Live on £4,000 for a year - 2009, Part 3

grandma247

lyndasharp wrote: »

I'd like to see the beetroot chutney recipe too please - ours are doing very well this year, as are the turnips. Unfortunately I've discovered that the purple turnips are too bitter for me - I like the white ones instead - so if anyone has ideas of how to disguise the turnips in something more edible I'd be very grateful! I've tried a hot curry, and could still taste them.

Slice them thinly and layer in a pyrex dish and cover with milk and dot with butter,cover with a lid or foil. Cook them in the oven on a medium heat till tender. You can then serve as they are or mash. The milk helps to take away the bitterness. I used to cook very dark greens in milk till I got used to the taste.

sophiesmum_2

Good evening frunchkins:D
been to visit parents after work and then went blackberry picking with my mum for an hour. Loads of huge berries here this year:j I picked just over 6lbs of berries and didn't even make an impression on the place we were picking from, will be back more evenings next week for more. Lots of jam making soon:j:jthis lot joining the other couple of pounds in the freezer now.


Hope you are all having a good evening.

Out of curiosity I just checked my supermarket for cost of blackberries, asda,and sainsburys £6.67 a kg:eek: and Mr T £10 a kg:eek::eek: which puts tonights pickings at somewhere between £20.01 and £30.00 worth:j and all for an hours labour and purple fingers:rotfl:

Herewegoagain

sophiesmum wrote: »

Good evening frunchkins:D
been to visit parents after work and then went blackberry picking with my mum for an hour. Loads of huge berries here this year:j I picked just over 6lbs of berries and didn't even make an impression on the place we were picking from, will be back more evenings next week for more. Lots of jam making soon:j:jthis lot joining the other couple of pounds in the freezer now.


Hope you are all having a good evening.

Wow they look good, I just don't seem to get time to go pick them:o

Everyone seems to be doing really well, and your all making me jealous about the canning, but I'd be too worried that I'd do it wrong:o

Hope your all well

HWGA xx

Skint_Lynne

Hi guys,

Hope you all have had a nice evening, I am impressed with your blackberry haul SM, it took me around 15 minutes to pick mine yesterday, most of the berries are not ripe yet, so I'll just keep looking. It's amazing that you can get all of that fruit for free. I've never made jam before, so I hope that I don't make a hash of it.

I made the dinner again tonight, it was Italian Chicken, (chicken in tomato sauce), it turned out really well and I had 2 portions left over, they are in the fridge in case I fancy it tomorrow again.

Not long until my camping trip.:rolleyes: We are now going to Campbeltown as it takes too long to get to John O' Groats according to DH. It takes 3 to get to Campbeltown and I have always fancied going there as well, so that's what we'll do. The site is £7 per night. I've got my shopping list ready, one for the shops and one for the storecupboard, to take what I need along with me. We'll go out to eat sometimes, but will take supplies as well.

I hope it doesn't rain all the time, but it's a lot to hope for. I am mainly taking tinned food and will buy fresh when I need it due to lack of fridge. What does everyone else eat when they are camping, all ideas are welcome.:D

Hugs to everyone, speak soon. xx

sophiesmum_2

Hi SL
What are you taking for cooking on?
On previous camping trips BC (before children:rotfl:) we used to have porridge made with dried milk powder for brekkie, or soft boiled eggs, and toast done with a fork over the gaz cooker. Rice is easy to do and then just add other stuff to it, eggs, tinned peas,bacon pieces etc.same with pasta. You can do lots of stuff in one pan on a gaz ring.
You can cook lots of stuff on a disposable barbecue - sausages,chops,steaks.toms,mushrooms,
Sandwiches are easy too don't forget, and dried stuff like noodles,soups,soya mince where you just add water and cook.

Once the 4 kidlets came along we graduated to a huge tent ,two ring electric cooker and a microwave:rotfl: lol so the sky was the limit foodwise.

