The good old humble cabbage is becoming a luxury
vegetable! Yesterday I paid $6.99 for a
very small cabbage – and am determined that absolutely all of it will be eaten.
Our first meal from it was Cole Slaw – finely sliced cabbage
with grated carrot and grated cheese. I used
to add finely chopped onion as well, but the Rats share what we eat and onion
is not good for them. I compromise by
snipping up some spring onion and sprinkling that over the top of mine.
Cole Slaw goes best with a creamy dressing of some kind, but
I often just use a sprinkle of olive oil instead. Probably because I like my Cole Slaw to be
fresh and crunchy – hubby used to like his after it had sat for 24 hours as he
said the flavours mellowed together better.
Each to their own!
New Zealand Statistics have announced an overall increase in
food prices of 8.3% for the year to August, led by a 15% increase in the price
of fruit and vegetables and accompanied by big increases in the cost of eggs,
meat, yoghurt and cheddar cheese. No
wonder our basic grocery shop has been getting more expensive!
The gloomiest part of their announcement was that there
would be no change in the foreseeable future and prices may still rise further.
It makes one realise how dependant we are upon supermarket
chains to provide for most of our food needs.
Perhaps it is time to return to the past a little – grow your own,
preserve the excess, cook from scratch, eat seasonally, be thrift-conscious
when buying things. All things we used
to do but have largely dropped in the name of convenience.
By the way, we ate the Cole Slaw with boiled potatoes and
baked sausages. Delicious!
Margaret 😊
Cabbage has become expensive here too, but nowhere near $7.00. We too make cole slaw and enjoy it very much. If you start to cut some of the meat out of your diet you will save substantially.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. We started to do that a while ago and eat a lot more beans now.
DeleteCabbage is a versatile vegetable. We’ve been eating it roasted, sliced thin, sprinkle of evo and roasted for 30 min or so. Coleslaw is tasty. We eat it often. Boiled cabbage is good with other veg too. It is costly here now too. Growing some is a great idea.
ReplyDeleteI've not tried cabbage roasted (although I like Brussel Sprouts that way) so will have to give this a try.
DeleteI was just looking at the price of cauliflower- the only ones I could find were half a small white one $4.99 and a small coloured one 7.99. I am so glad ours did so well this year.
ReplyDeleteHome-grown is definitely the way to go!
DeleteCabbage is one of my favourite veggies and I eat a lot of coleslaw in summer. The price of veggies is shocking at the moment, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, it is.
DeleteNot sure what $6.99 is in £s but it sounds a ridiculous amount of money!
ReplyDeleteI think it works out at about three and a half pounds.
DeleteEveryone here are full of complaints about food prices, but everything is more expensive, fuel, either used in production or transport is push prices higher. I hate food waste, my mum always used all the food, and reused anything left over. We need to go back to basics, use all the food purchased, as the household waste figures are really high. If everyone tried a bit harder, there would be plenty of food, and the overall cost of your shopping would level out. PS, I can't stand cabbage these days.
ReplyDeleteAs you say, everything is becoming more expensive. I guess it will level out again one day, as it has in the past.
DeleteSounds very yummy, and yes, let it sit for a while, so it can mix the flavor, if you like ;-)
ReplyDeleteYes, prices rise here, too, crazy.
And unfair. E.g. Ingo has to drive to work, it´s not for fun. It´s a crazy world - but isn´t it always?
It is Iris, crazy indeed.
DeleteI hope our cabbages are not so expensive this winter. They're still not on the market yet. Tomatoes are more expensive than usual but not too bad.
ReplyDeleteI love cabbage. Coleslaw, Greek cabbage salad, and my Mum's curried cabbage. And it's one vegetable that lasts a long time.
Curried Cabbage sounds interesting. I'll have to look up a recipe for it.
DeleteYes....i agree that we rely on Supermarkets too much. Plus, these days they do not have big warehouses with big storage but rely on regular shipping to keep their stores supplied. Between shipping disruptions, farm labour shortages and driver shortages we could all quickly be without food. Add a natural disaster and we really have a problem
ReplyDeleteI can't believe the price - yikes. I don't make cole slaw very often, but now that you've got me wanting to try it with olive oil, I will. Will keep you posted on the price here. And those are words of wisdom: reminding me it's time to double check our food storage. I always do before winter comes, but you're right...if super markets can't get supplies or the prices go even higher, we need to be prepared.
ReplyDeletePrices are way up here also. We try to make the best use of what I buy, have no leftovers and throw nothing away.
ReplyDeleteI'm just happy I'm not making meals for 7 people any more. Now that it's just the two of us the grocery bill is much less but I have noticed how much prices have gone up..
ReplyDeletePrices have sure gone up.here, too. Every thing one looks at has increased in price.
ReplyDeleteWow that is a lot for a cabbage! That is one of the few things that is fairly cheep to buy in the UK, it grows well here. I have a veg box delivered which is much cheaper than buying supermarket veg and without all the packaging too. We grow some things in the Spring/Summer but don't have enough land to be self sufficient.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness! $6.99 for a cabbage. My husband picked up a loaf of 100% whole wheat bread this week. It cost him $4.27. Never in my life did I think I would see bread that expensive. I really do need to make better use of my garden.
ReplyDeletecrazy prices these days for vegetables! tho at least avocadoes are wonderfully cheap and plentiful. something to do with farmers planting 3 million trees over the last 5 years here in Oz!
ReplyDelete