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

Jolaaled

ceridwen wrote: »

....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).

Anyone got any tried and tested recipes for home-made cheese, PLEEZE! ??

Would love to try this...but, would it be an economical way to get cheese, considering the price of milk???. Not sure how much milk is needed to produce, for example, 4 oz cheese.

THANKS ALL

GreyQueen

Seakay wrote: »

Assuming you mean a post to attach the line to rather than a prop to hold it up in the middle, how about this site?

http://www.linepost.co.uk/

Grey Queen - so glad you mentioned this:



as whenever I explain to people that pink is a traditional colour for boys because it is the junior version of manly red - tehy look at me as though I am insane so I never get to have the conversation about where did it become a thing that "all little girls go through a phase of likeing pink" which is something I hear stated as fact all the time but can see no evidence for beyond the last 15-20 years or so.

My pleasure. You may have come across it already, but if you haven't, there's an excellent book by Alison Lurie called "The Language of Clothes" which might interest you. It's a heavy-weight tome, pretty intellectual (she also writes novels in case the name looks familiar). It's several years since I last read it, but I ought to borrow it from the library again.

Human culture is weird about clothing. For example, the ancient Greeks considered it effeminate to have SLEEVES on your tunics. What the rest of the ancient world thought about the Greeks doesn't bear repeating.........:rotfl:

Today is looking a bit peculiar, weatherwise. We were forecast 27 degrees and sun and we've got about 12 degrees and heavy rain. I was intending to be on the lottie first thing and back for early afternoon as the parents are popping in on their way back from somewhere. Getting to journeyplan now to use the fuel most effectively. So, have to be home by 2.30 pm, but need to do lottie and don't particularly want to be rained on again.

Gonna slope off pretty soon for a while as one c.s. is having a mega booksale and that means a few 1000 going by previous experience.

I know I shouldn't......but......

PrincessTazza

Phewee.... have just managed to catch up with the thread over a couple of cups of coffee!

I've been feeling quite rubbish this week, ultimately due to the weather. When it's rainy/stormy/dark/gloomy/all of the above, my poor head just can't take it - I get terrible migraines, and a couple of nights this week have had to fight the urge to be sick, not good

Hey ho, I still managed to make a delicious chicken and mushroom pie which went down an absolute treat with mash and brussel sprouts - oh how I love those little green balls - but, goodness me, I feel like we're in the depths of winter, this is proper cold weather food!

I shall be making a particular favourite for dinner today - Greek Country Style Pork - so very easy and absolutely off the charts flavour-wise! No fuss, potatoes, pork, tomatoes and onions all in one pot, olive oil, seasoning and bunged in the oven for a couple of hours!

Off to my Brother's for a BBQ tomorrow (weather very much permitting of course!) - nice to be going somewhere else for a change as we generally have peeps here, so shall enjoy that immensely! I'm thinking of stuffing some whoopsied field mushrooms I got yesterday with some brie from the fridge (that's probably seen better days) and a ton of chives snipped from the garden, perhaps some garlic, and these shall be my contribution to said BBQ tomorrow! (Can you tell I love cooking?!?)

I hope everyone has/is having a lovely weekend, goodness knows we all need it - such lovely people on this thread, I once again have a nice warm glow after catching up! X

modern_millie_2

Morning all, been away for a short break, had a lovely time and managed to keep to budget. These breaks constiute our holidays now - couple of nights in a Travel0dge, meal out, lots of walks and - in true OS fashion - a bit of charity shop browsing. Was quite restrained and came home with a silk scarf, novel and table runner for under a fiver! Some of the clothes prices were ridiculous though - almost as much as new.

Have pages and pages to catch up on, will have a good read this afternoon hopefully, if DD doesn't beat me to the pooter!

Interesting news today about the increasing use of food banks, Trussell Trust opening many more, news item (BBC) suggesting food prices will continue to rise with competition from newly developed nations. Can only be as prepared as we can be and share any surplus I guess - will b e giving away half my apple crop this year as I already have a jam and chutney mountain - well, small hill anyway.

