Why You Should Start Planning A Garden Today

Grocery shopping in 2023 🤣pic.twitter.com/u68ly8WYCz

— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) November 25, 2023

I remember when a large grocery order for me was around $100.00 dollars.

It took a few years, but eventually a large order was coming in at double that, about $200.00 dollars.

Quicker was the next jump, when a large order went from $200.00 dollars to $300.00 dollars.

That is about when I started to freak out. 

I noticed that the Customer Service desk at the grocery store had installed an emergency defibrillator behind the desk just in case I had a heart attack when the cashier totalled my purchase and handed me the bill.

Now it is only a matter of a few weeks, the time between our large orders, and our bill increases noticeably even beyond $300.00 dollars.

There has never been a better time to start a garden. 

Or grow food in containers on the patio. 

Or get a couple chickens.

Or plant an orchard.

It is also a good time to cook for yourself, and learn to do things like make yogurt, and plan price conscious vegetarian meals.

With that grocery bill continuing to go up, the time is ripe for eliminating non-essentials. 

The best money saving plan is to not buy things you can live without. Like donuts. Or coffee. Or both. 

Sugary drinks can be cut with a net benefit to health and finances. 

A big bag of beans, a big bag of rice, chickens in the yard, and a garden for fresh fruit and vegetables will all go a long way toward reducing that nasty grocery bill, and increasing your food independence.

Don't freak out - start planning that garden, and get ready to eat healthier and save money at the same time.

Save on Groceries: Check Your Bill

One of my favourite ways to save money on groceries is also one of the easiest - I check my bill. Then I check it again. I almost always end up finding a mistake in the store's favour.

I would estimate that about 75% of the time I am overcharged. I don't think it is some sort of dark, covert plan to increase corporate profits, just honest mistakes made by hard working cashiers.

Usually I steer my cart towards customer service and take a moment to go over my bill BEFORE I leave the store. The times I can't wait to get out of the store I check when I get home.

It has become a bit like a detective game, and playing Inspector helps me find pricey irregularities.

Regardless of whether I check right away, or come back later with a problem bill, the store is always 100% accommodating. Without fail the overcharge is refunded with a smile... so I can buy more food from them.

People make mistakes, but that doesn't mean that you should have to pay for them. Check your bill and save even more on your groceries.

Eat Healthier, Pay Less Tax

Tax-free Corn Bread fresh out of the oven

Like that other inevitable reality, death, taxes are something that we must come to terms with. I am alright with paying taxes - it is the price I pay to live in a healthy, cooperative society. However, I do not enjoy paying taxes on food. Recently I have been trying to find ways to avoid food taxes, and eat healthier at the same time.

Basic foods in many places, including British Columbia, are tax exempt. Basic food refers to things like milk, fruit, vegetables, and flour. Considering food is a basic necessity, it should be free of taxes. Therefore, most foods escape our newly implemented Harmonized Sales Tax (HST), which is currently 12%. But not all foods escape being taxed. Generally, entertainment eating, or snack food, is taxed.

Snack foods such as chocolate bars, gum, candy, and potato chips are some examples of foods (and I use that term loosely) that will have 12% extra added to their cost at the checkout. Considering the health problems associated with excessive snack consumption, they should be taxed. We can agree that these are not essential parts of a healthy diet. But on a couple of items, me and the tax man don't see eye to eye.

Are plain tortilla chips a snack, or food? I have never sat down and munched on a bag of plain tortilla chips, nor have I seen anyone else doing so. However, I don't know anyone that doesn't like a big plate of nachos, which, when served with refried beans, I consider a meal. But tortilla chips are a taxed item.

Another curiosity is with nuts. Nuts are very expensive, and I do not want to pay any more for them than I have to. That is why I was happy to discover that while salted nuts are taxed, unsalted nuts are not. Now we always buy unsalted, and have gotten used to this healthy food in its natural state.

To get around the taxed, deep fried tortilla chips, we replaced them with a non-taxed, healthier alternative - corn meal. With this less processed, less expensive alternative I bake corn bread (or Johnny Cake), which I can serve with all the ingredients I would otherwise have put on tortilla chips. It is great with home made refried beans, burning hot baked red pepper salsa, and guacamole.

Some taxes are not inevitable, and avoiding them may even help defer death for a while. Leave the full-tax fun foods on the shelf, and reach for no-tax, healthy, real food.

No Food Mischief Monday

Enjoy food - Eliminate waste.

No Hunger Monday

Click on image for larger version

Food production is down. Hunger is up. Prices are rising. The United Nations World Food Price Index recently hit an all time high.

The last time I went grocery shopping I hit an all time high for the most expensive cart of food I have ever muscled to the check out counter. The receipt total was a shocker.

But still, I was grateful for being able to walk into a store and stock up without a riot breaking out.

I am not sure we know the whole story behind increasing food prices, because it seems that the stratospheric rise in prices cannot be explained by supply and demand alone. Is greed involved, like in the 2008 financial crisis? Some believe it is.

Whatever the causes, we will need to find a way to help our brothers and sisters in nations experiencing a food deficit. This is time for generosity and sharing, not greed and hoarding.