It isn`t tough for us. We are OS and we COPE

Justamum

GreyQueen wrote: »

:)flour is a problem as it doesn't keep for very long.

I believe you can freeze it. I think some people freeze it to kill off any weevils which may be lurking :eek:

I've started a small 'reserve food' store, but it's not filling up very quickly - I usually have less than £50 a week to feed 5 of us plus a cat (some weeks it's been about £30 :eek:) so it's not easy.

bellaquidsin

Good morning all. Walking is still very difficult for me and is contriving to make these tough times even tougher, so I have to put my thinking cap on to see how I can make every hour of every day as cost effective as possible.

Today I am hoping to make some bread, baked in the oven as I cannot accommodate a bread maker. I shall need to enlist DH's help in fetching and carrying as I have a long kitchen with a pantry at the far end and can clock up some miles whilst baking.

This afternoon I will be doing some good OS mending, led by the pair of trousers my batchelor DS has brought home to mum for repair. Then I'll delve into the basket I have tucked away which I know contains pieces of sheeting to hem for dusters and various miscellaneous items needing a stitch or more, labelled 'non urgent' far too long ago. Not going to save a lot in the scheme of things but at least it's making some use of my recovery time. It's eight weeks today since I had my op which is a long time to be out of useful service when you are a dedicated OSer.

I keep six bags of bread flour in stock in lock'nlock boxes in a cold pantry and have never had a problem, I suppose we use a bag about every two weeks so I am storing flour for up to three month's at a time, using the bags strictly in date order.

I always use Allinsons dried yeast which needs to be reconstitued.

Bella.

seasalt_2

I'm the other way round re latin etc. Had to do latin and german (failed both) at grammar school when what I really wanted to do was art and needlework. Making up for it now though! I use a clean teatowel for a traycloth and my tablecloth is an indian cotton bedspread - fold it in half and I get four "clean" sides before i have to wash it!

Another idea for big pieces of cardboard - DD15 has just made herself a pin board out of three thicknesses of cardboard (the kind that's corrugated in the middle - from a big box that something was delivered in) covered with a tie-dyed piece of cloth from my stash. This particular piece of cloth was originally a tablecloth, then made into "blinds" for v3lux windows - four small loops of elastic at the corners that hooked onto upholstery pins pushed into the outer window frame - and now it is on it's third use as a noticeboard - very OS - didn't cost anything - and looks good too.

I also use pieces of cardboard or folded newspaper (non-shiny) in the bottom of the salad drawers in the fridge. Absorbs moisture and stops things going mouldy so quickly - I change it once a week when I go shopping and either compost the old piece or twist it into a "log" and burn it in the stove.

Smaller cardboard boxes - the kind that hold wine or whisky and are nice and strong - make good wastepaper bins - when they get manky, just replace them with new boxes - and also hold my fabric stash. Cheapy alternative to custom made cubbyhole shelving. I put the boxes "vertically" on their sides ie open top facing out and narrowest side down and then fold and stack all my cloth to fit so i can see what I've got. All roughly colour coded ie one box for reds, one for blues etc - in fact I have the "reds" sorted into "orange-reds", "red-reds", "violet-reds" and "pinky reds"! A "curtain" pinned to the top shelf would hang down in front and keep dust at bay but have not got round to this in 12 years!

I also use the same kind of boxes (or any nice strong ones of the right size for whatever it is) to make mini-drawers that also just sit on shelves. Cut a semi-circle out of the middle of the top edge of one side to make a "handle". You could paint them or cover them with nice paper but I don't. I quite like them plain or with the patterns already printed on the boxes. And I like having different sizes next to each other too. I used to make washing powder boxes into filing boxes for magazines etc (cut the top corner off on the diagonal) but have not seen big-box powder for a long while.

The sturdy "tray" type boxes that posh fruit and veg come in also make stackable drawers.

Not to mention dollshouses, playhouses, toyboxes, cars etc. A younger DD used to make all sorts of houses, schools and shops for her Sylvan1ans. So therapeutic that if she was upset she would wail, "I NEED a cardboard box!". I had to keep a supply in the cupboard under the stairs.

