Enobytes Wine Blog

Sep 20

MacDaddy Marc’s Holiday Procurement Guide

How to Win when the Coin is Thin

Prices of fruits and vegetables at holiday times where you live has a whole
lot more to do with your location that the rest of your meal planning. Here
are some things you can do to keep the tab down.

	Buy your vegetables and fruit at peak season whenever possible allowing variety and avoiding bankruptcy.
	Keep in mind when making the decision between fresh, frozen and canned that at some point frozen will be the smart choice over the other two options.
	Frozen over fresh when the fresh product has traveled over half the circumference of the earth and it’s twice the price. Remember frozen fruits and vegetable producers pay the highest price from farmers and they usually do not truck the product very far to freeze it.
	Frozen over canned !*!`@# “ Do I really have to explain it?”

It is okay to start your own tradition with cuisine not traditionally served during the Holidays. All these choices can be celebrated with pride just as
well as any turkey or ham:

	Dungeness Crabs
	Fresh Lobsters
	King Crab Legs
	Rack of Lamb
	Prime Rib
	Crown Pork Roast
	Loin of Venison
	Bacon wrapped Elk Tenderloins

Some more great advice:

	Celebrate your holiday late if you are on a budget.
	Everything goes on sale after the Holidays
	Take advantage of meat prices that drop after a holiday or a recall. The industry inspects and governs itself pretty well and the price drop reflects the producer’s negotiation with market panic (use extreme caution and trace lot #’s as advised by the FDA and the C.D.C.)

Seafood:

	Always inspect your fish closely (look for clear eyes and no smell) but try not to alert whoever you are buying your fish from, as they usually become hostile, and evasive sometimes creating a buying experience that is less than enjoyable.
	I have found on the East Coast and West that the best place to buy your seafood is usually a local ethnic market with a brisk ethnic clientele.
	If folks are not shopping you should not be stopping
	If folks are buying it’s worth trying
	Never buy fish from anyone in an alley or out of the back of a rental truck on the side of the road.
	It is a good sign when you purchase seafood from someone who offers you ice to transport it with.