debtors going without food.

muskoka

wageslave wrote: »

I am in the process of emptying out my freezer. Begone Ben and Jerrys, I am going to batch cook.

EDIT Chicken feet, nah honestly. I like liver. My Nan used to make a wonderful liver casserole with lemon and grated potato in it. No- one seems to have the recipe

Just reading this thread - Cook liver (which whatever you choose) in a slow cooker. I don't particularly like liver, but from a slo-cooker, it melts in your mouth!! Not chewy at all

lostinrates

muskoka wrote: »

Just reading this thread - Cook liver (which whatever you choose) in a slow cooker. I don't particularly like liver, but from a slo-cooker, it melts in your mouth!! Not chewy at all

I only ever pan fry liver, never tried it slow cooked, but pan fried shouldn't be tough either, but rather melt in the mouth and pink in the ,middle. chewy liver has been over cooked.

lemonjelly

Well, I didn't anticipate this thread would become an exchange for recipes!

On the subject of cooking, I love cooking. I think it is great fun, & you get the bonus of something gorgeous at the end!

My thing with cooking is a motivation thing. When I'm cooking for others as well as myself, I'm well motivated - keen to make something really tasty. I think part of the pleasure is firstly the anticipation of how it'll be recieved, & then watching them enjoy it.

I'm less motivated when it comes to cooking just for me.

One of my faves batch cooking is shepherds/cottage pie. Only instead of using normal mince, I use vegetarian mince. It is absolutely lovely. I remember the first time I cooked it. I didn't dish up as was washing up, & was passed a plate with a HUGE piece on it. I looked at it feeling there was never any hope I'd be able to finish it. Yet I wolfed it down! Gorgeous! & can eat it day after day after day.

My vice, or at least one of many, is cheesecake.:o Need to learn to make this homemade.

MummyandPaige

Not to stir it, but yes it is happening, admitedly some people do make it worse for themselves by drowning their sorrows with what little they have, but others don't.

It is a case of prioritising, you can only negociate with debtors so much, they still have their minimum repayments and failure to meet means a visit from the bailliff, more charges added and more to pay. A vicious never ending circle.

For example, when I moved out into my own house, it was cold, I put the heating on, I was warm, 3 months later I had a £450 gas bill, didn't think it would cost that much, oops, couldn't pay, bailliffs came and installed a prepayment meter, I payed £5 per week off the debt and if I could afford it I would put more on so I could use the cooker. Many times I had to go round to a friends to cook as I couldn't afford to put any money on the meter, many times I sat in the cold and dark because I had no money to even power a light, I caught the flu because the window were single glazed and draughty. I have made a stew using tesco value beef burgers in the microwave because I could not afford the gas or the food for anything else.

Thankfully, I am not longer in that situation, but it is unfair to critise all about their choices, I was stupid, I didn't know any better and I suffered because of it. There are those that get themselves into these situations by mistake and those that do it because they don't care enough to stop and think. I am just glad that it was only me and my partner at the time, and that we did not have any children as things may have been worse.

Unless you have been there and had these kinds of problems, you will not know what goes on and why, it is easy to judge when you have never had to do it yourselves. I just hope that you never do.

lemonjelly

MummyandPaige wrote: »

Thankfully, I am not longer in that situation, but it is unfair to critise all about their choices, I was stupid, I didn't know any better and I suffered because of it. There are those that get themselves into these situations by mistake and those that do it because they don't care enough to stop and think. I am just glad that it was only me and my partner at the time, and that we did not have any children as things may have been worse.
QUOTE]

I'd argue that you weren't stupid, just unaware.

I have 2 jobs. One involves working with kids leaving care. It is in a sheltered housing complex.

What used to happen, is that the kids would get to 18, & their social worker would pick them up, take them to a council flat, give them a set of keys, & say "don't call me again, your care order has ended & you're big enough to stand on your own 2 feet".

Fast forward 6 months, & the bailiffs were carrying out an eviction at the same flat. Rent & council tax were in arrears, & on entering you'd find maccies wrappers, pizza boxes, & not much furniture.

