Are we still able to fill our refrigerator?

Growing up under all types of circumstances and problems throughout the fifties and beyond l never remember having issues with food and having food on our tables or in the fridge. Every time that l would open that fridge, it generally was always filled with store bought items or things homemade. If money was an issue buying things, my parents and grandparents never let on that we needed to get food or at least they never gave us that impression.

The creative home maker and creation of old school items was never an impossibility as that generation was always very creative and resourceful to show and produce abundance from very little. The simplest of dandelions were picked on farms and on roadways and turned into some of the best rapini and whatever was available to make dishes that still to this day are memorable to me. The old school methods and customs have gone to the waste side due to many things, and those customs and living styles should be brought back to our daily living in some fashion. While COVID-19 has kept many of us indoors, some have taken advantage of using this time creatively and fruitfully, but a great deal of most have not put this time to good use.

Among the other lost arts, we’d do well as a culture to keep alive as one of the most practical is the lost art of cooking from scratch. For me, cooking from scratch conjures up homey feelings from my past that my best days were spent with my grandmother creating amazing food from scratch. Her Sunday afternoon simple lemon cake was some of the best that l had ever tasted, and l have tasted many. The picture might seem too domestic for some-or simply not enjoyable. What l would really like to do is inspire everyone to learn to cook from scratch, even if cooking isn’t your hobby and you’re not the apron-wearing type.

With rising food prices going sky high, we need to find alternatives and taking up the skill of going back to the basics, is how l feel. We need an alternative and this is a good one l might add. As l have stated, it’s a skill we’re losing, despite the fact we’ve been learning more about processed, prepared foods in the last decade. Instead of making meals at home, we fall back on take-out and have increasingly become a delivery nation. The easiest thing to do is order a pizza and have it delivered to your home or office and believe me, that pizza over time adds up to a great deal of money being spent that could be transferred to easier and more healthy alternatives.
Prices at the grocery store have remained stubbornly high, driving up the cost of living for all Canadians. What has driven food prices higher? Pretty much everything. The Russian invasion of Ukraine sent wheat prices through the roof and caused a surge in prices for fertilizer and natural gas. Severe drought conditions hit the Prairie provinces, prompting domestic crop reduction to drop sharply. Broader inflation pressures and higher debt payments already soaked up virtually all growth in households after-tax income last year and will likely do so throughout 2023 and beyond. These increased costs are having a larger impact on lower income households that spend more of their income on non-discretionary food purchases.

Food inflation needs to be understood, both figuratively and literally, from the ground up. The reason that prices have risen sharply on grocery shelves is straightforward. Vendors, manufacturers, processors, and wholesalers of food have been raising prices repeatedly and almost across the board which is overwhelmingly the biggest driver of higher food costs. Thus, why l have said that trying to get back to some basic values and a simple methodology of food preparation back into the home may be the only option to many. Prices may go a bit lower, but overall let’s not kid ourselves, these prices may stabilize, but will never go down, in fact they may still keep going up.

Again, one could point to the conspiracy theorist when it comes to food, and it’s increasingly surge up without any change in sight. On a personal note, I do not believe it. COVID-19 outbreaks occurred in food processing facilities, leading to temporary closures. The closures of these facilities had a cascading impact on consumer pricing. Now, the conspiracy of COVID-19 leading to many other ripple events including our food chain is another story for another day.

It seems the road one may take to explain why food prices are soaring, is the comfort that we can all take, is that going back to old school may just be your solution. Could our choices be deliberately narrowed by the unknown to get us used to having less? The sheer amount of wasted food from overstocked supermarkets would see a shift to them carrying fewer lines, limiting meats and dairy produce. For example, these have always been known to be environmentally unfriendly, perhaps reducing supplies of imported goods which are also bad for the environment such as fruits and meats as they slowly becoming unaffordable luxuries.

Food prices in Canada and abroad will continue to escalade in the new year, with grocery costs forecast to rise up to seven per cent in 2023 and beyond. However, whether its political or not the Canadian Federal government issued a grocery rebate payment and folks are expected to have started receiving them this week in their bank accounts. The payment amounts are based on net income from your previous year’s tax filings. Single Canadians without children are no longer eligible for the rebate if they earn more than fifty thousand a year, while families with four children continue to receive the payments until they earn more than sixty-five thousand.

Eleven million Canadians are eligible for this rebate and it is only a one-time credit and will be deposited into your account if you are eligible. Is this a political move by the Liberals, well if it is…? l feel that it’s a good political move and the timing is sweet, but truly needed by many.

Going back to the basics and trying the old school methods if not tried, is worth the thought.
Go home and make dinner for those that you love and try doing it from old school methods…. that’s what l will be doing moving forward on many nights.
Can l borrow a cup of sugar!

Vince Nigro/MS