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

MaLarkin

Morning everyone,

before i decloaked I lurked around reading loads of old threads (fascinating stuff in there) and I remember reading one that talked about stockpiling. Flour was mentioned and one contributor said that you could freeze flour and doing so would kill the weevils! You could then store the flour in an airtight container.

Nothing mentioned about how long to freeze it or how long you could then keep it airtight after. Any ideas anyone???

Might be useful to know with flour shooting up in price as it is.

[Deleted User]

I have a remoska, pressure cooker and slow cooker. in my humble opinion the sc is wonderful for working mums or if you are out all day and want to get back to a cooked hot meal. I also cook any joints in mine as they are moist and it`s easy. I used the remoska loads when I had a normal full sized oven and it cooks just about everything really beautifully and costs a fraction of what it cost to run the oven, unless of course the oven was fully loaded. I even did great sourdough bread in the remoska. I have a double oven now with a small none-fan oven at the top so I use that more lately. Remoska is a brilliant back-up system for christmas cooking as my ovens are now a bit small

My pressure cooker is wonderful, I have 3, a shallow one, a medium sized one and a very tall one and I use them all regularly and can do all the veg in one go in 5 mins eg spuds and carrots in the bottom with broccoli in a steamer sitting on top. They all cook perfectly and even the broccoli turns out perfectly. The trick is to cut the harder veg to the right size. It will also do spuds etc in the steamer on top of casserole in 15 mins. I can do a whole pack of red kidney beans in the tall one in 20 mins after the first 10 min boil. I did a whole mountain of bigos in the tall one the other day with the vent open (so no pressure) and on hob setting 2. It takes about 2 hours but I never had a pan big enough to hold so much. Most of it has already gone into the freezer. They are very money saving. My electricity spend to now from 27th june is £217 and we are all electric apart from a wood stove for ch and hot water. No gas in the house

I browsed a book I have by Pam corbin called preserves. There are recipes in there for elderberry sauce, hip ketchup and nasturtium pesto. Its a very nice book and I have already made the preserved lemons in it. I just need to find a source for cider vinegar etc and I am saving jars and bottles wherever I can. It`ll be all systems go for preserving soon and it already is for seed sowing

re my electricity costs, I wash on cold when I can. It all adds up

ChocClare

MaLarkin, 24 hours in the freezer will kill any nasties and then you can store as usual although you can leave it in there longer if you've got room as the freezer will keep running more efficiently if it's full.

Kittie, I make my own cider vinegar for the hens after reading an article in Home Farmer. Basically, every time you have an apple you put the core and any peel in a crock, then cover it with water. You need core and peel of at least 12 apples to get a good result. It goes through a fairly disgusting stage of scum on the top and then you get vinegar. You just keep adding more cores/peel/water as you use it. It is much paler than "bought" cider vinegar and not quite as strong but as it is effectively free I don't really care!

Mrs_Veg_Plot

Have decided to make lunch for meeting up with OH today rather than going to a cafe. Have decided on a tappas type lunch. Already have nice HM crusty bread, toms, olives and cheese. Have treated us to smoked salmon trimmings and reduced hummus, (three flavours), mozzarella cheese, small pork pie and continental meats all for 2.95. Must have hit the woopsie section at the right time:j. Have taken a few prawns out of the freezer as OH loves them. Will also have some of the fig and cranberry chutney I made.

Will plate it all up and take napkins etc. Not bad for an impromptu romantic picnic lunch . As we both work Mon to Fri this will be a real treat for us and I just want to remind him how much I love him:heartpuls . I’m also hoping it will cheer OH up. Saying that the anti d’s do seem to be working now and he is defiantly getting better :T.

Jackieglasgow thanks for the tip about the lemon to take the turmeric stain off my fingers:eek:. Have a bag full of frozen lemon slices in the freezer (from lemons where the recipe called for lemon zest and not the juice) that I use in G&T so will defrost a slice and see what happens..

littlecal

Mrs Veg Plot - what a lovely idea!!!! hope you have a fabulously romantic lunchtime;)

Charis

MaLarkin wrote: »

Morning everyone,

before i decloaked I lurked around reading loads of old threads (fascinating stuff in there) and I remember reading one that talked about stockpiling. Flour was mentioned and one contributor said that you could freeze flour and doing so would kill the weevils! You could then store the flour in an airtight container.

Nothing mentioned about how long to freeze it or how long you could then keep it airtight after. Any ideas anyone???

Might be useful to know with flour shooting up in price as it is.

I did a Google on this and among several lengthy threads telling us to leave it in the freezer (great, if you have the space) and regaling the audience with tales of the bugs found, it seems you have to leave it there for several days. It's best kept in a lock 'n lock type box for three reasons. It may pick up strong smells in the freezer. It will get damp, and if left in the freezer for a long period then transferred to the kitchen, it can become difficult to use because of 'clumping'. If you do transfer the flour to the pantry, should there be an infestation from another source, the creatures will find it very difficult to get into a lock n lock box. Kittie posted a link earlier in this thread to a source to order them from. She said it was the cheapest she had found. I'm not sure which size is best for the job, mine are currently in plastic bags in the freezer.

dollydaydream07

just popped on to reply to whoever it was that asked how much mincemeat i used in the flapjacks(sorry i can't remember who it was)
it was probably about a quarter of the jar(think the jar was an 800g one) might have been slightly less though, not too sure!!

having had a look at my grocery budget this month, i have nothing left but i should have £10 left - reason i don't is that i desperatley needed some new boots for myself(boots fell to bit had no other shoes ) and i stupidly used my grocery cash to buy them instead of paying my card!
luckily i don't really need anything else, apart from a bag of spuds :0 so we will be fine until monday when its payday

looks like we have also slashed our petrol costs too, we were spending over £100 a month but this month i think we will have come in around £75(need to double check it) and this includes DH doing 3 40 mile round trips(which he will get some expenses back for) so i'm happy well happyish - as we have still gone overdrawn

kidcat

Am now so confused - have been visiting all the estate agents this morning to organise houses to view, have several lined up however I came home to a letter from the estate agent advising that our offer has been accepted!!!! I tried to call but the agent involved is out for the afternoon!!
So I have no idea if the letter is a mistake or if the vendor has changed their mind.

Having had no sleep again - I am no longer sure if I am coming or going at it were.

jackieglasgow

That's all a bit odd. You would think the person in the office could call the agent on their mobile? Surely everyone in the office would know if a house has been sold?

bertiebots

welshcamper are those prices for hiring the whole campsite:eek::eek:?? I dont like to pay more than £20 per night and am really looking forward to taking the kids this year on my own:D!
I am just hoping for a warmer drier summer this year as a large gray cloud seems to appear where ever I pitch a tent and then proceeds to dump its contents on us for the whole time -till its packed safely in the boot of the car at which point the sun comes out:mad:..its a good job I dont mind the rain....gales on the other hand can be scary:eek: But I love camping too much to give it up;)
I must go back and read that pearl barley recipe properly and might give it a go..or my own variation of the idea !

My first shift at my new job was interesting as I have lots of codes to remember for various doors as well as alarm codes and my own pin code:eek: I am sure I will manage and am not allowed to write them down so have no choice but to remember:rotfl: I can remember the price of everything I buy in sainsbugs so I dont know why I am panicking about this:rotfl:. Its a bank I am working in , so I just have visions of me stood there with my mop surrounded by armed police after I have set the alarms off by mistake..eeeek....I am sure it wont happen:D