beehappy

Yep..I too am horrified at the way food is skyrocketing so its the garden for me and canning. I am going to learn this art from Canadian friend as I do not have enough freezing space. Just I hope I can get the jars. I feel I wont be the only one doing canning this year. My whole back lawn is going to foodcrops. The front lawn with the flowers is for visitors. Wish me luck!

dbd33

Any farm sale will have them. Usually the deal is that you have to take them all rather than the number you bid on as the auctioneer's objective is to get rid of them.

britishvixen21

What ingredients do you use for that price? as thats cheap!

greentea3

Pm'd you

britishvixen21

I did canning last year i made strawberry jam, and also green tomato chutney from the left over tomatoes in my garden that hadnt ripened, it was great fun. you can buy the jars in Canadian Tire. as for the garden, i only have a deck area although id like to apply for an allotment space. but i am growing, tomatoes, peppers, chillis, garlic, lettuce and herbs this year on my 3ft by 10ft deck. LOL

Atlantic Xpat

If it is jars, then surely it is technically bottling rather than canning?

Canada is an interesting study in the cost and sustainability of food supply chains. Food has to travel a long way, even if it is domestically produced & that adds a signficant cost / carbon footprint. On the flipside the 100 mile diet or sourcing food locally can be a challenge because of climate & location.

We dabbled with veggie gardening last year with mixed results. A greenhouse is required to start things off / grow some of the hot house veggies we'd like. Now the snow has gone, I am turning my mind to building a lean-too greenhouse out of timber and polyethene alongside the garage. To preserve vegetables I might also consider some alternative to the traditional root cellar - a darkened and vented box - as well as freezing and bottling.

I'd also like to think about chickens. We have the land but not sure how it would go down with the neighbours/town.

Souvy

What does the label say? Any mention of salt, citric acid or calcium chloride, or anything else routinely used in processed foods?

britishvixen21

yeah the chooks can be noisy in the morning thats for sure. but my Dads nieghbours just bribe my Dad with eggs and he keeps his mouth shut LOL they produce about 300 a year!

I bought a little portable green house from Homedepot and keep it inside till it gets warmer my seedlings love it!

JB0591

You def need to know your alternative prices and you will not be able to do all your shopping in just costco. We use it for tins, breads, meat, cereal, drinks and the odd fresh item (mushrooms, asian salad mix etc). You also need to become expert with breaking items down into smaller freezer bags etc.

We joined the Executive Membership for $100 (+ HST) including two membership cards and 2% cash back (up to $500).

JB0591

If it is under your roof you will probably eat it.....what a load of tosh....not when you are on a budget!

Piff Poff

My husband laughs at me as I get antsy when I'm down to just one or two tins of tomatoes in the cupboard, if you have a tin of tomatoes and an onion you can make a meal out of anything

Souvy

You are my wife.

What another poster said about breaking things down is right. There are only two of us and we shop at Costco. The missus will buy a large slab of beef for about $60 and split it up into roasts, steaks etc, each individually bagged and then frozen. Ditto bread rolls, chicken breasts etc.

britishvixen21

ahhaaha its true, i bought Jamie Olivers book food revolution and hes base for everything is carrots, onion, celery and tinned tomatoes LOL I always have these in my house! I love making spaghetti sauce with the stewed ones i cant ever imagine buying ragu again!

brizzle

Definitely noticed it. More of a creep over the last year or so, rather than a big jump. Certain things like coffee have almost doubled in price. I also see that cheese in Superstore, has been repackaged with the word 'new' on it. Well it's half the size it used to be and the same price, so if that's 'new' you can stick it. I'm way keener now on making use of any special offers I see.

dave2003

There does not appear to be much an individual can do about food stuffs sourced overseas or far away, except not buy them.

However, the cost of cheese, eggs and milk, and all dairy derived foods in Canada is controlled by various milk and dairy marketing boards. These are cartels-dairy farmers pay to get a quota production on dairy products, including the cows that produce the milk. The boards I believe then set minimum prices for the product and go after any farmer who tries to operate outside the cartel. All this is done with the connivance of all the political parties who don't have the political will to shut down this consumer rip-off.
The government gives out the usual excuses for not acting on this matter, including food security, but the reality is that like the French and Italians, (CAP), cartels are an instrument used to get and keep political allegiance and keep out dairy imports.

Check out the price of cheese-and if you are in the U.S., compare. The difference is eye-watering. I love "The Cow that Laughs." I practically lived on it when I was a student. One of those little round packets was on sale in the Calgary Co-Op recently at $6.99. I was in the U.K. recently and there it cost about $1.00.

Let the utility and telecoms companies act to set prices, and the government steps right in, as they recently did with Bell and Telus.