See Beth Jump

There’s an avocado crisis playing out in our local supermarkets. Avocados are in short supply so the price has gone up.
Yesterday I saw an avocado for $5.95. And this raises the question: At what point will I say “Avocados are too expensive” and stop buying them? In other words, what is my Avocado Pain Point?
I’m relatively new to avocados. I didn’t meet one until I was in my 30s. They didn’t feature in the standard diet of a girl in the suburbs of Hobart in the 60s.

But over the last few years, they’ve crept into our list of household staples. Saturday lunch is not complete without a smoked salmon, avocado and cream cheese bagel. Summer begins when the first avocado and mango salad arrives on the dinner table.

I’ve always been cautious about my avocado expenditure though, preferring to buy them at 2 for $5 specials than at $3 each. But now, I’m looking at a nearly $6 avocado (with possibly worse to come) and trying to rationalise my concern that it’s too expensive.

How many times during the week do I spend $6 on something without a second thought?That’s only one and a half cups of coffee from the local cafe, two thirds of a glass of wine at the bar after rehearsal on a Tuesday night. Several days worth of The Mercury – and you can’t tell me that’s good value for money.

Typically a single avocado will do sandwiches for all four members of the family with some left over. So it’s not a huge expense. It’s just comparatively expensive.

So what is my Avocado Pain Point? Would I pay $8? $10? More? I’m not sure that I would.

Even for chocolate I have strict personal rules. I’ve (almost) never bought a block of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk from the service station where it’s twice the price of the supermarket. I only buy it at the supermarket when it’s on special (which is luckily every week!). If there was a world wide shortage of chocolate and prices skyrocketed, I reckon I’d just have to wear it. Chocolate is, after all, one of life’s essentials.

I’m hoping though that it won’t come to that, and that I’ll still be eating avocado on my bagels without having to take out a small mortgage.

I never did reach my Banana Pain Point when storms devastated the banana crop in far north Queensland a few years ago, so I’m hanging in there for now.