Ultimately, for things like TP household stocks will be so high that demand will evaporate. There will be plenty of supply in store with no demand. What price then?
Price too high and consumers are likely to start drawing down on the hoardings, instead.
For the current silliness in some F&V lines, unlike TP there are always alternatives. *Look for what is in-season and in good supply. Not all of us might go without or substitute. However the risk for the producers seeking a premium, and likely market agents and distributors is the demand can suddenly evaporate, leaving many holding over priced stock that has a short shelf life.
It seems at times us consumers are our own worst enemies.
*Sweet potato seems to be in good supply locally from $2.50/kg. Same for some Asian greens including hydroponic produced supplies, at less than $5/kg. Compared with $16/kg for Broccoli, and celery and cauliflower also well above the $12/kg mark.
Traditional sourdough where you leave the dough exposed to the air for a day or more, so that naturally occurring yeasts floating around in the air lands on it is one way, although Iâve never had much success with it.
If I want something quick, flat bread. I just use flour and 50/50 milk (cows, soy, rice etc) and water, and a pinch of salt to make a dough, knead it a bit, and cook it in a cast iron frypan or more quickly both sides at once in a toasted sandwich maker. Can also cook in an oven, but takes a bit longer. Add bicarb soda if you want it to puff up, but I prefer not to, as I usually only get a very thin crunchy layer puffing up.
It is possible brewers yeast would work, although I have not tried it.
Beef mince - we have been paying steadily increasing prices for several years of drought, from $9.50 in 2011 to $12.50 before the virus, and it is still $12.50 (Friday 20/3/20) from our small town butcher.
You only have to watch Landlineâs market report to see whatâs happening. We had a prolonged drought where the majority of producers destocked to slaughter, with alarming numbers of breeding females going. Then the floods in North Qld killed many, many head. Abattoirs were struggling to get stock. Recent rains saw grass and now abattoirs are competing with graziers trying to buy stock to start again.
So the price goes up. It is now at record levels. Add to that the demand for meat now that most of Asiaâs pig meat was killed off by swine flu and you have your answer on why the price of meat is going up.
I have not seen any price rises, but we are in the bush where people are more sensible and know that COVID-19 isnât prevented by tonnes of toilet paper. We still have it on the shelves at the usual price.
The problem with sourdough is that you need a LOT of flour to get a culture going, and thats in short supply.
Soda bread is definitely a good one. Tortillas are stupid easy to make, this is the recipe I use https://thecafesucrefarine.com/best-ever-homemade-flour-tortillas/. Good old Damper is good too, Iâll snap the CWA book recipe and share below - nothing bu SR flour, salt and water. There are tastier versions using butter and milk, but in a pinch this works.
Here are some alternatives to Bakerâs Yeast (Compressed, Dried or Instant). Unfortunately flour of some sort is essential. I had experimented with flour of grains other than wheat with varying results (mostly disappointing).
These alternative yeasts are from The Schauer Australian Cookery Book, Amy Schauer (pronounced âShowerâ), no date, but she was around WWI, and did work on diet for invalid soldiers, some of her ideas were radical for the time, but are common now. She also used âthe bushâ in her work, eg wild limes to make yeast.
We make almost all our own bread and have tried all the odd flours that you can lay hands on in the health food store. Just from memory; wholemeal, mixed grain, lentil, chickpea, rye, coconut, barley. There are more I canât recall.
The problem with most of them is they may taste good but the texture is very heavy. Wholemeal isnât too bad and mixed grain is sort of Ok but the rest donât really make a normal bread. One problem is that many lack gluten which is essential for normal yeast raised bread of light texture. Note also that white general purpose or plain wheaten flour does not usually have enough gluten either. If you want to experiment try 20% exotic flour to 80% white bread flour to start with.
Note also that different flours need different amounts of water so adjust as you form the dough. Either too much or too little water will affect the way it rises.
I have had friends tell me they went looking for vegetable seedlings and found none. In my experience there werenât many to start with. Most nurseries I go to donât carry them due to slow sales and short shelf life.
Thereâs no need to panic, about 3km away from us is a nursery that turns out millions of seedlings - the day we toured there was 250,000 capsicum seedlings going out to one grower, with similar daily deliveries for the rest of the week, and then there were others⊠$3mil of seed in store. They chuck out hundreds of ânot perfectâ seedling punnets - perhaps they could send them to a farmers market & donate the proceeds to charity?
Friends & family are wanting to start vegetable gardens. They talk about buying soil. Why? I guess we have been sold the story that you need to spend big, the right equipment, raised garden beds, auto irrigation etc. I tested one batch of purchased âPremiumâ compost soil and found it totally lacking in Nitrogen - zilch, zero, nil! Nitrogen is essential for plant growth. They were better off with their own dirt. I canât say this is due to the virus, but it is just that so many novices are trying to start food gardens that I have been asked to soil test so many âproductsâ.
If it gets more people understanding how to grow food, it can only be good.
Bakerâs flour is high in protein,
ideally 11g or 12g, but a packet of Gluten can be bought and the appropriate amount added to any low protein flour. Itâs particularly suitable for wholemeal flour.
Went shopping yesterday. Iâm surprised that shelf stocks are still affected by the idiot apocalypse.
Security guards were more in evidence.
Shelves for hand sanitiser and liquid hand wash were empty. Other liquid washes were still in stock. Is there a difference between liquid hand wash (not sanitiser) and liquid body wash? Is cake hand soap inferior to liquid hand wash?
My post in this other thread also also relevant here:
One thing is not to make a shopping experience worse by taking out oneâs frustrations on others, particularly store personnel which are only following purchasing limitations set by the supermarkets. The supermarkets have responded to those who have panic bought some items and have taken action in attempt to make such products available to others.
I find it rather sad that as people get stressed their manners deteriorate, so they treat others poorly, which only increases the stress level on both sender and receiver.
Panic buying is not the only self-intensifying problem we will face over the next few months.
I went to town for election training, so called into two supermarkets for a few items. The shelves stripped bare differed in each, although they were only a couple of blocks apart.
Coles was sold out of all tea bags except for a few speciality teas, yet the independent had fully stocked shelves. The independent had no frozen veg except for many bags of sweet corn & peas/sweet corn mix (and lots of chips), Coles had a larger range of frozen veg. Both had a big range of fresh fruit & veg.
I am wondering if it is a herd mentality, that as more grab tea bags, more hone in until it becomes a frenzy; but in the next shop no one did so the goods are still on the shelves?
Soap on the shelves in both (the best defence) but anything âantibacterialâ has been snapped up, even if it isnât really a handwash.
and know that COVID-19 isnât prevented by tonnes of toilet paper. We still have it on the shelves at the usual price.
