Fresh food

As a very Oldie, I remember wartime (and pre-war) food. It was much more flavoursome and had more nutrients. Successive editions of McCance and Widdowson (the nutritionists' Bible) have shown less vitamin and mineral content. This is because of intense use of the soil. If you have some garden which has not grown vegetables before, dig up your lawn and plant some!

Rainbow chard is easy to grow (and pretty) and still growing strong here. The frost might get it soon, but it self seeds and is back every year.

I grow spring onions in a window box inside the conservatory.

These days, I mainly just harvest the tops as salad greens. My Turkish friend was surprised to see me digging out some bulbs, as they just cut the tops.

GagaJo Thank you for suggesting I use my perpetual spinach in a smoothie. I'll have a go after Christmas when I'm sure I'll be in need of a detox!

My tomatoes suffered the same fate, blight got them because there was too much rain.

Casdon

Callistemon aren’t you in Wales? I am, and grow a lot myself, but peppers, chili’s and courgettes were really poor this year, I think our rainfall and number of very grey days this summer were to blame, because I haven’t had the same problems in previous years. My Dad is in the East Midlands, and his were fine.

Yes, I am, Casdon
The courgettes were fine, I think because DH manured the ground, but the peppers were hopeless and the tomatoes suffered too, the stalks died off, perhaps due to the damp. We did get quite a lot then suddenly none.
I've never grown chillies, not being a great fan of chilli.

We've only got leeks, three parsnips and my unsprouting broccoli left in the ground now.
What was left of the beetroot were pickled last week, the last of the carrots were a bit mangey.

DH wanted to manure the ground.

Micro greens are a good idea. I must investigate.

I remember my mother's yummy bottled raspberries, which we ate cold in winter with hot Bird's custard.

We always had a salad on Christmas day, decorated with slices of hard-boiled egg, to go with the cold meat and chicken in the evening, and as a huge treat, Heinz tinned vegetable salad, my absolute favourite.
Always plenty of bottled fruit, from Kilner jars.

Different times in the 50s. I remember the excitement of crumpets arriving in the bakers in Autumn , hot cross buns and Easter eggs only at Easter. I also remember my first yogurt, pepper, artichoke and curry.

So nice now to be able to get what we want, in particular cabbage not boiled to pap and endless suet, which we had at school.

Naturally it is better for us all and the environment to eat seasonal food, but not à la 50s please.

Good for you WWM2. If you have a salad sprouter or make your own from a couple of jars you can sprout all sorts of seeds including beetroot, spinach etc and then use them as micro greens.

If we keep shipping food stuff in from all over the world then it is not environmentally friendly. I’m surprised none of the Green Party and climate change groups have not flagged this up.

We ought to form a grow your own group and see what we can get next year.

Those with allotments are gardens big enough are laughing, but others are more limited in the availability of growing space.

I have a couple of garden Trugs and pots of all sizes, plus a greenhouse, and started to grow my own at the end of July

At the moment I am picking, winter lettuce, carrots, spinach, chard, basil, matzuma, mustard. Just finished the beetroot.

Growing I have onions, shallots, winter cabbage, garlic, spring onions and parsley.

I’m getting ready for the new sowing season and have the heated propagator ready for the first week in January, although a warm light warm would be fine.
This week I planted 10:strawberry slips into their pots.

I might start a new thread?

Which comedian was it who made a joke about one household being so posh they had fresh fruit even when no one was ill?!!

I do tend to stick to seasonal fruit and vegetables but I do love blueberries on my porridge.

Callistemon aren’t you in Wales? I am, and grow a lot myself, but peppers, chili’s and courgettes were really poor this year, I think our rainfall and number of very grey days this summer were to blame, because I haven’t had the same problems in previous years. My Dad is in the East Midlands, and his were fine.

We have had mediocre success this year, decent sized peppers and chillies, lovely batch of carrots, complete failure with cauliflowers and more tomatoes than a supermarket along with an abundance of fruit from our small apple tree.

There were so many tomatoes that we treated all the neighbours and the rest were frozen, tomato puree, tomato and apple chutney (ideal for tomato bread) and many packs of sliced green tomatoes, ideal for frying.

Apples again were distributed to about a dozen neighbours who had about a 5lb bag each. Apples also sliced or pureed and frozen along with about 60lbs sent to the local apple juice and cider community project.

I think it's me Jaxjacky

We grow lots of other fruit and veg successfully. This year I sent for seeds and they were not very good, few germinated out of any.
One pepper only germinated so I grew more from seeds from inside a red pepper.
Pathetic plants and measly little peppers which didn't turn red but went soft despite receiving tlc.

