It’s time to quit bitching about high food prices

Be thankful we have clean and well-stocked supermarkets open 7 days a week

Right off the bat I’m going to tell you that I’m not one of those whining nitpicking Canadians who think food prices are too high and that grocery store chains are ripping us off.

I’m not so misguided. I can’t believe some food prices are so low. Week after week we can get bargains. I know stores put things on special to draw customers in so they buy the expensive products like sugary cereals. But, think of it, do supermarkets really have to almost give products away and lose money to get you to come into their store to shop?

You and your family have to eat and you’re going to the store no matter what at least once every week to buy food supplies. Do they really have to entice you to come?

When new potatoes came on stream in late July one supermarket had them advertised for $1. That’s 10 pounds for $1. That’s 10 cents a pound. They were excellent potatoes and nice and clean. I bought some. No limit on how much you could buy. Another store had 10-lb. on for $1.50. Potatoes normally sell for $5 to $6 a bag.

The other week I bought 10 pounds of carrots for $2.77 while 10-lb. watermelons were $2.45. A 10-lb bag of red beets was $3.50. Crazy low prices! The store had whole 2- to 4-pound chickens selling for $1.75 a pound. I bought two-bagged chickens — one for $4.46 and one for $4.62. The chickens had all the parts — two wings and two legs. There was a cooler bin full of these small chickens at ridiculous low prices. If they didn’t all sell before the best before date they would be reduced by 30 per cent and be selling for just over $3.

Take corn cobs as another example. You pay as much as a $1 cob at farm roadside stands. Or you could buy Ontario grown corn cobs during the month of August and into September at some supermarkets for anywhere from 37-cents to 45-cents a cob. I tried some a few times and they were good. I’ve seen store cobs as low as 10 cents. A few times I saw containers of Florida strawberries in supermarkets selling for $1.64. What did you pay for local strawberries?

People don’t complain about food prices at farmer markets — that’s sacred ground or something.

People complain about the price of meat. When will food prices start to come down? they ask. Well, wages aren’t coming down. Stores use a lot of manpower, energy, electricity and what not. Sure, the price of beef is quite high in the supermarkets. That’s not the fault of the stores. Farmers are getting a really good return for their beef. Milk and eggs might be considered expensive. Milk is a lost leader for the stores. By the way, I don’t drive to Ottawa to shop at Costco. I shop locally.

I have three outdoor barn cats that I supplement with meat, milk and table scraps. I can usually pick up inexpensive meat at the grocery stores to make their cat food.
August is the season many homeowners do home preserves or pickling. You need vinegar. I saw 4-litre containers of vinegar on for $1.49. In season too!

I also don’t care how much profit the grocery chains make. I’m glad they’re doing well. That means they’re going to be around. What if they were doing poorly and on the verge of bankruptcy? What if they couldn’t afford to pay for all the staff that’s needed to man the big stores and sweep up discarded cigarette butts in the parking lot and by the entrance doors?

Another great thing I love about the supermarkets is how clean, neat and bright the stores are. The floors are squeaky clean. And staff are incredibly helpful. I sometimes have difficulty finding an item and I’ll ask an employee who is stocking shelves. That employee will take me to the aisle to locate it. I’ll say, “Just tell me the aisle number and I’ll find it.”

Now, to sum this up. Thanksgiving Day is around the corner. Quit being so thin-skinned and misguided about food prices. Be thankful that the stores are full of foodstuff and you can get food from around the world every day. Don’t be a critic of the people who own or run the stores.

Be thankful! Thank God for all your blessings! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Maynard van der Galien is a Renfrew-area farmer and a long-time columnist with Farmers Forum.