Kijiji Calgary helps Newfoundlanders find Jiggs dinner

A couple of Newfoundlanders living in Calgary had a real hankering for turkey, pease pudding and salt meat.

So they went searching for it on Kijiji, posting a want ad titled, 'Newfie Lady To Cook Sunday Dinner.'

"Newfoundland tradition, every Sunday we get together with the family, have turkey and all the fixings," said Joel Whalen, who posted the ad with his three roommates.

​"Just a great meal and a good opportunity to spend some time with your family," he told the Calgary Eyeopener on Wednesday.

Whalen said they would cook the meal themselves, but they're in the process of moving and their kitchen is not yet fully equipped.

'Mother hen' volunteers

Turns out there are plenty of people in Calgary from "the rock" willing to cook what's known as a Jiggs dinner for complete strangers.

Whalen says he even received an offer for a free dinner, but decided to go with one of the first people to respond to his ad.

"She seemed very excited to help us out."

Lacey Haskell, originally from Corner Brook, said she wants to help these guys out because she's a "mother hen" and knows what it's like to miss Newfoundland.

"I remember when my fiancé and I first moved here from Calgary, eight or nine years ago," said Haskell. 

"You get here, you're kind of all alone, you feel all alone."

She says in the last few years,  grocery stores in the city have started carrying the staples needed to make a Jiggs dinner, with the exception of savoury from Mt. Scio Farm.

"Every time we go home we stock up."

Haskell says she has a "freezer full of salt fish in her basement" and is plans to whip up the dinner at her Calgary home on July 5.