Not overlooking the speckled

The move to the suburbs has occured, and while it’s been a definite shock to the system it is on average a good thing.

One result is that we have changed from the market by Te Papa to the riverbank markets in Lower Hutt. This has meant we shook out some old patterns, but also that we picked up some new ones.

For instance, this used to be a full box of speckled peaches:

Total cost, $4.70.

Awesome. Turned that lot into 5 jars of preserves, for a saving of… heaps. A heck of a lot less than we’d pay at the supermarket for tinner peaches!

The downside of this year is that the weather has been so bad that the price of many summer foods hasn’t come down. Roma tomatoes are still $5 a kilo, which means that this year it might be cheaper to buy our winter vitamins from Moore Wilsons (in Tawa) than to cure them ourselves!

Blimey.

Cornucopia

I think the last post like this I did was during the winter.

But guess how much this bowl of fruit and veges cost me, and all from the Waitangi Park markets?

It’s broccoli, a couple of spuds, corn, capsicums, plums, apricots, nectarines, peaches, and a cucmber. I had to leave out the 2kg of Roma tomatoes I found for $2kg (that are currently in the oven being semi-dried).

A modest amount of fruit. I also had to leave a bunch of the stone-fruit out because the bowl was over-flowing.

Do yourself a Favour

And do not buy your fruit and vegetables at the supermarket (if you can help it).

I just got back from New World and was shocked to see that, other than being a minimum of $3 per kilo more expensive than our weekend markets, the stone fruit on offer wasn’t RIPE!!

It also tends to be much larger than market-fruit, meaning it is more watery, and less flavoursome.

Now, when stone fruit is the absolute best season, and cannot be substituted, the last thing you want to be eating is gigantic sour apricots at $7.99 per kilo… Let alone crunchy peaches.

Seriously, W.T.F?

Bargains at the markets

If you hurry down to the markets this morning you can get some pretty decent bargains. Not only this 800g jar of home-made tomato relish for $4.50, but other great deals including:

• Asparagus for $1.50 a bunch for the larger, slightly woody varieties, but $1.80 for the thin, tender stalks
• Bananas for $2kg
• Agria potatoes for $2.50kg
• New Zealand hothouse tomatoes (i.e. not any imported varieties) for $3kg
• Other great deals.

And don’t forget to buy a coffee, a crepe, fresh hand-made sausages, Waiora lamb, fish directly off the yummy dumplings, home-made cakes and biscuits, fresh Rewena, or pastries.