50p a day til christmas, healthily?!-Weezl's next challenge (part 2)

Confuzzled

Elfinwings wrote: »

I have to say, despite being as English as it gets and growing up with the birds instant trifle-in-a-pack efforts, I NEVER make trifle with jelly for exactly that reason! For me the perfect trifle is cake (always plenty of offcuts from my wedding cakes!) blacmange and whipped cream. I favour a combo of chocolate cake doused in [aldi substitute] baileys, with chocolate blacmange topped off by cream whipped with another tot of baileys in it.

wow that sounds lovely!

now if i'm right blancmange is something akin to americans pudding (like whip only heavier and creamier) is that right? i've probably eaten it but not known it was blancmange

and speaking of baileys substitute, i've never tried the aldi's version but the lidl version is lovely. i have an aldi not far from where i'm at now so i'll have to treat myself to a bottle this year as a little present to me as it's so rare i actually get anything special just for me!

i'll have to look up some blancmange and some pudding recipes and compare and contrast, personally i think i'd prefer using what i know as pudding to custard as i've never been a huge fan of custard, it's so... bland to me and this is coming from someone that absolutely loves all things creamy and really appreciates the subtle flavours... but the idea of a nice creamy butterscotch or light milky chocolate pudding in a trifle sans jelly is quite appealing! thanks so much for sharing that idea, you've got my mouth watering for dessert and it's not even 10am yet

Confuzzled

Confuzzled wrote: »

also the letting agent stopped by and is going to have someone out to check my thermostat, i think the gas keeps running when it shouldn't be. i've been charged 185 quid for 3.5 months, only one month did i have the heat on and that was very very low and only in two rooms. since then i've only had the water heater on 2 hours a day so that seems excessive to me!

well the gas man has just been here and the mystery has been solved...i have a carp heating system! lucky me :mad:

he explained that he used to work for the council and he's seen this type over and over (this is an ex council house as are a huge majority of homes in this area) basically the tank heats about 80% of the water for central heating and the rest for hot water, is ALWAYS set to 80C (has to be or you dont' get any hot water for baths etc) and it is ALWAYS ON!

it's supposed to be a money saver for anyone that runs 3 baths a day and does tons of laundry and loads of dishes each day... thing is these homes were made for OAP a fact i knew but he pointed out. it only has 2 bedrooms, how many people with two bedrooms do you know that use hot water like that?

anyway he said he always used to get call outs from OAP's in particular saying that their hot water was taking hours and hours to heat up. he said that originally when they fitted these things they only gave a timer for the heat not the hot water so the OAP's tended to turn the water heaters off manually but when they'd turn it back on it was taking ridiculous amounts of time to get hot water for baths etc, because bascially it was heating 80% of the tank for Heat and doing that FIRST!

he said they then started using the dual control switches not because you can actually do anything with the hot water tank, but because they are cheaper. methinks though that they wanted people to stopped turning the tanks off manually!

he also told me that while the power flush they did recently will help a bit, he's never seen a powerflush on radiators in this kind of system really do much good for long. he told me that the two new radiators i have now will work reasonably well but that the other radiators will just worsen in time. he also said the only way i have of possibly saving any money on gas is to basically turn it off manually at the boiler and turn it back on and wait hours and hours for any hot water.

he did point out that i should try it a week turning it off and on when i need it and then compare to a week the way i have been because it may not be much saving since it has to heat soooo much! i fear he's right there but i'll experiment and see what happens. i'd be happy to boil a few kettles worth of water for the dishes ( i tod them every other day since there only two of us) and i've already reduced the amount of baths i take because we get so little hot water (charming eh, paying for all that and getting practically nothing back!)

he said it's a terribly ineffient system and only benefits heavy users that want hot water NOW he also says that they tend to sludge up and from what i saw from the radiator replacement he's not joking, i think half the radiator was full of mud!

so basically, i think if i can't find another place to move to my plans for winter are now definite, i will have no choice but to move us into the small bedroom and use it as the living room. i don't mind it being a bit chilly in the bedroom so we'll use the current living room for that. i'm buying up duvets and i think i can manage that way, but i'm not happy about it

from what i was hearing it occured to me though that basically i'm paying for heat right now even though i'm not using it as it's heating 80% for heating all the time regardless of me actually having radiators on. so i commented to him that in theory it's not like the 55 quid i'm paying a month right now is my starting point for actual heat ie, it won't be like i don't get any heat for that money only hot water. so that is good at least, in theory i should get some of that back as heat when i actually have the radiators on and it's not my foundation so that all the heat i use in winter is on top of that, thank goodness for small mercies :cool:

however this now has me thinking..if it is indeed always on then my approach to saving money this winter might indeed change. i mean, if i'm always paying for that hot water to heat the central heating water first then wouldn't it make more sense to have the radiators on for longer periods on a low heat and keep the overall temperature of the house more stable? these are those dreaded block construction type walls so they do have a thermal mass, cold or hot depending on what's been going on around/inside them. would it be more efficient to leave the radiators on longer to hold the heat in the walls? maybe i should post this on the winter heating thread in hopes someone with experience of this type of boiler can help me.

