I love growing my own spuds. Â Today, I dug up 2 kg (4 lbs) of volunteer potatoes from my garden. Â Yes, volunteers!
These spuds were ones I missed from the last of the summer harvest and grew over winter. Â Fantastic and certainly one to put in the lazy gardener category. Â Free spuds without any work except to dig them up.
This got me thinking of the last time I was in the supermarket when I saw prepackaged, peeled spuds and carrots ready to roast.
It never ceases to anger me when I see everyday items like this, packaged in the name of so-called convenience, wrapped in layers of plastic, slightly processed, with a token sprig of rosemary packed with it.
Do supermarkets think that consumers really are that lazy that they either don’t know how to peel and chop vegetables, or would rather pay at least four times the price of a couple of spuds with a bit of dirt on them? Â Just craziness. Â But I suppose some would.
The more sustainable alternative is that you could buy some cheaper spuds, peel them yourself, toss in a little olive oil and roast them. Â All the while saving a small fortune in the process.
Or even better still, throw a back of seed spuds in the ground, wait a few months, dig up, wash, and cook. Â Saving even more money!
The ultimate method is the one I mentioned at the start of the post. Â Do nothing, wait for volunteer spuds to grow, harvest, wash, cook. Â Cost = Zero!
Potatoes are one of the easiest vegetables to grow and there are just so many varieties that it boggles the mind.  There is a potato to suit every cooking method.
So do yourself a favour, and grow some spuds today!
That reminds me of an advertisement for peeled and sectioned clementines; which must be the easiest citrus to peel! Madness.
It would be funny if it wasnt so sad. I walked past a shelf of pumpkin last night cut up into cubes for soup, Cut up into wedges for roasting. Hello, grab the section of pumpkin on the next table and cut it. Or like you, throw a seed in the ground. You know people are buying these because the section has expanded. Supermarkets are encouraging the next generation who cannot prepare ingredients or cook.
As for free potatoes, not a chance with Miss Tilly. Instead of a truffle pig, i have a potato dog and she will find them, dig them up and put them somewhere to rot before she brings them inside and buries them down the back of the couch. Im now growing them in a raised container.
I have volunteers in the greenhouse i need to go dig up and discover what’s ready to grow and what needs chitting.
I just love to see the polystyrene trays with 3 bananas gladwrapped therein. Or the tubes of avocado, ready mashed to spread on your toast. Or, jars of crushed garlic. Or or or…
If you think thats bad – my local fresh food supermarket sells pre packaged snack portions of pre cut up food , hideously overpriced & excessively packaged . Are we that time poor as a country that we cant find enough time to cut up apples & package up dates & berries..
I cant see how any focus group could have thought that this was a good idea…
Crazy
It is indeed crazy Jill. Nothing boils my blood faster than seeing food packaged and sold as convenience when it clearly is not.
I just did the same thing today Gavin, dug up a heap of volunteer potatoes all ready for dinner tonight. you just can’t beat it and like you said, it cost 0.
Brilliant work Sue. You can’t beat spuds for nothing.
I plant 7 kg potatoes every year;
This year I harvested 135 kg of them.
The year before 160 kg.
It’s really that easy.
And it’s fun.
Great return on investment John. Better than the stock market!