Grocery Shopping This Week

I shopped in-person earlier this week and noticed a few things. 

First off, the produce section seemed much less full than I'm used to. The apples I'd planned on buying weren't there, and there wasn't even a section with their tag indicating they'd sold out. The loose apple bins were only partially filled. I'm used to seeing apples mounded up, stacked in layers 2, 3 or 4 deep. There were plenty of bananas, however. Green cabbage is one of those items that have been hard to find at Fred Meyer this past year. Some weeks, there were no heads of green cabbage at all. In previous years, the green cabbage took up a large section, with a minimum of 30 heads from which to choose. This week, there were 8 heads of cabbage for me to choose from. This is the week before Easter. In other years, this week has seen a large shelf/bin just for asparagus. I didn't even notice any asparagus and reflected on that after I got out to the car. Most of the produce shelves appeared to be about half full, in contrast to other years when produce has been overflowing. 

In the center aisles, there were numerous pockets of bare shelving. In some cases, products that I knew from before 2020 weren't even there. This has been an ongoing issue with grocery stores since spring 2020.

The milk, butter, and cheese refrigerators were full. The egg refrigerator has shrunk and was about 2/3 full. The eggs on sale (18-ct) for the week were nearly sold out. The price was excellent (sale plus digital coupon brought the price to $1.47/18 ct. carton), so that is understandable. I was able to buy the amount of eggs that I had intended (about a 2-month supply), and still leave some cartons behind. Cheese appears to be becoming a luxury item. The name brand cheese (Tillamook) was $10 for 2 pounds. My family would not be eating cheese at that price. The store brand (Kroger) was on sale and had a digital coupon, bringing the price down to just under $5 for a 2-lb block or bag. That's a reasonable price to me and slightly lower than a few months ago. I bought the limit of 5 packages, again about a 2-month supply. There was plenty of milk, but it has gone up about 80 cents per gallon. I didn't buy yogurt, but I noticed large bare sections of shelving where the store brand usually is displayed. 

I still look for bargains every time I shop. This time it was butter. Kroger had been packaging some of its butter in 2-packs, two 1-lb boxes over-wrapped together, with a slight discount for buying more than one pound. Evidently, this wasn't as popular of a marketing gimmick as they'd hoped, and many of these 2-packs were about to expire (30 or more double packs). The sell-by date was April 13 and I was shopping on April 11. They'd marked the butter 2-packs down to $2.99 ($1.50 per pound) to sell them quickly. I scooped up ten 2-packs, or 20 pounds. I also had a coupon good for Kroger brand products, valued at $6. Applying this $6 to the butter brought my price per pound down to levels I remember from when my kids were small children ($1.20/lb). I left plenty of marked down butter for anyone else bargain shopping that morning.

I didn't buy everything on my list. A couple items weren't even there any more, so I had to rethink my plans. Some categories were just too expensive (meat). I stocked up on ground beef summer and early fall 2021, paying $2.88/lb. This week at Fred Meyer, the same grade beef was $4.79/lb. I still have some in my freezer, so we can go on with the ground beef that we have. I was just looking for something other than ground beef (way, way out of my price range). 

I passed by the Easter candy section and noticed huge price hikes that I think shouldn't have been there. I wanted some jelly beans and the best I could find in the holiday section were $3 for a 12-oz bag. I headed over to the regular candy aisle and found a 10-oz bag of Kroger brand jelly beans for $1.25. I also noticed exorbitant prices on what I consider ordinary chocolate Easter candy (Mars brand) in the special Easter aisle, $4.50 for 9-oz bags -- that's $8 per pound! I can make molded candies (using my rabbit molds) or mounded chocolate and coconut "nest" candies for a third of that per ounce price, by using chocolate baking chips.

Prices are up, that's for sure. There are still some bargains to be had. But you have to look for them. My other thought is that I'm very glad to have a garden planned for this spring and summer. I hope that many people across the globe will be planting gardens this summer to offset some of the shortages to come.

Stocked up on Rice and Beans? Eliminate Pantry Insects Before They Hatch

Many of us have stocked up on some dried foods in the past year or two, like grains and dried beans. Pantry pests that have been dormant or not yet hatched may now be about to become a problem. Open packaging and older products are most at risk. But pantry pests, such as the Indian Meal Moth, can infest products that you've just brought home from the store, too.

Prevention is the best cure

While we can't ensure there are no insect eggs in our purchased food, there are two things that will kill eggs or larvae of most small pantry insects, heat and cold. Both treatments will prevent these pests from becoming a problem in the future. 

If you have freezer space, and your freezer can be set to 0 degrees F, you can kill these pests before they become a problem by freezing packaged grains for 4 days. Simply place the goods, right in their package, into the freezer and wait 4 days. Pest problem solved.

If you lack freezer space or your freezer can't be cooled to 0 degrees F, you also have the option of heating the dried food. Spread dried rice or beans in a shallow tray. Heat in a 130 degree F oven for at least 30 minutes. (both methods are recommended by the University of Minnesota Extension.) Cool completely and store in an airtight container.

Since I stocked up on rice, meals, flour, beans, and popping corn this past year, I have been cycling all of the grains and beans through my large deep freeze before storing in airtight containers. After 4 days of freezing, I bring the products into the house to warm gently at room temperature, turning the packages over every 4 hours, to air-dry any condensation that develops upon thawing.

There's a further heat option, and one that may appeal to canners, dry canning. Dry canning kills the insect eggs and seals the jars in one process. Here's a good explanation for how to dry can in this article.

I don't know about you, but with the looming worldwide food shortages, my plan is to keep all of my household's food in usable condition. But I thought this little reminder might help someone else.

If you find you have overstocked pantry supplies, community food pantries will be more than happy to take the excess (and still unexpired) goods off your hands.