Preparing for winter II

squeaky

No, that's fine - no blame no shame

It was a valid question.

As you may have noticed we have quite a lot of "Collections" threads, and "Quick questions" threads. Not to mention a whole bunch of "Main threads" on various subjects. Without those a search on any given topic would often show hundreds (and hundreds) of threads... and since we already have over 27,000 threads...

The thing is - unlike boards like freebies or grabbit where posts go out of date quite quickly - very few of ours ever go out of date. How to make basic pastry, once answered, isn't going to change / go out of date. What does happen is that members will post a tip or two on making or saving it... and to save members having to search twenty nine different threads which will all have different titles and may not even have "pastry" in the title... we add those threads together so that a member will find the basic instruction on how to make pastry, tips that members find useful, and often some "variations on the theme" which can all be browsed at leisure without having to do all sorts of searches and even miss useful things altogether because they just can't find the right word to use to find a specific post.

It's not perfect, we know; but the alternative is much worse, honest

EDIT:- To find out if a member has introduced themselves....

Join the getting to know you thread
Click on the "Search this thread" towards the top right hand side then...
Click on "Advanced search".
Leave the text search box towards the top left EMPTY and instead use the box to the top right hand side and put in the user name.

The search will then show you all the posts by that member in that thread.

CH27

I wanted to wash the sofa cushion covers today & it's raining:mad:

GreyQueen

Good morning Blue Elephant, lots of excellent tips here already from the others but I though I'd put my two pennorth in.

What I do is batch cook something like a big batch of chilli (you can use TVP mince if you don't like beef) and a big pot of rice.

I eat it the first night, allow it to cool, then divide it up into those flat oblong containers which takeaways come in (regularly to be found in Poundland at 10 for a £1). I add the rice to the container and have effectively created my own ready-meal to freeze, but for a fraction of the price. You can switch them from the freezer to the fridge to defrost overnight or take them out and cook from frozen, pref microwave, but this uses more energy but sometimes we're all a bit forgetful.

I do the same with big pots of pasta-ish sauce or a curry and can then cook pasta off quickly. Got a great tip here from OS; bring pot of water to boil, add pasta and put lid on, reboil and then turn heat OFF and leave for 10 mins. Perfectly-cooked pasta every time.

Cooked pasta can sit in the fridge in a covered bowl for days, ready to be made into a pasta salad or chucked into a hot dish. Rice is similarly obliging.

A tiered stainless steel steamer is very thrifty and I wouldn't be without mine. I sometimes have all the layers on; tatties in the base, veg steaming in the middle and a previously-cooked dish (aforementioned chilli or whatever) warming on the top. All on one gas burner. You can even have eggs boiling in the base layer whilst steaming your tatties with the other veg.

It's great that you're helping out your folks by running the household whilst they are away for so many weeks and you'll be producing heat from your own body, from cooking and even lighting and will also be opening doors and windows which will help the ventilation and keep the home in much better condition that being shut up.

Good luck x

squeaky

Just sprinkle washing powder on them and put them out on the line

CH27

squeaky wrote: »

Just sprinkle washing powder on them and put them out on the line

The neighbours already think i'm nuts:rotfl::rotfl:

tugrin

Seriously Squeaks - thanks - thats the way DS has to do it with me, you know "Now mum FIRST YOU TURN THE COMPUTER ON..." sort of thing! I will make sure I do this and ALSO make anot of this page so I dont lose the instructions!!

Ziggy8083

HI Kathy and all other winter preppers/OS peeps,

Im Katie, 28, live in Fife with 2 cats and 1 great boyfriend. I am a Home Economics Teacher so yes I love to cook & sew. I love watching rugby and most other sports. This website has been an excellent salvation through my student years and keeps me on the straight and narrow when it comes to money and looking after yourself and others.

Well freezer was meant to arrive on Friday but call from delivery company saying it would come tomorrow. Cue an angry phone call from me and it's still coming tomorrow but I will be getting some sort of 'goodwill gesture' from company for inconvenience. Why let you choose a day for delivery and then not bother bringing your purchse. I dont know..

So batch cooking is now on hold until it definitly arrives. Got garden tidy over weekend. All winter items are now out of loft so of course have massive washing pile but that's not so bad. Store cupboard is starting to look healthy. Car kits will be made up by OH when he gets back form offshore. I saw some deals on eBay for Deicer by Carplan. Can't remember price but it seemed pretty good.

