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

lizzyb1812

Frugalista - when I was a kid I lived in a suburb of Huddersfield - Birkby - and you're absolutely right about the chips!

Lizzy

scottishminnie

I've calmed down since my rant yesterday about thieves and how the countryside has become the chosen target for thieving scum these days. I'm feeling well behaved enough to come back:)


Well I managed to pick up a few bargains today. Weekly shop at Asda included a 500g bag of diced turnip for 8p, an Asda special large fruit and custard flan for 75p and some cheese bread for 19p.

I then had to visit Costco to pick up hubbys reading glasses and picked up a veg growing kit for £1.97 - it has 6 individual kits ( seed trays, compost and seed)- one each for peppers, cabbage, cauliflowers, tomato, onion and aubergines. Everything you need to get you started, I thought it was a good buy. There seemed to be quite a few reduced items in Glasgow tonight - they also had 2 tubs of salted peanuts - sure they were 1kg each for £2.97 and some more things in the gardening area.

My tomato plants seem to be thriving - one has little yellow flowers which I'm figuring is a good thing. I had planned to plant them out this weekend but our weather is so erratic I'm frightened I lose them. My spring onions were healthy specimens till they got outside, now they are weedy little things like stalks of grass. Actually I've seen thicker grass stalks.

I read the comments a few days back about garlic and thought I may plant some cloves in a pot. If I wait till a clove sprouts do I then just pop it in a pot and let nature take it's course? Will it be ok outside all winter?

I also had a nice surprise yesterday - I'd recently helped a neighbour out with a few things and as a thank you she gave me a coldframe which she had bought a few years back and hadn't needed. Hubby has promised to build it for me over the weekend (I have zero patience for anything fiddly) and I have a spare grow bag so I can plant some lettuce. We go through loads and I think it's expensive so fingers crossed for quick and plentiful crops. I need to do some research and see if I can use it during the winter.

I did think about planting the lettuce in tubs however I have a semi tame hare which spends a lot of time in my garden. Much as I'm rather fond of him/her I think planting lettuce in a tub would be putting temptation in the way.

Anyway, off to read through today's posts. We are a real bunch of chatterboxes on this forum:D

Broomstick

mardatha wrote: »

I have not turned green.

I am glad.

I have a favourite recipe that would work very well with your experiments with small quantities of greenstuff.

Spread wilted (in a bit of butter - or lots of butter in your case) greenstuff on top of a slice of eggy bread. We usually use spinach but I'm sure turnip greens would be good. DS2 only ever has a spoon's-worth of greenstuff 'cos he's a bit like you were. Add fried or grilled tomatoes (best are cherry ones done whole) on top of that. Then add grated cheese over the top and season with black pepper. The original recipe from goodness-knows-where-about-20-yrs-ago said to use parmesan but we are veggie so don't do that.

It makes a really lovely combination and enough for supper... or posh brunch... and is brilliant for making two eggs and a small lump of cheese stretch into a meal for three.

If you go off the idea of greenstuff, I'm sure it would work fine without.

B x

mardatha

"If you go off the idea of greenstuff, I'm sure it would work fine without. "


This is a strong possibility. This is a serious step and must not be taken lightly :eek:
That sounds quite nice, ta. Even without the green effort on top.:D

VJsmum

kidcat wrote: »

Larumbelle - thank you, you are right he will only ever be himself but sometimes the idea of giving him a label upsets me. I understand that he needs this to secure an education but I find it hard to see in black and white. ITs interesting that your sister was diagnosed as a teenager - we are trying to get our DS13 diagnosed and cannot get anywhere as he is "too old". Its hard work.

It is so hard tho, isn't it? OUr son is in his first year of high school but hasn't progressed, he is average to slightly below average and there seems to be no provision. NOt good enough to be able to push himself, not bad enough to get additional help. WE are now looking to move him to a smaller school where, hopefully, he will get more attention. My friend is fond of saying "You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear" (some friend, eh?) and whilst we know he isn't a silk purse, he isn't a sow's ear either.

stiltwalker

scottishminnie wrote: »

I read the comments a few days back about garlic and thought I may plant some cloves in a pot. If I wait till a clove sprouts do I then just pop it in a pot and let nature take it's course? Will it be ok outside all winter?

Garlic actually needs some cold. You plant it out late autumn throught to Jan/Feb at latest depending on variety and it start t come up in the spring. If it doesn't get about six weeks of consistent cold then it doesn't fom cloves properly. I planted a load just before Christmas and it's not far off ready to pull now. I'll then dry it off like onions and then plait up to use over the next 12 months. I've got 50 bulbs so should last me a while.

Well we had the first potatoes out of the garden today and they were yummy. Had them with a meatloaf that I'd made from half mince and half wholemeal seedy stuffing mix from approved foods with a good dollop of sweet chilli dipping sauce in. I add this to loads of stuff as it peps it up without adding heat.

ceridwen

Mardatha

Re getting used to having vegetables - as I got brought up I thought I didnt like vegetables either (well - I still don't if my mother is cooking them - sorrees muvver....). I realised, as an adult, that I DO actually like vegetables - provided they are cooked properly (if applicable) and served in a suitable way. Salad is still no good on me - UNLESS I serve it with a suitable salad dressing (eg I'll eat any salad that has French dressing with it - made with olive oil and balsamic vinegar) and I've worked out various other ways to "dress" salad that I will eat a wide range of them.

