Love Food Hate Waste 2020

VfM4meplse

nursemaggie wrote: »

As soon as I put veg in the mesh bags they are fine. If I can't get loose ones the large bags fill my veg draws. I have two small draws. 8 large carrots, which seems to be the average fills one draw. I can't eat a whole carrot when they are 23cm and really big. I only need half so that means even if I eat carrots every day the will last for 16 days. They start going moldy in that time.

I get through a 1kg bag a week at least, its an essential for me. I started eating them more regularly when I realised that I needed to up my veg intake. Carrots are my choice because they are odourless and don't need much prep, or to be cooked. So I peel and slice them into thin discs, stick them in a small pot and leave them in the fridge for when I want a snack...I wanted something that would be just as easy to grab during a hungry moment as a packet of crisps or nuts. By the time I get round to eating them, they have dehydrated a bit and are really easy to down! They also fill you up fast . Try it, and you will get through a lot more and may even feel better for it.

At 60p/kg or so, its a very MSE snack, as well as a healthy one. :money:

nursemaggie

I ate 11 fruit and veg yesterday, I don't eat between meals. Any more than that and I will spend all of my time in the bathroom. I'm sure you have a family. I already eat them nearly every day. I only used carrots as an example. Every other vegetable comes in the same large quantities. Eating twice the quantities of everything will still only count as the same number.

[Deleted User]

are the carrot problem I can see where you're coming from nursemaggie.I am lucky in that I can but carrots loose in my local supermarket so only buy 4 at a time which is usually more than enough for me,unless I see a bag reduced than I buy it and make a saucepan of spicy carrot soup which is my favourite on a cold day to warmme up You can also use it if you like baking to make a carrot cake ,very yummy and rather moreish (but I slice and freeze it in quarters so I don't scoff too much ) I like VfM4 peel and slice and put into the fridge I put mine in a bowl of water and change the water daily(The spare water goes if I need it on my herb and cress crop in the conservatory)

I have a potato bag and an onion bag which I store my surplus spds in and if there isn't much room in the freezer then the onions get stored in the cotton bag . I daresay if you are handy with a needle you can make a drawstring couple of bags .
Out of my green veg that I bought over a week ago I still have a quarter of a cauli,half a sweetheart cabbage and about a dozen sprouts The cabbage and cauli are still good to cook after being in the bottom of my fridge in foil and the sprouts I peeled and stored in water (also changed daily) They will be finished off on Wednesday as part of my dinner veg, along with a couple of the peeled carrots.I have rarely if ever had stuff from the fridge go mouldy, I keep my fridge at number three so its pretty cold.In the bottom eft hand drawer of my fridge is 5 pears,and 6 apples bought about two weeks ago and they are perfect and I will probably use the pears up this week and maybe the apples next week.

Tonights meal is chicken chilli thighs and mash from the freezer and the leftover cooked veg from Saturday as I go to my DDs on Sunday for dinner. When I reheat the cooked veg I will grate a little cheese on top for added flavour.

I am so pleased we are all doing our best to use stuff up and very little is ending up as landfill
Well done chums I think you are all doing brilliantly


JackieO xx

YorksLass

Interesting to read others' trials and tribulations of how to keep F&V fresh. There are two of us here so we can normally eat stuff before it goes off but can understand how it can be more difficult for those who are cooking for one. I keep practically everything in the salad drawer of the fridge and generally find it's all OK. I currently have some diced swede in a container of water to keep it fresh plus little gem lettuces, tomatoes, sprouts, apples, two avocados, grapes, clementines and kiwis. The only things I don't keep in there are potatoes and onions; like JackieO I have cloth drawstring bags (from Lakeland I think) for these. Cucumber is one I have to watch though so now I buy just half of one and, if it looks like it's not going to get eaten in time, I slice and pickle it with some thinly sliced onion; goes especially well in meat sandwiches.

Today I've had the SC out for braised red cabbage with apples and onions. Some eaten already and the rest portioned/frozen. Yesterday I asked my personal spud basher (DH) to peel extra so there would be deliberate left-overs. Most of them have been used to make corned beef savoury pots (corned beef, potato and onion topped with grated cheese) and the rest for potato salad. I've also made a pot of pasta salad (orzo pasta, green pesto and a little grated cheese).

At lunchtime we had hm tomato & red pepper soup; there wasn't quite enough for two but I remembered I had one lonely tomato cup soup lurking in the cupboard so I made that up and mixed the two together.

The freezer bits & bobs list has had a few items crossed off too (two sausage rolls, half a large part-baked baguette, three thick slices of toasting bread, two wholemeal muffins and a mini naan bread) so at least that's moving in the right direction.

Brambling

I live on my own so I have a couple of lock and lock vegetable boxes which keep most veg very well, I do add a folded old tea towel underneath the plastic rack in the bottom which keeps things fresh longer as it absorbs any water. I often cook more vegetables than I require usually to last me a couple more days and reheat. This allows me to eat a variety of vegetables, yesterday I braised red cabbage with apple, celery and leek, made peas and lettuce to use up a little gem and the last of the peas as well as cooking the last of the French and runner beans and tender stem broccoli. If I don't finish the celery and leeks I'll blitz them to make a portion of soup for lunch, if I'm freezing casserole etc I'll add cook vegetables as well to make a ready meal suitable for a work lunch. I may copy your cucumber pickle idea Yorkslass as I find cucumber is one of the vegetables which I do lose track of in the fridge.

