Giving "Old Style" for Christmas

Spirit_2

i would like to give the gift of "Old Style" to someone for Christmas.

She is in her early 50's, lives alone, has a life limiting illness, is very overweight, does not cook for herself very often, has a very small income nothing to spare and no storecupboard at all and the only freezer capacity she has is a fridge icebox. She is very proud, and unfailingly kind.

She has recently been given a computer and I have told her about MSE. For Christmas I would like to give her an Old Style hamper to help stretch her resources, introduce menu planning and cooking from scratch.

I am willing to spend up to £30 on 'top tip kitchen gadget') she has none,

and a further £40 on oldstyle storecupboard/food/household . £70 in total.

Please make suggestions - I find it hard to imagine where to start.

I know she will not be offended by this gift as I think she is ready to be inspired!

lisa26_2

Top kitchen gadget has to be a slow cooker, perhaps a 3.5l one if she has no freezer space so she doesn't end up eating the same meal all week!!

floss2

Why not set up some blank menu-plans on a CD for her to load onto her PC?

Also put onto the CD the 'rubber chicken' thread, how to make 1lb of mince feed 47 (slight exaggeration but you get my drift!) some of the threads about cooking for one or starting being OS & the recipe for Twinks hobnobs plus some of MrBadExample's recipes...

Why not buy her some soap-nuts (Lakeland I think), white vinegar, Stardrops & bicarbonate of soda...plus some oats to fill out her mince!

katieclampet

What a fab idea. How about a small steamer, ideal for doing veg & potatos at once, (and great for healthy eating) or a slow cooker? Also a small notebook, to record prices, recipes etc?

katiex

Spirit_2

I may be being a bit thick here - where do I find 'blank menu plans'?

zippychick

I would suggest the herbs and spices & storecupboard materials to make 5 (eg) set meals - with a hand written recipe book of how to do each one. PLus some other recipes she has most things for but just needs to add meat for eg. Also some instructions how to transform said 5 meals into something else - like bol into chilli eg so if she has a SC, she can transform the leftovers in an easy pinch. Basics she may need for the kitchen too - materials wise? She may not have scales or utensils etc - but only you know from what she has. I like the idea of the book she can add recipes to.

Sounds like a lovely idea. Sorry that's not much, bit brain dead today.

beautiful_ravens

What a nice idea.

The first thing popped into my head was making up a handy folder containing pages of perhaps the best recipies and money saving/OS ideas from this forum [a while back this idea was in a thread about a student moving in somewhere on their own I think...?] so she can read it and carry it around the kitchen etc.
Sometimes I wish I didnt have to switch the PC on to look at some stuff which is on here!!

zippychick

beautiful_ravens wrote: »

What a nice idea.

The first thing popped into my head was making up a handy folder containing pages of perhaps the best recipies and money saving/OS ideas from this forum [a while back this idea was in a thread about a student moving in somewhere on their own I think...?] so she can read it and carry it around the kitchen etc.
Sometimes I wish I didnt have to switch the PC on to look at some stuff which is on here!!

Me too! I have started printing it out.:money:

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

I love my rice cooker - but I use it as a steamer 95% of the time (the remainder is mostly cooking pasta). I gave my steamer to the BF as I hardly ever used it after MIL gave me the rice cooker. I think there are some that will act as rice cooker, steamer and slow cooker these days? Saves buying more than one item.

I'd include some herbs/spices, some rice and teeny soup pasta.

And for cleaning, Stardrops, white vinegar, a few cloths, etc.

A nice pair of marigolds.

Some cotton gloves, a nail file and some handcream.

And a pretty cup/mug, maybe an individual teapot, some teabags.

All in a basket with a checked teatowel and a big red bow.

That way, she has things for cooking, cleaning up, treating her hands and sitting down with a nice cuppa.

k2tog

What a lovely idea.
I think I would go with the slow cooker gadget suggestion and recipes and starter thimngs like herbs and maybe put instructions to the free bingo scratchcard threads so she could maybe save up for a freezer or improve things in some other small way.

ETA: If she has no problems with hand dexterity/mobility, how about including a crochet hook or knitting needles and a ball of wool? Many people find it a soothing activity.

Guess which threads I'm normally on...

JillS_2

Since she hasn't got much freezer capacity don't push the "eat one, freeze one" too hard.

I'm now in the situation where I'm just cooking for one and, although in some ways it's comforting to think I've got another 3 chilli con carne or coq au vin in the freezer, I often feel fed up with having to eat yet another chilli. So I suggest adjusting the recipes so the quantities are correct for making just one or at most two meals. I find it fairly easily to do this mentally but I know a lot of people who just can't easily cope with it - and, unless you actually write the reduced quantities in your recipe, it's very easy to make a mistake and use the normal amount of one or more ingredients and ruin the recipe. If you do this, preferably try it with the reduced quantities to see that it's still possible - 1/4 egg is awkward and leaves 3/4 egg to be used up somehow, 1/4 of some liquid quantities makes too small an amount to work in even a small saucepan, & a few recipes just don't seem to work at all when reduced to a quarter. At the very least run your eye down the new quantity/amounts to see if the recipe still seems feasible.

If she doesn't have scales convert the quantities to cup and spoon measures & provide a standard cup/spoon measure.

Rather than getting 1 large/expensive piece of equipment you might consider seeing that she's stocked up with the basics. A couple of good sharp knives & a decent knife sharpener, chopping board, at the least 1 large mixing bowl & 1 small, grater, scales and/or set of measuring cups & spoons, a stick blender, etc.