Preparing for winter II

Rainy-Days

l.m.hart wrote: »

thats scary!:eek:

I know, thats why we are determined to get the couple of odd jobs that need to be done outside completed by next weekend. If it is prolonged and heavy for weeks then I just don't think that employers are going to be flexible, a week maybe, but when it stretched into further time last year I could see the bosses in our place making comments such as "we made it in why can't they"!

Power bills are all up, inflation up - it's going to be a winter of discontent if this comes to pass. It's the elderly I really do feel for, some will be frightened to put the heating on for fear of the cost. I remember two years ago now a couple in Northampton died in their freezing cold bungalow because they were too worried about putting the heating on. We did daily checks on a couple of old people in our village last year and we will do the same this year as well. Now we have the snow shovel I shall go round and clear their paths.

rising_from_the_ashes

Hi Kathy - thanks to European rules, everything is sold in kg and g:(.

However, many of us still think in "old" terms of lbs and oz (I know when I go and buy anything I still convert the kg or g amount back to lbs and oz in my head so I know how much it really is! (and I'm not that old - honest!). 1 lb = 454g.

Shops are allowed to show both prices but not lbs alone (and it tends to be smaller independent shops rather than the supermarkets).

This got me thinking - does anyone remember the fruit shop guy who took them to court - looks like he may have to admit defeat http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-37239/Metric-martyr-urged-admit-defeat.html which is sad IMHO.


A joint is say a bit of beef, pork or lamb etc on the bone - it's funny to think of them as a knee or elbow:). A roast can be either with bone or without and tends to be called this because of the way it's cooked and if it has "all the trimmings" (roast potatoes & veg) etc to go with it - others may think differently?

Confuzzled

kmiller4 wrote: »

In the US they sell meat by the pound (16 oz. which is about 450 gms) When you say the gammon joints were 3.99 quid-- for what amount? 500 grams? one kilo? Just trying to gauge the cost where you are versus where I am to see how prices compare.

One of my local stores had shank portions of ham on sale (on offer) for $1.19 per pound (approx 75p for 450 grams converted). Of course, the shank has a big bone and is a less desireable cut of ham (lots of flavor though!) however they come in large hunks-- usually 5-10 pounds. So even at a low price per pound, they still cost a bit.

Also, you ladies often refer to a "joint" when you talk about cuts of meat. What is a joint? I know that we refer to our hips and elbows as joints-- is it a cut of meat with a bone in it? Or maybe a piece of meat from the hip, knee or elbow region? Is it different from a roast?

I'd love to meet up with some of you on my next trip to Ireland/UK. I'd love to have a cup of tea and have someone explain all these little things! Maybe we could take a trip to the grocers and you could enlighten me there as well! I have learned so much from all of you gals already-- but what I've really learned is that we are a lot more alike than we are different:)

Thanks in advance--
Kathy

the gammon joint is 1.2kg (2.6lbs), what you call shanks are called houghs here, or as i called them in the states ham hocks (pronouced the same way )

i'd fall over myself to buy the biggest hough i could get at 75p per half kilo! you'll find meat is far more expensive in the uk than it is in the states. i had forgotten how cheap meat was til i spent some time back in the states a few years ago, omg i nearly fell over at how cheap it all was... and i ate a LOT of meat during my trips :rotfl:

as for joints i, being american by birth, am not totally up on the finer details but most i've seen don't have bones in them and the gammon joint in question doesn't have a bone (least i don't think it goes i'm certain i've bought it before myself) i think here a joint is pretty much the same as a roast in the states.

if you have anymore questions feel free to ask, i've been here 12+ years so i'm fairly decent at 'translating' and we have a few other expats in here that will have a good idea of what you mean when you talk about certain things so we can give you a close equivalent

Confuzzled

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

A joint is say a bit of beef, pork or lamb etc on the bone - it's funny to think of them as a knee or elbow:). A roast can be either with bone or without and tends to be called this because of the way it's cooked and if it has "all the trimmings" (roast potatoes & veg) etc to go with it - others may think differently?

:rotfl: i'm confused now too, all the 'joints' i've bought have had no bones!

i will defer to you though, like i said i'm not totally clear on joint being boneless or not, i don't buy them often (can't afford them ) and i'm not from here originally but seriously i'm confused, maybe some stores aren't very accurate and just label any big chunk of meat suitable for roasting as a joint

Rainy-Days

kmiller4 wrote: »

In the US they sell meat by the pound (16 oz. which is about 450 gms) When you say the gammon joints were 3.99 quid-- for what amount? 500 grams? one kilo? Just trying to gauge the cost where you are versus where I am to see how prices compare.

