A familiar voice is back with us... Allyson Gofton!
Allyson Gofton has been cooking for New Zealanders for nearly 30 years. She is known for her recipes and columns in magazines.
We are constantly talking about the cost of living and grocery prices going up – Allyson will have some tips and tricks to make your dollars go further at the supermarket.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Carry Woodham Mornings podcast from News
Talks EDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Good to have you with us here this morning on
Marta Riki Mornings. Here on News talks 'B. I'm Francisca Radkin.
I'm with you until midday. We've got one of our
holiday specials for you, and I'm absolutely delighted to have
Allison Gofton joining us this morning on the show for
this our good morning. How are you?
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Good morning, Francesca, Well, I'm just jolly can you?
Speaker 2 (00:34):
I am very good? Thank you? Is it a beautiful
day where you are?
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Yes, I'm in Cambridge and the sky is beautifully pale,
blow It's just a gorgeous morning. There's you on the
grass and it's beautiful outside.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Fresh but lovely, fantastic. Now I hear that this week
you were listening to a little bit of talk back
with Kerry Woodham in the mornings and I'm not sure
what the conversation was, but you were talking that there
was some sort of talk about packets of coleslaw.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
A conversation. Sorry, no, you go for it.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Tell the story.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
The conversation of food waste was topical this week around
New Zealand and Kerry had a session on it, and
I was driving and I was listening and a lady
ring in and she spoke about the size of the
packets of Coldslaw and how that they were too big
and that if they sold them in smaller sizes it
would mean that you wouldn't throw out what you didn't use,
(01:32):
and parts of me on the inside was screaming, well,
why don't you make it yourself, and the other parts,
of course was going, yes, well it would be nicer
if we could buy smaller amounts, And it started me
thinking about this whole concept of food waste and where
you can save money as well when you go to
the supermarket. And I don't know about your supermarket, Francesca,
(01:53):
if you even go to the same one, but there's
been a complete change in how the produce is displayed
in the one here in Cambridge, which is interesting because
a lot of sports people in Cambridge, because the head
of sporters down here for New Zealand elite sport, so
we have a lot of athletes. If you don't keep
fitness at a high level down here, you feel really unset.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
Let me tell you.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
With all the young people that walk around and they're fabulous.
Speaker 5 (02:17):
What's closed?
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Excuse me? And the one side of the fresh fruit
and vegetabable department is now all packet leafy greens. And
that's fabulous if you happen to like leafy greens. But
they are one of the places where you can save
money and stop food wastage if you could just buy
(02:40):
the item hole. And so Coleslaw came to mind. And
yet I know you buy a packet and you never
get to eat it all. And the thing that I
would really like to get across to people today, I suppose,
is that the more processed in the purchase of your
food that you are. So if you're buying your lettuce shredded,
(03:00):
your coal saw shredded, the faster it will go off,
the more likely you are to have food waste. So
if you buy it hole, it will stay better, longer
in your fridge. And so once you open those packets,
their shelf life is minimal, and we do get a
lot of food waste from that and a.
Speaker 6 (03:19):
Lot of cost.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Such a good point, Allison, because that's my frustration. Often
I'm very lazy and I grab a bag of salad
and then when I go to use it, it's not
really it's done. It's best before holded in the bottom. Yeah,
or it just smells off. And I mean, you know,
even though I feed it to the worms, I do
think to myself, still not make me feel good about this.
This is a waste of money, and you know food waste.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
When you buy a packet of spinach leaves. Now, the
baby spinach leaves might be quite delicious, but they are
about four dollars twenty four dollars sixty for a bag
one hundred and twenty gram. So you just grab that
and you go, oh, that will do for our salad tonight.
That's the equivalent of thirty three dollars of kilogram that
you are paying for that. And I doubt if we
would waste meat if we were paying thirty three dollars
(04:06):
a kilogram for it. But for some reason, when it
comes in a packet like that and it's just some
spinach leaves, we don't care to think too much about it.
One of the things you can do is when you
open up your packet, is when you haven't used it all,
splunch the top of it up and blow into it. Okay,
get your breast and blow into it and feel it
(04:26):
down so it's got a bit of air on the
inside of it.
Speaker 5 (04:29):
That will help.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Keep it fresher or longer. Then you just folding it
up and putting it in the bottom of your refrigerator.
It's not going to save it for days, but it
will help keep it crispier for a couple of days.
And if you just do that simple little trick. And
the other thing you can do is buy your spinach
as a whole bunch, take it home, and you don't
(04:51):
need very much water. But you put a dribble of
water into a seelable bag. You put the spinach le
leaves into the bag, the stem end down into the bag,
so it's just in the water, blow it up, put
it in your fridge, and it will last for a
considerably longer time than you would if you just bought
the spinach leaves. And it will be much much cheaper.
(05:14):
In fact, you know, even if you were to buy
silver beet, which is the ultimate and goodiness into you
if you can get that that clocks out at about
four dollars per kilogram in your supermarket compared to your
thirty three dollars or thereabouts for spinach leaves, and so
I think if we were to think a little bit
better about how we purchase and how to keep that
(05:36):
in your pantry and your fridge and your freezer, we
might find that you can stop some of that food waste.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
It's fascinating, and you sent through some other figures as well,
for lettuce and mushrooms and beetroot, and even cheese is
another really good example as well, isn't it, Allison.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Cheese is a fabulous example because we've all got so
busy that the convenience, which is what we are buying,
we are buying time back to ourselves by buying it
be prepared, the convenience cost you so cheese, for example,
and I just took Colby on the supermarket website last
night was on special. It was seventeen dollars a kilogram,
(06:13):
aim and to find it horrendous. But if you're to
buy it grated, it's up to twenty one twenty two
dollars a kilogram, you're paying an extra five dollars now
grated cheese again, once it's processed down into a finer,
into a fine estate. So we get buying it grated,
it is more likely to go moldy faster than if
(06:34):
you've got a block of cheese.
Speaker 5 (06:36):
But what you can do with cheese, and.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
I must admit I don't do it all the time,
is that you can actually shake it out to the
whole bag so it's nice and even not too much
at one end of that bag, and pop it in
your freezer and you can take it out a handful
of a time to add to a cheese sauce or
to put on a cheese sandwich and all of those things.
So that will help keep the cheese longer. But buying
(07:00):
it whole and grating it yourself will save you money.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
And if you're really lazy Ellison like me, and you
love the convenience, and you get that block of cheats
home and you know that you're going to want it
grated because the kids are using it for toasts all
various things. You can just crate a whole lot at once,
can't You put in a SnapLock bag and there you go.
You've done the job yourself.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
It could like you've done the job yourself.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
It's not that this is fascinating so we're talking.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
I'm with you on the convenience because I too have
children and it's much easier but also at this time
when there's a cost of living crisis, every little bit
helps and keeping it well and having a few tips,
like sliced bread, it's one of the big things we
throw away well. Slic spread is really moist. And if
you take your slice bread packet after you've taken out
(07:49):
a couple of slices to toast for breakfast that morning,
and you give it a turn and seal the top
down and maybe tire not in it, like most of
us do, put it to one side, excuse me, it's
going to get It's going to sweat on the inside
of that plastic bag, and of course it's going to
go muldy fast. So while I don't suggest you always
(08:11):
keep your bread in the fridge, one of the better
places for you if you're only going to use the
bread for your toast and you're in a hurry, you
can either take half of it out and pop it
in a bag and keep it in the fridge and
you can freeze the other half, or you can keep
it in the fridge anyway and that will slow down
that aging process. But left in a warm kitchen while
you're at work, yes, it will sweat in the plastic
(08:34):
bag and it will go off quicker.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
I've got a teenager at home going, Oh no, Allison,
you've just touched a nerve because some one of my
kids always leaves the toast on the bench where the
sun comes in throughout the day. And I get home
and I go, wow, I'm just gonna I'm just gonna
write your name on that life. That's yours, mate, It's
all yours.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
Yes, it's gonna go off faster, penill and smell all
over it.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Look, we're talking about ways to save money and to
save food waste. Love to hear from you. You might
have a question for Allison about how better to manage
some of your food storage and things like that, or
you may have some great advice for us as well.
