If things get tougher?

[Deleted User]

ahhh a eureka moment!!! such a simple idea and came to me this morning

Keep a clean watering can full of water outside just put some clingfilm or a shower cap or something over the fill hole. Great for the dishes or hand washing (not to drink because of plastic or aluminium) and the bonus is that no-one passing on the sunny side will think I am doo-lally and it is cheaper than solar showers. Oh well I ordered the showers at £4 each so we`ll be able to have a shower on the patio but I am going to buy a cheapo watering can this morning for the dishes

catznine

Lots of things to think about, must try some water heating in a bucket! I am already being good and sharing my shower with a bucket in the corner - amazing how much water it catches! enough for a few pots in the garden or an extra flush!

I wish we could go back and ask for some advice from my grandparents generation, long since passed but they survived the really hard times of WWI & WWII and the depression inbetween. They coped with bringing up 5 daughters with no electricity or running water but they did have a different infrastructure which we have, all too easily, let go of like: coal fires, ranges which ran on peat/coal/wood, wells for water, spinning wheels (yes my grandad had one of those and angora rabbits for the wool) larger gardens to grow veg in, close communities for help and support in times of need (lots of food sharing/swapping in Grandads time), the knowledge of using tools that don't need electricity, skills long since lost. It was harder then and I wonder how many of us are fit enough if we had to live like that now, not me that's for certain!

I agree that in the meantime while we "power down" we need to learn long forgotten skills like gardening, knitting, sewing, baking and old style diy. It is however so hard to try to do so much at once, I hope we have the luxury of plenty of time (and oil) in order to complete the task.

Kittie - on your advice I have bought a remoska and am loving it! Not only is it cheaper to run but the food is fab, especially the flapjacks and roast chicken! please think about doing a blog, it would be a great way of passing on your knowledge.

Catz x

mardatha

I wish we could go back and ask for some advice from my grandparents generation, long since passed but they survived the really hard times of WWI & WWII and the depression inbetween.
***************
Absolutely. Me too. And I agree re the remoska. its low power, its portable, its versatile, we need to be all these things now.:)

[Deleted User]

well the watering can method needs modification. The volume is large and mine is in a round dark green plastic can. The outside got very warm but the mass of water inside in contact with the plastic is not great so this type of round can is not efficient. The perfect watering can would be flatter and thinner so I am back to thinking about the solar showers, which I have ordered. lol people are definitely going to think that I am bonkers as we have a patio on communal grounds

Catznine, you flatter me but it is just what I do anyway and I am a capricorn to my roots. I have reached the point when I am just tweaking away and I know that I am in the very fortunate position of having the appliances I need. It was in the genes anyway and I belonged to a suma wholefood group in 1977+ I think people, maybe a younger generation, just need to be shown how to step down but just one step at a time or it is too daunting

Today I have been buying beans but this time they all have the potential for sprouting, so they do not have to be cooked if there is an emergency this winter. I bought aduki, mung, whole lentils, chick peas and organic soya beans (1 hour in the pressure cooker for these beans so a considered buy). I have mostly whole lentils in my order as they cook very quickly without soaking but they are dual purpose, just in case

I am going to have a go at baking a lentil and walnut loaf in the remoska tomorrow. It needs a loaf tin but I am going to use a 7" cake tin. Today I may make a brioche in the remoska. I made some cheapo silicone tops and bottoms with baking grade silicone from ebay. I have a whole round top, a circle for around the top edge and a whole top with a hole in the middle for cakes

mardatha

Kittie, please tell me --I want to line the remoska but the magic liner thingy from Lakeland is too dear, is this what you're doing with silicone ? Is it easy ? And capricorns are ALL perfect. fact of life ! When's your birthday?

MRSMCAWBER

oooohhhh we can have a "capricorn convention" im one too

My d.o.b is the 22nd december

Well i was chatting to hubby about this thread -and others..and when i mentioned the stoves hubbies little face lit up -he has a little stove he got for going on exercises and it can be run on unleaded fuel the same as our car -and as we get tax free fuel whilst out here, its not too bad at all ..1 little tank will run for 6.5hrs :T so at least in a super emergancy i can send hubby down into the basement to play with that :rotfl:
I think when im sorting out this weekend i might have to get that and my old enamel pans, spare utensils etc all in the same place we can find them in a hurry.... think i will put them on the shelving in the washroom in the basement where i keep all my extra flour etc and might start adding a few tins down there ready for winter
we also have cylume sticks..those glow stick thingies so as long as we don't mind looking green we will be okay
I have had my eye on a remoska for ages ...hmmmm might have to have words with hubby -he was going to get me and electric ice cream maker for my birthday/xmas... but i could have a remoska and allsorts of "extras" for less than the ice cream machine i was having...now you have me thinking.. off to look at lakeland and price up what i could get :rotfl: mind if i can find a remoska out here i can get the tax off;)

egon

MRSMCAWBER wrote: »

oooohhhh we can have a "capricorn convention" im one too

My d.o.b is the 22nd december

Well i was chatting to hubby about this thread -and others..and when i mentioned the stoves hubbies little face lit up -he has a little stove he got for going on exercises and it can be run on unleaded fuel the same as our car -and as we get tax free fuel whilst out here, its not too bad at all ..1 little tank will run for 6.5hrs :T so at least in a super emergancy i can send hubby down into the basement to play with that :rotfl:
I think when im sorting out this weekend i might have to get that and my old enamel pans, spare utensils etc all in the same place we can find them in a hurry.... think i will put them on the shelving in the washroom in the basement where i keep all my extra flour etc and might start adding a few tins down there ready for winter
we also have cylume sticks..those glow stick thingies so as long as we don't mind looking green we will be okay
I have had my eye on a remoska for ages ...hmmmm might have to have words with hubby -he was going to get me and electric ice cream maker for my birthday/xmas... but i could have a remoska and allsorts of "extras" for less than the ice cream machine i was having...now you have me thinking.. off to look at lakeland and price up what i could get :rotfl: mind if i can find a remoska out here i can get the tax off;)

Hi Mrs M,

You can get them in Germany:

http://www.eukasa.de/haushaltsgerate/webshop/2936/remoska/remoska-r-1100-2l/

But might be better to look at amazon.co.uk, as they give you vat back too.

HTH

Egon

mardatha

I'm 23rd dec

Yategirl

kittie wrote: »

so I am back to thinking about the solar showers, which I have ordered. lol people are definitely going to think that I am bonkers as we have a patio on communal grounds

can you not leave it outside to warm up and then take it to your bathroom and hang over bath/shower to wash???



Remoskas - dh and I looked at these ages ago (when annoyingly I had the £ to buy one) and he figured that it would need to be used an awful lot in order to save money... Do you Remoska users know how long it would take for you to "get your money back"? It would go along way in persuading my dh to let me have one! :rotfl:

[Deleted User]

19th jan lol us capricorns have a very practical, down to earth streak

right: the remoska costs me 6.36 pence for every hour that it is on. A sausage casserole cost me about 6p. I am cooking panetonne this afternoon and that will cost 3 pence. A chicken curry plus potato wedges at the same time will cost about 5 pence. Costing depends on how or if you cut down on other ways of cooking eg my oven would cost about 35 pence for a casserole. Personally, I would get my money back in 3 months but I use the remoska a lot

LOL yategirl,:rotfl: :rotfl: I will be using them to warm the water for dishes and hand washing/soaking clothes and I`ll pour the water out via the filler cap. I am having visions of me showering in full view on the patio