This year’s theme is ‘Cooking for Victory’ in response to WRAPS “household Food and Drink Waste in the UK” report. The report shows we throw away 8.3 million tonnes of food and drink every year. Most of this is avoidable and could have been eaten if we had planned, stored and managed it better. This amount of food waste costs the average family in Britain £50 per month. And in these economic times, that’s £50 per month few of us can spare. What could you do with that £600 you’d save in a year? And if that’s only the average, then some of us are wasting a whole lot more than that…

We have made our own pledge, to publish this “handy guide to eating left-overs”, which we really hope you’ll:

1) find useful,

and, more importantly,

2) add your own ideas to, using the Comments field down there.

Alternatively, rather than adding your ideas here, why not add them to Mrs G’s website and put yourself in the running to win one of the two great prizes that she has up for grabs: a £50 LUSH voucher and £50 Natural Collection voucher!

Click through for the “Handy Guide to Eating Left-overs“

what are your food ethics?

There’s a risk that, when explaining you’re a (for instance) seasonally-focused, raw food, lacto-non-ovo-vegetarian, you’re going to get the kinds of raised eyebrows you see in certain coffee shops when someone at the front orders a tall, skinny, dry, double shot, extra hot, soya, vanilla cappuccino.

So which ethical food camps are there, which one are you in and why?  Find out.

would you eat them?

Following on from the June feature on ethical egg shopping, this month we’ve collaborated with the good folks over at Farm-Direct to bring you some thoughts about the chickens behind the eggs.

Since the start of VegBox Recipes, we’ve been focused almost exclusively (and unsurprisingly!) on supporting you to eat local, seasonal, organic fruit and vegetables.

However, not all of our readers are strict vegetarians or vegans. So whilst it’s still true that one of the best ways of reducing your household carbon footprint is to switch to a vegetarian or vegan diet, if we’re going to eat meat, poultry and fish, or cook it for others, the natural choice would seem to be swapping quantity (especially ‘worryingly cheap’ quantity), for quality.

Read on to find out how to know what you’re eating, and for recipes to try with your ethically-sourced chicken.

** thanks to our regular reader, Steve-in-KL, for the photo of his “ladies”!

time to get outdoors in the April showers

Are you feeling it too? A certain … What’s it called? Oh yes! WARMTH!

Please don’t let us jinx it, but it does seem just ever so slightly like scarves are optional.

Which could also mean starting to plant out into the ground or tubs, especially if you’ve been warming your soil with fleece or plastic… However, be warned that the official last frost date for this year, and this is for the South of England, is not until late April, so best to keep an eye on the forecast.

Here’s your veggie growing guide for April.

lights out!

WWF have been in touch with our sister-site Ooffoo because they’d love the Ooffoo community to be involved in Earth Hour 2010. And we’d love to help our Dear Readers (or are you Dear Eaters?) to be involved too, especially as eating seasonal, and especially vegetarian or vegan, is a great way of living sustainably on the Earth.

Click through to find out more about the campaign and how to sign up. And why not consider hosting a little candelit gathering and sharing a seasonal meal together using some of our recipes??

March checklist for growers

The most important tip for March is that, although it may officially bring the commencement of British Summer Time, there is no actual guarantee on the weather, so be realistic about any ground you’re thinking of planting into and focus on cultivating patience if it stays cold. A good guide to whether to sow is whether the grass in your garden or the local park has started growing.

Here’s the low down on what to sow in March, where to sow it, and what other preparations you can take care of.

PLUS – we’re looking for a guest potato grower to contribute monthly to the blog, so if that could be you, get in touch by sending us an email – info[at]vegbox-recipes.co.uk.

make mine organic!

Despite our reputation here at VegBox, you can rest easy – we’re not about to suggest that the only way to enjoy a tipple this Christmas is by making your own potcheen!

Because fortunately for us these days there are enough ethical suppliers around that it is relatively easy to source organic and even local plonk.

We wanted to share a few inspiring choices with you, but don’t forget to check out your local farmers market or to call your veg box supplier and ask them if they can deliver what you’re after or else make a recommendation.

Read the full article…

To help you have a greener Hallowe’en, we’ve compiled a list of ideas to try. Whatever other scary footprints we may find on the garden path this October 31st, none of them need to be carbon ones!

Click through for tips on:

• creepy costumes
• horrifying house decoration
• treacherous trick or treating, and
• paranormal party food ideas (eyeballs, mummy heads, amputated fingers and more!)

all designed to cut the plastic, the excess sugar and those Evil Emissions! (Mu-hah-hah-hah-hah-haahhhh!)

with you, little spinaches, I will change the world...

Bless my cotton socks, but I thought I was going to go down in history as some kind of vegetable crusader. Remember the Earth Day Challenge I was preparing myself for?

Well, let’s just say it didn’t quite go as expected

Was I pelted with copies of last week’s TV Times? Perhaps I was routinely ignored in a slightly sneering way by all and sundry… Or maybe there WEREN’T any passers-by to accost with smiles and spinach seedlings…

No. I can assure you it was worse. Or maybe that should be better? I’m still a little confused!

Read on over on ooffoo to find out what exactly became of my attempt to change my neighbourhood.

1. The VegBox Garden just got a WHOLE lot bigger.

2. The veggies already planted just got a whole lot bigger (and some are about to be eaten).

3. And the global Grow Your Own movement just got a whole lot bigger too.

PLUS I haven’t killed ANYthing now since March!

Read on over on ooffoo.com to find out exactly what we’ve been up to, to compare notes, to offer your own advice (please!) and to access some other really useful online resources to help you along.

bigger bigger bigger!