Love to hear from you. Oh wait, one hundred eighty
ten eighty is and amble to call you can text
on ninety two ninety two. I've had a little bit
of a perphany, Ellison, because I've started doing my supermarket
(09:18):
shopping online and then going and picking it up. And
it's so much easier online to see what the cost
is per kilogram than it is actually in the supermarket.
So then you've got all the options in front of
you on your screen, and you just and I've been come,
I've gone, I K I'm finally using this. And I
know that it's available in a lot of supermarkets. It's
(09:40):
there for you. But how often do you sort of
stand the supermarket now down the r going okay, this
one's this one, this was, you know, but having it
all on one screen in front of me, I'm now going, oh, now,
that's interesting. So if I buy it like this, it's this,
or if I buy often, you know, if you buy
more it becomes cheaper as well per kilogram and things.
(10:00):
So I found that really useful for making me actually
pay attention and think about it.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
While I feel as if we've gone back to the future. Actually,
Francesca as a young kid, and I mean under ten,
my mother would have the groceries delivered. I'm from Australia,
from Tasmania and we didn't have a supermarket, and so
the groceries would delivered the feud that you wanted. The
vegetable lady came out on a Wednesday and we bought
it out at the back of her car and we
were in the town and the butcher delivered the meat
(10:29):
on a Tuesday morning. Monday was the day for the avatoire.
Speaker 5 (10:31):
Tuesday you'd get mad.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
And what it sounds very old fashioned, awfully quaint, And
what it did do is you only got what you needed.
You didn't buy anymore. And so buying online is a
fabulous way to actually save money and to join in
with getting good value the specials and only buying what
you need. In fact, we do know from research you
(10:56):
never send a husband or a boyfriend to the supermarket
because they are more likely to come back with things
that you don't need and forget the things that you did. Sorry, men,
but that's the truth, that's true.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Although I'm just as bad Alison. If I go into
a sleeper market hungry, I'm in trouble. So yeah, you
know it happens to the beast of us.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
Very quickly.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
I'm going to take a break that I'm going to
get to the calls the cause they're coming in, but
very quickly. Can you freeze? Left?
Speaker 5 (11:19):
Hang on?
Speaker 4 (11:19):
Where am I?
Speaker 6 (11:20):
Where am I?
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Where am i?
Speaker 4 (11:25):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Somebody asked about free Look, the texts are coming in
so fast now I cannot Oh, silver beet does it freeze?
Speaker 6 (11:31):
Well?
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Only after it's being cooked? Okay, yes, Otherwise, what happens
anything that has a high percentage of water in it's
so thinking, couset, let us selver beet put them in
a freezer. They will look like the leaves are frozen.
When they defrost, they turn into total mush because.
Speaker 6 (11:50):
They're full of water.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
They don't have any body to them.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
And another thing, Elise and a few people are just
questioning the advice to blow into the bag of the
salad bag. Ever, you know a lot of viruses around
it this time of the year.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
If you're on your own, go for it right on
your sake, goodness sake, Come on people. If you've got
a cold, of course you wouldn't do it, But if
you otherwise, you just blow it in and it actually
provides an environment where the food can actually not go
off because I think it's I'm going to say carbon dioxide.
Speaker 5 (12:24):
Have I got that right?
Speaker 3 (12:25):
When you breathe it out into the bag, the plants
absorb it and so they actually survived longer. I was
taught that a long time ago by a man who
threw herbs, one of Australia's biggest growings of herbs, and
he taught us that and It's an amazing trick to
keep things alive in your fridge.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Just use a bit of common sense with it.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Thank you, Allison back with your calls in just a moment.
My guest is Alison Gofton and joining us now is
die Hi die, oh.
Speaker 5 (12:52):
Hi, Francisca, Hi Alison, Alison. It's great. But what you're
suggesting with the spinach and and you know, the saving
food waste one of the problems I have because when
you're on your own, you can only buy a certain
amount and otherwise at the rest it's really hard to
keep it fresh. So one of the things I know
(13:13):
for sure is about nine years ago up in Nelson,
in Fresh Choice So used to have the large boxes.
I don't know if they still do it now. I
think it disappeared a while ago, but they had the
large boxes of spinach leaves and baby lettuce and so
(13:34):
you could just basically pick the amount that you needed
and purchase that rather than have it all bagged up.
And I keep thinking, why on earth don't they go
back to that, And even if they provide this with
the cellophane bags, it would be so much less waste.
People could buy what they needed and still keep it fresh.
Speaker 4 (13:57):
Now I can remember those very clearly. And when we
first started this would be got twenty plus years ago,
when we first started getting all the beautiful lettuce leaves
that we that we just new to market. They used
to come in to the fruit and vegetable shops in
large cardboard boxes lined with fantastic liner, and you could
just take your tongues and help yourself to whatever you wanted.
(14:21):
Respect Yeah, I suspect that they have gone because it
is too hard to do a for the accounting purposes,
and it's much easier for storage and sale of produce
in the supermarket if it's in a bag, in a
on a hangar, And that's why they would have gone.
Speaker 5 (14:40):
I just I can understand that. But when we're when
we're trying, we're all trying so hard to reduce the
supplastic and packaging. I think it's something that the supermarkets
they could be a lot more responsible in you know,
all that packaging that's us, you know, especially when you
(15:01):
look at binin and all the places that would sell,
you know, in the big bins, so you can just
get the amount that we need. So I quite agree
with you. I appreciate. Now one other question, if I can,
I've been freezing avocados or trying to, you know, try
different ways. Can you suggest the best way to freeze them?
Speaker 4 (15:25):
Goh avocados. No, I've never frozen avocados. I'm delighted to
think that you've got so many you don't know what
to do with them. I would maybe somebody else could
come in. I would think the only way that maybe
you could do it would be to mash it into
a paste like a guacamal.
Speaker 7 (15:39):
First, put it into a bag or a container, and
freeze it like that, because that's how you buy it,
if I think out loud, in the chiller aisles, you
buy it in those dishes and it comes with a
plastic lid and a plastic container or put into a
cardboard box, just so that you can have more food
waste than you ever could imagine, or packaging waste.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
And that would be the only way I could do it.
But if somebody's out there that involved in the avocado
industry can tell us how best to freeze avocado, that
would be fabulous.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Yes, please, thanks.
Speaker 5 (16:12):
Sorry, sorry the message that I've read about and I'm trying.
I'm about to pull them out of the freezer and
try them on some guacamale is. Cut the avocado in half,
take the stone out and put it in a freezer
bag with a squeeze, a small squeeze, or a few
drops of lemon juice.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
Yeah, the lemon juice would read the browning, and which
is what we do for a lot of the time
when we use avocado and then and then freeze it down.
I don't know what the text you would be like
when it's unfrozen, but I would certainly be keen to
try it if I had that minute.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Well, look the word. We're putting the word out there now.
If anybody is an expert and freezing avocados, please give
us a call or Farius a text and let us
know the best way of doing it. Thank you so
much for your called.
Speaker 8 (16:56):
Die.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
I've got to get to a break. But Alison Die
raises a really good point. You know you said that
when you walk into the supermarket, you know the veggie
and fruit section looks so different and it is covered
in plastic. And we know that supermarkets are taking great
steps with eggs and various different things to be more sustainable.
But I walk and now and you're absolutely right. Why
(17:19):
can't you just grab what you need free, you know,
pick up your mushrooms individually, or your onions individually, or
you know. It's it amazes me how we sort of
we kind of we went and we started going in
a really good direction and then all of sudden you
stop and look around and go, hang on what happened?
