Produce Prices Increasing

[In the Kitchen]

Here we go again! Due to the hurricaine in Florida fruits and vegetables will be costing more the next two months. They said here in Midwest we get most of our produce from there. I just refuse to buy something already in a can. Some woman they interviewed who was 100 years old said she always eats fresh fruit and vegetables and eats sweet potatoes almost everyday. No drinking or smoking. Even lives alone. She was fixing turkey sandwich to eat while they filmed her. 100 years! Only wore glasses. No hearing aid or other help. Wonderful!

 

[CharlieD]

Not only produce is up, pretty much everithing is in the groccery stores.

 

[licia]

This may be what puts me on a real diet!

 

[shannon in KS]

Amen! I am a fresh food pusher! Live enzymes and natural vitamins, minerals, and nutrients in purest and most absorbable form! Unfortunately, regardless, I will pay whatever for fresh produce. I am thankful for it! Sappy as it sounds, everyday I look to the sky at the beautiful sun and the Earth is shines down on and say thank you for what it has given us. These natural disasters are kinda getting to me. I cannot imagine what those affected by recent storms are going through.

 

[Maidrite]

We all will or do without, This is a scam though, The Price of Gas will fall some but don't ever look for Food prices to ! Problem is the Growers aren't the ones making out like a bandit !

 

[In the Kitchen]

Fresh

thanks for your response. I won't feel alone when I pay the price. I asked someone in the store how come butter was on sale 3lbs. $5? He told me if I thought it was bargain to buy it. I did but he never answered. he told me sugar going up too. It bothers me that my power went out and had to throw all my bargains out before today. I don't think you can buy your health which is of high priority here. Believe me you can tell when people eat right. They sure have different look to them. Their hair and eyes are sure indications of where they eat. Of course, my opinion, but I will give up driving the car if I have to. I always can use my legs to get my groceries. May have to make more than one trip but have to give up something. I hope you all feel the same way.

 

[In the Kitchen]

Prices UP

Well, they sure aren't kidding! The berries are up $1 from last week. They do have some things same. I am buying things that I have heard are going to be marked up. I just can't afford to get all I want to store up. Sound like a animal storing things away for later. When I get to check out I usually hold my breath. Like everything got to pay it or else live on beans. I do make a meal out of just beans once every other week. I make it a point to go to the store only once week unless the milk is gone than no choice. Like I said I may be walking soon to the store.

 

[Claire]

I'm terrible in that I don't even look at the price of fresh veggies and fruit. If it looks good, I buy it. Yes, we live on a budget, but hubby always says he married the best cook and you can't go wrong with good food. When I look at my grocery bill when I check out .... I know we could feed another person or perhaps an entire third world nation. Yes, it is getting more expensive. I have an ancillary question: Having lived in Hawaii and Florida, I know that papaya and mango are very, very, very easy to grow. Why are they so darned expensive to buy?

 

[In the Kitchen]

Claire

Be thankful you are wise in that respect. I wasn't aware of the ease of growing them. I feel that because the demand is not as big t hey really don't expect that many consumers to buy them. It is only if you look for t hings that you know are really nutritional that the price is high. We have fresh pineapple in the house periodically and the cost if $5.99 for one. Do you know how many cans I could ge t for that price? Last week they were sold for $3.99. Who can keep pineapple long? Like you, I feel and believe fresh is always best. When I go to the store, product is the first department when you walk in. My cart is almost filled when I go to the next department. For lunch everybody eats salads which is a challenge in itself to get them ready before they leave. They don't want the prepackaged things. Every effort is one I believe in. Claire, you keep on eating the fresh, you are doing yourself and your family a big favor. Fresh is best!

 

[Claire]

I have always bought as fresh as I can, but am realistic ... face it, anything you get in the upper midwest is NOT fresh and local in ... well, now through July. We only get "fresh" and "local" in August and September! We lucked out this year, and just barely finished our tomatoes and peppers from the garden. I don't even want to start canning, but freeze a lot (have more pesto and tomato sauce than my little freezer can hold). Hubby was recently diagnosed with diabetes, so now I really try to work with that. He needs lots of fruit, and it is going to be a real P in the A to find appropriate fruit for him in the upcoming months. I've told him to get used to apples and bananas, because they're always available. Luckily, I've never been a baker, so don't have that to give up.

 

[shannon in KS]

I do the same thing! I do not skimp when it comes to cooking. It is my biggest expense, and will continue to be!

I'm terrible in that I don't even look at the price of fresh veggies and fruit. If it looks good, I buy it. Yes, we live on a budget, but hubby always says he married the best cook and you can't go wrong with good food. When I look at my grocery bill when I check out .... I know we could feed another person or perhaps an entire third world nation. Yes, it is getting more expensive. I have an ancillary question: Having lived in Hawaii and Florida, I know that papaya and mango are very, very, very easy to grow. Why are they so darned expensive to buy?

 

[buckytom]

time to start thinking of victory gardens again.
i know it's fall, but for some of you that live in warmer climes, you can grow things like beets, cabbages, carrots, and lettuces through the winter.
i can't tell you how much i save every year by growing and eating the fruits of my garden. someday, i really would like a large greenhouse, so i could have fresh, organic foods all year long, for pennies a pound.

 

[amber]

Not much choice for fresh local produce up here in Maine. Today I bought a green pepper and the price was $2.99 lb! Ugly ripe tomatoes were the same price, pretty much everything has gone up in price except for local fruits such as apples, pears.

 

[Claire]

Definitely DID have my "victory" garden this summer, and I have relatively little space for it. Four tomato bushes and I froze a couple gallons of tomato sauce. My, what a lot of work! I have enough pesto to feed the world. And a big basket of dried peppers, and a bit of frozen roasted poblanos as well (next year, more poblanos). My cukes were a mixed blessing. They got very tough-skinned and seedy, so will try a new variety next year. So much for old varieties. Sometimes you have to bow to progress: There's a reason new strains were developed. I still have a few green tomatoes ripening on a windowsill, and I'm dreading the day that they are gone. I don't can and don't have a big freezer (we consider buying one, but then realize that we're doing OK with our regular one). But, yes, my regular weekly grocery bill has gone up about $20 in the past year. My tomato patch took over what is usually my lettuce patch, so I only got one crop of lettuce. But I still have a ton of chard. It is amazing what you can grow in a few square feet of good soil and long days (it was actually harder to grow veggies in Florida and Hawaii)(shorter summer days).

 

[Claire]

As I said, I've lived in Florida and Hawaii and do not get the high prices for mangoes and papayas. If you live below the freeze line, people are practically begging to give you mangoes (it is a large tree, and all the fruit ripens at once ... we're talking dozens, maybe hundreds in a mature tree, of mangoes). Papayas are very easy to grow year round (again, assuming you live south of the freeze line). I guess the high price of them is jacked up because they're viewed as exotic. What I see here is bad fruit with an expensive price tag, when I know it isn't hard to grow and ... well, I'm eating grapes from Chile when I know Florida and Hawaii grow tons of papaya and mango .... and one of them will cost me $5 and not be of good quality. Pineapple is another story ... they're not easy to grow, and it takes the better part of a year to make ONE. To me, fresh doesn't taste remotely like canned. Because I ate so much in Hawaii, I only buy a pineapple once a year or so, but love it.