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Post by htmb on Jul 15, 2013 15:21:58 GMT
Being in a hurry and not paying attention to the price of the fresh berries I always buy at my local grocery store has come back to hit me in the pocketbook. Last night I picked up a small container of mixed strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries and tossed it in my grocery cart without checking the price. It's always listed on the container bottom and, since it's calculated by weight, usually ranges between $2.75 to $4.00. It's too much, but I know I'm paying for the convenience of using the store closest to me rather than driving across town where I can buy cheaper and fresher. As I was paying for my 20+ grocery items, the gregarious cashier kept babbling on about the cost of berries and asking if I was going to make a smoothie with my berries. He got my attention when he said he really wanted to have some berries for breakfast the other day, but they were priced at $9.00. What the .....! Turns out the little container I had just purchased was priced at just over $8.00. I suppose berry season is over. I'm going to eat these little semi-previous nuggets for lunch today and price out the cost of each berry in my mind as I chew
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Post by htmb on Jul 15, 2013 16:09:39 GMT
To make it worse, I spilled berries on the floor as I was struggling to remove the tape attaching the container lid, but it really didn't matter. The berries were so sour I couldn't eat all of them. What a waste.
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Post by nautiker on Jul 15, 2013 20:30:51 GMT
oh my! hey, that's approx. 6 Euro! - how much did you say the container held? over here, berry season is just getting started (except for the strawberries which are nearing the end of their season), looking forward to the red currants, which usually come around 2 Euro/500grams...
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Post by Deleted on Jul 15, 2013 20:35:57 GMT
I am an absolute supermarket killjoy when I accompany anyone who is going there to satisfy urges. I zero in on prices immediately and make it extremely clear when I think that something is overpriced.
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Post by htmb on Jul 15, 2013 20:38:34 GMT
Approximately six strawberries, six blackberries, twelve raspberries, and fifty blueberries. It was one of those "convenient" take-out packs made for people trying to put together a quick lunch. It was stupid of me not to think twice about buying it, but I'm a Pisces. My mind tends to wander.
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Post by htmb on Jul 16, 2013 4:40:26 GMT
I am an absolute supermarket killjoy when I accompany anyone who is going there to satisfy urges. I zero in on prices immediately and make it extremely clear when I think that something is overpriced. I'd better take you with me next time I feel tempted to ignore the cost of berries.
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Post by spindrift1 on Jul 16, 2013 10:41:44 GMT
Berries are very expensive here in the UK, especially Blueberries. Cherries are prohibitively costly too. On market stalls they tend to be cheaper but I'm usually disappointed in the flavours, whereas I know that if I pay more I will get the best possible taste. I have learned to buy Cherries that originate in Turkey as opposed to those grown in Spain. More taste. I don't buy Strawberries unless they are organic. I feel strongly about this because I know that Strawberries and Mushrooms are the most highly toxic-sprayed. I'm not just paranoid about this. A surgeon friend of mine (who usually won't admit to 'toxins') steers clear of mushrooms for this reason. He was taken to a huge mushroom production unit and came out gasping due to the amount of chemicals in the air. I don't like to eat mushrooms much so I don't miss them. I used to grow all my own berries in a large fruit cage which is by far the best way. I miss my gooseberries and currants.
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Post by htmb on Jul 16, 2013 11:06:00 GMT
We grow blueberries and strawberries here and there are several organic, u-pick type operations where the berries are cheap, flavorful and organic. I will often buy a large amoung of blueberries to freeze for later, too. Good strawberries can often be found from December through April, with blueberry season being April to early July.
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Post by htmb on Jul 19, 2013 3:01:53 GMT
I went to a different market today, mainly to purchase wine. The market stocks a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables, though the prices tend to be high.
I love oranges and have been craving a good, fresh orange for weeks now. There was a very tempting display of navel oranges, so I went over to look figuring it was just a mirage. Turns out the oranges were from Australia.
Of course, they had been processed through a "bath" and their skin had been colored orange. They LOOKED pretty, but a good squeeze revealed old, dried-up fruit. Who knows how many weeks it had been since they were last attached to a tree.
No oranges for me until fall.
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Post by mossie on Jul 19, 2013 7:26:12 GMT
This is the problem with today's fads and fashions, the only way is to have fruit and many other things, is when they are in season, locally produced. And hopefully not too many additives, forced ripening, etc. So much fruit is raised on water, often from dubious sources, and the roots do not touch real soil. Then ripened by radiation . Vegetables ditto, and I won't talk about what many animals are fed on. No wonder everything tastes of crap. So blame the accountants and the marketing gurus.
