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

lizzyb1812

wmf - yes it's More-with-Less Cookbook. In the preface it says "There is a way of wasting less, eating less, and spending less which gives not less but more". It's a collection of recipes submitted by the Mennonite community to the collator/writer Doris Janzen Longacre who sadly died shortly after completing another book, Living More with Less which I've also got but can't find right now.

The recipes are mostly oriented towards big families and there are lots of carbs. Most of the recipes are vegetarian/vegan. For me the comments of the recipe submitters and the prefaces to the chapters are the most interesting bits. There's also quite a bit about combining foods to get "complete" proteins, using leftovers, menus, daily food requirements, etc. It's pretty much all about scratch cooking and the recipes use american cup measures.

I can't say I cook much from it, but that can be said of all the cookbooks I own. I like it a lot.

Ceridwen - worked freelance for over 10 years and saved as much as I could with a view to paying off the mortgage/semi-retiring as soon as possible. The break-up of my marriage - my choice - means the mortgage fund will have to go to XOH so I can keep the house. I've cut my spending by about 50% and now live very frugally. It's a small price to pay for freedom from stress. I'm developing different income streams for when the savings run out. My professional qualifications should mean I can get a job if the need arises but I'm hoping it won't come to that. Poor but happy is way better than richer but utterly miserable

annie123

Last year a new Canadian neighbour moved in nearby and one thing lead to another and she couldn't believe we all didn't have window quilts. Especially me as I have single glazed north facing windows at the front.
I spent an afternoon [STRIKE]helping[/STRIKE] watching her make one.
Bit like watching someone driving a car then having a go yourself:rotfl:
Took her 2 hours, took me 3 days and mine looked like the equivalent of a small childs first lot of homemade cakes! DD's window is 7' wide and 4' tall so I made 2 quilts.

Probably more links than you can cope with, but includes homemade ones and pdf guides how to:


http://www.motherearthnews.com/Green-Homes/1983-11-01/How-to-Make-a-Thermal-Shade.aspx

http://www.warmcompany.com/warmwindow/Warm.pdf

http://energyboomer.typepad.com/energyboomer/2007/09/how-to-make-ene.html

http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Conservation/Rayshade/ThemalShade.htm

http://www.windowquilt.com/products/WQ_brochure_web.pdf

http://www.manytracks.com/Homesteading/winquilt.htm

http://countrylife.lehmans.com/2007/10/10/making-old-time-window-quilts/

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art34745.asp

http://www.green-energy-efficient-homes.com/energy-saving-curtains.html

I made the first set without a vapour barrier.
1. I got a lot of condensation on the windows with and without window film.
2. Within a month, mould on the lining
If you have double glazing maybe you wouldn't need a vapour barrier?

So I removed the back and replaced with new old sheets and added an old shower curtain (cut to size obviously) on one and a £ store mylar sheet to the other.
Both worked really well and no more condensation or mould problems.

They were made with charity shop white sheets, charity shop cot blankets and I embroidered small flowers on the bottom to fit in with her room.
Hung them from a tension road at the top and used velcro to secure them to the frame at the bottom and sides.

They made a massive difference to her room temperature, more so than window film or the interlining I had put in the curtains.
I'd take a picture but they are in the loft at present.

For my sons tall windows I will make insulated roman blinds but for the other windows I will make quilts.
If your windows are the same size as pillow cases that would make it very easy to do.

I have seen them put up with magnetic tape, drawing pins, velcro, curtain wire etc and they can stay down all the time or hand rolled and caught in ties at the top during the day.

They are a step up from putting a fleece up at the window and I'm sure they will eventually become popular over here with the cold winters we seem to be having lately.

I also made a door curtain on the same principle for my sons flat to cover an opening between rooms but allowed extra floor drape and this worked well too.
Used an old single quilt, the other mylar sheet in the pack and a purple sari from charity shop for £1....(the amount of fabric you get in a sari is amazing) he has a hippy looking flat and it fitted in well with his wall hangings. He has asked me to insulate them too for him. I told him I'd lend him or his GF my sowing machine!

HTH

I'll copy this to the winter prep thread I think for others that don't read this thread.

maryb

:eek:Ceridwen, just had a look at the thread in question:eek:
I would have thought the poster in question was a troll were it not for the fact that they have a long posting history. But why single you out?

Reverbe
I think it may only be North Atlantic cod that is regarded as unsustainable. Icelandic cod is not, at present, overfished. Confusing, I know.

Grey Queen,
The Lakeland green bags are made of a special sort of plastic which absorbs the gases given off by fruit and veg and keeps them for much longer in good condition. They really do work - but only for certain types of fruit and veg. They are brilliant for strawberries and green veg, but I don't find they help at all with root veg.

maryb

Ooh, thanks for the linkies Annie123, have copied them to Microsoft Onenote

By the way, I really recommend Onenote for saving useful info. I got it included with my copy of Office with my laptop but if you haven't got it, it's a really useful thing to have to keep track of stuff.

You set up a 'notebook' with different tabs for whatever interests you and you can just copy and paste useful stuff onto a blank 'page'. If you highlight stuff on a webpage and hit 'print' you can choose to send to Onenote and it effectively saves the whole webpage, complete with pictures. I find this is better for me than saving links because when you go back to the information, you often find the link doesn't work. And it's quicker than saving in PDF format, because you don't have to open each separate document when you are looking through - it's already on the page.

I started off with just one notebook but as the number of tabs grew I split off my recipes into a separate notebook and eventually separated those into other notebooks eg baking. It's very easy to drag and drop pages and it just feels much more intuitive than using Windows explorer.

