I just came back from Sam's Club. They had yellow 'sale stickers' on a lot of things. Mainly things that are short dated. I bought more cat food 60 cans of Friskies Gravy for $44.98. I got three of them. One case lasts a month, but they have reduced the size of the can, so I have to supplement my hungry mongrels. Needless to say, this was the bulk of my Sam's Club bill. I didn't buy that much.
I did get some coffee and chips and did some price shopping to compare. I need some things for my club in March but it is too early to get it now. There was a line of people waiting for the rotisserie chicken to come out of the ovens. I got some sushi. It wasn't that good, but it was filling. I stopped at McDonalds and got a McChicken, soda, and ice cream cone. The sandwich will be for another day. I still have a Chalupa left from yesterday. I really should not go shopping before dinner. I got a new cutting board and a couple of sanku knives. I don't know how to sharpen knives so I just keep buying new ones. My old knife is a challenge to cut anything.
There were a lot of things low, or I could not find in the store. This is unusual since the barge docks on Wednesday and perishables are off loaded first so they should have been stocking more today. The workers were moving things around but not doing a lot of stocking. I don't usually go on a Thursday, and hopefully they will do more stocking overnight.
Our barges come from California and Seattle. Maybe the weather and transport issues are starting to show up especially with perishable items.
My car is old, but I am glad it is running. I would hate to have to find parts for it now. I passed two car repair places that looks like they aren't in business anymore.
I just found out the other day that the egg farm owner is retiring and will stop selling eggs and close the farm in March. She is over 90, and she deserves to retire, but it is still sad to see a family farm close.
Are you noticing shelves less stocked and items MIA lately?
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That must be hard. I wonder what could be affecting the supply chain for the islands now? Could it be affected by the Red Sea blockade even though that seems far?
There has been a run on food recalls of major brands recently, too, including pet food.
What we’re noting the most here is higher price of beef. I actually bought steaks as special treat for Valentine’s Day. It’s been ages. I got my iron skillet out to stand over them and make them, instead of leaving their fate to grilling or broiling. Caramelized onions and cabbage in bbq sauce as “side” (actually piled on bottom of serving platter, then the steaks sliced on top for serving (done to perfection at medium-rare to medium).
I hear you about dull knives. They have to be sharp. I have two sharpening stones but I don’t do the serious sharpening very often.
Most of the time, I use ceramic and diamond dust/metal V -shaped sharpening tools — metal files for the rough and coarse first strokes, then the ceramic V for the final touch. This is actually a new, multi setting sharpening tool — we were previously using hubby’s little V sharpening squares from his fishing tackle box until they were completely ground down.
When knives are further gone than the V -sharpeners can handle, I use the coarse diamond sharpener rod and fine sharpener rod for initial grinding. These are the 10 inch rods with sturdy handle.
BUT the most important is to start with good quality knives. Really cheap knives won’t sharpen or hold the edge no matter what you do to them.
The average quality knives that I and my hubby each started out with long time ago have long since been relegated to garden use. Even my first “expensive” knives … second generation in my kitchen — Chicago Cutlery with walnut handles — see infrequent use because it turned out that they weren’t particularly well-designed in terms of grip, weight distribution, shape of the blades, etc. (In addition, Chicago Cutlery knives came back great from professional sharpenings, but I can’t get a good edge on them UNLESS I run them over the sharpening rods each time or do the full whet stone/oilstone song and dance.
)
Ones that both of us use most often now (EVERY DAY), and that stay super sharp by occasionally using the simple tools described above, have been the Japanese Global Cutlery knives. We were lucky to have bought a variety of them when we were both making good money, and they have lasted us for decades. But in all honesty, the size I use the most is the small 5 inch Santoku knife (not the 10 inch Sashimi or 9 inch Chef’s, or 7 inch Santoku — those only come out for big quantity cooking or for really big cutting jobs like squash or watermelon, whole turkey or ham, etc.)
There have been BETTER looking or special feature knife brands that have come out since, and I could see myself at least trying some of those others if these knives failed or disappointed us, but so far they have been great.
BTW — start with something small like a fruit/utility knife or paring knife … then go for bigger purchases. We have several of those from various “quality” knife lines that didn’t make “the cut”.
…The sharpener tool we’re using now is one of the Orange Ninja, I think? Even though Global knives are supposed to be ground at shallower angles because of their thinner blade/edge angle, Global’s sharpening tool was too expensive for our budget.
There has been a run on food recalls of major brands recently, too, including pet food.