Hope everyone is well and coping, looking forward to catching up with you all.

flowertotmum

Morning all...
the dole diet..hmm..having been on the dole diet..i can say in all honesty it does truly make you appreciate your food..but having our lotties and hens has made a difference..i had to get inventive and quick to feed my family and make sure they had good filling and healthy meals...i used lots of fresh fruit and veg to bulk out the meals..and use meat very sparingly..no-one has starved yet...feel a bit bad at times as we are (used to be) on benefits,yet i fed my family well compared to others who are working and had money to spare..maybe the government should implement the old "dig for victory" or "ministry of food" to help those who think a good meal is to open a pack of oven chips and fry an egg...with doughnuts for pudding..we also used to get the milk tokens that could be used for fruit and veg..you can get lots of fresh stuff for £3.10..i make my own yoghurt and have done cottage cheese too...i think lots of folks just need to sit down and work it out..healthy food=healthy people,and it doesn't have to cost a small fortune..we now eat much more healthy meals than ever before and feel better for it thats for sure.

Had some trouble at the lotties this morning..a lady who was very nice and worked wonders on her patch has all of a sudden started giving the combination lock to a couple of alkies..who were sleeping in her shed..when she was told they were not allowed on there she threw a bottle at the chairwoman and was foul and abusive..apparently all 3 of them were sleeping in there..had to have the police to get rid of them..now we have another combination lock...again..the poor chairwoman feels terrible as late last night she was coming home from work and passed the lady who was walking with 2 bags and still had on her wellies and nightgown.....like i said its not her fault she was following the rules and thats that..she is having a tough time poor woman..another plot holder insists on taking his bloody dog which he can't control..it pee's and poo's everywhere..its very aggressive too...it went for me last wk..know i shouldn't but i whacked it one and it legged it..a fella who is 2 plots down from us ahd to go to the hospital coz the dog attacked him and bit his legs and arms..the owner said "its only playing"..!!!!!!..the poor man had to have stitches..he called the police who as far as i know have done nothing..and the chairwoman has told him he is not allowed to bring it anymore...guess who was there yesterday with his dog running all over...she rang this morning to see if hubby and son are going...they are..she wants them to witness what goes on coz she is evicting him..its all go..never thought lotties would get so much hassle..o well..will see what happens.

Off to my dd's for lunch..and then hopefully in the garden for the afternoon..heatwave predicted..we will see...at the moment here its grey,wet,humid..90% humidity according to our barometer thingy ...and thats never wrong.

love to you all..
ftm

Dee5565

Well our visitors have left, we had a lovely time with them.
We spent three days out and about showing them places, and the other day stayed home. I made picnics for the three days we were out, and they loved that. I explained we didnt have the money to eat out.

So they started asking questions about how we manage on what we get, with us also paying our debt off.Told them I come on here and read and ask questions. Also about making our own bread, growing vegs, not buying anything unless its a need.Plus lots more.

OH enjoyed having them here, he wasnt stressed at all.
I am now off to catch up on all the news, over the last six days
probably take me all day.You lot talk alot:rotfl:

Hugs for anyone that needs them:grouphug:


Dee

Larumbelle

VJsmum wrote: »

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.

They'd be no friend of mine, that's for sure :eek:

modern_millie wrote: »

Interesting news today about the increasing use of food banks, Trussell Trust opening many more, news item (BBC) suggesting food prices will continue to rise with competition from newly developed nations. Can only be as prepared as we can be and share any surplus I guess - will b e giving away half my apple crop this year as I already have a jam and chutney mountain - well, small hill anyway.

I watched that as well. I've donated food to Trussell when they were collecting outside our local supermarket. In previous years my garden more or less ran a little box scheme for my two elderly neighbours, with all of my surplus. It was so nice to share, but they were always more grateful than I felt the gesture really deserved. Then one day I was shocked when they both told me over a cuppa how nice it was just to have something 'fresh' as both found fresh produce too expensive and bought frozen value mixed veg to go with everything, year-round. I'm using the past tense because sadly they've both passed away in the last year. I miss them both very much. No new neighbours yet.

