Veg Box: With regret...

It is with regret that I have made the decision to give up on the Veg Box scheme with Abel & Cole. As those that follow the blog are aware, I have been investigating its value for money and how it works for us as a family.


The weekly comparisons demonstrated that the box certainly wasn't the most economical way of purchasing organic, seasonal veg, although some weeks it proved to be much better value than others.

The joy of it being is a surprise once a week has been sadly replaced with a slight impending sense of disappointment. I think the straw that broke the camels back was the box before Christmas, (when the South of England was suffering extreme cold and wet weather) which contained a large proportion of salad items. Now to me that isn't doing what the preacher preaches. How can tomatoes, lettuce and spring onions be classed as December seasonals?

Surely, one of the main points of the box scheme is the sense of working in harmony with the seasons. Yes, I know that people do eat salad all the year round and I imagine that 'market forces' would be the business decision behind this - but quite frankly, for a cook, 4/10 items being salad is like a rainy birthday. I expect the winter boxes to be stacked full of squashes, brasicas, leeks etc.

The other reason is  my sense that the box is being bulked. By this I mean that lower cost produce is being used to bulk out the 'look' of the box. This was especially the case with the great big floppy lettuce, which has been an almost weekly addition since JULY and the celery that has also featured at a greater frequency - as it's not in season, it has proven to be stringy and tough and invariably ended up in the compost heap.

One of the other recurring bug-bears has been the addition of produce that just is not big enough to stretch to feeding four people. We get the £19.00 Large Family box, which in my mind should mean that if there is a cauliflower, or aubergines, or sweet potatoes, or peppers then it should be in enough quantity to make a serving for four. Too many times one of our veg has been just enough to feed two people. How can you serve four people on one red pepper?  Even the cauliflowers have been so small that they barely make a Sunday lunch spoonful - not alone a staple veg dish like cauliflower cheese for a family.

Then in two of the last four weeks, we have had produce that is either off or has such a short shelf life that it has looked unappetisingly tired. (We had broccli that had a mould patch growing on it and A bag of kale that went yellow within two days of being in the fridge.)

There are still positives about the scheme. It is undeniably convenient. Ethically, the idea rocks! It is comparable with other retailers, and certainly consistently cheaper than Waitrose. The element of surprise (when it is a more imaginative box) is certainly fantastic for a cook. Every now and then there is a little surprise in the box - such as a lovely globe of garlic this week and a mini mince pie the week before Christmas and a calendar (which we seem to have received twice)

So in short here are the following reasons why we are sadly giving it up

1. Not particularly good value for money.
2. Not seasonal.
3. Not varied enough.
4. Quality of produce. 
5. Quantity of produce. 

So our next exploration is going to be the Farmer's market in Twickenham. I'm planning on taking exactly £19.00 in cash and seeing what I get for my money. Stay posted for the results. 

Obviously, this is just the experience of our family and I am sure that there are many families and their cooks who find the veg box scheme works for them really well. I'd love you to post your comments and to open up a discussion on the merits and fall backs. 

Bargain of the Week: Cast Iron Casserole Pot JUST £25.00

Two weeks before Christmas, a terrible tragedy took place in our kitchen. I was cooking a beautiful kleftico lamb shoulder joint in my lovely blue le Creuset casserole dish - on what I thought was a very low heat. Somehow amongst the chaos the cooker knob found its way to over 200c. The result, when we returned home from the park, was a very sad looking piece of lamb and a burned out le Cruset dish.

I literally wept. At over £120.00 a throw, my le Creuset casserole is - was - a beloved item. It was used at least three to four meals a week and waved a magic wand over casseroles and slow roasts. There was no way with Christmas approaching that I could justify spending out on a cooking pot. (Despite them being 25% off in the Bentals department store.)

So after a very Le Creuset bereft Christmas, imagine my delight at finding this little baby in Sainsbury's. It's currently half price at £25.00 which is a snip. It weighs, feels and looks like a Le Creuset, and so far the early signs are that it is going to cook just like a Le Creuset. It's got a great weight to it and is sturdy and solid. 

The offer runs until 29th January 2013. 

DEAL OF THE WEEK: LEG OF LAMB

This weeks Deal of The Week is from Tesco and it is their leg of lamb at better than half price offer.

£5.00 a KG I got two, one to cook and one to stash away in the freezer. At around £10-£12 a whole leg, it is some of the cheapest lamb I have seen in a long time. If I had a chest freezer I would have taken at least four of these little babies and stuffed them in it for special occasion roasts.

It's often a good way of economically buying meat as one leg will do several meals. We often follow the following pattern to maximise the value, Roast dinner, Curry, Stuffed Pitta Breads with Tzaki dip. That way you get three good small family meals off of it. To be able to create three family meals with £10 worth of meat is an increasing challenge and shows what good value this is.
This time, I decided to deviate from my usual method of slow-roasting it and I braised it in a bottle of cheap French Beaujolais in the following method. (Roast on high for 20 mins until golden skin - pour over whole bottle of wine and turn down oven to around 150 cook for 1hr 30mins. Remove, baste repeatedly and then put back in oven for a further 1hr 30mins.)