i have to say i have never been so thoroughly unimpressed with a piece of 'technology'! i'm already irritated that my printer has to be unplugged to actually be off, standby is as good as it gets when it's plugged in even though it has an on off button so you can imagine my reaction to this!

the gas man also took the time to explain how every setting works for the actual heating on the controls. i'm not familiar with these old plastic dial things, and i was using it as it was meant to be however the 24 hour/all day thing was a bit confusing. however i was right all day is actually it coming on once a day between the timers you set, 24 hours is on all the time... hmmm did someone have issues with using once a day? i mean they have twice a day... :rolleyes:

i also asked him about best bets for any insulation grants and how much a combi boiler would be. he said i could probably get one for 2-2.5k and that cavity wall insulation would be my best bet for a very quick return on the investment. cavity wall already was my first choice.

i *think* grants may be available up to 3000 quids worth if so it might be possible to get both and if i can i most certainly will. however i'm a tennant so if it's coming out of pocket i'm not doing it. i do think though if it covered most of that the owner might be willing to cough up the rest as i get the feeling she knows how inefficient this system is and she's been told she'll have to keep replacing all the old radiators as they are on their last legs. the letting agent said that she's a good woman so here's hoping somewhere i can strike a balance to help everyone out!

i feel a little down today after all this. it's not nice knowing that no matter what i can't get around this. i'm just hoping it's not horrible in winter, he told me that from the sounds of it my old radiators are working very inefficiently and it's likely the hot water tank is too. i wish it were easier to move in this town but most rentals are only for the university term and i need year round, not to mention it is a really good day when you can actually find a dozen places for rent... usually it's only 5-6 available at any given time and most of those are way beyond my budget so i think i may just be stuck with this for some time.

guess i'm glad that it will be a nice cozy sunny living space this winter, that should at least take some of the sting out of it

Confuzzled

Lesley_Gaye wrote: »

I am really excited at the moment as I am trying out a new kitchen toy. I got a food dehydrator today (in the post). I’ve been thinking about it for a while and did lots of research as I didn’t want to get something that would end up being a 5 minute wonder then stuffed in a cupboard and forgotten.

One of the things that you can do with it is make fruit leathers.

ooh do you have a link for the dehydrator? i'm really wanting one again i used to make such tasty treats!

if you want a heavenly treat mash up some bananas (the spottier the sweeter the end result) then mix in some fromage frais or yogurt of your choice. spread this out over waxed paper (cut a hole for the center if using a round dehydrator or make sure it has some room around the edges for air to circulate if using a rectangular one) and let those dry. they will be slightly tacky when dried, better to spread it on thickly or you'll have a hard time getting it to come away from the paper.

these are soooooooooooo lovely, almost like eating a dessert!

i also love lightly sauteeing root veggies and onions then drying those, your family will beg you for more! you can dry them without being sauteed but if you want them to taste like the store veggie crisps (well actually better!) then sautee them first. you can also sprinkle on some herbs while they are still wet with the butter and then you have flavoured veggie crisps. my fav this way are onions, sweet potato and parsnip

i've made beef jerky and turkey/chicken jerky many times, couldn't bring myself to do the fish though. the real thing about these is you need them to soak for a good long time in a mixuture with a lot of vinegar and some sugar or salt (sometimes both) these are what help it stay longer, removing the moisture does the rest.

the juicier the end result the shorter the time it will keep so if your family loves jerky do it for a shorter time it will get gobbled up in plenty of time. if however you have way too much meat for some reason then you can dry it til it's still flexible but obviously much drier. kept in an air tight jar this will keep for ages and can be reconstituted by tossing into soup etc, i've done this when i got a huge amount of turkeys after christmas one year for about a quid each if i remember correctly!

there are some really good dehydrator 'cook books' out there but i'd just search for recipes online to start with, then buy the books if you become a dehydrating junkie

good luck and please let me know how you get on with that, i seriously envy you i want one soooo badly, i miss mine

Lesley_Gaye

Confuzzled - thanks for those ideas, I'll def give them a try. The rhubarb and ginger leather is lovely. I had to take it off the paper and turn it upside down to dry the bottom, but after that it was great.

