Newsletter

First of all a big thank you, to each and every one of you, for your continued support for Stroudco and all that we do.

We are delighted to have been named as one of Stroud’s Lockdown Heroes during the previous stage of the pandemic earlier this year. Stroudco is owned by its members who are our everyday customers, suppliers and supporters and our aims are to support the local supply chain as well as local consumers.

Our friendly local delivery system is great for those who are self-isolating; we can drop off boxes one week and collect them the next; our delivery team now includes bicycles and small electric vehicles and is perfect for narrow lanes; and we are grateful to all those supporters who enable us to make considerable donations to the local Food Bank throughout the year.

Reminder: Our shop is now open 8am Friday to 8am Wednesday each week, with collection miday every Fridays and delivery Friday afternoons.

Click Here To Visit Our Shop Front

Our Local Suppliers Seasonal Highlights:

In the UK, autumn is a time of year abundant with delicious seasonal produce and our local suppliers have plenty on offer with good quantities of apples, squashes, and other root vegetables. We take a look at some of the highlights you can find on our shopfront and reccomend some tasty uses:

Seasonal Produce From Stroud Suppliers Include...

Rosie and Nell’s seasonal produce includes beetroot, winter squashes, (heritage) Mixed Cherry Tomatoes, Cavalo Nero (Black) Kale, Green Curled Kale, and Rainbow Chard. All delicious ingredients to add into a warming stew, chilli, hotpot, or curry - especially with the beetroot and squashes first roasted.

Biodynamic-farmed produce from the Hawkwood Gardens includes a whole range of fresh fragrant herbs like basil, parsley, chives, and mint, prefect for making homemade dressings, sauces, and dips, as well as adding a little seasoning magic to the simplest of dishes.

Organic carrots from Stroud Community Agriculture’s farm are available alongside their sustainably sourced Gloucestershire potatoes and organic UK onions. Combined, these three can make the perfect base for a hearty soup.

Unsprayed apples from our little producer Fern Villa Enterprises are beautiful and juicy this time of year, supplied by one of our customers who doesn’t want the good fortune from their lovely apple trees going to waste. With the colder months ahead why not use them in comforting autumnal recipes including pies, flans, jams, and chutneys.

“Good for cooking and eating…buy them quickly before the squirrels eat them” - Fern Villa Enterprises

Seasonal Eating Can Be A Great Way to Eat Healthy, Save Money, and Waste Less!

One veg in peak season this time of year are cabbages, and our Stroudco manager Grace has shared one of her own Nutrition Business recipes in inspiration of our seasonal eating theme this month…

"At this time of year there can be a glut of cabbages and they are at their best as they are juicy and fresh. Sauerkraut is a great way to preserve and keep cabbages. Not only does sauerkraut reinvigorate your gut bugs due to it being a cultured food that contains beneficial bacteria, but the nutritional benefits of the cabbage are multiplied in the fermentation process and sauerkraut contains more vitamin C than were in the original ingredients" - Grace Adams

You can find out more about Grace's business, discover her services, and get in contact with her at Grace Addams Nutrition - www.graceadamsnutrition.co.uk

Support Local When Choosing Wine

After recently visiting our local wine supplier Woodchester Valley Vineyard to take part in one of their popular tour and taster events, we sum up our top reasons for choosing local with Woodchester Valley when it comes to wine:

The wine is produced on the doorstep and is of the highest quality seasonally grown and harvested grapes from vines in Woodchester, Amberley, and Stonehouse.
They do not use pesticides only certain fungicides when strictly necessary that remain free from copper sulphate.
You are supporting local by purchasing from this family run business with a team of 15 staff.
They care about their own sustainability and are striving to be eco-friendly with beehives and bat boxes around their vineyards
Woodchester Wines produce national and international award winning varieties, including for their still wines (unique with the majority of UK wines being sparkling), and recently won awards at WineGB 2020 for their Classic sparkling, Rose, and Whites.
With sparkling, rose, and white wines available to purchase on our shopfront choice is provided for taste and occasion.

Celebrate Apple Day With Us!

Apple day is always a popular October occasion for Stroud so next time your turning on the oven, why not pop some apples in at the same time as Stroudco Director Liz shares her family favorites recipe for an Autumnal treat of Baked Apples.

With just some tasty apples (the sharper the better), raisins, demerara sugar to taste (when using cooking apples), and an optional addition of cinnamon, this easy recipe is a simple but delicious use for this wonderful fruit.

We've Stroud Artist Greeting Cards For Any Occasion!

The greetings cards on our website (under Non-Food Items) are by Artist Rachel Beckett - who has also served as a Stroudco director for the past year-and-a-bit during our re-launch. Rachel originally studied History of Art and later illustration, plus she has also trained as a maths teacher.

Rachel’s experiences, combined with her love of British wild flowers, birds, and her interest in William Morris, have resulted in a unique set of patterns printed on her cards. The symmetry of the range currently available is based around Penrose Tiles (discovered by Roger Penrose who this month received the Nobel Prize for Physics).

Keen to make her cards eco-friendly they are printed locally on sustainable card, and Rachel is happy to receive returned plastic wrappers for re-use. She has also designed the back of her cards to 'work hard', giving suggestions of how nature lovers can help protect the natural world.

Rachel has more designs up her sleeves for her greeting cards with nature at heart and we are looking forward to stocking her new arrivals next month, including some around the theme of 'magpie and jay'.

Making Your Order Is Simple With Stroudco:

Go to https://openfoodnetwork.org.uk/stroudco/shop
If you know you have been tagged as ‘vulnerable’, then you can ignore the notice about the shop being closed; otherwise, please come back later
Click the padlock and login icons at the top of the page
Log in using the email you have received this invitation on (or use the sign up tab, using the same email if you don't already have an account)
Read the notices about ordering during the lockdown
Go back to the Shop tab and place your order.
Eagerly await your order to be delivered Friday afternoon - or for you to collect Friday lunchtime from our Trintiy Room Hub.

If you need to order on behalf of others, as well as yourself, or you wish to make an order as a group, organisation, neighbourhood, or community then please contact us at manager@stroudco.org.uk for more infomation.

Chat With Us On Social Media:

We love hearing from you on social media so please tag us in your comments, tweets, posts, pics, & shares, including #stroudco to help spread the word of what we do.

Twitter: @StroudcoFoodhub

Instagram: @stroudco_foodhub

Facebook: @stroudco

We also welcome any feedback you may like to share and hope you will continue to shop with us in future weeks! A final BIG Thank You from all of us on the Stroudco Team for being such a vital part of our community and supporting what we do.

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