Speaker 4 (17:35):
Well, it's not because we want it like that, as
long as we all understand that it is to do
with how it is to be sold, and it is
about the best way to sell it, to make it
easy for the everything from the pickup on the aisle,
to the passing through the checkout, to the keeping of
the accounting after it's been paid for, unit control, all
(17:58):
of that. That's why it's like that. And it's just
mass food production. If you want to buy it with
out packaging, doers and do it just sounds terrible, do
as I do, But I go to the Fresh Fruit
and Veggie shop, which is run by the local Indian
family in Cambridge. The prices are always cheaper and the
food comes without plastic and you can buy it just
(18:19):
what you need.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Okay, Alison, We've got some very good advice here. In
regards to getting that air, excuse me, and too these
to these salad bags. Somebody who's a couple of people
have actually takes to say they use a two dollar
shop balloon pump. So they just get one of those
little balloon pumps and they use that. Which so there
we go. For those who don't want to blow their
own air into the bag, that's a very good suggestion.
Speaker 4 (18:43):
But do know putting air into the bag allows the
leafy greens to breathe and or keep them fresher longer.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Brilliant, Thank you. Let's get to the phones.
Speaker 6 (18:52):
Good morning, Ray, Good morning Alison. I've been making marmalade
for many, many years, and a couple of times it's
gone mouldy on the top. Yeah, And I looked up
I mean, I've been using the Woman's Australian Woman's Weekly
Cookbook for making gems and marmalades and stuff, and it
(19:16):
says seen it cold. So then I looked up something
else on Google and I think it was Edmund's recipe
or something, you can't remember which one it was, and
they said see it hot. I thought, I don't know
quite now what to do. And the other thing it
said that you can. I mean like the large veggie
might jar, which is about four hundred grams. Right, that's
(19:37):
a good one because it's easy to fill right, you know,
with when you're taking it out of the pot. And
it said you can use plastic tops. I've never used
plastic tops. I've used plastic tops on other things I've made,
you know, like different sources or something like that. And
that's we're fine, no problems. But I'm just wondering what
(19:59):
am I doing something wrong? I mean I sterilized, and
I've put them in the oven and heat them up
and when it comes out, I put it in the
hot jars. But I have been leaving it and then
leaving it seat and then sealing it, you know, like
twenty four hours.
Speaker 4 (20:18):
Okay, So when we make preserves, we can either seal
them with a lid, or we can sell them with
those celluphane tops that you can buy the preserving.
Speaker 6 (20:32):
Yep, yep.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
Okay, So the cellophane tops with the rubber bands that
come in the plate, but that you can get. They
get they go on hot, Okay, they go on hot.
Anything else goes on really cold. So they use they
kind of breathe the cellipane plastic tops kind of breathe
(20:54):
and they perform. They make a seal on the rim
of the glass because of the nature of the of
the cellophane, but for anything else, when you fill the
jars up as close as you can to the top
so that you're not leaving any air inside the jar.
Once you seal it, put it off on top of
it a clean tea towel and set it aside until
(21:16):
it is very cold.
Speaker 6 (21:18):
Then you still want to do.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
Okay, And so what's happening is that it's probably there's
there could be a small bug. Get and make sure
that you've also put your your lids into boiling water.
And then they must be dried in the oven as well.
So everything must be totally dry. Any drop of moisture
that gets in has the potential to grow mold. If
(21:41):
it grows mold, you can just lift the mold off
your jam or jelly and eat whatever is left. It's
only when it turns into kind of like marmalade alcohol
that you need to really worry about it. But there
are two rules of umbel aphane selophane lids. They go
on hot and the other ones go on very cold.
(22:02):
But they must they must be completely dry. I tend
to and I'm really sorry. I've made a lot of
preserves this year, and I've had a mixed bag of
things that have grown some mold and things that haven't.
And sometimes it can be that you had a piece
of moldy fruit and it gets cooked and the spores't
(22:23):
have not died, and then it produces mold and the jar.
It's just kind of like a bit of bad luck
as well. But unless it's happened to a whole batch,
like you know, ten or twelve jars have all gone
moldy and then there's something wrong. Often it can be
just a small speck of mold that's got in all right.
Speaker 8 (22:40):
Now.
Speaker 6 (22:40):
The other question with Marmalade, my dear old mum who's
since passed away, she said, you've got to wait till
the fruit on the tree is dry. If it's been raining,
don't do it now. Is that this is just an
little swiite story or not, because I mean, with a
lot of rain that it looks like the graape food
are pretty ready to go and pick right.
Speaker 4 (23:03):
The trouble is, of course, there is an ounce of
truth in that indeed, and when we make jam from
fruit that we've picked after a heavy rain. They're going
to have a lot of they'll have soaked up the moisture,
they'll have a lot of water in them, and then
you've got to boil that water off in order to
get a set. Now, if you've got a lot of
(23:24):
water in your fruit and you add the sugar too
early in the jam process, often you can make it
into toffee and never get a set because the sugar
will turn, will caramelize, and so there is an outs
of truth in what your old mum used to say.
So better that the fruit is picked before a rainfall. However,
(23:44):
we can't always do that. So what you need to
do with marmalade making there are a couple of basic rules.
One is that the lemons the that we use need
to be the thick skinned variety because they have more
pectin in them. And you also need to often we
leave them to soak in the water water overnight before
(24:07):
we boil them up. That is, to soften the skin
of the lemon in order to extract the pecton quicker
in the boiling process the next day, so that you
don't over boil your fruit. When you're making your jam,
So that's really important. But look, if it's been raining,
what you need to do is just make sure you
give it a good boil before you put the sugar in.
(24:29):
So yeah, now it's the truth in what your mum said.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
Oh look, I'm inspired by Ray. I'm looking at that
outside in my back garden. I've got a great fruit
tree filled with fruit and normally my mother in law
loves to take those off my hands, Allison and whip
us up some beautiful mama labe. But she hasn't offered
this year, so maybe I'll actually have to do it myself,
which wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. News
Talk ZDB Sarah, good morning.
Speaker 8 (24:54):
Oh yes, hello you too. I fortunately I don't have wastage,
probably something to do with my Scottish blood and the
way I was water. But I mean it all the
right things, using the cabbage, keeping it hold in the
crisper and you know it can last up to that
four or five days, and just putting everything that I've
(25:15):
got into it. The other thing or one other thing.
I it's important. I've never had a wastage of bread. Now,
what you can do, whether it's fresh bread or older bread,
is bake it and you can bake as much as
you like. And that's good for the family. If they
want a snack and it can keep for ages, obviously
they'll probably like it. So it won't last and the
(25:37):
tins for long, but it does keep four weeks in
the tin or you know, proper container, and they can
add their butter and spread some things onto it like that,
So there's no need. If you feel that the bread
might be starting to go off, then bake it. You
don't have to bake it just when it's going off.
And it's beautiful, absolutely, but most people don't know about it.
Speaker 4 (26:01):
The slices off, Sarah and make cold brown.
Speaker 8 (26:06):
Yeah, yeah, that's right. Till I crisp. You have to
sort of watch it, don't just sleep and Chris, and
then just put them into containers and if they break up,
it doesn't matter. And so that's one way I'll never
have wastage of bread again. And the other thing is
I take out just what I need and put it.
Take it out of the bag, because it sweats if
you leave it in a bag, Put it, say into
(26:28):
an ice cream container, put it somewhere to thaw out
in your room, and then you can use it how
you want to, and yeah, yeah, and yeah, so I
just thought that that idea. The idea is too if
I get a oh what do you call it a
broccoli or equali flower or cabbage, I just keep it
(26:51):
in the crisp and I can make a whole sort
of cold stare thing and just throw everything in. And
the other thing is to add to all these things
where there's the stews or whatever. Please people, if you've
got apples and things cut out, the good stuff of
the alls are starting to go off, put them in
your shoes, your cole slaws. And the same with chocos,
go a long way and they taken the flavors and
(27:15):
you don't even know that you're eating chocos. I mean
they haven't got a horrible taste or anything, but they
just absorb the flavors of everything else.
