I was telling you about my $7.99 lettuce yesterday – and my bad, as I said, I shouldn’t have bought it at that price – it’s ridiculous. But it’s also a reality at the moment that we’re not only paying more for fruit and vege – and all groceries actually, but that those prices are potentially going to get worse before they get better. That’s according to leading economist's and pretty much everyone involved in the sector – to be fair to them, they have been warning us. 

But in the last month alone, groceries went up another 10.4 percent, that’s off the back of another 10 percent hike which we already had to swallow back in January. There’s a whole gamut of contributing factors.. fuel prices, packaging costs, farm feed and fertiliser, harvesting costs, and that’s before we even get to the cyclone damage and the impact that’s wrought.

So it’s across the board.. not just fresh fruit and vege, but frozen, tinned goods, meat.. we know we’re paying more at the checkout because we look at the amount on the conveyor belt screen, and then we look at our trolleys, and we know something doesn’t add up. 

We’re paying more for less basically. But at least we’re paying.. it seems every second shopper these days is just walking out the door with their groceries without any intent to pay for them. That’s another story.. but I think in my grandparents day they did better than us, because they were smarter than us, I reckon. 

One, they bought in season. You didn’t have veges or fruit that wasn’t in season because it either wasn’t available or it was too expensive, either way they weren’t dumb enough to drop almost 8 dollars on an iceberg lettuce. But also, they grew their own. And made it last. They preserved fresh in season fruit to spin it out.. pickled or froze fresh veges – they planned ahead. 

I got one of those vege pods the other day, where you can grow indoors in a large container – a whole variety of veges or herbs. And I tell you what, nothing gives me greater joy than watching things grow and knowing you’ve grown them yourself. You know where it’s come from and what’s on it – as in no nasty chemicals. You get to pick it and literally eat garden to table – it’s an awesome feeling. But it does require effort. 

And these days we are all about convenience aren’t we? Effort’s just too hard. Getting it chopped up in bag pre washed, beats growing it from seed yourself and nurturing it, watering it, watching it and harvesting it. But the satisfaction when you do make the effort is real. And the taste is better for sure.

Nothing beats a fresh fig picked straight off the tree still warm from the sun, no supermarket fig tastes that good. But it’s not feasible for everyone to grow their own, and we don’t seem to have the patience and time our grandparents had. 

So I’m not sure how we push though these times of exorbitant food prices.. other than trying to buy in season, maybe attempting to grow our own where we can, and taking a leaf out of Nana’s book by freezing some too. 

It’s ironic, isn't it, that the more modern we get as a society, the more we find value in looking back to how things used to be done.

I was telling you about my $7.99 lettuce yesterday – and my bad, as I said, I shouldn’t have bought it at that price – it’s ridiculous. But it’s also a reality at the moment that we’re not only paying more for fruit and vege – and all groceries actually, but that those prices are potentially going to get worse before they get better. That’s according to leading economist's and pretty much everyone involved in the sector – to be fair to them, they have been warning us. 
But in the last month alone, groceries went up another 10.4 percent, that’s off the back of another 10 percent hike which we already had to swallow back in January. There’s a whole gamut of contributing factors.. fuel prices, packaging costs, farm feed and fertiliser, harvesting costs, and that’s before we even get to the cyclone damage and the impact that’s wrought.
So it’s across the board.. not just fresh fruit and vege, but frozen, tinned goods, meat.. we know we’re paying more at the checkout because we look at the amount on the conveyor belt screen, and then we look at our trolleys, and we know something doesn’t add up. 
We’re paying more for less basically. But at least we’re paying.. it seems every second shopper these days is just walking out the door with their groceries without any intent to pay for them. That’s another story.. but I think in my grandparents day they did better than us, because they were smarter than us, I reckon. 
One, they bought in season. You didn’t have veges or fruit that wasn’t in season because it either wasn’t available or it was too expensive, either way they weren’t dumb enough to drop almost 8 dollars on an iceberg lettuce. But also, they grew their own. And made it last. They preserved fresh in season fruit to spin it out.. pickled or froze fresh veges – they planned ahead. 
I got one of those vege pods the other day, where you can grow indoors in a large container – a whole variety of veges or herbs. And I tell you what, nothing gives me greater joy than watching things grow and knowing you’ve grown them yourself. You know where it’s come from and what’s on it – as in no nasty chemicals. You get to pick it and literally eat garden to table – it’s an awesome feeling. But it does require effort. 
And these days we are all about convenience aren’t we? Effort’s just too hard. Getting it chopped up in bag pre washed, beats growing it from seed yourself and nurturing it, watering it, watching it and harvesting it. But the satisfaction when you do make the effort is real. And the taste is better for sure.
Nothing beats a fresh fig picked straight off the tree still warm from the sun, no supermarket fig tastes that good. But it’s not feasible for everyone to grow their own, and we don’t seem to have the patience and time our grandparents had. 
So I’m not sure how we push though these times of exorbitant food prices.. other than trying to buy in season, maybe attempting to grow our own where we can, and taking a leaf out of Nana’s book by freezing some too. 
It’s ironic, isn't it, that the more modern we get as a society, the more we find value in looking back to how things used to be done.

A fresh and intelligent start to your day - catch the very latest international and domestic news developments, sport, entertainment and business on Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, on Newstalk ZB.

A fresh and intelligent start to your day - catch the very latest international and domestic news developments, sport, entertainment and business on Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, on Newstalk ZB.