Let's take bananas for example. When they're fresh in the store they have a greenish color (not ripe) and you pay full price. Once they turn yellow or get those black spots (ripe), the price drops. Most people avoid buying bananas with spots since they consider them rotten. And they're wrong! The part you eat is quite good and has nothing to do with the exterior. What about you, do you avoid buying cheap, overripe fruit?
I only really buy fruit that is started to turn if I'm going to take it home and bake with it that day. Older bananas, for example, are best for banana nut bread. I also use apples that aren't in the best shape for baking because I cut off the bad parts. For the fruit that I keep in the fruit bowl, though, I don't think the older fruit would suffice.
I often get the bags of bananas when I go to the store to make bread, when I see them at the store at a reduced price. When I see the apples are getting old I will make applesauce out of them or make cookies or muffins with the apples included. I have no problem purchasing old fruit or vegetables if I plan to use them right away.
I quite enjoy a banana with breakfast each morning. Buying older bananas wouldn't work for this purpose as they wouldn't last several days for me to eat my way to the end of the bunch. When it come to buying oled produce, I would have to have an immediate and intended use for it. Older bananas are great for banana bread and okay for a smoothie but I have to know I will be using them pretty much that day. Older tomatoes are often great if one wants to make a big batch of pasta sauce and freeze the extra. Strawberries also can be cleaned and sliced before freezing to use in the off season if you will be making smoothies.
Yup -- that's pretty much how I feel about it. I wouldn't buy REALLY old fruit, but I do buy it a teensy bit past its prime for certain things. Just make sure that you're actually getting a deal; you have to ask the cashiers at my local grocery store to adjust the price down because they don't see the need to otherwise, even when they're passing brown bananas and dented apples across the scanner. :/
They would be soft and squidgy by then wouldn't they? They time I'd consider buying almost expired fruit is if I was going to be baking with them, I don't do any baking and I only eat fruit raw so I'd pass.
Yeah, when I'm not using it for baking, I like it as fresh as possible. I generally buy that from the farmer's market or the local produce stand, not at the grocery store. Still, almost-old fruits can be cheap and handy for certain things.
I wouldn't buy fruit like this, not only do I like fruit that is a bit hard and not chewy, that fruit could potentially be bad for you if you don't eat it right away.
For baking, those older bananas are great! In fact, if I buy fresh, yellow bananas, I have to wait until they go brown before I use them anyway. For other fruits, though? I'm less likely to use this method. Anything I'm going to eat fresh, needs to still be really fresh. Apples can still be used in baking once they start going a little soft, but most others end up getting thrown out as soon as they start going soft.
I've bought quite a few discounted bags of fruit, thinking that I would just cut the bad parts off and use them in my smoothies. I've ended up throwing so much away though, that I have to question whether or not it was worth it. I guess you just have to pick and choose quite carefully to get the best out of the bunch. I don't like the smell of bananas once they get over ripe, so I don't buy them this way.
I don't mind buying them but to be honest I always prefer buying a fresh non ripe one because I need them to last longer until I need to buy some again. But if there are more people at home and I know that it will finish right away then I would definitely buy it.
Yeah, I do know what you mean. I sometimes buy my bananas really green. I know they won't be good for the first day or so, but then they last until my next grocery shopping trip.
I'd never buy the sort of fruits which have maybe a day or two before they're no good for consumption. But if I have guests who would eat all the fruits within a day, then quite obviously I'd consider buying overripe fruits simply because they have a great taste. There are ways I hear which one can use to stop fruits from ripening further. Still working on that bit of research at the moment . . .
Well if I am sure that I will be eating it soon then yes, I would buy one. I don't much mind the spots on bananas though since they're only, for the most part, in the skin and the fruit itself isn't affected that much. But I don't really trust fruits in the super market, they're a bit, well unnatural.
Yes, I do buy them. They are very cheap in relation the ones that are just finely ripe. I buy them to juice which I would just be consuming right after I juice them, which I do right after I buy the fruits. Sometimes, I even get them for free which is very cool! I've been doing it for years and I am still able to reap the benefits like those ones that are not nearly overripe give.
Actually bananas that are yellow and with black spots is more tasty and sweeter than greenish bananas. Also, health wise yellow bananas are perfectly ripe and that is how they should be eaten, however they need to be finished quickly or they turn riper and softer which many do not like much. Such over ripe bananas can be used to make muffins or pudding etc. As long as the fruits are firm and good in appearance and there are no visible browning or decaying, 'expired' fruits can be safely consumed or used on sweet recipes.
Before we didn't dare to buy seemingly rotten fruits for they're not good to eat. But we realize that we could save much from the original price if we buy them for we don't have the intention to store but to consume the right away. So next time we go for a shopping we look the fruits which are about to rot and enjoy the big savings.
I totally agree with you. When I was young, I always thought of my mother weird because she always buy fruits that are almost rotten. Now that I got older, I understood what she was doing back then. It saved me a lot of money by buying almost-rotten fruits.
Honestly you are right. Just because there is black spots on the peel does not mean the the banana has gone rotten just yet. They are still good for a couple more days, if I was in the need of the fruit then I would definitely buy it. A few black spots do not mean much, especially if the price is lowered on it.
You just got to know how to buy especially ripe fruits. If you know how to buy them you know what to pick and what to pass. For people like me who don't bake, I buy fruits that are green for they travel well while riding the bus. I like to get fruits that are a bit green so it ripens at home especially bananas for I like it just ripen. Bananas are good for your health with it's vitamins it has.