One of best holidays I ever had was as a teenager,pillion passenger to Cornwall on a 100cc bike loaded with tent and rucksack, we had to keep costs and weight down so practically lived on supernoodles, dried soups, pot noodles and batchelors savoury rice - sent then OH to do the shopping and typical man he bought all the above but managed to get every item in chicken flavour - I swear we were both clucking after the week ended lol

grandma247

SM those blackberries look great I must have a look around here to see if I can find some that are not on a busy road. I don't fancy eating any with polution from car exhausts on them.

Re the camping we have done lots of one pan stews or stirfrys. Also used the disposable barbeques.
When my oldest kids were very young we bought a bungalow tent. I had never been camping before but I was hooked from that first holiday. I don't like it if it is so wet everything is soggy,Not my idea of a holiday. My stepfather used to come along because we did not drive in those days and he had a car. He always insisted on a proper sunday dinner so I took along my trusty pressure cooker and we had everything except the yorkshires. I don't think they did frozen ones in those days. One time I made a pancake batter , added finely chopped onion and made tiny pancakes which served as our yorkshires for a long time after that.

Kittikins

Wow SM, those berries look scrumptious, lucky you. We've not been out for our fix at all this week, hopefully tomorrow evening we can take a stroll and get some more berries and apples and maybe even some plums if the huge tree is ready yet

DD doesn't like jam unfortunately, I do on occasion, especially home made, but when I'm off my diet will need to be sensible with sugary things, so I'm thinking blackberry vodka for Chri$tmas presents (and maybe just one bottle for me ) and the rest can be in the freezer for crumbles and smoothies.

Need to work out the weekend's meal plans for DD using up more of the freezer's bounty, so I have space for berries.

DD had some of our beetroot in her salad tonight and pronounced them delicious. Proud mummy and daughter moment

DD's desperate to go camping, I'm a bit scared being on my own in a flimsy tent with a little girl....but would be a cheap holiday I guess.

grandma247

Kittikins wrote: »

DD's desperate to go camping, I'm a bit scared being on my own in a flimsy tent with a little girl....but would be a cheap holiday I guess.

My dd1 was just the same about her little girl and her oh was even worse. they ended up sleeping with her between them:rotfl:
Funny I never felt that about my ds2 or 3 but I always recond (SP) anyone who took them would pay us to take them back:rotfl:
Seriously though the likelihood of anything horrible happening is extremely small. If you use a families only site people tend to look out for each other.

Frugaldom

Good morning frugalers

Blackberry picking not quite underway here, although I have managed to get about 1lb of fruit in total from early blackberries, rasps, gooseberries and blackcurrants. It's a start, but still early days for us up here.

Beetroot chutney - sorry, I don't have the recipe to hand but if you search the forums or G00gle it, there are loads of simple ones. That's what I do. I ended up pickling mine and it tastes lovely. But I love anything with a bit of an acidic kick to it - citrus, vinegar, lemon sherbet, fizzy sweets... yum!

I'm not much of a camper, haven't camped since I was a teenager. However, friend and I will be camping if we every do the island hopping (including the visit to the camp site on Harris). Years ago, it was all tinned foods for the campfire, I don't remember packets of stuff other than bacon & sausages, nor do I remember disposable BBQs back then, just camping gas stoves. I do have my camping kettle and set of camping stove pans, though. These get used on the BBQ during long power cuts. Eggs are always easy to cook and don't forget a few potatoes in tin foil for the campfire (if you're still allowed to light them).

Re the kids, my biggest worry was always a cow walking through the tent, but I guess a kid could easily get up in the middle of the night and escape - you could always attach one of those fishing rod alarms or window alarms to the tent door fastener to use it like a burglar alarm. It would wake you if anyone attempted an escape. Then again, I have never camped on a 'real' campsite, only fields and the back garden, hence my fear of being walked over by a cow - yes, even in the garden when I was little. :rotfl:

Hardup_Hester

How's this for complicated.
As my DD is as broke as I am I offered to pay for a trip to a local farm park, I have some credits on my TES account, a neighbour wanted to go to town to buy the Economy Gastronomy book so I cashed in some TES points, ordered the book from Amazon for her, she paid me cash & I now have the money for the day trip!
Hester