A green-fingered mother who feeds her family's food claims she can cook delicious meals made full of plants found near her home, even if lockdown panic shopping means that supermarket shelves are empty inside.
Joanna Ruminska, 38, spends up to 14 hours in & # 39; a week searching in & # 39; e forests at her home in Plymouth, Devon for ingredients including mushrooms, elderflower and wild garlic.
The mother-of-two has been born ever since she was a child, but her interest in sourcing her food snowballed as she got older and now more than half of her diet is from the country or plants that & # 39; t she grows in her garden.
And with the coronavirus stocking that supermarkets and online retailers are missing out on every day, she said the nation's interest in food has receded – with people who don't have their pictures of plants now send those who have found them in their gardens to ask if they are eating every day.
Joanna Ruminska, 38, of Devon, exists for up to 14 hours in & # 39; weekly feeding in & # 39; e forests at her home and swears by the practice of cooking cheap, tasty and nutritious meals for her family
The green-fingered mother often searches for up to two hours a day to find the best ingredients, and uses forage food in almost all her meals (pictured, Oyster mushroom pork chops)
The mother-of-two weaves the wild ingredients, including seaweed and wild garlic (pictured) into her family's meals
The former teacher believes her family could survive on produce in the countryside and in the backyard (pictured left, chicken from Woods mushrooms and satay noodles and right, baked oyster mushrooms and wild garlic)
Former teacher Joanna, who was born in Poland and moved to the UK in 2006, said: "If the stores closed tomorrow and there were no deliveries, we could survive 39; e products in the countryside and in our garden.
& # 39; I was lucky to be within walking distance of & # 39; live in a forest and I can get all the ingredients in there if I'm desperate.
& # 39; I grew up in the Polish countryside and I have been following as long as I can remember, but I am the only one in & # 39; a family that didn't take it to the next level.
& # 39; More than half of what my family and I eat now comes from our natural environment.
Joanna's favorite food ingredient is wild garlic, which she uses in everything, from focaccia and pizza to soup, pasta and stews (pictured, a pizza for wild garlic)
The mother-of-two loves the variety of wild garlic as a decorated ingredient, and regularly masks a pesto with the food (pictured, pasta with wild garlic)
Joanna discovered that she goes out every day to keep her pantry full, and will sometimes & # 39; make a shopping list & # 39; before going into the forest to pick the wild food (pictured left, wild garlic salt, and right oyster mushrooms)
& # 39; I feed or the ingredients from forests at my house, make trips to the coast for things like seaweed & seaweed, or grow certain vegetables & fruits that should be cultivated in my garden.
& # 39; I try to feed every day. It's my exercise. & # 39;
She explained: & # 39; I pack a basket and sometimes I make a list like a shopping list, but instead of looking at the ingredients in & # 39; looking for a supermarket I go in the countryside to look for them.
& # 39; I spend about two hours a day on nutrition, but if I go further, it can be a tough day.
Joanna recommended those who just started feeding should have their goal of choosing wild plants that they could find in their garden, such as dandelion and prickly pear (pictured, dandelion root coffee cheese cake)
The mother-of-two will often use mushrooms to replace meat in dishes (left, a wrap with the wild plant), and add wild garlic to flavor their meals (right, roasted buckwheat with seaweed, wild garlic and capers)
Joanna regularly roasts chicken for mushrooms, and adds hand-picked oyster mushrooms to her meals instead of steaks (pictured, oyster mushrooms with capers)
& # 39; My daughters would like to join in, so they leave in search of their favorite flowers, such as elderflower. & # 39;
Joanna advises beginners to start with wild plants that most people can find in their garden or on grass fields, such as dandelions and prickly nets.
Her favorite foraged ingredient is wild garlic, which she uses in everything from focaccia and pizza to soup, pasta and stews.
Joanna also picks mushrooms like & # 39; chicken from & # 39; e forest & # 39; to use as a meat alternative in noodles and replaces steak with hand-picked oyster mushrooms to create a vegetarian twist on & # 39; e classic steak and chips.
And it's not just food! Joanna also recommends using wildflowers and plants to make delicious drinks, including non-infused tonic (left) and elderflower cordial (right)
The mother-of-two said that although bars and pubs are close amid the & # 39; coronavirus pandemic, people could make fever with wild plants at home (pictured, non-cordial)
Joanna often spends hours a day looking for the ingredients near her home, and believes she could live on wild food if supermarkets permanently close (right, seaweed and left, wild garlic)
And now that bars are closed, she is advising people to create their own tipples of spoiled plants, such as prickly nettle beer, elderflower champagne and reacurrant gin.
However, Joanna advises beginners to stay away from mushrooms already, because of the number of poisonous varieties and the expertise that is needed to differentiate between species.
She said, & # 39; I have since & # 39; e lockdown increased 400 percent interest in nutrition – I get a stream of messages from strangers.
& # 39; I think people put the holes on & # 39; e shelves at supermarkets and think about how they can source certain ingredients in different ways.
The mother-of-two has received a stream of messages from strangers in the midst of the lockdown, with many people not looking for food for the first time
Joanna revealed that there was a & # 39; excitement of interest & # 39; has been in the diet since the coronavirus pandemic began
& # 39; I've had a lot of posts on my Instagram @incredible_edible__ from people who sent me pictures of stants in their backyards, who & # 39; t ask me if they can eat things you & # 39; 39; t have found them.
& # 39; I'm a little afraid of identifying things in a photo, because I don't want to mislead people, you have to feel and smell a plant to identify them properly.
& # 39; However, I am happy about the rise in interest. There are so many delicious foods on people's doors that they do not know. & # 39;
When Joanna does not eat food to put on a dining table, she buys wild vegetables and seaweed for high-end London restaurants in her job at Totally Wild UK, where she also leads nutrition courses.
The mother-of-two found that the best time to look for most plants is noon, when flowers have been opened (image)
She says the best time to look for most plants is noon when the flowers are opened, which makes them easier to identify, while mushrooms are fed early in the morning before being cut by other people.
The mother said, & # 39; Some people with whom I speak and teach are skeptical about nutrition at first.
& # 39; I might be able to say nettle sauce and they will smile, but almost always they will come to the idea soon.
Joanna relies on ingredients such as oyster mushrooms (right) and dandelions (left) in over half of her family's name
The mother-of-two admitted that nutrition & # 39; timeline & # 39; is then traveling to the supermarket, but said it & # 39; very relaxing & # 39; a & # 39; more comfortable & # 39; was like going to the supermarket
& # 39; If you tell them you can just eat your weeds instead of being complaining about them, it makes sense.
& # 39; Foraging is timely then going to the supermarket, but it's time better spent.
& # 39; It's fun because you have to slow and observe your natural environment – it's very relaxing in that way. & # 39;
