Fresh Veg

Jam (are you new, if so welcome) if you go to the recipe section there are loads of recipes for courgettes including a chocolate and orange courgette cake that sounds lovely.
I use chard instead of spinach so you can wilt it down and just replace it as an ingredient. And beans I freeze the excess and add to soups, stews and curries in the winter.
We've had a plague of rats on the allotment this year and they started eating all the sweet corn, but I've foiled (literally) the little buggars blighters by wrapping all my heads of corn in cheap tin foil.

I like to keep fresh fruit in the house for snacking, bananas are a favourite but my biggest whinge is pears - if you buy them "ripe and ready to eat" they are still hard and it takes a couple of days before they are ripe and then seem to go bad after about 30 minutes!!

Hi, we also have an allotment, this is our first year so it's a learning curve. Far more pests and diseases than frowning in your garden as the little blighters all congregate together! We have gluts of courgettes, beans, chard - anyone got any good glut recipes?

Like Aka we have an allotment. Produce that is picked and eaten immediately is so much tastier and our grandchildren love picking their own food. They are thrilled during the asparagus season and eat it like sweets. I grow peas in large pots at home for them to eat raw.
We have lovely lunches of whatever is ready. A typical lunch is beetroot, fennel, courgettes, garlic, onions etc. roasted in olive oil and balsamic vinegar with garlic bread to mop up the juices.

We gave up growing veg as we only had a small patch and are lucky enough to have a twice weekly market for good fruit and veg although I have to say I still buy a lot in Sainsbury. Most of my shopping is fruit and veg some of which we have at every meal. we stayed in an hotel last week and although the food was superb we are used to a lot more vegetables with our meals. I really don't like the way many restaurants now charge separately for veg and you get a weeny serving.

Had carrots, parsnips, sweet corn and potatoes (second earlies) from the allotment for tea tonight and tomatoes from the greenhouse. Followed by home grown blackberries, sweet and juicy.

All tasted far better than shop bought, but then they were harvested and cooked within an hour. And we only pick what we are going to eat that day.
Fresh sweet corn especially tastes nothing like shop bought.

And the bags are large, phoenix. DH hates bananas but I like one now and again so I don't want to buy twelve.

The only problem I have with Lidl veg is that with some items they only sell them by the bag. I love carrots with my Sunday roast, Mr P doesn't like them, so not being able to buy them loose is a pain.

I have only harvested a few cherry tomatoes so far this year, as yet, and they are lovely as usual, but have found larger bought tomatoes this year taste of nothing, no matter how good they look. It's been quite a shock on a couple of occasions. I started to wonder if there was something wrong with my taste buds.

I think it's disgraceful that we are expected to pay extra for fruit that is ripe - how crazy is that and half the time it isn't properly ripe for a couple of days.

That's true, Elegran. When I first started shopping in Lidl's, at least 15 years ago, I was disappointed with the proportion of their produce that came from overseas. Since then, they have made great strides and I am now able to find English apples there, though there's a better - and more expensive - variety of types in Waitrose.

The fruit and veg in Lidl is always very fresh (and cheap)

I agree, and a lot of the really fresh stuff is very expensive. I bought one apple in M&S the other day it was 72 pence. That's almost 17/6d!!!

I agree about the tomatoes, ours from the greenhouse are beautifull, as were the salad potatoes DH grew in hesian bags. I try not to buy fresh produce which has travelled thousands of miles, and tyry to find home grown or from the near continent.