Five a day

My biggest problem is going to be getting my five a day*.  Oh no it isn't!  My biggest CHALLENGE is going to be getting my five a day.  There's not a lot left in the garden and there's not a lot of free food from other people's gardens once November is here so I shall have to some  some creative thinking.  (By the way, I give away garden produce as well as receive!)

I decided first to check on portion sizes.  I tend to think the more the merrier with vegetable (and to a lesser extent fruit) portions but although that will continue with cheaper veg, I want to make sure that even when I have the more expensive stuff I get enough  of each "five".   So I looked on the NHS website here.

The first place to check is (as always) the fridge and vegetable store.  I need to know what fresh food I have.  I  waste very little anyway but with a very limited budget I have to be extra careful.

First, I've got plenty of root vegetables.  When it comes to carrots, parsnips, potatoes and onions I'm covered for at least a couple of weeks.  

Salad vegetables have a much shorter shelf life.  I've got a portion of cooked beetroot, a portion of pepper, about three portions of tomatoes, one portion of celery, and one portion of cucumber.  I've also got a small green cabbage and a rather larger red cabbage.  

I think there may be some coleslaw on the way using some cabbage, carrots and a red onion.  There's a couple of days worth of chopped salad and maybe a tomato salad as well.  I may need to shop for fresh food before the weekend but I'll make sure the fridge is much emptier than now.  

*The current advice from our Health Service is that we should eat at least five portions a day of fruit and veg.  I am also very well aware that this is way below the recommendation in many other countries so I try and get more than five a day.  A quick count tells me that yesterday I had damsons. celery, cucumber, onion, pepper, tomatoes, sweetcorn apple and peas.