As The Workhouse Approaches....How To Do Everything To Avoid It, the Old Style Way

jackieglasgow

MrsE tell yourself YOU DO NOT NEED ANY MORE RECIPE BOOKS :rotfl: there will be no space for the baby to come visit if you buy any more!

westcoastscot

Mardatha that's impressive - shall def try those next year - it was realseeds you go them from wasn't it????

Blubag I mentioned both markets suggested by Ginnyknit to my friend and he started on about Bury-bacon - famous apparently and even better than Ayreshire (:eek:) - mmm we'll see! Shall visit both, and am working on a way to take freezer boxes and blocks to keep fresh food fresh on the way home - its about 5 hours, but i'll need to stop regularly as I get stiff driving these days

WCS

redlady_1

GreyQueen wrote: »

Hey, check my sig, too, I'm the instigator of this madness. Mind you, it was the chocolate which added about another one-third to my body weight and caused my arches to drop and my knees to hurt. I've lost 6 lb since the start of May and stopped craving the choc after 72 hours. I agree it IS weird and UNNATURAL and if I was lucky enough to be one of those skinny gals who can scoff it with impunity, I'd be face-first into a bar right now.:rotfl:

Yrs GreyZombieQueen......:rotfl:

Run for the hills!! We have been invaded by aliens!!!!! :eek::eek::eek: It is very unnatural - which comes from someone until 2001 didnt even LIKE chocolate

MrsE, a very thought-provoking signature. Makes me feel pretty grateful actually.

First time I have ever paid attention to sigs.

Back to the thread. I am still planning on planting stuff up in June after the exams, in pots, so hopefully will be able to extend the growing season a little by bringing them inside.

Oh and that Clinique Eyeliner, sorry, kohl rabi, is now starting to come through. It looks like cabbage at this stage. I also think I will have lots and lots of tomatoes, fingers crossed.

mrswive

Education - Absolutely agree with GQ et al; I worked in a FE college for several years and was astounded at the lack of basic knowledge acquired after 11 years of education. I accept that not everyone is academically minded, but OM left school at 14, having been brought up in a very poor area, and her writing/maths skills are far better than those of youngsters leaving these days at 16. My feeling is that the teaching to pass SATS etc is having an effect, IMO mostly on the ablity to have independent thought!
Like many of you, I wasn't taught to cook or anything else at home,(OM said it was quicker to do it herself) and have learned pretty much everything from books.
I think that things like basic cookery, budgeting, first aid should be included in the national curriculum, but then I'm a grumpy old woman, so what do I know?

Butter - the cheapest I've found is Waitrose (I know, who'd have thought it?), their essentials butter is £1.89 for 500g. I cut off a bit at a time and put it in the butter dish.

Emptynester

GreyQueen wrote: »

Hi Empty, I've got a book called "Living Better on Less" by Patrick Rivers which may be of interest. It's a bit dated as published in 1977. I have a Turnstone Books paperback edition ISBN 0 85500 064 3. Perhaps Amazon or Abebooks have it?

Got mine from a c.s. but had ready it many years before as a library book. Second the John Harrison books, very good.

My library has a fairly good selection of books suitable to OS living but they tended to be dotted around under different headings such as finance, cookery, home-making, craft. Be great if they had them all in one place.

If you want to do up furniture or decorate on the cheap, may I recommend "The Thrifty Decorator" by Jocasta Innes which was a Book club hardcover and turn up reguarly second hand, plus if you want to get into making your own clothes and fancy learning to pattern cut, the "bible" which fashion students have used for decades is "Metric Pattern Cutting" by Winifred Aldrich. ISBN 0 7135 2564 9.

I'm building myself a little OS bookshelf in an informal way as I see them second hand on my travels around the bootfairs and charity shops.

Thank you for this I love books. Your suggestions about Thrifty Decorator and Pattern Cutting are very welcome. I am trying to return to DIY dressmaking after an absence of many years and DD1 is about to have her own home for the first time. So these suggestions really jumped out at me. Now to try and find them at a 'good' price.

Thanks
Empty

valentina

A few here -
http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?bt.x=0&bt.y=0&sts=t&tn=thrifty+decorator
http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?bt.x=0&bt.y=0&sts=t&tn=metric+pattern+cutting

Margaret54

Hi everyone, just catching up on all the posts:) I am sorry for those of you who haven't had any rain. We have had lots and lots of it, and the other day it was non stop. Today was very wet but it dried up and it is windy too so have chanced putting out the towels sheets and my dson's outdoor jacket which really needed freshened up and his jeans too. He and his fiancee have been staying with us for sometime now. I was hoping to get out into the garden and weed but maybe this coming week. Yes the food is getting a shocking price, up and up it goes. It does take longer to shop now comparing prices trying to go here and there to get something cheaper, scarey times indeed. As Greyqueen says every pounds a prisoner and it really is true. Vacumn cleaner can't be fixed so I am buying a carpet sweeper, it will do the job rightly, no money to spare for a replacement. Onward and upward. Just finished reading two of Nella Last's books, really enjoyed them so much. take care all xx

suzid

Thank you all for keeping me amused in the wee small hours this morning. Woke at 4ish and couldn’t get the sudden death on Thursday of one of our neighbours out of my mind. Another neighbour and I only heard yesterday and as we are all of a similar age it really focused our thoughts on our own mortality. Very sad.

