[shokkyy]

My peas are putting off pods nicely now and they're starting to fill. Anybody got a rough rule of thumb for how many pods it takes to feed one person one meal? I know it's a bit of a how-long's-a-piece-of-string question, but any idea at all would be helpful. It's been years since I've bothered growing peas and I can't remember. I don't want to start picking them until I've got enough for a meal right away, or they won't be fresh.

[AnneB]

I don't think you should wait until you have enough for a meal, but pick as soon as they are ready.  This encourages the plants to produce more.  If you leave them, the overall production will slow down and also they won't taste as nice and will have gone a bit starchy.

[gobs]

I'd agree. Pods do not ripen exactly at the same time. First you get a handful to munch and so on.

Otherwise, it depends, what you are cooking. We like pea soup, for that I'd take about a carrierbag-ful of pods for a hungry family. Much less needed for a side veg. Depending on the length and fill it could be just a few pods per person.

[lazza]

I didn't know it was possible to actually get pea pods to the kitchen for turning into a meal... ours never make it more than a few feet from the plant before some glutton eats them!

[joyfull]

if you only have a few why not use them in a risotto with a few mushrooms and an onion 

[shokkyy]

I've answered my question. Today I picked 20 pods, which was just about all the pods that had fully swelled. It was barely enough for a side veg for one person. So I guess 50 pods for a side veg for two people.

This is what I always find difficult about veggie growing at home. I've got a 7' double row of canes of Alderman peas, they are about 6' high now and still growing, and I did chuck an awful lot of seeds into the drills. But from those plants I suspect there's not going to be many times when there's 50 filled pods at the same time, which means you have a choice between eating them fresh or actually having enough for a meal. The same is true of mangetout and French beans, you have to pick them before they get too big, but the number of pickable pods at any one time is never enough for a meal, just a contribution to a stir fry. And I have a suspicion my calabrese might well be the same if the sprouts aren't very big.