Food Box Challenge

On Mondays and Fridays we harvest vegetables for our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) boxes. Yesterday was one of those days. One box was left behind as does sometimes happen during the holidays. Subscribers are meant to let me know or organise for someone else to pick up their box. But you know we're all human and forget sometimes, so anyway I was left with a box of food.

Occassionally a customer will mention that they can't get through all the food, or don't know what to do with it all, so I set myself a little challenge to use the box of food as the basis for my week's menu and see how I go. Truth be told it shouldn't be much different to what we'd eat anyway, but we eat straight from the garden and pick only what we want. With the box there is a set amount to get through.

This was a small box and contained.. 6 eggs
                                                            3 lettuce
                                                            2 tatsoi
                                                            2 beetroot
                                                            parsley and basil
                                                            kale
                                                            siverbeet
                                                            1 cucumber
                                                            1 zuchinni
                                                             tomatoes
                                                             mustard greens

Last night we had spinach pie using the silverbeet, kale, mustard greens and outside leaves of one tatsoi and 3 eggs. I added this to an onion, and riccota cheese I had in the fridge. I had fillo pastry in the freezer.  I roasted one beetroot in the oven while the pie was cooking, and made a salad with some lettuce, the inside leaves of the tatsoi, parsley, 1/2 cucumber and 3 tomatoes. Mark's not fussed on salad so to make it more appealing I made a dressing from mayonaise, mustard and soy sauce, which he loved. He even went back for seconds. So far I've managed to use things on hand.

Today for lunch I had leftover pie and made a fresh salad the same as yesterday, but a little smaller as there was just me at home today.

Tonight we will have a roast dinner. I make a lentil roast which will use 2 more eggs, and I'll roast the last beetroot and the zuchinni along with some other vegies I have in the fridge.

That leaves only 1 egg, 1 1/2 lettuce, a handful tomatoes, 1/2 cucumber, basil, and outside leaves of tatsoi. And it's not even Wednesday yet. I don't know how people can't seem to use it up!!!

This is a small $15 box but the contents add up to double that. We are vegetarians so we do eat a lot of vegies, but I'm not sure why it would be hard for a couple to get through this. Can you?

I do give out recipes and menu advice sometimes if there is a larger quantity of a particular vegetable to get through. Maybe I need to look at doing that more. Most of our customers have been with us for 10 years now, but newer subscribers can drift away if they feel overwhelmed with the contents and I certainly don't want my precious vegies going to the garbage. It's certainly a different way of planning meals that takes a little getting used to if you're accustomed to shopping for a particular recipe rather than planning your meals around what's available.

How do you organise your family meals?

PS no photos again today due to slower than usual internet.