Old school money saving, forage for your food and eat for free!

Desecrated_Landscape

I thought about starting this thread after reading threads from other users who are low on money and are trying to buy enough food to last the month and also the what you are having for dinner, i saw nobody talking about foraged food. Mother natures garden is full of tasty food, which is not only free but actually very healthy. We pay a premium price for organic fruits and vegetables, when there is loads just waiting to be picked. I am a trained chef, so this could just be more appealing to me but i'm going to convince you to try it and hopefully inspire a few people to try foraging. This thread will be good for sharing recipe's or general tips and i hope i'm not the only forager on here.

The first food in abundance is stinging nettles :eek: they have been eaten in this country for centuries! A lot of people do not know this, but nettles are very good for you. They contain more vitamin C than oranges and are high in protein. The seeds also have a medicinal quality. Easy to cook as well and will lose their sting after 30 seconds of cooking. I use nettles in a variety of ways, its a great ingredient for soup but my favourite is a nettle pesto or pasta, i mix it with what ever herbs are left in the garden and will use the pesto in a goats cheese and tomato tart. The pasta for a variety of dishes.

Wild mushrooms, if you are going to pick mushrooms do your research first and only eat mushrooms you know are safe. There are so many desirable mushrooms growing in our woodland. I tend to only pick mushrooms of the more expensive variety, morels, chanterelle, oyster, beefsteak and my all time favourite chicken of the woodland. A great way to serve these, just fry them off in oil and butter with some finely sliced wild garlic and serve it on toast with a light mustard dressing and a poached egg. This alone is enough to convert anyone

Elder flower, use it in cakes or make an elder flower cordial for the kids and there is no need to buy bottled squash. The cordial tastes amazing and my recipe is actually copied from Jamie Oliver's

Game! People are afraid of eating game when it tastes so damn good. I get muntjac deer and rabbit off the local farmer. They shoot these regular as they are considered a pest. If you have an air rifle, go out hunting rabbits if you have the landowners permission then you dont get in trouble and rabbit is very good meat.

I'll just list a few more without making this any longer

Dandelion - yes you can eat it and it doesn't make you wet the bed
Berries - blackberries, sloes mulberries and many more in a hedgerow near you.
Hawthorn leaves - great for making a salad with

The only rules to foraging is to know what you are picking, wash everything you pick before you eat it and only pick what you need. Dont strip mother nature bare as animals and other creatures also like to eat well.

meg72

I would love to forage but it depends on where you live, not much to be gathered in my concrete jungle, do get a few elderberry along the path behind my little bungalow, likewise a few blackberry, but most have been christened by dogs, used to have a few wild cherry but lost them to a new school site, nettles I have an abundance of in my garden, but really don't like them, likewise dandilions.

D&DD

Hi there we do have a foragers thread somewhere will see if I can dig it up for you,it's always pretty quiet early in the year but does get very busy later on

D&DD

Heres a link to the latest one with links to some others that may be of interest HTH


https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4050903

Desecrated_Landscape

D&DD wrote: »

Heres a link to the latest one with links to some others that may be of interest HTH


https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4050903

I'm so glad you showed me this, from the stuff i had been reading on here i saw nobody mentioned foraging. I think it needs more exposure, especially when people are struggling financially.

Auntie_Sceb

Good thread. I'm really interested in foraged food, But I'm not sure what's locally available. I remember my Dad made lots of wines when we were kids - rhubarb (not quite foraged but grew in our back garden), rosehip, damson. I love elderflower cordial (but afraid I have been buying it haven't seen any locally) and once tasted elderflower champagne which was delicious and HM. There's a recipe here for the cordial:

http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/tv-show-recipes/kirsties-handmade-britain-recipes/elderflower-cordial-recipe

Rose petal jam is delicious. When I was a teenager I made Burdock beer it didn't taste to good think we over did it with the yeast as there were lumps in it - but seemed to do the trick.

But I'm not sure where to look now as have moved areas - I know to avoid roadsides.

This is a good site for ideas:

http://www.wildfoodandrecipes.co.uk/2010/08/trio-of-blackberry-desserts-blackberry.html

Seakay

Also these threads:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4776875

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6404


'townies' can forage too! Parks etc are a great resource; I have found bayleaves, nettles, ginko leaves, walnuts and wild garlic. I found cherries by a bus stop and acorns while walking down a street.

Desecrated_Landscape

meg72 wrote: »

I would love to forage but it depends on where you live, not much to be gathered in my concrete jungle, do get a few elderberry along the path behind my little bungalow, likewise a few blackberry, but most have been christened by dogs, used to have a few wild cherry but lost them to a new school site, nettles I have an abundance of in my garden, but really don't like them, likewise dandilions.

Being in a concrete jungle is very difficult to find food, but if you have a garden or small piece of land you could use seeds and cuttings to create your own personal supply.

Desecrated_Landscape

Auntie_Sceb wrote: »

Good thread. I'm really interested in foraged food, But I'm not sure what's locally available. I remember my Dad made lots of wines when we were kids - rhubarb (not quite foraged but grew in our back garden), rosehip, damson. I love elderflower cordial (but afraid I have been buying it haven't seen any locally) and once tasted elderflower champagne which was delicious and HM. There's a recipe here for the cordial:

http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/tv-show-recipes/kirsties-handmade-britain-recipes/elderflower-cordial-recipe

Rose petal jam is delicious. When I was a teenager I made Burdock beer it didn't taste to good think we over did it with the yeast as there were lumps in it - but seemed to do the trick.

But I'm not sure where to look now as have moved areas - I know to avoid roadsides.

This is a good site for ideas:

http://www.wildfoodandrecipes.co.uk/2010/08/trio-of-blackberry-desserts-blackberry.html

Rosehip is becoming very popular in restaurants at the moment, mainly the michelin starred ones. And if you have any woods near you go for a look in there, that is where i get most of the food i forage.

lostinrates

There is your own garden too.

Fwiw, foragers quite often use our hedgerows and we love to see them.

May I remind foragers on Mse though that there are some courtesies? We have ONE fruiting hazelnut ATM. Others soon to follow I hope, but not yet, and its not common in immediate locality. Its devastating to find its been stripped by foragers ( no squirrels round here) while we are eating for the nuts to ripen.

Similarly, we have a lot of road side hedge row, its courteous to leave the hedgerows closest to our home alone.

One woman each spring we have lived here tramples over an area we are establishing as wild flowers to strip three elder flowers we don't even pick from but rather leave for both aesthetic reasons and wildlife. There is a regrettable amount of elderflower she would be welcome to a short drive down the road, and each year I politely direct her to it.


Likewise blackberries, sloes, rose hips etc, I am MORE happy to share! I love sharing these things we have but like to know I can grab a bowl full quickly while pottering near my house.

Also, please never strip anything to bare. Not just for the people whose hedgerows they are but for wildlife too.

Scrumping fruit is rude, but people have stopped and asked and I've been only to pleased to share what we cannot use and I am falling behind on processing. I don't put outside with a ' free' sign because we get almost no passing foot traffic.....but more than happy to share what we can do.

We love to forage and eat a lot of not traditional edibles from our garden too I'm always happy when foraging is brought up, I hope no one minds me suggesting its not always done courteously.

Auntie_Sceb

Seakay wrote: »

I found cherries by a bus stop and acorns while walking down a street.

I would have thought being at the bus stop would have meant they were to close to traffic fumes. Please correct me if I'm wrong because I've seen plenty of blackberries on the roadside.

I live in a flat and we don't even have a communal garden. I'm growing some herbs on the window sill.