Why? Because the kids in question had never been taught how to manage their money, take responsibility for paying rent & other bills, how to manage a home. Hell, some had never even been taught how to cook. I remember working with one lad who moved into our scheme. He was 19, & told me that the only things he could cook was sausages. He lived on a diet of crisps and sausage samdwiches. That was it.

If you don't have the skills to run a home, & don't have anyone to support/ask, or are too proud to ask, then you will struggle.

In my 2nd job we support the kids under care orders so as they do have these skills, & ultimately will be able to set up home independently, & will be able to maintain it. Because of their backgrounds, there's usually a whole other heap of problems too, but hey, we all have problems. We teach them cooking, cleaning, budgeting, shopping, support them with education or work, hygeine, decorating, people skills, allsorts of stuff.

Sometimes, I wonder if we're all too busy to do this with out kids...

Generali

lostinrates wrote: »

I only ever pan fry liver, never tried it slow cooked, but pan fried shouldn't be tough either, but rather melt in the mouth and pink in the ,middle. chewy liver has been over cooked.

Casserole is good too. Overcooking is a problem though and the flavour gets stronger which not everyone likes.

Mr_Matey

I find the best way to cook is to leave it to the fiancee. It always turns out much better that way.

I'm good at a BBQ and do a mean microwave popcorn though.

fc123

lemonjelly wrote: »

MummyandPaige wrote: »

Thankfully, I am not longer in that situation, but it is unfair to critise all about their choices, I was stupid, I didn't know any better and I suffered because of it. There are those that get themselves into these situations by mistake and those that do it because they don't care enough to stop and think. I am just glad that it was only me and my partner at the time, and that we did not have any children as things may have been worse.
QUOTE]

I'd argue that you weren't stupid, just unaware.

I have 2 jobs. One involves working with kids leaving care. It is in a sheltered housing complex.

What used to happen, is that the kids would get to 18, & their social worker would pick them up, take them to a council flat, give them a set of keys, & say "don't call me again, your care order has ended & you're big enough to stand on your own 2 feet".

Fast forward 6 months, & the bailiffs were carrying out an eviction at the same flat. Rent & council tax were in arrears, & on entering you'd find maccies wrappers, pizza boxes, & not much furniture.

Why? Because the kids in question had never been taught how to manage their money, take responsibility for paying rent & other bills, how to manage a home. Hell, some had never even been taught how to cook. I remember working with one lad who moved into our scheme. He was 19, & told me that the only things he could cook was sausages. He lived on a diet of crisps and sausage samdwiches. That was it.

If you don't have the skills to run a home, & don't have anyone to support/ask, or are too proud to ask, then you will struggle.

In my 2nd job we support the kids under care orders so as they do have these skills, & ultimately will be able to set up home independently, & will be able to maintain it. Because of their backgrounds, there's usually a whole other heap of problems too, but hey, we all have problems. We teach them cooking, cleaning, budgeting, shopping, support them with education or work, hygeine, decorating, people skills, allsorts of stuff.

Sometimes, I wonder if we're all too busy to do this with out kids...

I have never written about our neighbours in London....they fostered 'last chance' teens and, as we were next door, we would get involved in all sorts of stuff with them.

We were very involved with one (who became a good mate of son) and he had exactly the situation you described above. We furnished his new place and helped him out but it was a disaster. It didn't help that he couldn't read and write. I tried to teach him how to feed himself but he couldn't quite grasp it.

He ended up doing something really bad so he could go to prison. It actually did the trick as he, when he was released, he went into a type of shared hostel/house type place that suited him far better.

He's out now and on the straight and narrow with an unskilled job and is doing fine but the system didn't know how to reach him.
Our son (as same age but totally diff upbringing) did a lot to help him out but sometimes it was like :wall:. He is one of the reasons son has decided to do what he is doing for a career.

lostinrates

carolt wrote: »

A great turnip anything surely deserves a medal.

Can we have the recipe, LIR?

I pmed you this recipe this morning Carolt. Looking at my dog eared file of must have recipes (the one I'd save in a fire) it was originally a Madhur Jaffrey recipe. I add more fresh herbs (and more ginder, and probably go a bit heavy on spicing) and reduce the oil used, but I sent the recipe as she gave it.

Its surprisingly morish.