Buy local and beat the veg shortage
SHOPPERS are being urged to buy locally and look out for what’s in season as a vegetable shortage hits local stores.
Tesco has rationed customers to a maximum of three iceberg lettuces per visit, blaming poor growing conditions in Europe for a shortage in UK stores.
It said bad weather in Spain had caused “availability issues” but suppliers were working to resolve the problem.
Morrisons has also limited shoppers to three heads of broccoli and three iceberg lettuces.
It follows a UK courgette shortage last month, after wet and cold weather in southern Europe devastated crops.
Marc Verite, owner of the Bistrot Verite restaurant in Liverpool Road in Birkdale, urged people to buy their fruit and veg locally – and use whatever is in season and available now.
“We’re not affected at the moment,” he said.
“I’m sure we will be, but I buy mainly local, like my leeks and cabbages. I don’t use produce from Spain. It’s expensive at £21 a box and I don’t trust it.
“I buy from the shop next to me, Stanley’s Fruit Stores. He goes to Liverpool Market every day and gets what we need.”
Marc also gave some sound advice to local businesses that might be wary of the crisis.
He said: “Buy cleverly. If you haven’t got iceberg lettuce on your menu, then don’t buy it. There’s no point buying courgettes if there’s none around.
“Buy the produce that’s in season now.”
Similarly, JA Grahams greengrocers in Liverpool Road North in Burscough has not yet felt the slump.
Owner Stephen Graham said: “Well we’ve managed to get everything. There’s nothing we’re short of.”
However, he admitted that things may change in the near future.
He said: “I think the latter end of May, early start of June time.
“That’s when things will hit even harder and get a bit more sticky.”
He, like Marc, also gets his produce from Liverpool Market, which seems to indicate that sticking with what you know and shopping locally are the way to go.