What we’re noting the most here is higher price of beef. I actually bought steaks as special treat for Valentine’s Day. It’s been ages. I got my iron skillet out to stand over them and make them, instead of leaving their fate to grilling or broiling. Caramelized onions and cabbage in bbq sauce as “side” (actually piled on bottom of serving platter, then the steaks sliced on top for serving (done to perfection at medium-rare to medium).
I hear you about dull knives. They have to be sharp. I have two sharpening stones but I don’t do the serious sharpening very often.
Most of the time, I use ceramic and diamond dust/metal V -shaped sharpening tools — metal files for the rough and coarse first strokes, then the ceramic V for the final touch. This is actually a new, multi setting sharpening tool — we were previously using hubby’s little V sharpening squares from his fishing tackle box until they were completely ground down.
When knives are further gone than the V -sharpeners can handle, I use the coarse diamond sharpener rod and fine sharpener rod for initial grinding. These are the 10 inch rods with sturdy handle.
BUT the most important is to start with good quality knives. Really cheap knives won’t sharpen or hold the edge no matter what you do to them.
The average quality knives that I and my hubby each started out with long time ago have long since been relegated to garden use. Even my first “expensive” knives … second generation in my kitchen — Chicago Cutlery with walnut handles — see infrequent use because it turned out that they weren’t particularly well-designed in terms of grip, weight distribution, shape of the blades, etc. (In addition, Chicago Cutlery knives came back great from professional sharpenings, but I can’t get a good edge on them UNLESS I run them over the sharpening rods each time or do the full whet stone/oilstone song and dance.
)Ones that both of us use most often now (EVERY DAY), and that stay super sharp by occasionally using the simple tools described above, have been the Japanese Global Cutlery knives. We were lucky to have bought a variety of them when we were both making good money, and they have lasted us for decades. But in all honesty, the size I use the most is the small 5 inch Santoku knife (not the 10 inch Sashimi or 9 inch Chef’s, or 7 inch Santoku — those only come out for big quantity cooking or for really big cutting jobs like squash or watermelon, whole turkey or ham, etc.)
There have been BETTER looking or special feature knife brands that have come out since, and I could see myself at least trying some of those others if these knives failed or disappointed us, but so far they have been great.
BTW — start with something small like a fruit/utility knife or paring knife … then go for bigger purchases. We have several of those from various “quality” knife lines that didn’t make “the cut”.
…The sharpener tool we’re using now is one of the Orange Ninja, I think? Even though Global knives are supposed to be ground at shallower angles because of their thinner blade/edge angle, Global’s sharpening tool was too expensive for our budget.
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It is hard to find good knives. I actually have a couple of Henckels and a Japanese 10 inch knife. I have sharpeners and honers, but I can only keep an edge for a very short time. What makes it harder is that I am left handed and sharpening tools are made for right handed people. Sometimes I forget and sharpen the wrong side. There used to be a mobile sharpening service, but I don't see them anymore. I also use the Faberware bread and steak knives mainly for the garden. I got a dremel for sharpening. However, I discovered that is has the same problem, it is not designed to be used left handed. Sam's club has a restaurant supply section and that is where I got these knives. I used to go to restaurant supply outlets before Covid, but haven't since. Some of them closed down, your suggestion is a good one. I can try to see if there are any restaurant suppliers here or I may have to look online for better quality knives.
Most of the time, the suppliers order well in advance to get the barges loaded on time. They have to be unloaded and loaded in less than 2 days. The barges take about 5 days to get here. If it goes to another island, add a couple of days more. Anything sold "fresh" here from the mainland, isn't that fresh and is more likely to be fresh frozen or refrigerated. Barges arrive from Tacoma, LA, and Long Beach, with a vessel arriving about every three days. Food items usually arrive on Sundays and Wednesdays on Oahu. Refrigerated items are off loaded first, and sent out to the distributors or if a store like Costco has an entire container, it will go directly to the store and it gets unloaded over night. Most of the other cargo from cars to sofas, and spare parts, are distributed over the next couple of days.
The barges leave with mainly empty containers. That is why we pay double shipping. We pay to ship the empty containers back. When the trucks deliver a container they take an empty or nearly empty container back with them.
What has interrupted service has been strikes and work stoppages which is what happened around Easter last year when the dock workers in California took an extra day off. Our barge could not be fully serviced but had to leave on time. Sam's Club had noticeably more open space at that time.
Weather impacts transport and also local supply of fresh goods. The rains in California will impact food supply for a least a month. Closing of some manufacturing, food production, and global transport issues impacts everyone, especially us. since 90% of all goods are imported.
