Preparing for winter II

Introuble28

I love this thread! I have followed it for ages and its so useful!

I have almost finished my christmas shopping now and booked and paid for our accomodation over christmas and got a great deal.
3 nights at a brand new Travel lodge for £40!!

I have been stocking up on essentials in case of snow! I have lots of toilet roll, cat food, washing detergant etc.

New gloves bought and my friend is knitting me a new hat. All the jumpers are out the case and ready for a quick iron.

I am ordering my ice spike things for my boots too. Scotland was awful last year and I dont want to end up on my bum if I slip

Mincemeat is "brewing" for christmas too. I like to give it a minimum of 2 months so it can absorb all the whiskey!:beer:

Hope everyone is getting organised too :T

cat_smith

Hi Kathy, I'm Cat (32) I live just north of Glasgow. I retired from the rat race due to ill health and now work as a self-employed part time accountant. I have a husband and a large Lassie dog. I love cooking, reading and walking (when its not raining).

Now I've done a blitz of the house (got a burst of energy from somewhere this week) I am turning to winter preparations. First its the car - off to get bits tomorrow when I'm in town. Must find the tyre inflator as I'm sure they will need doing. Snow shovels arrived in August.

Blue_Elephant

Hello!

I was wondering if you could help? I've done some searches but it's not really coming up with what I'm looking for.

Parent's are off on holiday for 6 weeks over winter, and although I can look after myself and can cook and things and often do for us all, I often find I don't have the motivation to bother cooking for one and end up with beans on toast or cup a soups!

All very well once in a while, but I have a feeling I'm going to want hearty warming meals generally but not going to want to cook them, but I also don't want to end up buying takeaways/ready meals, so I thought I know, I can batch cook now, and freeze to use while the parents are away.

What I don't know is things like what can I cook and freeze that will keep well and still taste good, how long I can keep cooked meals in the freezer for, if I should defrost then heat or if I should just bung in the oven and how long to "reheat" them for to ensure I don't make myself ill lol.

I'm having a blank brain moment and have a "list" that consists of Shepherd's Pie and Soup. Hmm.

Also the other thing is, I tend not to be at home a lot and am always out and about, and as a result if it's only me, the heating is rarely on (and even if I'm home it's a last resort as I'm fed up of parents keeping the house too hot). But the last thing I want is for them to come home to frozen pipes, what's the best way to avoid this happening without constantly having the heating on?

I'm finding the prepping for winter thread a huge help as all the normal things parents have generally sorted I now need to find out more about, like where on earth is the snow shovel, which ends up in the most obscure places every year. Is there anything else I should be keeping in mind about the house? Parents aren't being very helpful as they tend to be reactive rather than proactive, but of course have got complacent as they've been doing this for years. When I lived on my own/in house shares, there were always landlords lol.

I'm making myself sound less than clued up aren't I? *embarrassed*

nikki2804

I was naughty and bought a few yankee candles. They are spicy and ciniminny scents barr one so im hoping that they add to the warmth lol.

Completely skint until payday but managed to stretch the budget and picked up a few more savoury rices, pastas, soup and sweeties (for xmas)

Ive managed to get time off this week so i have set myself a rota of deep cleaning the house with an aim tO clean the carpets on wednesday. That way i can clear out anything broken, sell some things on ebay for the xmas fund and have a definitive list of things required for winter. I also want my kitchen decorated before xmas so better get the old bum in gear!!

notjustlaura

Re batch cooking

I also live alone so I cook normal recipes, divide them into individual portions and then freeze them. Every evening I take out one meal and put it in the fridge. By dinner time, it's defrosted and just needs a zap in the microwave and some veg to go with it.

What sort of things do you like to eat? And do you have a microwave?

Blue_Elephant

notjustlaura wrote: »

Re batch cooking

What sort of things do you like to eat? And do you have a microwave?

I'll eat anything generally, apart from beef, and yes I have a microwave, I just don't know where to start iyswim?

lizzyb1812

Hi

I've stocked up on frozen meals because I'm going to be busy for the next few weeks - I've got HM Sweet and Sour Chicken, Fish Pie, Bolognaise Sauce, Chili, pre-grilled sausages (whoopsies grilled 2 packs at a time then frozen in portions), pre-grilled burgers, stew, chicken and mushroom casserole, savoury rice, etc etc.

If I can't even be bothered to make plain rice, pasta or potatoes then I'll have couscous for the starchy bit of my meals - don't freeze that cos it only takes 5 minutes and some boiling water

Re the heating - is there a timer on it? If so get it explained to you and decide when you'll need it on. Set your timings - eg one hour in the morning and 4 hours in the evening if you are out all day, then if you are not going to be in one particular evening turn the thermostat down to 12C or so so it comes on if it is really cold but not otherwise.

Lizzy

krustylouise

Hi,

You could do;

• Lasagne - cut into nice sized portions and all you'd need is garlic bread/salad/chips whatever
• You could batch cook some mince and then section it up and with one lot you could make chilli, another lot bolognese, another lot mince with veg {could be served with seasonal veg, mash, yorkshire puds} or you could use this to make a filling for a mince and gravy pie
• Like you've mentioned soup is a great winter warmer - I'm looking forward to making my first ever spicy butternut squash soup!

Do your parents have a slow cooker? You could stick the stuff in in the morning, forget about it and in the evening you'll have a meal ready and waiting for you.

I can't think of any others right now but if I do I'll come back.

Hope that helps

Kirsty xxx

Blue_Elephant

Cheers for that Lizzy B you've given me some fab ideas - Idea is I can cook these things no when it's my turn to cook and then deliberately make extra to freeze!

For the heating, I know how the timer works, it's the thermostat I think theres a problem with as I don't think we have a universal thermostat, but there's one on each radiator. If I set each radiator to the "frost" setting, except the one in the bathroom, will that mean that they won't turn on unless it's cold enough? But for some reason the bathroom will be heated anyway? Odd system!

Cheers kirsty - With things like Lasagne/bolognaise/casseroles, do I need to deforst before reheating or can i bung in pan/oven straight from frozen like you can with frozen ready meals?

Purple_kitten

Thanks for the weather hints Kittie, it's alwawys good to know, but glad there is no snow this early on. I can't help but suspect another snowy winter thou.