The veggie whisperer. Sanibel (Fla) farmers market. Paul Goldfinger photo ©

By Eileen Goldfinger, Food Editor  Blogfinger.net and Paul Goldfinger, Editor.

We will be emphasizing shopping, but related tips are welcome.

a.   Tomato tips:    At this time, as the Jersey tomato crop evolves, we find the best results at Wegmans where they have lovely field grown Jerseys.    They look good and taste good.   Better than Matt’s or the Sunset Market so far.

Wegmans 7/27/21 at $2.49 per pound. BF photo.

b.  Amazon doesn’t always have the lowest prices. We wanted some Bar Keeper’s Friend powdered cleanser.  It was $1.99 at Wegman’s vs 2 for $9.59 on Amazon.

c.    Walnuts can’t be found in the nutty aisle 9A. Instead they are located  (chopped) in the baking aisle 14 B.

d.  It is not only restaurants which are suffering from lack of “help.”   The problem is up and down the food chain including food stores such as mom and pop deli’s.  I know one such place in Ocean where the store has to close on a weekday every week due to lack of staff.  They cannot even prepare cole slaw because they lack the back room food preparers and sometimes they don’t get their shipment of cabbages.   And if a prospective employee shows up, they are demanding outrageous pay such as $30.00 per hours.  Such payments would increase prices out of sight, such as $10.00 per pound for cole slaw

This problem is multifactorial.   In general, the supply chains are troubled such as lack of truckers, high cost of gasoline, high cost of automobiles/trucks including used.  The auto industry is experiencing shortages of  computer chips which are inhibiting the basely lines.  And many workers are staying home collectivist free money from the government.  What a ridiculous policy!  It is unemployment for the wrong reasons.

e. At Wegmans they are trying to pre-package many items such as cold cuts and salads.  They used to provide customer help for those who want special orders such as a particular amount of fresh.  Now much of it is pre-packaged with a predetermined weight.  They even reduced some of the steps that made their bagels exceptional.  Now I won’t buy a bagel there.

And they are finding ways to reduce the numbers of cashiers.  Everywhere you go there are “help wanted” signs.

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