Speaker 4 (27:23):
So that might help, Thank you, Sank very much.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Actually, Sarah's right about the baking of the breeze. You
can use it then for hummers and all sorts of things,
can't you, I know?
Speaker 4 (27:32):
Or you could go and use Christina, isn't it in
a packet you buy Christine's or you buy the bagels already,
you know, or you can buy them done and I
cannot believe that we buy them like that. When you
have got it, Sarah says, you can. You can dry
out the bread slices and turn them into almost like
a wafer, and it does make a saving that is
(27:57):
quite valuable in your home.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Now very quickly, Allison, We've had a lot of response
to Dye's comments about the avocado. A lot of people
freeze them in many different ways and it seems to work.
But somebody very kindly forwarded on a response from their
avocado supplier who said ripe avocados can be frozen in halves, chunks,
mashed or purade, add lemon juice, and seal the avocado
(28:20):
in a tight container to minimize browning. Alternatively, pop the
whole avocado in the freezer, peel and all, and lock
in the freshness for up to four to six months.
They do say that a thought avocado tastes a little
bit different to fresh as a smoother and earlier texture,
but perfect for smoothies. So there we go.
Speaker 6 (28:40):
There we go.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Yeah, I'm freezing in many different ways. We're gonna be
back in just a moment. Helen, thank you for waiting
good morning, now.
Speaker 9 (28:47):
Good morning girls. Was I always got to pop a
soup on and I've been sitting in the sun warming
my toes. But just a tip that I heard on
ZB in the middle of the night on talkback just
this year about helping to get longer life out of
your veggies and things. And then it was an old
lady find it not at all what a lot of
pop got to myself. But anyway, I've tried it, and
(29:08):
I do it all the time, and it one hundred
percent works. So if you've got like a half a
cabbage left over and a half broccoli, or you've just
been to the supermarket and you've bought those like what's
a celery? I brought it buy a half a cealer
and I always whacked the bowl bend I used to
just stand it in some water. No, not this lady.
She just cuts it. May cut cut the bowl be
end off, cut the celery in half, and she puts
(29:31):
it in like a bread bag and sit not bag.
But she always puts a piece of silver in the bag.
So whether that's a teaspoon, a knife for fork or whatever.
I actually have got a canteen of silver cuvery that
I use every day and most people probably don't. But
you can probably go to the second hand shop or
as Auntie if she's got of silver, and then you
(29:52):
just kind of roll it or squish the ear out
of it. Don't have to suck it out. I wouldn't
have enough breath to do that. And then just you know,
as I say, just suck it out of it and
put it in your vegetable bin, and honestly, it last weeks.
The broccoli doesn't go limp, the celery stays nice and firm,
(30:12):
and you know, like I might have only used half
a half as a chini or half a red pepper. Yep,
they just go on another bag and it's absolutely brilliant,
even silver beat. And I was thinking, oh, this lady's
you know, and you don't know about her.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
It is the kind of thing, Helen, that I think
you would have to try before you, yeah, before you.
Speaker 9 (30:36):
Live on my own. And I'm sick of chucking out
a bit of this and a bit of that. And
my granddaughter in Melbourne, I've just told her and she's
tried it. She said, oh man, I'm always wasting something
and it honestly works. It's that you've got to have silver,
you can't you draw and use your stains steel. And
I've had little spoons and odd forks, but you know,
it doesn't really matter because I've got that much silver coolery.
(30:57):
The other little tip that I've got and it really works,
and I can't remember where I got it from. But
if you have an abundance of parsley, and often people
used to stand there and water on their bench, just
give it a wash, it bang up and down on
a tea towel, put it in a zip block bag
and just put it in the freezer. When it's frozen,
bring it out and give it a good whack on
the bench and it cuts up finer than anything that
(31:18):
you could do. And you just get a spoon out
or shake a bit into your pot of soup or
over your macaroni cheese or whatever you're cooking, and then
zip it up again and put it back. It's absolutely
brilliant because you know how I grow my own. But
some people, you know, they buy it and then they
have to have it for that dinner and then the
rest goes all them. Now, stuff that you biff it out,
(31:39):
but just freeze it. Use what you want that night,
but just freeze it, and the only thing you end
up checking out is the stalk because it separates from
all the little from the foliage, and honestly, given it
a whack on the bench, it breaks up better than
any thing that you could chop yourself.
Speaker 4 (31:56):
Very interesting.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Hell, yeah, go to take a quick break. We will
come back. We're going to talk very quickly about chicken
before the end of the hour, Allison. But I just
want to read your little text from Anne, who was
also somebody else mentioning the plastic balloon pump to keep
in the kitchen to inflate food bags. But she said
that you introduced her to frittata, which of course is
(32:18):
another great use of leftovers. So she was just saying
thank you for that. Okay, Allison, I know that you've
been doing a little bit of research into chicken and
the most affordable ways to purchase chicken.
Speaker 4 (32:28):
Well, yes I did. This was getting ready for our
program this morning, Francesca. And one of the things that
really has shocked me is the rise in the packaged
sliced protein department that you'll find in your delicatessen area.
It's so that you can take it home and quickly
make it into a sandwich or into a salad. And
one of the things I noticed this week is that
you can buy pre cooked, flame grilled chicken sliced in
(32:53):
fifty grand portions as toe together. They come in a
plastic container with a pretty top on it. It works
out at fifty five dollars a kilogram. It is nothing
more than chicken breast that has been cooked for you
and sliced and put in a plastic pack Now, I
just think that that's where we can save both money
(33:14):
and wastedge. You're not going to have all that packaging
and it costs no more. Well, it costs far less,
I should say, to buy skinless chicken breasts, which are
fifteen dollars of kilogram. So maybe when you're heading off
to your supermarket to grab things for sandwich fillings, think
about how best you can buy the chicken. The cheapest
way to buy your chicken, by far, is to buy
(33:36):
it frozen and then to defrost it overnight and we
pop it in the fridge during the day, or we
can leave it out under a tetail overnight. That's how
I always do it. It is by far the cheapest
way to buy your chicken. And the next best way
is to always buy it with the bone in Francesca.
If you buy things with the bone in, you haven't
(33:58):
had people spending time trying taking off all the skin
and the bone so that human element is taken out.
You're not paying for the price of that, so that
please look to the best way to save your money
on something that we all really love to eat, bite
hole or bite frozen.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
Allison, It's been really lovey to have you with us today.
I very much appreciate your time. Of course, people can
find you at allisongofton dot co dot nz. You're on
Facebook and Instagram too, aren't you.
Speaker 4 (34:28):
Yes, I am. We're just getting back into that and
there's lots of fabulous easy recipes every week. They go
up on a Wednesday.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
Fantastic. How are you going to spend the rest of
this glorious day? Do you have a good garden in Cambridge?
Have you got a good kitchen garden there?
Speaker 4 (34:42):
My husband is gradually building me upper garden. I have
a citrus grove. I'm about to make some lemon cello today.
I feel quite like an alcoholic. All lots of vodka
out in my kitchen. I'm going to go and pick
all the lemons and we're going to start making lemon cello.
I have an orchard of heritage fruits. They didn't do
so well this year, but never mind. I have a
Wisconsin mound there you go, Francesca, that is kind of
(35:04):
like this for that filters its way through in order
to become clean at the end. And off the side
of that, I run the most amazing fruit vegetable patch
which I grow huge amounts of pumpkins and strawberries and
silver beats and all those kinds of things. And then
I'm very lucky to have lots and lots of flowers,
(35:26):
which really takes up most of my time.
Speaker 2 (35:28):
I'm joyed, wonderful, and we are now all googling Wisconsin mound.
Speaker 4 (35:33):
Excellent.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
That sounds fascinating. Thank you, Thank you so much, Allison.
Really lovely to have you on the show with us today.