Most of the time, the suppliers order well in advance to get the barges loaded on time. They have to be unloaded and loaded in less than 2 days. The barges take about 5 days to get here. If it goes to another island, add a couple of days more. Anything sold "fresh" here from the mainland, isn't that fresh and is more likely to be fresh frozen or refrigerated. Barges arrive from Tacoma, LA, and Long Beach, with a vessel arriving about every three days. Food items usually arrive on Sundays and Wednesdays on Oahu. Refrigerated items are off loaded first, and sent out to the distributors or if a store like Costco has an entire container, it will go directly to the store and it gets unloaded over night. Most of the other cargo from cars to sofas, and spare parts, are distributed over the next couple of days.
The barges leave with mainly empty containers. That is why we pay double shipping. We pay to ship the empty containers back. When the trucks deliver a container they take an empty or nearly empty container back with them.
What has interrupted service has been strikes and work stoppages which is what happened around Easter last year when the dock workers in California took an extra day off. Our barge could not be fully serviced but had to leave on time. Sam's Club had noticeably more open space at that time.
Weather impacts transport and also local supply of fresh goods. The rains in California will impact food supply for a least a month. Closing of some manufacturing, food production, and global transport issues impacts everyone, especially us. since 90% of all goods are imported.
The effects of the tropical river storms on the west coast are showing up this week at the stores.
I went to Walmart today for celery and onions. They had that but there were a lot of empty shelves
The refrigerated cases 4 shelves were totally empty. No cheese, cottage cheese, or sour cream. they did have yogurt, cream cheese, and butter. A dozen eggs are over $5 a dozen so there weren't many people buying eggs and that supply was good. They did have bread and some of the staple vegetables. (potatoes, onions, avocado, apples, cuties. This store does not have a large fresh vegetable section, so it never really looks full most of the time. There was milk in the dairy case, but it was not full. I wanted to get some frozen broccoli, but all they had was frozen chopped spinach, mixed vegetables, peas and carrots, and frozen fruits. They were o.k. with canned goods, some things like vinegar, oil and pasta was not filled but there was some supply. I did not go to the other part of the store but someone said that even the clothing section looked a little sparse.
I am hoping that most of the empty shelves was weather related and related to the global shipping problems and not other things. I do expect that the California farmers will have significant crop damage because of the rain and that may cause issues in getting fresh produce for a couple of months. I am hoping the transport issue will get better so that the barges can at least get a full load.
The barge docked yesterday.
Local farms only produce 8%-10% of our produce. Most of that would be in eggplant, papaya, and other tropical fruits and vegetables. There is a hydroponic farm within my community a couple of miles from me so I could get lettuce there, I would have to buy a half a pound at a time. They grow some other things, but I already grow those myself.
I do have my own sources for eggplant and lemons ( more than one), I grow hot peppers, komatsuna, bok choy, herbs( rosemary, mint, thyme, lemon grass, bay leaf, turmeric, ginger, cilantro, cutting celery, Jamaican thyme, and Mexican tarragon, kaffir lime, and mint.), beans, sugar pod peas, kale, chard, cucumber, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, eggplant, and citrus. Most of these are harvestable or will be harvestable soon. My sister is already raiding my garden for green onions so I have started more. From the other garden I can get more eggplant, chard, lettuce when it is harvested (won't be for a few more weeks), So, I do have more choices for fresh vegetables and I have an overstocked pantry and freezers so I'll be good for awhile, although I may have to get creative with some recipes and try some new ones.
Locally, Outback Steakhouse suddenly closed all of their three remaining outlets in Hawaii over the weekend. Even the staff did not find out until Saturday that their last day of service was Sunday. Apparently it was a corporate decision. All of the workers now have to find other jobs. There are a lot of job openings for restaurant workers, but it is still a sad day for them. They did not really have any warning this was coming. Depending on where they live, there may be additional costs because they may have a longer commute.
It was also the last day that a local family egg farm sold their last eggs. They will now only sell memorabilia and some farm produce until that is gone. The family farm had operated for 114 years and they were getting out of the egg business because the owners are retiring and there is no one in the family who wants to take over the farm The farm is grandfathered in, it cannot be sold as a farm to anyone else as the housing was built around it and it was rezoned to residential.
