First veg/fruit boxes - need to last 2 weeks

jet77

Hi,

My first veg and fruit boxes are arriving on Friday and I'm really excited :T:p:rolleyes:

I can't afford to get them weekly and therefore need to make the contents last for 2 weeks .... but I don't even know what some of the contents are and would really appreciate some advice on how to make the below best last 2 weeks.

Veg
salad potatoes
bunched carrots
green onions
swiss chard
french beans - no one likes them
little gem lettuces
broccoli
pointed cabbage
bunched beetroot - no one likes them
fennel

Fruit
victoria plums
discovery apples
bananas
honeydew melon
seeded black grapes

Thank you :beer:

twinklefish

I got my first veg box yesterday but just a mini one person box. I was able to swop two items and also specify if there was anything I never eat. Ask if you can do this.

In my box was - spuds (main crop I think), carrots, broccoli (swopped for onions), courgette, cucumber and purple kale. I've wiped it all down and stashed away in salad boxes in fridge. I bought some salad box mats to try to help prolong life of veggies, supposed to prevent soggy bits etc....we will see! :rolleyes:

I've already added shredded kale to some veg soup I made this morning. Also made courgette and mushroom bread....day off so have time for these sorts of things! :j


French Beans - they dont have a strong taste so you could chop them up small and hide them in some soup!

Beetroot - do they not liked it pickled? I'm not a fan of beetroot from jars but love fresh cooked. If you really can't eat it, see if you can find someone to swop with.

Fennel - has a aniseed flavour so you'll either love it or hate it. Goes well with fish (my BF does a lovely baked trout stuffed with fennel). Can slice it into salads. I've also made this fennel compote before and served it up with monkfish http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/fennelcompote_82707.shtml

I'm not a huge fan of Swiss Chard...always taste a bit bitter too me but I think you can use it like spinach.

This is a good site for veg box help http://www.vegbox-recipes.co.uk/

PollyFlinders_3

My thoughts on some of these

The potatoes will keep for a couple of weeks if you put them somewhere cool and dark. Ditto the onions. The cabbage would probably make it into week 2 as well, as long as you leave it whole and store it in the fridge. Likewise the carrots, which you can store in sand in a shed or garage.

You'll need to use the lettuce quickly as they wont keep more than a day or two, although if you store them in the fridge, in a box filled with cold water, you could get another couple of days out of them.

I would chop up the french beans very small and add them to mince to stretch it. Mine never notice! If you are going to do this you could prepare them and freeze them when the box arrives, to use later. They should keep a few days in the fridge.

We're learning to love beetroot this year - try making chocolate beetroot cake...you seriously would never know it contained beetroot. Also try it roasted in olive oil - very nice. There's a great recipe for beetroot pesto on another thread which we were pleasantly surprised with last night.

Hope that helps

jet77

Thank you I forgot to say that I stocked up on meat last week with the Lidl vouchers and have plenty of sausages, mince, chicken breasts and chicken drumsticks.

I hadn't thought of swapping ingredients - I'll see if I can do that.