Crazy Grocery Prices - Due to Loonie tanking.

i was ranting about this just the other day.. my local grocery store was insane $10 for a cauliflower! 8.49 for 1lb of strawberries!

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Originally Posted by Midnightly

i was ranting about this just the other day.. my local grocery store was insane $10 for a cauliflower! 8.49 for 1lb of strawberries!

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Yikes $10 for cauliflower. I was complaining at the $6.99 price at rcss last week.

I had a feeling that the food prices were going to skyrocket this winter so my strategy in the fall was to can and dehydrate fresh local produce to have on hand to supplement until local produce is available again. I dehydrated potatoes, squash, cauliflower, mushrooms, peas and carrots garlic, celery, beans, peppers, hot peppers, onions. I canned potatoes, beets, carrots, carrot fennel soup, stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato juice, meat sauce, bacon, pork loin, beef roast, applesauce, brandied apples and brandied pears and some jam, froze some fruit, cheap cheese, made apple cider vinegar, fermented sauerkraut, orange cleaner from orange peels and vinegar. It was a ton of work, and my kitchen was a mess for a few months but everything turned out great.
of course I prefer fresh produce and salads but in a soup or casserole the dehydrated veggies are great and so easy to use.
i stocked up and froze cheap butter, vacuum sealed cheap flour, sugar, salt, rice.
people think I am nuts sometimes but I don't care, it is worth it to me to have these things on hand.

If you read the packages of PC Frozen fruit or vegetable bags, you'll be able to determine which products are from Canada.

Another item to add to the high prices discussion: if the Cdn dollar was higher when the initial product sale/contract was made, the exchange rate is going to impact the prices much later so consumers think hey the dollar is low why is the retail price high? Ask people who work in wholesale and have to order pre-release items weeks/months ahead based on best estimate of customer (retailer) interest and likely popularity of a product line to order a shipment with an unfavourable Cdn/US exchange rate then deal with the complaints when product comes in during a lower exchange rate cycle. Wholesaler is wanting to cover the customs fees/brokerage, delivery, product costs and make money to pay staff, keep utilities on, etc. plus make a profit.

I never remember any stores lowering their prices when our loony was so high in exchange rate! Just an old excuse by retailers!

http://www.greenbarnnursery.ca/produ...a-dwarf-banana

bananas for Canada

http://www.harvestontario.com/seasonal.php

I know Jan Feb March & Apr are not on the list

Fairways on Quadra has cauliflower on for $4.99 this week @Midnightly

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Originally Posted by HappyCouponSaver78

That's insane, because my household has to rely on Chinese, or mostly imports fruit and veggies, my other strategies is to not going out to eat for a long time, eat frozen and canned veggies and don't buy imports I am missing bananas!

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I won't buy any food not produced and packaged in North America, period. Well, almost period, bananas are the exception. I just don't trust the food quality laws and enforcement outside our continent. Look up how your smoked mussels from Thailand were raised if you want to lose a few nights sleep. Chickens on one screenwire level pooping down into the water which is the food for the mussels. Same for all farm raised seafood there, the feces of mammals (pigs) and birds. Ugh.

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Originally Posted by Shwa Girl

Costco had 4 x Romaine lettuce for $4.99/pack last week:)

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Maybe I should not have mentioned the Romaine:whistle:. Oshawa has been cleaned out, so they have ordered another truck to bring more Romaine.

$4 lb for tomatoes at RCSS and most of them were rotten. Not bruised or overripe but ROTTEN!

We do have the option of eating seasonal produce. When I grew up we did not eat strawberries, raspberries, grapes, pineapple etc in the winter. It wasn't available or it was too expensive.
We ate potatoes, carrots, squash, turnips, parsnips - vegetables that stored well, and vegeatbles that we canned or froze in season.
For fruit we had apples, and fruit we canned or froze in the summer.
You can still get good buy on frozen fruits and vegetables.

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Originally Posted by maggiespice

I really have noticed that with things like almonds, walnuts, actually, all different kinds of nuts. They are now so expensive that I have had to find alternative things to replace them. I refuse to buy the same pack of nuts that cost like 4-5 bucks less only 6 months ago!!!

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almonds are something like $ 20/Kg :yikes:

Potassium supplements can be had for next to nothing

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Originally Posted by HappyCouponSaver78

That's insane, because my household has to rely on Chinese, or mostly imports fruit and veggies, my other strategies is to not going out to eat for a long time, eat frozen and canned veggies and don't buy imports I am missing bananas!

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Especially the Asian veggies, they are up double the price!

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Originally Posted by Decaf

Fresh produce and fruits are generally more expensive during winter months...and it doesn't help with the low Canadian Dollars. May have to resort to frozen and can veggies.

PS. My sister was complaining yesterday about expensive tiny broccolli.

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yeah I saw some tiny brocolli for $ 2.99 , it was on some bed of ice and almost darkish black in Colour so not even that fresh. Not rotten, but didn't look that fresh either, almost shriveled up.

A few months back It was big and green and fresh for around 99 cents ! So price is 3 times more now and the quality and size is also crappy.