferring some to another bottle. Both bottles were confiscated and sent out for testing to be sure she hadn't doctored them, but the tests came back fine and she wasn't charged. Even that never stopped her. When the store staff would try to make her pay for both bottles she'd absolutely refuse and leave both bottles behind making them lose twice the revenue. When they'd try to tell her that they'd have to throw out the one she took some from since they couldn't sell it, she'd blame the bottlers and say it wouldn't happen if they gave out full bottles like they were supposed to. I'm pretty sure every grocer in the area had a party when they saw her obituary in the paper. She drove up grocery prices for everyone else with her actions, but she knew she was in the right and she wasn't going to change.

[barrel racer]

You can return anything bought at Walmart for a refund or credit. I would never think to buy 2 or 3 baskets of fruit, pick through & return what I didn't want anywhere. I worked in produce at Walmart several years ago & the produce manager has no idea "at what point" it was refrigerated.

[Desertdi]

Not worth the time and the price of the gasoline to get there........

[Kachina624]

On 7/16/2014 Deadeye Daisy said:

Definitely NOT selfish, just quite prudent. You must have more money than you know what to do with. The rest of us prefer to NOT shell out hard earned money for items that aren't edible. As I said, I only do that if I have time. Most times, I just buy several baskets and sort out at home, then get a refund for the ones that aren't edible.

As for hands being all over the fruit - obviously you've never spent time around fruit farms and orchards. Do you REALLY think the field pickers wear sanitary gloves when picking berries in the fields? Guess what - most rarely bother to take time out to use the porta potties that are provided - they are paid by the amount they pick, not by the hour. They don't take the time to hike over to the facility. No one notices the pickers at strawberry fields, as they're normally squatting when picking. Blueberry pickers stand up, so they might be noticed. That's why we wash our produce before eating.

If a store's produce is not to your liking, go shop somewhere else! I don't want your hands all over my food. Produce is washed after it's picked, although I wash it again usually with soap. It's just a matter of time before you're evicted from the produce department. What if everyone did what you do? You could easily be accused of tampering with food and would be on closed-circuit TV doing just that...you think that's prudent?

[Hooty]

I would never return a food item, unless it has bugs or something really gross in it! Just toss it and chalk it up to experience!

[Deadeye Daisy]

On 7/16/2014 kachina624 said:

If a store's produce is not to your liking, go shop somewhere else! I don't want your hands all over my food. Produce is washed after it's picked, although I wash it again usually with soap. It's just a matter of time before you're evicted from the produce department. What if everyone did what you do? You could easily be accused of tampering with food and would be on closed-circuit TV doing just that...you think that's prudent?

Quite a number of years ago, when Driscoll and other produce packers started pre-packing berries and the like, I was instructed by supermarket managers to open and sort the good from the bad, the ripe from the unripe.

Not one market over the years, but MOST when I was in TX, CA , TN & GA as well as when traveling in the US, Canada & Mexico. Raley's, Ralphs, HEB, Food For Less, Vons, Gelson's, Publix, Kroger, WalMart, Ingles, Wynn-Dixie, Costco, Bi-Lo, Whole Foods, Harry's, Harris & Teeter, Trader Joe's. In the case where a package is sold by weight, the only request was to verify that MY package weight was correct.

Just as an FYI, delicate produce like berries are NEVER washed; they are all 'field-packed' in the clamshell containers BEFORE leaving the field, then go direct to the coolers until they are shipped.

[icuryy]

I started returning produce to Walmart and also my local Kroger about 6 months ago. I got fed up with getting inferior produce.

For a few examples from this past month. Bought some strawberries from Kroger, they looked fine and I put them in my fridge until the next morning to have on my cereal. The top and middle of the package had mold like I never saw before. In less than a half a day...so back they went.

The other item was a 3# bag of onions. Came home, went to do my stir fry and 2 of them were black and soft inside.

In the past I have always written it off but now that I am using more fruits and vegetables I am at the market every other day and I think the stores just don't care about what is coming in on there trucks anymore. They don't have a problem charging a premium though.

[Sebastian]

Truly surprised I am, to read some of these posts. In my view, produce is a risk. I try to carefully select my fruits and vegetables but sometimes I just don't get it right. I have never returned produce.

Once though, I did witness someone returning a bag of apples at Sam's Club and I thought it a peculiar sight.

If that is the store policy and you are dissatisfied then go ahead and do so, I suppose. I still remain with produce being a risk.

[paShar]

I've never returned produce but a few years ago I did get a replacement for a box of Clementines that I purchased at my local grocery store.

At that time, they were packaged in a balsa wood box with netting over the top. What I could see of the bottom layer looked OK but when I got it home most of the Clementines in the bottom were rotten. I threw the whole box away.

The next week when I was in the store, I saw the produce manager and mentioned it to him. I told him I had thrown the box away and didn't have my receipt, but he went and got me another box that had been just delivered that day and changed the label so I wouldn't be charged.

Since then, I've noticed they no longer package the Clementines in a box, just in a net bag so you can see every one.

I think I would be extremely embarrassed to be seen standing in the produce department with several packages of fruit open in front of me picking out the best ones.