Oh dear, expect a run on "Great British carrots"

[BlackeyedSusan]

Now the Spanish tomatoes are not available....

There is definitely one poster from the Brexit cupboard threads that could be saying "I told you so"

Probably. I’m wondering what other produce will be affected.

This is why they call it The Hungry Gap. Winter stocks run out and the new season's produce isn't available. Brexit supply issues just make that worse.

My main tin stash is tomatoes. Many of our meals have this as a key ingredient.

I'm also conscious of the lag between shortages of fresh stuff and the canning of that fresh stuff for sale later on. Which means we might end up with tinned tomato availability issues down the line. Add a couple more of the cheapest ones to your next shop.

I'm only taking a moment's "I told you so" kind of pleasure because it's a bit shit for everyone and I would prefer it not to be.

Salad stuff I think, Adora.. storms in Morocco with flooding, was it cold in Southern Spain? And British and Dutch farmers not planting in greenhouses due to fuel costs. Oh and storms in the channel possibly may have been mentioned.

Just picked up 12 tomatoes from the convenience store for my autistic child to tide us over a bit.

Aldi was short on tomatoes with only a few expensive packs left.

Lots of empty boxes but did have a few cucumbers. To be fair I went a lot later than normal so I can't compare with normal.

There was plenty of other stuff there but annoying if you've got specific needs.

It's majoring on the radio news too, which is really not going to help. 🤦

Naturally people will buy them a little sooner than they usually would or because they are there or they are worried they won't be next time, etc. I'm evidence of this having just bought some from the corner shop!

But these shortages have nothing to do with ‘the hungry gap’, they’re caused by increasing production costs due to the increase in fuel costs.

This sounds really worrying. If we can’t get fresh tomatoes, it’s probably a good idea to stock up on tinned before they all get bought up. Better get some loo roll too, just to be on the safe side. We have now used up most of what I bought in 2020, so we are down to our last few hundred rolls.

Am I doing this right? 😉

Should we really be buying tomatoes in winter when they have to be flown in n from abroad?

Personally I only buy British tomatoes when they're in season in the UK in summer. Much cheaper and tastier.

I popped into Morrison’s this afternoon, for a birthday card. The salad section was completely empty and some other veg sections were low. This is a small town in Somerset, so not a superstore.

Hope those tomatoes last for your DC BlackeyedSusan

Won’t help us now but we have a poly tunnel arriving this week and already have a greenhouse and lots of veg beds and husband seeding up loads of produce right now to grow all we can ourselves

We have got so used to hot housed salads veg and fruit (me included) there's loads of seasonal stuff available all winter but it does mean changing cooking and eating habits

January

Apples, Beetroot, Brussels Sprouts, Carrots, Celeriac, Celery, Chicory, Jerusalem Artichokes, Kale, Leeks, Mushrooms, Onions, Parsnips, Pears, Red Cabbage, Salsify, Savoy Cabbage, Spring Greens, Spring Onions, Squash, Swedes, Turnips, White Cabbage.

February

Apples, Beetroot, Brussels Sprouts, Carrots, Celeriac, Chicory, Jerusalem Artichokes, Kale, Leeks, Mushrooms, Onions, Parsnips, Pears, Purple Sprouting Broccoli, Red Cabbage, Salsify, Savoy Cabbage, Spring Greens, Spring Onions, Squash, Swedes, White Cabbage.

March

Artichoke, Beetroot, Carrots, Chicory, Leeks, Parsnip, Purple Sprouting Broccoli, Radishes, Rhubarb, Sorrel, Spring Greens, Spring Onions, Watercress.

There is also frozen, tinned, jarred and dried

Exactly! Makes eating much more varied and interesting too.

I also wonder how many vitamins are actually left in those cucumbers and tomatoes flown in from Spain...

Probably right.

When I were a lass we only had strawberries in summer. The winter shop ones taste shite so I don't buy them.

We ought to be more creative on the home grown in season stuff but we still don't grow enough to be self sufficient here in the UK.

I can confess this here but I brought nearly all my value tinned tomatoes in 2022 as knew Italy had bad harvest due to drought so assumed price would go up.
A value chopped tomato used be 28p everywhere they now 32p most supermarkets apart from lilds which has lost the plot and gone upto 39p.
Other tomato products have gone up too including ketchup lilds never has own brand anymore so stockpile aldi bramwells or sainsbury Hubbard.
Puree and passatta also gone up.

I haven't counted recently but I think I probably have 115 tins which may seem like a lot.
But I cook from scratch and use 2 tins a week so 104 was my goal to give me 12 months worth.
I brought 52 beans as we use 1 tin a week.
Have around 50 passatta and 30 purees all before prices went up plus years worth value penne and value spagetti.

Fresh I only buy 1 pack cherry tomatoes a week as mostly me and teenager who eats them.
I don't really buy much lettuce unless summer and I prefer rocket or spinach.
We do eat a lot of peppers and they in short supply.

Decided limit how much reduced bread I'm buying and storing and use half chest for frozen veg and fruit .

Also going to buy more tinned potatoes/ dried mash.
Other tinned veg.
Going to try ny new dehydrator out.

We grew tomatoes and Cucumber with success last year as remember stores were short on tomatoes last year too so we planted loads.

We will do growing today but its not a dead cert and we won't have enough be self sufficient.

Has anyone tried home canning tomatoes?

"When I were a lass we only had strawberries in summer. The winter shop ones taste shite so I don't buy them"

I bought some by mistake spring last year (I thought they were early ones from Jersey, but they turned out to be from some random far-flung place). Utterly tasteless!

We really have lost sight of seasonality, and food security was always going to become an issue (irrespective of Brexit - see also water wars)

Wow echo. Impressive. Not quite got that many as the kids eat at their dad's a lot now.

You can freeze tomatoes. They come out like snooker balls quite runny and squishy like tinned tomatoes when defrosted but are gorgeous.

Seems there is a run on seeds for growing your own. (I use this site for the sowing calendar)

I still have 2 whole carrier bags full if tomatoes in the freezer. I didn't realise I was a hard core prepper.
we grew them last year and I guess we grew enough to last us the year.
this means all the tinned tomatoes we have are still on our shelves and the tomatoes in the shop are staying on their shelves too.

I couldn't eat shop tomatoes again. mine were so delicious the shop tastes like water in comparison. grow your own!
when we first started out we got a decent harvest from windowsill pots.

there is a great video of a woman and her daughter and granddaughter in Italy who make tomato 'sauce' (pasta not ketchup) and they bottle it in saved shop bottles. They have done the same recipe for years. just Google preserving tomatoes on YouTube. They are Italian and are cooking in a garden