It is tough NOW. So how are we coping

Caterina

Mummysaver: if the beans are still fresh (meaning if the pod is too hard to eat but still green) you can shell them out of the pod and there is no need to soak them. But if you leave them to dry on the plant and they appear dehydrated when you shell them, then they need soaking like the ones we get in the packets. HTH!

Reverbe wrote: »

Caterina wrote: »

Do you seriously think they actually care whether we notice or not? The supermarkets have destroyed the smaller shops, wiped out all competition and now they have got most people in a stranglehold, with no choice but to shop there.

And now that they got so many people exactly where they wanted them in the first place they start raising the prices, unchallenged.

I for one will try to stay away from supermarkets as much as possible, even though I cannot avoid them 100%!

I'd love to do that myself but I don't drive and we have nothing in our town. No bakers that are more than a glorified sandwich and pasty shop, 2 market stall greengrocers with expensive below standard produce which they always take from the back..:rolleyes: , and a butchers that only sells in massive multipacks.

I live in a flat with no room for mass storage and don't have any access to a garden to grow my own.

That's exactly the point I am making! You have no other choice BUT shop at the supermarket because all the individual shops have been killed by the supermarket's competition and now that there is no more competition they are free to up the prices to whatever they want.

Hence my rhetorical question "do you seriously think they actually care etc....", do you REALLY think that they have the consumer's interest at heart? NONONONONONONONONONO!!!!

Sylvan

Thanks maryb:T. I'll take out some plums when I go down to nuke some soup for [STRIKE]breakfast[/STRIKE] lunch and DS5 and GF can make the sponge tonight - keep 'em out of trouble:p. Can I make the toffee sauce in a pan or do I need to do it in a bowl over water?

Most of our snow seems to have melted today mardatha - AND the temperature's above freezing (could be why:rotfl:). We have to spend £99 to get free delivery. I'm not going to PAY for delivery:eek:. I'd rather do without the few items I need (and can't persuade Lurch to go out for) - or maybe bribe the boy to walk down to Pesky Tesky after school (when they're not swimming, or servicing Ringwraith's sausage roll addiction, the out-of-county contingent all wait in the library till it's time for their various lifts - sounds admirable... till you find out they're playing cards!:rolleyes:)

I tried runner beans (in the ground) last year fedupfreda. Don't know whether it was too cold and wet up there for them, the soil was too acid, or I just had a bad batch of seed, but I got nowt, nada, zilch.

You have a jam maker mummysaver?:cool: I've never heard of them. Does it do everything? (Actually, come to think of it, I used a jam maker for a couple of batches, when I couldn't stir any more - he's paid for himself several times over too:p). I'm hoping the SC will replace the Rayburn. Just can't get used to cooking on a gas hob (and haven't dared use its oven yet!) and you can't make soup on a gas boiler. Is yours the MR 6.5l?

[Deleted User]

I believe that the first consequence for us, re stopping the 3% gas that we get from russia via the netherlands, is that gas pressure will be lowered.

We only have a rad thermostats and I have noticed today that the house is approx 2 degrees colder. No settings have been changed

Germany for one has started to draw on its stored gas

mummysaver

Sylvan wrote: »

Thanks maryb:T. I'll take out some plums when I go down to nuke some soup for [strike]breakfast[/strike] lunch and DS5 and GF can make the sponge tonight - keep 'em out of trouble:p. Can I make the toffee sauce in a pan or do I need to do it in a bowl over water?

Most of our snow seems to have melted today mardatha - AND the temperature's above freezing (could be why:rotfl:). We have to spend £99 to get free delivery. I'm not going to PAY for delivery:eek:. I'd rather do without the few items I need (and can't persuade Lurch to go out for) - or maybe bribe the boy to walk down to Pesky Tesky after school (when they're not swimming, or servicing Ringwraith's sausage roll addiction, the out-of-county contingent all wait in the library till it's time for their various lifts - sounds admirable... till you find out they're playing cards!:rolleyes:)

I tried runner beans (in the ground) last year fedupfreda. Don't know whether it was too cold and wet up there for them, the soil was too acid, or I just had a bad batch of seed, but I got nowt, nada, zilch.

You have a jam maker mummysaver?:cool: I've never heard of them. Does it do everything? (Actually, come to think of it, I used a jam maker for a couple of batches, when I couldn't stir any more - he's paid for himself several times over too:p). I'm hoping the SC will replace the Rayburn. Just can't get used to cooking on a gas hob (and haven't dared use its oven yet!) and you can't make soup on a gas boiler. Is yours the MR 6.5l?

Yep my sc is the MR 6.5l - it's a whopper Feeds all 4 kids and me happily, and my lot have enormous appetites, usually grab some of whatever's cooking out before they start to eat, that way I have "leftovers" to freeze :rotfl:

My jam maker is from Lakeland, it's great and I lurve it! Twasn't cheap, and it only makes about 3lb at a time, but it means that you can make dozens of different varieties rather than jar after jar of the same stuff. You bung everything in, set the style of cooking and the time and leave it to do it's thing, takes about an hour, pop your creation into jars and fill the jam maker up with water and put it onto self clean! It also makes dulche de leche - so fab for banoffi pies, and does rice pud rather nicely!