I wrote a scintillating response to all your posts and promptly lost it all in the ether. Ah well you’ll have to put up with this one instead and if it’s total waffle please put it down to lack of sleep.

Had a wander round the garden this morning and I was nearly jumping for joy because I spotted two apricots. The first ever on my little tree, whoopee!!! :T The plum is pretty loaded as is the blackcurrant, and the blueberries are doing very well too. The strawberries are nowhere near as advanced as some of yours, barely more than flowers, but the raspberries are starting to form nicely. Since we had to dramatically cut back the apple tree we’ve had very little fruit for two years but this year is looking much better. Hopefully the wind won’t strip all the fruit off. The new lottie near us has several folk putting up canes for their beans. I wish I knew who they are because there’s no way these flimsy structures will hold the weight of the plants with the wind howling off the Irish Sea. Even with mine anchored to strong timber surrounds the canes buckled and twisted a couple of years back. Would hate to see all their hard work ruined.

Had a look in Mr T for the value fleeces but all I could find were some for £3.40, almost a pound more than A*da and none at all in H Bargains. Bother. I bought a 3in1 waterproof coat for DS in his usual size yesterday, reduced to £44.99 and a very good make. Unfortunately it proved to be too small for DS so DH said I should try it as mine is looking somewhat shabby from all the dog walking. Don’t know whether to be delighted or mortified because it fits a treat and I really like it but it’s a mens XL!!! :eek:

ChocClare will you please stop mentioning the Mitchell word as I’m still in stock after the last episode! Meenwhile I've got ‘Vera’ to look forward to tonight. She obviously gets her dress sense (except I’m always in trousers) and car preference from me. DGS is currently snoozing but is running us ragged when he’s awake now he’s into everything. I thought I’d cleaned the kitchen before he arrived but forgot the one area he made a bee line for – the walking boots and dog water bowl. :rotfl:

Take care all – Jedi (((hugs))), hope little one is soon safely in your arms.

blackandwhitebunny

Well back again and once again trying to catch up after a hectic week:) but fortunately one week to go to half term.
We've had a Chinese teacher to stay for a week, I've managed not to bust the budget which is good. It was very interesting but I feel totally drained after all the attempted explanations of all sorts of things. They're still at the school and I'm responsible for a BBQ for the visitors and their host families on Weds - about 40 people in all, DH is coming straight there from work to help, probably doesn't trust me not to give everyone food poisoning.;)
I can't remember who said what (and have many pages still to catch up on) but some thoughts in response to what I have been reading...:)
I was lucky to grow up in South Africa and think that the cost of food was much lower but I do remember some things, my mother was a fantastic cook and we ate very well but, we had one packet of crisps every few weeks if my mum felt kind when she went shopping, we took turns to choose a flavour of fizzy pop each week and had 1 litre shared between three of us on a Sunday, we were considered spoilt as we usually had sweets in the house, my mum would buy big bags of individual sweets and we were allowed one each or two squares off a bar of chocolate after dinner. My pupils at school think we were terribly deprived when I tell them..:rotfl:

One thing my mum did do which might be an idea for here was to buy bags of popcorn and then pop a lot which she would keep in a big tupperware box. Much cheaper than crisps. A 500g bag is 51p in sains and makes loads.

Re teaching in schools, I teach Food and Nutrition - what used to be Home Economics and we do our best to ensure that pupils get a good knowledge of basic cooking and food skills. I often feel that I am fighting a losing battle against their home lives though. I have the yr 7's for 30 hours in a year in which time I try to teach them how not to waste. We do a whole module on not wasting and using up food - practicals include eggy bread, bread and butter pudding, eve's pudding etc but then they go home and their parents tell them not to be stupid and feed them pot noodles and chip shop meals

A big problem with food teaching is that there is very little money to provide ingredients - the previous government promised it several times but it didn't happen and then there is the lack of new teachers coming into the subject. Its now part of the Design and Technology course at university, a colleague at another school has students coming through on their PGCE course and she spends many afternoons teaching them basic food skills before allowing them to take classes.

I have noticed that many of our families are feeling the pinch but also get very frustrated with some of their mixed up values. I regularly provide ingredients (and sometimes even the odd cereal bar, banana etc) for pupils who have far better phones than I can afford. Last week I bought a cheap pair of sains basics trousers for one of my yr 11's who had rips in her only pair where they had basically worn away, so that she would have something to come write her exams in. I know that her mum is an only parent who is on DLA but at the same time her father who supposedly doesn't work and provides no maintenance and will often refuse to pay for very basic things has paid out £300 for a prom dress for her:eek::eek::eek:

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Because I am just starting back knitting and she knows I learned how to use a knitting machine and sew when I was a kid, DD says I'm turning into a Nanny. Reckons I need a blanket on my lap and a string of pearls. Horrible child - I'm 38.

Didn't stop her asking if I could knit her a funky hat, scarf and handwarmers for her this coming winter, though. And I did ask how she supposed fashion designers get their fantastic jobs without knowing how to do all of the above.


Every one of my plates has a chip - I need to buy more before one of us gets hurt by a plate shattering with hot food on it. Not sure how I'm going to afford it, but I am sure I shall find something I don't need.


Oh - does anyone have any ideas of what to do with Mizuna when it is huge, all over the veg patch and you have found that you don't actually like it that much in salads?