There aren’t many shopping experiences that I walk away from feeling good.

I’ve enjoyed the odd time down at the Asda Haydon Supercentre, but mainly because halfway through my shopping trip my FitBit will buzz to tell me I completed my daily steps.

Now the Co-op has changed its shops in a way that has made me feel validated as a man.

It’s hard to feel that these days.

If anything seems even slightly supportive of masculine attribute it’s often in danger of being cancelled.

The food chain is to remove best before dates from many fruit and vegetables in a bid to reduce food waste.

I totally agree.

Reducing food waste is a laudable goal that you could imagine Greta Thunberg espousing.

As a man who spent half of the last decade living on his own in a flat I feel I have to tell you, we blokes were way ahead on this.

I can’t remember looking at a best before date during all of that time.

Before that spell of solitude my spouse would monitor the dates written on the food.

She would even memorise some.

If I walked near the fridge I’d hear her shout, “That milk goes off in three days.”

The point is, it didn’t.

The milk didn’t agree to that date and would suddenly curdle on the stroke of midnight on Wednesday.

When we went our separate ways I started sniffing.

I wasn’t crying because of the break-up, this is a story about me being manly, remember.

You can tell if a food is past its best by checking it.

There will be a difference in the standards you’re willing to put up with.

I was a man living on his own for a few years.

I’d reached the stage where as long as it still looked like the food it was meant to be I’d eat it.

Single men across the land will know the dilemma.

“Is this milk past its best or is this cottage cheese not ready yet?”

Some of my male friends who continued in the solo life have now whittled it down to one rule.

“If your dinner smells of fish and it’s not a fish, bin it.”

While it’s easy to mock this Men Behaving Badly style way of life it was actually saving the planet.

Throwing away perfectly edible food is a waste but also an insult to the people who don’t have enough to eat.

Living like a bachelor was right all along.

And the infrequent washing of the laundry probably helped something too.

On behalf of men who have lived on their own, you’re welcome Earth.