money question: have you noticed the jump in prices for fresh veg./fruit?

yesterday a head of lettuce (small) went for $1.67

you'd think green peppers were gold. red and yellow peppers diamonds.

I've grown peppers - easy as pie. each plants give off a lot of peppers. so why the high price? cause they are shipped here from someplace else on the globe?

(20 yrs. ago I was talking to a trucker who was taking a load of string beans from N.J. to Fl. I said: "whyever? Fl. grows string beans." He said that was the way it was. He would pick up vegs. in Fl. and take them back to N.J. the nations veg. garden.)

Persimmons are a bargain but get 'em while you can.

and $50/bbl has no impact on anything.

move along now, be good consumers and buy, buy, buy!

Don't forget it was a freaky growing season. All parts of the globe had weather issues from drought to floods. And we also had too hot or too cold temperatures.

you SHOULD be paying more for fresh fruit and veg - the problem is the false, oil based impression caused by two things - global transport of locally out-of-season produce and the fact that most urban dwellers are out of contact with food production/growing seasons etc

Donsu, I've noticed this a lot! Food, even since last Christmas, has been going up and up. All of it! But especially fresh fruits and vegetables, and meat (all kinds). When we started "outsourcing" our farming, we got into big trouble. Now, a great deal of our farmland has become subdivision heaven.

Greed, greed and more greed has just about bankrupted this nation.

:kick::kick:

this surprised me.

For much of the country fresh fruit and Veggies are only locally available during a small portion of the year. The rest of the year fruits and veggies have either been stored or a transported from where they are in season.

Also all produce will go up in price to offset the farmers expense for fuel. While you can till your own plants yourself, most modern farms require the use of machinery/fuel to maintain production.

I am close to the ag community. Get in sync with local growers and be aware of the season. Almost every area of the country has food growing nearby. The family growers are fighting for survival. When our ag is gone we are at their mercy. Putting greenbacks in the grower's pocket is essential.

This time of year local apples are fresh. Braeburn, Winesap, Honeycrisp are a few of the "winter apples" and are the best keepers and get better over the months in the grower's coolers. Eat them right into March or April. The early American colonists lived on apples.

Many growers are going to "value added products" to capture a piece of the retail dollar that is going to the multi-nationals now so that they can survive. Buy their home-canned goods, dried fruits, syrups, juices.

Get in the habit of buying food when it is in season. Strawberries in February are a ridiculous choice. January through March live on the canned goods and don't buy fresh stuff from Chile and New Zealand and Australia.

Come Spring eat berries of all kinds. Watch for the local fruits and vegetables to come into season. Every week something new is ripe. You should be eating different varieties each week and not be stuck on "I like Red Delicious" and treating food like a manufactured commodity. With fruit, which is what I know best, starting in May or June you will be working through berries, then cherries and apricots, then peaches through the summer, then plums, pears, and finally apples. Start a similar routine through the year for vegetables.

Growers desperately need your business and are making it easier and easier to find them. Go online and find family growers near you. Don't insist on organic. The standards for certification are arbitrary and difficult to achieve. Virtually all family growers are farming safely today - much, much more so than the corporate farms and the overseas farms. In the Northeast look for "Core Values" products. IPM - Integrated Pest Management - methodology is another thing to look for. IPM is safer in many ways than organic methods depending on the location and the crop. Family farmers aren't stupid, They are educated and they are raising their children on the farm. The overwhelming majority of them are committed to growing safe food, even if they don't look like alternative organic counter-culture people at first glance.

Get to know the grower and learn. If you think oil prices and oil dependency are a problem, start thinking hunger. Find the food. Support the small farmer, get to know them and learn from them. You save yourself and the country at the same time. Gardens are great, but you won;t be the only one in your neighborhood who is hungry. Farmers know how to grow food.

Anyone who wants a recommendation for a grower in your area just pm me.

much better said than I did - thanks

meat is seasonal too, fall is best time for most - chicken can be found fresh several times per year eggs year round except briefly in winter - better yet if you have any yard space keep a couple of hens - many cities allow it as long as no roosters.

As it is, I haven't bought anything more than sale hamburger for about 3 years, even the crappiest cut of beef is unfordable. Thank gawd for chicken thighs.

I'm so used to working the sales that fruit prices don't bother me that much. I grow my own tomatoes so I have that staple covered for most of the year. Buying fresh tomatoes is out of the question, although I occasionally buy canned tomatoes for making sauce.

there is a "crappier" cut of meat that is cheaper than hamburger and if you are lucky they will still grind it for you, also keep the bones for stock.
But the best way, if you can do it is to get a used freezer or share with a friend or neighbor and buy a half or even a whole beef and have it cut the way you want. This does two things - its cheaper and you have a better chance of helping somebody local. Plus it just feels good to have a freezer full of food, then you can stick other stuff in there you find on sale as the beef gets used. Then start looking for the individual farmer/rancher who is raising organic/free range etc and you will be on your way to a whole better world.

Hunger may be the only message that will get through to Americans.

Just like being out on my own for the first time, it's back to rice and pasta.

10-year-old car, no DVD player, no cable TV, no new clothes, no alcohol, no cigs, no nights on the town or going out to eat. I've put in 30 years of "hard work" and done my fair share for this country, like many others here. So why are my refrigerator and cupboards almost bare? Why don't I have health insurance?

I only have Internet because it's critical to my job research.

It will get worse. Thank God I'm half-Italian and really like pasta :)

pintos are my faves, but italian white beans might be yours. lentils, peas etc cheap and good for you, better than just pasta or white rice