Hey don't forget that coming up and next hour we're
going to be.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
Talking for more from Kerry Wooden Mornings. Listen live to
news talks it'd be from nine am weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Carry Woodham Mornings podcast from News
Talks EDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Good to have you with us here this morning on
Marta Riki Mornings. Here on News talks 'B. I'm Francisca Radkin.
I'm with you until midday. We've got one of our
holiday specials for you, and I'm absolutely delighted to have
Allison Gofton joining us this morning on the show for
this our good morning. How are you?
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Good morning, Francesca, Well, I'm just jolly can you?
Speaker 2 (00:34):
I am very good? Thank you? Is it a beautiful
day where you are?
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Yes, I'm in Cambridge and the sky is beautifully pale,
blow It's just a gorgeous morning. There's you on the
grass and it's beautiful outside.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Fresh but lovely, fantastic. Now I hear that this week
you were listening to a little bit of talk back
with Kerry Woodham in the mornings and I'm not sure
what the conversation was, but you were talking that there
was some sort of talk about packets of coleslaw.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
A conversation. Sorry, no, you go for it.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Tell the story.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
The conversation of food waste was topical this week around
New Zealand and Kerry had a session on it, and
I was driving and I was listening and a lady
ring in and she spoke about the size of the
packets of Coldslaw and how that they were too big
and that if they sold them in smaller sizes it
would mean that you wouldn't throw out what you didn't use,
(01:32):
and parts of me on the inside was screaming, well,
why don't you make it yourself, and the other parts,
of course was going, yes, well it would be nicer
if we could buy smaller amounts, And it started me
thinking about this whole concept of food waste and where
you can save money as well when you go to
the supermarket. And I don't know about your supermarket, Francesca,
(01:53):
if you even go to the same one, but there's
been a complete change in how the produce is displayed
in the one here in Cambridge, which is interesting because
a lot of sports people in Cambridge, because the head
of sporters down here for New Zealand elite sport, so
we have a lot of athletes. If you don't keep
fitness at a high level down here, you feel really unset.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
Let me tell you.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
With all the young people that walk around and they're fabulous.
Speaker 5 (02:17):
What's closed?
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Excuse me? And the one side of the fresh fruit
and vegetabable department is now all packet leafy greens. And
that's fabulous if you happen to like leafy greens. But
they are one of the places where you can save
money and stop food wastage if you could just buy
(02:40):
the item hole. And so Coleslaw came to mind. And
yet I know you buy a packet and you never
get to eat it all. And the thing that I
would really like to get across to people today, I suppose,
is that the more processed in the purchase of your
food that you are. So if you're buying your lettuce shredded,
(03:00):
your coal saw shredded, the faster it will go off,
the more likely you are to have food waste. So
if you buy it hole, it will stay better, longer
in your fridge. And so once you open those packets,
their shelf life is minimal, and we do get a
lot of food waste from that and a.
Speaker 6 (03:19):
Lot of cost.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Such a good point, Allison, because that's my frustration. Often
I'm very lazy and I grab a bag of salad
and then when I go to use it, it's not
really it's done. It's best before holded in the bottom. Yeah,
or it just smells off. And I mean, you know,
even though I feed it to the worms, I do
think to myself, still not make me feel good about this.
This is a waste of money, and you know food waste.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
When you buy a packet of spinach leaves. Now, the
baby spinach leaves might be quite delicious, but they are
about four dollars twenty four dollars sixty for a bag
one hundred and twenty gram. So you just grab that
and you go, oh, that will do for our salad tonight.
That's the equivalent of thirty three dollars of kilogram that
you are paying for that. And I doubt if we
would waste meat if we were paying thirty three dollars
(04:06):
a kilogram for it. But for some reason, when it
comes in a packet like that and it's just some
spinach leaves, we don't care to think too much about it.
One of the things you can do is when you
open up your packet, is when you haven't used it all,
splunch the top of it up and blow into it. Okay,
get your breast and blow into it and feel it
(04:26):
down so it's got a bit of air on the
inside of it.
Speaker 5 (04:29):
That will help.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Keep it fresher or longer. Then you just folding it
up and putting it in the bottom of your refrigerator.
It's not going to save it for days, but it
will help keep it crispier for a couple of days.
And if you just do that simple little trick. And
the other thing you can do is buy your spinach
as a whole bunch, take it home, and you don't
(04:51):
need very much water. But you put a dribble of
water into a seelable bag. You put the spinach le
leaves into the bag, the stem end down into the bag,
so it's just in the water, blow it up, put
it in your fridge, and it will last for a
considerably longer time than you would if you just bought
the spinach leaves. And it will be much much cheaper.
(05:14):
In fact, you know, even if you were to buy
silver beet, which is the ultimate and goodiness into you
if you can get that that clocks out at about
four dollars per kilogram in your supermarket compared to your
thirty three dollars or thereabouts for spinach leaves, and so
I think if we were to think a little bit
better about how we purchase and how to keep that
(05:36):
in your pantry and your fridge and your freezer, we
might find that you can stop some of that food waste.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
It's fascinating, and you sent through some other figures as well,
for lettuce and mushrooms and beetroot, and even cheese is
another really good example as well, isn't it, Allison.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Cheese is a fabulous example because we've all got so
busy that the convenience, which is what we are buying,
we are buying time back to ourselves by buying it
be prepared, the convenience cost you so cheese, for example,
and I just took Colby on the supermarket website last
night was on special. It was seventeen dollars a kilogram,
(06:13):
aim and to find it horrendous. But if you're to
buy it grated, it's up to twenty one twenty two
dollars a kilogram, you're paying an extra five dollars now
grated cheese again, once it's processed down into a finer,
into a fine estate. So we get buying it grated,
it is more likely to go moldy faster than if
(06:34):
you've got a block of cheese.
Speaker 5 (06:36):
But what you can do with cheese, and.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
I must admit I don't do it all the time,
is that you can actually shake it out to the
whole bag so it's nice and even not too much
at one end of that bag, and pop it in
your freezer and you can take it out a handful
of a time to add to a cheese sauce or
to put on a cheese sandwich and all of those things.
So that will help keep the cheese longer. But buying
(07:00):
it whole and grating it yourself will save you money.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
And if you're really lazy Ellison like me, and you
love the convenience, and you get that block of cheats
home and you know that you're going to want it
grated because the kids are using it for toasts all
various things. You can just crate a whole lot at once,
can't You put in a SnapLock bag and there you go.
You've done the job yourself.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
It could like you've done the job yourself.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
It's not that this is fascinating so we're talking.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
I'm with you on the convenience because I too have
children and it's much easier but also at this time
when there's a cost of living crisis, every little bit
helps and keeping it well and having a few tips,
like sliced bread, it's one of the big things we
throw away well. Slic spread is really moist. And if
you take your slice bread packet after you've taken out
(07:49):
a couple of slices to toast for breakfast that morning,
and you give it a turn and seal the top
down and maybe tire not in it, like most of
us do, put it to one side, excuse me, it's
going to get It's going to sweat on the inside
of that plastic bag, and of course it's going to
go muldy fast. So while I don't suggest you always
(08:11):
keep your bread in the fridge, one of the better
places for you if you're only going to use the
bread for your toast and you're in a hurry, you
can either take half of it out and pop it
in a bag and keep it in the fridge and
you can freeze the other half, or you can keep
it in the fridge anyway and that will slow down
that aging process. But left in a warm kitchen while
you're at work, yes, it will sweat in the plastic
(08:34):
bag and it will go off quicker.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
I've got a teenager at home going, Oh no, Allison,
you've just touched a nerve because some one of my
kids always leaves the toast on the bench where the
sun comes in throughout the day. And I get home
and I go, wow, I'm just gonna I'm just gonna
write your name on that life. That's yours, mate, It's
all yours.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
Yes, it's gonna go off faster, penill and smell all
over it.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Look, we're talking about ways to save money and to
save food waste. Love to hear from you. You might
have a question for Allison about how better to manage
some of your food storage and things like that, or
you may have some great advice for us as well.
