To not want everyone's home grown fruit & veg...

[OnlyTeaForMe]

Yes, I know that I probably am BU and am lucky really, but please can I have a teeny rant first...

We have a fair few friends and neighbour's and some of DHs work colleagues who are amateur gardeners with veg plots and allotments. We also grow a few things ourselves - green beans, blueberries, apples etc.
I think this year has been a good year for produce so everyone seems to have more than they need, so they are offloading it all on us!!

DH went to see his parents and came back with huge tubs of blackberries and blueberries. He went to see a mate and came bag with a bagful of courgettes, marrows & green beans. We came back from shopping today and the neighbour has left a massive Primark bag of apples on our doorstep.
Thing is, it's always me that has to deal with them - washing, chopping, freezing and finding recipes to use them up in. DH just says 'hey, XYZ kindly gave us these' and dumps them in the utility room.
I spent half a day peeling and freezing/ storing our own apples this week, I really don't want or need any more, so I asked DH to take them back and says thanks, but we have loads, but he said that would rude and refused.
Now I'm having to ring round my friends to see if anyone wants them, but they all have loads of their own too.... grrr!

There is someone at work who brings in carrier bags of what his wife calls "excess" from his allotment.

He passes it on to his secretary who make lots of pleased and grateful noises.

So far, courgettes, tomatoes, runner beans, lettuce and spring onions.

When he leaves his secretary then goes on a walk round the open plan office trying to persuade people to take a handful.

She never goes home with anything...

I'll have the courgettes. I love them!

We still have a glut of gooseberries from last year though. I swap these with my neighbour for her duck eggs. Yum.

Take the surpluss to the food bank, or gift them on to another neighbour. if you don't want them.

I'm not 100% sure @AnUtterIdiot but I think it would. Lakeland are brilliant so would more than likely take it back if it didn't suit what you wanted it for anyway.

In Dirty Dancing Baby is clearly carrying a marrow and not a watermelon.
Definitely a watermelon, the come either round like a ball or long and elongated.
I love marrow and runner beans, my dad used to have an allotment and used to sell his fruit and veg outside his house.

Next time your DH dumps them on you you need to say 'Oh lovely. Make sure you chop/freeze/prepare/etc. them by tomorrow or they'll go off'. Leave bag on side until he does it or they go off. He might get the message then.

Joffrey I think it is a watermelon in Dirty Dancing, because they can grow to a long marrow-like shape, we just don't normally see them like that in the shops. A long watermelon looks very like a marrow.

watermelon

I made spiced apple butter last year, it was gorgeous.

Get DH to deal with it then! If he realises that accepting a huge amount of produce creates x amount of work maybe he won't be so quick to accept.

YANBU. But send some to me.

I don't have neighbours who grow things, and my parents live 250 miles away so have to deal with their own excess cucumbers, but I once bought a huge box of red peppers for £2 from the market at the end of the day and ran out of things to do with them very very quickly.

I miss having my own garden and lots of apples! Also love runner beans - but too many courgettes can get a bit tiresome.

Agree re the DH, tell him if he wants to keep them he can deal with them himself - process / freeze / prepare them or compost them. If he's not prepared to and still leaves it all to you then put them in his side of the bed.

I never give anyone any of our veg any more, since I spotted two of our courgettes in a neighbour's compost bin when I was looking after their cat while they were away. (Disclaimer... I don't normally look in compost bins - I was clearing their mouldy windfalls...)

However, today a friend actually said that if I had any spare courgettes, she'd love one

Haha Mirabelletree That's the sight that greeted me after my holiday today at the allotment - four or five MASSIVE marrows. They were previously v small courgettes!! We give them to the chickens, who to be honest aren't really that fussed either...
Bit suprised at people not wanting fresh produce. I always offer though not just thrust a bag of runner beans/tomatoes on someone!
We had a bag of plums given to us a few years back and made wine out of them - it was so lovely..

People often don't grow marrows. They grow courgettes, take their eyes off them for 2 days and the fuckers turn into marrows PMSL! Reminds me of a story my dad read to me a good 40 years ago: Anne's marrow. Anne carved her name into the skin of a small green plant and her name grows as it does.

The situation can be helped with a bit of planning. I always run the freezer down before the first harvest so whatever can't be used can be stored. Obviously that doesn't apply to courgettes and anything else that risks turning to mush, but you can feel virtuous by eating courgetti spaghetti. Tomatoes can be turned into pasta / pizza sauce, its a good opportunity to use up the basil before it starts to seed. It's great to have berries year-round to stick in smoothies. Spuds and onions keep for ages if stored correctly.

Must go and attend to my cut and blistered hands now, no gain without pain and all that!

If I PM you my address, you could send them on top me, OP. I'd be most grateful.

yanbu if you can't process it.
and your h is bu if he's not dealing with it.

Put them on freegle or your local facebook selling page - I bet there's lots of people who would take them off your hands.

donate to a food bank or church kitchen
i cant get any fresh where i am.......

FIL has an allotment and grows stuff in his garden. I like a small amount of the things we will eat but not the bloody apples (he is obsessed by crumble), we can use a few but not a bag full. Same with blackberries a few is fine. Oh and potatoes, we don't eat many in our house. We don't have a big freezer or space to store stuff. That said this year DD has decided she likes broad beans (minus the yucky grey skin and runner beans) so more veg variety for her.
I wish he grew courgettes and tomatoes!

Another who wishes you were my neighbour - I'd help out. I love it when gardeners give me their 'spares'

Do you not belong to anything where you could share them ? Leave on a table saying 'please help yourself' ? Even leave them outside your house for a while with a note saying 'Spares - please help yourself? Folk do this at our Church a lot.

Food bank ? (I know they normally don't want perishable, but I'm sure they could use some fresh fruit and veg occasionally).

In Australia, we slice zucchinis courgettes in half, drizzle with lemon juice and sprinkle a little chilli or paprika on them, then throw them on the barbie BBQ

I wonder if it's as common in the UK? It's great with some nice sausages or lamb chops. Naturally, you can recreate this in winter with a pan on the stove (hob??) but it's brilliant grilled.

Your DH should be dealing with it!

YANBU. My MIL does the same with couchettes, cucumbers and tomatoes WITH ADDED INSTRUCTION to make sure I feed them to her grandchildren. FFS.

Courgette and parmesan soup is lovely, freezes well!