Monday, April 22, 2019

Celery Is The New Steak


So the week gearing up to Easter I was on the hunt for celery.  The partial limp celery head in my fridge wasn't going to cut it for turkey dressing.  Store #1 - my cheapest go to grocery store was sold out of non-organic celery but I could buy organic celery hearts in a bag (why must it be in a bag I ask, really super wasteful) for only $6.99.  Um, no.  Store #2 - my slightly more expensive go to store near my house.  $5.99 for a head of celery (not in a bag) non-organic. WTF?  Yes, I swore,  in real life I swore loudly.  Since when is celery per pound higher than meat?  I used to buy a head regular price all the time for $2.99, on sale for $1.99.


I boycotted both...went back home, chopped up what celery was left and soaked it overnight in a cold water bath in the fridge.  Perfecto - just enough celery for a little in the potato salad Saturday and turkey dressing Sunday.  It is amazing, totally rejuvenated and perfect for stuffing as the leaves work great for that.  Using a water bath for veggies is a trick I learned long ago when working in a restaurant - some restaurants keep their salad premade in large pails in water.  It keeps it from spoiling and keeps it nice and fresh.  Anyway, luckily I had just enough but I refuse to pay $5.99 for celery.  I need to remember to cut up and store more veggies this way in future to waste less.

Grocery prices seem to be going a bit crazy this year.  In Canada the price of non food items including things like toilet paper that everyone needs have gone up about 20% to 30%.  I am having trouble staying on my $575 budget - this month I likely will go over as only have $90 left although my fridge is full I still have to worry about OTCs.  Hubby had to buy allergy eyedrops yesterday = $12.  Bloody hell.  Thankfully there are still a few bargains to be had like our 7 kg/15 lb turkey which year after year as long as you are willing to buy utility grade is generally .95-99 cents a pound.  Why must I buy a precooked chicken at Costco so much cheaper than buying a whole chicken?  Why is chicken so much more expensive than turkey per pound? Why can I regularly buy parts of a chicken so much cheaper than the whole thing?  Some of it clearly makes no sense.

Fortunately our nearby farm stand will be opening up in May and by July I should have some of my own tomatoes and cucumbers.  My strawberry plants overwintered well except one sharp frost - lost most of their leaves but after I cut the dead ones back are nice and healthy again.  I need to transplant them to containers that are higher off the ground so I don't have to share them with mice/rats (yes we have both, when you live near the ocean you have rats). The rosemary plant didn't do well this winter - too cold so I will be replacing that.  The chives are nice and healthy. I am not sure what to do about all our OTC and non-food items....hubby says I should increase the budget but I am not going to do that until I see how the rest of the year goes. guess I have to get more creative in meals using cheaper ingredients - but I never thought celery would be anything other than one of those cheaper ingredients.

Anyway, we had a very nice Easter with a turkey and dressing dinner. Afterwards we watched the movie Lion on Netflix - I highly recommend it - about a boy in India who gets accidentally separated from his family and doesn't find them until 25 years later. Today, I look forward to not having to cook supper as we enjoy the leftovers.  What about you, are you finding things more expensive at the grocery store?

24 comments:

  1. Very smart of you to rejuvenate the celery. Thanks for the tip. As for mice and rats, I have read somewhere that Lavender is an effective rodent repellant. Can you plant lavender around your containers?

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    1. Possibly, they seem most interested because it is eye level. I might try that - thanks!

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  2. Definitely prices have increased, especially as you say the non-food items like toilet paper and paper towels. The latter I can reduce use of by using cloths but the former...not so much.
    I hadn't noticed the price of celery but the I usually only buy a few stalks. I realize it's pricier but I'm less likely to waste it. I did not know about the cold water bath and have used it in the past. What is really expensive here is cauliflower, tomatoes, and often lettuce. Hopefully with the summer months the prices will come down.

    Sounds like a great Easter dinner! We had frozen pizza...I was lazy. :)

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    1. Hey, you didn't eat out = frozen pizza is a lifesaver at my house when I am tired. I add a few ingredients and extra cheese. Hubby likes it better than takeout pizza lol as there are many extra toppings

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  3. Isn't Lion incredible? It breaks my heart to know that it was a true story.
    I can't bear celery, I've tried and it continues to disgust me. I grew rainbow chard last year and it makes a great substitute in recipes that require cooked celery, all the texture and none of that hateful taste.
    Our fruit and veg remains pretty cheap here not sure about anything else, Jon does the rest of the shopping. x

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    1. I admit to crying a lot during that movie (I am a crier). I am so glad that he was able to connect with his Mom and sister and shocked to find out the reason why his brother never came back was he died the same night on the train tracks. Super sad. I don't like celery raw but don't mind it as an ingredient in something else (usually I love raw veggies and hate cooked ones)

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  4. Who would have ever thought celery would be a budget buster? Everything is going up here too. I am going to plant several more veggies to see if it will help the budget a little this summer.
    I loved the movie Lion.

