Customers defend popular range sold at all supermarkets

A post labelling a popular supermarket item as “lazy” has backfired as many leapt to the defence of the easy-to-use product.

A supermarket item that offers the ultimate in convenience has gone viral as many condemn the “lazy” product and the people that buy it.

The bag of pre-peeled potatoes, sold by UK supermarket Tesco, has been slammed after a snap of the product was circulated on popular Facebook page British Memes.

“We’ve reached peak laziness,” the photo was captioned.

The post sparked a huge debate about the need for pre-prepared fruit and vegetables, with many saying these items were for people who were either time poor, mobility issues or various other disabilities.

“I have family unable to peel potatoes, but with these can make whatever they want with potatoes rather than buying frozen chips etc,” one social media user said.

“Also, if people want you to pay a bit extra to save time, then they can! People but jarred sauces, bags of chopped veg, ready meals … so what!?”

One added: “We’ve reached peak ableism. I can’t peel potatoes due to weak wrists. This is a life saver for me.”

“Ever thought it would be useful for people with disabilities,” another asked.

These potatoes were slammed as "lazy". Picture: Facebook/British Memes

However there were many who were insistent the peeled tats were “lazy”.

“It takes two seconds to peel these,” one scoffed.

“They’ll be so much more expensive too,” another added.

Mostly though, people thought it was a “brilliant idea”, especially for those who needed the assistance.

“There’s literally zero problem with this. If someone wants to pay more money to have their potatoes pre-peeled, they can – it’s their money,” one said.

“Good rule to live by – If something like this doesn’t seem useful for you, it probably doesn’t exist for you.”

The same conversation about pre-cut vegetables and fruit has been had in Australia.

In 2022, Coles defended it’s pre-cut vegetable offerings after a social media user took to Reddit to blast the items as “useless” and “lazy”.

Supermarkets such as Woolworths and Aldi offer similar items, with the Reddit snap depicting the Woolworths diced onion, slice spring onion and sliced potatoes.

Reddit user accuses shoppers who buy precut vegetables as "useless". Picture: Reddit/u/getyerhandoffit

The Coles version is called the “Fresh Kitchen” range, with a spokesperson saying they were “popular and convenient for customers”.

“Coles Fresh Kitchen is convenient for time-poor customers who like to grab and go and reduce food preparation time with a range of pre-cut fruit and vegetable, healthy breakfast additions such as boiled eggs, and soups,” the Coles spokesperson said.

“Some of the products also allow for microwave cooking so it is quick and easy meal solution, and retains nutrients better than other methods of cooking such as boiling.”

Other reasons included food waste management, as many families would not consume a whole head of cabbage before it expired.

Meanwhile in 2020 over Aldi’s selection of carrot sticks and shredded carrot attracted attention but people were focused on the excess packaging.

“Plastic plastic plastic. Just chop your damn vegetables yourself peeps,” one frustrated person wrote, while another added: “Crazy over use of plastic again.”

This photo of Aldi pre-cut carrots sparked outrage when it was shared on Instagram. Picture: Instagram/Aldi Lovers Australia

“Wow! That’s a lot of packaging to save 30 secs chopping time,” a shopper wrote.

“I really wish @aldiaustralia would do less of this … surely LESS plastic wrapped food is what we need?!” one person commented.

In response to the backlash an Aldi spokesperson told news.com.au at the time: “Our customers are looking for fresh and convenient produce. We have introduced new products to extend our healthy options in store.

“Despite our desire, and that of our customers, to reduce plastics immediately, this process will ake time.

“We have commitments in place to reduce our plastic packaging and have announced that we will be working in close collaboration with our business partners to reduce plastic packaging by 25 per cent by the end of 2025.”

Originally published as Customers defend popular range sold at all supermarkets