EASY TO STORE

Growing veges that will keep for months without any pickling, freezing or bottling required is another great way to stretch your family’s food budget… and to do so for far longer than just the harvest season.

Ku¯mara

Mei Leng Wong grows ku¯ mara for the nutritious tubers and the leaves. As soon as the seedlings are established and sending out a few vines, she starts picking the tender leaves for cooking. “In my native Malaysia, we often use the tubers in desserts, and treat sweet potato leaves like spinach, using them in stir-fries and soups. My favourite is to heat up a tablespoon of peanut oil in a hot wok, add chopped garlic and chilli, then toss in leaves and fry until they just wilt, maybe add some soy sauce,” she says. “So though it takes months before I can harvest the tubers, I’m extracting value from the plant within weeks, and for months. That’s got to count as a budget booster.”

Potatoes

Canterbury grow-your-own enthusiast Candice Harris says spuds can help stretch the food bill. “Potatoes win versatility points right?” she says. “Plus you could live off them and them alone in terms of nutritional value. I always sow a second round of spuds in late summer to dig up in winter for some wedges or leek and potato soup.”

Pumpkins

Candice also says pumpkin wins the official garden award for best bang for your buck crops for her because the right varieties store so well. She uses pumpkins to make hummus, scones, jam, pie, soup, muffins, curry and kebabs, plus it is steamed, roasted and added to smoothies and burgers.

“Heck, we even add it to overnight oats and make pancakes with pumpkin in them.”

Butternuts are her favourite. “Whether it’s the flavour, the fact they are easy peel or just the shape which resembles my own!” But the bigger cousins – crown and blues – are a better choice for longer storage times.

‘Urenika’

Sol Morgan grows this purple Māori potato variety year round in Tākaka. “They grow well under lots of our fruit trees that get mulched regularly. These are lifted throughout the year and don’t go green, because they’re purple! Being a floury spud, they make yummy roast chips, along with rosemary leaves.”