It is tough NOW. So how are we coping

carriebradshaw

mardatha wrote: »

O SUPERB ! ta very much Primrose. I love reading, don't mind how big the book is . These sound great, many thanks !
I am also looking for books on "how we did things"..but am not sure what to search under online. I wanted to know skills the Victorians (and up to WW2) had that we might have lost. Just to know how to live without electricity if we ever had powercuts, how to cook on an open fire without a dutch oven, etc etc -just to know tricks that they knew and we forgot. But I dont know what to look under. I dont really know what I mean either. LOL !:rotfl:

how about this one ?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Victorian-Kitchen-Jennifer-Davies/dp/0563206853/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275468553&sr=1-1

Winged_one

I am hoping to get back to the library this month (haven't been in about 6 as just too busy at weekends) and I think I have a few books I need to look for now - thanks!

I'm too young for the post-war era, but I did grow up in the 1980s, when my dad had work but not much (and there was a period of layoff for 6 months where they didn't know if the plant would reopen), and he had 4 kids under 6 year old, and then later became 6 under 10.

We had some horrible scratchy blankets to sleep under. With nylon strings poking out of them to stratch you all night long. We had loads of hand-me-downs to wear, and Mum used to sew a LOT of our clothes - there would be 4 of us wearing matching dresses in different sizes. And I had patches on every pair of trousers I owned (I always went through knees).

We'd saw up the trees that fell in winter storms for the fire, and I remember one summer when a local "estate" was being sold, the prior owners were clearing trees so offered for anyone locally to come and cut them down themselves and take them away (rather than having to pay someone) - so a few locals came and cut a load together, and then spent the next couple of weekends cutting a few trunks each and bringing them home - they worked together to fell them all, but then each did their "own" with their families as, with no actual felling going on, the kids could come and help too.

But we still managed to eat reasonably well. Dad grew LOTS of veg in the garden - potatoes, carrots, asparagus, carrots, onions, beans, tomatoes, peppers, salads - and he had a large blue barrel that he sawed holes into to make a strawberry planter. There were a good few fruit bushes too, and an apple tree and rhubarb.

We'd go to the fruit farm (mainly apples, but they had some pears too) about 90 minutes drive away every couple of months and they'd buy 2 boxes of eating apples and 1 of cookers. So we always had loads of fruit. (We only discovered recently that OH also used to go there with his family!). (On a "Sunday drive").

There were a few ladies reasonably locally who had "market gardens" - maybe a half an acre devoted to veg and they'd sell a few to locals who knew of them. So we would go to a couple of these for most of our other veg needs.

The butcher in the village was good to everyone and kept people going - there were always those who paid immediately, and those who paid when they could. He also sorted people who had a freezer with a half a cow or sheep regularly too - we used to get that from time to time as there was a chest freezer in the garage.

And there would be an annual family "Sunday drive" trip to the other fruit farm in the summers for strawberries and raspberries, some for jam and some for freezing. And loads of blackberry picking from the fields around in the autumn too - again some jam, some frozen and used later for jam or for blackberry and apple pies.

And mum was big into baking too.

But we still went through times when dinner was bread and jam. And other "economy drives". But mum was also pretty good at stretching things, and because she tended to make lots of "wet" dinners (like meat, sauce and pasta/rice), a little went a long way - whereas most people locally were still on the "meat, 2 veg and boiled potatoes" dinners daily, which are very hard to stretch.

spike7451

Margarite Patton wrote a good book on how we British survived the war years.I recently got it from the library.

Feeding the nation : nostalgic recipes and facts from 1940-1954


Recalling how the housewives of Britain learned to make do and kept the nation 'fighting fit', this book contains a vast collection of recipes, showing how war-time food is still delicious. It includes food from street parties and other victory celebrations.

BigMummaF

mardatha wrote: »

O SUPERB ! ta very much Primrose. I love reading, don't mind how big the book is . These sound great, many thanks !
I am also looking for books on "how we did things"..but am not sure what to search under online. I wanted to know skills the Victorians (and up to WW2) had that we might have lost. Just to know how to live without electricity if we ever had powercuts, how to cook on an open fire without a dutch oven, etc etc -just to know tricks that they knew and we forgot. But I dont know what to look under. I dont really know what I mean either. LOL !:rotfl:

The Offspring like watching Tony Robinson when he does the 'Worst Jobs In History' programmes--they show how wool was dyed using rather disgusting ingredients & setting tallow candles. I think it was originally on Ch4 but think they show it on $ky fairly often..

mardatha

Brilliant forum. Thanks Carrie, at 1p - its my kind of book ! It's people like us who will survive the coming hard times.

ivyleaf

Optimisticpair wrote: »

Making clothes from old curtains reminded me of a tale I heard a long while back....

A lady needed a long posh frock for a do and being skint/frugal bought curtain material.

To her horror she got there and the found the curtains were the same material:eek:

One of my colleagues got married, and brought the photos into work to show us.

Her new husband's waistcoat was made of the same material as the register office's curtains She was quite surprised when someone remarked on it, as she had been too distracted to notice at the time.:D

Penny-Pincher!!

Although not very money saving we have a lovely gardener who comes weekly atm. She has given some sound advice and we now have planted: rhubarb, blackberry bush, gooseberry bush, strawberry plants x 9, runner beans and peas with all the canes put up etc, potatoes, carrots, onions, cabbages, salad mixed leaves, herbs, beetroot, cauliflowers and a few other bits that I cant remember...so this should save us a fortune in the long run. Also managed to get some raspberry canes for 50p each. We already have a fig and apple tree....so should all be great for later this year and next year.

PP
xx

westcoastscot

I like the Norman Longate book very much, likewise Austerity Britain. Also Christmas on the Home Front by Mike Brown and The Home Front, best of Good Housekeeping are very readable. I have a book somewhere which is like the Nella Last book but country based - I loved it but cannot recall what it was called and cannot put my hand on it, although I know I have it. Shall have a ponder,
WCS
Edited to add - found it!
It's called Betty's Wartime Britain 1939-1945 - a really good read.

mardatha

O I need order more books - the library ladies will be wondering what on earth I'm into now ..:)

Primrose

Marthada - Me too. I'm off to the library again to order Betty's Wartime Britain and Christmas on the Home Front if they have it in stock or can get it. This particular period in our history has a specific fascination for me because I was a young child at the time and although I and many others lived through it as children, it is surprising how much of the detail we didn't know at the time. We all have our own personal vivid memories of course, but having so much of the background put into the jigsaw makes it more relevant. Also it particularly makes me more appreciative and understanding of my now sadly deceased parents and what it must have been like for them trying to raise children in those circumstances.