All for £9.15
Well, I’ve been eating local food on a budget for just over two weeks now and I’m finding it easier than I thought! Finding enough seasonal vegetables is remarkably simple – Simon of Mayflower Organics has a big range on his Sunday stall (see list of what’s available in March) and his veg are very good value: I can get a 5kg bag of Wilja or Nicola potatoes for £2.50, onions are £1.20 per kilo, beetroot or unwashed carrots £1 per kilo. You can get a big cabbage (savoy, tundra or January King) for £1. Some things are a bit more expensive, so I’m eating less of them while on the low budget: sprouting broccoli (which I love!) is £3 per kilo, and so are shallots and spinach, leeks are £2.40 and sprouts £1.80 per kilo. Salad things are a bit more (lettuce 80p each and parsley/coriander same price – but we are lucky to get them at all at this time of year!) I spent £14 for two people on veg for the first week, but I massively over-bought and only needed £6.50 for two the second week and £9 for the third, which means I spent an average of £5 a week to feed myself.
How Simon does it
I asked Simon how he grows and stores his vegetables. Most of his stuff at this time of the year comes straight out of the ground each week. He doesn’t use a cold store (very energy-intensive) to keep things – even in the height of summer he told me that he just uses a small fridge for some of the more delicate things very briefly to keep them fresh. In the winter, he grows his more delicate vegetables in unheated polytunnels: parsley, coriander, lettuce, rocket… In exceptionally cold weather he can’t produce them, but most of the time it’s fine.
Posted by Bev
