Buying biscuits!

[Buckman]

Buying biscuits should be a simple matter however packaging makes it a nightmare. I can remember the days when one could walk into a shop, buy a tin of biscuits and on opening the biscuit tin, it was crammed full of biscuits with biscuits about 5 or 6 deep. All this for a fiver.

However now most are cardboard boxes with maximum spacing between the biscuits and generally the biscuits are only two deep due to the amount of packaging inside. So for a fiver you are paying for packaging with a few crumbs they try to pass off as biscuits.

We have no objection to paying a tenner or so for a decent tin of biscuits that is crammed full of biscuits unfortunately they don't seem to exist any more.

 

[otherclive]

Perhaps the Christmas assortments are worth a look.

 

[Buckman]

Perhaps the Christmas assortments are worth a look.

Tried it last year and all that was available in supermarkets was the cardboard boxes with plastic packaging and and few titbits they called biscuits! We eventually bought some "loose" packets and adding them into an old biscuit tin.

 

[Jcloughie]

I was spoilt growing up. Shops had boxes of broken biscuits, and neighbours worked for McVities which meant Club Biscuits seconds. Some just mishaps, some solid chocolate.

No wonder I ended up with type 2 diabetes.

We now treat ourselves to 1 rich tea or ginger nut per day.

John

 

[otherclive]

Foxs still sell biscuits in tins. We like their chocolate selection tin. Perhaps the reason some others are in cardboard boxes is that they are cheaper to make, easier storage, probably lighter to transport and readily recycled.

Fir our day to day biscuits we use Lidl own brand.

 

[Buckman]

During the year we mostly buy Ginger snaps and sometimes the odd Chocolate digestive. At Christmas we like to have a selection of biscuits available to offer any guests that may drop in. Doesn't look very nice offering biscuits that have been chucked into a tin .

We do not like putting biscuits on a plate to offer to people as some after the covid pandemic as some may be worried about how the biscuits were put onto the plate. We understand this and it is not an issue and anyway always wash our hands before touching any food..

 

[otherclive]

During the year we mostly buy Ginger snaps and sometimes the odd Chocolate digestive. At Christmas we like to have a selection of biscuits available to offer any guests that may drop in. Doesn't look very nice offering biscuits that have been chucked into a tin .

We do not like putting biscuits on a plate to offer to people as some after the covid pandemic as some may be worried about how the biscuits were put onto the plate. We understand this and it is not an issue and anyway always wash our hands before touching any food..

All I can say is whenever we buy a tin ofFox’s assortment or equivalent they are all in their own compartments, so no way do they look ““chucked in”.

 

[Buckman]

All I can say is whenever we buy a tin ofFox’s assortment or equivalent they are all in their own compartments, so no way do they look ““chucked in”.

I never said that biscuits bought from a shop were chucked in. I was referring to use putting biscuits from various different biscuit packets into a tin.

Fox and similar biscuits are well over priced as you are paying for all the packaging inside the box due to widely spaced columns of biscuits.

 

[otherclive]

I never said that biscuits bought from a shop were chucked in. I was referring to use putting biscuits from various different biscuit packets into a tin.

Fox and similar biscuits are well over priced as you are paying for all the packaging inside the box due to widely spaced columns of biscuits.

Also I’m paying for quality and something we enjoy.

 

[Buckman]

Also I’m paying for quality and something we enjoy.

Which is why we have ruled out Fox etc for this Christmas.

 

[Sam Vimes]

Anyone remember Arrow Root biscuits. Often in a jar in a corner shop or newsagents. Halfpenny or a penny each I think. Real money that is.

 

[otherclive]

I was spoilt growing up. Shops had boxes of broken biscuits, and neighbours worked for McVities which meant Club Biscuits seconds. Some just mishaps, some solid chocolate.

No wonder I ended up with type 2 diabetes.

We now treat ourselves to 1 rich tea or ginger nut per day.

John

Most days we only have one biscuit. I get up around 0600-0630 and make myself a masala chai tea and like a dunkable biscuit. The pooch has three of its own biscuits, plus the last vestige of my biscuit. When my wife gets up I make her a normal tea and she has her one biscuit. Then we are ready to face the day afresh.

 

[nigel58]

Tried it last year and all that was available in supermarkets was the cardboard boxes with plastic packaging and and few titbits they called biscuits! We eventually bought some "loose" packets and adding them into an old biscuit tin.

