How to Get Through The Tough Times The Old Style Way.

purpleheather2810

When we finally get our debts sorted out (should be next summer by my reckoning) then we will start overpaying the mortgage so that we can move. We would love to move house and get somewhere in a nicer area with a bigger garden (have an ex-council house with a postage stamp garden atm). We would really love to have room for a few hens - I grew up with them and DH was so disappointed when he found out that we weren't allowed livestock on our allotment!

laineyc_2

Had a lovely afternoon in the garden. I turned the compost and sowed some seeds. Now waiting for youngest ds to picked up to go to a party then I am going to have a bath and get ready to go out. Older boys have gone to their uncles to watch the Ireland game.

shegar

purpleheather2810 wrote: »

It was nice - I used smart price rice, I did add a little sugar though. I found it took longer than I thought - not 25 minutes but more like 40 minutes to absorb all the milk. But when it was done it was very nice

I suppose it depends on how many people you intend on feeding, trouble is with me I hate weighing foods and messsing about so I tend to chuck ingredients together and hope for the best......:eek:..im usually not too far out, ive doing that for god knows how many years, I dont own a set of weighing scales..........:eek:..

I know when you boil rice in the saucepan it takes hours to get it soft, so I suppose even 40 mins in a microwave seem a long time but you dont have to watch over it like you do a saucepan ...............I do find the texture of the rice is so lovely and fluffy done in the microwave..........:D another point is it also depends on what your microwave wattage is ????.....

Just found the booklet on my micro....its input is 1250watts.........output 900watts wattage will make a difference on cooking times..........glad you liked......:D at least if you do semolina it wont take as long as rice......

tigerfeet2006

ceridwen wrote: »

kezlou

Re your cats opening the fridge and nabbing the cheese:rotfl::rotfl:....I can picture two cats sitting there saying to each other "Now you open the door and I'll pull out the cheese - supper for us both:D".:rotfl:

Lock and lock containers are good for keeping a lot of things in I find - I've got a large collection of them in all shapes and sizes. Perhaps if you kept the cheese in one of these then they wouldnt be able to work out a way to open it up. Two cats = 2 sets of paws to set to work at a time, but I imagine they wouldnt be able to work out how to flip up the 4 "latches" on one of these "lock and locks"...:).

Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase "cat burglars"....

Where do you get your Lock & Lock's from Ceridwen? Have you found a good cheap MSE stylee supply at all. I have found them on Lakeland and they are a little pricey.

BitterAndTwisted

My local Pound Shop stocks lots of different sizes of those Lock and Lock containers. I think I've seen them in Asda as well

bees**knees

[QUOTE

I know when you boil rice in the saucepan it takes hours to get it soft, so I suppose even 40 mins in a microwave seem a long time but you dont have to watch over it like you do a saucepan ...............I do find the texture of the rice is so lovely and fluffy done in the microwave..........:D another point is it also depends on what your microwave wattage is ????.....
[/QUOTE]


I would love to try this but does it not boil over in the microwave? I know that when I make porridge using milk in the microwave I have to watch it like a hawk - if i dont it makes a real mess ! Is it just a case of using a big enough bowl ?

jackieglasgow

I have the Asda lock and lock type boxes, they were £6 for a big one, which I use for my bread, 2 different sized lunchbox type boxes and three small boxes big enough for half a tin of beans. Nice quality for the price.

[Deleted User]

if you are interested in growing then look at the gardening threads. There is an offer of 10 packs of seeds for a £ and a code for free postage. You would be surprised what you can get out of a deep tray

ceridwen

tigerfeet2006 wrote: »

Where do you get your Lock & Lock's from Ceridwen? Have you found a good cheap MSE stylee supply at all. I have found them on Lakeland and they are a little pricey.

I have to confess most of mine have come from Lakeland. I have a few from a £ shop (though my personal feeling is they arent the same quality....). I believe they are there in Morrisons??? as well.

ceridwen

kittie wrote: »

if you are interested in growing then look at the gardening threads. There is an offer of 10 packs of seeds and a code for free postage. You would be surprised what you can get out of a deep tray

That reminds me - must sort out the deep trays I have and get compost in them and salad greens seeds planted in them.

I'm still "finding my feet" on the best way of doing this. Think it might be the best idea to start those trays off in my airing cupboard - to ensure warm compost for germination, but no need to do any "transplanting".

Hmmm...wondering if I need to cover the top of the compost with plastic initially??

********************

Re the "cat burglars" stealing the cheese from Kezlou's fridge - those are some ingenious cats:rotfl:. Sorrees - kezlou...I bet you're not laughing when you see they've done it again....I think I've seen something somewhere involving sticking a lock on fridge doors - I'm picturing summat in two halves (one on the door edge of the main body of the fridge and the other half on the fridge door - maybes with a padlock for it???). There must be "something" on sale somewhere to lock a fridge door - I have read about people padlocking fridge doors shut before now - only I thought it was to do with them inadvertently helping themselves to loads of food and busting their diet with it because of sleepwalking - and not because of cat burglars:rotfl:.

EDIT: just had quick google and the answer to marauding cats seems to be to have a child lock on the fridge. Try putting "child locks for fridges" + Amazon.co.uk into google. They've got several and I noticed a firm called Clippasafe does child fridge locks on there for instance and they are cheap (ie about £2). Hopefully your cats arent yet applying for cat Mensa membership and won't be able to work out how to open that...

Whilst awaiting one of those coming through the post - perhaps a "Sir Humphrey" method (reference the "Yes Minister" tv series) might be a way to go? ie - put so many obstacles in their path that they give up trying....In their case that might consist of:
-put the cheese inside those ziplock freezer bags
and
- put the ziplock bag inside a lock and lock bag
and
-put it on the top shelf of the fridge
and
- make sure theres nothing nearby they can use to climb on to access the top shelf of the fridge if they get the door open
and
- put a heavy weight in front of the fridge door (heavy bag? stepladder?)