Fresh produce is scarce on the islands as although it is possible to grow things in sheltered areas and under cover, the growing season is short and certain things cannot be established such as fruit trees. They are not able to be pollinated as the wind blows the flowers and pollen away immediately and there are very few insects around.
The families here are reliant on 300 kg of fruit and veg coming on the plane each week and old onions and manky potatoes off the ship.
Other vegetables are often available in Stanley but at a cost. It is over £1.50 for half a bunch of celery and where the bunch has been bisected invariably there are brown bits which leads me to not bother.
When we first arrived and were stocking up on basics I was looking at jars of honey; it was £3.50 in the main supermarket so I walked on... it was £4 in the small store so I walked on. Then I found a plastic squeezy bottle for £2 and felt elated at my bargainous purchase.
Our price record however relates to bananas. They come in each week on the flight but not very many. There is an informal policy to only take what each family needs so childless couples taking 2 bunches are frowned upon. Well one week I was busy in the garden and didn't notice time had slipped by and I had missed the opening of the Families Shop. I went up anyway, forty minutes late and no bananas were left. I decided we could live a week without them, even though they make the perfect toddler snack. Then midweek Big Man was in town with work and dropped by the supermarket. Wanting to provide for his family he proudly announced he had got a bunch of six bananas when he returned home. I was pleased til I noticed the price sticker: £6.04.
Frozen stuff is plentiful but most of it is from cheaper brands so things like chicken in particular are not great quality. Contrast to the last house where fresh organic Bramley apples dropped onto our lawn, here I am making crumbles with Bramleys in a tin that have travelled 8,000 miles. However in the spirit of making do and mend most people manage fine and have adopted a more frugal approach to food that would be good to see back in the UK. A jar of pesto lasted us for a pasta meal, three toasties with mozzarella, two lots of salad dressing and some left over. Having the use of a chest freezer, breadmaker and yoghurt maker helps enormously too.
I have adopted available ingredients and come up with the following dishes - quorn korma; quorn and spinach pie with puff pastry; quorn thai curry; teaberry sundae (delicious berries acquired from the mountainside combined with going-out-of-date smashed up biscuits from the Naafi and some ice cream); diddle dee berry, blackcurrant and apple crumble.
On the plus side, alcohol and red meat are cheap and easily available. Yes, the rates of bowel cancer are astrononomical but people are oddly serene.
