A Shopping Day

Today has been a shopping day.  OH, went and obtained more potatoes for me this morning whilst walking the dog.  He came back with 1/2 a sack of Red Potatoes and 1/2 a sack of whites.  The red ones (sorry do not know the names are a good all-rounder and the whites are apparently good for chips and roasties).  I make homemade chips and we had a session where the potatoes were not quite up to the job of making proper chips.  Hopefully these will pass muster.  He also came back with some parsnips, two bunches of carrots with their tops and some Leeks.

We had also planned on going to the Butcher as it has been a while since we went.  We have come away, with two packs of Beef Skirt, a large Chicken, 1lb of mince, 1lb of bacon, 1lb of chipolatas, 1lb of Old English Sausages. OH, had decided that perhaps we would take up the offer in respect of Christmas dinner that the Butchers have on at the moment.  However, it would appear that there are major problems with Avian bird flu which could affect the supply.  The Butcher did not want to over-commit on taking orders as a result of this.  She did try to offer Turkey breast or a Cockerel.  However, I do not like Cockerel, and I prefer to cook Turkey from scratch as we think that the meat is sweeter if cooked on the bone and moister.  Wee completely understand that there are problems and so it is back to the joint for this year.  We shall still have stuffing and sausages as bacon as they are an integral part of Christmas.  I usually cook more than we need as we also have those with the cold cuts.  Now we just have to decide what we want and then go order it, which will probably be later this week.  Apparently, there are bad outbreaks of the Avian flu near where they get their Turkeys from.  However, we also know that the Avian Flu is close to Peterborough having affected the Oundle area.

Bearing in mind that I had pretty much used up all the veggies I bought the other week, I set off to see what they had in the Co-Op on the veg front, and to tell you the truth not much.  I did buy a bag of frozen petit pois though as I do use these a lot. I also bought the only bag of Kale on the shelf, and a bag of carrots (I use carrots a lot).  They did not have any Broccoli and hardly any "green veg" which I also use a lot of. I also popped back later and bought some cucumber for making pickled cucumber, some small cherry plum tomatoes for turning into dried tomatoes and then later popping in oil with some herbs in a sort of "Sun dried Tomato" substitute for OH.  I have bought four packs of these. I also bought Pears for bottling in syrup. These will get done tomorrow.

I did stock up on stockpots though as I had run out.  There are a few more things I need for gravy making, but I need to go to Waitrose for them.  Hopefully I will get there during the week.  I like to keep a decent amount of ingredients in on this front.  I also need to stock up on cake making and pastry ingredients as well in readiness for Christmas cooking.  I shall bake what we need this year where I can. We are not going all out for Christmas this year, choosing to be sensible, as we are very aware of the impact of the energy prices and are more concerned with feeding ourselves and keeping ourselves warm.  There will be other years, in the years to come but this year is all about getting through without over-extending our purse strings. It will be about enjoying what we have rather than what we do not have.  All will come right in due course, it is just the "sleeping Policeman" bumps we have to navigate first as so many of us will have to do.

Then it was off to the veg shop.  Cauliflower, Cabbage, Beetroot, were bought. (Plans for Cauliflower cheese, more Saurkraut, more Pickled Beetroot) Bananas, eating apples, Medjool Dates, Melon, a couple of tubs of the sweetest green grapes, (all for fresh eating) and some Lemons were bought.  Perhaps some more Lemon curd as am now out.  They did not have any eggs and I asked if they were having anymore in this week.  Potentially on Tuesday, but she told me that she had asked for quite a few more trays this last week but that she had not been given the quantity she wanted.  There is a real shortage with eggs.  The chap who delivers has quite a large business, but he is making noises about closing the business as there is no profit in it anymore.  I have therefore ordered a tray for Tuesday but will see how many she gets.  These eggs are particularly nice.

I have been buying Howgate Wonder apples and there is a possibility that they will not have them next year.  The farm where they get them has been run by a farmer for quite a long time.  He is 80.  He has received an offer on his land which would mean that the apple trees will be torn up as the proposed buyer is a building company who want his land to build an estate.  As he has no family to leave anything too, he is considering this offer.  

The apples come from the Wisbech area which once was a very prolific apple growing area in this country.  A lot of acreage has been lost over the last 35 years due to villages expanding, prices for the land have been too good to refuse.  There are as a result very few large orchards left in business in that area and what was very productive land has now been covered in housing.

There are a lot of problems yet to come which are in the pipeline and which possibly a lot of people are not aware of. Potatoes in particular as they need fertiliser and the prices of the fertiliser are astronomical, which some of the producers are saying will be too expensive for them. 

I also believe that the Government have been aware of prospective problems for some while, due to the lack of product on the shop shelves.  I think also that knowledge has not been passed on as they did not want a public response where everybody went OTT and went and emptied the shelves as happened the last time.

I think my next stop is going to be some potatoes to grow in the back garden.  At the very least they will clean the soil, and that should prepare the soil for more varied vegetables as the season goes on.  Will see what happens.  I have plenty of seeds in any event.

I have also cleaned the fridge out and stocked all the produce bought today in it for use during the next week to ten days.  We may have to pay another visit to the Butcher but that will be far later in the week if we do.

Therefore, not the day I had planned, but a very productive one in any event on the food front.  Still, lots of work to do though, but will get there.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

x