Have you noticed any attitude changes with food prices going up?

[Andy J]

I'm like seedcorn.I like working in my garden.No one helps me,they're too lazy.I'd much rather grow my own vegetables than go to the store and pay $1.29 per pound for shriveled up crook neck squash,or $2.59 a pound for tomatoes that look and taste like plastic.

I'd like some help harvesting every once in a while.My wife says,"it's too hot out here".I say,"hell yes it is when you lay in the bed until noon".

Until then,I'll be plodding along,enjoying myself with no one to bother me because "it's too hot".

Andy

 

[momofdrew]

[She tries to weed things I don't want weeded (leaves weeds, pulls plants) & doesn't do what she could.]

change that to he instead of she and you are describing my DH He has been trying to help me for 20 years and has yet to reconize a veggie or flower seedling from a weed...

 

[vfem]

I'm a price memorizer! Its a bad habit, I'll get my list and coupons and goto the stores (yes, I easily hit 2-3 stores to get the best deals). I need flour for baking, sugar and milk. Sometimes I get coupons for them, sometimes I don't.

I have a $300 a month budget for a family of 3. And I make it work every month. It's usually about $150 every two weeks. When I get things in bulk and split them up and save them. I calculate every chicken breast I buy and what it costs so I can figure out what each meal cost to prepare per person.

Well last month the $300 didn't stretch?! I noticed the chicken went up, and they didn't have the free range chicken on clearance that I prefer. Usually Tuesday is mark down meat day. Fewer people pay the price of $4 a lb for the organic free range stuff, so its usually 50-75% off come Tuesday. I was able to get some great prices on fish, but its not something we eat everyday... and its hard to make fish stretch more then one meal.

I bake my own bread, so we cut back there, I stock up on the reject produce that I can do something with. Like a 5 lb bag of apples the other week that were all organic and I got for $3.00 because some were bruised. (apple sauce baby!)

But somewhere with in the needed items, and my low amount of available coupons (the papers were naked from good coupons after the holiday), I went over budget to the fact we have only 2 pieces of fish left in the freezer to last us until next Sunday!?

I just can't get my money's worth these days.

Last year this time, I still had some lettuce in the garden going... and I'm going to replant some greens and root veggies here soon. A lot of my frozen back up from the garden is gone. I just didn't have the best harvest to get us through last year either.

I can't wait for the farmer's market and farm stands to open back up. Their prices and quality always outshine the grocer store!

 

[Jared77]

We've expanded our garden to try to help reduce what we have to purchase from the store.

We also made all our own baby food when my daughter was on it. We'd make a trip to the orchard or the farmers market and buy by the bushel when we could. It saved us easily a few hundred dollars. When we saw that some of the baby foods were going for a dollar a jar, and even 60+ cents a jar for the generic brand food we were shocked. Prep, steam and into the food processer. We'd make big batches of it, (Im talking like a dozen ice cube trays) so when we made baby food, we MADE baby food. We found that ice cube trays make 1 oz. cubes. So bought a bunch of ice cube trays from the dollar store and went to town. Plus was easy to keep track of how much food we fed with the cubes all being 1oz.

Also made the transition to table food much much easier because it wasn't full of artificial sweeteners either.

As our family continues to grow we plan on continuing to do this.

On a side note my sistern in law picked up formula for a friend on her way home from work and nearly fainted at the price of it (she's pregnant also) so she's been talking to my wife who breast fed about tips and suggestions on that. I couldn't imagine having to buy that on top everything I don't know how famillies do it.

 

[call ducks]

And you know the sad thing? Farmers are still only getting the same amount they were in 2000. It's just soo sad. :/

 

[wifezilla]

Time for them to market direct to consumers instead of relying on a system that treats them like slaves.

 

[vfem]

I happily go around the market to the farmer when I can, and I know I can do that quite a lot!

I have friends to 'wish' they could, but don't both. I now have 2 friends who took up gardening, and now pay me (in produce) to pick up fresh stuff for them when I'm off loading up the truck.

They hear I pick berries (7 am 2 days a week in July) and they are handing me WAY too much $$$ to get a piece of them. They are just too lazy more so then anything... but the complain about price before they even go out and look at what it costs. $3 a lb for blackberries in a bucket, rather then $4-$5 for 1/2 pint in the grocery store that taste like NOTHING.

This year, we're tearing up to put in a 20' x 50' bed because I need more space! I now have someone who wants to pay me (like a community garden) to rent one of my 3' x 4' raised beds to plant in. I'm thinking its a good deal! She just has to care for her own bed. If she wants me to weed and amend for her. It'll be $2 a week extra Hehehehe... I'm such a business woman.

I am nervous about how this year is going to turn out though, the long heat like last year, and I may not have a good tomato crop again.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

Time for them to market direct to consumers instead of relying on a system that treats them like slaves.

in our area we have winter farmers markets! but OUCH! their prices were waaaay higher than i ever expected!

Vfem i love the idea of renting out some of your gardening space! i'm thinking this year about doing some raised beds and this gives me some ideas how to help raise the funds to do it! my parents already pay me a little to grow and supply them with fresh veggies and eggs, but having my close neighbors doing it too would be great!

 

[vfem]

Time for them to market direct to consumers instead of relying on a system that treats them like slaves.

in our area we have winter farmers markets! but OUCH! their prices were waaaay higher than i ever expected!

Vfem i love the idea of renting out some of your gardening space! i'm thinking this year about doing some raised beds and this gives me some ideas how to help raise the funds to do it! my parents already pay me a little to grow and supply them with fresh veggies and eggs, but having my close neighbors doing it too would be great!

One of my friends has a garden, but she can't grow much as she only gets 4-5 hours of sun because of all her trees. Its great for beans and greens but no pepper or tomatoes. So she wants the space (since I'm wide open here) to grow her tomatoes & peppers in full sun. Its fine with me for $$$$ on the side. Will probably help pay for the fence I need to put up I haven't budgeted for yet.

 

[hoodat]

Time for them to market direct to consumers instead of relying on a system that treats them like slaves.

in our area we have winter farmers markets! but OUCH! their prices were waaaay higher than i ever expected!

Vfem i love the idea of renting out some of your gardening space! i'm thinking this year about doing some raised beds and this gives me some ideas how to help raise the funds to do it! my parents already pay me a little to grow and supply them with fresh veggies and eggs, but having my close neighbors doing it too would be great!

In your part of the country Winter veggies almost have to be hot house grown. They're always expensive especially with the price of fuel and electricity going up.