Love to hear from you. Oh wait, one hundred eighty
ten eighty is and amble to call you can text
on ninety two ninety two. I've had a little bit
of a perphany, Ellison, because I've started doing my supermarket
(09:18):
shopping online and then going and picking it up. And
it's so much easier online to see what the cost
is per kilogram than it is actually in the supermarket.
So then you've got all the options in front of
you on your screen, and you just and I've been come,
I've gone, I K I'm finally using this. And I
know that it's available in a lot of supermarkets. It's
(09:40):
there for you. But how often do you sort of
stand the supermarket now down the r going okay, this
one's this one, this was, you know, but having it
all on one screen in front of me, I'm now going, oh, now,
that's interesting. So if I buy it like this, it's this,
or if I buy often, you know, if you buy
more it becomes cheaper as well per kilogram and things.
(10:00):
So I found that really useful for making me actually
pay attention and think about it.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
While I feel as if we've gone back to the future. Actually,
Francesca as a young kid, and I mean under ten,
my mother would have the groceries delivered. I'm from Australia,
from Tasmania and we didn't have a supermarket, and so
the groceries would delivered the feud that you wanted. The
vegetable lady came out on a Wednesday and we bought
it out at the back of her car and we
were in the town and the butcher delivered the meat
(10:29):
on a Tuesday morning. Monday was the day for the avatoire.
Speaker 5 (10:31):
Tuesday you'd get mad.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
And what it sounds very old fashioned, awfully quaint, And
what it did do is you only got what you needed.
You didn't buy anymore. And so buying online is a
fabulous way to actually save money and to join in
with getting good value the specials and only buying what
you need. In fact, we do know from research you
(10:56):
never send a husband or a boyfriend to the supermarket
because they are more likely to come back with things
that you don't need and forget the things that you did. Sorry, men,
but that's the truth, that's true.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Although I'm just as bad Alison. If I go into
a sleeper market hungry, I'm in trouble. So yeah, you
know it happens to the beast of us.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
Very quickly.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
I'm going to take a break that I'm going to
get to the calls the cause they're coming in, but
very quickly. Can you freeze? Left?
Speaker 5 (11:19):
Hang on?
Speaker 4 (11:19):
Where am I?
Speaker 6 (11:20):
Where am I?
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Where am i?
Speaker 4 (11:25):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Somebody asked about free Look, the texts are coming in
so fast now I cannot Oh, silver beet does it freeze?
Speaker 6 (11:31):
Well?
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Only after it's being cooked? Okay, yes, Otherwise, what happens
anything that has a high percentage of water in it's
so thinking, couset, let us selver beet put them in
a freezer. They will look like the leaves are frozen.
When they defrost, they turn into total mush because.
Speaker 6 (11:50):
They're full of water.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
They don't have any body to them.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
And another thing, Elise and a few people are just
questioning the advice to blow into the bag of the
salad bag. Ever, you know a lot of viruses around
it this time of the year.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
If you're on your own, go for it right on
your sake, goodness sake, Come on people. If you've got
a cold, of course you wouldn't do it, But if
you otherwise, you just blow it in and it actually
provides an environment where the food can actually not go
off because I think it's I'm going to say carbon dioxide.
Speaker 5 (12:24):
Have I got that right?
Speaker 3 (12:25):
When you breathe it out into the bag, the plants
absorb it and so they actually survived longer. I was
taught that a long time ago by a man who
threw herbs, one of Australia's biggest growings of herbs, and
he taught us that and It's an amazing trick to
keep things alive in your fridge.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Just use a bit of common sense with it.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Thank you, Allison back with your calls in just a moment.
My guest is Alison Gofton and joining us now is
die Hi die, oh.
Speaker 5 (12:52):
Hi, Francisca, Hi Alison, Alison. It's great. But what you're
suggesting with the spinach and and you know, the saving
food waste one of the problems I have because when
you're on your own, you can only buy a certain
amount and otherwise at the rest it's really hard to
keep it fresh. So one of the things I know
(13:13):
for sure is about nine years ago up in Nelson,
in Fresh Choice So used to have the large boxes.
I don't know if they still do it now. I
think it disappeared a while ago, but they had the
large boxes of spinach leaves and baby lettuce and so
(13:34):
you could just basically pick the amount that you needed
and purchase that rather than have it all bagged up.
And I keep thinking, why on earth don't they go
back to that, And even if they provide this with
the cellophane bags, it would be so much less waste.
People could buy what they needed and still keep it fresh.
Speaker 4 (13:57):
Now I can remember those very clearly. And when we
first started this would be got twenty plus years ago,
when we first started getting all the beautiful lettuce leaves
that we that we just new to market. They used
to come in to the fruit and vegetable shops in
large cardboard boxes lined with fantastic liner, and you could
just take your tongues and help yourself to whatever you wanted.
(14:21):
Respect Yeah, I suspect that they have gone because it
is too hard to do a for the accounting purposes,
and it's much easier for storage and sale of produce
in the supermarket if it's in a bag, in a
on a hangar, And that's why they would have gone.
Speaker 5 (14:40):
I just I can understand that. But when we're when
we're trying, we're all trying so hard to reduce the
supplastic and packaging. I think it's something that the supermarkets
they could be a lot more responsible in you know,
all that packaging that's us, you know, especially when you
(15:01):
look at binin and all the places that would sell,
you know, in the big bins, so you can just
get the amount that we need. So I quite agree
with you. I appreciate. Now one other question, if I can,
I've been freezing avocados or trying to, you know, try
different ways. Can you suggest the best way to freeze them?
Speaker 4 (15:25):
Goh avocados. No, I've never frozen avocados. I'm delighted to
think that you've got so many you don't know what
to do with them. I would maybe somebody else could
come in. I would think the only way that maybe
you could do it would be to mash it into
a paste like a guacamal.
Speaker 7 (15:39):
First, put it into a bag or a container, and
freeze it like that, because that's how you buy it,
if I think out loud, in the chiller aisles, you
buy it in those dishes and it comes with a
plastic lid and a plastic container or put into a
cardboard box, just so that you can have more food
waste than you ever could imagine, or packaging waste.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
And that would be the only way I could do it.
But if somebody's out there that involved in the avocado
industry can tell us how best to freeze avocado, that
would be fabulous.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Yes, please, thanks.
Speaker 5 (16:12):
Sorry, sorry the message that I've read about and I'm trying.
I'm about to pull them out of the freezer and
try them on some guacamale is. Cut the avocado in half,
take the stone out and put it in a freezer
bag with a squeeze, a small squeeze, or a few
drops of lemon juice.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
Yeah, the lemon juice would read the browning, and which
is what we do for a lot of the time
when we use avocado and then and then freeze it down.
I don't know what the text you would be like
when it's unfrozen, but I would certainly be keen to
try it if I had that minute.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Well, look the word. We're putting the word out there now.
If anybody is an expert and freezing avocados, please give
us a call or Farius a text and let us
know the best way of doing it. Thank you so
much for your called.
Speaker 8 (16:56):
Die.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
I've got to get to a break. But Alison Die
raises a really good point. You know you said that
when you walk into the supermarket, you know the veggie
and fruit section looks so different and it is covered
in plastic. And we know that supermarkets are taking great
steps with eggs and various different things to be more sustainable.
But I walk and now and you're absolutely right. Why
(17:19):
can't you just grab what you need free, you know,
pick up your mushrooms individually, or your onions individually, or
you know. It's it amazes me how we sort of
we kind of we went and we started going in
a really good direction and then all of sudden you
stop and look around and go, hang on what happened?