I went to Walmart today for celery and onions. They had that but there were a lot of empty shelves
The refrigerated cases 4 shelves were totally empty. No cheese, cottage cheese, or sour cream. they did have yogurt, cream cheese, and butter. A dozen eggs are over $5 a dozen so there weren't many people buying eggs and that supply was good. They did have bread and some of the staple vegetables. (potatoes, onions, avocado, apples, cuties. This store does not have a large fresh vegetable section, so it never really looks full most of the time. There was milk in the dairy case, but it was not full. I wanted to get some frozen broccoli, but all they had was frozen chopped spinach, mixed vegetables, peas and carrots, and frozen fruits. They were o.k. with canned goods, some things like vinegar, oil and pasta was not filled but there was some supply. I did not go to the other part of the store but someone said that even the clothing section looked a little sparse.
I am hoping that most of the empty shelves was weather related and related to the global shipping problems and not other things. I do expect that the California farmers will have significant crop damage because of the rain and that may cause issues in getting fresh produce for a couple of months. I am hoping the transport issue will get better so that the barges can at least get a full load.
The barge docked yesterday.
Local farms only produce 8%-10% of our produce. Most of that would be in eggplant, papaya, and other tropical fruits and vegetables. There is a hydroponic farm within my community a couple of miles from me so I could get lettuce there, I would have to buy a half a pound at a time. They grow some other things, but I already grow those myself.
I do have my own sources for eggplant and lemons ( more than one), I grow hot peppers, komatsuna, bok choy, herbs( rosemary, mint, thyme, lemon grass, bay leaf, turmeric, ginger, cilantro, cutting celery, Jamaican thyme, and Mexican tarragon, kaffir lime, and mint.), beans, sugar pod peas, kale, chard, cucumber, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, eggplant, and citrus. Most of these are harvestable or will be harvestable soon. My sister is already raiding my garden for green onions so I have started more. From the other garden I can get more eggplant, chard, lettuce when it is harvested (won't be for a few more weeks), So, I do have more choices for fresh vegetables and I have an overstocked pantry and freezers so I'll be good for awhile, although I may have to get creative with some recipes and try some new ones.
Locally, Outback Steakhouse suddenly closed all of their three remaining outlets in Hawaii over the weekend. Even the staff did not find out until Saturday that their last day of service was Sunday. Apparently it was a corporate decision. All of the workers now have to find other jobs. There are a lot of job openings for restaurant workers, but it is still a sad day for them. They did not really have any warning this was coming. Depending on where they live, there may be additional costs because they may have a longer commute.
It was also the last day that a local family egg farm sold their last eggs. They will now only sell memorabilia and some farm produce until that is gone. The family farm had operated for 114 years and they were getting out of the egg business because the owners are retiring and there is no one in the family who wants to take over the farm The farm is grandfathered in, it cannot be sold as a farm to anyone else as the housing was built around it and it was rezoned to residential.
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I avoid shopping in the "big" towns and shop over in the other side where people are of more humble means.
Chicken is perpetually 99 cents/pound east of me. Salmon is $7.99/pound.
Veggie burgers in the 8 packs are always sold out in the big town west of me but they're always stocked to the east. A huge French bread is $1.99 in the east and $4.99 in the west.
Chicken is perpetually 99 cents/pound east of me. Salmon is $7.99/pound.
Veggie burgers in the 8 packs are always sold out in the big town west of me but they're always stocked to the east. A huge French bread is $1.99 in the east and $4.99 in the west.
Those would be unheard of prices here. The cheapest regular loaf of bread is over $4 for a 1 lb loaf. The only large bakery we had closed due to covid losses and they could not refinance. Some smaller bakeries took over some of their product line, but none of the smaller bakeries are big enough to replace them. Local produce and locally owned mom and pop stores are actually more expensive than the big box stores mainly because they still have to get most of their products from the mainland and they don't have the economies of scale to fill a shipping container, so they mainly get their products from a distributer that distributes smaller quantities to the smaller stores.
The slaughter house closed many years ago and the local economy now ranchers have mainly a cow calf operation. Last year because of the drought, the cattle from a ranch on Oahu, escaped and were roaming back yards in a suburban neighborhood because the grass really was greener on the other side of the fence. They were eventually rounded up and put back in the pasture. There are a couple of businesses that started in the last couple of years to build another local slaughterhouse and someone has a totally enclosed hen house for egg production They are still very small players here. Everything from farm equipment, to fertilizer is imported and land is expensive so most of the small farmers lease the land and don't own it. Small farms also have a lot of regulations that require them to have expensive certified washing facilities to sell to stores or go to certain markets. The smallest farms are limited if they don't have access to a certified facility. The city people's open market was started by the former mayor as a way for small farmers to sell their produce directly. It remains a popular program. The city sponsors it and the markets are in various parks in communities all over the island on different days. The market is only open for one hour and they have to start and stop at the sound of a horn. Then they market packs up and heads to the next location.
