Ripping us off

It's time we all took a stand against those who sell us shoddy goods, particularly in the food line. It seems that they think we are all suckers and will accept without complaining. Here are some of the tricks that have recently come my way, and yours too!

Anything on a special is likely to be either specially manufactured at a slightly inferior quality: toilet paper for instance. If you have fingers that are very sensitive to the micron level, you will know immediately that it is fractionally thinner and will be used quicker than the normal one you buy, although it is being sold under the same name at a reduced price so you think you are getting a real bargain.

Fresh foods are on the point of exceeding their expiry date; pockets of onions and potatoes will already have some beginning to rot, and you should open the bag and discard them as soon as you get them home.

Rotisserie chickens in the supermarkets are those that have reached their time limit and this is how they avoid wastage - in fact they should be sold at cost - in my humble opinion - as we are saving them the loss.

A friend recently bought a bag of  very tiny oranges, which she was told were the first of the new season. She gave me half as she didn't feel she would eat them all, and when I tipped them out of the bag, two already had gone mouldy and the rest were shrivelled and soft as a deflated balloon. Obviously the first of last season, kept in cold storage. Needless to say, she took them straight back and was given a replacement without any quibbling.

I bought four extremely large red apples at the local fruit and veg adorers outlet, thinking I hadn't seen such big or appealing apples in years. I tested them for firmness and there was no resistance, although I did think they were remarkably light for their size. When I got them home and put them in a salad, they were floury, dry and had brown patches under the unmarked, perfect skins. Another cold-storage culprit - I should have known it was too early for them to have grown to that size.

Although I am tempted to switch retailers to that one that apparently can be trusted to provide quality, even they are known to fall short at times. I think that switching is not really the answer - consumer resistance could be much more effective and direct complaints to management should become the norm if we are to regain our voice and our choice to buy the foods we want, not the foods they are trying to get rid of. Perhaps if they sold them cheaper the year before, we would buy more and they wouldn't have to keep them to dish up out of season.

Perhaps seasonal eating is what we should be following.