Quite a number of fruits and vegetables were cheaper this week than they were a year ago. That includes golden kiwifruit, carrots, courgettes, mushrooms, lemons, cucumbers, mandarins, spring onions, lettuce and a number of others.
Likewise, every corner of the supermarket has products that haven’t risen at all, or at least not beyond reach. Finding them is a matter of remaining nimble and mindful while shopping.
With some careful planning, it’s possible to roll back some of the grocery bill to pre-pandemic prices. Imagination and substitution are great inflation fighters. Cauliflower costs $11? Buy broccoli instead at $2.99 a head, as it was last weekend.
Thinking about how to tackle the food bill soon led to the spectre of free fruit and veg. Those of us living in the north can’t have missed the free feijoas tumbling down to the ground from trees over the past month. And this week, my exit from a friend’s house was barred until I took a box of chokos.
When I tried to share some of my windfall with the neighbours, I was met with virtual radio silence. I persisted, but the only reply on the group chat was a link to a video about chokos by comedian Tom Sainsbury, which can be viewed here: Tinyurl.com/TomSainsburyChoko.
Never one to waste good kai, I turned to Google, which fired up my culinary imagination. Chokos can be grated, chopped or sliced and added to stews, stir-fries, risotto and even lasagne. They can be fried in garlic, or roasted.
I struck gold for our household when I discovered that finely sliced choko is crispy and refreshing in a salad. When I produced chopped choko for a hummus dip last week, I was complimented on this exotic vegetable I’d discovered (chortle). Eating choko is a great way to add some vitamins - C and E - and some handy minerals to your diet.
Self-seeded or perpetual free kai in my ill-tended garden includes spinach, tomatoes, kale and a ton of parsley. Enough for free salads all year round.
A few years, back a Spinoff writer referred to feijoas as the most socialist of all vegetables - because everyone shares. If you don’t like feijoas, chokos and anything else going free, perhaps it’s time to learn.
I’m busy peeling, scooping, chopping and freezing all my free fruit and veg. The more of this free food you can get in your freezer, the better.
Look for other ways to preserve free produce. I pickle our entire year’s supply of olives every May. The salt and vinegar costs money, but it’s very reasonable compared with bought olives.
For those people who don’t have friends trying to offload excess produce, free food pantries, AKA Pātaka Kai, are springing up all over the country. Ask around as well. When visiting friends in Kerikeri one time, I was directed to a Kiwifruit sorting house that had a bin at the back full of misshapen fruit going for free. Our haul lasted months in the fridge.
As well as eating in season, Love Food Hate Waste’s Sarah Pritchett recommends revisiting canned and frozen foods, which are often just as nutritious as fresh foods, but have a longer life and are less likely to be wasted. Love Food Hate Waste is running a ‘CANpaign’ currently to encourage people to buy canned food and waste less. Food from cans is less likely to be wasted because it lasts a long time, and comes in usable portion sizes.
Frozen peas, beans, and corn are very good value, says Pritchett. I’d add broad beans to that list. And prices haven’t risen much in the past year, she says.
