The shortage of fresh produce on supermarket shelves is affecting many shoppers throughout the UK.
Due to bad weather and rising energy costs, tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers are in short supply. With that in mind, I took a look in my local Tesco Express to see how much my weekly shop would be changed due to the shortage.
Shoppers across the UK have been frustrated by the lack of fresh food, a staple in many meals from sandwiches to pasta. Morrisons recently explained the shortage, claiming bad weather in Spain and Morocco is "significantly" impacting the fruits availability in stores.
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Farmers have also cited energy prices as a factor. They say higher costs mean planting has been cut back as farmers struggle to heat the greenhouses storing their fruit and vegetables.
I’m not a massive cook, but one meal I make regularly is chicken fajitas. Sadly, the Tesco I visited had none of the fresh peppers necessary for the Mexican dish. I couldn't locate any of the chopped up peppers and vegetables in a bag for a stir fry as an alternative either.
Knowing I still had some stir fry leftovers to finish back home, I vowed to scour other shops in the following days for peppers before resorting to buying a quick ready meal or a takeaway.
My plan for actually making chicken salad sandwiches at home rather than buying them in a meal deal was then dented by the lack of fresh tomatoes. Looks like I’ll have to make do with some baby plum tomatoes instead.
A bonus of this is that I could make some bruschetta, as long as I remember to pick up some crusty bread next time I pop out to the shops.
And to top it all off, there were no eggs for my scrambled eggs on toast. This painfully reminded me that Britain is also in the midst of an egg shortage due to avian flu.
Price intelligence company Skuuudle told the ECHO back in December that shoppers should buy larger eggs to combat the shortages. Maybe that bruschetta will have to be my replacement breakfast.
To be honest, as replacement meals go, it's not a bad one. Furthermore, guilty pleasures of chocolate buttons and crisps remain unaffected for now, along with my go-to fruits of bananas and grapes.
However, when you’ve had a busy week, disruptions to what you’re planning to eat are very frustrating. Here’s hoping that the situation improves sooner rather than later.
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