Serve with Creamed Onions.

Peel and cut onions into halves. Lay in a heavy based oven dish.
Salt and pepper.
Chop a whole tin of anchovies finely and scatter over onions
Pour a whole carton of double cream over the top.
Place in oven with the lamb at 150 for around 1hr 30.

Rich Red Wine Sauce

Remove Lamb and set aside to rest. Skim off the fat from the wine in the roasting tin. Place into cooker top and add 2 tbsp of redcurrent jelly. Reduce down until thick and unctuous.

Finds of The Week

Proof that taste doesn't always mean splashing out lots of cash. This week my Find of The Week isn't directly culinary but it's close enough in theme to share with you.
Near to my Mum is a hyper-store called What! It's a large industrial hanger type retail outlet that specialises in cheap emporium items and household wears. Think of a slightly posher version of PoundLand. Pretty much anything you need or didn't know you needed is sold here; from wallpaper to foil food containers, from party table wear to bird feeders - well you get the impression.
This week I went with the strict self-instruction of going in to get one item - a pair of angel wings. (Which have been surprisingly hard to source this year, clearly there is a national shortage of angels) I managed to get a fantastic pair of wings and was doing so well on the whole one-item-disciplin thing when I spotted their festive candle aisle. There was no hope, it was like being a child in a sweet-shop.
I managed to pick up these gorgeous bark wrapped candles for just 99p and £1.49. They were exactly what I had been coveting in the trendy home design stores but balking at paying £7.99+ (The above is for 2 and including your postage and packaging comes out at £14.50 - a whopping 1400% higher price difference!)

Remind me next time to buy a whole truck load and set myself up on Etsy lol!

As well as these, I managed to get a great pair of over-sized lime washed candle sticks for £4.99 each and I've topped them with their 'wedding range' candles which are cream with grey hearts and nordic style patterning. Similar candlesticks retail at around £15.99 a piece.

So now the house is almost decked and full of candlelight, it really feels like the Christmas holidays can begin.

Game

We all know the mantra that if you want to eat well and cheap, then eat seasonally. This is never truer than when we are talking about Game.

This is one of the reasons that late autumn is my favourite time of year - it's game season. Often seen as the food of 'posh folks' and foodies, game is misunderstood and underly used. Game actually has humble origins - it is the food of the hunter and the poacher.

Whenever I eat game, I feel an attachment to the food I eat and its part in the greater cycle of nature and life. Eating game feels right - it feels natural and at this time of year you can buy it really cheaply.
We tend to go a bit glutton on it and buy a whole load for the freezer to see us into the spring.
We are very fortunate that there are a lot of game retailers on our doorstep. A trip to the fishmongers this week saw me bringing home (literally) a carrier bag of it. Goose breast, wild duck breasts, Guinea fowl breasts, Venison, partridge, pheasant supremes and Wood pigeon breasts. Carrying home that weighty carrier bag made me feel all cave-woman and came in at around £30.00. For that we have several months of 'Friday night suppers.' When you compare this to what you might pay in a restaurant, £30.00 for a carrier bag full of meat is a relative bargain.

It was the hubby's birthday last week and we went to the 'famous' restaurant Rules up in big town. (A very special, indulgent treat - and definitely champagne budget. But such a blowout is few and far between since having the children) The roast partridge dish there was £26.00 a head (your sides were extra at £4.50 a pop). On Saturday we got our partridge for £2.99 each (or we could have had four birds for £10.00.) Suddenly the wallet seems a little more pained.

Amongst our friends we've found that they are definitely two camps. Those that haven't and don't want to try game and those that tried it once or twice and are no addicted to the stuff. There seems no middle ground when it comes to this. One of our friends has taken his love of game and the thrill of eating wild things to the furthest extreme - his most recent game experience being the eating of Puffin when he and his girlfriend visited Iceland last month. I asked him if it tasted of Chicken or Steak - he laughed and said "imagine a chicken that's eaten too much fish!'

Such is our love of Game (sea and land) that when we had an October wedding way back when, the wedding meal consisted of Crab terrine followed by Venison Pie. I'm not sure that all of our guests thanked us for that - but hey, it was our day.

So with all that game in the freezer, expect to see a lot of game recipes in the next few months on The Frugal Snob. If you haven't tried it before, start with Guinea Fowl - it tastes just how you think chicken aught to taste (how you're sure it tasted in the good old days). Treat it just like chicken and you'll thank me.

Enjoy and have a wonderful holiday season.

TO VEG BOX OR NOT TO VEG BOX WEEK THREE

This week's veg box. 