I used to get Delicious magazine occasionally or Good Food and I would tear out recipes that caught my attention. I found that if you wait two months they will put the recipes up on the website and you can copy the whole thing to Onenote with a click of a mouse. I still cut out the recipes but every now and then I will upload copies into Onenote so I don't have too many bits of paper around

chirpychick

We have Thunder! WOOOHOOO!! It does seem to be easing off, we only have about 5 thunders and a spot of rain but im really hoping for more as it is so unbelievably muggy!

Ive just shut the cat out of every room so he only has the hallway for an hour as its so hot in our house at the moment ive opened every upstairs window and thrown back the covers to air the beds and the rooms.

Ive got the back door open to air the downstairs and in an hour ill shut alfie the cat in the bedroom and open the bathroom window and air the hallways (he will jump out the windows and i dont want him to hurt himself.)

I got loads of free food using the grabbit boards yesterday for the first time yesterday! Was very tempted to spend £40 in ASOS but resisted because we are trying to get turf down in the garden asap.

we have decided not to get the solar panels on the roof after a bit more research.

only 5 shifts left at work.

I really need to start planning the inlaws visit in July, we have MIL, FIL, BIL, SIL, Neice & Nephew coming for lunch and then we are all going to a country museum. Im going to do a buffet keeping it simple and cheap with minimum leftovers and i think i know in my head roughly what im going to do (and all HM) but i need to write it down and cost it.

My best friend just showed up unannounced i was in bed as i didnt get to sleep until 5.30am and she was ringing and shouting through the letter box LOL!! :rotfl: i was so embarrassed as ive really let everything slip because i figured ill just get on top of it when i am off work. Ive known her my entire 26 years so im sure she wouldnt think ill of me but im looking forward to the future when i can have a bit more of an open house not worrying about when people turn up unexpected!!

sorry im just chatting now i hope thats ok!

Have fabulous days everyone

Oh and someone said about buying battery eggs and i can empathise with this, we went to Morrisons on Saturday and i brought their value eggs but it was really hard for me then hubby said, im not giving you the choice these are the eggs we can afford - sorry chickens but when we have more money we will go free range! It made me feel less guilty as i just thought - it was him not me! :rotfl:

It makes me feel terrible sometimes but we have to do what we have to do. I just wish supermarkets value eggs were free range!! They should insist upon it!

kezlou

Think it was probably me Larumbelle

I tell everyone about them, they save me a fortune.

Okay just have to say as i now a rotten taste in my mouth.

DO NOT EAT BOLTED SWISS CHARD

It is foul, been eating the stuff since march, absolutely gorgeous stuff.
It bolted over the past couple of days, and thought right have some chard, onions and garlic all fried together, tasted it awful, all rotten and bitter. Had to throw it away, it was that bad.

Hopefully the seeds will germinate and we'll have more for over winter.

Thanks for the links annie, i'll have a lok at them tonight. going to start making another door snake thingy soon as well. Last year i gave my mate the best one i had for his house. He was so chuffed when i gave him it, even more shocked when i said i made it!

oldtractor

I am seriously considering putting up duvets along the walls. our front bedroom front wall is very thin,its an old cottage, its just wattle and daub plastered over and is very thin,whereas the other cottage walls are 2 ft thick stone. if i line the front wall with duvets it should make quite a difference in insulatiing ability.

oldtractor

chirpy chick,from January next year battery cages are outlawed. they can still be cages but are what is called "enhanced" cages so at least its somewhat better for the poor hens. not long to go now.
kezlou,thanks for the advice I didnt know that.

redlady_1

The value eggs in Morrisons are free range chirpy. I buy them all the time. They are the only ones I have found that are. Also, if ever you buy eggs 0 = organic 1 = free range and 3 is cadged hens. Do not be fooled by eggs from a farm shop.

Well, the OH investigated the packaging on our basa (we both have some) and yep, you have guessed it, it is farmed in Vietnam!!!!!!!! :eek::eek::eek::eek:_pale_ Tonight it will all be going in the bin. I also noticed the prawns I bought came from Vietnam and am loathed to eat those now too!

Now the OH is talking about going veggie and I cannot blame him. Except I am not giving up my bacon sandwiches!

chirpychick

redlady_1 wrote: »

The value eggs in Morrisons are free range chirpy. I buy them all the time. They are the only ones I have found that are. Also, if ever you buy eggs 0 = organic 1 = free range and 3 is cadged hens. Do not be fooled by eggs from a farm shop.

Well, the OH investigated the packaging on our basa (we both have some) and yep, you have guessed it, it is farmed in Vietnam!!!!!!!! :eek::eek::eek::eek:_pale_ Tonight it will all be going in the bin. I also noticed the prawns I bought came from Vietnam and am loathed to eat those now too!

Now the OH is talking about going veggie and I cannot blame him. Except I am not giving up my bacon sandwiches!

Thanks redlady - how comes it doesnt say so on the box??

We discuss going veggie quite frequently we have 3 dogs, 1 cat, 4 guinea pigs, 2 mice and 1 hamster so its fair to say im a big animal lover. Hubbys wont be convinced to let me have silkies though!!

I think hubby would go veggie without really even noticing if my cooking was better :eek: but im still learning and sometimes its easier and cheaper to whip up a toad in the whole than to make something using ingredients ive never heard of let alone cooked :think:

i wish i had a few more morals!!! Well i do have morals but i mean i wish i had more ability to stick to them :rotfl:

I tried going vegan but couldnt give up chocolate! That vegan chocolate is gros!

ill have to work on it!!