Speaker 4 (17:35):
Well, it's not because we want it like that, as
long as we all understand that it is to do
with how it is to be sold, and it is
about the best way to sell it, to make it
easy for the everything from the pickup on the aisle,
to the passing through the checkout, to the keeping of
the accounting after it's been paid for, unit control, all
(17:58):
of that. That's why it's like that. And it's just
mass food production. If you want to buy it with
out packaging, doers and do it just sounds terrible, do
as I do, But I go to the Fresh Fruit
and Veggie shop, which is run by the local Indian
family in Cambridge. The prices are always cheaper and the
food comes without plastic and you can buy it just
(18:19):
what you need.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Okay, Alison, We've got some very good advice here. In
regards to getting that air, excuse me, and too these
to these salad bags. Somebody who's a couple of people
have actually takes to say they use a two dollar
shop balloon pump. So they just get one of those
little balloon pumps and they use that. Which so there
we go. For those who don't want to blow their
own air into the bag, that's a very good suggestion.
Speaker 4 (18:43):
But do know putting air into the bag allows the
leafy greens to breathe and or keep them fresher longer.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Brilliant, Thank you. Let's get to the phones.
Speaker 6 (18:52):
Good morning, Ray, Good morning Alison. I've been making marmalade
for many, many years, and a couple of times it's
gone mouldy on the top. Yeah, And I looked up
I mean, I've been using the Woman's Australian Woman's Weekly
Cookbook for making gems and marmalades and stuff, and it
(19:16):
says seen it cold. So then I looked up something
else on Google and I think it was Edmund's recipe
or something, you can't remember which one it was, and
they said see it hot. I thought, I don't know
quite now what to do. And the other thing it
said that you can. I mean like the large veggie
might jar, which is about four hundred grams. Right, that's
(19:37):
a good one because it's easy to fill right, you know,
with when you're taking it out of the pot. And
it said you can use plastic tops. I've never used
plastic tops. I've used plastic tops on other things I've made,
you know, like different sources or something like that. And
that's we're fine, no problems. But I'm just wondering what
(19:59):
am I doing something wrong? I mean I sterilized, and
I've put them in the oven and heat them up
and when it comes out, I put it in the
hot jars. But I have been leaving it and then
leaving it seat and then sealing it, you know, like
twenty four hours.
Speaker 4 (20:18):
Okay, So when we make preserves, we can either seal
them with a lid, or we can sell them with
those celluphane tops that you can buy the preserving.
Speaker 6 (20:32):
Yep, yep.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
Okay, So the cellophane tops with the rubber bands that
come in the plate, but that you can get. They
get they go on hot, Okay, they go on hot.
Anything else goes on really cold. So they use they
kind of breathe the cellipane plastic tops kind of breathe
(20:54):
and they perform. They make a seal on the rim
of the glass because of the nature of the of
the cellophane, but for anything else, when you fill the
jars up as close as you can to the top
so that you're not leaving any air inside the jar.
Once you seal it, put it off on top of
it a clean tea towel and set it aside until
(21:16):
it is very cold.
Speaker 6 (21:18):
Then you still want to do.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
Okay, And so what's happening is that it's probably there's
there could be a small bug. Get and make sure
that you've also put your your lids into boiling water.
And then they must be dried in the oven as well.
So everything must be totally dry. Any drop of moisture
that gets in has the potential to grow mold. If
(21:41):
it grows mold, you can just lift the mold off
your jam or jelly and eat whatever is left. It's
only when it turns into kind of like marmalade alcohol
that you need to really worry about it. But there
are two rules of umbel aphane selophane lids. They go
on hot and the other ones go on very cold.
(22:02):
But they must they must be completely dry. I tend
to and I'm really sorry. I've made a lot of
preserves this year, and I've had a mixed bag of
things that have grown some mold and things that haven't.
And sometimes it can be that you had a piece
of moldy fruit and it gets cooked and the spores't
(22:23):
have not died, and then it produces mold and the jar.
It's just kind of like a bit of bad luck
as well. But unless it's happened to a whole batch,
like you know, ten or twelve jars have all gone
moldy and then there's something wrong. Often it can be
just a small speck of mold that's got in all right.
Speaker 8 (22:40):
Now.
Speaker 6 (22:40):
The other question with Marmalade, my dear old mum who's
since passed away, she said, you've got to wait till
the fruit on the tree is dry. If it's been raining,
don't do it now. Is that this is just an
little swiite story or not, because I mean, with a
lot of rain that it looks like the graape food
are pretty ready to go and pick right.
Speaker 4 (23:03):
The trouble is, of course, there is an ounce of
truth in that indeed, and when we make jam from
fruit that we've picked after a heavy rain. They're going
to have a lot of they'll have soaked up the moisture,
they'll have a lot of water in them, and then
you've got to boil that water off in order to
get a set. Now, if you've got a lot of
(23:24):
water in your fruit and you add the sugar too
early in the jam process, often you can make it
into toffee and never get a set because the sugar
will turn, will caramelize, and so there is an outs
of truth in what your old mum used to say.
So better that the fruit is picked before a rainfall. However,
(23:44):
we can't always do that. So what you need to
do with marmalade making there are a couple of basic rules.
One is that the lemons the that we use need
to be the thick skinned variety because they have more
pectin in them. And you also need to often we
leave them to soak in the water water overnight before
(24:07):
we boil them up. That is, to soften the skin
of the lemon in order to extract the pecton quicker
in the boiling process the next day, so that you
don't over boil your fruit. When you're making your jam,
So that's really important. But look, if it's been raining,
what you need to do is just make sure you
give it a good boil before you put the sugar in.
(24:29):
So yeah, now it's the truth in what your mum said.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
Oh look, I'm inspired by Ray. I'm looking at that
outside in my back garden. I've got a great fruit
tree filled with fruit and normally my mother in law
loves to take those off my hands, Allison and whip
us up some beautiful mama labe. But she hasn't offered
this year, so maybe I'll actually have to do it myself,
which wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. News
Talk ZDB Sarah, good morning.
Speaker 8 (24:54):
Oh yes, hello you too. I fortunately I don't have wastage,
probably something to do with my Scottish blood and the
way I was water. But I mean it all the
right things, using the cabbage, keeping it hold in the
crisper and you know it can last up to that
four or five days, and just putting everything that I've
(25:15):
got into it. The other thing or one other thing.
I it's important. I've never had a wastage of bread. Now,
what you can do, whether it's fresh bread or older bread,
is bake it and you can bake as much as
you like. And that's good for the family. If they
want a snack and it can keep for ages, obviously
they'll probably like it. So it won't last and the
(25:37):
tins for long, but it does keep four weeks in
the tin or you know, proper container, and they can
add their butter and spread some things onto it like that,
So there's no need. If you feel that the bread
might be starting to go off, then bake it. You
don't have to bake it just when it's going off.
And it's beautiful, absolutely, but most people don't know about it.
Speaker 4 (26:01):
The slices off, Sarah and make cold brown.
Speaker 8 (26:06):
Yeah, yeah, that's right. Till I crisp. You have to
sort of watch it, don't just sleep and Chris, and
then just put them into containers and if they break up,
it doesn't matter. And so that's one way I'll never
have wastage of bread again. And the other thing is
I take out just what I need and put it.
Take it out of the bag, because it sweats if
you leave it in a bag, Put it, say into
(26:28):
an ice cream container, put it somewhere to thaw out
in your room, and then you can use it how
you want to, and yeah, yeah, and yeah, so I
just thought that that idea. The idea is too if
I get a oh what do you call it a
broccoli or equali flower or cabbage, I just keep it
(26:51):
in the crisp and I can make a whole sort
of cold stare thing and just throw everything in. And
the other thing is to add to all these things
where there's the stews or whatever. Please people, if you've
got apples and things cut out, the good stuff of
the alls are starting to go off, put them in
your shoes, your cole slaws. And the same with chocos,
go a long way and they taken the flavors and
(27:15):
you don't even know that you're eating chocos. I mean
they haven't got a horrible taste or anything, but they
just absorb the flavors of everything else.