With cooked vegetables - I've worked out that I HAVE to have something on them - so butter and a little bit of seasalt usually does the trick. Also good is olive oil and a bit of freshly-squeezed lemon juice. I never boil vegetables - if I want them plain cooked - then I steam them (ie in an electric steamer I have).

I tend to make liberal use of canned tomatoes and grated cheese (or cheese sauce) with vegetables as well. That way - all I could possibly taste is the tomatoes and/or cheese.

Apart from that - then there's hiding vegetables in things and I tried out a courgette recipe the other day that I shall be doing again:

COURGETTE DOLLOPS (for 2)
225gr grated courgette
50gr grated onion
50gr self-raising flour
75gr grated cheddar cheese
2 eggs (beaten)
splash of milk
seasoning

- Mix all ingredients together
- Heat a large frying pan with a little oil or butter.
- Dollop in heaped tablespoons of this mixture into the frypan.
- Cook for a few minutes on one side till brown.
- Turn them over and cook the other side till thats brown.

Very quick and easy and 'twas rather nice. Will be doing that again.:) I shall have to experiment and try that with different veggies. Imagine it would work with things like green cabbage, kale or spinach. I shall try it with carrots - as thats a vegetable I have to particularly disguise to be able to eat.

*****************************

So - there ya' go - I'm a great fan of my veggies these days - but if I'd only ever had undressed salad or boiled vegetables with nothing on them - then I would still believe I disliked vegetables. Its not what you have - its the way that you serve it IMO.

mardatha

Very true. My mum boiled everything until it died. But if I fry the horrible things in butter and then dump them into soup then its bearable. And I like french dressing on salad too but I still cant eat much of it.

mardatha

I was thinking yesterday. ( must be cos I et green veg - yaaay brain cells reactivated )..
We should try doing a "dole diet". So many people unemployed and the basic level of ESA is only £67.50 - that's what my son gets . We once had a poor lady on here who lived alone and who only had something like that to live on. (rent etc is all paid but you have to cover utilities).
Apart from the excellent Weezl, could anybody work out a menu plan that would keep a body alive on that money ?

ceridwen

mardatha wrote: »

I was thinking yesterday. ( must be cos I et green veg - yaaay brain cells reactivated )..
We should try doing a "dole diet". So many people unemployed and the basic level of ESA is only £67.50 - that's what my son gets . We once had a poor lady on here who lived alone and who only had something like that to live on. (rent etc is all paid but you have to cover utilities).
Apart from the excellent Weezl, could anybody work out a menu plan that would keep a body alive on that money ?

I know what you mean - I have read variously that dole should be £110 in one place and £130 in another to match what it used to be. I cant seriously believe the powers-that-be expect peeps to live on that low a level of money (even if they arent in a situation where they have to cover a bit of missing rent money from that too). I know I couldnt do it - try as I might...something vital like house insurance, adequate heating, healthy eating would definitely have to go.

I get a bit torn between worrying that if the Government thought a noticeable number of peeps WERE actually managing to eat on that level of income they might cut it even more on the one hand - versus "Surely the Government wouldnt be THAT awful would they? and people DO need a LOT of help to even physically have enough to eat" on the other hand.

Re just "filling the stomach in order to live" type eating - then I would guess it would centre round:
potatoes/cheap white flour/cheap porridge oats/cheap white rice/cheap white pasta/cheap pearl barley/cheapest cheese one can find (currently Sainb*rys Basics "Feta" cheese or ready-grated Cheddar cheese), cheapie canned kidney beans and whatever fruit and vegetables one can get for nothing one way or another

On a longer-term basis (ie more than a couple of months) - then I would say it has to be healthy (or else there could well be health problems somewhere that the person wouldnt have otherwise had - even if they were some way further on in their life).

So - I tend to take the view that maybe I could manage Scenario 1 - ie everything I laid out in paragraph 1 - for a few weeks.

I would be too scared for my health & looks to try eating that way for more than a few weeks though - so would swop to:
cheapest brown rice, cheapest wholemeal flour, potatoes, cheapest organic cheese I could get (ie what I have anyway), homemade yogurt and home-made soft cheese (from cheapest organic milk), lots of dried beans and lentils, cheapest porridge oats and whatever fruit and vegetables I could get for nothing (topped up, if need be, with green cabbage/carrots/dried sultanas/cheap cans of fruit canned in juice).

My coffee would be out of the question either way - so it would be "herb teas" made from home-grown mint, lemon balm, etc instead.

My guesstimate would be that Scenario 1 eating could be done for around £10 per week (provided one could get much of the fruit/veg for nothing one way or another - growing it, bartering for it, etc). Scenario 2 (ie the longer-term one - of eating healthily - because it looked as if being on the dole was going to go on for more than, say, a couple of months I would say it would be around £15 per week). Again - dependant on getting much of the fruit/veg for nothing.

Either way - there is nothing available for drinks (unless one likes Value/Basics teabags) and little, if any, money available for having to buy any fruit/veg (except potatoes).