Considering how many people throw away/recycle mm....

ra_mom

Tue, Feb 27 2018, 7:49 am

FYI the dentist is ok with chocolate, ice cream, cake, and not with biting into lollipops. Can't you see the difference? LOL

When you have a child that has had 4 cavities in one sitting, you may feel otherwise. It has nothing to do with money cheap but all to do with cheapy junk that hurts our bodies.

JAWSCIENCE

Tue, Feb 27 2018, 7:50 am

amother wrote:

So by the same logic, if somebody sends you a $4 bar of chocolate from Belgium, you throw that away as well? I don’t buy it. Especially because people always say that they keep the good chocolate. Which is just as much sugar as the twizzlers.
Edit - sorry, not you. The twizzler thrower outer.

Edit again to add - people on this thread already said that they throw away the cheap nosh and keep the good stuff. So its not about sugar.

For me it's about dental issues. Anything sticky like taffy or even raisins/dried fruit is not going into my kids because of dental
Issues. The dentist said chocolate is a lesser evil and we brush after. I bring the taffies to work (a hospital) and they get eaten within minutes.

Bnei Berak 10

Tue, Feb 27 2018, 8:15 am

Rachel Shira wrote:

People aren’t throwing away your twizzlers because they only cost 5 cents and they’re beneath them. They’re throwing them away because they just got a whole ton of sugary stuff and they don’t want their kids (or themselves) to eat it. Chances are some of these people would never give their kids twizzlers or laffy taffies.

And people cannot be bothered to get rid of it in another way than sending it to the garbage bin? There are many ways to get rid of it for someone who maybe want it.

My DH told me that his father bought *chocolate* for his mother during their engagement and he bought it on the black market. This was in the 50's in Israel with food rations. Once you have been living during such times you most certainly don't throw anything edible. Not even a taffy.

Last edited by Bnei Berak 10 on Tue, Feb 27 2018, 8:23 am; edited 1 time in total

SuperWify

Tue, Feb 27 2018, 8:19 am

Dw op, I won’t throw away your taffies.

I value the time, $, effort you spent in your MM.

I hardly throw away baked goods unless the hygiene level of the sender is questionable at best.

heidi

Tue, Feb 27 2018, 8:21 am

I send my mm in reusable containers or in a mug, bowl etc. that people can use. I let my kids pick the stuff they want to keep and the rest is given to the local food for the poor organization. We only throw out lone hamentashen not in bags or unwrapped candies. Icchh.

Notsobusy

Tue, Feb 27 2018, 8:24 am

During the day on Purim I go through the Mishloach Manos quickly just to see if anything needs to be refrigerated. If there's any fruit or veggies I put it out for my kids. Later on that night I go through them all with my kids and we check out each one carefully. It's part of our Purim fun.

The nosh I split up, we eat some right away and the rest we have for the next few weeks for Shabbos party. Nothing goes in the garbage unless if it's something homemade from someone who I wouldn't eat from, for kashrus or hygiene reasons.

33055

Tue, Feb 27 2018, 8:31 am

By the time I disassemble, we have 3 large grocery boxes filled with food. This doesn't include alcohol. We aren't a nosh eating family. So I rather give the junk to a boys. yeshivah while it is still sort of semi fresh. When I say junk, I mean anything that isn't fresh and healthy. I don't care for over processed food.

I do take out the Belgian chocolate but only if it is milk. I let the kids pick through for special treats. And the rest can leave my house ASAP.

amother

Rose

Tue, Feb 27 2018, 8:37 am

heidi wrote:

This.
You may don't like lone hamentashen not in bags or unwrapped candies. That's OK. But to call it "Icchh"? Am I the only one on this forum that was brought up that you don't say "Icchh" or Yuck about edible items or food?

lfab

Tue, Feb 27 2018, 8:38 am

Maybe it's because we don't get that many but I always know who sent what and I appreciate a nicely packaged mm. Now, I do agree that it's silly to waste money on fancy packaging and ribbons because that usually does get tossed. All the people who I get from are people whose homes I would eat in, so I will eat any homemade items that are sent. Candy gets put away and doles out for shabbos party. While I think that packaging can enhance a mm presentation I don't like to spend much money on it since I think that unless you give something that's nice (like a platter etc. which tends to be much more expensive) it's going in the garbage. I'll do a simple, inexpensive ribbon in a matching color that I get cheap at amazing savings or from oriental trading.
Also, I find that doing a theme actually helps bring the cost down. I used to do a breakfast and would include a bagel, mini oj, tuna, etc. and it really added up.

southernbubby

Tue, Feb 27 2018, 9:08 am

heidi wrote:

I like this idea. I visit my children on Purim so they are my recipients but I try to put it in something useful or at least put it in a Purim bag that they can recycle for their own MM. Last year my teenage granddaughter was happy to have a cute bag to reuse to give MM to her friend.

seeker

Tue, Feb 27 2018, 9:17 am

Bnei Berak 10 wrote:

I makes me sad to see that people throw away perfectly edible candy/nosh. Why?? I can understand if someone doesn't want homemade baked goods but candy being thrown? Send it to the synagogue, to the yeshiva, bring it to the office to your colleagues etc. Anything but throwing it out. Baal tashchit.

