If things get tougher?

bravobeastie

Is this on the right thread? My apologies if not

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/pressass/20080910/tuk-fuel-poverty-package-to-be-unveiled-6323e80.html

Is this for home owners or private/council tenants or does it go on income full stop?

Former_MSE_Andrea

Hi everyone

Sorry for taking a while to get back to you on this although I blame the last ten minutes of that delay on getting distracted reading most of the thread.

Big Kudos to Sammy Kaye on the 30p curtains, one of my local charity shops knows me by sight now and I've had many a bargain in baby and toddler clothes for Eleanor from there so I can well appreciate the buzz of that bargain!

Plus I just wanted to say I loved what I think was a completely unintentional pun further up the thread - "bread will rise" :rotfl:

Anyway, down to the nitty gritty. I'm afraid most of you had guessed right. Nonnymouse sounds like a fabulous idea, and absolutely in the lovely community spirit of OS and the site but we can't let it be organised here on the forum.

We have the no exchanging personal details rule in place to protect you guys from possible scammers, not because we're killjoys.

Even with that rule, which we've had for several years you'd be amazed how many emails we still get from people saying "so-and-so promised me xx amount of cashback if I signed up through their link and now I can't contact them, what are you going to do about it?" so please always be very careful who you give your details to on the Net.

Obviously though, what you guys do on sites or blogs entirely away from this site is your business. If you already have each others' email addresses anyway then there's nothing we can do about that.

Take care

Andrea

oldMcDonald

I think we all thought this would be the case

Oh well, off to Blogland with the idea then

Looking forward to this getting up and running, thanks to all who are setting this up x

katieowl_2

MSE_Andrea wrote: »

Hi everyone

Plus I just wanted to say I loved what I think was a completely unintentional pun further up the thread - "bread will rise" :rotfl:

Andrea

DUH!!! The minute I read it it KNEW it was me :rolleyes: totally unintentional - can't belive I didn't spot it myself!

I hope MY bread DOES rise....otherwise we can use it as a doorstop! :rotfl:

Kate

FairyElephant_2

newlywed wrote: »

Really - is the meat not more chewy and a much stronger flavour? I keep looking at the value ones and debating it but would hate to waste it if the meat was a bit yuk Think turkey curry might be on the menu for OH shortly

Hiya,

I did turkey 'rissotto' yesterday:- slow-cooked the whole turkey thigh, with a chicken soup packet mix in about a pint of water. Meat fell off the bones by the time I got home, so removed meat from bones & put back in slow cooker with 2 packets of Mr A's SP golden veg rice (Before you tell me off O/Sers - the packet mixes were bought to take camping this w/e but we're not going now...another story...so I had to use them up somehow!) - made up the 'soup' cooking liquid to the right amount of water and put slow cooker on high for an hour. Cost for whole meal (4 portions) was about £2.00.

I thought it was was absolutely delish! I've just finished another portion of it for my lunch today.
DH - awkward git that he can be - said it was OK, but he preferred Monday's meal which was my 'emergency' tin of stewed steak, packet mash and leftover veg from Sunday......sometimes you just can't win!

FairyElephant_2

newlywed wrote: »

Sounds similar to our situation. Thankfully the step kids have only taken 2 years to know they have to ask (although we do have to remind them from time to time). They too seem to get pizza, chicken nuggets, chips, spaghetti hoops, macdonalds etc for tea on days their mum feeds them with the occasional lasagna or spag bol.

I make it my quest to feed them as many different veg at the weekend as I can - they eat most things anyway. They'd never had omelette, pork chops, sprouts, didn't know what stock cubes were, often can't work out what I'm cooking unless it's pasta. We are gradually introducing them to aubergine, purple broccoli, red peppers, sweet potato etc

Hi Newlywed,

So glad to know I am not alone!

I find in really incredible as their Birth Mum used to be quite a sensible woman (I knew her years ago) but now does not really seem to give a *darn* what they eat or get up to - it drives DH & I mad .

I also insist on making DSK's packed lunches for school when they are with us - their BM makes them make their own :eek: , which seem to consist mostly of processed white bread, choc bars & crisps (Except DSD, who has got the healthy-eating sussed and takes lots of fruit :j - guess we are doing something right!).

That way I know what is going in them (unless they don't eat it of course...), they don't raid my fridges & cupboards so much, and another plus is that they don't mess up my kitchen - LOL!

Keep up the good work - someone will thank us for it one day!!!!

FE

klcfree

Hi, very long time lurker coming out of the woodwork here! I love this thread and wanted to add about the turkey legs. I got one (I knew of them because we used to feed them to our husky but now they're fit my kids LOL) and it didnt fit in my slow cooker. I put it in a couple of inches of water in a roasting tin with another upside down tin on top and did it in the oven for a couple of hours. It was lovely and succulent and so much meat came off that i made 2 huge pies - in big lasagne type dishes. One with a white sauce with leeks, butter beans etc and the other with frozen mixed veg and gravy, and i added stuffing balls made from an organic mix that was reduced to 10p in Sainsburys!
Even allowing for me not being good with pastry they went down very well with my family - esp the stuffing ball/gravy one, and each did about 6 good portions. Also the cooking water was just as tasty as proper stock so was put in slow cooker and made delicious "chicken" noodle soup next day.

Not trying to teach granny to suck eggs here LOL ( i am in TOTAL awe of most of the posters here!) but for those undomestic godesses like me i thought this might help if perhaps anyone has a SC like mine that the legs dont fit in. Right now ill run back off and be A-nonny-mouse again!
KC x

mummysaver

That's a good way of cooking them klcfree, and like the sound of the pies, will have to give that a go, think it might be on the menu plan for next week, my lot would love the stuffing one especially, and the chicken noodle soup is a fab idea, thank you!

schoolhouse

The sun is actually out :j .Have got two loads of washing hanging outside,hope it dries before the rain comes back.So much washing to do as my son (3) has suddenly regressed in terms of going to the loo(just wees thankfully).Not sure why as he has been dry for months(except for nights).

I love how everyone one here cooks and bakes from scratch.I am trying to get into breadmaking,so far its been edible but a bit heavy.Is there anyway to make a light wholemeal loaf? Any tips greatly appreciated.

newlywed

FairyElephant wrote: »

Hi Newlywed,

So glad to know I am not alone!

I find in really incredible as their Birth Mum used to be quite a sensible woman (I knew her years ago) but now does not really seem to give a *darn* what they eat or get up to - it drives DH & I mad .

Same here. Step kids are 10 and 13. She recently took 13yr old to Dr because of stomach problems he has (which are bad when he arrives on a Friday and get better by Sunday when he goes home again :rolleyes:). Doc said it's partly nerves and partly his diet needing more fibre. Two days later she took them to MacD for lunch and then gave them pizza for tea :mad::mad:.

She told Stepson that she always feeds him healthy meals I am inclined to think she's a bit stup...thi... erm, well ... doesn't know that 5 a day doesn't mean 5 portions of chips!!

Funniest thing is that she lists cooking as one of her hobbies on an online profile :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
Chicken nuggets, chips and tinned spaghetti hoops is NOT cooking :rolleyes:


Anyway, they won't eat brown bread and am trying to put slightly healthier stuff into the lunches starting from this term. It's only one day in the week they stay over (plus the weekend) so only one day to sort packlunch for.

Thinking banana and choc chip muffins instead of the much loved crisps (rest hidden in the freezer), banana flapjack another week. They won't eat raisins. But got an apple and grapes instead of a chocolate bar this week