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Post by htmb on Jul 19, 2013 14:25:25 GMT
I don't have a problem with fruit and vegetables raised on water by conscientious farmers if the water and added nutrients are safe and properly done. I operated a hydroponic greenhouse for several years when I was teaching, and the strawberries, lettuce and herbs we grew were delicious. The quality was certainly much better than what we could purchase in the store when it came to freshness and nutrients. Everything was controlled, clean, and basically pure. If we had a small infestation of insects such as aphids, we tried to manage them using a soap spray, along with plant removal. There were a few times when we had to shut down the whole operation, strip the place of all plants, and start over, but that was the alternative to using pesticides.
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Post by lugg on Jul 21, 2013 18:45:38 GMT
Ouch Htmb.
Our local cherries are available now direct from the farm , cheaper and much tastier than those in the supermarkets, where they are about £6/7 per kilo.
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Post by htmb on Jul 21, 2013 19:41:15 GMT
That's wonderful, Lugg. I won't even buy cherries here. Not after I picked and ate them straight off the tree during a trip to the Languedoc. The cherries here that I've eaten have absolutely no flavor.
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Post by fumobici on Jul 21, 2013 22:48:32 GMT
Local cherries now are 3 USD per pound and fantastic. I'm eating them en masse.
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Post by rikita on Jul 22, 2013 22:08:36 GMT
haven't eaten any cherries yet this year. should buy some.
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Post by htmb on Jul 24, 2013 22:27:30 GMT
Fumobici, your local cherries are $6.99 a pound at my neighborhood grocery store. I didn't buy any.
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Post by fumobici on Jul 25, 2013 4:02:16 GMT
Fumobici, your local cherries are $6.99 a pound at my neighborhood grocery store. I didn't buy any. Yeah Rainiers fetch five or six bucks a pound, even up here. I never buy them, they are good, but for me are over-rated. I prefer the three buck a pound dark cherries, I think they have more and better flavor.
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Post by bjd on Jul 25, 2013 5:57:50 GMT
Cherries have been finished here for a while now. As often happens, when they started to ripen, it rained a lot and they didn't keep even overnight. So we had cherries from our garden, but not too many.
Fumobici, is it usual for packaging from your area to be in French too? Is it for export to Canada?
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Post by fumobici on Jul 25, 2013 15:50:16 GMT
Fumobici, is it usual for packaging from your area to be in French too? Is it for export to Canada? Yes, we get English/French packaging--I assume so it can be marketed in Canada without needing separate labeling.
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Post by htmb on Jul 25, 2013 18:35:12 GMT
Much of our food package wording, even here in North Central Florida, is written in English and Spanish. Rarely will you find English/French.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2013 18:46:16 GMT
For fresh products yes, but for the canned goods and other items (like Tupperware or lightbulbs or whatever), I remember that all of the packaging is in English and French.
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Post by htmb on Jul 25, 2013 18:54:48 GMT
Oh, yes, you are so right, Kerouac, when it comes to household type items. One of my daughters left a large box of microwave popcorn here and on one side of the box the wording was all in Spanish and the other side was in English. Same logos and same designs.
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Post by htmb on Aug 3, 2013 12:46:47 GMT
Checking the oranges in my local grocery store the other day I found they weren't from Australia, but were from South Africa instead.
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Post by tod2 on Aug 4, 2013 15:21:05 GMT
I used to live on an orange farm in the Lowveld very near Kruger Park. The oranges we grew were called 'navel' oranges because the bottom looked like a human navel. They are by far nicer to eat and much sweeter than Seville oranges. But then again, Seville oranges make the best marmalade!
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Post by htmb on Aug 4, 2013 15:47:47 GMT
Moi aussi, Tod, though here they are known as "groves."
My favorite oranges have always been Valencias.
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Post by tod2 on Aug 4, 2013 19:32:21 GMT
htmb - you triggered a name there....Valencias! I'm sure we grew those not Sevilles now that I come to think of it.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 4, 2013 20:42:15 GMT
The orange juice that I exclusively buy now is the pulped juice from Brazil, after years of buying Floridian, Spanish or Moroccan juice.
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Post by htmb on Aug 6, 2013 21:49:09 GMT
I personally think Florida orange juice is the best.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 6, 2013 22:40:35 GMT
Frankly, I used to think so, too. For the past several years I have been buying the fresh squeezed Florida orange juice in the refrigerator case of my Franprix supermarket. And then I discovered that the Brazil orange juice in glass bottles at Dia tasted better.
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Post by htmb on Aug 6, 2013 22:48:52 GMT
In my family, where juice paid the bills, praise for other juices would be known as heresy.
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