It is tough NOW. So how are we coping

mummysaver

Thanks BR! I love this place, there's always someone who can answer questions! I make quite a lot of stock and soups, so that would be handy. I shall have to do some more research, Lidl offers are usually pretty good though, hmmm, and there I was all pleased with myself about not needing any cash, ha spoke too soon again!

Lily-Lu

Re; pressure cookers, Check out TJ Hughes if you have one local. They usually have them in. I've seem Prestige and Tower ones in there at very reasonable prices. The dearest one was £25 last time I looked

leebarton

Don't forget freecycle - chances are someone will have a pressure cooker in a cupboard.

We bought ours from Ikea.

teedy23

I seem to have more whilst spending less, this is mainly, no solely, due to this website. I cant make time for the grocery challenge right now but still practise it, coupon savings you will see in my sig, zero% cards and many more things have made a better lifestyle possible without worries. Thank you so much to Martin and all his followers for this, and I,m sure we,ll all have a merrier Christmas because of it

Primrose

mummysaver - we use our pressure cooker a great deal especially in winter as it's a quick way of making stock for soups (30 mins insteading of boiling everything for a couple of hours). We get lots of meat bones and chicken carcasses from our butcher . We roast the meat bones until brown and then make stock with them, adding mixed veg. After 30 minutes you get a large amount of delicious stock and all the remaining meat falls off the bones so you effectively get a whole meal in a bowl. You can also use a pressure cooker for speeding up the cooking of stews, and it's ideal for cooking big pulses such as borlotti and butter beans. Wouldn't be without ours.

mummysaver

Thanks everyone for the tips! Especially the freecycle reminder! Will have a look on there over the next few weeks!

Caterina

mummysaver wrote: »

Elizabunny - thank you, I had a really good time doing my arrangements, I made two lovely wreaths, one full of greenery and dried orange slices and one a simple star made from twigs with some orange slices hanging from it and a bunch of cinnamon sticks. It was really easy and great fun! Lots of people did table decorations, but dd3 will be making one at school, so it'll be her one on the table for Christmas lunch, bless!

Mummysaver do you do your own dried orange slices? I have a couple of oranges in the fruit bowl - I know from eating a previous one that they are SOUR!!!:eek: so I keep meaning to turn them into jam but haven't got around to doing so and they might go mouldy before I do! If I slice them thickish and put the slices on the radiator, do you think it would work?

This year I am not doing a Christmas tree but decorating some dry apple wood branches that I was given and I think dried orange slices would look lovely!

Thanks for any suggestions!

Caterina

nannaC

Caterina wrote: »

Mummysaver do you do your own dried orange slices? I have a couple of oranges in the fruit bowl - I know from eating a previous one that they are SOUR!!!:eek: so I keep meaning to turn them into jam but haven't got around to doing so and they might go mouldy before I do!

OHHHHHHHH Catrina I know just how you feel. I picked up 5 large grapefruits plus 8 waxed lemons all for 24p a few days ago at Asda. Had every intention of making marmalade, even got out my old Mrs Beetons, but where the spirit is full of get up and go the flesh has got up and gone. Still never mind the grapefruits are delicious [grumpy Grandad says he feels like royalty having half a grapefruit before his porridge] and will zest the lemons if I can find my zester then cut into wedges & freeze.

Sylvan

Ooh, what a good idea. I bought a 39p bag of lemons from Aldi to make cherry & lemon madeira - but haven't managed to unpack the cake tins yet:doh:. I was going to zest them and then squeeze them and freeze the juice - when I find some ice-cube trays:rolleyes:
Wedges is a much better idea!:T

(Are all grandads grumpy?)

D&DD

Well I've had an exciting day :rotfl: POWER CUT :eek:
Power went of around 3pm and stayed off until gone 6pm..Is it bad to admit I loved it though :rotfl: :j :rotfl: Gave me a chance to run an 'emergency scenario' and see if there were any holes in my preparations.
Within 5 minutes we had booted up the windup torches,brought down the dvdplayer (battery charged) and all snuggled up to watch a film.
I got some board games out in case DS3 arrived home in a moody but fortunately he was in a good mood due to the house being in total darkness:D
The 2 older boys had had a cooked dinner at lunchtime so they had sandwiches with some soup heated on the stove *thankfully I bought a dualfuel because of all the powercuts we keep getting*:j
OH and I had spaghetti bolognaise and DS3 had some chicken from the fridge and some strawberries and french bread.
We have a stove top kettle too so coffee and tea were no problem,all in all a good trial run :T