Can I ask once you have stocked your freezer/cupboards/built loo roll mountain, do you then start using from it and only buying 'fresh essentials? or the food etc we are storing are for when we get snowed? Clearly this may be a very silly question so forgive me!:A

Sunnyday

Morning Peeps :wave:

its taken me days to catch up with this thread since our hols!

Nice to see that you are all well and still prepping away like mad


On a good note i think that i`ve bought just about everything that we need ready to brave the cold weather, anything else that i buy will just be a want rather than a need so in theory i should be able to breathe a sigh or relief that the spending is over even though i`ve not broken the bank or anything.

I do have a few practical things to do which include curtain hanging etc but i shall take my time and do these at my own pace rather than killing myself in between shifts at work racing around trying to get things done, i seem to have developed the most awful cold and congestion which has made me rather light headed the last three days and i`m crossing my fingers that the worst is over as going to work feeling this rotten is definitely not a good thing. A decent nights sleep wouldn`t go amiss either!

My next couple of jobs to do will be to wash, dry, iron and then alter the curtains for the kitchen. Think that they will probably get washed towards the weekend as i`m still only part way through the holiday washing that we brought back with us as we have had a fair bit of rain and i can`t stand having it hung all over the house this time of year as it never seems to dry.

I also need to sand part of a wall and paint it before drilling new holes to hang a towel rail, not really PFW but it will keep the towel and tea towel in the kitchen fresh as atm they are just shoved through the handle on the fridge freezer

Later in the week i shall pop to the bank and check to see if i`ve enough put away to get some quotes in for a new door, i`d like the front one doing first but its the back door that leaks when it rains and has a draft so that will have to be done first instead.

I`m off to chop some veggies ready to make some piccalilli, will prob have to prep today and make tomorrow but i`m actually looking forward to it despite feeling ropey

Have good days peeps.

SD

mesh

Sunnyday wrote: »

Morning Peeps :wave:

its taken me days to catch up with this thread since our hols!

Nice to see that you are all well and still prepping away like mad


On a good note i think that i`ve bought just about everything that we need ready to brave the cold weather, anything else that i buy will just be a want rather than a need so in theory i should be able to breathe a sigh or relief that the spending is over even though i`ve not broken the bank or anything.

I do have a few practical things to do which include curtain hanging etc but i shall take my time and do these at my own pace rather than killing myself in between shifts at work racing around trying to get things done, i seem to have developed the most awful cold and congestion which has made me rather light headed the last three days and i`m crossing my fingers that the worst is over as going to work feeling this rotten is definitely not a good thing. A decent nights sleep wouldn`t go amiss either!

My next couple of jobs to do will be to wash, dry, iron and then alter the curtains for the kitchen. Think that they will probably get washed towards the weekend as i`m still only part way through the holiday washing that we brought back with us as we have had a fair bit of rain and i can`t stand having it hung all over the house this time of year as it never seems to dry.

I also need to sand part of a wall and paint it before drilling new holes to hang a towel rail, not really PFW but it will keep the towel and tea towel in the kitchen fresh as atm they are just shoved through the handle on the fridge freezer

Later in the week i shall pop to the bank and check to see if i`ve enough put away to get some quotes in for a new door, i`d like the front one doing first but its the back door that leaks when it rains and has a draft so that will have to be done first instead.

I`m off to chop some veggies ready to make some piccalilli, will prob have to prep today and make tomorrow but i`m actually looking forward to it despite feeling ropey

Have good days peeps.

SD

Hi Sunnyday

just a suggestion mind, but if both doors need doing ask the price for the back door and then ask what would the price be for both doors to be done and then start negotiating. It may/may not work but the chippie would probably be glad to have both to do (a bit more work for him) and its generally not much more costs involved to have both done. Hope I haven't offended.....

Fruball

mesh wrote: »

Hi Sunnyday

just a suggestion mind, but if both doors need doing ask the price for the back door and then ask what would the price be for both doors to be done and then start negotiating. It may/may not work but the chippie would probably be glad to have both to do (a bit more work for him) and its generally not much more costs involved to have both done. Hope I haven't offended.....

Thats a very good idea :T And it reminds me that some companies here advertise offers of get one done get the other one free... also, get the front windows done and get the back done for free...

Definately worth asking