First my stalk had 975 grammes of sprouts on it which works out at £1.29 per kilo. Sainsbury's has sprouts for £2 per kilo this week so I was still in the lead. However, assuming that a Sainsbury stalk yields the same as mine did, I also noted that it is cheaper to buy loose sprouts than it is to buy a sprout "tree", as Sainsbury calls it.
I weighed my sprouts after I had trimmed them and found that I have 780 grammes of trimmed vegetables. That means that the ready-to-cook price is just over £2 per kilo. Some of these I have frozen, some I will eat over the next few days.
As a matter of interest I checked the price of frozen sprouts at Sainsbury. £1.30 per kilo. If cost is one's only criterion, frozen sprouts are the way to go! They win over both sprout trees and loose sprouts.
PS I have kept the top to use as spring greens as well - I think of that as free food!
We now buy more frozen veg than fresh, our main reason is we only take from the bag what we need, often fresh produce is prewrapped and weighed, and almost always it's more than we want. BUT we have a new veg shop opened in our village, and every thing is loose, our hope is to use them 2 -3 times a week, and therefore get just what we need when we need it.
ReplyDeleteI use quite a few frozen veg (peas, sweetcorn, broad beans spinach especially) but when I can buy fresh local vegetables I like to do so. While I have a little time on my hands it seems good to look carefully at everything (cost, convenience, texture, flavour etc).
DeleteWell done for all your weighing and comparing. I keep a couple of bags of frozen veg in the freezer, they are very useful 'standbys' but sometimes a recipe needs fresh veg. My other dilemma is the whole plastic packaging issue. It is not straightforward is it?
ReplyDeleteThe stalk of sprouts seemed to tick a lot of boxes - local, no packaging. The other thing is as Poppypatchwork says, frozen may reduce food waste. It's definitely not simple!
DeleteI must admit I do miss the roadside stalls of Lincolnshire. I prefer a tree they are so fresh and tasty, like you the tops always come in handy too.
ReplyDeleteYes, the roadside stalls tick lots of boxes for freshness, seasonality, no plastic, and in these times, socially distanced shopping.
DeleteI love sprouts and you can't beat a sprout tree. I do buy frozen but I have a good feel to make sure they are small sprouts and not baby cabbages!! Your sprout tree has served a purpose, you've run the car, you can pick what you want and have the tools as extra. No plastic involved.
ReplyDeleteWin: win: win! Aren't I lucky.
DeleteHere it seems as if sprouts go on sale quite often. I always buy fresh when they do. Our frozen ones taste slightly funny to us.
ReplyDeleteI have never seen a sprout tree before. I think I would enjoy buying sprouts that way.
God bless.
I think the growers quite like selling them that way as it saves on labour for them! It's the first time I have bought one as I have previously grown them and would pick as needed.
DeleteGood on you for getting fresh vegetables from your local roadside stall. They were once prolific here but numbers have dwindled greatly over the past years as weekly Farmers Markets have become the trend. I don't like Brussel Sprouts so wouldn't be buying them tree or otherwise :-)
ReplyDeleteThere are far fewer here than there were yesteryear. I find the local farmers' markets very expensive and also so tempting that I way overspend.
DeleteIs any part of the stalk usable? I've never bought a sprout 'tree' but it sounds like a good idea if you get something for soup out of the leaves and possibly the upper part of the stalk - stock maybe? - as well as the sprouts themselves. I enjoy cauliflower leaf and stalk soup and suspect something similar might be achieved with sprouts.
ReplyDeleteInteresting thought. I've never tried! I've checked and it is edible but I think it would take rather long cooking. It really is tough, much tougher than broccoli stalk. According to various websites it might be worth a try. (Mine has already been disposed of.)
DeleteI have never seen brussel sprouts on a 'tree'. That is fascinating.
ReplyDeleteWhen I grew brussels sprouts the bottoms of the stalks were always ready before the tops so I just picked them from the bottom up. Frozen sprouts are much more convenient though.
ReplyDeletexx