There IS such a thing as a free lunch!

And here it is, in the form of a free Organic Fruit & Veg Box from Abel & Cole, who have kindly sent me a sample of their supplies to test out.

Having been too busy to get to the market this week or indeed my local farm shop recently, it was fabulous timing to have this arrive on my doorstep this week. And with some freshly-made chicken stock in the fridge, I've now got all the ingredients to make a tasty vegetable soup, including leeks, carrots and potatoes.

Now I'm not known to normally welcome veg boxes. I have tried them before, but the problem I've had in the past is particularly at this time of year, they're usually full of all the vegetables Mr A doesn't like. So I end up giving the damn things away, which means they can be as useful as a chocolate teapot! However, I don't think I'll have such a problem with Abel & Cole's offer because you can simply choose what you want to leave in and what you'd prefer to leave out. So if a Swede's not your cup of tea, you don't have to drink it....if you get what I mean!

And as for reduced packaging, getting the produce delivered loose in the box is great! That's another tick in The Rubbish Diet list of requirements. The only thing that doesn't quite make the mark is the little punnet of cherry tomatoes which you can see poking up in the photo. However, in my neck of the woods I can recycle the plastic punnet and the wrapper too, so in the great scheme of things it doesn't matter.

So, as well as making the soup, I'm going to have a delve around the Abel & Cole recipe section for some cheap and cheerful ideas on how to make this free box of goodies last. But I musn't forget the Love Food Hate Waste site too, which is full of great ideas on using up all the leftovers.

Now I quite like the idea of a free lunch, especially during the credit crunch. So if you fancy a veg box yourself and sign up to Abel & Cole in February, just mention The Rubbish Diet and you'll get a Free Abel & Cole cookbook and I'll get some credit to my account too. Just call 08452 626262 or for more information, visit their website at www.abelandcole.co.uk.

Now where was I....ah yes celebrating the fact that there IS such a thing as a free lunch. The only problem is...you have to make it yourself. But if I play my cards right and get myself organised, I can see I'm going to have quite a lot of fun with this Veg Box...that's if I can tear myself away from the blog!

Right then...better stop blogging and start that cooking. See you soon x

______________________________________________________

On becoming an Urban Trolley-Dolly (and other adventures)

There's been much excitement in the Almost Average Household over the last few days.

We've been expecting... but not in the antenatal sense. Our deliveries have been much more straight-forward and far less painful.

I have become a regular visitor at our local market, but I have found the weight of the shopping quite strenuous. So this week I treated myself to the mother of all trollies, a beautiful black & white beauty. We're talking a gorgeous huge handbag on wheels.


I took it out on its inaugural trip into town today and it was a dream. I admit to feeling a bit self-conscious at first, as being a lady in my thirties (only just, I know) I didn't think I was ready for the Trolley Dolly Club quite yet. However, what we must remember is that we can learn a lot from our elders and trust me, after my outing today I can confirm that there are many advantages in simply wheeling your shopping around town rather than lugging it about with increasingly extending arms in a back-breaking fashion.

Before I actually left for town this morning, I also took delivery of my second arrival....The ORGANIC FRUIT & VEG BOX, which I ordered from our milkman last week. It was pretty hard to contain my excitement.

I rushed indoors...opened the box....

...and had a good rummage through the paper bags...




It was a bit like a lucky dip and really before ordering I should have thought twice about Mr A's vegephobe tendencies. It's not that he doesn't like vegetables, but there are some that make a distinct negative impression, bringing back childhood encounters of the culinary kind that he would much rather forget.

The carrots passed muster and surprisingly the cabbage and parsnips somehow managed to go unnoticed, but one look at the swede brought about the familiar turned-up nose accompanied by the fiery comment,

"I hope you're not going to try and make me eat that!"

I guessed that was the end of the swede. Not even I could give it much of a welcome, with my own faded memories of having to eat it mashed and mixed in with potato. What a funny vegetable, loved by some but disliked by many. I thought the best plan of action was to give it to a friend of mine who is a fabulous cook as she can do wonders with extraneous vegetables.

As soon as I handed it over, she quipped,

"Veg box delivery?"

I smiled and nodded my head and she quickly revealed that she'd already taken delivery of an unwanted aubergine from her daughter this week.

"Good", I thought, blessed in the knowledge that I'd discovered an excellent orphanage for unwanted vegetables, which should be a pre-requisite of any responsible veg-box customer.
However, if Mr A is fussy about winter root vegetables, I think I may have to hold off regular orders until the summer, when more salad options are available.

In the meantime, remembering that Mr A was out for the evening I decided to start as I meant to go on and I dug into the veg box in the hope of using the ingredients to make some fresh vegetable soup.

I flicked through a recent issue of the Good Food magazine, which offered a range of ideas for simple soups and in no time I found inspiration to make use of an onion, some carrots as well as some old peppers that were almost at death's door.


My "new adventures in soup land" were pretty much a success. It really was just a case of bunging in some vegetables with a dab of olive oil, adding some vegetable stock and just letting it all simmer before giving it a whizz in the blender. And cor blimey, some tasty soup appeared. However next time, I'll just remember to add less to the blender to prevent it spitting at me and perhaps blend it a little longer to avoid complaints about chunky carrots from the junior posse.


The great news is that I've avoided any form of plastic packaging today, so as far as The Rubbish Diet is concerned, progress is looking good. Thanks to the market shopping and the veg-box delivery, the only thing that I will have to throw in the black bin is the flimsy plastic bag, which contains the beef joint that I picked up from the butchers today. Everything else was provided loose or in a small paper bag that can be composted.

So, with the aim of Zero Waste, that's not bad, especially as it's only a couple of days before the official start of Zero Waste Week. More on that tomorrow.

____________________________________________________________________