A Bit of Belt Tightening

Photo © Rob Jones

This was a bit of an exercise.

People are tightening their belts at the moment, or at least beginning to realise that there may be some lean times ahead.

So … my mantras, developed over the years:

If you have more than enough, best not flaunt it. Share your good fortune.

If you have enough - be thankful and don’t take it for granted.

And if you don’t have enough - time to put your thinking cap on.

One of the supermarkets in town has started putting veg boxes by the tills and charging £1.50 for them which I think is staggering.

In my latest box … I received, 4 plums, 4 onions, a bunch of radishes, 4 apples, 6 pears, 3 long peppers, 1 green pepper, 1 avocado, 5 little oranges, a bunch of spring onions, a lettuce, a pot of coriander, and a pot of parsley.

Then it’s up to your ingenuity.

The parsley, lettuce, spring onions, avocado went into a salad.

The plums got stewed to make a plum sauce for some pork chops.

The oranges, apples and some pears became a fruit salad.

The onions, peppers, and radishes developed into a stir fry.

The rest of the pears joined the apples in making a tart.

Coriander married with some carrots to become a lovely soup.

I think that’s everything. And each dish was big enough for at least three hungry mouths.

All for £1.50 (with a few extras that were hanging about the house anyway. Bargain.

RJ