Making the most of mass harvests

[Alice Johnson]

When you have too much produce to eat fresh, how do you make sure it doesn't go to waste?

[Penellype]

I try to tailor my sowing to my needs, so I will grow only a few of things like cabbages that I don't eat that much of, or runner beans and courgettes that produce a lot per plant.

I have 2 freezers and freeze fruit such as currants, blueberries, stewed apples and strawberries (for jam) as well as vegetables like peas, spinach, peppers, chopped onion and parsnip chips for using later. I freeze large amounts of cooked tomatoes for sauces as I eat a lot of these. Excess vegetables are often made into soup and frozen, or frozen as purees. I store potatoes and onions in my garage, the potatoes are cooked, mashed and frozen in late winter when they are about to sprout.

My friends and family are given some of the excess (they tend not to want courgettes). Anything that has gone over gets fed to the compost bin or if I am at my friend's, to the chickens.

[Chestnut]

Like Pennellype I try to stagger sowings so as to get crops throughout the season, and grow in proportion to what my household will eat. However, I’m definitely still a beginner, so still get plenty of gluts.
After that, I either give away the surplus to friends and neighbours, or preserve it somehow (freezing, drying, bottling, pickling, jam/chutney). There are lots of threads on the vine with ideas for things to do with surplus produce - and if there isn’t a thread for the crop I have in mind, then I can start a new thread and ideas will appear within a matter of hours!

[1Bee]

Basically what the others said.

Weekday evenings are pretty pressured, and cooking time is at a premium, so when I can I process gluts into meals or parts of meals that can be frozen for reheating later. Favourites are dauphinoise potatoes with the tatties that won't store and ratatouille or pasta sauce with courgettes etc.

[rary]

I don't have a large garden, so not a lot of surplus, though any extra I might have my family get it, actually they some time get it before me, as their mother is the greatest at ensuring they get the most of my harvest