Tuesday 17 April 2007

Price differentials

I was back at the Flemington Markets last weekend for a spot of dinner party shopping. We can actually afford to feed 8 people on Saturday nights if we shop at the markets and lay of the caviar.

I found myself being intensly annoyed by the capsicums. At present, they cost nearly $10 a kilo in our local supermarket, and they have been that price for months.

At the markets, they are $2.50 - max. Sure, the ones at the markets are smaller, and are not a uniform red, but who gives a damn when you are going to roast them and skin them and serve them as a puree in home made ravioli? Supermarkets shit me with their obessions with the look of food, when most of it is going to be chopped up and cooked and will bear no resemblance to its raw state when served at the dinner table. There are a few exceptions - I like apples to be unbruised, but I don't really care what size they are. They don't all have to be exactly uniform in size and colour. They just have to be tasty and crunchy.

Anyway, we got to eat capsicum on the weekend thanks to the markets. For some people, that might not be a good thing, but I wish supermarkets would offer a broader range of stuff. Why can't they have uniform, A grade stuff at $10 a kilo next to undersized stuff at $2.50 a kilo?

Probably because there is more margin in the $10 stuff, and most people would probably go for the cheaper, lower margin offering.

Given that most people are too lazy to shop at the markets for their fruit and veg, I will buy supermarket shares and continue to shop at Flemington on Saturday.

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