Fruit I have to keep a better track of especially things like pears as I like to eat them soft but I'm happy to eat fruit and yogurt for breakfast. Like Jackie apples and oranges live a while in the bottom of my fridge and grapes can be frozen and are good to avoid picking sweet stuff when trying to diet . I work next to a supermarket so I do pick up 4 or 5 bananas at a time as I like on a day with my breakfast

candygirl

YORKSLASS do you use pickling vinegar? I love pickled cucumber, onions, gherkins etc

nursemaggie

When I take anything out of the freezer I usually find I put something else cooked back in. I can't remember what I took out yesterday or it could have been Saturday, but I put two tubs of cooked chicken in.

Last time my DS came he brought me some shopping and asked if he could put his shopping in. I asked if it was in thimbles but I don't think he got the joke. He got it all right in the back of the fridge where I have difficulty reaching. My mother used to come to my house with her shopping, put the things needing to be in a fridge in mine and go home without it.

I actually watched on you tube how to keep salad leaves longer. She used a big tuppperware bowl, put a paper towel in the bottom. them half way she put another sheet of paper towel between two layers of salad and then another one on top. With a lid on she said it keeps for about a week and 3 days so good long keep. I think salad leaves are something else that gets thrown out mainly because once you have opened them they tend to get squashed.

I wish I could get all of my veg in the salad draw. I usually have them on the bottom shelf and sometimes on the next one, as well until I have used some.

I keep my onions in a cupboard, but you cannot put potatoes in the same cupboard they effect each other. I don't have another cupboard I could put the potatoes in.

When my son was still at home I used to cook carrots and swede together or just carrots in the summer and then freeze them. I could stir the mash into any past with tomato sauce and he would eat it. He does not like cooked carrots. I also used to mash parsnips and potatoes together on a cottage pie and he never seemed to notice. You would think he would as parsnips are quite strong. I do buy peas and beans frozen. You can squash a bag of peas into the most peculiar shaped holes.

Shropshirelass

Nursemaggie I do sympathise and understand your problem. Our local supermarkets, T@sco and C@@p have both recently cut down on the loose fruit and veg they stock. As DH and I don't eat such large meals nowadays, I find the packets contain too much. It was really heart breaking last week to see a little old lady looking at all the big bags of potatoes, all obviously too much for her but no loose ones.

I sometimes buy the stir fry veg packets, last week they contained a dozen mangetout, a decent handful of sprouting broccoli, and half a dozen baby sweetcorn and leeks. Enough to add a little variety, though over-wrapped in a plastic tray and bag. I also buy 'bistro mix' salad, which I wash and store in a flat container, then I can easily separate the baby spinach, watercress, and different salad leaves for various sandwiches, soup or vegetable mixes like bubble and squeak.

With carrots, celery or cabbage though it's feast or famine.

YorksLass

candygirl wrote: »

YORKSLASS do you use pickling vinegar? I love pickled cucumber, onions, gherkins etc

No, just ordinary malt vinegar - I find pickling vinegar too acidic. If you like sweet pickles then you can gently heat the vinegar along with a little bit of sugar till it dissolves, cool and then pour over the jar contents. I very rarely buy jars of pickled onions now; instead I use thinly sliced ordinary onions; cheaper too. And the vinegar can be re-used a couple of times before it becomes less effective. Even then, we don't waste it as we use it on fish & chips! (This might not be to everyone's taste though. )

Another nice one to do is beetroot & onion using those vac packs of ready cooked beetroot. Heat vinegar, sugar and water in a pan (ratio of 4:2:4) along with a small dollop of mustard, cool and pour over. I use balsamic vinegar for this but imagine malt or white vinegar would work too.

Salad for tea tonight (some kind of tinned fish). Not sure this was such a good idea 'cos it's blummin' cold but I'm sure it will be fine.

nursemaggie

I have to go by bus to a supermarket. I can access an Asda if I have an hour to spare for each way travel, The bus is only every hour and not always on time. I don't go there very often.

Our local bus is a stagecoach bus going about 30 miles round villages. On a nice day I take a ride on that so I may shop somewhere different.

There is a Morrisons about 5 to 10 minutes away. The bus is very unreliable you can wait over and hour and then get a convoy of 4 buses. I will walk on a nice day but come back on the bus as I live at the top of a hill and can barely push my full shopping trolley up the steepest parts.

I occasionally go into town and go to either the market and Aldi or both. If I go to town for other shopping I tend to end up in M&S, it's nearest the bus stop. I do find their veg keeps well and come in smaller packets. I'm contemplating buying fruit and veg there but they are a little pricey. It may be a good idea to keep of record of how long they last and the price difference. It could work out no more expensive.

I wonder if that's why so many older people go to M&S around 4.30pm. Last time I went I got lots of YS ready meals, I love their plant foods (vegan) and lots of their ready prepared salads. I have managed to keep them all well after this visit. I usually go to a Muslim lady and I stuck about 8 meals plus lots of veg in front of her, to go through the checkout.

You should have seen her face. I said "are you hungry." she said I am now.

I still make up another side salad to go with their plant food stuff because they don't have many greens. I always have tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers in and I add carrot sticks or grated, When I have lots of veg I can eat raw that will cut into sticks I have a tub of humus to dip them all in. I fancy that today but I have managed to use most of my veg this week apart from 3 carrots, 3 parsnips and 2 sweet potatoes.