Help me stop wasting my veg box!

Liz_M

Just checked and this is what I would get in the fruit and veg box, which is about the same price (50p cheaper I think)

• salad potatoes UK
• bunched onions UK
• kohl rabi UK
• broad beans UK
• swiss chard UK
• apples NZ
• cherries UK

Apples and cherries would be good.... but they're replacing carrots, peppers tomatoes and celery which are all things I would eat anyway! I'd still get the chard and beans....and I'd get kohl rabi which I've never tried but I've heard is supposed to be really nice - but it's still another veg that I'm not sure about. Might compare the contents of the 2 boxes the next couple of weeks though to see if that's usually the case...

pigpen

If you are looking at introducing something new I'd look up recipes for it and buy some from elsewhere and try it.. see what you think..

hoglet121

When the first Kohl Rabi arrived in our veg box in the UK (that was Riverford too) DH sent me a text saying Sputnik had arrived in the box and what exactly was it. I fried it with courgette and lemon and it was really nice.

Dragon_on_roller_skates

I'd turn the spinach, kale and spring onions into a spinach and feta cheese pie. Just wash the spianch and kale, then wilt with the water left clinging to them and shred. Mix in the spring onions, some dill, three eggs, a teaspoon of oregano, a good amount of feta cheese (200-250g), and a 250g tub of cottage cheese. Line a pie dish with puff pastry, throw the mix in and top with more pastry - brush the top with another egg. Bake on 180-200c for half an hour or so. Best served with roast spuds, roast carrots and roast beetroot.

My children are 3 and 6 and that's their favourite meal.

Liz_M

Pigpen that would be more logical, but I would just end up sticking with the same stuff I always buy and not trying anything new. I like the lucky dip kind of aspect of veg boxes, and the fact that it's all fresh and organic (the carrots come muddy with all the leafy tops still on.... which I've been throwing away but I'm wondering whether these can be cooked too?)

I'll usually eat most veg, the main problem is the stuff I've had going on lately and the fact that I've hardly been cooking at all due to this. Plus I've been so tired that I haven't bothered looking up recipes etc. I will cancel it if I'm still not using it all by the time my voucher runs out, but all of these suggestions are definitely inspiring me so hopefully I will use up all of this one!

That pie sounds amazing Dragon - OH wouldn't eat it but that's good for me because it means I can have some for tea one day (he can have a frozen pie or something) and then I can take some with me to work for my lunch (which will also save me spending £2.50 on a sandwich). I'm working late tonight so not sure whether I'll cook anything today.... but I'm finishing early tomorrow so I can make a start tomorrow night and will get cooking over the weekend too. Want to use up the stuff from the last veg box ASAP as well as using the new stuff, so will probably freeze half the spinach for curries at some point, anduse the rest in the pie with some of the cabbage. Then I'm going to look up some bubble and squeak recipes for the rest of the cabbage, and will definitely be looking up the broad bean dip recipe!

Does anyone have any idea whether the artichokes will still be ok or am I going to be best binning them? I was actually quite excited to try these but it was a particularly bad week when they arrived so they just got stuck in the fridge and left (don't think the fridge even got opened much that week!).

pigpen

The carrot 'leaves' can be added to salads.. I've not cooked them but they are yum raw... far more edible than some things people consider 'food'

MacaronVanille

Cabbage - I'd stir fry this or saute it with some onion and garlic and then add a little creme fraiche and seasoning
Spinach - Add to a normal chicken curry, add to salad or give it to me for my guinea pigs to nibble hehe
Onions - Obviously as you said used in most savoury dishes, you could try roasting them though with a little olive oil, seasoning and thyme. Would be nice with roast chicken
Spring Onions - Add to salads, egg fried rice, stir fries, savoury omlettes
Green Pepper - In a salad or good roasted or in fajitas
Artichokes - Boil them and then dip the bottom of each leaf in a mustard vinagrette or mayonnaise and each the flesh
Salad Potatoes - Potato salad, garlic and rosemary roasted new pots, crushed new potatoes with lemon, herbs and butter.
Bunched Carrots - Normal things like stews, boiled carrots as a side. Could boil them then toss in a mixture of butter, honey and poppy seeds.
Broad Beans - have as a side dish boiled, or have seen recipes for broad bean, mint and feta salad.
Swiss chard - Treat like spinach but finely chop and saute the stalks in some olive oil and garlic then add torn up leaves and wilt
Red pepper - salad or roasted
Cherry tomatoes - Salad or as a snack
Celery - use in soups, stews, salad. Or dice and freeze then just use a handful in bolognaise or casseroles.

PasturesNew

To get rid of celery, you can make a summer couscous salad by making up couscous in any way you choose.... then grating the celery (once peeled) into it, along with assorted other interesting salady bits you like.... e.g. some grated carrot, bits of tomato, chopped peppers, chopped onions.... just "salad stuff".

You can also grate it to add to any sandwich fillings you make up....

As a rule, you really need to try to avoid freezing stuff from your veg box else you'll end up freezing the stuff week after week and never getting round to using it.

CCP

I'm going to jump in on this thread if you don't mind, Liz_M, because I'm having exactly the same problem with my veg box - I've told myself that this week's is the last one I'm getting unless I manage to use more than I throw away this time!

I'm very partial to chard, so don't worry too much about all the negative comments until you've tried it for yourself! It can be used just like spinach - perhaps in Dragon's yummy-sounding pie - or, my favourite way of cooking it, cooked quickly with some finely chopped garlic, some roughly chopped raw tomatoes, olive oil and some seasoning. (And I also know what you mean about spinach giving you furry teeth, BTW - I love it in curries, but otherwise avoid the stuff for exactly that reason!)

Cabbage is nice finely sliced and stir-fried with some bacon.

Broad beans make a lovely risotto with prawns and a good squeeze of lemon juice - if you boil the beans briefly first, then use the cooking water in the risotto, you end up with pretty pink rice. (Little things please little minds... ) Unless the broad beans are really tiny, it's worth spending time taking the 'jackets' off each bean - it's a faff, but they taste much better without them.

Carrots - I look forward to reading everyone's ideas as these are what tend to get left from my box, too. I don't like them raw, and find them very boring when boiled plain, so any exciting ideas will be gratefully received. :undecided

pigpen

carrots are nice roasted.. like parsnips..


Mashed.. on its own or with swede or in potatoes.


you can always make carrot cake! Waste of carrots if you ask me but you can.


I also grate carrot into mince dishes.. lasagne, stews for example