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

Ballymackeonan

Yes, this would have been a miserable time of year - even if you were't hungry, an uninterrupted diet of salt beef and root vegetables - with only lent to look forward to! (boiled fish, if you were really lucky!)

Older cookery books had sections on preserving and bottling - unfortunately, I made the mistake of lending my granny's books to someone, and needless to say, didn't get them back! Darina Allen's "Forgotten skills of cooking" has a good section on preserving (and foraging, and keeping chickens, and setting up your own smoker.. in fact a real OS manual) but it's a big, expensive tome (retail £30). One to look for in charity shops or drop heavy hints about!

I've been looking for older cookery books to replace the skillset... the most interesting so far is the Thrift Cook Book. There's no date of publication, but the lady in the "how-to" illustrations is definitely Edwardian. I'm working my way through it, but the "thrift" seems to be of a rather different nature from ours....I can't see how potato and date pudding would be anything other than heavy! I'll report back on it...

Looby_Lou

Ballymackeonan wrote: »

Darina Allen's "Forgotten skills of cooking" has a good section on preserving (and foraging, and keeping chickens, and setting up your own smoker.. in fact a real OS manual) but it's a big, expensive tome (retail £30). One to look for in charity shops or drop heavy hints about!

I have seen this in "The Works" massively reduced, so may be worth a look otherwise Amazon have it for under £18 so still quite expensive

FatVonD

Phew, that took a lot of catching up! I've had a builder here for a few days so the computer has been largely under a dust sheet. (Dust. Everywhere.)

In good news though (I think) we have seen and made an offer on business premises that could be just right for us (they are small but perfectly formed :rotfl:) We're still waiting for a call from the agent to see if our reduced offer has been accepted. I'm hoping no news is good news...

kittie wrote: »

Back to kitchens, just once I had a good homemade and tiny kitchen. There were tall half depth cupboards all along one wall and I loved it, so useful and everything in one layer

I incorporated some reduced depth cupboards in my kitchen around the fire breast (at the bottom though, not on the wall) and I love them because nothing gets lost at the back any more! I'm not sure I want to share how out of date some of the stuff at the back of the old cupboards was :rotfl:

Storage envy I don't have anything on the scale of JackieO's but I do have a long run of jars above the reduced depth cupboards but at the moment I only have pasta and rice in them as I'm at a bit of a loss as to what else I can keep in them. (I finally threw out my pickled aubergine and celery as the vinegar had started to smell like fortified wine I'd had it so long :eek:) I'd love to keep flour in 2 of them but I'm guessing as it doesn't come in a clear packet then I should store it in darkness(?) and I don't really use beans and pulses. The jars are a bit too big for spices.

Tupperware My mum was always hosting Tupperware parties when I was a child (I think Tupperware was the Ann Summers party of the '60s :rotfl: ) and it always makes me feel nostalgic whenever I see it. I will never forget a tip I heard at one of the parties about how, if you put soft fruit in a tupperware container after a few hours any creepy crawly/wormy things will have climbed to the highest point so you can just peel the lid off and rinse them off. Does anyone know if it works, I usually eat my soft fruit *with* the protein? :eek:

Car booting I love them and I've also done a few in my time. I'm all for haggling but some people really do take the mickey, I had someone offer me 2p for something I was only asking 10p for anyway and some people are so rude I'd rather carry it home than sell it to them!

Hair I'd kill for poker straight hair that didn't need torturing into submission!

Le Creuset Tesco periodically have Le Creuset stuff half price, it might be worth keeping an eye out if anyone is thinking of investing? House of Fraser currently have their Linea range (which I actually think is nicer than Le Creuset) at half price.

http://www.houseoffraser.co.uk/null+Curve+black+oven+to+tableware/curveblack,default,pd.html?cgid=9983

mama67

GreyQueen wrote: »

That's an outstanding example of thrift, Mama67. My own Mum reckoned that the great thing about terries was that you had brill cleaning rags afterwards but she'd not thought of dyeing them for towels. What colour did you choose?

I chose goldfish orange as I already have some that are green and I'm planning on redecorating the kitchen this summer in oranges,yellows and greens, the curtains have these colours in an are still perfectly good to be used again.

I also have some Christy white towels that my mum used with myself and my sister in the late 60's these will get a new lease of life when we need some new bathroom handtowels.

saveabobortwo

Do you think through really tough times in the olden days people coped through difficult periods because there was a better community spirit ie if did nt have no carrots in your larder for the stew one of your good neighbours would help you out.

zarazara

saveabobortwo wrote: »

Do you think through really tough times in the olden days people coped through difficult periods because there was a better community spirit ie if did nt have no carrots in your larder for the stew one of your good neighbours would help you out.

because women were at home cooking cleaning and looking after their children. Not carging off madly to a paid job to sweat and slave and get grumpy leading to alchohol abuse in many cases .children having to be looked after by others and the ruination of domestic bliss. oh Hogarth,where are you now.

saveabobortwo

i think we re bionic. i was thinking more about when i was little dear father worked away from home in the forces and sometimes forgot to send wages home leaving poor mum to manage with 3 children she wanted us to all look nice and have quality clothing but had very little moneyluckily a very kind secondary school teacher lived near my mum and for a year twice a week she would teach my mum for free how to knit sew and crochet, she was very strict and would speak to my mum like one of her school girls but she taught her to a very high standard and we grew up wearing beautiful clothes fantastic knitted jumpers for a fraction of shop prices we had a very good community spirit where everybody helped your neighbour and it was nt always all about money i think it made us better people , definitely a nice place to live, so would you give someone a few carrots for their stew if they had nt got none?

FatVonD

zarazara wrote: »

because women were at home cooking cleaning and looking after their children. Not carging off madly to a paid job to sweat and slave and get grumpy leading to alchohol abuse in many cases .children having to be looked after by others and the ruination of domestic bliss. oh Hogarth,where are you now.

There's a lot of truth in that, I have sometimes felt that my generation were sold down the Swanney, not so much having it all as DOING it all. I embraced having a career with open arms without giving a second thought to what would happen when i had children and didn't actually *want* to go out to work any more but had to as I was the main breadwinner.

Edited to add:

That said though, having to potential to earn has got a lot of women out of bad situations and bad relationships, I'm sure a lot of women of our mother's generation had little choice but to stay in abusive marriages.

BitterAndTwisted

I think you're absolutely right about the doing it all. Women striving for equality in the workplace but not taking their menfolk along with them at home. The tragedy for many families is that there's often no choice about both parents having to work full-time, so where's all that choice feminists kept banging on about? I think some of us have been sold a pup and I haven't decided yet about whose fault it was. Probably ours, it usually is.

Lavandula

I'm also really looking forward to the start of the boot sales. I will be looking out for:

• fabrics/threads/cushions pads/fleeces
• garden pots
• clothes/shoes/toys/books for son
• blue and white china for my dresser
• baskets

and so much more:D

I am getting John Seymours book of 'Forgotten Household Crafts' from the library later....