Our milkman of years ago used to sell boxes of broken biscuits for around £2/£3 but as milkman are a rarity these days no more are the boxes. My four brothers and myself loved them those days are long gone . I totally agree the packaging on everything is why the price is high and the lack of food on them . Plastic everything ... chips on newspaper , gone ! Paper bags full of sweets very rare , rubbish sacks ..paper! Glass milk bottles .recyclables!
We had one dustbin not 4 different plastic sacks ,plastic wheelie to separate and do the job for them ,just one dustcart not three + 10 men , sorry for the rant but the older generation done more then for recycling than they do today ...
P.s. I love Hobnobs !

 

[otherclive]

Our milkman of years ago used to sell boxes of broken biscuits for around £2/£3 but as milkman are a rarity these days no more are the boxes. My four brothers and myself loved them those days are long gone . I totally agree the packaging on everything is why the price is high and the lack of food on them . Plastic everything ... chips on newspaper , gone ! Paper bags full of sweets very rare , rubbish sacks ..paper! Glass milk bottles .recyclables!
We had one dustbin not 4 different plastic sacks ,plastic wheelie to separate and do the job for them ,just one dustcart not three + 10 men , sorry for the rant but the older generation done more then for recycling than they do today ...
P.s. I love Hobnobs !

I don't understand your comment wrt one dustbin. How could one dustbin recycle more effectively than having different containers for the various waste streams?

 

[GaryB]

This is one of my "grumpy old man" irritations, buying a selection-pack of biscuits (the ones with the plastic vacuum formed tray to keep the biscuits separate) and you find that while the cheaper biscuits are stacked deep in the packaging, the nicer ones are only 2 or 3 deep!

McVittes biscuit factory used to be behind our house (the factory was demolished around 10 years ago and houses built on it) and you used to be able to buy boxes of broken biscuits from the gatehouse, the box was crammed full with pretty much everything.

 

[Jcloughie]

This is one of my "grumpy old man" irritations, buying a selection-pack of biscuits (the ones with the plastic vacuum formed tray to keep the biscuits separate) and you find that while the cheaper biscuits are stacked deep in the packaging, the nicer ones are only 2 or 3 deep!

McVittes biscuit factory used to be behind our house (the factory was demolished around 10 years ago and houses built on it) and you used to be able to buy boxes of broken biscuits from the gatehouse, the box was crammed full with pretty much everything.

Your post starts a mystery for me. I clearly remember in the late 50’s early 60’s, that neighbours would often supply us with Club Biscuits seconds, and another with Cadbury Milk Tray seconds. My mum told me they worked in the factory. But a quick research shows no McVities in Liverpool, though one in Manchester. And the closest Cadbury was Moreton on the Wirral. Both are too far for traveling to work in them days.




John

 

[GaryB]

I know that McVittes had a few factories, but the main one was in our town in Leicestershire (you could smell them during the day, fatal when you're working from home!). When ours closed it was transferred to one of the others but I can't remember where it was based???

 

[Dustydog]

The only biscuits worth having in a tin, that fill the tin, must be these shortbreads. Fully fattening but mouthwatering

 

[Buckman]

I don't understand your comment wrt one dustbin. How could one dustbin recycle more effectively than having different containers for the various waste streams?

I think what they may mean is that previously we had very little to recycle, but with all the extra packaging, you need more than one bin? We will wait for their reply.

 

[Beachball]

I got these Fox"s Classic biscuits selection 550g from bargain madness for £3.25

 

[Buckman]

I got these Fox"s Classic biscuits selection 550g from bargain madness for £3.25

If you go to Lidl and buy separate packages of biscuits you will get a whole lot more for a whole lot less. £3 could buy you 6 packages of biscuits and it was buying Fox biscuits that started this thread due to the box being all packaging with miserly amount of biscuits.

 

[GaryB]

On a similar subject, what do you all keep them in after you've opened them? We use a snap-shut lid plastic container (with a seal) BUT the biscuits still go soft after a few days (forcing me to eat all of them with a large coffee before they go stale!!!!!).

 

[Buckman]

On a similar subject, what do you all keep them in after you've opened them? We use a snap-shut lid plastic container (with a seal) BUT the biscuits still go soft after a few days (forcing me to eat all of them with a large coffee before they go stale!!!!!).

Hey cheating! That is my excuse however I also take some for the dog in case.

 

[Hutch]

On a similar subject, what do you all keep them in after you've opened them? We use a snap-shut lid plastic container (with a seal) BUT the biscuits still go soft after a few days (forcing me to eat all of them with a large coffee before they go stale!!!!!).

We have a Jacobs "Plastic" box and an old biscuits tin. One for sweet biscuits and one for savoury.

 

[otherclive]

We use a plastic airlock container and they stay crisp right through to the end. Nice Xmas selections such as Foxs and Walkers don’t last long enough to go soft. You could try dropping a couple of silica gel sachets into the box. But don’t leave them on the work surface lest someone puts them into a mug and then fills it with hot water 😂