Supermarket Veg prices!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:eek:

[pigletwillie]

Where we can we always try to "add value" to a crop when storing. For instance the humble tomato, not only do a few get frozen but we also can (bottle) soup, passata and pasta sauce, make sundried tomatoes, chutneys and relishes are also whipped up.

Most stuff now ends up in jars or bottles thanks to my pressure canner and not in the freezer. With that in mind not only can you give the supermarket a miss with regard to veg, but also veg derivatives for most of the year without having a shed full of freezers.

[moggssue]

How long will tomato soup keep in a bottle Piglet? I have a fantastic recipe that we all just love but can't fit enough in the freezer to see us through?! Same question for pasta sauce - always assumed it wouldn't last more than a couple of days?

[zebedee]

Like everyone else, on occasion we have to buy veggies, and I get SOOOOO mad at the blessed distance some of them travel. Brussel sprouts from Australia!!!!!

[jacob marley]

The HF house hold is much the same....not much meat, but when we do we buy 'ethical' meat, we try to grow most of our own veg.
Supper markets do seem to rip you off hugely on fresh fruit and veg.........why?

What is the difference between ethical meat and other meat it is all dead aint it i am not winding up i just do not can any body enlighten me jacob

[scared55]

What is the difference between ethical meat and other meat it is all dead aint it i am not winding up i just do not can any body enlighten me jacob

I think it has to do with the treatment of the animals. Just because an animal is destined for the table doesn't mean it has to have a bad life - room to move, decent quarters, well maintained and so on. Organic is a bonus, although I would not, myself, worry about non-organic, provided I know that it hasn't been stuffed full of growth hormones, kept in cramped circumstances or fed inappropriately (fish and abbatoir waste being fed to herbivores, for example).

KK

[Alison]

Exactly, I'd much rather eat an occaisional chicken that has grown at a natural rate and spent it's days in the sun etc. They are far more tasty, lower in fat and have some proper leg meat on them. In addition, I know that they didn't life the miserable life of the cheap broilers. You need to be careful, not all claims are what they should be, personally I prefer to have seen the conditions they have lived in but appreciate that this is not always possible.

[scared55]

Absolutely. That's why we always try to buy Charolais beef. We are surrounded by them, and I can see how the calves are treated, how much time they spend with their mothers, where they are quartered during the heaviest part of winter (the large stone barn less than twenty metres away) and so on. I have learned that if veal in the shop is very pale, it has been crate-reared and I won't touch it with a bargepole, whereas if it is a healthy salmon pink it has run around the fields - and I mean run; you should see them when they leave their winter quarters - they leap about like lambs, even the mature bulls and cows.

We don't have the opportunity to see chickens being raised, but have to trust the Red Label and check descriptions carefully - just like with eggs.

Eating meat that way is expensive, but I am happy to reduce quantity to know that what I eat has had the best life it can.

KK

[moggssue]

Here here - the meat I eat is reared on the farm and you are welcome to see how they are kept, sent to be slaughtered then brought back to the farm to be butchered, hung and prepared for sale. It doesnt actually cost that much more when you consider the quality, the lack of water in the meat, and the lack of fat so that there's no shrinkage - plus I know the animals have had a good life which is important tome.

[pigletwillie]

Moggssue, they will last for well over a year if bottled and heat treated via either a water bath or a pressure canner.

Tomato soup would be ok in a water bath but if you make pasta sauce as we do with onion, courgette and peppers added, plus garlic you need a pressure caner which takes the temp to the 112 degrees needed for low acid food.

We tried raspberry and blackberry coulis this year and having them in a cupboard rather than the freezer is a boon.

[Sue]

PW
Where did you get your pressure canner from? I've filled three freezers crammed full, dried everything that can be dried and have permission to take as many apples as I want from a neighbours trees - no more room! I could cook a winters load if only I had the space. I could cram in another freezer but would only make sense if I got a large one so looking at £300+
I've never been sure about bottling, getting the right temperatures etc.
I didn't have enough tomatoes for soup this year but have puree in the freezers, would be nice to have this bottled so I could free up space, would also like to make apple juice, but again no room.
Advice welcome!
best wishes
Sue

[pigletwillie]

Sue, the canner came from the States via ebay and is one of the best purchases I have made.

Do buy the HMSO guide to home preserving, it gives you all of the best practices and temperatures and also try this.

http://foodsafety.cas.psu.edu/canningguide.html

Under our big dresser is an absolute feast of goodies from gooseeberries, to passata to spag bog to soups to french beans, all canned (bottled) and out of the freezer.

Mentioning freezers, well we have two big chest freezers full plus a fridge freezer in the house which is full of ready meals, home made of course. Its taken us 3 years to get organised enough to do it but now we can stick two fingers up at the hungry gap.

[mandyballantyne]

And Chickens!

On the back of this thread I casually brought this up with my other half last night. I used some examples from this thread and added the cost of eggs I said maybe some chickens would be good and left it at that. Previous mentions of the C word have left him horrified

Well this morning the dual carriage way is shut due to a lorry over turning, it's load......Chickens the poor things are running everywhere, road shut for 3hours.

OH actually suggested colleccting some. I replied that I don't have anywhere to put them....... Think he is coming round

UPDATE: Ok, not good the road is still shut, the driver has serious back injuries and a few hundred chickens dead. I know the were off to slaughter but this is still sad as the stress will kill them slower.

Mandy

[moggssue]

Thanks for that Piglet, I'm off to look into pros and cons of getting a caner ....

[bubblewrap]

Like everyone else, on occasion we have to buy veggies, and I get SOOOOO mad at the blessed distance some of them travel. Brussel sprouts from Australia!!!!!

Wot no Brussels from Belgium??

[sewer rat]

Mandy
Heard about the chicken crash on our local radio station up here - apparently they called in "professional chicken handlers" to catch as many as they could - what a cool profession to put on a passport - "Chicken handler" - would guarantee you a tug from Customs !!