Shortages

I’ve written before about the occasional and bizarre shortages that occur on the Island. Around Christmas we had a shortage of Egg Noodles – as they are a dried packet food, you’d think they would always be available, but not so! You’d think that this would be down to bad planning by merchants, however, as I discovered recently, often the items are ordered, but then for whatever reason, they don’t turn up. I’ve experienced this myself on a Tesco on-line order. It is fine if they substitute or are out of stock of an item if you actually take delivery of it the next day. Sometimes my order will arrive anywhere between 8 and 12 weeks from the order date and (as was the case at Christmas) although my Xmas order arrived in December, having been ordered in early October, receiving a delivery note telling me what hadn’t been sent or what had been substituted really wasn’t helpful!

So to other shortages of late. Current and most recently potatoes seem to have disappeared from the shelves. I am in the process of growing my own, but it will take a while before they are ready to dig up! Also eggs are currently in short supply, this apparently down to the chicken not liking the change of season. Lettuce is often unavailable. At least it's rare to have lettuce, tomato and cucumber on your plate in the same week! I’ve just started growing my own! A few weeks ago it was impossible to buy tinned dog food. We shipped a few sacks of Bakers Complete out with us, but we like to vary it from time to time. 'In date' mayonnaise was a casualty around the same time, so I could pay 50p for mayonnaise that went out of date in October, but no amount of money was going to buy me 'in date' mayonnaise. Of course the range isn’t so vast here so if I see mayonnaise I buy it regardless of whether it’s my favourite variety!

There is a plentiful supply of meat – pork, beef, lamb and goat which can be ordered in advance from the butcher. The price is reasonable too. Fish is often available fresh from the fish monger on a daily basis and what you get depends on what has been caught – largely yellow fin tuna, but occasionally wahoo, marlin or even swordfish if the mercury levels aren’t too high.

We are largely dependent on the RMS arriving from Cape Town once every three weeks or so for fresh fruit – very little is grown here. It also depends on what is in season as to what we get, so on the last ship in we had apples (red and green), oranges, kiwi fruit and a few grapes. Sometimes we might get water melon and/or pineapple, but sometimes the fruit is in a poor state by the time it arrives. This is the main reason we have a very large fridge as it helps to prolong the life of fruit and vegetables and the next ship isn’t back here for at least 3 weeks……….

So do we go hungry – no definitely not! We’ve all put on a few pounds. I’ve tried to follow weightwatchers or similar, but you just can’t buy the things you need or find adequate substitutes. I used to cook all the time with quark and crème fraiche – neither exist here. The closest I get sometimes is natural yoghurt and/or UHT milk. Bread comes in one variety – freshly baked but very heavy. Well to be fair you do get white and brown, but it's not brown as you know it in the UK. Cereals are limited and rice largely comes in 2 varieties white or not so white.

So don't come here thinking you will starve - You most definitely won't, but you have to be adaptable and be prepared to eat what's in season or shipped in and not be hung up on you favourite food or a particular brand. I treat it as an adventure and foraging in the various shops is a delight!