There's been a little bit of a break in this research project as I have spent November participating in NaNoWriMo (An international writers' challenge in which you attempt to write a 50,000 word novel within the month) As you can imagine, this has left very little time for blogging - or cooking. However, novel is written and the family are relieved that their month of experiencing many packaged meals is over.

So back to the research: To Veg Box or not To Veg Box WEEK THREE.

This week's box was crammed full - it's always the best season for the veg box. Stuffed full of fabulous root vegetables which stretch meals in the most tasty and economical way. However disappointed to see that they are still putting lettuce and tomatoes in  (I could always option these out but that would mean cheating and checking the box.) The inclusion of lettuce does make a box filler and I suppose salad is good for you.

There were a good amount of leeks but the same old same old with the size of the aubergine. The green kale will not have much of a shelf life, there are traces of yellow on the edge already, so unless eaten within next couple of days, it will most likely go off.

ITEM	WEIGHT	ASDA	TESCO	SAINSBURYS	WAITROSE OCADO
Mushrooms chestnut	250g	1.00	1.25	1.30	1.49
Green Kale	400g	n/a subs cabbage 1.59	n/a sub cabbage 1.30	organic n/a sub finest range 1.50	n/a sub cabbage 1.19
Carrots	500g	0.67	1.24	0.76	0.89
Celeriac	500g	1.40	1.40 (not organic)	1.48 (not organic)	2.79
Potatoes	1kg	1.47	1.16	1.73	3.38
Green Cabbage	each	0.76 (not organic)	1.30 (pointed)	0.80	1.39 (Pointed cabbage)
lettuce	Each	1.00	1.20	1.50	1.40
Red Pepper	Each	0.93	0.88	0.93	1.90
small aubergine	210g	0.75 (not organic)	0.90 (not organic)	1.35	1.00 (not organic)
Tomatoes	600g	1.80	1.75	2.00	1.37
Parsnips	500g	1.50	1.50	1.35	1.99
Leeks	400g	1.50	2.00	2.00	1.99 (not organic)
TOTAL 18.50 Number of N/O items		14.37 (-4.13) 2	15.88 (-2.62) 2	16.70 (1.80) 2	20.78 (+2.28) 2

VERDICT.
Looking a little bit like an expensive option this week. It's quite a price differential between Asda prices and the Abel & Cole veg box (22% less expensive). This could be due to the fact that the supermarkets are getting very competitive with their seasonal veg in the run up to Christmas.

Potato, Stilton and Celery Gratin

This dish epitomises both the words luxury and frugality - ultimate comfort food and just what is needed to warm the cockles on an icy-cold day like today.
If you're like us and don't eat that many potatoes, there comes a time when you're drowning in them (if you're part of a veg box scheme) and this is a great dish to use up a whole kg bag in one go.
It's basically a potato bake but it's elevated by the humble ingredient of celery and the indulgent but affordable ingredient of Stilton cheese (Tesco do an 'Every Day Value Stilton that has just won a Taste 2012 award - and it's good, as good as any expensive stilton we've bought) I have to admit that this isn't entirely my own invention and is an adaptation of a recipe card that came with our Abel & Cole box last winter.

It's the perfect accompaniment to Steak as the stilton makes a classic marriage but it also makes a perfect supper dish if served with a nice fresh green salad.

For this you will need:
1kg of potatoes (preferably the waxy kind)
2 leeks
3 sticks of celery
Stilton to taste (I usually use around 1/2 a block)
Handful of other fridge remenant cheese - grated.
Milk
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper to season

Wine choice. A white bourgone although if having with steak will stand up to a lighter red such as a Chateau Neuf de Pape or a Chianti.

Chef's album choice: Cooked on an ice-cold day, it's got to be Kate Bush, 50 Words for Snow.
Setting & Props: Light a candle and stick the fire on. You may even choose to go all nordic-cool and put on a proper jumper. Good to eat with just a fork.

Total cost: approx £4.00 serves 4 as a side dish or 2 as a supper dish


MAKING IT:

Peel and thinly slice 1/2 the potatoes as thinly as possible. Ideally you should be able to see the knife blade through them. Layer up in the base of a heavy oven-proof dish which you have greased with butter or olive oil. Season.

Cut one of the leeks in half length ways and then thinly slice. Sprinkle over your potato layer. Do the same with one of the sticks of celery.
Peel and thinly slice 1/3 of the potatoes and layer up. Continue alternating potato, celery, leek and stilton until you reach the top of your dish with a top layer of potato.

Season liberally, and then pour over a mug full of milk.

Place in a low oven (approx 100c) for approx 1 -11/2 hours - or until cooked. You'll know it's cooked because of the colour and by inserting a knife into the middle of the bake - there should be no resistance. If you find your top potatoes are cooking too quickly, cover in foil for 20 mins and then take off to finish. Scatter a handful of grated cheese over the top and return to the oven for ten minutes.

Serve as a side to steak, chicken or as a supper dish with a side salad.