Callistemon I grow peppers and chillies outside here during the summer, but we are very south in the UK.

I remember one December in about 1949? a parcel arrived in the post. As we lived a long way from relatives we thought it was a Christmas present posted early. It was, but written on it was DO NOT LEAVE UNTIL CHRISTMAS DAY.
Inside was a bunch of bananas! The first I had ever seen.

I've only successfully managed to grow bell peppers (outdoors, sheltered yard) once, but since learning a couple of months ago that they also freeze very well, I have started doing that with any excess shop-bought ones, so have a few in the freezer now for emergency use.

I've never managed to grow sweet peppers (capsicums) in this country, even in the greenhouse.

Ages ago I bought some sprouts out of season and then noticed when I unpacked them they were 'Produce of Australia'.
I usually try to buy British produce but it's not always possible.
That was a lot of food miles.

I grew up in Everton Liverpool we only got sprouts at Christmas never any other time strawberries only in the summer never got bananas or peppers.

We moved in 1962 to the farmland borders of Liverpool our dad grew veg and the hedgerows were full of goodies. Our meals always seemed to be stews or thick soups and in the summer we had salads. My mum couldn’t afford the chippy but occasionally my mum would buy Birds eye rissoles and fish fingers which we loved. It was a change from lamb neck soup roasted heart and everything else with over boiled cabbage. I still forage and cook old fashioned meals I don’t buy ready meals everything is made from scratch. I grow my own and pickle a lot which can be a hit and miss it’s my most favourite pastime. Looking forward to the new programme Wartime Christmas.

23:48WOODMOUSE49
You can’t grow chilies in the UK in the winter OK but you can freeze them and they are brilliant. I've done that for the past three years.

I can vouch for that - I froze lots of chillies three years ago from the two plants that I had grown, and am still using them.
Just as well they have kept so well, as my attempts to grow them since then have failed miserably!

I've only successfully managed to grow bell peppers (outdoors, sheltered yard) once, but since learning a couple of months ago that they also freeze very well, I have started doing that with any excess shop-bought ones, so have a few in the freezer now for emergency use.

I also freeze rhubarb and raspberries for year-round use, amongst other things.

The freezer is a wonderful invention ?

Exactly growstuff. All that guff about sovereignty when actually what we've done is turned ourselves into the untouchables. Doubly so with the mutated virus. The sick man of Europe. Much good my British passport is doing me now!

travelsafar

I think if there are shortages of certain foods some enterprising Artisan will find an alternative here in the UK. More and more farmers are turning to producing fab cheeses, poly tunnels and climate change meanswe may be able to grow salad items during the winter and plenty of soft fruits. If not we will have to turn to different kinds of salads as mentioned on here, cabbage, carrots, onions etc. Where there is a way and with the knowledge we have i am sure people will be able to.

But how many would choose to make such changes? And for what? A blue passport?

I do eat mainly fresh, home grown veg throughout the year. I have a miniscule garden, but I grow salad leaves, tomatoes, courgettes, beans and raspberries during the summer. I also have rhubarb and chard and some other crops. I also have a friend who is a commercial veg gardener and brings me a veg box every couple of weeks and another friend who gives me plums, apples, pears and walnuts from her trees. I'm only cooking for one, so it's not a problem. I don't think I could cater for a family, especially if I were working full-time and/or lived in a city/town.

However, it really is impossible to grow citrus fruit and veggies (fruit?) such as peppers and aubergines successfully without a greenhouse. I've never had much success with outdoor cucumbers either.

And olives! I eat loads of them plus olive oil. I have a small olive tree, but it only produces fruit like small and very hard peas. Olives and olive oil are only things I've stock-piled .

I could survive with what is available locally, but it would restrict what I eat and I certainly wouldn't choose a 1950s diet, especially as I don't eat potatoes.

I think if there are shortages of certain foods some enterprising Artisan will find an alternative here in the UK. More and more farmers are turning to producing fab cheeses, poly tunnels and climate change meanswe may be able to grow salad items during the winter and plenty of soft fruits. If not we will have to turn to different kinds of salads as mentioned on here, cabbage, carrots, onions etc. Where there is a way and with the knowledge we have i am sure people will be able to.

Nell8, you could get the spinich vitamins in by putting it into smoothies. When I have been post op and not wanted to eat healthy raw veg, I've had a raw smoothie a day to top up. The only thing that isn't good raw in a smoothie is beetroot. Tastes like dirt uncooked!