By the item or the weight?

[TastyReuben]

A question that struck me while out shopping today…

Let’s say you’re poking through the fresh fruit and veg (in person or online), and you see some lovely loose tangerines on offer for, oh, $1.79/lb (or whatever works for your location).

Do you purchase them by the weight, and get a pound or two, and weigh them and all that, or do you just say, “I’d like to have a few of those,” then throw some in a sack and be done with it?

Unless I’m purchasing a set amount for a recipe, I’m a “by item,” purchaser. Turnips we’re $.99/lb today, and I bought two, which happened to weigh 1.2lbs. Same with tangerines - I bought four, so we could have two each.

What do you do?

 

[AgileMJOLNIR]

I very much buy depending on the recipe I’m making, so if I need 2 potatoes then I buy 2. I do keep track of the price per lb as well in case it’s something relatively expensive and might scale up or down from there, altering my recipe on the spot. The biggest benefit for me is that I don’t overbuy and end of wasting Food. When I strictly bought by lb I found I was throwing food away which IMO one should minimize.

But I’m only buying for me, if you have a family maybe by weight is more realistic.

 

[caseydog]

I buy the quantity I want/need, regardless of whether they are priced per unit or per pound.

CD

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

It's entirely dependant on what it is and why I'm getting it.

Bananas, kiwi, apples, oranges & dates are a set number each per person. So bananas are 7 because hubby eats one each day and I don't eat them at all. And dates are 14 because I eat 2 a day.

After that it is dependent on the recipe and what prices are doing. If I'm making salad for lunch everyday, then it would be 7 carrots of roughly similar size (ideally odd jobs, so the strange shapes). But if I'm making carrot and coriander soup, then it's by ½kg or full kg in weight. I'll probably end up buying exactly the same thing though! 1kg of odd jobs carrots.

This last rattatouille I made was by weight for some items (1kg aubergines, 1kg courgettes) but individually for onions, coloured peppers and although the recipe says 5 plum tomatoes, I tend to go with ½kg.

 

[karadekoolaid]

Absolutely depends on what I´m cooking. If i´m doing a dinner party, then usually, my recipes are tried and tested, so I know exactly how much of each item I need. I buy kilos of this, that and the other. From cooking so much over the past 20 years, I can also judge, approximately, how much a " medium onion" weighs, how much 650 gms courgettes weigh, etc. - so I might buy 2, or 3, whatever.