It's gone off already! This must have happened to you.

I know it is not quite the same, but I have been known to use canned condensed milk in that situation. I am getting hungry reading here.

Gosh that would make it sooooooo sweet. It's not something used much over here in Italy - though I love it with strawberries

Gerty dear I'm beginning to worry about you. Talk of gone off food is making you hungry. Now I know you featured rank number one in being frugal but this is taking it to far. Now Mys, I sympathise with the gone off cream as it is the perfect add on and your whole meal would be ruined. And after all the trouble of buying the pancetta too. (Can you believe they used to sell that here and now I haven't seen the stuff for the last 4 years - perfect in nothing more than olive oil and garlic poured over spaghetti). Don't you have a local type of pop in place to pick up more cream during such culinary emergencies?

Hi Sandra, excellent conspiracy theory there on the plight of cucumbers, but is it only cucumbers we must ask ourselves, what about green potatoes, manky mushrooms, the list goes on. And why aliens Sandra? Do you follow the theory that because aliens prefer to eat tin cans then they are part of a plot to wipe out the vegetable world, or would you prefer to follow the theory that as aliens are themselves actual vegetables they are afraid of being eaten. I believe we must give a lot of thought to your alien plot.

Alerts no longer working I see. Now Sandra much as I can and will give credence to your alien theory I can't go along with the smash idea, these were little creatures made up for television you know, not real aliens And another fact makes this theory wrong I'm afraid but brace yourself as it's not very pleasant - some people have actually been known to add smash to their salad, disgusting and perverted I know but it disproves your theory. My theory of aliens being vegetable is now open to your abuse.

I'm glad you haven't dismissed my theory out of hand, Thea, because I think I've discovered proof. Aliens, as we all know from tv, eat Smash, so anything that doesn't go with Smash is destroyed - cucumber, radishes, mushrooms, real potatoes, lettuce. Do you see the pattern here? I can prove this, because I bought some sausages at the same time as the cucumber, and they're fine - as are my Bisto gravy granules and onions. We need to call in the X Files on this, or life on earth as we know it could end. Cucumber and radishes is just the beginning - mark my words.

Hi mimpi, have you been changing your avatar too? How much I appreciate your condolences for the loss of my radishes, it is a truly sad moment of deep anguish and pain as you so obviously recognise. Your chocolates didn't go off though did they, unless they went off on one of your cravings which you conveniently forgot about until another craving took over. Have you checked the freezer Mimpi, that's where I hide mine.

So, now I know where to look for it when Iam in Greece!

All gone I'm afraid, freezer raid

It was at a grocery store. I don't know if u have little debbie snack cakes there or not but that's what it was.it was a blckberry fried pie in a individual box & no packaging around the pie just stuck in that box. I'm very glad i saw the ant before i even opened the box. She repaced it but don't know that i will eat it, lol.

No Aunty we don't get those little cakes here but we certainly get ants, but on the whole have been much less troublesome this year, think they've all got heat exhaustion. I wouldn't risk that pie if I was you Aunty.

Hi Aunty, what on earth were they thinking of selling you a piece of ant pie. I mean that sounds fresh cooked if I'm not mistaken so that is really too gross. And then you even went back to the same shop. I don't think I'd have been too keen to take another pie from her. What if you'd eaten the things, I'm shivering at the very thought

Hi Peaceful, it is truly maddening isn't it, even today I forgot and went to find the radishes to munch alongside my brie but of course they were off festering somewhere in the depths of the bin. We don't really get salads in bags over here and when we do they are ridiculously expensive so probably never sell, and they are sealed so you can't even smell them first. I suggest you take scissors out with you whilst shopping, cut the top off the bags of salad, and check and sniff inside vigorously. Never heard of anyone keeping oranges in the fridge before

Or alternatively a sharp knife.

LOL, they'd probably throw me out if I carried about scissors doing that, but hey, it's an idea!

Hi zoey, there really is no point at all in driving around two hours just to take a bag of manky radishes back to complain. Even if I held onto them until the next visit to town can you imagine the smell in this heat. My heartfelt sympahty to your mouldering salad leaves, now I never buy those in a bag, I get lettuces and leaves that I can have a good poke and sniff around in before purchase.

Hi zoey, no I was actually referring to the lettuces some of which come in plastic bags, I like to check the hearts to make sure there's no sign of it going brown and it's always better to sniff them than be sorry after.

Yes... My post didnt come out quite as I had intended. If I notice the issue while I'm still near the store, I take them back. Otherwise, I'm pretty just out of luck. "Have a good poke and sniff in"? I hope you're talking about bags that are made like that, such as sometimes are the ones that potatoes and celery are stored in...

Hi gerty, I have not a green finger to my name but did indeed try radishes on a pot on my terrace several years ago. I could even see them start to come up and indulged in just one tiny one, and then I think it was the ants that got all the rest. Complete waste of time. Maybe I'll bat my eyelids at a freindly fisherman and ask him to grow me some rapaniakia. Salvaging what you can is nothing less than I would expect from you gerty, I think in your case its probably a case of having too many of something all at one time.

'gone to slime city'lol

Hi Hately, wish you'd drop the 09 bit. I love that one, can I use it, slime city. I did the exact same thing not long ago with a box of mushrooms. After a big shop there was no room left in the fridge for them so I put them in a dark cupboard and promptly forgot about them, until I encountered the putreyfing stench and the brown sludge. Did you even know that mouldering mushrooms rot right down to a nasty stinky sludge. I'm glad you managed to salvage a few of your radishes but the state mine were in I wouldn't have been tempted to go anywhere near without one of those nice white bio suits on.Luckily they don't sell bean sprouts out here so that's one I'll never have to encounter.

Hi FFFrocks, now that really is gross. I hate it when they do that because its obviously done on purpose to sell off their mangy old bits. They've only just started selling packs of pre packed meat over here and I haven't come across anything dodgy in there yet except a few obviously unplucked chicken wings, hairs down of course.