If things get tougher?

queen_of_string

I have finally caught up with the thread. I love the way it has evolved over time and that the current mood is less panic and more about meeting challenges. That fits much better with my own view of the world. For me it's looking like my current business will fail soon, funding priorities moving on and councils unwilling to fund preventative work, which is a lot of what we do. So, that's going to be a nightmare to live through and will of course, have a big effect on my income. There are lots of other things I can do, but they will take time to build up, especially if we are in recession. I do the OS grocery challenge and since the BF moved out there's a big surplus there so I have decided to stockpile a years worth of anything suitable, looking out for BOGOFs and special offers of course. This month I have mostly concentrated on toiletries etc. next month may be able to move onto foodstuffs. I couldnt find a thread anywhere with a recommended list or lists, so am simply trawling every aisle in the supermarket and considering which items could be stockpiled. Has been interesting so far (first month) to realise what a yrs cat food costs and looks like!! He'd best last the yr now or I shall be most peeved LOL. I will continue to try and keep up with the thread and let you know how its going. personally I will be interested to see just how much room a yrs worth of stuff takes up too :-D.

BilberryCharlotte

Good luck with your enterprises queen of string, my son tells me that the Japanese have no word for failure - only opportunity, or they are the same word or something. I do find that encouraging mostly, but if it has been a bad day or I am feeling very tired, I find it harder to be philosophical. Usually though, after a good nights sleep I wake up feeling much more positive.

You sound as though you are coping very well and have a common sense approach to buying essential stocks, perhaps you could keep letting us know how you are going on?

ceridwen

frugalswan wrote: »

I honestly hadn't thought of freezing milk. I might get a couple of individual pints to put in the freezer then. We've only got a very small freezer, but that might work a lot better than finding out the pint we have has gone sour and not having any in. I do have some powdered milk, but I don't think the OH would drink it.

Just a thought - those American housewives (Hillbilly Housewife and the like) seem to use a lot of powdered milk - and they reckon that if its mixed-up and left some hours in the fridge that people find it okay to drink. Havent tried it - as have only a very small amount of powdered milk in - as I couldnt find the organic variety I want (though I gather it is produced).

mardatha

I've always frozen milk as we live a bit remote and its a trek to the nearest shop. We have a milkman 3 times a week but if the weather's bad he wont get here. I do have some UHT milk now but I (madly) froze it too. God knows why

calleyw

frugalswan wrote: »

I honestly hadn't thought of freezing milk. I might get a couple of individual pints to put in the freezer then. We've only got a very small freezer, but that might work a lot better than finding out the pint we have has gone sour and not having any in. I do have some powdered milk, but I don't think the OH would drink it.

I both freeze milk when I find it reduced and also use powdered. If it is not being drunk then you can't really tell when on cereal or in tea or coffee.

But what I would do is to get two pints of milk drink a pint or so. And mix up a 1 pint of powdered milk and mix the two together.

Yours


Calley

mary43

Originally posted by Charis
Anyone else remember the panic buying in the 70's? No sugar, no bread, then even a salt famine, as rumours spread like wildfire.

I remember this only too well and have to admit that while at Butlins with my two boys we did pop into the cafe there and come out with some sachets of sugar from the bowl. We had all had a drink so I justified it in that we had actually paid if only indirectly. The supermarket shelves there were empty of sugar at the time. Bread ............I made my own in the 60's which worked out ok till the shops ran out of yeast, so whatever you do, don't forget to stock up on yeast as well. Same thing could easily happen again. It was only a matter of weeks then.

moanymoany

Tightwad Gazette's Amy says that if a recipe calls for cream - use milk and add a tablespoon of dried milk - I've tried it and it works.

Also, I have also discovered that if you don't tell people things e.g. that you are using dried milk - they don't notice!

sb44

Charis wrote: »

Individual pints only take a couple or three hours to thaw at room temperature. They go a curious shade of yellow when frozen but completely back to normal when thawed. Giving them a good shake periodically helps them to thaw more quickly.

I used to pour out a little from the top to allow room for expansion but have found recently with the four pinters they freeze fine just as they come.

Regarding frozen milk.

I froze some and my husband said he needed to use more in his tea/coffee as it was watery.

Has anyone else found this or is it just him? I didn't notice any difference myself.

If he hadn't have know it had been in the freezer I am sure he wouldn't have said anything!

:rolleyes:

ceridwen

Possibly the case - dont really like trying to freeze conventional milk (ie non-organic) for that reason - though I'm finding there's summat that tastes a bit "thin" to me anyways these days sometimes with even unfrozen conventional milk (cant figure this - as some conventional milk that hasnt been frozen is okay and some isnt - distinct suspicions that some of it has been frozen before it even gets to us).

Dont know why - as my organic milk is fine and still tastes creamy to me even when I have done the O.S. thing of diluting it 2 parts milk/1 part water.

MRSMCAWBER

Hi SB44

With frozen milk we find it best to shake the bottle every time you go to use it -otherwise we think it seems a bit "thin" too ..but as long as we shake it -we can't tell the difference..In fact has anyone else found that once frozen and defrosted the milk seems to keep better than unfrozen? ours does