Pot Noodle In Peril

[Robson Valley]

It's just warm enough in the Vancouver, BC area to support a lot of different greenhouse (aka glasshouse?) crops.
Thye buy carbon dioxide from the breweries (yeast farts) to fertilize the greenhouse air, to about 3%, I'm told.
Then, it turns out that bumble bees are the most enthusiastic pollinators for these crops.
Was a lot of BC university research with the bumble bees, not that many years ago.

Large size store eggs here are $2.99/dozen. Local farm eggs, mixed sizes, some double-yolk, are $4.00/dozen.
I buy both. I don't think it's an exaggeration to claim that the farm eggs have 2X thick shells.

 

[santaman2000]

It's just warm enough in the Vancouver, BC area to support a lot of different greenhouse (aka glasshouse?) crops.
Thye buy carbon dioxide from the breweries (yeast farts) to fertilize the greenhouse air, to about 3%, I'm told.
Then, it turns out that bumble bees are the most enthusiastic pollinators for these crops.
Was a lot of BC university research with the bumble bees, not that many years ago.

Large size store eggs here are $2.99/dozen. Local farm eggs, mixed sizes, some double-yolk, are $4.00/dozen.
I buy both. I don't think it's an exaggeration to claim that the farm eggs have 2X thick shells.

Yeah bumblebees can be good pollinators but don't really make much hone like the honeybees would.

 

[Robson Valley]

That's a fact. With the bumble bees, I'm not terribly interested in whatever honey that they could make.
I'll settle for the grapes, the cucumbers, the tomatoes and whatever other greenhouse crop they will work, like strawberries!
Side-by-side, honey bees seem to be quite fussy about flower choices. Then we plan the great rip-off for the honey.

 

[dewi]

A multi-billion earning international company raises it prices in its home market by 10% while lowering its prices in other markets around the world... and it makes the news?

Happens every day.. hence the reason the international corporations call us Treasure Island. They can dip into our market with increased prices with any old excuse and as a nation we're more than happy to pay the price without so much as a flinch.

Personally I waiting for the little gem that is the oil futures... you know they just want to whack the price up by 25%. Almost makes me want to buy an electric car.

 

[Robson Valley]

You people are seriously getting ripped off. If your Tesco supermarket won't agree to play with Unilever, so be it.
I read in this thread that they expected a 10% price hike for lots of things.
One of those things was Marmite. So I did some snooping.

Marmite, 6,000 tons of it annually, is made in a British factory. That's about 50 million jars, so they say.
The Unilever excuse is some piece about Brexit issues. Really.

Maybe you say this too: "Vote with your feet."
I'd stay with that store and select alternative brands if I could.

 

[dewi]

Maybe you say this too: "Vote with your feet."
I'd stay with that store and select alternative brands if I could.

Ahhh but you forget... we're British.

We will moan and groan about it... we may even boycott some Unilever products for a fortnight... but then we'll forget about it and just pay up.

Hence the reason that annual £100 property rates 20 years ago has turned into a couple of thousand pounds a year instead... we just pay the bill.

Its not that we're cowardly, its not that we don't have principles... but as a nation, we're just used to it. The bills rise every year, but the wages stay the same. It's a great system when you think about... we're having a race to see who can hit rock bottom first... the Brits or the Yanks. I reckon we'll hit rock bottom well before our cowboy booted cousins.

 

[Robson Valley]

Gripe and complain. Could be Canadian, eh? No. I've had enough.
I'm retired which allows me to devote some useful blocks of time to these cash grabs.

Just this morning, I am proud to announce, that an industry that I've been gunning for
has labelled me a right Pain In The A$$. With rewards like that, why stop now?

Well, it's still a stupid bird that soils its own nest.
You might just have seen some bullying on Unilever's part.
Might as well encourage Tesco to do some loud & public snarling in return.

Wal-Mart in North America does that to manufacturers & suppliers.
W-M dictates how much they will buy and what the price will be.

 

[Janne]

It is our tastebuds that are not used to Beef extract/ Yeast extract products. In our grandparents day you could buy this kind of nasty stuff all across Europe. Important Vitamin addition.
Just like Codliver oil.

Bovril is fabulous. Very versatile for taking with you while trekking in nature.

 

[Janne]

It is us consumers that have allowed companies like Unilever, Nestle at al, to be what they are today.
We have bought their substandard products because they are cheap, instead of buying properly made, and hence more expensive, products.
Our fault 100%.

