Ever buy prepared foods at the Pittsburgh area's grocery stores? (Penn: for sale, 2013)

[Hopes]

While traveling around the country, I noticed grocery stores in other regions do things differently. Many of them deeply discount food on last sell-by date. Perfectly good meats are sold for a dollar. I was wondering why grocery stores don't do that in our area. Was it due to state law forbidding it? Are they throwing it away? Is it all going to our local food banks? Based on what I hear people get at food banks, I think that's doubtful. I was curious. I decided to research it a bit.

I stumbled upon this interesting article about ex-President of Trader Joes planning to open a discount grocery store to repurpose expired food via cooking it an selling it inexpensively. Well, he says fast food prices are inexpensive but that's a different thread. What caught my attention was the following statement:

Still, is it a public relations problem to get people to buy stuff that is past due?

I might say, without naming the names, one of the leading, best regarded brands in the large, national, food industry — they basically recover the food within their stores, cook it up and put it out on their hot trays the next day.

Trader Joe's Ex-President To Turn Expired Food Into Cheap Meals : The Salt : NPR

So all of those prepared foods are being made with expired products. At a premium price too. At even the elite "wholesome" grocery chain too. I've grabbed some of that food when I didn't feel like cooking. I may think twice next time. Maybe it would be different if the food was deeply discounted like the concept store in the article, but there's just something ethically wrong with paying top dollar for prepared meals made with expired food.

I still don't have a full answer on what happens to expired food in Pennsylvania. I can't imagine our area butchers are better at making sure inventory meets demand so there's nothing left. But I thought I'd share what I found. Food for thought.

[Gee Whiz]

A lot of the subs are made with the "ends" of the lunch meat. The ends are also put in a meat grinder to make ham salad.

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by Gee Whiz

A lot of the subs are made with the "ends" of the lunch meat. The ends are also put in a meat grinder to make ham salad.

I didn't even know ham salad was a thing before college.

[greg42]

I saw that piece back when it was first posted. It makes total sense. Although I didn't connect it with the fact that there aren't too many crazy markdowns on meat or such. But I could see that being the case for Giant Eagle for example, pretty good at recovery. It might also explain why when I go into some other highly rated stores that people cite like I don't see a lot of prepared food.

Also, I believe the national well regarded chain he didn't name is in fact Whole Foods. Recover the produce that's not nice enough to keep on the produce display into prepared foods, makes perfect sense. If you've spent enough time in that store you can practically see it at work.

"Expired" food is pretty much a misnomer. Almost every date stamped on foods is a "best before" date, a conservative date based on best taste and/or hoping people will throw it out and buy more. A "sell by" date like on dairy and a few other items is even more vague IMO although the deal with dairy includes both time in general plus time opened. How long it keeps is widely variable depending upon multiple factors as he says in the article.

Nothing becomes dangerous on those dates or anywhere close to them, with the possible exception of raw meat. They might become off tasting though eventually.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by greg42

Although I didn't connect it with the fact that there aren't too many crazy markdowns on meat or such. But I could see that being the case for Giant Eagle for example, pretty good at recovery.

Isn't it weird how it's done so differently in other regions? There are many large chains in the country that are capable of great food recovery, yet it's standard policy to mark everything down. Giant Eagle has the largest prepared foods compared to SnS and others. Next time I'm in an out of state grocery store that marks down, I'm going to check the prepared food department. I never noticed if there was one.

Originally Posted by greg42

Also, I believe the national well regarded chain he didn't name is in fact Whole Foods. Recover the produce that's not nice enough to keep on the produce display into prepared foods, makes perfect sense. If you've spent enough time in that store you can practically see it at work.

That's why I put "wholesome" in quotes. It's not just produce. It's meat too.

Originally Posted by greg42

Nothing becomes dangerous on those dates or anywhere close to them, with the possible exception of raw meat. They might become off tasting though eventually.

Meat would be my concern.

[Catia]

I agree, the foods that are 're-purposed' are not spoiled/bad/turned.

There is a difference between a "sell-by date" & a "use-by date"

Grocery stored produce a LOT of food waste.
There are laws that regulate what they can & cannot do with that food.
Discounting it is OK in some cases, sometimes donating it is not.

Consider this, I got into a giant eagle to buy a roasting chicken for tomorrows dinner, it has a sell by date of today.
I go home, put it in the fried & cook it tomorrow. Nothing wrong with this.
Giant Eagle takes those same chickens, with today's sell by date, at the end of the day & throws them on the rotisserie & sells them for $5.

It is smart business.

Also, take into consideration many stores do not have the $$$ or resources to be able to make prepared foods. It is regulated the same as restaurants.
It takes a LOT of equipment, training & planning & inspections etc to have a prepared food section. Then it has to be marketed so that it makes a profit--not an easy thing to do. I think stores like Giant Eagle & Whole foods do a wonderful job.
Also, I believe not all foods are 'expired' or at the end of their sell-by date.
The demand for the prepared foods at places like Giant Eagle are such that they'd not be able to have enough prepared foods if they were only relying on the 'sell by' dates.
Ever been to Settler's Ridge Giant Eagle? No way it is all the unused foods.

Honestly, even if the foods were at the end of their sell by dates, there is still less processing & movement than say a local restaurant that has a bunch of stuff stocked in their freezer.
You are getting fresh food, cooked or prepared at the source.

Also consider this, the jobs created.
Even if the foods were all at the end of their sell-by date--
They could be thrown away, donated, etc, but instead, people are hired to prepare, present etc-so really a win-win.

You're not getting bad food, you are getting prepared fresh food.

[ditchdigger]

Kuhn's bakery department, a long time ago, used to sell bread pudding. I used to buy it, cause it was good, and certainly, they were making it out of the bread that didn't sell when fresh. Then I got a batch, a couple of times in a row, that contained rye bread with sesame seeds...

[hinsey86]

It's like all those turkey sandwiches, soup, salad etc after thanksgiving.

[doo dah]

A relative of mine works for a company (not local) that makes prepared foods for sale in groceries (major national chains). Not all grocery stores make their prepared foods in house. I was *very* surprised to learn this (about major chains). Economies of scale, I guess.
None of this would be repurposed food though.

Giant Eagle's website states that they donate over 6 millions pounds of food every year. I can't find anything that says if that is canned goods or fresh foods or what, I thought there might be an article somewhere, but no luck.

[Stijl Council]

Originally Posted by doo dah

A relative of mine works for a company (not local) that makes prepared foods for sale in groceries (major national chains). Not all grocery stores make their prepared foods in house. I was *very* surprised to learn this (about major chains). Economies of scale, I guess.
None of this would be repurposed food though.

I worked in the prepared foods department at Kroger in the southeast for a while when I was in college. A huge percentage of the stuff we sold was frozen stuff that we fried or otherwise prepared, plus the rotisserie chickens (which IIRC we got pre-brined and then seasoned before we put them on the rotisserie -- I don't remember if we got those from the meat department but I am pretty sure we didn't). Most of the remainder were wraps and subs; I am pretty sure we did not use expiring produce, etc., for those.