Hope you persuade your ds to pop to the shops for you, the feeding of the sausage roll addiction did make me :rotfl:

Caterina - thanks for the bean info, I'm so excited about growing all the stuff now. I've been perusing the RHS site this afternoon and looking at their advice too, think my £5 T&M voucher will def get used!

Kittie - this whole gas pipeline thing is like something out of a Bond film, just not good news for anyone when whole countries are held to ransom. Can't comment on a drop in gas pressure, we don't have mains gas, ours is in a tank under our front garden, wonder how it'll affect us, bound to be another price rise.

[Deleted User]

one thing on top of another mummysaver. The good times last week didn`t last long

mummysaver

Not sure why Kittie, but I did laugh when I read your post! I know deep down that things are going to get worse, but I'm so excited about planning my veggies I'm in a very buoyant mood! I'm starting to feel like we're all in an episode of the Good Life lol! All those Margot's out there who look at us now and wonder why we do things the way we do, they'll soon be popping round for a slice of cake and a cheering glass of pea pod wine! Actually my friends who question my obsessions with cooking and making stuff already pop round with their tales of woe! Thankfully they can usually be put right with a nice cuppa, as I haven't yet learnt how to make the pea pod wine, not yet grown the pea pods!!!

pagangirl

Hi folks - D&DD - hope DS got on ok at hospital.

Somebody mentioned growing salad leaves indoors - any info gratefully received as I only have 1 bed flat, and no balcony - in fact growing anything indoors will help ! I used to love gardening, still have my house plants but NO garden - not a happy bunny !

I try not to use supermarkets much for veg/fruit apart from Ald* or when I find whoopsies - most of it is too expensive already, and hate everything coming pre-packed when there's no need for it - why do they wrap all fruit n veg in plastic????

If anyone is growing flowers this year, I have 2 packets Hardy Annual mix and 2 pks water storing crystals going free to good home. If anyone would like them - can you pm me with contact details and I'll pop them in post - first e-mail gets 'em !

Been stuck in since Monday with heavy cold/virus - started Friday, went into work for first time after holiday and got sent home again - head totally stuffed, gave myself tummyache with coughing. Feel better today tho :j

Mummysaver thanks for muffin recipe - will try it out when I feel better.

Saw the news about the gas stoppage in eastern europe yesterday, said today it is now affecting France - getting a bit close to home innit :eek:

ceridwen

kittie wrote: »

I just picked this up. Consequences

KIEV (AFP)--Russia on Wednesday halted all shipments of its gas bound for European customers that pass through Ukrainian territory, a spokesman for Ukraine's state gas company Naftogaz told AFP.
"Russia stopped all transit through Ukraine" at 7.44 a.m. (0544 GMT), said Naftogaz spokesman Valentin Zemlyansky.
"Russia has left Europe without gas," he added.

Looks like Britain comes up as a partially affected country - if my reading of the map is correct - bad enough!

Feel very sorry for the badly affected countries.

......totally fed-up with the two Superpowers "throwing their weight around" at the rest of the world.........:eek:. Trust governments of any description to look after our interests - huh!

...wanders off muttering to self "5 throws - check. 1 single duvet for even greater warmth - check. 2 double duvets from bed if need be - check......" Got hotwater bottles. Got camping gas stove. Got Kelly Kettle. Got halogen heaters. Got camping gas fire. Got 2 fleece dressing gowns. Got bootee style slippers. Got supply of woolly hats....

VanyaHargreeves

Am only fourteen so there's really not much I can do to help save money but I do what I can. I am Chinese - my parents migrated here when my older sister was 6 and before I was born. They don't speak a lot of english and run a chinese take-away - not the most glamourous job on earth. However, I really do admire them. When they came to England they didn't know any of the language and didn't have any money, but still they managed to get a stable job and a roof over our heads, so I try to do what I can.
I apply for a lot of free samples that make up most of our luxuries: it saves a fair bit of money if you get bare essentials. I also do the weekly shop for my mum so she has a bit more time on her hands. I try to stick to the BOGOF offers, buy in bulk and own brands only. I use a shopping list and stick to it - I take my little sister along and we get to pick one thing off of the list every other week.
Because I am in high school and just starting my GCSEs, I generally need a lot of revision guides etc - these I buy on EBay and charity shops. I used to do a paper round but it got too much - I would be tired BEFORE school, which is a bad idea.
I try to get good marks in school for hope of a better future - my lowest predicted GCSE grade is a B+. However, I did get a C+ in my last English analysis so....:/

Just going off on a tangent here :L

mardatha

the idea of growing veg indoors came about because I'm very good with houseplants and nothing outside will grow at all ! I will go and look up more about it.
I wanted to tell you about my old neighbour in my last house. He was really old and really country - the house he grew up in had no electricity only gas light , his dad was a shepherd. He said they used to get snowed in for a week at a time quite often.
But one day he was talking about "modern wimmen" He said we all thought we were so clever, having jobs, driving around, houses with all mod cons, etc
But he said "my motherstayed at home and the butcher, the baker, the grocer, all come to her door. " She didnt have to run off to work, run home, drop kids off/pick kids up, hurryhurryhurry. She stayed home. Monday was washday, she washed. Tues was ironing day, she ironed. Wed was baking day, she baked. In between she minded the baby, the hens. the fire and the meals.
This was a lot of years ago he said this, but I always remembered it and wondered if we are so smart really....