It is tough NOW. So how are we coping

tiddly_widdly

Thats so sad, that you think there is no other option for you.

I pray that we will all come through this recession with as little stress as possible, with our families intact and with peace and joy in our lives.

Maxjessdru

Thanks for all your good wishes everyone. Its all made me feel quite down today but, as I and others have said, it really puts everything else into perspective. I suppose I am lucky that I have never been in a position where I have thought there is no other way out. Ceridwen - thanks for your prayer - its a lovely way of putting it.

nannaC

tiddly_widdly wrote: »

Thats so sad, that you think there is no other option for you.

I pray that we will all come through this recession with as little stress as possible, with our families intact and with peace and joy in our lives.

That is so true. Have had the sniffles so have not been on for a few days, has just taken me an hour to play catch up. As one of the older OS'ers have been through 3 recessions now so am getting to be a dab hand.

On a brighter note I too used to make wine. Beetroot is lethal trust me you feel fine from the waist up it just turns your legs to jelly [think The big Yin]. During the early 70's recession Grumpy Grandad and I had an acre of garden, in which I grew all manner of fruit, inc 8 apple, 1 pear tree. Each Autumn we used to gather all the windfalls and make scrumpy. That is until one bottle exploded and blew the kitchen cupboard door clean off complete with hinges :eek: . I used to barter, surplus fruit home made pickles, jams, pies, cakes for veg, meat dried goods. During the growing season spent most of my time in the garden along with my three who were little at the time [funny but all are passionate gardeners now]. During the winter would sew and knit all their clothes + a lot of ours, what could not be made was bought from Jumble sales. Am still a passionate Jumble saler so nothing has changed much.

cady

hiya ive been reading this thread and its great im a bil lost on some food terms tho ... what is rubbering the chicken and streatching the mince ect? im trying to tackle my food bills!!! its freezing here tonight sitting on the sofa wrapped up with socks and a duvet and THICK jamies a neighbours house was on fire last night and it looks quite bad today i feel really sorry for them as its and awful thing to have to deal with at the moment

rosieben

cady wrote: »

hiya ive been reading this thread and its great im a bil lost on some food terms tho ... what is rubbering the chicken and streatching the mince ect?

Here's the Rubber Chicken thread; basically it means stretching the chicken to get as many meals out as possible, and in the same way, stretching mince to make more portions by adding veg, lentils, oats into the mince mixture for shepherds pie, lasagne, etc etc

mummysaver

Maxjessdru - how sad for that man and his family. I hope that you are feeling better today, it must've been a horrible shock.

Nannac - hope you feel better now, was wondering where you'd disappeared to! So you'll be the lady I turn to with all my daft veg and fruit queries - bet you're looking forward to that! My friends parents used to make lots and lots of wine, beer and scrumpy, I can remember the apple press and us all taking turns with it, it was a huge job! They kept all alcohol in one of the outhouses after a similar explosion under the stairs, apparently the repairs involved reattaching the staircase to the wall again!

Cady - rubber chicken works well as part of a meal plan, or if you have a freezer to store the extra in, you can turn your roast chicken leftovers into a curry, a few bits plus veg into a pie, and boil the carcass for soup, lots of ideas on the thread that rosieben has done the linky to, it's called rubber chicken cos it's so stretchy!

Rubber mince works on the same principle, lots of meals from the average pack! First cook your mince (about 500g - currently £1 at Asda on a rollback deal, making it cheaper than value mince which is 97p for 400g), with onions, stock, and add a couple of handfuls of oats and lentils and poss some grated carrot. Use half of this mix for a shepherd's pie. Then add tinned toms, some mixed herbs and some garlic, perhaps some peppers (frozen ones are cheaper!) and other soft veg (courgettes, aubergines, if in season). Serve half of this as a bolognese, and use a quarter as the meat part of your lasagne (you can stretch this again with another can of toms, as lasagne mix can cope with being runny, the pasta sheets need the liquid!). The remainder can be turned into a chilli with the addition of chilli powder and a can of kidney beans and more toms or veg if you fancy - if there is not enough to serve as a chilli sauce over rice, there should be plenty to serve in wraps (Mrs Mc on the grocery challenge thread has a fab recipe for these, see the first page of the GC for the recipe index).

Mbaz's thread on feeding 4 people for £20 has loads of tips on stretching food as well! I'm planning on making a beef stew this week and then stretching it into a stroganoff and then a Moroccan dish, courtesy of the Asda magazine and their stretching a meal article!

Good new here is that the kids now automatically reach for slippers and dressing gowns in the morning, and have rediscovered the joys of jumpers during the day! They love snuggling under the blankets on the sofas as well! Finally my message has got through!

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

[quote=nannaC;17513415.

On a brighter note I too used to make wine. Beetroot is lethal trust me you feel fine from the waist up it just turns your legs to jelly [think The big Yin]. During the early 70's recession Grumpy Grandad and I had an acre of garden, in which I grew all manner of fruit, inc 8 apple, 1 pear tree. Each Autumn we used to gather all the windfalls and make scrumpy. That is until one bottle exploded and blew the kitchen cupboard door clean off complete with hinges :eek:[/quote]

Sorry just had to laugh at this,It reminded me of when I was a child.My gran used to make wine and her's did this.She used to store her wine in a cupboard under the stairs.It blew the door open and ripped the catch off at the same time.They don't half bang don't they when they go off.
The poor cat pooped itself on the spot and then refused to come in the house for days.
Happy memories,eh!.

2cats1kid

Re explosions : we never had any problem with the wine dad made, but we had this with mum's hm tomato sauce one year! A heck of a bang! And one heck of a mess ketchup can make when it explodes inside a kitchen cupboard too!

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

I'm sure I read somewhere about treacle(the black stuff not golden syrup)being very explosive.Can you imagine the mess that stuff would make.

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

Oh and don't let eggs boil dry in a pan,they explode and cost you several hundred pounds to get your ceiling replastered and your'e never allowed to live it down.