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

jamanda

I've just been reading about the people in Greece queuing for food. When they lose their jobs they get payments for a year, then nothing. There are people there really, really hungry.

Makes you think.

GreyQueen

VJsmum wrote: »

Sorry FTM but you are not allowed to talk about yummy cake without giving up the recipe!!

It's an MSE rule don't you know?? :money: Seriously would love it if you could spare a minute to post .

I think if people took on additional allotments when there were no waiting lists then they should be allowed to keep them, but maybe not give people additional ones if there are waiting lists? I'd love one but don't have time. Like Skint but Optimistic, i am just doing what i can with my little patch and some patio pots. I am trying to go through the learning curve now, while it's not a necessity to make myself more proficient if it ever should become so.

Hi VJsmum, in this city, you cannot have a second or third/fourth or fifth allotment whilst there is anyone waiting for their first. This is a relatively recent change in response to the very high demand for lotties. Also, when whole plots are coming free they are usually divided into halves or even quarters if they are massive, to give more people a chance. The multi-plot holders are historical anomalies.

Well, must away to whoopsie hunt and then make a pizza. Saw a whoopsied not-very-special one in A$DA this morning for £1.55 and thought...you cannot be serious.......:rotfl:

Hope everyone has a good afternoon and evening.

jamanda

Pizzas - I know a lot of you make your own, but when you can buy a frozen one for £1 is it worth it when adding up the cost of the cheeses, bits, etc. Is it just a matter of cost saving or is it the quality of the home made one?

I've haven't got round to making my own as yet, and would be interested to hear any comments.

Thanks
J

PS Might be a rhetorical question as I've had a blight alert for my area so I'm worried about my tomatoes.

[Deleted User]

I received a new book from amazon today. It cost me about £11 and I am sure is one I will use a lot. It contains lots of preserving methods that have come down through generations in France and they are all without freezing or canning (bottling i will never get used to that word canning!) using lacto fermentation, sugar, salt, alcohol etc. It will be nice to get back to simpler ways and without involving energy use. Some good ideas too for winter storage of roots and cabbages etc Just like my Polish grandparents used. They were farming peasants (the other side were farmers then horticulturists). The war broke the link with the land and maybe that is why I feel the tug of my earth roots

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Preserving-Food-without-Freezing-Canning/dp/1933392592/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1311172391&sr=1-1

[Deleted User]

jamanda wrote: »

PS Might be a rhetorical question as I've had a blight alert for my area so I'm worried about my tomatoes.

Jamanda I have been on tenterhooks re my tomatoes. I have loads of large fruits now and have been in process of cutting leaves off so they divert growing to the fruits. I decided to cut off all but one leaf on each plant this morning as I am sure blight will strike many of us in the next 3-4 weeks. I also cover my outdoor ones in haxnicks green poly bags with holes in them. They are good all day and night if it rains. the bags come off if it gets sunny for more than half an hour

Potatoes on the allotment have been sprayed with bordeux mixture but that has to be done before blight strikes so it pays to keep watching the weather

GreyQueen

jamanda wrote: »

Pizzas - I know a lot of you make your own, but when you can buy a frozen one for £1 is it worth it when adding up the cost of the cheeses, bits, etc. Is it just a matter of cost saving or is it the quality of the home made one?

I've haven't got round to making my own as yet, and would be interested to hear any comments.

Thanks
J

PS Might be a rhetorical question as I've had a blight alert for my area so I'm worried about my tomatoes.

Hi jamanda, I think the £1 pizza is vastly inferior to my h.m. one but I certainly wouldn't disdain eating one if there was one to hand and I was hungry. And have done and likely will do again. My pizza is more compatible with something in the £4 range (call me bigheaded but anyone who knows me in the real world raves about my pizza and I get wistful requests to make some if we're doing a potluck).

As I mentioned, I have tomatoes to use up and all the other fixings are on site and paid for, so I won't be going out of my way to buy ingredients. I find h.m pizza a useful OS way to use up misc veggies (I need to use up these tommies today).

Pizza is a handy way of feeding a large number of people relatively cheaply and seems to be univerally acceptable to most adults and children, which makes it a handy thing to serve at a buffet or on its own. Plus even tiny tots can "help" make a pizza by adding the toppings so this is a useful intro to cooking.

You use relatively little cheese as it is grated but if you costed the makings + the price of running the stove, I would expect that a £1 pizza would come out cheaper but it wouldn't be as nice IYSWHIM.

As I'll be running my gas oven at Gas 7 for 15-20 mins, I intend to make a tray of bread rolls and bake them off at the same time. I have the makings for them as well and want to maximise the use of the gas; my Mum raised me to think about these things when we were planning baking sessions, so it's second nature to think like this for me.

PS, if you put dried basil in with your h.m pizza dough before you add the oil and water, you get an extra-tasty crust for very little effort or expense. And, if the cheese is a bit dried out and superannuated, the pizza won't betray the fact.

HTH.

kidcat

Jamanda its about the taste and quality, cheap frozen pizzas are nothing like a HM one IMHO, I will buy cheap ones as a quick thing to keep in freezer but if I am planning a proper pizza dinner I make HM.

annie123

jamanda wrote: »

Pizzas - I know a lot of you make your own, but when you can buy a frozen one for £1 is it worth it when adding up the cost of the cheeses, bits, etc. Is it just a matter of cost saving or is it the quality of the home made one?

My son keeps sainsburys frozen basic pizzas (63p each) in his freezer as an emergency item; Friends arrive, no time to cook, can't be asked etc

By themselves they're a bit bland but make a good base to add extra cheese, chicken, peppers, mushrooms etc what ever needs to be stretched or used up.

He wouldn't buy an expensive one as he can make them from scratch, tastier and cheaper but he has costed out electricity and ingredients and he cant make a cheese and tomato base for less than MrS.

HariboJunkie

kittie wrote: »

Jamanda I have been on tenterhooks re my tomatoes. I have loads of large fruits now and have been in process of cutting leaves off so they divert growing to the fruits. I decided to cut off all but one leaf on each plant this morning as I am sure blight will strike many of us in the next 3-4 weeks. I also cover my outdoor ones in haxnicks green poly bags with holes in them. They are good all day and night if it rains. the bags come off if it gets sunny for more than half an hour

Be careful not to take too many leaves off as the plant needs some in order to photosynthesise.

We had our first decent handful of cherry toms today with lunch. :j
I have 15 plants in the greenhouse (6'x4'), including 3 in hanging baskets along with 2 chilli plants, 2 peppers and 4 cucumbers. I mostly take off the bottom leaves of the toms and then thin out a few of the more crowded ones. They seem more than happy.

[Deleted User]

HariboJunkie wrote: »

Be careful not to take too many leaves off as the plant needs some in order to photosynthesise.

QUOTE]

Yes, mine are at the swelling and ripening stage and I have already had almost 900g of ripe outdoor sungolds with many others turning orange/red now on other tomato varieties, including outdoor. We get the suns full force here when sunny and one leaf will be fine for my plants at the stage they are at. Depends where you live and aspect etc. They have been swelling hugely since thinning leaves and giving them more light and air

Don`t forget that green fruits and green stems also photosynthesise