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

GreyQueen

starsandmoon wrote: »

Got lots of whoopsie bargains on Bank Hol. Popped in a Tesco Express for nutmeg as was making custard tarts and there were mega reductions! Tuna steaks, loads of fruit/veg, bread, choc bites and pasta salads. Spent £7 but would have cost about £30 full price. I was shocked at the full price of some of the items, no wonder people struggle with eating veg etc. 2 sweetcorn cobs were £1.80 and I paid 60p. How can they justify £1.80:mad:

Half term this week, up to now have done local library, today the pics with Orange Wednesday, tomorrow go to mums and help her with shopping, Fri swimming. So have managed a weeks entertainment very cheaply. Just checked bank account and its looking quite empty. Going to have to have a word with Ex OH as he hasnt been paying maintainence for our DD due to him losing his job but Im really missing the money and DD needs new school shoes.

Greyqueen - I lived in a flat similar to yours with all those problems. Used to get the local youth throwing stuff at the windows and being very anti social. I was on the 1st floor over the bin shed and heard a lot of kerfuffle so I opened the kitchen window and threw a jug of water down as used to get druggies in there. Well it wasnt druggies, it was the police:eek: obviously looking for god knows what. They werent impressed lol. I came home one day to find my allocated parking spot had a horse in it:rotfl:never a dull moment living there I can tell you. My worry with that sofa would be if someone set fire to it. Well now Ive worried you to death Il take myself off lol

:rotfl: A horse....OMG that's priceless. We have some mad things happen at Shoebox Towers but not horses lol.

The issue of flammability did occur to me in the wee small hours, too. The complication with this sofa is that, by the sound of it, it may have come from one of 2 addresses.

If it came from Address A, it is a leaseholder flat which is rented out to the overseas colleagues of Mr X. Mr and Mrs X are my allotment neighbours and a lovely couple. 2 weeks ago I saw their tnts take an appliance from the flat and flytip it and part of the fitted kitchen (a psuedo-door which would have covered it). They're both in our usual spot but could be scooped up by the Council any day. I've been hoping to bump into the Xs at the lottie but haven't so have resorted ringing Leaseholders and asking them to tell the Xs that they really need to check on their flat.

If the sofa isn't from the leaseholder flat it's from A.N. Other address which we don't discuss. I don't want to report it as fly-tipping until the Xs (who both work) have had a chance to check in case it's their property but equally I want it against my bedroom window for the least amount of time.......aarrghhh.......

Bambywamby

When we had the bad snow in East Yorks late last year and lorries were struggling to get to the shops - it was quite scary how quickly fresh food disappeared from the supermarket shelves. It certainly made my OH and me focus on growing more and more of our own. We are currently looking to grow veg over winter this year too - normally we are just Spring/Summer gardeners. x

freudianslip

Oh yes, handbags at dawn in our local coop for bread. I felt really smug knowing I had a cupboard full of yeast.

I really need to get to grips with the store cupboard for the winter, plenty of tinned stuff..... warming rice pud!

Charis

scottishminnie wrote: »

I guess my concern about storing it in boxes was that when I defrost the box wouldn't I need to use it all quite quickly? I was thinking if it was in bags I would only need to defrost what I needed if that makes sense.
How long does it keep once defrosted?

Sorry for all the questions:o

According to this website ordinary bread flour will keep for 'several months' in an airtight container in the cupboard and 'up to a year' in the freezer. So you are only gaining a few months by leaving it in the freezer, but it is costing you freezer space that something else (fresh fruit for use in the winter months?) could be using instead.

freudianslip

interesting.

I don't have more than two bags of each flour in at anyone time really. Do you think I should?

prophecy_grrl

On a non-flour related topic (sorry!) I'm after some advice. I have to sell up and move house, and need to get shot of some stuff that's too big for the new place. I have a piano which XH got, and no longer wants. I've asked him to move it but I know he won't bother. I've just tried to list it on Freecycle so will see where I get with that. I'm loathe to have the council come and tip it, and I don't want to sell it I don't want money I just want it gone. Any OS suggestions for recycling it? Any websites etc? It's not in very good working order but would prob be ok if tuned.

Sorry to go off topic x

elona

You could ask local charity shop if you could put a card in the window and give them a fiver or whatever you get for it.

r.a.i.n.b.o.w

littlecal wrote: »

Our local charity shops have now started to label clothes as "vintage" and are charging 3 or 4 times what they would have sold for originally
I can only think that they are trying to appeal to the students who live in the area.

I was going to post the same thing - they've cottoned onto the latest trend of wearing vintage/retro clothes, plus the fact people buy the clothes then resell them.

CRAZY prices though - they wanted £20 for a t shirt that prolly only cost a couple of bob in the first place!!!

Mrs_Veg_Plot

Girls and I have just had HM onion soup and bread for lunch. Pulled the onions that were going to seed and used straight from the garden using the stock from the ham I boiled this morning. Very tasty.
The bread on the other hand I made using the fast bake button. I know it said it would not rise as much and would be denser but to be honest it was not a particularly nice texture. Will not be in a rush to use fast bake again.

OH having a tough time at work. I've seen it building up over the past few weeks and he is very unhappy. Wondering if this has been part of the trigger to the colitis flare up he is suffering from at the moment. He is still not earning on this commission only post (has made a couple of sales but has not seen any commission). I will not be surprised if he jacks it in. We are just about coping on my wage with the extra shifts so will not be any worse off financially. In fact would be very slightly better off as there would be no dry cleaning bills. We had a long chat about it last night and he showed me an e-mail the boss sent to him yesterday that was enough to make anyone throw the towel in.

I think I need to start sing up my supply of flour. The bread flour gets used up pretty quickly but the plain and SR flour has been in plastic containers in the garage for a few months. Have started to stock up on toms and baked beans when on offer and still have a supply of rice and pasta. I need to check the supplies of things like sugar and dried fruit. There were loads of useful tips on here last year for stocking up for winter. I plan to start soon. I am also growing winter veg so that we will still be eating some homegrown fresh veg in the dark months.

Right off to clean the kitchen and then clean the downstairs carpets.

mardatha

What veg grows in winter ? Is hard to believe I could grow anything here in winter, but I'd like to try.
Re flour, I got a second freezer on Gumtree and its filled with flour and cooked veg. I keep the other freezer for everything else.