THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

GreyQueen

Cold weather in Spain. Courgettes are available but very expensive wholesale. Some retailers aren't buying them because the customers won't pay the price.

I don't buy courgettes, I get enough of the beggars when they're glutting on the allotment in the summer. I did notice last year that they didn't fluctuate in price at all from being out-of-season imports to being home grown and ten-a-penny - seemed to be £1.59/ kilo all the time.

ETA; Hope no one you know is on the South Bank atm: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4137106/Waterloo-Westminster-bridges-closed-WWII-bomb.html

greenbee

We should eat seasonally. Plenty of cabbage, caulis etc around. Courgettes are a summer vegetable.

[Deleted User]

Home grown courgettes in the season are fab, dehydrated home grown courgettes when they get 'enthusiastic' are fab in the winter, imported courgettes in the supermarkets at £1.80 for 2 (in Mr.T on Monday) are still in the supermarket!!! Why do we need courgettes in January? I'd rather have UK grown savoy cabbages and leeks!!!

greenbee

I havne't managed to find a nice dark green 'January King' cabbage yet this year. Love them. Even more than Savoys. Must look harder - might try to visit the farm shop soon.

Cappella

I was amused at first, then quite startled, at the thought of people being very annoyed because they couldn't buy courgettes in England in January :eek: Could this be the beginning of people really having to cook seasonally again? Or I am spending a few happy minutes in Cloud Cuckoo land thinking that this " crisis" might make people realise exactly which foods are genuinely seasonal in England?
Like you Grequeen we grow more than enough courgettes in the summer, and I certainly don't buy them now. However, given the popularity of Enchilladas, fajitas and similar foods which rely heavily on fresh, imported produce as their main ingredients (I've been reading the 'what's for dinner?' thread) I'm wondering just how many people would be able to cook at all using just seasonal British fruit and veg?
Given the projected price rises for basic foods over the next three years, and factoring in the possibility of more poor crop yields caused by bad weather I'm rethinking my prepping, but also rethinking the ingredients I'm going to use over the next few months. Which means I will, as several people here have said, be hauling my older cookery books out again

GreyQueen

By the end of the season, I feel I might scream if I see another courgette, the darned things are incredible, no vegetable ought to be able to double in size overnight, it's frankly scary.

You can run out of friends faster than you run out of courgettes to give away to friends. Ditto neighbours, acqaintances and colleagues.

My supper was a British pork chop (YS) with HG leeks and onions. Very seasonal. Wasn't it the famous John Seymour who described the pig as the cornerstone of northern European peasant economy?

I quite like pigs, nice old things and very tasty. I was once discombobulated by someone's Saddleback sow on a small-holding. Darned thing was mahoosive, top of her back level with my waist and I'm a lanky woman, and she then rolled over and wanted her tummy tickled!

thriftwizard

When I was staying with my brother in Bermuda, long ago, he warned me sternly never, ever to leave the car unlocked... Bermuda is tiny; only residents are allowed cars, there's only a handful of roads, and you can drive from end to end in under an hour. I was baffled; I couldn't imagine that there was much future in car crime. But the reason that you never, ever leave your car unlocked, is because if you do, you will find it full of courgettes on your return, from "helpful" friends... To say nothing of finding the freezer full of gory red bags labelled "Rat" - it was a relief to find that my sister-in-law only knew one recipe for courgette, which was ratatouille...

Caterina

greenbee wrote: »

I havne't managed to find a nice dark green 'January King' cabbage yet this year. Love them. Even more than Savoys. Must look harder - might try to visit the farm shop soon.

Brockmans Farm have them, they do farmers' market all over the South of England, have a look at their webpage see if there is anything near you. Or they do boxes, but I am not sure how far they deliver. HTH.

VJsmum

I buy courgettes, I grate them into my (raw) oats.... Not sure cabbage or leeks would be quite the same,.:D

mardatha

You lot got me to try courgettes, I had never even heard of them until I came in here. I tried them and found they taste of nothing at all. So I hadn't missed anything really.. I only eat stuff I can pronounce and spell, and the wartime cookbooks are heaven for me. Not that I am prejudiced - just that I canny be bothered learning how to cook new stuff!