Food Prices

Would appear to be creeping up again.  I have started looking around to start stocking up for the Winter/Christmas/into New Year Pantry.  I have been a little concerned at the prices I have seen.  Today I have bought some pears to bottle in syrup (this is the first tranche - Waitrose everyday range at £2 a bag and there are 6 to 8 pears per bag), more cooking apples (second tranche bought in kilos) and some more apple sauce is going to be made and some pie filling. I bought another couple of bunches of beetroot (to add to the Beetroot I prepared the other day), some Plum Tomatoes to turn into sauce (also to add to the stash of tomatoes I made sauce from the other day).  I intend to focus on the basics at the moment although in the weeks coming forward I am going to be putting away as much stuff as I possibly can as well as also buy in those food items I need for winter baking, cake ingredients, cake decorating stuff, chocolate and lots of other things.  I was looking for lard in Waitrose today and it would appear that they do not sell it.    However, I had cause to go back later this evening and they did have it at 75p a block.  So pleased about that. Off to the Co-Op I will go as Morrisons do not appear to sell it either.  I need this for preserving mushrooms.  Will be using every form of preserving available to me including the Pantry, the Freezer, and other storage, the fridge etc. etc.  

A lot needs to be done to make sure that we have a fall back for general use and to make sure that our bellies are full.

I am predominantly focusing on ingredients only at the moment, not ready made meals. I am being sensible on prices though.  Sometimes it is cheaper to buy something ready made rather than make it from scratch.  

Today I took delivery of my Pickling Onions and Shallots.  The 10 litres of Sarsons Malt vinegar arrived yesterday and so I will be armed and dangerous on the pickling onion/shallots front.  I have a net of onions and I think I will be buying in a couple of more nets on top of that as I have some ideas for other preserves such as practical chutneys, jellies and marmalades all of which can be used to start off an onion gravy to go with Toad in the Hole.

Now I need to source veggies in quantity - may have to take a trip into the countryside to see what we can find although some I can source reasonably from Waitrose.  I have the Souper Mix to re-stock on and will shortly do this as I use it a lot.

One of the things I am doing every month moving forward is stocking up on long life milk.   I have been looking at the prices of tinned custard, dried milk powder, tinned evaporated milk, condensed milk etc. and prices have increased a lot.  I have therefore decided to buy in 6 x long life milk cartons as a minimum each month - obviously checking the expiration date when purchasing.  From the Morrisons Extra shop which is round the corner from me I can get the long life milk at 99p per carton (1 litre).  It therefore makes sense for me to buy this in each month.  The bonuses are that I will have milk should it be needed; if it is getting near the expiration date and also generally, it can be used to make yogurt and custard, as well as being used to make milk puddings of any sort including blancmange. As long as you keep moving forward watching the expiration dates, you should be able to keep a ready supply of milk in-house.  I will buy in powdered milk every so often, but not at the frequency I once did.

I also intend to do the same moving forward with bottled water either buying in two large water bottles a month or trays of water. With having the animals we need water for them as well as ourselves.

Flour is an important one as well.  Need to stock up on bread flour both white and wholemeal and SR and Plain flour in any event.

Butter/Margarine and Lard

Generally we use Butter here as we do not like the low fat spreads at all.  I normally buy in small quantities but I am going to buy in a set amount moving forward and store the Butter in particular in the freezer.  The Lard and the Margarine tend to keep well in the fridge and I use the Lard for preserving Mushrooms and any residual fat left over is used in cooking. I also use it in making pastry. Margarine tends to be used in baking and I do not keep copious quantities of this in just topping up when I need to in order that I can do a bit of baking.

One thing I have noticed in the shops across the range whether it be supermarkets, butchers, small farm shops is that during the week apart from Thursday night, Friday and Saturday stocks on the shelves seem to be reduced and then at the busiest times abundant.  I cannot blame the shops but it is frustrating if like me you tend to hit the shops during the week when it is less busy. When I went to Waitrose this morning they had hardly any Strawberries, Raspberries that sort of thing.  Plenty of Blueberries, but they were expensive and a lot of the apples came from abroad.  Did not see an English apple there at all, although some of the prices were good.  On the Blueberry front it may be better and cheaper for me to source them frozen and then bottle them up either in water, syrup or as a compote for use on yogurt, cakes, cheesecakes or other puddings. Please note I only have a small upright freezer and I am intent on keeping that predominantly for meat with a little veg and so anything I can bottle up and keep out of the freezer I will do.

I therefore have a feeling that the food prices are going to jump again and this on top of energy prices potentially going up again from October.

I am mindful of the fact that the post I promised still has not been published.  This will now go up on Saturday, a week behind the hoped for publishing date, due to things going on here.

I hope everyone has a lovely evening.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

x