My own dole diet wasn't really 'dole', but for a while when I came out of care I had literally no income at all and after that was supporting myself on about £25 per week earned at Woolies, so I guess that counts. We stole all of our food from skips. Desperate times and all that. We only had two supermarkets in town - Tesco and Waitrose. Tesco took to dousing their food skips with bleach to keep out 'vermin' (i.e, us) so after that it was Waitrose all the way. When the manager there caught us he took pity and let us come and collect food at closing, on the condition that we didn't tell a soul what was going on. This was the first and only time I ever ate fresh lobster, we used to get given a lot of stuff from the wet fish counter, it was mainly that and posh sandwiches! Bless his heart, that manager even got me my Woolies job by 'having a word'.
So I actually ate very well, but I have a feeling things would be different now. For one thing, Tesco recently successfully prosecuted someone for taking food from a skip. For another, our lovely manager would be too scared of getting sued if the waifs and strays got food poisoning. Then there's the fact that 'freeganism' has hijacked this sort of thing and it's now assumed to be a lifestyle choice and not an act of desperation.

Plus, there's probably not enough food waste left to feed the huge number of poor we have these days.

If I was in the same boat today as I was then, I have no idea how I'd cope. (well, I do. It'd be Weezl to the rescue. But you know what I mean) The thing is, you do cope when you have to in the short term. But long term I have no idea the effect it would have on your health. Even if you live on relatively balanced healthy foods, eating frugally relies a lot on repetition and eating the same foods over and over again you're bound to miss out on certain nutrients.

[Deleted User]

I think that people worry too much about what is healthy in food that we eat. Ok I count myself in that bracket and eat 7-8 portions of fresh veg a day (easy because of the home grown veg) and very little fruit (high in sugars) except for what is in season eg now strawberries later apples and pears

I have 6 younger siblings, brought up after the war and with poor struggling hard-working parents. My dad was Polish and so much of our food was `peasant` type food, We had porridge every day or kasha which is boiled toasted buckwheat, lunch was a cooked meal with very little meat (far more expensive than now) eg potatoes cabbage and 1/6 of a pork steak, (no pudding) or potatoes and sour milk (think yoghurt as milk was naturally soured from non pasturised) or thick pea soup with scrapings from a bacon hock or little dumpling things with grated cheese and well fried cheap bacon bits, fat and all. Tea was always bread and toppings like peanut butter, chocolate vermicelli. We had carrots and sometimes salads (lettuce cuc tomato spring onion). One apple was shared amd we maybe had one a week, oranges too. Half a banana now and then

This is just a sample but you get the picture. Fresh basic veg, nothing fancy, minimum meat, milk, cheese, bread. Jam sandwich for a treat

We played all day, when I wasn`t doing chores and were happy and healthy and did well at school. The main thing is that we all grew up to be very healthy adults and even today, I don`t need to take any medication

Think back to the 50s, when there was hardly any imported or exotic food and really all veg was pretty well organic, when a chicken was a real treat but it was real outdoor chicken

In the 70s we spent 1/3 of our income on food and food has steadily got cheaper and cheaper so people have spent their money on other things like mobile phones etc. It`s about priorities now but obviously clearing debt has to be first and paying the mortgage so maybe that is why we need food banks

oldtractor

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 ?

What an excellent post. I think it would be lots of soup made with barley,lentils and home grown veg and herbs,along with home made bread. Very medeival [sp?]pottage. Porridge for breakfast and supper and what ever meat you can source,road kill,snared rabbit,poached pheasant, for dinner. Water to drink,no heating but a hot water bottle and going to bed when it goes dark to keep warm and save on lighting. Oh the joys of my retirement to come........................

rachbc

we did the Live Below the Line challenge recently - feeding my family (all food and drink) for £1 pp a day for a week - very eye opening indeed. We ate lots of pasta, whoopsied meat, fruit and veg from the market but it was depressing and stressful trying to make the pennies stretch