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

kidcat

Success I have unpacked six boxes and sorted most of the dining room now, can't do any more in the kitchen until the extra appliances are sold, but its looking better. Hallway almost clear too, so am feeling that the end is finally near.

Went to price additional kitchen cupboards today, and its going to cost a small fortune. So hoping all the kitchen stuff on eBay sells well!!!

Washing on rotary line, but only two loads as its full. Beginning to despair of ever finishing the washing.
Thanks to westlothian for the broccoli advice I love broccoli and it helps manage my iron levels so will be planting loads.
Thanks also for whoever mentioned the food co-ops I found our local group to join.

de1amo

well i saw the weather forcast and i missed my flight this morning!-i do hate wasting money but i figured it is cheaper to stay in turkey(in the sun) against rushing home and paying restaurant prices to feed myself because my wife wouldnt accompany me!

My wife thinks i am a great husband because i stayed and eventually we will travel as a family.--she has even allowed me to start drinking beer from noon today!

Petlamb

kittie wrote: »

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2004421/Royal-Ascot-2011-Brawl-breaks-Ladies-Day-chair-legs-flying.html

Ugh, as someone who chooses to have a few body mods, the attitude of the Daily Fail towards tattoos really frustrates me. *steps down off soap box*

Aaaaanyway! OSing today: got pre-cooked (from yesterday) chicken thigh in the fridge, and some reduced sliced green beans, plus the stock from when I poached the chicken... so risotto it is tonight!

Hoping to get over to the parents' this weekend as they come back from holiday tonight and I thought it might be nice to cookthem dinner tomorrow night

Aaaaand with any luck i can incorporate a little whoopsie hunt at Mr A's nearby and swing by the F0cus DIY that's closing down near them in the hope of finding some stashable winter proofing items - i.e. de icing salt which was mentioned on another thread as being marked down

taurusgb

Primrose wrote: »

If you're enjoying Hovel in the Hill, you will enjoy her follow-up books, Garden in the Hills, and A Patch in the Forest. Elizabeth West also wrote two very entertaining books about her life as a school secretary after they left 'The Hovel". Can't remember the precise titles but they're something like "Suffer Little children" and "Insufferable Little Children.

Oh now look what you've done....I have all of those books and instead of the floor washing, bed linen changing and baking I 'should' be doing I'm off to sit in my rocking chair with the cat and Hovel in the Hills

GreyQueen

Good afternoon everyone, have now finished for the day (well, the bit I get paid for anyway, I never seem to stop in general) and looking forward to the weekend.

I have shocking news.......it rained yesterday......for several hours!!!!!!! I was astonished, had nearly forgotten what the blessed stuff looked like, can almost hear my allotment going slurp. It had cleared out by late afternoon and I could have gone to the lottie but was so whacked I went to bed for an hour to try to catch up on my sleep. Felt a little better and managed to cook a proper meal from the whoopsied ingredients in the fridge and freezer. I was having whoopsied salmon, which had worked out at 70p a portion and fancied a lemon to squeeze over it but they wanted 30p for one and I thought....nah.....not worth it. I'm a true skinflint.:o

broomstick I love your posts, you write so beautifully about what really matters in this world. It's too easy to loose sight of the many blessings we have. I can recall someone who had lived and done charitable work in some of the most deprived parts of the world walking into a supermarket after several years outside the West and being so shocked at the abundance that they burst into tears.

scottishminnie, another thing which you can do with whoopsied breadsticks is to prep them for the freezer as garlic bread. If I get some at a sweet price, I cut them into two or three sections, make diagonal cuts along them almost thru the loaf, then butter them with a mixture of margarine and crushed garlic. I wrap them individually in foil and freeze them and then can bake them straight from the freezer. I know garlic bread is not the most expensive item on the menu, but if you have a quantity of breadsticks which might otherwise be wasted, it's a useful option to bear in mind.

I did cook the whoopsied sausages into toad-in-the holes; made the batter with 4 ounces plain nflour (best before was Feb 2010 and it seems fine) and they came out really well. Ate one with gravy and veg, let the other cool and winkled it out of the wee Pyrex and froze it wrapped in clingfilm. I hope it'll defrost well and make another meal. People who meal-plan a week or a month ahead awe me; I make it up as I go along according to what is on offer and what the allotment has ready at the moment.

I love glass storage jars, particularly those ones with rubber seals and the lids on wire frames. I always look for them at booters and c.s. and occasionally find them. Got several tall ones a couple of years back at a Poundland and wish I'd got a few more as they haven't been back since. I figure the contents will be OK as my wee kitchen has very low levels of natural light due to shadows cast by other flats and the fact that I have to keep the blind down as there is a public walkway right past the window. As the kitchen opens off the living room, if you can see into one you can see into both (sigh).

chard I've fancied giving this a go but haven't a clue what to do with it in the kitchen. Do you cook it, and if so how? Sorry to be such an ignoramus...........:rotfl:

Hope everyone has a great start to their weekends.

suzid

Just caught up with the posts and feeling quite chilly now. It's grey but not raining here. While I remember, I read all the posts while not logged in and there's no thanks button. Please don't think I'm an ungrateful madam as I do appreciate all your posts and want to say a big "thank you" to you all now.

