The Cottage Smallholder

        Firstly I should state that i can get as many cooking apples as i could possibly need FREE. Virtualy no one can use all the Bramleys on 1 tree for themselves. So look around you are doing them a favour as It will save them picking them up. You can even pick them of the floor as Bramleys last quite a while on the floor, a week even.

       Next cooked apple pies just don't come out of freezer as good as they went in while apple crumbles do. I would therefore suggest freezing them uncooked which is the way they sell them in supermarkets anyway.

        Now we come to the HOW TO MAKE APPLE CRUMBLES ON AN INDUSTRIAL SCALE!!

         Firstly the apples as above or when they are at there cheapest in the supermarket (shop around)

         Shop around for all the ingrediants.

Flour is there a differance between mcdougals and an own brand?? I don't think so and there is big saving here.

Sugar? good savings bye shopping around and cheap shops can be big savers (£1 shops etc).

Butter? own brands are cheapest but not much differance between supermarkets.

Now we come to a monster saver use used ready made meal cartons the plastic ones are best (no reason why you cannot make rectangular apple pies and they take up less room in the freezer). They are freezer safe, microwave safe and oven safe. You can of course use them for any meals not just apple crumble. No excuses even if you don't use ready made meals some of your friends will and you can knock on neighbours doors and ask them to save them for you or go through there wheelie bins......although the latter might be going a little to far??

     Use a machine for for the pastry and buy a device that peels cores and slices apples in one go. They appear to always be made by the same manufacturer. Price? I paid £20 on Amazon and my mate proptly emailed me to say he bought one for £10 on Ebay.....sorry that should read ex-mate.

     Result? I had 70 apple crumbles in my freezer in no time at all.......although I did go off them for a while (I live alone), I now find myself buying them in Morrisons (£1 and very good as well).

  Enjoy I will have to make more next year!!!!!! Maybe I can swop them for something from other people? A sheep?