THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

maryb

Mardatha I use grated courgette (that I freeze when we have a summer glut) instead of potato in leek and potato soup. It adds that extra silky texture that you normally get from the potato but with almost no carbohydrates. I know the RV is diabetic so just offer this as a suggestion

mardatha

Ooooh ok ty! By the way I have to say here - sometimes when I'm tired, I sound quite brusque. It is not meant, it's just me being tired and short.
Ok well I've always been short cos I'm 5ft 0, but you all know wot I mean! xx

moneyistooshorttomention

VJsmum wrote: »

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

My mind is boggling at the thought of raw courgettes and raw oats. Errrm....just the 2 ingredients mixed exactly as is?? (except the courgette getting grated first?).

I will eat raw courgette - as courgetti.

I will eat (a few) raw oats - mixed up in a muesli.

I'm struggling to picture the two together in the same mouthful...

mrssnowy_2

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

My mind is boggling at the thought of raw courgettes and raw oats. Errrm....just the 2 ingredients mixed exactly as is?? (except the courgette getting grated first?).

I will eat raw courgette - as courgetti.

I will eat (a few) raw oats - mixed up in a muesli.

I'm struggling to picture the two together in the same mouthful...

.......and me-yuk.
Not a 'last meal'for me.

mrss

thriftwizard

Courgettes are just tiny marrows! They're useful - in moderation - and grow like wildfire in summer, and I have friends with established polytunnel set-ups who can grow them almost all year round, down here. They feature in a lot of my stir-fries as they take on other tastes - i.e. garlic & soy sauce - very easily. Not sure that I'll give up a lot of tunnel space for them, though, when I get mine set up in its correct place & without resident bantams, as they're something we can easily do without.

I'm spending a few happy hours "designing" what to grow in it after 28th Feb, which is when the poultry incarceration is (currently) due to end. Part of me knows that whatever I intend to grow, half of it will sulk & refuse to grow anyway, and the slugs will be straight after the other half, but I'm trying to work out what actually IS the best use of the space - not that there's very much of it in a 3m tunnel! In the "open" garden we grow quite a bit of top & soft fruit, and herbs; I'm thinking tomatoes, salads & veg for stir-fries, with maybe some spud-bags along the side that will be partly shaded by the fence, which can be moved out in a hurry if we have to put the birds back in there.

One of my friends has recently returned from a textile trip to India. She has some interesting tales to tell about the cash situation over there; it's really hammering the small businesses that are the backbone of India's economy. You can only buy from small producers if you have the correct money; big businesses are thriving, as they have card machines, and the black market, which these measures were designed to eradicate, has retreated into barter, but the little one-family businesses are going under fast. Sounds like a recipe for disaster to me, wiping out the middle ground, but the big businesses are delighted...

westcoastscot

Mar you're much colder than us, but yes share the short season. It's deceptive here as it can be mild right through, or frosty later on. Difficult for garden planning as you have to be ready to fleece everything!

I grow courgettes and use them to make roasted mixed veg which in turn gets blitzed into pasta sauce - am going to explore if I can jar this for the winter rather than freeze it. I also use them for vegan lemon curd. Wouldn't pay for them though. They are a good carrier, being bland.

This year i'm missing a good dark green cabbage - still only have those sweetheart type ones here, or white, and where's the red cabbage this year? We've only had one, and we love it!!!! May try to grow some, but have had no luck on our shallow ground with hearting veg.

[Deleted User]

Didn't European farmers have a huge problem with brassicas due to some sort of moth in humungous numbers this summer? it was predicted that it would seriously damage the brassica crops and that there would be very little available this winter. What with that and the supermarkets rejecting most of what farmers here were able to grow because it failed the 'beauty pageant' and got ploughed back into the ground it's only an act of humane kindness that they are able to offer us courgettes at £1 each instead isn't it?

Karmacat

Cappella wrote: »

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?

Until I've done my full soil improvement schtick, I've given up trying to grow stuff from seed - I'm not very good at it even in *good* soil but I'm going to buy those tiny pluglets you see in garden centres, or even in poondland, and give it a go, for courgettes - I could do with an edible triffid or two in the garden

Tried last year with kale, shared a dozen with my brother - but I couldn't get home to repot them for ten days, and even though I tried hard to untangle the root ball, they never grew

The thing about native flavours interests me too - garlic grows here, and so does mustard, and so does horseradish. Basil does when protected - I'm sure us lot could cope - but as with everything, there'd be a lot of education to do.

Me too, of course - as I confess in my first paragraph there, I'm rubbish at growing seeds. I usually drown them, in spite of good intentions

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[Deleted User]

Bay trees grow amazingly well in the UK despite being Mediterranean in origin. I love the flavour and the scent and pop a bay leaf into any stew, soup or casserole I make. They dry well too from prunings and keep their potency through a winter when they're dried too.

Mustard too is a particularly English flavouring that is grown here easily.

thriftwizard

Rosemary does very well down here, but I can't grow lavender for love nor money!