Fruit and Veg

caffeinehit

Markets in areas with big immigrant populations are by far the cheapest place for anything vaguely 'exotic' (avocados, fresh herbs, ginger, mangoes, etc etc etc) and tend to be competitive on potatoes and things as well. Added bonus that there's loads of other stuff there that you'd never find in Tesco so it's a great chance to try new things. I discovered okra and custard apple this way.

competitionscafe

squeaky wrote:

I find that my fruit and veg from my box keeps far better than the stuff I was getting from Asda. Tastes nicer too

What squeaky said. (except substitute 'was getting from Asda' for 'was getting from Tesco')

competitionscafe

BungleGirl wrote:

Okay, the biggest scheme is in Cumbria

Very interesting, thanks for that - I read an excellent article recently on a similar scheme aimed primarily at those on a low income, but it was run by a woman employed by Carlisle council (I think) - not sure if it is the same one you mentioned as their contact address is Cockermouth. Couldn't find the article online, but I did find an older one on the scheme you mentioned which was a very interesting read: http://society.guardian.co.uk/societyguardian/story/0,7843,505630,00.html

Edinburghlass, perhaps Edinburgh and Glasgow councils should be looking at something like this (given the poor health record up here). The only scheme I know of in Edinburgh is a community agriculture project - there is some info and contact details here:
http://www.familiesonline.co.uk/article/view/1128/1/97

If anyone lives in Stroud there is a very successful community agriculture project down there: http://www.stroudcommunityagriculture.org/

BungleGirl

As this forum is very well moderated to make sure that noone is abusing it, I have been asked to confirm that I will not get any personal benefit from the links that I gave above. This is a copy of my reply, just to clarify my position...


'I have nothing to gain from the links that I gave. I am a project officer for SuffolkACRE which helps communities to 'help themselves' ie get village halls, community transport schemes and lots of other things including food cooperatives (that's my bit!).

The project I work on is funded by the European Social Fund (amongst others) and is all about giving everyone (particularly those on a low income) access to affordable, locally produced, seasonal fruit and vegetables. A big part of the scheme is the volunteers who are given training and qualifications and work experience so that if they are unemployed these things can help them back into work.

The links that I gave are for the food coops that I found when researching the idea. They are all 'not for profit' volunteer run schemes, and the only reason I posted those in particular is because they have websites, and are very successful (ie won't disapear in a couple of months).

Food coops are a fantastic thing, they connect consumers directly with growers and keep local money withing the community, and they also encourage 'self help', the volunteers could decide to set up a credit union or community transport scheme alongside the food coop.

I shall stop rambling on now, I can talk for hours about my job...and even if it wasn't my job Iwould still recommend people find out if they have a food coop in their area.'

It's nice to know that we are all being looked after by the moderators on these boards, and I hope that this makes things clear.

BungleGirl

Here is a link to a food poverty database you can search by area or project type and it comes up with loads of information.

I know that some of the projects no longer exist but it is still worth lookinginto, as even if that particular project has ended they will probably be able to tell you if there are others nearby.

Edinburghlass - I had a quick look at Scotland and NI - and they both have various food projects but it depends on where you are. I think that in Scotland - especially in the villages there are lots of small scale food coops that won't be listed because they have been going for years and years and they don't know that they are doing something very special.

competitionscafe - there is loads on the internet about the Cumbria project - it is really huge and the perfect example of how to do it. Sharron Rourke who is mentioned in the article is a wonderful lady and has been very helpful in helping us get our coop up and running in Lowestoft.

local food works is another good website with lots of information and case studies etc.

Quasar

myriadabellium wrote:

This is a tricky one! We get through absolutely LOADS of fruit and veg (both my children would eat nothing else if I let them)

:eek: whaaaaat? Children who would eat nothing else but fruig and vegs?
O thou blessed parent! What is thy secret?

(I'm not a parent but I'm sure millions out there would like to know, so that's my good deed done for today)

:T

arkonite_babe

My two, especially the little one, would eat fruit and veg till it came out their ears. The little one won't take fruit and veg to school though, she gets too much stick from her classmates :mad:

myriadabellium

Quasar wrote:

:eek: whaaaaat? Children who would eat nothing else but fruig and vegs?
O thou blessed parent! What is thy secret?

(I'm not a parent but I'm sure millions out there would like to know, so that's my good deed done for today)

:T

No secret, alas - I don't feel that blessed because they won't eat much food that I actually cook, lolol! We're vegetarian so it's always been eat it or starve and they are both banana and apple addicts. They actually do choose fruit over sweets but only because I buy really unappealing sweets!!! :rotfl: although I suppose I am lucky that they do eat something healthy (another guarantee is pasta but they won't eat anything that they suspect contains protein, apart from the odd egg, so I worry a lot!)

bluep

Just a quick question, we've started to get an organic box and I am generally really pleased with it - lots of veg for £11 per box. As its organic I expected to find a few creepy crawlies however last week, there was a purple cauliflower that was infested with some sort of eggs - hundreds and hundreds - so uneatable. I phoned the lady who runs the organic business and she apologised and replaced it with other stuff in our next box.

However, today I just went and took out some small turnips for our dinner and I was cleaning them and each turnip had 5 or 6 white maggots happily at home in it (like fully buried in it). I really don't feel like mentioning it (I might just ask her not to put turnips in our box again - saying our daughter reacted funnily to them>? or something). Am I just being a big wuss? Is this to be expected with organic veg? I thought there might be the odd caterpiller or slug, but to find maggots in it like that - is that normal? On one hand I understand that they can't clean and inspect everything - if I want that, then Asda isthe place lol. But on the other hand, I'm not sure I have the stomach for picking maggots out of our veg and then chopping it up to cook and eat (I certainly wouldn't then give it to our baby which is the whole point of us goign organic). I think if this is the norm, then I'd rather pay extra, shop at Waitrose and have organic without the added protein!

Anyone else's experiences?

squeaky

I've never had any reason whatsoever to return any of the veg I've had. I would certainly return the stuff you've described. Blimey!!!