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

ceridwen

seasalt wrote: »

Have forgotten how to do the multiple quotes thingy but another possibility that occurred to me about the yeast (as well as the date) is that "instant" yeast - the kind that comes in the little sachets I buy, not only doesn't need to be started with warm water and sugar or a sponge method - it actually doesn't work (in my experience) if you do start it that way - whatever your recipe says. (ETA It needs to be added to the dry flour before you add the liquid.) There is another kind of dried yeast that does and, as I can't get them here, I don't know which kind All1nsons or D0ves Farm are but it might be worth looking at the packet instructions to see.

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Doves Farm yeast is the "quick" type - hence why I think the recipe the poster is using is what is the problem.

My recipe (in which I use the Doves Farm yeast) is basically a modern day version of the Grant Loaf - updated to allow for using this quick yeast.

700 grams wholemeal bread flour
600ml warm water
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons olive oil (ordinary could be used instead)
1 teaspoon honey or molasses (sugar could be used instead I expect)
1.5 teaspoons yeast (ie my Doves Farm yeast)

(To clarify - I use 1 heaped teaspoon and 1 level teaspoon of the yeast to get that 1.5 teaspoons)

- Put flour in bowl
- Stir in the yeast (ie just as it is)
- Dissolve the honey in the water (so I use 300ml of water from a just-boiled kettle to dissolve the honey in and top up to the 600ml from the cold tap)
- Add the oil and salt to the water.
- Pour the water into the flour/yeast mixture.
- Just bring it all together into one cohesive lump (it doesnt need kneading)
- Place in 2 lb breadbaking tin to rise with a damp teatowel covering it - takes about 40 minutes
- Put in oven at 200C for 40 minutes to cook (NB thats a fan oven I have - but have found its okay at that temp even if not a fan oven).

Softstuff and another poster whose name escapes me at present have both tried this recipe and come back to report back to me - and they liked it.

EDIT: To clarify on the teaspoon size - errr...in my case I have a range of teaspoons which vary rather in size and I just grab any of the standard-looking size ones for measuring purposes in this case (though I have a set of modern measuring spoons).......

ceridwen

BTW - for anyone wondering where the previous thread went - its been sent down the Pub...ie the Moneysavers Arms - see you over there...:beer:

[Deleted User]

bellaquidsin wrote: »

Mmmm... square blanket with the tiniest balls of wool used up from my stash. It's very colourful and cosy. Now I am doing a 'ripple' blanket, not so OS as I bought the wool specially but it will keep me snug and the heating bills down.

Sorry, can't remember who, but someone was asking about using up small amounts of yarn in knitting. I have seen squares made up into not only blankets but hot water bottles covers, cushion covers and even cuddly toys. Might be an idea for pressies, or how about stripey mittens?

Bella.

I made my DDs little jack russell dog (Lexi) a tiny coat as she is a miniture one and I used all the odds and ends left over so it was a coat of many colours for her.I never throw anything out that can't be reused or recycled in some way.
I had some thick cardboard from an amazon package that I have just inside my front door of the porch very useful it was when the snow was on the ground as it meant snow wasn't being trecked indoors .Soon as the risk of late January/early Feb snows have passe it will go to the tip

Jolaaled

ifonlyitwaseasier wrote: »

mrsm's remoska bread gc thread for recipe) it works fine.
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If you get a chance, please could you post a link to this..have done a 'search' but can't find it! Would luuurrrrvvve to bake bread in my remoska!

THANKS

HoneyBee83

I only started my OSing last year (or was it the year before :doh:cant remember!). I got into debt thanks to a cruel and selfish boyfriend...Ex now of course. I was a single mother and working full time in a low paid job,yes i did get a little help through tax credits etc but thats only enough to live off,i had to struggle through to find the money for a loan and credit card-which i needed in order to buy food.

