A Short Update and Observations

It has been a very busy month!  Starting with asparagus and now onto strawberries. I love this time of the year when local produce is starting.  It takes very little effort to stay busy.  At the same time, I kept doing what I'm doing given the current geopolitical events.  

Organic asparagus from my produce delivery guy is $4.50/lb.  We went out to a nearby organic asparagus farm and got it for $1/lb so I was rather pleased with that!  I canned plain asparagus and cream of asparagus soup base, dried and froze asparagus.  Local strawberries are going for $5/qt at the farm but Walmart put Ontario strawberries on for $3.97/qt which saved a bit of money as well as gas and time to get them.  I decided not to make strawberry jam this year so only wanted a couple of quarts for dehydrating.  

In terms of my food observations over the past month.  Our local Dollarama has increased their food space from about 3/4 of an aisle too 1 1/2 aisle.  But, just because it is at Dollarama, doesn't mean it's cheaper.  Canned beans were $1.25 but Walmart price was $0.97 so now it is even more important to know the prices.  There are still some good food deals too.  No Frills has pork half loins on sale again and quite frankly, pork has been one of the best deals since the first of the year.  Avocados have increased by $1 for a bag of 6.  Honestly, the surprise was the increase in Spanish and red onions!  One Spanish onion cost me $1.69 and a red onion $2.17!  Salad kits have increased by $1 per bag too.  Packaged lunch meat has increased by $1 per 2/pk.  Classico tomato sauce was 3/$7.50 at No Frills and $4/$10 at Walmart.  The beauty with this sauce is you can reuse the jars for home canning so a bit of a win for stocking up and adding to your canning jar collection.  Both No Frills and Walmart are giving more space to their food brands likely because the perception is store brand is less expensive.  Good deals can still be found for dried beans and lentils. Some candies and chocolates are still quite inexpensive.  Campbell's soups are buy 5 or more for $0.80 each at No Frills but the last time they were on sale they were $0.49 with no minimum purchase.  Milk is definitely creeping up in price.  Sundry items like toilet paper and garbage bags really haven't increased in price. 

If you pay attention to the predicted food shortages, citrus is supposed to be in short supply this summer.  I picked up a large bottle of real lemon juice that was one of three left.  There was still a lot of orange juice and since hubby starts his day with orange juice, I bought an extra jug.  I also canned 3 L and plan to buy a few cans of frozen orange juice.  Quite frankly, orange juice is one of those foods that's a bit more difficult to stock a large supply.  

Canning supplies have not followed their normal sales trend.  They typically go on sale when strawberries start but so far all canning supplies have not gone on sale and are actually seeing an increase in price.   A carton of 12 - 500 ml jars is $14.99 for Bernardin and $12.99 for Golden Harvest.  Canning lids are averaging $6 for 12 lids.  Pectin, pickling spices and canning salt have all increased in price.  Enterprising home canning know how to work around these minor annoyances.

Farmer's markets (the ones that come to town each month with stalls) have started back up.  I haven't checked their prices yet because ours tends to be more of a mini craft show with a bit of overpriced produce tossed in.  This is definitely the year to grow as much as you can.  There have been some very good deals on vegetable and herb plants, averaging about $1.50 per plant so I managed to get most of my containers planted for about $20.   All the plants for my Kratky passive hydroponics system were started from seed  indoors.  I'll be harvesting beans, peas and lettuces soon.  And, I have 3 cute little lemon trees growing! 

Garden Gnome
©2006-2022

Cooking Oil Shortages

The newest report is we will be seeing cooking oil shortages due to current events.  Some shoppers are reporting that sunflower oil is very difficult to find.  The food industry is sounding the warning over palm oil shortages.  Both of these oils along with canola oil are cause for concern because the food industry relies heavily on these oils for commercially produced baked goods.  Shortages therefore can have a huge impact for that industry.  Substituting another oil is not easy as it would likely increase price something that really isn't desirable given the high inflation rates right now.

If you are a home baker/cook, shortages of these oils likely won't affect you.  If you can't find one oil, you can likely substitute another oil  If you also make your own soaps, then palm oil may or may not affect you.  I use palm oil for soap making so expect to see an increase in price when I next order.  Other than that, I'm really not concerned.

Oils can be purchased in larger quantities but should be stored in a cool, dark location.  At higher temperatures, oils can become rancid.  Do not ingest or use rancid oils for cooking.  If you do not have a cool, dark location, oils can be stored in the refrigerator to extend their life.  Some oils will get a bit cloudy if stored in the fridge but that is perfectly normal. 

Garden Gnome
©2006-2022

Grain Price Increase?

We all know prices are going up.  I ordered wheat berries at $22 per 10 kg a couple of weeks ago but now they are up to $26 per 10 kg.  So within a span of about 2 weeks, it was a price increase of $4 from that particular source.  It could be their local adjustment though as I'm not seeing huge increases elsewhere but rather mild increases.

For those who do not use wheat berries or other whole grains for longer storage or home milling, I'm not seeing a huge increase in commercially ground flours.  Most have gone up verry little or by a few pennies  if at all.  Certainly store brand flours seem to be staying the same price.  Rice has increased by pennies but oat meal and cornmeal is the same.  An 8 kg bag of jasmine rice is on sale at No Frills this week for $12.88 member price.  Dried legumes, split peas and beans have all increased about $1/900 kg bag so it's best to watch for sales of these even though they are still a good bargain for your food dollars.  If you prefer canned beans, keep an eye on No Frills.  I think it was last week they had selected varieties of canned beans on for $0.49 so that sale will be repeated likely next month since sales tend to be cyclic.

Garden Gnome
©2006-2022

Much Needed Break - Road Trip

A little over a week ago, we took a much needed break.  At the same time we took advantage of stopping at some of the many food growers/producers/suppliers scattered throughout southwestern Ontario.  The first day of our journey, we stopped at:  a whole sale food distributor, a cheese factory, a grain mill, a fish monger  and a few smaller venues.  While there, time spent in nature meant renewing the spirit while discovering new plants and doing a bit of foraging.  We enjoyed several lovely meals and the turkey carcass was carefully packaged for the ride home.  Our final stop was a lovely Asian meal at our daughter's.

Looking back, we were away 5 days and yet every day I was able to do something that would help our pantry and preparedness at home.  I personally don't feel that now is the time to do nothing so my goal is do something daily but at the same time a change of scenery is restorative and good for the soul.  

It's always fun for us to discover new food suppliers too.  Two of the places we stopped at, I have ordered from several times online so it was really nice getting to meet them!  One was a totally new discovery but definitely a keeper on our list of local 'must stops' when we are on a road trip.  Speaking of road trips,  we're already planning a foodie road trip now that asparagus and rhubarb is running.

The next morning, I was up dealing with what was left of our purchases.  The following morning, I made a beautiful turkey stock with the carcass and canned most of it but froze a couple of bags.  Good thing, because we only had one jar of turkey stock left!  Our days of finding cheap turkeys in the US have been dampered by the current events and quite frankly, turkeys are so expensive on the Canadian side you almost have to take out a second mortgage to buy one.  At any rate, our daughter found a great turkey deal so we got one.

Garden Gnome
©2006-2022