Standard of food in supermarkets.

[Kingfisher101]

The only thing about growing your own veg is that you have to enjoy gardening and digging etc. I think gardening is horrible at the best of times, but obviously you have to keep it somewhat decent.

 

[mudsticks]

The only thing about growing your own veg is that you have to enjoy gardening and digging etc. I think gardening is horrible at the best of times, but obviously you have to keep it somewhat decent.

Well obv, there's no reason why everyone should have to grow their own food, even if they have the facilities, that's why we need choices.

Some people enjoy growing food, or doing gardening for themselves.
Others not so much.

I don't particularly enjoy doing car mechanics, so although I 'could' do it, I pay other people to do that for me.

I'm quite good at growing food, and enjoy it (most of the time) it makes me a living.

Far more people could make a living this way if certain barriers to doing so, were removed.

 

[MontyVeda]

The supermarket produce offered will necessarily have many priorities before taste and even nutrition.

Their buyers generally demand conformity, and long shelf life, and they will nail the producer down on price to the last penny ...

I wish they'd stop washing the carrots and spuds. They used to last a hell of a lot longer when we could buy them with the muck still on 'em.
Washing them on our behalf makes no sense to me.

 

[mudsticks]

I wish they'd stop washing the carrots and spuds. They used to last a hell of a lot longer when we could buy them with the muck still on 'em.
Washing them on our behalf makes no sense to me.

I agree they last longer with the mud still on them.

Trouble is over thousands and thousands of tonnes of carrots and spuds that's many tonnes of topsoil that ends up in the sewers and ultimately having to be extracted by the water treatment companies.
Which is then wasted from the farm.

Topsoil is precious stuff, even though it's not treated as such all the time.

I don't wash the produce I sell, but that's in part because I grow on a light sandy loam.

If things get very very muddy I do sometimes get the hose out..

 

[oldwheels]

I wish they'd stop washing the carrots and spuds. They used to last a hell of a lot longer when we could buy them with the muck still on 'em.
Washing them on our behalf makes no sense to me.

If they give them a good soak they absorb some water which you then pay for ie less carrot for your money.
In a garden situation carrots get stored in dry sand and last the whole winter. I remember on farms potatoes were put in “ clamps” and lasted till spring. A clamp was a pile of dry potatoes in a pyramid shape and as long as needed. This was covered with straw to keep the frost at bay.

 

[Reynard]

Is it not also down to variety.
Tomatoes varieties for example are bred for quantity rather than quality.
My father was a professional gardener and was very particular about variety.
On the country estates where he served his early days they used to use the contents of what was really a septic tank for watering. This was said to improve the taste.

Yup, choosing the right variety is a biggie - often the difference between meh and really good. But it's something that you can't really learn except by experience. And that's true whether it's growing your own or buying in a supermarket. I've noticed, while shopping, that a lot of folk simply lob stuff in their trolley and move onto the next aisle. I like to take the time to look, to pick and choose - and check the varieties on the labels.

Lane Late oranges have an outstanding flavour, but are an arse to peel. No matter, it's nothing a fruit knife can't solve.

Rocha pears, while cheap, are unreliable when it comes to quality, so I won't buy them unless there's no other choice.

The red / orange mangoes are much sweeter than the green ones.

Lanorma potatoes really DO make the best jackets, with their creamy flesh and skin that goes nice and crispy. Mozart is brilliant for mash thanks to its nutty, buttery flavour, while I swear by the uber fluffiness of Maris Pipers for roasties and chips.

I grew Roma tomatoes last year, and they were rather underwhelming (tasteless) compared to the other varieties I grew, so I shan't be repeating that experiment this year. OTOH, both the Moneymaker and the Supersteak performed brilliantly, with both great flavour and good yields. The former were brilliant when it came to making chutney.

Recently bought a bag of heritage carrots on sticker. The purple ones had very little flavour - I guess the novelty here is the colour. The orange ones just tasted like regular carrots, so really didn't see the point of spending more money. However, the yellow ones were bloody lovely, and I wish I could *just* buy bags of the yellow ones.

 

[Fab Foodie]

The only thing about growing your own veg is that you have to enjoy gardening and digging etc. I think gardening is horrible at the best of times, but obviously you have to keep it somewhat decent.

To be honest I'm no gardener either, but to grow a good pile of Toms and Courgettes (not to mention the odd butternut squash) in pots is pretty quick to set-up and requires little maintainance.
We found the small Toms especially the baby plums grow like topsy. One year because we were moving house we planted nothing and the Tom's had self-seeded from the previous year, - we almost couldn't give them away....

 

[gbb]

I'm driven to say after this afternoons tea, Aldi inspired Cuisine Beef Lasagne from their fridge section...gorgeous.
Consistency was nice, lovely rich flavour, really flavourful, the best pre prepared meal we've had in some time...and only £3.69 for a kilo pack that easily does two people.
We'd buy it again in a flash...

 

[Fab Foodie]

Had these last night and they were delicious by supermarket standards.