I started off slowly:learnt how to cook from scratch and stretch/bulk out meals and of course the ever popular using up of left overs :D. I started growing more of my own veggies and putting my freezer to good use. It really did make a difference. There were other tips etc but i cant honestly remember-its all become second nature to me now :rotfl:
These days things aren't so tight i can afford rent,bills,food and i dont owe anybody anything at the end of each month,we can even afford a treat now and again. Still looking for other ways to skim the cost of living down but for now we're doing ok...needless to say im very grateful to everybody on this site for their kind words and extremely useful tips,complete stars and angels!! :T

bellaquidsin

Just pondering how OS/MSE I can be today with my gammy post op foot which is making mincemeat of my good intentions as I have to seriously curtail my activities.

It will be a NSD day for sure as I won't be going out. My active time will include some very light housework/dusting, a little ironing and making some muffins with the cheap blueberries I bought at the weekend.

Lunch will be chicken salad for us from one breast off yesterday's Remoska roast chicken. Tonight's dinner will be vegetable frittata with HM Remoska wedges, so that's the food sorted.

Now, how to most usefully spend my 'inactive' i.e. off my foot time. Well if it swells, it will be some more sitting in the chair, foot up, doing some sort of handwork to make presents for peeps. Otherwise I will be able to sit at the table and make greetings cards from the stash I bought in another life, and notelets which will be packaged in a pretty homemade box to become a present for a friend.

I think it's the best and most frugal use I can make of my time at the moment.

Hope everyone has a good MSE day.

Bella.

mardatha

Did I see a post from Kittie somewhere saying what was going up in price ? Could somebody point me to it please

Bitsy_Beans

countingthepennies wrote: »

It also makes me think that in this country we have become far too dependant on exporting in so much of our food, and I think that we may as a nation have to change our eating habits so that we grow more of our own food, eat local produce and use seasonal produce, rather than relying so much on other countries to feed us?

Hmmm time we revert back to "Dig for Victory" I think?

thanks for all the comments re the Doves yeast. If I am correct you don't have to "start" this one in water do you? I use my BM for kneading the dough and just added the yeast the same as the sachets. Recipe I use is 460g of flour, 1 tsp salt, 1 tbsp butter or oil and 1 tbsp of sugar and 300ml of water. I wonder if it needs a bit more sugar?
I might give it another go.

alec_eiffel

charlies-aunt wrote: »

We live as OS as possible - to me frugality isn't about being mean - its an attitude that means that you get every last drop of value from every penny that you spend.

Its more about buying quality things that you can use/wear/enjoy every day rather than buying cheap throwaway that break after the first few weeks. Personally I find the charity shops are the best bet for buying quality items at a reasonable price - if its already stood up to wear and tear from a previous owner but still looks good - its got to be a good deal!

Thinking creatively is fundamental to an OS lifestyle - the life cycle of any item will involve several changes of uses - eg 100% cotton T-shirt bought "for best" and worn all year round - on its own in summer, under shirts/jumpers in winter -> remodelled/embelllished to jazz it up for another year -> Tshirt to go shopping in -> Tshirt to garden in -> Tshirt to paint in -> cut up for dusters/dolls clothes/rag rugs -> when too stained for dusters -> floor or car cleaning cloths / oil rags . . . . phew!

I try to throw away as little as possible - things like jamjars are far too precious to throw away! . . . . and filled with a myriad of things easily morph into lovely presents . . . .its heartbreaking going to the effort of saving money by picking hedgerow fruit to make HM jam if you then have to spend a fortune buying jamjars

:T I totally agree with you. Even when we were in the midst of paying of debts and things were really tough there were plenty of bright spots because of the attitude change we went through. There was lots of negativity and stress hanging over us but it made it lots easier to be able to focus on what we could do rather than all the things we couldn't do and were out of our control.

ifonlyitwaseasier

Jolaaled wrote: »

If you get a chance, please could you post a link to this..have done a 'search' but can't find it! Would luuurrrrvvve to bake bread in my remoska!

THANKS

no probs here it is, i actually ended up baking in the oven due to remoska issues!!! tastes delish!!