Last minute food shopping locally.
Instead of pushing your way through the hoards of disgruntled holiday shoppers in the large town shopping centre or supermarket chain, why not do your last minute Christmas food shopping locally. You’ll find lots of unique and interesting Christmas gifts for everyone on your list and at reasonable prices too. Plus you know the money you spend is going into the pockets of the local people and that money is likely to stay circulating in your local economy rather than traveling overseas.
GreenMe has been talking to some of the producers and suppliers listed on our directory and the overall feedback has been that they are having a busy season.
Below are some great food and beverage suppliers from around the country with how Christmas has gone for them so far and the great deals they have on offer
Kevin from Ardkeen Quality Food Store in Waterford has a few Organic Turkeys left. They sold out last year so my advice would be to get your order in quick. Their turkeys are locally reared and are only fed on natural feed stuffs, guaranteeing you a premium taste. They also have lots of local organic growers and food producers with very low food miles selling their quality produce in store
For farms such as Gubbeen in West Cork, the last few weeks have been a time of great confusion. Why their pork products were caught up in the decision to recall all pig meat even though they feed carefully (locally sourced GM free meal) to all their animals, milk herd, chickens and pigs is beyond me.
Giana from Gubbeen said that she took great solace throughout all this from their customers, “your understanding of the real message which we believe in, confirmed that small farms and artisan methods do mean something at a time like this – the message being: local small producers on family run farms with artisan skills do have something special to offer”
Giana would like to say a big thank all the customers who wrote, rang or just came to the markets with their shopping bags and bought Gubbeen Pork Products.
To order some fine Gubbeen produce including Ham, Salami, Cheese and Hampers ranging from ‚¬30 – ‚¬100, contact Giana or Clovisse and they can arrange delivery to your door with their night line delivery service.
Con from The Apple Farm in Tipperary has found the run up to Christmas very busy this year. People have been ordering their cases of juice online for delivery to friends as a Christmas gift. At a starting price of ‚¬35.95 per case of 12 large bottles, you can probably see why. Also people coming to the farm shop have been buying lots of fruit and juice hampers, which along with their preserves,local honey and cheese have proved very popular.
At their local farmers’ market Con made up a mulled apple juice for those whowere driving, using just the Apple Farm′s juice, cloves, cinnamon, and some brown sugar, which is even nicer to drink than a mulled wine, but less expensive, and without the hangover.
You can make this recipe by pouring a bottle of juice into a saucepan, adding one stick of cinnamon, a few cloves, a tablespoon of sugar, and warming to about 70 degrees for about 20 minutes.
So for a hassle free shop that supports the local community and helps retain much needed jobs, check out the GreenMe food directory for a local producer or supplier in your area
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- Slow Food: in defence of pleasure
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- Eating Al Fresco – Castlefarm gives May cookery demonstration