I had much too much mixture, so there is another lot drying right now and I stirred some into plain low fat yogort and have just had some for lunch - delish.

I got the dehydrator from Westfalia. It was £26.99 + £4.95 p+p, but it is showing £27.99 now. It took a couple of weeks to arrive. It seems robust and not many parts to go wrong, so hopefully it wall last a long time

Lesley

lightisfading

Confuzzled wrote: »

the gas man also took the time to explain how every setting works for the actual heating on the controls. i'm not familiar with these old plastic dial things, and i was using it as it was meant to be however the 24 hour/all day thing was a bit confusing. however i was right all day is actually it coming on once a day between the timers you set, 24 hours is on all the time... hmmm did someone have issues with using once a day? i mean they have twice a day... :rolleyes:

I didn't post about it but you've just solved our heating problem :T We were wondering why it wasn't possible to have heating/water on just once a day (as we don't need it in the morning - it's still warm enough from the night before for a wash) - didn't understand that 'all day' setting!

Confuzzled

lightisfading wrote: »

I didn't post about it but you've just solved our heating problem :T We were wondering why it wasn't possible to have heating/water on just once a day (as we don't need it in the morning - it's still warm enough from the night before for a wash) - didn't understand that 'all day' setting!

*chuckles* ah yes, to me 24 hours and all day mean the same thing lol though i wondered if it was some subtle british thing that i'd managed to overlook in all the years i've lived here :rotfl:

glad to have helped you out! i just wanted to make certain i knew what i was doing before i learned it the expensive and painful way this winter. i've always had a proper thermostat or a fireplace so this was totally new to me!

Confuzzled

Lesley_Gaye wrote: »

I got the dehydrator from Westfalia. It was £26.99 + £4.95 p+p, but it is showing £27.99 now. It took a couple of weeks to arrive. It seems robust and not many parts to go wrong, so hopefully it wall last a long time

Lesley

glad you're enjoying your new 'toy'!

you'll probably have discovered that dehydrating the rhubarb increases it's sweetness though i can see why you added a touch of sugar to that. other fruits won't need any at all but you'll see that after making a few batches, only fruit i've not had luck with drying is banana, it doesn't come out sweet if you're trying to make banana chips and soaking it in honey then drying that is very messy

thanks for the link that looks similar to my two previous dehydrators. you'll want to trim around the hole in the center of each tray when you're spreading fruit leather out on the wax paper or parchement paper but you've probably figured that out already!

i know some dehydrators sell flexible washable sheets you can use, i'd love to get my hands on some of those as fruit leathers are one of my favourite things to make in the dehydrator

i've book marked that page i may have to get one! thanks again

queen_of_string

confuzzled
Could you use the teflon sheets now available for baking? I use them to line things like cookie trays and have cut one to size for my micro/grill/convection oven thingy. They work a treat and last ages, I'm pretty sure theyd work for this too.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kitchen-Craft-Non-Stick-Baking-Sheet/dp/B000YJF06G

Mine was from home and bargain and I think it was a pound :-) HTH

SusanC_2

Confuzzled wrote: »

i *think* grants may be available up to 3000 quids worth if so it might be possible to get both and if i can i most certainly will. however i'm a tennant so if it's coming out of pocket i'm not doing it. i do think though if it covered most of that the owner might be willing to cough up the rest as i get the feeling she knows how inefficient this system is and she's been told she'll have to keep replacing all the old radiators as they are on their last legs. the letting agent said that she's a good woman so here's hoping somewhere i can strike a balance to help everyone out!

You can only get heating done with the Warmfront grant if you're an owner - not if you're a tenant. You can get insulation on Warmfront as a tenant though.

weezl74 wrote: »

Why is there whey in your lentils and rice recipe? Is it a taste thing or a nutritional content thing?

Soaking grains and legumes does something with some chemicals which aren't so good for absorption/digestion of food (can't remember precise details offhand) if they aren't soaked. Adding whey or so small amount of something acidic such as lemon juice or vinegar apparently helps the process. With porridge it tastes nicer when done with whey too but really it's from a nutritional point of view rather than taste that I do it.

twinkle_star_2

There's a simple explanation about soaking here. I've never done it myself bu have come across a lot of natural living blogs where people do it.