Is conserving hard-earned cash top of your priority list? My lunchbreak posh cheese and pickle addiction is leaking hard-earned cash that could otherwise pay for annual leave sojourns to far-flung climes. In the spirit of autumnal back-to-work austerity, I booked an afternoon off to pick my own at Parkside Farm.
Office Breaks Parkside Farm
Voted the UK’s premier Pick Your Own Farm 2011, Parkside Farm offers far more than just strawberries. Wait till the summer hoards depart and you’ll find the autumn harvest heralds a bonanza of squashes, courgettes, sweetcorn, beetroot, marrows, onions and green beans.
In a frenzy of childhood nostalgia, I grab my plastic punnets and head straight for the dwindling table-top strawberry fields, (so called as you don’t have to bend down – a god-send to more mature limbs). With a short shelf-life in the fridge, the trick is not to go mad and only collect what can be consumed in the next couple of days. Patience not being one of my virtues, jam-making is definitely off the agenda.
Office Breaks Parkside Farm
Despite abundant signs warning against trying before buying, few can resist the lure of sampling the goods in advance. Resisting temptation as I wander along the rows in the golden autumn light, the plucking motion is strangely soothing and requires enough focus to stop my mind from fretting about tomorrow’s to-do list. It’s the simple activities in life that give the most pleasure.
Office Breaks Parkside Farm
Two loaded punnets later, I head over to the towering corn fields where helpful signs advise to look out for brown tassles. Swinging through the seven-foot stalks, I’m amazed at the size – double what I normally pick up from the supermarket. At 55 pence a cob they’re more expensive than Tesco but a definite bargain at more than double the weight.
On a roll, my next stop is the courgette field where I need to grapple with the goods at ground level. (Remember to bring loose, comfortable clothes for this activity). One of the easiest vegetables to grow, it turns out that the smaller the veg, the more flavoursome. While plucking, avoid picking the flowers below.
Office Breaks Parkside Farm
Green beans are my next stop. In exuberant spirits, I man-handle the pods at my peril, only to find most of them snapping in half. Pinch don’t pull is the name of the game. Filling up more bags with squashes, I idly wonder how I’m going to conjure up exciting lunchtime fodder with all this bounty.
Surveying the raw lumps now bulging out of my fridge, my heart sinks at the hours of preparation involved in boiling and steaming this lot into submission. Did I bite off more than I could chew with pick your own?
Office Breaks Squashes, Parkside Farm
On my commute home the next day an article in the Evening Standard grabs my attention. As the new alternative to noodles and spaghetti, julienning is where it’s at. Prepared in a jiffy, the slinky vegetable strips provide ultimate versatility for lunchtime fare at a snip. Ignoring the more expensive spiralizers, I opt instead for a £6.00 julienne peeler from John Lewis and feverishly set to work preparing next week’s lunches.
Office Breaks julienne peeler and vegetables
Carrot and courgette filled wraps, julienne stir-fry, spaghetti squash and zoodles are just a few of the new dishes which make their way into work the following week. With no end of permutations available, I bid farewell to congealed pasta leftovers and lip ham sangers. Crunchy, colourful and brimming with vitality, the julienne strips are a lunch break winner. And with a single carrot costing around 10 pence, I may just make it to Argentina after all. Thankfully, I hear they’re more into steaks over there.
Parkside Farm is open from June – October exclusively
Opening times: 9.00 – 5.00 (closed on Mondays)
How do you save your salary to travel? Please share your tips!