How to Beat Food Prices

 

And SAVE 30-50% OFF YOUR FOOD BILL!

 

Seems the Herald and those with a lack of imagination or realism are having a whine about our fruit and vegetable prices – although this economist speaks sense:

The facts behind food price scare

By Amelia Wade UPDATED 9:55 AM Tuesday Feb 19, 2013

Data shows cost of fruit and vegetables has risen 14.2 per cent in five years, compared with CPI increase of 15.7 per cent.

Food prices are not becoming more expensive as the increase in cost tracks the rate of inflation, an economist says.

The cost of a basket of fruit and vegetables has increased by 14.2 per cent in five years, according to Statistics New Zealand data requested by the Herald.

The Consumers Price Index – a measure of inflation – has jumped 15.7 per cent over the same period.

Shamubeel Eaqub, principal economist at the NZ Institute of Economic Research, said the rising cost of food often inspired emotive reactions.

“When you look at these issues, you sort of need to step back a bit.”

Mr Eaqub said food prices were not becoming more unaffordable. Since 2000, the average hourly wage had risen by about 50 per cent while food prices had risen about 30 per cent, he said. “Typically speaking wages will rise quicker than the cost of living.

“But what happens when you have rising incomes is that as a household moves up an income bracket, it might choose to buy Wattie’s rather than Pams, more meat, it might choose to have more vegetables – all of those things are going on underneath.”

…

You can read the rest of the article over at the NZ Herald.

 

However because it won’t make a good story for the readership (and probably get some Tall Poppy Syndrome to boot), the Herald refuses to run the other side of the story on how to beat the rising prices of fruit and veg. IT IS CALLED FOLKS GROWING YOUR OWN FOOD!

 

Rebekka and I grow our own vegetables and fruit such as Mandarins, Lemons, Blueberries and Boysenberries. Now our crops do not replace the entire vegetable and fruit budget at the Asian Grocer down in Manurewa (we still get oranges, potatoes, plums, apples, Banana’s  and supplement the Brassica (Cauliflower, Cabbage and Broccoli) supply often owing to the Auckland climate); however it does reduce from having to spend say $60 a fortnight on fresh food to the now $25/fortnight (unless extras are needed for home-made baking such as Banana Cakes – YUM). Now I can hear the whingers scream: time, money on seeds and seedlings, fertilisers, sprays and other stuff. Well folks and excuse my French but that is a load of pure utter bull and horse shit!

 

Let me break down the cost for you of our vegetable patch:

• Synthetic Fertiliser OR Blood and Bone: $17 for 8kg and that lasts one standard year
• Liquid Fertilisers: this is used for the tomatoes $17/500ml concentrate which gives me 200 litres of plant food. I go through around 2-3 bottles a growing season (5 months). The general liquid fertiliser is used for the flower garden
• Horse Crap: $3/bag and around five bags are used in the winter to “top up” the raised garden beds
• Sprays: 4x types of insecticide and fungicide are used; mineral oil, copper, Yates Target, Yates Guardall combined insecticide and fungicide. Each bottle costs $20 each average and last two years
• Garden Lime: I have to lower the acidity annually for some of the crops – especially using horse crap all the time – so $12 for 8kg and 1/3 of the bag is used annually
• Seeds: Tomato, Corn, Dwarf Beans, Celery, Capsicum, Cabbage and Carrots. Each packet costs $3.48 at the moment and lasts up to two years
• Seedlings: Silverbeet, Lettuce, Spring Onions and Parsley. Now costs vary as Parsley is every two years, Spring Onions and Silverbeet once a year and lettuce every 8 weeks all year round. Cost of each punnet though is average $1.70
• Labour: all-inclusive and averaged over the week – 7 hours a week (so an hour a day which is typical for me)
• The citrus trees and berry vines were one offs and are now all cropping

So if I go first by; annual, then weekly for cost it should give a comparison to how much we spend on the vegetables here at home in Papakura:

 

All inclusive except the fruit:

• Annual: $166.66
• Weekly: $3.21

$3.21 a week on vegetables plus the $25/fortnight (there are two of us at the moment) meaning we spend a week of fresh fruit and vegetables $15.71 and we still often have to freeze it for the winter as well have too much.

And by too much we have a case of around 100kg of Beef Steak Tomatoes expected from this years crop (we have 8 tomato plants down currently) and so far 20kg have been harvested with more coming and the plants still flowering!

 

Now I am going to show a gallery of the garden pictures so far – yep we built a raised bed but it was worth it

The Vegetable Patch Slide Show

 

Yes there are some chicken and cat photos but every slide show needs at least one picture of a cat!

Also chickens are not for everyone – however I have added the chicken photos in as we keep 4 hens and get 3-4 eggs a day from them when they are not on strike.

 

It is of mention to that gardens and vegetable gardens add years to your natural life through the physical labour, therapeutic properties (de-stressing) and fresh food where you know that it comes from and none of the nutrients lost that happens in processed food! I would say the vegetable patch will add easily 10 years to our lives if we keep this up all our lives if not more. Now for the hawk-eyes reading this post you would of read that I use synthetic fertilisers and sprays. I am phasing out the synthetic fertilisers in place for horse dung and Blood and Bone, however the synthetic sprays will remain and are used in ways when there is no bee activity (despite three of the four sprays are safe for bees any how). Proper precautions are always taken when using the sprays.

For more growing your own vegetables consults Yates and their boundless knowledge of growing things (flowers, fruit, vegetables and herbs).

 

But in the mean time I should tend to the tomatoes again… Seeming I am getting a 7kg bucket every two days from them…

 

Happy Gardening – and all the best on the savings to your food bill!