 

[Robson Valley]

Agreed. "Convenience foods." Store/factory eggs here are $2.99/dozen (large.)
Farm eggs, mixed sizes, $4.00/dozen and orange yolks and strong 'egg' taste.
Then, BIG FOOD lobbys Agriculture Canada to sniff around villages like mine to try to choke off
"farm-gate sales", bartering, door to door sales of agricultural products.

Farm kids in highschool. Lots of milk available.
Decided that they would get into making cheese.
Sold their experiments (?) out of a cardboard box.
I don't know where they learned but they made 3 cheeses, all better than store stuff.
Had to quit after threats of prosecution from government.

You see, theoretically speaking, I own a pet bison calf which was borne last spring.
I know a guy who is prepared to look after my pet for a fee.
I'll pay the boarding fee a year from November.

 

[Janne]

Agreed. "Convenience foods." Store/factory eggs here are $2.99/dozen (large.)
Farm eggs, mixed sizes, $4.00/dozen and orange yolks and strong 'egg' taste.
Then, BIG FOOD lobbys Agriculture Canada to sniff around villages like mine to try to choke off
"farm-gate sales", bartering, door to door sales of agricultural products.

Farm kids in highschool. Lots of milk available.
Decided that they would get into making cheese.
Sold their experiments (?) out of a cardboard box.
I don't know where they learned but they made 3 cheeses, all better than store stuff.
Had to quit after threats of prosecution from government.

You see, theoretically speaking, I own a pet bison calf which was borne last spring.
I know a guy who is prepared to look after my pet for a fee.
I'll pay the boarding fee a year from November.

And your beloved pet will have a fatal accident??

I had a friend in Sweden, that had several accidental deaths with milk calves, poor little creatures.

 

[santaman2000]

Agreed. "Convenience foods." Store/factory eggs here are $2.99/dozen (large.)
Farm eggs, mixed sizes, $4.00/dozen and orange yolks and strong 'egg' taste.....

That sounds expensive. I get store eggs (large) for anywhere from $0.92/dozen to $1.12/dozen in US currency (or about $1.21 to $1.47 Canadian) and farm eggs fo2 $2.00 US (or $2.63 Canadian) Mind the farm eggs aren't sorted by size and are generally smaller.

 

[Janne]

That sounds expensive. I get store eggs (large) for anywhere from $0.92/dozen to $1.12/dozen in US currency (or about $1.21 to $1.47 Canadian) and farm eggs fo2 $2.00 US (or $2.63 Canadian) Mind the farm eggs aren't sorted by size and are generally smaller.

Here imported x-large eggs are about 5 US$ a dosen, local organic mixed colours and sizes I buy for 7US$ for 12.

Yep, US tourists do complain in the supermarkets. We living here are just happy to be sble to buy fresh (kind of) food imported from N. America snd Europe!

 

[Robson Valley]

I've learned to live with the .30-'06 lead poisoning accidents, 10-12 of my "pets" over the past 15 years.
In fact, I've lost count. Never seemed important. One year, I bought 4 sides, $1/lb if you can believe it.
Overgrazing and had to cull his herd before winter. No probs selling off what I didn't want.

Clean quarters on the hook in the cold room for a week, the boarding fee will be about $4/lb.
Then the butcher wants $0.50/lb to tidy up all the damage, cut, wrapped, labelled and quick frozen.
By the time I get home, possibly $1,000.00. Then I have bartering leverage with all my big game hunting aquaintences.

Cleanest meat that I have eaten in my entire life. Organic, almost fat-free and unlike a white-faced range maggot fed on grain,
this is a native hebivore that ate grass and bushes as they have done for 10's of thousands of years.

In fact, I should take out roasts and burger to bulk cook a couple of things (lasagne & wine-braised bison).

 

[Nice65]

Bovril is fabulous. Very versatile for taking with you while trekking in nature.

It has a very interesting history too. Google is your friend.

 

[santaman2000]

Here imported x-large eggs are about 5 US$ a dosen, local organic mixed colours and sizes I buy for 7US$ for 12.

Yep, US tourists do complain in the supermarkets. We living here are just happy to be sble to buy fresh (kind of) food imported from N. America snd Europe!

Yeah, I can see that in your location. Still it seemed high for a mainland price. Unless RV's supply chain is like Alaska's?

 

[Robson Valley]

McBride is 7hrs(?) west of Edmonton on a good day, 2.5 hrs east of Prince George.
Maybe 600 people if everybody is home from away work for the weekend.
Not exactly a hotbed of a market place.
One grocery store and I don't know where the trucks come from (2 per week) but it has to be
500+ miles.

Local egg producers are small. Not organized and their yield probably could not supply the local demand.

 

[santaman2000]

Thanks RV. Now I've got the picture.