Traditional lifestyle
 

Reading the threads on the high cost of NZ living and those who feel having a veg /fruit garden or chooks is the pits, I wondered how many migrants bring their UK urban lifestyle with them including the costs.

Rumour has it that the majority of Brits buy their meals readymade in Tesco/Waitrose, with salads already shredded etc or survive on take away foods...yes I am taking the piss (I hope).

The only fully processed foods we eat are things like biscuits, cheese, butter. We cook from fresh and make our own bread and traditional cakes, puddings, fruit juices, jams....and so forth.

Not only healthier but cheaper :-)

Re: Traditional lifestyle
 

Still got a garden full of kale and different varieties of Silverbeet, toms and green beans we cooked up to a spicy beans recipe and filled the freezer. One 19 lbs smoked Salmon and one 16 lbs salmon in steaks for crispy skin frying...only wish we had chooks, greenhouse on order, oh yes just one cucumber plant last year kept us and neighbor supplied......cheaply ;) I did get lazy and now use the Panasonic bread maker......!

Re: Traditional lifestyle
 

Impressed - if you ever visit the North you can tell us what we are getting wrong :-)

Re: Traditional lifestyle
 

I picked a couple of chillies from our chilli plant in the back garden as I made chicken fajitas tonight.

I also picked a couple of lemons from our lemon tree.

I couldn't help but see the irony or novelty of 'harvesting' in the winter.

We used up the last of the 'hobby honey' yesterday. A couple of young lads were selling 300g tubs of honey from their own back garden bee hives in our neighbourhood door to door last year.

Last year I had a cucumber plant that was busy producing the next cucumber whilst I was eating the current one over the space of a week. This year's cucumber plant wasn't so enthusiastic.

The mint, strawberries, lemon and Ballarat apples that were growing to garnish my Pimms and lemonade were great.

We really are not, 'Tom and Barbara Good' if anyone remembers the old t.v. sitcom, 'The Good Life'.

We live like we lived in Britain. We liked what we had and saw no reason to change anything. Well, except for our address. We came here for family reasons. Nothing more, nothing less. No lifestyle change. No style statement. No need to bail out or run away.

No experience is ever wasted so the saying goes.

Re: Traditional lifestyle
 

There are better things you can grow if you'd like to be financially better off.

Re: Traditional lifestyle
 

Spooky. I was literally just looking online at what is sold in NZ supermarkets and remarked on the lack of convenience foods. I cook from scratch here in the UK probably about 5 out 7 days per week but admit to wanting a night or two off per week as I hate cooking. Judging by everyone else, I think This makes me a bad person!

Re: Traditional lifestyle
 

Is it worth the risk though!!!

Re: Traditional lifestyle
 

Just more expensive. As long as you promise not to migrate, then spend 24\7 whinging about the price of food (epecially tomatoes and cucumbers). :-)

Re: Traditional lifestyle
 

Don't be fooled, you just have to take a look around NZ to know that the majority of people are not exactly living on a 'clean' and wholesome diet of home grown veg and produce.

We don't have the ready meals or variety of stuff that is in the UK for convenience it would be more like the 'old' school' what we had in the seventies; i.e. something out of a tin or a jar on toast. The supermarket aisles are largely filled by fizzy drinks and tinned stuff; tuna, beans, beetroot, spaghetti, sauces in jars peanut butter & jam, cake, biscuits, tinned fruit, breakfast cereals and ice-cream. This pretty much sums up what most people are eating on a daily basis. Judging by what I see of the queues in shops and supermarkets kids are generally fuelled by pizza, oven chips, chicken nuggets, fizzy drinks, chips and dips and cheap crappy precooked sausages.

Most supermarkets do now have 'fresh / chilled' pasta, soups and sauces, hot cooked chickens and bagged salads - which are my go to for lazy days.

Re: Traditional lifestyle
 

We bought the cucumber plant at a big school plant sale that we have just outside Chch so unfortunately we do not know it,s variety only that it was very prolific in fruit. The one thing we can't get right is the Bok Choy, we plant them out and they bolt straight to flower :(
Wifey picks the lemons cuts them into sections and freezes them, drop into G&T and saves having to mess around with ice cubes.
Too cold at night for Chilli's here all ours have been dried out in the sun and used as required. Would like a recipe for making Chilli Pickle next summer though.;)
And a good recipe for making lemonade with all of the surplus lemons.

Re: Traditional lifestyle
 

While I don't disagree with the thrust of your post, I think the other issue is your age. My mum, who grew up in the UK during rationing can't bring herself to throw anything away even if she hates it. She will preserve, freeze etc. As a 50+ I would probably do this too, and grow my own stuff. I also cook from scratch and avoid processed food - I make sure my lifestyle can accommodate this. But I think life for younger generations is different - many have never learned to cook - my younger cousins think cooking is throwing a salad together with some pre-cooked chicken. Cook-chill meals and takeways are quite cheap, quick and require no washing up.

Western civilisation has seen a move away from reliance on the land to reliance on the supermarket - If we have an economic disaster like the 1929 crash we will be worse off. Those who survived back then were those who had the resources and skill to live off the land - how many today can say that? I find it concerning. If I had children today I would be teaching them these skills right now.

Re: Traditional lifestyle
 

Jmh a lot of truth in that - I am post war, but your comments on both age and learning to cook at your mother's knee etc are true? I remember complaining my mother didn't leave enough cake mixture in the mixing bowl for me to lick out :-) I do hate food waste as well.

But part of it is expectations, if the parents/grandparents don't cook the children (and their children) usually won't. I am the baker in the family, lots of making cakes/scones surrounded by fascinated (and perpetually hungry) kids. Kids love doing it themselves as well eg making pancakes/pikelets if you can stand the mess :-)

Part of it is living in a rural (or semi rural) environment. My wife is much less squeamish than me, so quite happy to gut a pheasant, chicken, rabbit (used to teach biology using pig offal) :-(

Not for everyone, but there is incredible satisfaction in partly living off produce you have grown yourself and eating home cooked meals.

Re: Traditional lifestyle
 

Can you get seeds? If the climate is right they're very easy to grow from seed, much easier than tomatoes .

I haven't grown them regularly for a few years, but you can plant them indoors if you're still getting frost, before planting them out, then plant a few every 2-3 weeks so long as you have a couple of months of the growing season left. We grow them up tomato cages, but if you can't get those, they'll grow up pea netting or any sort of trellis or similar.

The plants don't produce all summer as they seem to get tired and die - which is why you keep planting seeds every few weeks. :)

Re: Traditional lifestyle
 

Never thought of taking seeds from it :( Do with the best bean varieties
Think you live in a more constant warmth than we do in South Island. I do like the idea of growing them up pea netting though turn your back and they try to gain the size of pumpkins..;)

Re: Traditional lifestyle
 

That is true. .... Which is one reason to plant many plants - you harvest them small, when they are firm and the seeds haven't developed.

I was wondering if you could buy seeds, but if you want to collect your own you would need to let one or two "inflate" and ripen.

And yeah, we're getting a steady 32°C-36°C every day, and have been for the past month. It will likely be September before it cools down much. In fact it is really too hot for cucumbers as the plants "burn up" and get dry and wizened despite rain several times a week. The tomatoes however love it! :thumbsup: