Our Produce, supplying Staffordshire with great value local food

So says the latest edition of the East Staffs News on their green issues pages. They recommend reducing your carbon foorprint by taking into account the number of food miles the food you buy may have travelled. Growing your own veg is clearly the best, but if you can’t grow your own, and of course there is loads of food other than veg you are after, then supporting local producers is the best alternative as it will have travelled fewest miles, be fresher, healthier and support the local economy. That’s where Our Produce comes in: we do the miles to the producer for lots of customers all in one go, so you don’t have to! Everyone’s a winner.

Click http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/food/article-1298227/Tescos-misleading-claims-bread-just-tip-iceberg.html  to read this article, which was sent to me by a regular customer who was appalled by what she read in the newspaper this week about the mass produced ‘fresh’ bread sold in our supermarkets, and suggested I feature it in this week’s newsletter.  Luckily you don’t have to buy supermarket bread of course, as Our Produce sells truly fresh bread, really made from scratch and without preservatives, made by Lichfield-based bakers, Hindleys. Either that or you can bake your own using Claybrooke Mill’s organic flours. Good on you!

Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has urged families to tackle climate change by growing fruit and vegetables in their gardens and allotments instead of buying produce flown thousands of miles.

Of course I agree entirely with this sentiment, but it’s not always practical and there are writers who have already got into trouble for suggesting we all rear and slaughter our own pigs ( read Tom Hodgkinson)! However -the message is clear- we shouldn’t be buying imported food when we can buy local produce. We need to shake off our addiction to the supermarkets – it’s a myth to say local costs more. It doesn’t if you plan you meals,  just buy what you need and cook from simple raw ingredients (See Nigel Slater’s Simple Suppers – Wednesdays 7.30pm). It all tastes so much better, is so much better for you and saves the environment, why wouldn’t you take on board the Archbishop’s advice ?

Ok. Off soapbox…now!

As I was on my travels this morning collecting from the butchers, bakers and fruit farm I was thrilled to hear an article on Radio 4′s Today Programme about the current ‘eat seasonably campaign’. Two commentators were discussing the joy of anticipating your favourite fruits and vegetables coming into season and how much better they taste when eaten at the ‘right’ time of year. There’s a website you can visit: www.eatseasonably.co.uk.

It was also recommended that people get whatever they can straight from the local producer – but we all know that’s easier said than done! That’s where Our Produce provides the perfect solution – fresh, seasonal, local and affordable food brought to a collection point near you. Great, heh?! Spread the word and let everyone you know just how easy it is to eat seasonably and locally.

Forwarded from a loyal friend of Our Produce, these ideas featured in a recent edition of Good Housekeeping magazine and definitely seem worth sharing!

1. Add an inch of water to the bottom of the roasting tin when cooking turkey – it steams the bird as well as roasting it, leaving the meat lovely and moist ( a tip from Angela Hartnett – she runs the fabulous Murano restaurant in London and is a former protegee of Gordon Ramsay)
2. Keep your cooked ham joint in the fridge in a pillowcase. It will sweat in clingfilm or foil, but stored in a pillowcase it will last 2 weeks. Fold back the rind before you cut slices off, then cover the remaining ham with the rind as you go. ( A tip from John Torode of Masterchef fame)
3. To make your Christmas wreath last longer, spray with hairspray before you hang it on the front door!

I have to stress that I haven’t tried any of these but I’m interested to hear any other top tips you may have!

The average British family with children throws away over a quarter of all the food it purchases! Pardon?

These are the latest findings from WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme). They estimate that households throw away over £10 billion of edible food in England and Wales alone.

It’s just incredible in a world of soaring food prices, land shortages and starvation that anyone can be so selfish and plain stupid…yet clearly we are!

Plan your meals, use leftovers, don’t succumb to BOGOFFs. Be smarter. Save money.

 IT’S EASY; DON’T MAKE EXCUSES!!

Post your ideas for meal planning, recipes for leftovers, money saving tips here on the Our Produce blog. Spread the word!!