In my city there are gmachim collecting Purim leftover sweets and give it out to needy families (and those are families where the children don't get any sweets the entire year because their families don't have the money for it.) If I was one of those children I would be very very sad to hear that you put your perfectly edible candy/nosh in the garbage.

Because if I believe that the sugary candies are poison for my body, then why would I wish that upon someone else?
If there are children who literally don't get candy ever, then I would give to them. But the way candy gets thrown around these days I find it hard to believe. If you know of such a thing, please give me the address and I will gladly mail over some nosh - but the most toxic junk would still go to the garbage because I still couldn't stand putting it in a human body.

southernbubby

Tue, Feb 27 2018, 9:25 am

seeker wrote:

There is a saying somewhere, and I forget where, that a small child will ignore something valuable because he prefers trinkets. The poor children whose parent's cannot afford nutritious food really need food rather than poisonous junk but they see other children enjoying the poison and want some for themselves. It would be one thing for their parents to deny them this pleasure to keep them alive but another thing if the parents would like to poison them but can't afford to.

seeker

Tue, Feb 27 2018, 9:39 am

Like I said, if you know someone who literally does not have access to nosh, let me know and I'll do what I can. But at least where I live, I see so much nosh coming from schools and other groups (shuls, pirchei, etc) that I can't relate. Plus, candy is so cheap that while definitely there are families that limit their purchases thereof, I really think everyone can afford an occasional 25-cent piece of garbage. This isn't like 100 years ago in Eastern Europe where a blob of sugar was something precious and if you got one piece of candy in a year you were probably the luckiest kid in the shtetl.

Bnei Berak 10

Tue, Feb 27 2018, 9:39 am

seeker wrote:

Please PM me for more details of how to redistribute MM leftovers.
Note that I live in Israel.

amother

Aqua

Tue, Feb 27 2018, 11:05 am

amother wrote:

Op again. And its too much work to bring them somewhere? They MUST be thrown out?

If I don't want my kid to eat a lolly because it ruins his teeth, I don't consider it a mitzva to give it to others either. My son gives his lolly one lick and then throws it in the garbage, 'because it's unhealthy' (He's so happy to do it, I believe he doesn't actually like them.)

We try to limit sweets and jellies as well. Those wouldn't get thrown out though if you want everything you send to get used, please take our teeth into consideration.

amother

Green

Tue, Feb 27 2018, 11:11 am

seeker wrote:

I send all of our junk to our office manager's nephews. They're Xtian and Latino, so they don't celebrate Purim, and I've no clue what they think of all of the Israeli junk, but they seem to appreciate it.

amother

Olive

Tue, Feb 27 2018, 11:19 am

For me, it's not a question of $, or what's stickier or less sticky. It's a question of junk food vs non-junk food. If someone gives me a clementine and a juice box I keep it. I have, unfortunately thrown away plenty of expensive stuff. I feel badly. I am on a limited budget and throwing away food is horrible. But sugar is particularly bad for me and younger DD, and doctors are more expensive than Belgian chocolate. I As to giving it away, in my neighborhood there are limited places to give it away, and they do not want candy or junk food. They want bottled or canned sealed drinks or food (but not junk food - real food), PERIOD. Even in terms of those, they reach capacity very quickly and refuse to take more.

I think that's original OP's point (unless I misunderstood, in which case I apologize) was that the whole MM thing is out of control and people are wasting money on items that are being thrown out.

In my opinion, people should cut WAY back and send something someone who will know who sent it. Those are the best ones anyway. Remember it says "ish le-ray ahu."

amother

Seafoam

Tue, Feb 27 2018, 11:22 am

We usually get about 10 - 15 mm and give away about 10. On Purim I permit my kids to eat any sweets they want and I also eat everything I like. No limits for one day. Home cooked non-sweet foods we partially integrate into our se'udah or eat them as snacks. If we receive mm very early in the day we might cannibalize some of the sweets and use them to enlarge the mm we give away. Very little of the things goes to waste. If we get more than we can eat or re-use, it goes into storage. Nice packaging materials and decorations get saved for future gift wrapping.