Not so good is that i put diesel in the car today and it has gone up AGAIN! £1.52/L :eek: Apparently it is £1.64 on some islands so we are not the worst off by any means but it is still scary how fast it is going up.

mardatha

Oh SS, that reminds me of the 70s, I used to do all those things when I was a young mum with no money. (Now I'm an old granny with no money!)

lambanana

I didn't even do domestic science at school, we had "food techonology" or 101 things to do with an apple. It was dreadful and I dropped it when I got to GCSE age. The one useful thing I learned though was how to make lasagne, I'd never had homemade before and I made it in one of our lessons where we got to choose what to make if we brought the ingredients.

ss that's a good use for the big box detergent, we get them and I recycled the last box but I think the current one will become a file box for my magazines. You have lots of good uses for boxes actually! We don't seem to get that many in the house. What I always seem to have is tins that chocolates come in at Christmas and no idea what I'd put in them or how to get rid so they just clutter up the place. Any good ideas would be welcomed.

Tomorrow I'll be sorting out all the sorry looking, floppy veggies from the fridge and making some soup for the freezer so they don't go to waste. My husband will be pleased as he does like to have soup for lunch at the weekends and homemade is an added bonus of course!

Robson65

Hello

Thought you breadmaker people would be interested in this

http://www.carrsbreadmaker.info/recipes/index.html

Some lovely recipes on it. I've made the chocolate bread which was nom.

Robson

mardatha

I used big chunky tins, like giant soup tins or marvel milk tins, for table legs. I had bits of wood resting on them for coffee tables LOL - used to tile them & paint the tins to match. I made bookcases out of painted bricks & old shelves. I took old dingy brown chairs out of the bin once (lived in a multi storey block) - painted them white and covered with gorgeous fabric. Now I can hardly be assed to get up in the mornings LOL!

[Deleted User]

seasalt, I like all the tips on using cardboard. I had a box today with lots of corrugated card as packing and I intend to recycle it as mulch

bellaquidsin

Seasalt - love the idea of turning a big washing powder box into a magazine file. I have one of those and have been spinning the contents out with soda crystals and it is lasting forever. Now I can't wait to empty it. I suppose I can decant the contents into the large coffee jars which I can never seem to dispose of.

Bella

seasalt_2

Forgot about mulch, kitty! Here it makes a great base to pile with horse muck followed by seaweed and leave over winter - we have very light and hungry alkaline sandy soil (shell sand). Layers of newspaper work too but harder to lay down if it's windy which it almost always is! Also for some reason cardboard mulch helps against slugs. Easy to lift it up (if not covered in horse poo and seaweed!) and collect any hiding underneath - but also, they seem to like eating the cardboard nearly as much if not more than whatever's planted through it. Sadly, the same does not seem to be true of snails!

Will I start on tins then? OH nicks a lot of them for nails, bolts etc - I prefer plastic tubs as they don't go rusty - but I do use them indoors for biscuit tins/cake tins etc; sewing stuff - threads/bobbins; for toys and games, especially puzzles or anything with small parts, also playing cards, dice and counters, saved letters and postcards etc - I have got a 1950s Sh&rps toffee tin with wooden mosaics in that I had as a child that are still played with by DGS); also good for children to organise/keep their own treasures/secrets; pen, pencil and paintbrush holders (the school are always asking for babymilk tins for feltpens etc- they also make good food starage containers); I also keep any odds and ends of packets/dried food that don't have their own jar in large Christmas biscuit tins as a precaution against mice.

One very skint Christmas I planted bulbs (miniature daffs, crocuses - should that be crocii all you classicists? - and single hyacinths in washed out, de-labelled baked bean tins, and gave them as Christmas presents - the tins do go rusty eventually but you could always paint them with enamel or car spray paint or something - you can use smaller (half-height) tins eg pineapple to bake miniature christmas cakes for presents too.

Golden syrup tins are lovely in their own right. I always save them (more pens/pencils etc). I read somewhere about making lanterns by drilling holes - in patterns eg stars/circles or just randomly - in empty baked bean tins and either adding wire handles or just standing them on walls etc - the photo was of outdoor lanterns lined up along the edge of a path (think The Engl1sh Pat1ent!) and they did look very magical - they suggested filling the empty tins with water and freezing them to make it easier to drill (but be careful - water and electricity don't mix! - think I would try with a vice and a hammer and nail first) and if I was going to use them indoors I would put some sand in the bottom of the tins - anyway the point of all this is that I am going to try it with my saved golden syrup tins - the small size which is all that is usually available here.

And nothing to do with tins but tea lights reminded me, for anyone else by the sea, clamshells -scallop shells- make lovely tealight holders - and soap dishes - I use them for both.)

Mardatha, I think we must be the same vintage. I made shelves like that too but didn't use strong enough tins for the weight of the books!!