Saturday, December 15, 2007

Food Co-Op

I found a organic food co-op in Brunswick, yay! The way it works is several households all put their money together to buy bulk organic fruit and veg. It cuts out the middle person, saves money as a result and travel time. On Fri I picked up my first box. I decided to try a $20 box to see how it goes. If it is not enough I can get a $40 box next time.

To give you some idea of what types of things you get, I took this pic inside my fridge:


I also got about half a dozen potatoes and there are more kiwi fruit and apricots in the egg section of the fridge. What you get changes all the time depending on cost and what's in season. I was impressed that there are about 4-5 zucchinis in the box but wish there was more greens and more variety when it comes to fruit. Mr T and I are thinking that we might get fruit and veg from the food co-op once a fortnight and the other week go the market where we can also get grains and legumes and other items.

It is going to have to change the way we do things though. Generally Mr T and I sit down on the weekend and plan a weeks worth of meals. We generally find a couple of new recipes to try each week in either our cookbooks or online and then go and buy the ingredients to make those and other tried and tested meals. This time we need to do the opposite and plan the meals based on the ingredients we have. I have to admit it freaks me out a little. I know that most people reading this probably think the opposite as almost every blogger I know tends to just make recipes up out of thin air but I like to at least have some sort of recipe to start with. Thankfully, Mr T does most of the cooking and is more creative than me. But on the two nights that I am going to cook I am clueless as to what I will make. I am also unsure how I will go spreading out the veg over the week. Any one have any easy recipes using zucchini, eggplant, potatoes, tomatoes, apricots and/or carrots?

2 comments:

  1. That eggplant is so purple! I've never seen them like that. Mine are usually more black. That looks like a pretty good variety for $20.

    We usually make pasta sauces with eggplant, though eggplant, zuke, carrots and potatoes sounds like the base of a delicious veggie pie. I like to mash the potatoes and grate the carrot, zuke and eggplant, then mix it all with gravy for a really thick filling.

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  2. I think it's a pretty good deal especially considering they are organic!

    Mr T made ma po tofu dish with the eggplant. But that's a great suggestion for next time. Thanks!

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