One of my local stores had shank portions of ham on sale (on offer) for $1.19 per pound (approx 75p for 450 grams converted). Of course, the shank has a big bone and is a less desireable cut of ham (lots of flavor though!) however they come in large hunks-- usually 5-10 pounds. So even at a low price per pound, they still cost a bit.

Also, you ladies often refer to a "joint" when you talk about cuts of meat. What is a joint? I know that we refer to our hips and elbows as joints-- is it a cut of meat with a bone in it? Or maybe a piece of meat from the hip, knee or elbow region? Is it different from a roast?

Well generally speaking Kathy I prefer pounds and ounces as well but they have gone all metric over here - all to do with Europe and Brussells but that is another story for a different day.

From memory 1 pound 1 ounce is about half a kilo so for 1 kilo it is 2 pound 2 ounces. Someone will probably be more precise on the weights but thats a ball park figure for you.

With regard to joints by that I mean personally such as Sunday lunch roasting joints, such as Topside of beef, shoulder of lamb, leg of pork, carving meat in other words. Think one mentioned a beef brisket joint in a slow cooker. It can have a bone in it but sometimes it can be a cut or rolled piece of meat. But it is still refered to as a joint of meat!

The gammon joint that I bought today was £3.99 for a kilo, so that is about £1.90 for a one pound 1 ounce piece of gammon. Meat prices here are through the roof mainly because the raw feeding costs for livestock food, such as wheat, whey and rye in their feeds has gone up. We are importing grain as well which is also having a knock on effect, along with fuel costs for diesel/petrol, electricity and other power supplies is filtering into the food chain and this is being reflected in the prices we pay at the tills in the supermarkets. At one time we exported allot of our grain, now we have to import some of it to meet demand.

tugrin

Oh goodness - the weather is going to be dire... I live 34 mils away from work and moved exactly 2 years ago, 6 days before the first big snow. Up to that point I was confient the commuting would be handleable. Now with regular and dangerous snow plus the enormous rise in price of fuel it all seems like a really bad move. Prhaps I will have to have a really extensive snow box in the car including overnight things so I can stay over with friends. Suddenly it all feels a lot more scary and perilously close.

bluebag

kmiller4

If the link works this site may explain more about 'joints' of meat.

http://www.theeveninginn.com/recipearticledisplay.aspx?article=39

But basically its a cut of meat such as rib or sirloin that comes either with or without bone, depending on the cut. Usually tied with string to help keep it in shape during cooking.

I seem to recall seeing a joint called a pot roast mentioned in US recipes. Something of that nature, with sufficient meat to feed a family, about couple of pounds or so in weight, although we have the dratted kilo here.

kmiller4

Confuzzled wrote: »

as for joints i, being american by birth, am not totally up on the finer details but most i've seen don't have bones in them and the gammon joint in question doesn't have a bone (least i don't think it goes i'm certain i've bought it before myself) i think here a joint is pretty much the same as a roast in the states.

if you have anymore questions feel free to ask, i've been here 12+ years so i'm fairly decent at 'translating' and we have a few other expats in here that will have a good idea of what you mean when you talk about certain things so we can give you a close equivalent

Goodness, I did not realize how high the cost of living is over there. We complain here, but I realize now that we are pretty blessed here in the US for the most part. We do have our troubles like everywhere-- but for the most part we should not be complaining. We do not have a national health plan here (well except for 65 and over, children, the poor and disabled) and our costs are increasing by leaps and bounds. However, I think that in all reality I pay my healthcare premiums to the insurance company and you pay yours in the form of taxes to the government. Being in the healthcare field myself, it is hard to see people go without basic healthcare while we spend trillions on war!

So are there a lot of ex-pats in Ireland/UK? How did you come to be an ex-pat? I have considered moving to another country, so just curious about why you and the ex-pats you know came to be there.

Justamum

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

This got me thinking - does anyone remember the fruit shop guy who took them to court - looks like he may have to admit defeat http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-37239/Metric-martyr-urged-admit-defeat.html which is sad IMHO.

That's a very old news report - Steve Thoburn died in March 2004!

I seem to remember reading recently that the rules have been a bit more relaxed recently. It's only a vague recollection so I'm not sure of the details.

kmiller4

Quite nippy here this weekend as well. Heat is ready-- but thermostat is set so that the heat only comes on if temps dip below a certain level. Has been going down to 3-4 C at night.

Just baked a gingerbread for OH. Figured I might as well run the oven for dinner (pizza) as the furnace:)

OH just came in from yardwork. With all these cold nights, maybe this will be about the last time he has to mow the lawn.