Where do we go from basics?

quintwins

still slow cooker it, i just don't add water to mine, bring ur slowcooker with u

Swampmonster

kittie wrote: »

well I for one wouldn`t mind my taxes going to pay for something like the cookery evening. Children and parents need to know how to cook from scratch. It`ll eventually save money on the nhs if people know how to use food properly

I totally agree with you.

My daughter went on the NHS run MEND (Mind, Exercise, Nutrition, Do it) course to help her lose weight. We learn't loads about nutrition, couldn't fault it for that, in fact it was amazing.

I told them I couldn't cook and begged for help but no one seemed interested. Only course I could find of my own back was cooking for men but as I'm a girlie I couldn't go.

It seemed a ludicrous part of the course to miss out and false economy on behalf of the NHS. :mad:

redlady_1

I was a stick too! I think people would question whether I was anorexic or not these days. The thing is we were much more active then than we are now plus the portion sizes were alot smaller!!! I too was known as a latchkey kid as my mum brought me up on her own when it wasnt really acceptable. I didnt mind though as she used to get everything ready and I just had to turn it on. The good thing is she brought me up to be independent and I appreciate it now! We didnt have any fat kids in the classes either.

And I am pleased so announce that at 42 I have no fillings and have no teeth taken out *goes off to be smug somewhere*

FatVonD

sb44 wrote: »

Is it any wonder I used to have 3 fillings at a time.

Me too, I don't know how true it is but somebody once told me that in 1960s 3 was the maximum number of fillings the NHS would fund the dentists for so they would all push it to the limit.

I too was a latchkey kid, I had mine on a bit of wool around my neck until I discovered I could get my arm through the letterbox to reach the latch (about the same time the local burglars discovered this too!)

On the subject of school cookery, my son has just had to choose his GCSE options and they weren't allowed to take GCSE cookery if they'd not shown a willingness to bring ingredients this year. My son opted to do a vocational catering course at college one day a week instead which was just as well as the take up of school-based cookery was so low they are no longer running it.

cbrown372

life_in_termoil wrote: »

At the secondary school my children attend they have a cookery evening once a week where you can go with your children to learn to cook. All ingredients are provided and you only need to take in casserole dishes or something to bring the items home in. So far this year we have made....spag bol, lasagne, macaroni cheese, vegi burgers, meat balls, pizza, chicken casserole, beef stew, fish cakes, chicken curry, apple crumble, double chocolate cookies, rhubarb pie, eves pudding, bread and butter pudding...the list goes on. If your a family of 2 u cook for 2, if your a family of 4 u cook for 4, their is even a family of 9 who attend each week and some of the kids are only 5 or 6. Its great fun and its saving you money!

What a wonderful idea, sounds a bit like the project Jamie Oliver did to teach the parents basic cooking and even better that the kids go with the parents and learn at the same time. Sounds a far better idea to cook actual meals that people will eat rather than the odd kind of domestic science I learnt at school none of which I remember being edible by the time I got it home.

barneydee_2

my god
i can relate to soooooooooooo many of these post I was born in the mid 50's and nothing was wasted in our house, roast diner on a sunday was shepards pie on a monday or chicken slice put in a baking dish with gravey and reheated with veg. always on a sunday we went to visit our nan and grandad where we had tea off either sandwiches or letuce,cucumber, tom, ham, boiled egg and Hinz salad cream.
I work for a supermarket but I think retail and television has ruined family life I would love to go back to shops not opening on a sunday, families sitting down together on a sunday to catch up on things that are going on.
when I tell my DD's that when I wanted to talk to one of my relations freinds I had to que at a phone box they could not belive it:eek:

redglass_2

Like so many people here, I am a child of the 50s and I remember with affection lots of the food that's been mentioned, some of which was obviously a hangover from the war. The ration system was a great achievement and I am full of admiration for the women who managed to feed families on so little and with so many shortages, but dare I suggest that we shouldn't think of it as being an ideal diet now? Nutritional science has moved on and we now know that there are many more substances needed for longterm health (most people feel fine as kids, but your nutrition catches up with you as you get older) than people believed in the 30s and 40s. I'm not denying a 40s diet would be better than much of what people eat today - I'm sure it would! But probably a bit short on vitamin C, for one thing, which is why they had kids collecting rosehips.

We seem to have got off topic, interesting though it's been. Here's a tip: you can make jam and/or jelly from the fruits on a japonica shrub, using them like crab apples. I've been doing this for years and am wondering whether it would also be possible to make a version of cider from them, but haven't tried it yet. NB cut the cores out as sometimes insects get inside.

I've recently been saving citrus peel to make a cleaning enzyme and to dry for firelighters. The enzyme won't be ready for a bit but I tried some orange peel firelighter and it had a surprising amount of inflammable oil in it. I have actually asked friends eating oranges to give me the peel! - they are used to my crazy ways.

The Tightwad Gazette has some of the most extreme and imaginative frugal ideas - real hardcore stuff, and fun to read.

smileyt_2

I've just cancelled my tv licence to make ends meet. I rarely watch tv anyway, spend more time on t'internet.

