Homegrown Meals

My son has a later football training on a Tuesday and I wanted to make sure there was a nutritious meal cooked to avoid the risk of grabbing something quick from the cupboards, or worse spending money on takeaways. I got meat from the freezer this morning and my husband put on the slow cooker with a beef stroganoff recipe. It cooked slowly all day and knowing we had something planned well in advance made one less thing to think about today.

 I ate it late when I got home and I really enjoyed it. The meat was incredibly tender and soft to eat and full of flavour. It was from a cow that we grew a couple of years ago and we ended up keeping all of the meat so we have been working our way through it. After seeing the meat prices at the supermarket at present I am very grateful we have this option of growing our own meat. I heard recently that despite New Zealand being a high producer of meat we still have to pay similar prices to the international market as there is such demand. No cheaper prices as locals! When I heard that I felt some gratitude toward the one cow that wouldn't follow the others down to the cattle yards the other day because it was uncertain about walking on the gravel in front of our shed! I was annoyed at the time as we were hoping to sell all 4 of our cows but when you are dealing with a 500kg+ animal you don't want to argue with it so we let him go back in the paddock and he will end up in our freezer. With the predicted price rise in meat coming and rising inflation it is probably the best thing!

The cabbage on the side was from our garden and my husband had cooked it lightly so was perfect to eat. I have not grown cabbages for several years and have been very pleased with my crop this year - especially as they have not been cheap to buy at the supermarket. I'm not sure of the reason but it is pleasing not being completely stuck having to pay supermarket prices to feed ourselves.

 I like knowing exactly where our food comes from when I can so I highly recommend putting in some vege plants if you have space to do so. Even if you have never done it before start small with easy things and before you know it you might find you are hooked by the thrill of going out to your own "supermarket" in the garden to get your food!