Fruit and vegetable shortages in supermarkets are expected to last for a few weeks while growers are dealing with the cold snap and flooding.
Coles’ Chief Operating Officer Matt Swindells jumped on Today on Tuesday morning to talk about the ongoing food shortage — which have hit lettuce, berries and bean crops across the country.
He said the Queensland floods were the first blow to the industry because they damaged crops and also put farmers behind on planting schedules for the next season.
“That is then being compounded with one of the coldest winters in decades,” Swindells said.
“So the crops that we have managed to get into the ground, they’re not growing as fast as they normally would do.”
Although this “double whammy” of truly shit luck is having devastating effects on some crops (and leaving supermarket shelves quite bare) there are heaps of other options available. Swindells said shops have plenty of things like citrus fruit, apples, pears and grapes. He also stressed that pumpkin’s cheap-as at the moment, too.
It’s most definitely soup weather and it keeps you nice and warm on the inside, too — which is a bonus when leccy prices are absolutely bonkers right now.
If you’re really after your fix and can’t find things at the shops due to the shortage, there’s always the option to head down to the freezer aisle and try your luck on snap-frozen produce.
Or you could look to buy more locally from small grocers and co-ops, who tend to put together fresh produce boxes with bits that aren’t ~aesthetically pleasing~ enough for the big supermarkets. Eat ugly, baby!
Or maybe it’s just time to give up on snacking on punnets of blueberries every day until they’re back and a bit cheaper.