My tips:

I don't shower every night but will wash any 'bits' with a flannel. When I do have a shower, I turn the water off to do my bottom half as I can cope with this bit being cold! Top half benefits from full flow of warm water though :rotfl: Bath is a rare treat.

I make my own greetings cards, this saves a fortune and most people appreciate the effort.

Grow your own - salad leaves can be grown in a window box if no garden.

Sprout seeds in a jar on the window ledge for extra vitamins and minerals.

Porridge! I sometimes have porridge for two meals a day if I can't be bothered to cook.

Home made soup is another cheap and healthy meal.

I'm vegan and taught myself how to cook pulses, grains etc. Not having dairy or meat saves a lot of money. It also means that I can't waste money on impulse buys like cakes, as I can't eat the majority of them.

Thermal underwear saves on heating. If there's only me in the house in the winter and I'm not planning on having a shower that night, I will put the gas fire on low in one room for the evening and just be super quick in the bathroom and getting into bed! I'll do the washing on the nights that I will have the heating on so that it will dry faster.

Approved foods, bulk buying if cheap, shopping around for food deals (eg Quality Save sell ryvitas at least 30p cheaper than Asda :eek:)

The other thing I do is have a microfibre mop. With this you can mop the floor with just cold water and no cleaner. It does work, believe it or not.

I imagine all these tips are already well known to MSE super savvy savers!

This summer, if it's sunny enough, I'm going to try experimenting with a solar cooker and a solar shower. There are loads of plans on the internet for a solar cooker - seems to be a cardboard box and tinfoil, basically, with a glass cover. I will try and get a cheap picture from a charity shop and use the glass from the frame as the glass cover. I'm not sure I'd experiment with a solar cooker for meat or chicken dishes, but I guess it would be ok for vegan food.

silverleaf79

Great advice here, thanks! I'm a self-employed jewellery artist but a fair way away from making any profit, and Him Indoors has taken voluntary redundancy so we're trying to cut right down on our food bills. Hopefully it won't be too long before he finds a new job, but in the meantime we're trying to survive on £30 a week for the two of us. I know we could save more money but I want to be as ethical as possible, so for me that means free range meat (unless it's REALLY cheap), free range eggs, sustainable fish (i.e. no cod, haddock, plaice or anything else on Greenpeace's Red List), nothing with palm oil, and Fairtrade wherever I can.

I'm managing this by:
* Sounds obvious, but I only buy what we need, unless it's a really good offer on something that we use anyway.
* Meal planning helps with the above. Meat one or two days, fish twice (one of which is usually Sainsbury's basics tinned tuna - sustainably caught - or sardines or similar), veggie the rest of the time, with eggs, beans, pulses, etc, featuring heavily.
* Cooking from scratch.
* Making more bread, scones, etc at home. I haven't bought biscuits for ages now because they all seem to have palm oil, and consequently don't snack as much because I only make biscuits once every few weeks.
* Buying up bargain meat/fish in the RTC section and freezing it. If I can't find anything reduced one week we eat from the freezer.
* Giving up shampoo/conditioner/styling products/moisturiser/facewash. I use a bicarb solution (1tbsp bicarb in 250ml warm water) to wash my hair and an apple cider vinegar solution (1tbsp in 250ml water) to rinse. Make my own hair gel (boil up 1tbsp flax seeds in 250ml of water until thickened, strain out the seeds, cool, add 3 drops lavender essential oil - keeps in the fridge for several weeks) and use a little coconut oil for frizz and my almost-waist-length hair looks much better than it used to with the special frizz control shampoo, conditioner, serum, frizz-control lotion, curl spray, shine spray, etc. Coconut oil as moisturiser/lip balm (very cheap from local Asian shop). Him Indoors has hardly any hair so he doesn't bother with shampoo either.
* Bulk buying pasta, rice, noodles, flour, etc. Cash-and-carry card helps here.

I'm considering cooking meat, veg, etc for the dog, and I make most of my rabbit's treats and the dog's biscuits.

And I've been meaning to grow loads of veggies but with trying to get my business going and being ill with fibromyalgia a lot this year I haven't had chance to do anything. Probably too late now.

I really want to get some chickens as we eat a lot of eggs. I'd love to give some ex-batts a nice new home but Him Indoors has vetoed it, saying it will cost too much. Do they really save money, and is it easy to sell any excess eggs? We easily get through 10 a week or more, and ideally I'd like 4 chickens so I guess there would be a few spares...

ceridwen

redglass wrote: »

We seem to have got off topic, interesting though it's been. Here's a tip: you can make jam and/or jelly from the fruits on a japonica shrub, using them like crab apples. I've been doing this for years and am wondering whether it would also be possible to make a version of cider from them, but haven't tried it yet. NB cut the cores out as sometimes insects get inside.

That just had me googling for images of japonica plants - and promptly getting rather confused, as I came up with images of plants that looked very different to each other and none of them with any fruits on.

Errr...have you got a photo or link to an image of the one concerned purlease?:)