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    1. I know, right? Next it will be cucumbers.....or plane jane lettuce. My tomatoes go into the ground tomorrow as I bought 3 plants on $1.49 day (local chain does it once a month).

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  5. I have been noticing the prices climbing - grocery shopping has become a game of 'what day do they lower the prices back to somewhat normal' and 'why on earth did they raise the prices' and the prices jump up a $1 and down a $1 and that is a sale?
    Joy

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    1. You are so right. Cauliflower was terrible prices last winter but I picked one up this week for $2 which is pretty darn cheap. What's next?

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  6. We have some celery currently wilting away in our fridge - leftover from chicken salad. Putting in ice water sounds like a good tip. And, YES, food and toiletry prices are up where i live.

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    1. I kind of thought prices were just up in Canada but it appears they are up in the USA too. Try the celery tip - overnight is best, you'll be shocked

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  7. My fav grocery chain here started around Xmas doing a deal on certain produce-it was $XX when you bought two at a time but twice as much to buy just one. So if you didn't have someone to split the cost of two(you both got one and paid half of the lower price)or you wouldn't use two before it went bad(and usually it was something that didn't freeze well like salad greens or celery....well you can freeze celery but not for most purposes lol)then you paid double really either way. Pissed me off! Luckily I like celery and will eat it many ways but it was crappy for anyone who didn't have a big family or a need for two bunches at a time.

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    1. I hate it when stores do that - or worse - when you buy 3. One of the good things about doing grocery shopping with Mom now is that we can buy larger batches and split things like peppers or 3 packs of cucumbers.

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  8. First I had to deal with the price increase from Mexico ( which have gone up within the country over the last year - mostly due to the huge increase in fuel prices ) to the increase in prices with the US and now back here in Canada yet again. Because we are away from mid May to the end of June I was not going to do a garden this year. We have decided to do tomatoes and a row of Swiss chard and kale which will help keep costs down.

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    1. Shocking, isn't it? seeds are cheap - hopefully you get some produce out of it. I bought 3 tomato plants today for $1.49 each so I need to get them into the ground. I usually buy a cherry tomato, a plum and a beefsteak. They seem to all ripen at different times that way.

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  9. I think prices are starting to climb here too - well they must be if I am noticing it because I don't usually know all the prices of what I buy. I probably shouldn't have but I put my tomato plants, cauliflower and a few others out already and have started seeds in trays which I lug in and out of the living room to the back garden. The biggest pain in the butt for me though is the slugs. Berk, they did a real number on my seedlings last year. Can't wait for "real" tomatoes though. I pretty much stopped eating the shop bought tomatoes after eating the wonderful real deal in Turkey, and then again in Italy last week. I hope my toms do better than last year! And thanks for the tip on Lion - I heard it was good too!

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    1. We have slugs here too - they completely ate my basil plant one year. Others have deer issues but our back yard is completely enclosed with fence and high cedar trees so they stay out. Mom only bought one tomato plant this year - shes going to see if the deer leave it alone (we have loads of deer here and they are protected so all you can do is shooo them away) At my house it is just the mice and/or Monsieur Rat (fat bugger)

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  10. I knew that about celery but don't remember to do it. However, I have some limp celery in the fridge right now so will get right on it :) Have you tried growing it? Everything is going up at the moment - it is really hard on the old budget and I love how stubborn you are! I did well with my food budget in Jan. and Feb., but March was expensive. Certain months seem to last forever! &8@%%6#2*!!

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    1. I've not tried growing celery, really don't have a regular garden, just 1 foot wide growing boxes down the sunny side of the house. Usually it is cheap enough that I don't worry about it but will be waiting to buy it until the price comes down now :( - yes, I am super stubborn. Funny how I would much rather spent $6 on plants than bloody celery. You are right about long months - we spent a lot of money on the house this month with all the organizing/purging/yard work and deposit on our carpet. I hope May is a tiny bit cheaper!(except of course the final payment on our carpet)

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  11. Where we are, chicken is always cheaper than turkey -- by quite a lot! The store where I buy celery sells a bag of celery hearts for a higher price than the full stalk -- but when you look at the unit price, it's the same. The higher priced bag is higher quality too. I bet most folks don't check the unit pricing labels.

    And everything is getting more expensive! I can't get over how much toilet paper and paper towels cost!

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    1. Toilet paper is going sky high! I accidentally bought the kind of paper towels that don't have the perforation in the middle so now I am cutting them in half manually lol. I did manage to buy a pack of 24 toilet paper rolls yesterday on sale - first time in a while. That should last us a bit!

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  12. When my rosemary goes south, I strip the leaves and save the stalks to throw on my fire when camping.

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    1. Great idea! I should have given it to my friend who has a wood stove...but it has been put out with my grass clippings already.

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