Last weekend when I mentioned the bread flour was past it's sell by date I didn't dare say by how much - too embarrassed. As we're all still alive after polishing it all off and not mentioning the date issue to DH as he wouldn't have touched it, I can now reveal it was MAY 2010.:eek: Whoops!!! Goes to show why so much good food is wasted though, if people stick religiously to sell by dates. This doesn't mean that I would happily eat anything that looked or smelt even vaguely off, but I think a little common sense goes a long way especially when it comes to fruit and veg. Also all the talk of cupboard reorganisation spurred me into action and again found several tins of fruit years out of date. Oldest 2007 so will have to use them sharpish.

According to the vet, you have to times a German Shepherds age in human years by 8 to get his doggy age. This makes A1 100 tomorrow so we are celebrating with a Jumbone and a special tea for him and Junior. Any excuse to make a fuss of him.

On the freezer issue, when I had to store our chest freezer in the dinning room it rotted the carpet underneath so be careful what it's standing on. Also my current chest freezer has a drain hole in the bottom and a panel that slips under it to catch water when defrosted. It has a rubber stopper. I never use it as I use a dustpan and bucket when I defrost it. I wonder if the one on ebay was similar and the rubber stopper lost. I wouldn't fancy having one that wasn't a built in hole I hasten to add.

On the negative I'd better go and tackle a mountain of washing up, but on the positive it will warm my hands up nicely, and give me a nice feeling of achievement when it's done. Sad or what, it's the little things! :dance:

[Deleted User]

greyqueen, re chard, there is still enough time to get it going. I bought rainbow chard seeds 3 years ago and they are still 100% germinators. Some of the ebay sellers are best and quickest. I have always grown all the colours on but tbh the ones with the white stems are utterly reliable, no pests, fast growers and prolific. They stand all winter. Here are a couple of fantastic recipes for using a chard glut

1 chunks of onion in casserole, chop the chard stems and all, pile in and get as much in as you can squeeze in, top with potato slices. Add some stock and single cream and s +p cover. 170 ish for 1 1/2-2 hours ish. So nice, the pot gets emptied

2 saute 2 lge onions, 4 cloves garlic, 100g pancetta (optional) and a big handful of chopped parsley in 10 tbs olice oil

use 500g chard and add chopped stalks, tin chopped tomatoes, tin of chick peas (or any bean) and mash 1/2 first, 500 ml chicken stock.
Boil then add chopped chard leaves and a chunk of parmesan rind
cook 10 mins with lid on
cut chunks of bread and put into bowls and soup on top. Best made the day before

This soup smelt and tasted absolutely divine

I had broad beans in pods sitting in the fridge so I have steam blanched them and they are destined for the freezer. I also dealt with excess cabbages by making a garlic cream sauce and steaming the shredded cabbages, also destined for freezer storage. My middle raised bed is enormously prolific and I just cut another dense pointy cabbage and immediately planted a cauliflower plant. So there are 3 cabbages in there, 4 caulies, one almost mature lobjoits lettuce and a few pinches of spring onions, not at all bad for 6 sq`. I am finding it very useful to have some plants sitting in rootrainers, ready for gap filling

greent

Greyqueen, I use chard as I would spinach

suzid - I've just made pizza dough with bread flour BBE May 2009 - and OOD yeast, too! And it's fine! - have been using it up for ages

raining here - have given in and put heating on to get some washing dry and take the chill off Still, the garden needs it and it defintely saves me watering all the potatoes

westlothianlass

Well the kitchen hasn't been tackled as much as i planned as got waylaid with a yearning for some twinks so spent the afternoon making them and rock cakes (a throwback to my childhood as my mum made them all the time).

Thanks for the info on Elizabeth West's other books i will have a root around and see if i can find them:D as i'm sure they must be classed as a necessary purchase:rotfl:

I love chard in quiche but my favourite is some chard (or Kale) cooked in butter with mashed potato and a bit of smoked fish.

Mardatha for muesli i just mix some porridge oats, whatever mixed fruit i have and some nuts and keep it all in a container until i want some, then i add milk or juice and leave for a few mins until its all soaked in.
If feeling decadent i will add yogurt or if i need to use up some fresh fruit such as apple or banana i just bung it in. hth

RAS

GreyQueen wrote: »

chard I've fancied giving this a go but haven't a clue what to do with it in the kitchen. Do you cook it, and if so how?

GreyQueen#

Swiss chard - basically the leaves are like spinach or leef beet perpetual spinach. So cook it like that.

My favourite ( for one) is

As much green leaf as you want (A good handful), one onion sliced into rings and a handful of dry black-eyed beans or half a tin.

Cook the beans if necessary.

Put a little oil in a frying pay or saucepan and very gently cook the onion. You want it to stew rather than brown so it is nice and sweet. When both the onion and the beans are cooked, add the chard to the onions and wilt over the heat. Stir in the beans and eat.

Try Lucellus which is sold by Lidl - 29p packet