Potatoes

I reckon you'd need to ask the supermarkets, Jacque. They certainly don't pay the growers enough! Therefore, it must be them setting the price and getting the profit.

Good Point Spritz :)

When you buy from the supermarket you pay for people to wash, sort and put your potatoes in a plastic bag.
Buy from a local farm, a 25kilo bag, with the earth still on them. Adds to the flavour.

Might be something to do with the equipment and watering they need - machines for sorting size and shape etc. We used to know a potato farmer and he built a series of huge lakes on his land to irrigate the fields in the summer - potatos need loads of water - also he built several large cold storage houses - he reckoned he could keep potatos in there for several years! Which meant that he could hang on to his crop if prices were poor one year and sell them the next!! Mindyou, he used to say that so many potatos got wasted coz they weren't the standard size or shape. He used to sell to McCains, who would completely reject a whole lorry load of potatos if the first bag they opened contained odd-shaped pots as these would not go through their peeling machines!

I couldnt agree with you more Jacque about supermarket prices. I refuse to pay them. We are by no means "hard up" but I personally am so disgusted with there prices. that I would rather, and I do, go down to the local market with "me trusty dolly trolley" and drag them all back, especially potatoes{ I dont grow those because they ntake up so much room} and basic fruits and stuff. I know that I can save at least a fiver on fruit and veg every week. ....So go on Jacque, be brave....get a dolly trolley. Lets stand up to them

HHHhhhhhhhmm? i need 2 check this out @ my Local Market 1st Milky as im not always happy with their Prices either :/ Iv found many Goods ect cheaper in Shops than on Our Market! So il get back 2 u on this Answer 2 morrow as weve a Market Fridays/Tuesdays:)

Think its a bit of a double whammy Jacque as many of us shop within a budget Jacque and if truthful most of us will buy one get one free etc.

Draw the line at a £2 chicken though as how they being raised and what is the producer making ? Yet a slab of cheese can cost nearly £5 .

Take your point about frozen potatoes Sid but thats true of all supermarket fruit and veg.They all the same shape size and colour with little variation.

The growers have had a dreadful season but they are tied into supermarket supply so hard to see them pushing prices up.

Think the answer if all this bothers us is to grow our own.

I might just do that Bonkers make some space in My Flower Beds as thats how it was done in the Old Cottage Gardens years ago right? Veg&Flowers all together :)

Yes, Jacque, you're right - but stick to herbs and 'pretty' veggies that don't take up too much room - I'd hate to see your garden turned into a potato patch! LOL. (So would you). I am sitting here thinking where you'd put your birdbath - it would look rather silly in the middle of the spuds! I am having a quiet giggle!

LOl i can hear ur little Giggle? Sounds more like a LOL 2 me Spritz ;) Iv a Good Place for those Tatys so dont u fear :)

Good - you have worked sooooo hard on your garden and it would be a shame to lose all the great ideas we've seen and changes you've made, just to save a few pennies by growing potatoes! Let alone having confused pigeons! (quiet giggle again)

There was a lot of flooding here last summer - there is one field where I often go walking along the river and for as long as i could remember it was just pasture with sheep on. Last spring the farmer decided to plough it all up and plant potatos. The whole crop ended up under water for weeks. Felt very sorry for the farmer - sods law I think that's called.

If Jacque starts growing her own veg she'll have a real moral dilemma if they get catapillars on them x-D

It is just the same here Jacque. It's disgusting that fresh vegs cost about twice as much as frozen. Unfortunately the closest cheap local grown produce to me is about 60 miles away. A small city about ten miles away has a Sat. farmers market in the city square, but only from May to Oct. I get really very angry about food prices.