Lean'n'mean
I'll Lock Up
- Messages
- 4,086
- Location
- Cloud-cuckoo-land
' The decaying evolution of out of season fruit & veg '
Many of our fruits and vegetables are out of whack priced here... Tomatoes for instance are usually $3.99-$5.99 per pound!!! Cucumbers are $1.59 each. Lemons are 89 cents each. Crazy I know. If I drive up to Palm Beach, prices drop big time...
It's been customary for our local supermarket chains to give at least some of their outdated stuff to the area food pantries and soup kitchens, but one of them recently sparked a huge outcry by announcing that it would no longer be doing this due to "a change in corporate policy." Once this hit the papers, they had to backpedal fast, but finally agreed to contribute only the waste food from one store, to a single shelter. The rest, in their view, can go hang. They also make a point of locking their dumpsters to keep the homeless from scavenging. Guess where I *don't* spend my money.
We usually put out a big spread at work for performers appearing live on our stage, but I insist that the workers have the right to scrounge that table after the performers have eaten what they wanted. We'll put out a full spread of cold cuts, expensive cheese, fine bread, fruits and salads and drinks and all sorts of other such stuff, and nine times out of ten the performers will eat half a celery stick and a ribbon of prosciutto and leave the rest. As soon as the show's over, we all race down there to eat our fill. "For it is written in the scripture, 'You shall not muzzle the ox that treads out the grain.'"
As far as shopping goes, I'm in full agreement with the shop small/shop daily routine. I'm shopping for one person, I have a six cubic foot refrigerator with a freezer compartment the size of two shoeboxes, and I see no point at all in loading up on a lot of stuff that would spoil long before I could ever use it. I hate these deals where you can't get just one small chicken breast, you've got to buy a package of six of them or none at all, and I refuse to do it.
Part of the high price of tomatoes and cucumbers might be that they are out of season. If they're still that expensive in July, you just live in an expensive area, and are frankly, getting gouged. The price you pay for living in Miami, I suppose.
Oh I wouldn't say that, but then, I used to feel the same about London. Some ten or twelve years ago, I was driving down the I95. As the highway approached the Miami area it merged with two other Interstates. So now the highway is nine lanes wide. Suddenly my wife exclaimed: "There's our hotel." And she was right, you couldn't miss the neon sign, but just as I thought at the time: "How the hell am I going to get over there?" Somehow, more by luck than judgement, we got there.Miami sucks...
I shop like the apocalypse is coming next Wednesday. Need toothpaste? 3 tubes is my minimum. Need shampoo? At least two bottles. Down to one can of tuna? We need 10. We have enough canned food and water to survive a month. I shop sales, if it's a good deal, we need it, and non-perishable, I buy lots. For most items, it's one in use, and at least one in storage. When I get the storage item out, I buy another. I've owned a freezer since I was 19. I rotate canned goods.
I have a friend who is obsessive about buying toilet paper. Every time she goes shopping she buys like a pack of like 24. She has probably at least 1,000 rolls on hand at all times. Now I'm as cognizant as the next guy about the need for TP, and certainly have a healthy "fear" about not having it available when needed. But I'm not irrational about it. After many years, I think I have a pretty good feel for the pace at which I go through it.
I always think of grocery shopping as an interesting "divide" between those who are rural and urban.
I grew up in a rural environment. Grocery shopping meant a 45 minute drive each way (assuming the weather was good). You could buy eggs, milk, and bread at the convenience store two towns over, but that was 15 minutes each way. We slaughtered our own meat and grew most of our vegetables and froze them.
My husband grew up in the city and is perfectly fine buying one item at a time. If we need toothpaste, he brings home a tube. If I ask him to buy some tuna, he brings home two cans.
I shop like the apocalypse is coming next Wednesday. Need toothpaste? 3 tubes is my minimum. Need shampoo? At least two bottles. Down to one can of tuna? We need 10. We have enough canned food and water to survive a month. I shop sales, if it's a good deal, we need it, and non-perishable, I buy lots. For most items, it's one in use, and at least one in storage. When I get the storage item out, I buy another. I've owned a freezer since I was 19. I rotate canned goods.
Not going to lie, you sound like my father when it comes to ketchup. I sincerely think he fears running out of ketchup. It's the oddest thing. His pantry is constantly stocked with at least 10 bottles.I shop like the apocalypse is coming next Wednesday. Need toothpaste? 3 tubes is my minimum. Need shampoo? At least two bottles. Down to one can of tuna? We need 10. We have enough canned food and water to survive a month. I shop sales, if it's a good deal, we need it, and non-perishable, I buy lots. For most items, it's one in use, and at least one in storage. When I get the storage item out, I buy another. I've owned a freezer since I was 19. I rotate canned goods.
I wish we lived in a time where you could walk to a bakery for bread, fruit stand for fruit, bitcher for meat etc... I wish they were everywhere instead of supermarkets.
I am sure there is a deeper reason for this... Poor lady.
Not going to lie, you sound like my father when it comes to ketchup. I sincerely think he fears running out of ketchup. It's the oddest thing. His pantry is constantly stocked with at least 10 bottles.
Oh, things like ketchup and peanut butter we don't buy in doubles. Just tooth paste, flour, tinned tuna & soup, soap, shampoo, pasta, pasta sauce. It really sucks to be hungry or unclean. Having an extra package of spaghetti and jar of sauce in the cabinet is good insurance for when you get sick or can't afford that much that paycheck.Not going to lie, you sound like my father when it comes to ketchup. I sincerely think he fears running out of ketchup. It's the oddest thing. His pantry is constantly stocked with at least 10 bottles.