Is there anywhere I might be able to get free fruit and veg?

frosty

Hi,I would try the supermarkets late at night.last at tesco I managed to find lots of reduced food,4 lamb chops for 10p,2 pork chops for 5p,lasagne enough for four servings 5p,lots of fruit and veg for 10p and bread and cakes all reduced to 5p.i managed to get a weeks worth of meals for about pennies.well worth a try.

CazGreg

Thanks all again, quick update - not doing too well, no luck on freecycle despite posting on two local groups. No local market, and the supermarkets here seem to never reduce by much at all.

I guess the year wasn't good for fruit (?) - the wild apple trees I remembered had nothing at all, not a single mouldy apple (I know it's quite late in the season too).
I did manage to find one unexpected wild apple tree and get a handful of apples though.

I'd like to be able to find more in the countryside, but it's not an ideal time of year to be finding much, and unfortunately wandering around for hours in the woods just in hope of finding something burns the calories that much faster! Does anyone have any good websites etc. to recommend for that sort of thing? LOCAL knowledge seems hard to find, all the forums I've come across are too generalised.

Hoping for some fruit and veg luck soon, as the edges of my mouth are cracking from lack of vitamins!

Thanks for all the help/advice/support.

lindseykim13

Myself and youngest found a small amount of blackberries at the weekend so you may still find a couple-slim pickings but enough for some vit c.
Have you got any clubcard vouchers you could spend in store or nectar points?

oldtractor

sell some stuff on ebay and use the money for fruit.

Pink.

Hi everyone,

Please may I remind you of the forum rules on exchanging personal details. There were problems very recently on a thread on Old Style, so please remember to look after your personal safety online.

MSE Andrea put's it better than I can here.

Pink

grumpybear_3

Just a random thought and not sure how you feel about it but might be worth having a word with your local vicar or making links with your local church that you'd really appreciate a bit of wonky alotment veg, (you could discreetly mention that you'd not be adverse to a few other things too if people had them?)

Church leaders are generally very open to this sort of thing and know a lot about the flock and the locality and could help you draw on what they know to help you, even if it is about having a chat with Mrs So and So with the big allotment or know someone who could arrange a few bits of groceries at the back door.

It might be a bit intimidating if you're not religious, and a bit embarrassing but this sort of thing the church always used to do (the bread shelves in my local church where hungry people used to nip in during the day for a free loaf of bread are still there! though things have moved on!) you might not fancy letting other people know about whats going on for you especially if you live in a small place or go to the village school or whatever but in small places people tend to want to help their neighbours even more, especially if they know they're struggling.

If you don't fancy approaching your local church you could even then try the parish down the road and see if they can help you?

In my town a lot of the churches band together to offer a free meals circuit at the different church halls through the week where people get together to offer a free hot dinner in a different church hall a few nights a week with no questions asked, so that could be an option too.

You may be surprised to know that I'm not a churchy person at all but for simple practical help about things like this they're pretty good so don't be put off by the labels - feeding the poor and looking after the needy is what they're all about - or should be!

Fruball

If you sign up with 'the milkman' on the www.milkandmore.co.uk you might get a first order discount. Also, you won't have to pay for a few weeks so if your financial issue is temporary, it may help you.

I took the kids apple picking in a freecycler's garden as they had a glut - I just asked if anyone had any spare

kittycatface

sorry youve not had much luck so far. you might still find a good crop of hedgerow rosehips about at this time of year, you can boil up with sugar to make a syrup: change the quantities as this is a wartime recipe and requires enough rosehips to feed an army!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/food/recipe93.shtml
the vitamin c content is very high and was used during war as they could hardly import any citrus fruit.

If you have 10p get a knob of ginger and 20p a lemon, pop in fridge and make ginger and lemon infusion tea using just boling water. they will both keep for weeks in there and will give you essential nutrients and digestive aids. same if you buy one cooking apple around 20p that, stewed with a little bit of water and cinnamon keeps at least a week in the fridge. i know its not much but might keep scurvy at bay!thinking of you and am going to put my thinking hat on a bit more.

i've just had a look at a google map for roughly the area you said you were in. not sure about your access to transport but godmother swears by olney market in beds. i have been on some quite good foraging walks with her around that area and would reccommend a trip round Harrold Country Park for picking stuff.

if you dont know what youre looking for get the book "food for free" collins pocket guide out the library to help.

Mojisola

Have you talked to your GP to see if he/she would prescribe some multi-vits for you?

vodkawitch1

grumpybear is right you should go to the clocal church. Understandably you don`t want to give people your details but you really need to look after yourself.