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

scottishminnie

Today's question from me (which I meant to ask yesterday but forgot) - what could I put in the loo cistern instead of buying the little blue/green circular tablet things?

I like to have something in there but fed up spending about a £1 for one of these things

ceridwen

...and you know you're getting pretty Old Style when you've just put some washing to soak in garden trugs filled with rainwater and with a dollop of home-made laundry gloop. All pushed down into the water with your longest wooden spoon (ie the preserving one):rotfl:

Whilst dealing with matters garden-related - read that I should be cutting my chive plant down to 6" to help with it "regenerating" itself. Duh! So - duly done that and got a lotta chive cuttings in a freezer container now.

So - whaddo I do with them purlease?

- can I freeze them?

- what ideas has anyone got for using them?

grandma247

ceridwen thanks so much for that video link it was brilliant and very inspiring.

Chives are lovely in omlette or scrambled egg and in anything you would put onions in.

culpepper

Nail varnish remover is handy for getting off 'best before' dates on plastic containers.
I bought butter yesterday because all the various margarine and butter-like spreads were silly prices .
At home I warmed up a pint of UHT and put a pound of butter and the milk in the processor and whizzed it round.
Then all went into a washed margarine tub(it just filled the 1 kg size) and it is in the fridge waiting to be used.
I don't suppose it works out cheaper than the butter spreads but I've always wanted to do it and see how it works .

maryb

GreyQueen

Fussy piece No 2 (aka younger DD) likes cooked pasta with a bit of mayo stirred through with some tinned fish (tuna or salmon), chopped spring onions and a spoonful of peas/sweetcorn. I have bags of peas and sweetcorn in the freezer and just take out a spoonful and put it in a pyrex bowl in the microwave with a splash of water for 1 minute.

Another good one is chopped chorizo and snipped up sundried tomatoes stirred through the pasta with a bit of olive oil. A sprinkle of grated parmesan is also nice.

Finally, it's really good with a bit of pesto stirred through mixed with half a tin of sardines in tomato sauce (good source of oily fish) flaked with a fork

Hope this helps

Glad the chicken pie was good

redfraggle_2

scottishminnie wrote: »

Today's question from me (which I meant to ask yesterday but forgot) - what could I put in the loo cistern instead of buying the little blue/green circular tablet things?

I like to have something in there but fed up spending about a £1 for one of these things

Hi Scottishminnie, having done consumer market research for a company who make a lot of those products, the cleaning power of them is minimal and the reason most people use them is to have the colour and smell added to ahve the 'sense' that cleaning is happening. in reality, they really dont do much.

not sure therefore what the answer is, but perhaps try with nothing and see whether you think the toilet seems less fresh? HTH

Broomstick

Quick look in and then I really must get on with other stuff today...

I'm loving the ideas for removing BB dates and taking the labels off tins. My cupboards could become even more label-free :rotfl:. I really enjoy the simplicity of the look. I've realised that I could also just stick brown wrapping paper over things like the (currently sealed) custard powder or dried milk containers that are made of printed cardboard.... or am I getting carried away here?:o

I think that removing advertising really helps in the drive towards knowing that what we have is 'enough'. We don't watch telly any more, I can't afford a paper any more, other than a local one which I use for work related stuff, and if I limit trips to the shops that means that advertising is minimised there as well. The internet is a problem though but if you turn it round and use it to research for solutions to what you really need then you become actively in control rather than the passive recipient of random advertising.

Thank you ever so much for the Urban Homestead link Cerridwen, I'd seen it ages ago but had forgotten about it. Watching it made a lovely coffee break just now.

B x

meg72

THIRZAH wrote: »

The bread making course was great although we are going to have to make an awful lot of bread to cover the cost of it.My arms are tired after all the kneading.

We used fresh yeast which I've never really used before. Apparently it does freeze so may buy some. The tutor said to freeze it quickly and in small packets.One of the loaves had a sourdough starter in it-has anyone here made one?

Can I be cheeky and ask how much the course costs and the different types it covered.

GreyQueen

maryb wrote: »

GreyQueen

Fussy piece No 2 (aka younger DD) likes cooked pasta with a bit of mayo stirred through with some tinned fish (tuna or salmon), chopped spring onions and a spoonful of peas/sweetcorn. I have bags of peas and sweetcorn in the freezer and just take out a spoonful and put it in a pyrex bowl in the microwave with a splash of water for 1 minute.

Another good one is chopped chorizo and snipped up sundried tomatoes stirred through the pasta with a bit of olive oil. A sprinkle of grated parmesan is also nice.

Finally, it's really good with a bit of pesto stirred through mixed with half a tin of sardines in tomato sauce (good source of oily fish) flaked with a fork

Hope this helps

Glad the chicken pie was good

Nomnomnom, that sounds great, forgot sweetcorn entirely.

:)if anyone wants a laugh (and I am on my break btw) the girl next to me has taken a call fron a guy in CORNWALL wanting us to come and repair the potholes.

Without giving my exact location away, we are nearer to the Netherlands than we are to Cornwall......:rotfl:

lizzyb1812

Hi Greyqueen - how about adding your broad beans to your pasta. With a bit of cream cheese stirred through it it's great hot. Or check out what the supermarkets put in those expensive little tubs for ideas

Lizzy