Speaker 4 (27:23):
So that might help, Thank you, Sank very much.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Actually, Sarah's right about the baking of the breeze. You
can use it then for hummers and all sorts of things,
can't you, I know?
Speaker 4 (27:32):
Or you could go and use Christina, isn't it in
a packet you buy Christine's or you buy the bagels already,
you know, or you can buy them done and I
cannot believe that we buy them like that. When you
have got it, Sarah says, you can. You can dry
out the bread slices and turn them into almost like
a wafer, and it does make a saving that is
(27:57):
quite valuable in your home.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Now very quickly, Allison, We've had a lot of response
to Dye's comments about the avocado. A lot of people
freeze them in many different ways and it seems to work.
But somebody very kindly forwarded on a response from their
avocado supplier who said ripe avocados can be frozen in halves, chunks,
mashed or purade, add lemon juice, and seal the avocado
(28:20):
in a tight container to minimize browning. Alternatively, pop the
whole avocado in the freezer, peel and all, and lock
in the freshness for up to four to six months.
They do say that a thought avocado tastes a little
bit different to fresh as a smoother and earlier texture,
but perfect for smoothies. So there we go.
Speaker 6 (28:40):
There we go.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Yeah, I'm freezing in many different ways. We're gonna be
back in just a moment. Helen, thank you for waiting
good morning, now.
Speaker 9 (28:47):
Good morning girls. Was I always got to pop a
soup on and I've been sitting in the sun warming
my toes. But just a tip that I heard on
ZB in the middle of the night on talkback just
this year about helping to get longer life out of
your veggies and things. And then it was an old
lady find it not at all what a lot of
pop got to myself. But anyway, I've tried it, and
(29:08):
I do it all the time, and it one hundred
percent works. So if you've got like a half a
cabbage left over and a half broccoli, or you've just
been to the supermarket and you've bought those like what's
a celery? I brought it buy a half a cealer
and I always whacked the bowl bend I used to
just stand it in some water. No, not this lady.
She just cuts it. May cut cut the bowl be
end off, cut the celery in half, and she puts
(29:31):
it in like a bread bag and sit not bag.
But she always puts a piece of silver in the bag.
So whether that's a teaspoon, a knife for fork or whatever.
I actually have got a canteen of silver cuvery that
I use every day and most people probably don't. But
you can probably go to the second hand shop or
as Auntie if she's got of silver, and then you
(29:52):
just kind of roll it or squish the ear out
of it. Don't have to suck it out. I wouldn't
have enough breath to do that. And then just you know,
as I say, just suck it out of it and
put it in your vegetable bin, and honestly, it last weeks.
The broccoli doesn't go limp, the celery stays nice and firm,
(30:12):
and you know, like I might have only used half
a half as a chini or half a red pepper. Yep,
they just go on another bag and it's absolutely brilliant,
even silver beat. And I was thinking, oh, this lady's
you know, and you don't know about her.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
It is the kind of thing, Helen, that I think
you would have to try before you, yeah, before you.
Speaker 9 (30:36):
Live on my own. And I'm sick of chucking out
a bit of this and a bit of that. And
my granddaughter in Melbourne, I've just told her and she's
tried it. She said, oh man, I'm always wasting something
and it honestly works. It's that you've got to have silver,
you can't you draw and use your stains steel. And
I've had little spoons and odd forks, but you know,
it doesn't really matter because I've got that much silver coolery.
(30:57):
The other little tip that I've got and it really works,
and I can't remember where I got it from. But
if you have an abundance of parsley, and often people
used to stand there and water on their bench, just
give it a wash, it bang up and down on
a tea towel, put it in a zip block bag
and just put it in the freezer. When it's frozen,
bring it out and give it a good whack on
the bench and it cuts up finer than anything that
(31:18):
you could do. And you just get a spoon out
or shake a bit into your pot of soup or
over your macaroni cheese or whatever you're cooking, and then
zip it up again and put it back. It's absolutely
brilliant because you know how I grow my own. But
some people, you know, they buy it and then they
have to have it for that dinner and then the
rest goes all them. Now, stuff that you biff it out,
(31:39):
but just freeze it. Use what you want that night,
but just freeze it, and the only thing you end
up checking out is the stalk because it separates from
all the little from the foliage, and honestly, given it
a whack on the bench, it breaks up better than
any thing that you could chop yourself.
Speaker 4 (31:56):
Very interesting.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Hell, yeah, go to take a quick break. We will
come back. We're going to talk very quickly about chicken
before the end of the hour, Allison. But I just
want to read your little text from Anne, who was
also somebody else mentioning the plastic balloon pump to keep
in the kitchen to inflate food bags. But she said
that you introduced her to frittata, which of course is
(32:18):
another great use of leftovers. So she was just saying
thank you for that. Okay, Allison, I know that you've
been doing a little bit of research into chicken and
the most affordable ways to purchase chicken.
Speaker 4 (32:28):
Well, yes I did. This was getting ready for our
program this morning, Francesca. And one of the things that
really has shocked me is the rise in the packaged
sliced protein department that you'll find in your delicatessen area.
It's so that you can take it home and quickly
make it into a sandwich or into a salad. And
one of the things I noticed this week is that
you can buy pre cooked, flame grilled chicken sliced in
(32:53):
fifty grand portions as toe together. They come in a
plastic container with a pretty top on it. It works
out at fifty five dollars a kilogram. It is nothing
more than chicken breast that has been cooked for you
and sliced and put in a plastic pack Now, I
just think that that's where we can save both money
(33:14):
and wastedge. You're not going to have all that packaging
and it costs no more. Well, it costs far less,
I should say, to buy skinless chicken breasts, which are
fifteen dollars of kilogram. So maybe when you're heading off
to your supermarket to grab things for sandwich fillings, think
about how best you can buy the chicken. The cheapest
way to buy your chicken, by far, is to buy
(33:36):
it frozen and then to defrost it overnight and we
pop it in the fridge during the day, or we
can leave it out under a tetail overnight. That's how
I always do it. It is by far the cheapest
way to buy your chicken. And the next best way
is to always buy it with the bone in Francesca.
If you buy things with the bone in, you haven't
(33:58):
had people spending time trying taking off all the skin
and the bone so that human element is taken out.
You're not paying for the price of that, so that
please look to the best way to save your money
on something that we all really love to eat, bite
hole or bite frozen.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
Allison, It's been really lovey to have you with us today.
I very much appreciate your time. Of course, people can
find you at allisongofton dot co dot nz. You're on
Facebook and Instagram too, aren't you.
Speaker 4 (34:28):
Yes, I am. We're just getting back into that and
there's lots of fabulous easy recipes every week. They go
up on a Wednesday.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
Fantastic. How are you going to spend the rest of
this glorious day? Do you have a good garden in Cambridge?
Have you got a good kitchen garden there?
Speaker 4 (34:42):
My husband is gradually building me upper garden. I have
a citrus grove. I'm about to make some lemon cello today.
I feel quite like an alcoholic. All lots of vodka
out in my kitchen. I'm going to go and pick
all the lemons and we're going to start making lemon cello.
I have an orchard of heritage fruits. They didn't do
so well this year, but never mind. I have a
Wisconsin mound there you go, Francesca, that is kind of
(35:04):
like this for that filters its way through in order
to become clean at the end. And off the side
of that, I run the most amazing fruit vegetable patch
which I grow huge amounts of pumpkins and strawberries and
silver beats and all those kinds of things. And then
I'm very lucky to have lots and lots of flowers,
(35:26):
which really takes up most of my time.
Speaker 2 (35:28):
I'm joyed, wonderful, and we are now all googling Wisconsin mound.
Speaker 4 (35:33):
Excellent.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
That sounds fascinating. Thank you, Thank you so much, Allison.
Really lovely to have you on the show with us today.
Hey don't forget that coming up and next hour we're
going to be.
Speaker 1 (35:43):
Talking for more from Kerry Wooden Mornings. Listen live to
news talks it'd be from nine am weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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