Preparing for Winter V

[Deleted User]

We grow the fruit for jam and the veg for chutneys so it makes sense to use what we have when there's too much to eat fresh. I freeze and dehydrate lots of it but there's always more than is needed day to day to use up and preserving it means less expense in the long run.  We like jam and chutney and it's nice in the winter when the imported fresh stuff has travelled lots of miles to get to our shops and doesn't have the flavour of summer grown here in the UK.  I'm making too because with the present pandemic I can't be sure there will be the usual things available in the shops if we get another wave or two of infection sweeping round the world as is possible.  At least I'll have things in store to see us through if there are shortages.

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

Don’t forget the extra chaos re Brexit 😱 Just wish I had a larger house & another freezer!

MingVase

I'm still thinking about a freezer yes..

Si_Clist

Living_proof said:

 I air-dried this rather than in the DH

GreyQueen

   Even as long ago as the 1950s, the price of sugar and of energy made jam making uneconomical, according to what my dear late Grandma told Mum. It was just about break-even if the fruit was free.

I have made jam and chutney in the past but was horrified at how much sugar is involved and considered it to this day to be more that I feel comfortable eating, given the terrible toll diabetes mellitius takes on a body. I eat about 1 jar of jam a year, and could have the fanciest one out there and still be ahead financially and in terms of health.

Text reports from the allotments, where pals are playing while I convalesce, have unripe runners, unripe tommies and the blackberries haven’t set fruit yet. I did harvest bush fruit mid July- currants straight into ice cream tubs and into freezer and goosegogs eaten raw. 

I’m lounging around watching my wound knit and my post-surgical bruising develop. It’s a tough job but someone’s gotta do it. 

boultdj

silvasava said:

Tomatoes have just started ripening and the cucumber plants I was given have really produced so I've been able to keep friends and family supplied. I wont be making any chutney this year, Ive got some Quince and Date from 2007 and Pear from 2015. we do eat it but only occasionally. My climbing beans are prolific so I've been blanching and freezing them so we'll have a stock over the winter, surplus tomatoes will be roasted and frozen ready for soups and casseroles etc. I've enough fruit in the freezer to do some jam if needed but I probably wont make any until the autumn. I'd like to plant some winter greens but DH doesnt like Kale or Chard so I'm at a bit of a loss for something that is relatively easy to grow. 

Would Chinese cabbage, pac choi, bok choi be of any use? From what I've read the are winter hardy.  Japanese onions are planted in October same as broad beans, for early spring harvest. Then it's just the brassica family, sprout's, broccoli, calabrise, purple or white sprouting broccoli and old faithful, cauliflower, called all year round, as that is what it does, Oooo! Cabbage as well.

LameWolf

We do make jam, a fair bit of it from foraged fruit, because DH likes a small dollop of it with his bran flakes; we also keep a couple of his pals supplied, and give the odd jar to NDN as a thank you for moving our wheely bin back to its place after the bin men have been; also it's a task we enjoy doing together which counts for a lot. I don't make chutney though - I don't care for it myself, too sweet for a "savory" item imho, and DH worships at the altar of Branston Pickle.

The sum total of my cooking today will be potatoes (to be potato salad to go with dinner) and hard boiling some eggs (also for dinner). Too darned hot for any other cooking.

Primrose

We always look at the weather forecast these days before we plan our meals and when it,s hot we usually can,t face heartY meals with meat, so usually salads of some kind using home grown veg and lighter stuff like grilled fish, cheese or hard boiled eggs.  The casseroles, roasts and stews are saved for those cold winter days when you feel you need something more substantial to feel properly fed! 

LameWolf

@Primrose we tend to live on salads in the hot weather. We don't eat meat or fish, but alternate with cheese, eggs and vegetarian sausages.

I do meal-plan, but it has to be flexible, as I have lupus, so if I'm having a rough day when something labour intensive was planned, we switch it for an easier meal.

Laura_Elsewhere

boultdj said:

silvasava said:

Tomatoes have just started ripening and the cucumber plants I was given have really produced so I've been able to keep friends and family supplied. I wont be making any chutney this year, Ive got some Quince and Date from 2007 and Pear from 2015. we do eat it but only occasionally. My climbing beans are prolific so I've been blanching and freezing them so we'll have a stock over the winter, surplus tomatoes will be roasted and frozen ready for soups and casseroles etc. I've enough fruit in the freezer to do some jam if needed but I probably wont make any until the autumn. I'd like to plant some winter greens but DH doesnt like Kale or Chard so I'm at a bit of a loss for something that is relatively easy to grow. 

Would Chinese cabbage, pac choi, bok choi be of any use? From what I've read the are winter hardy.  Japanese onions are planted in October same as broad beans, for early spring harvest. Then it's just the brassica family, sprout's, broccoli, calabrise, purple or white sprouting broccoli and old faithful, cauliflower, called all year round, as that is what it does, Oooo! Cabbage as well.

And, @silvasava , do think of lambs lettuce (aka 'cornsalad' in American) and red chard and suchlike - sow them in Aug/Sept and you can have fresh salad leaves right through the winter, even in snow and ice.