There are other farmer's markets sponsored by the Farm Bureau. The closest one to me is open on Sundays from 9-11 and is about a mile away. It has about 11 vendors. There ae other ones I can go to within 10 miles and there are some farms on the island that have farm stands. The produce there is not necessarily cheaper but it is definitely fresher. I can also get locally made bread there as well. I used to go to the egg farm that closed for eggs and produce ( they only have a little produce and you never know what they will have). My friend also has a 1 acre farm lot in an ag park. He mainly does CSA and not year round, but it is an organic farm. The Farmer's markets are a mix, some markets have more food trucks than produce vendors. I do go to the markets to support local farmers and locally made goods.
There are specialty markets, some of them are also chain stores in other locations. There are 7 Asian markets within 10 miles. Two are Korean Markets, One is a Filipino Market that has locations on the mainland, and a smaller mom and pop Filipino market. One is like a mini China town market with a multiple stalls, and the other is Chinese owned but carries Asian goods from different ethnicities. And there is a small Samoan market. And there is Don Qiote which is a Japanese chain store that has multiple stores here. They carry mostly Japanese but also Vietnamese Thai, and Filipino items. I do go to a family owned market that is 4 miles away that has better prices, although the store has less visual appeal than the chain markets. They are near the army base so they carry a more diverse line of products. Besides common local produce, some of which the mainland chain stores don't carry, a larger oriental selection and more Mexican items than even the chain stores. There isn't a large Mexican population here. Instead of a Deli they have a Poke bar. Poke are seasoned side or main dishes many of them are seafood based. The fish is usually very fresh sushi or sashimi grade and is raw. I don't like to eat fish, but I can eat poke and sashimi because they are not "fishy" when they are fresh.
https://www.foodandwine.com/lifestyle/7 ... about-poke
The slaughter house closed many years ago and the local economy now ranchers have mainly a cow calf operation. Last year because of the drought, the cattle from a ranch on Oahu, escaped and were roaming back yards in a suburban neighborhood because the grass really was greener on the other side of the fence. They were eventually rounded up and put back in the pasture. There are a couple of businesses that started in the last couple of years to build another local slaughterhouse and someone has a totally enclosed hen house for egg production They are still very small players here. Everything from farm equipment, to fertilizer is imported and land is expensive so most of the small farmers lease the land and don't own it. Small farms also have a lot of regulations that require them to have expensive certified washing facilities to sell to stores or go to certain markets. The smallest farms are limited if they don't have access to a certified facility. The city people's open market was started by the former mayor as a way for small farmers to sell their produce directly. It remains a popular program. The city sponsors it and the markets are in various parks in communities all over the island on different days. The market is only open for one hour and they have to start and stop at the sound of a horn. Then they market packs up and heads to the next location.
There are other farmer's markets sponsored by the Farm Bureau. The closest one to me is open on Sundays from 9-11 and is about a mile away. It has about 11 vendors. There ae other ones I can go to within 10 miles and there are some farms on the island that have farm stands. The produce there is not necessarily cheaper but it is definitely fresher. I can also get locally made bread there as well. I used to go to the egg farm that closed for eggs and produce ( they only have a little produce and you never know what they will have). My friend also has a 1 acre farm lot in an ag park. He mainly does CSA and not year round, but it is an organic farm. The Farmer's markets are a mix, some markets have more food trucks than produce vendors. I do go to the markets to support local farmers and locally made goods.
There are specialty markets, some of them are also chain stores in other locations. There are 7 Asian markets within 10 miles. Two are Korean Markets, One is a Filipino Market that has locations on the mainland, and a smaller mom and pop Filipino market. One is like a mini China town market with a multiple stalls, and the other is Chinese owned but carries Asian goods from different ethnicities. And there is a small Samoan market. And there is Don Qiote which is a Japanese chain store that has multiple stores here. They carry mostly Japanese but also Vietnamese Thai, and Filipino items. I do go to a family owned market that is 4 miles away that has better prices, although the store has less visual appeal than the chain markets. They are near the army base so they carry a more diverse line of products. Besides common local produce, some of which the mainland chain stores don't carry, a larger oriental selection and more Mexican items than even the chain stores. There isn't a large Mexican population here. Instead of a Deli they have a Poke bar. Poke are seasoned side or main dishes many of them are seafood based. The fish is usually very fresh sushi or sashimi grade and is raw. I don't like to eat fish, but I can eat poke and sashimi because they are not "fishy" when they are fresh.
https://www.foodandwine.com/lifestyle/7 ... about-poke