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

libertysurf

FatVonD wrote: »

If I were properly Old Style I'd have made soup from the carcass but I threw it over the railway wall for the foxes instead. .

To be truly saving money please now eat the foxes

[Foxes broke into our guinea pig hutch - and broke my DD's heart as well]

ceridwen

maryb wrote: »

How can you develop strategies (old style, of course) for dealing with tough times unless you can gauge how tough it is going to get? I really do think the risks of inflation because of food shortages and a potential oil shock do need to be weighed up when people are deciding how to allocate funds and whether to ramp up the gardening efforts. I'm happy to discuss this on the other thread if that is the edict but I think people do need to make informed decisions and this is relevant information

Well put:T

My personal "spend to save" strategy (adopted and named as "spave" on the Old Style "Live on £4,000 a year" thread that got moved to the Savings Board) has evolved specifically to deal with current Tough Times. We HAVE to adapt our finances according to what year/what century we live in - we arent in splendid isolation in a bubble. What happens ITRW affects us each and every day.

In Tough Times we all need to learn be as thrifty as possible and get maximum use from our pennies - and being thrifty and making a penny do the work of £ is precisely what the Old Style Board is about.

ceridwen

libertysurf wrote: »

To be truly saving money please now eat the foxes

[Foxes broke into our guinea pig hutch - and broke my DD's heart as well]

..and anyone who wants to try eating seagulls will doubtless earn the gratitude of quite a few of us:rotfl::rotfl:

GreyQueen

ceridwen wrote: »

..and anyone who wants to try eating seagulls will doubtless earn the gratitude of quite a few of us:rotfl::rotfl:

Never heard of eating seagulls but I bet the b*ggers were traditonal British famine food. I tried eating the fat hen weed which is selfsown so merrily all over my lottie. It makes k*le seem a valid foodstuff. Sorry to mention the k-word in your presence, Mardatha. I used to work with someone who was a terror for picking up roadkill (he had a driving job and a partner who was a professional cook). Invitations to their house were cautiously received, believe you me. She now cooks in two of my local pubs.

Way back when I could afford a car, I once had to run over a handsome pheasant (it was a choice of the pheasant or face-first into an oncoming car). Drove 30 miles home, disembarked and found that said deceased avian was hung neatly by the neck on the towing loop on the Fiesta's bumper. What to do? Couldn't waste it. Got Daddy-O to draw and pluck it, then rang a friend who'd done Cordon Bleu. Ended up in chunks, panfried in flour and then casseroled with carrots and celery. Very tasty and not tasting a bit of the copper, as we say in my family. Once a peasant family, always a peasant family, tee hee. Anyone else out there eaten roadkill? Could it be the way forward in these straightened times?

THIRZAH

I think that there is something in "Nella Last's War" about seagull carcasses being sold in Barrow market.

My grandfather ate thrushes and blackbirds when he was a boy. His father died in 1913 leaving a young family, they were evicted from their tithed cottage and my great grandmother had to do farm work . They were very hard up.

Lavandula

THIRZAH wrote: »

I think that there is something in "Nella Last's War" about seagull carcasses being sold in Barrow market.

My grandfather ate thrushes and blackbirds when he was a boy. His father died in 1913 leaving a young family, they were evicted from their tithed cottage and my great grandmother had to do farm work . They were very hard up.

A very good point. How many of us are truely 'hard up'. I reckon most of us have wardrobes full of clothes that would last for years without the need for buying new clothes (except for undies!!!!). Most of us have TVs, computers, furniture etc etc that do not need replacing for years...children don't need half the toys they have these days.....I could rant on and on about consumerism but I won't.

I would encourage everyone to try growing their own fruit and veg...when it was snowy and difficult to get to the shops, I felt better knowing I had sprouts, leeks, parsnips, chard in my back garden to eat!! I also avoid buying anything that is not in season...supermarket tomatoes taste foul compared to home grown summer ones.

Obviously there are many things out of our control: petrol/tax/unemployment etc etc.....but my main point is we are spoilt compared to past generations... and we need to get back to a more simpler way of life, this will help us cope with hard times.

End of sermon:o

TudorRose

I remember Vim & Ajax. My Mum always used it & so did I when first married in the 1970s.
Was very effective at cleaning sinks. Was a bit gritty (probably what made it work ) & had a distinctive smell. Seemed to go out of fashion when 'Jif' cream came on the scene. Bet it is still available in so called 'less developed' countries as it must be cheap to make & the packaging was a cardboard tube from what I remember.
I'm feeling all nostalgic now.

Justamum

maryb wrote: »

I suspect Vim had soda of some sort in. I use bicarbonate of soda for scouring the sink but it doesn't quite cut through the grease the way I remember Vim doing. I saw a 'recipe' for scouring powder that was equal parts of bicarb, salt and borax so might try that. I drilled some holes in the top of one of those tall thin black plastic tubs that you get curry powder in and it makes a perfect shaker for the home made scourer

Honestly, the best way of cutting through grease is simple old soda crystals. You can get it in a spray bottle too, and it's very economical. Scouring powders make very fine scratches in enamel, which is what eventually discolours it as dirt gets in and you can't get rid of it. Also those e-cloths are very good.

Primrose

Lavandula wrote: »

A very good point. How many of us are truely 'hard up'. I reckon most of us have wardrobes full of clothes that would last for years without the need for buying new clothes (except for undies!!!!). Most of us have TVs, computers, furniture etc etc that do not need replacing for years...children don't need half the toys they have these days.....I could rant on and on about consumerism but I won't.

Obviously there are many things out of our control: petrol/tax/unemployment etc etc.....but my main point is we are spoilt compared to past generations... and we need to get back to a more simpler way of life, this will help us cope with hard times.

End of sermon:o

I think you're right. We've become so used to a high standard of living with material possessions our grandparent or great grandparents could never have dreamed of. They've become such a background to our everyday living that many people would struggle to copeif they were deprived of their washing machine, microwave or TV, yet for most of her adult life my mother had none of these.

Justamum

GreyQueen wrote: »

Never heard of eating seagulls but I bet the b*ggers were traditonal British famine food.

I wouldn't be surprised. I should imagine it would taste a bit 'fishy' though. In the past oysters were eaten by poor people, but are now an expensive delicacy. I have a theory (probably wildly wrong) that snails were eaten when people were absolutely starving and there was nothing else available (why else would anyone eat a snail? :rotfl:) but are now also an expensive 'delicacy'. I bet seagull will grace the most expensive tables in years to come :rotfl:

GreyQueen wrote: »

Anyone else out there eaten roadkill? Could it be the way forward in these straightened times?

I've been told that if you run something over you aren't allowed to pick it up, but the car behind you can. It's so that you can't be seen to be deliberately profiting from killing things in the road. I don't know how true that is though.

THIRZAH wrote: »

My grandfather ate thrushes and blackbirds when he was a boy. His father died in 1913 leaving a young family, they were evicted from their tithed cottage and my great grandmother had to do farm work . They were very hard up.

I've seen thrushes on sale in markets abroad - it could have been Malta (it's so long ago now). I'm sure that they're not allowed to be killed here though are they as they aren't exactly in great abundance.

TudorRose wrote: »

Vim . . . Bet it is still available in so called 'less developed' countries as it must be cheap to make & the packaging was a cardboard tube from what I remember.
I'm feeling all nostalgic now.

I've seen it on sale in South Africa. My MIL uses it which always puzzled me when better things were available.