Food savings in winter...recipe ideas etc

Kunes might like to overdose on pumpkin.kids don't ;)

In cool Nelson I'm picking succulent everlasting spinach every second day.grew it behind my Blue Lake bean teepee against a north-facing verandah and it's a happy plant.

Thats fantastic Buzzy and I truely mean it.

some great advice. many cannot grow as they have no land or decks.but the buying tips are always good for everyone

Buzzy-Where do you get your 6 for $10 organic seedling punnets!

some wonderful ideas to read thru- too good to lose to cyber space

I have been following uli's advice that she gave me earlier on in the year and to date my garden is supplying me with silverbeet, cauliflower, broccoli (which I have coming out my ears), an unlimited supply of big, sweet carrots, leeks, chilli, lemongrass, all the culinary herbs, cabbages and celery. today I harvested my first broadbean tops. I'd have peas on the go by now if the dopey birds hadn't eaten them all!

On top of that, I have been harvesting macdamia nuts, avocadoes, persimmons, guavas (almost finished now), cooking apples, granny smith's (picked last big juicy one last week) and 2 types of lemons. Soon I will have grapefruit, oranges, tangeloes and more mandarins.

Uli's advice has saved me hundreds of dollars so far. I buy organic seedling punnets at 6 for $10. That works out at 36 plants which produce enough vegetables for our household and my daughter and her family.

I wish I could find a forum where uli could provide me, exclusively with advice because I have found what little she can share on here before all the knockers come in, to be invaluable.

Oh. I almost forgot to mention the salad greens that just keep on self seeding and growing.

I'd like to add to this advice. If you can make pastry then this cold time of year is brilliant for making flaky/puff pastry and freezing it for later use. I find that fats melt in summer and the pastry does not turn out anywhere as well as that made in the winter. I use frozen flour, ice cold water and make my lard (everyone else probably uses butter) as cold as I can get it while still being able to work it.

In the summer I use excess cabbages to make at least 15 litres of sauerkraut. I usually grow my own but at certain times of the year we can buy huge cabbages for $2 each. Sauerkraut can be cooked ( today I served guests up with a special concoction of sauerkraut, apples and spices, baked in a terracotta casserole) and they begged to take the leftovers home with them. The apples were free and I must have used about 10c worth of sauerkraut. The crushed spices would have been cost no more than 5c.

$10 worth of cabbages turned into sauerkraut will last all winter. Mixed with salad greens it makes a nutritious and tasty lunch or breakfast salad every day of winter and well into spring if you want.

Three rows of beans will feed us for all of summer and give leftovers for freezing. Properly done (not like someone here suggested, and just chucked into the freezer, unprocessed) they are better than Watties. I also have summer cauliflower and broccoli frozen as well. I tried fermenting them but they aren't so nice done that way.

What is a real taste treat is fermented carrots. Naturally sweet, fizzy and spicy, these little, crunchy sticks are most sought after by anyone who comes to our place for a meal. In season carrots are very cheap, once again.

Two apple trees provide us with more apples than we can eat. I preserve a dozen jars and any that aren't eaten get juiced and turned into vinegar. I have 4 litres of raw apple cider vinegar just waiting for bottling and it cost me nothing as I had the demi-johns, juicer and sundry equipment already.

You can also grow vegetables in pots and use potting mix. At the moment I've got some seeds in polystyrene that you get with packaging, I poked a few holes in the bottom and I'll probably leave plants there as one lot is NZ Spinach and the other lot beetroot.