It was getting tough in 2006 and the workhouse still threatens us in 2011

ginnyknit

Goodness, smileyt you must have shares in the vets by now! Hope both chicken and dog feeling much better soon!

stiltwalker I am far too squeamish to cut slugs up but the air is still blue as I sprinkle and scamper away!

Noticed some large tubs in Mr M today for 2.30 ish with nicely sealing lids, think they would hold a good couple of bags of flour if anyone needs some.

Right must go and wreak some vengeance on more slugs before I settle down with my knitting.

londonirish_3

I normally shop online for food, but tonight afte r swimming I went into sains, and got a shed load of food for barely nothing, whole cooked chickens were a quid each, 10 bananas for 39 p , loads of little cheap bits, did shopping to last us well over a week for 15pounds. and the best bit was my oh paid. So I have put £10 into my heating fund for when the cold weather kicks in. I got a reduced cheesecake too so I am off to munch that. will be popping in there at 7 every friday from now on!

Emptynester

Hello folks

A couple of things I do incase it helps anyone:

Regarding slugs I arm myself with an old milk container about a 1/3rd full of salt water and go out once it is dark (with a torch) and put the slugs in the salt water. I thought I would not be able to do it but I easily find 30 in one session and it's either them or my plants and I have spent time and effort growing my plants and the slugs are not having them. :mad:

Now back indoors with thoroughly scrubbed hands. Quite a few folks are taking about storage containers. I have recently bought a large bag/small sack of rice and I'm storing it in plastic 'sweetie tins'. These came from work where we had loads at xmas time. They seem to be OK for the job, previously I have used them to store cakes in. They aren't as neat in the cupboard as some containers but the idea might help some people who either don't mind the apperance of the containers or might use the idea whilst saving for something better.

Lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes have been good from the garden. I think the cougettes are starting to speed up and the runner beans are looking better (touch wood). I want to freeze the runners and make rataouille with the courgettes to freeze - a little bit of summer in winter and a saving on the winter food bill.

Thank you to everyone who posts. I find this thread lifts my spirits.:)

Empty

suzid

Thanks Clare for repeating the recipe for CC. I'd wished I'd got it the last time you posted but couldn't face searching so far back.

Athome1 - we have a fridge in our garage that I hope to use for storing apples (belongs to DS2 but he doesn't need it as his new house has built in appliances). It's only turned on to take the overstock from the one in the kitchen at Christmas. It doesn't smell at all and I'll keep it off with the apples in. Hopefully the insulation will stop them being damaged if we get such a cold winter again.

smileyt feel free to gush about your beautiful hound. I hope he and the hen are soon back to full health.

Jedi (((hugs)) to you and your little one.

Well I lost most of the afternoon trying to find a cheaper insurance for our Landy and failed. All the searches came up with great quotes until you compare like with like so by the time you add on all the things that are standard on ours, they come about the same or more expensive. One very annoying thing I found when looking at the small print of a tempting quote was that although they were offering roadside rescue as part of the insurance, it was actually separate and that by buying the policy you were inadvertently agreeing to them carrying on taking your money annually for this even if you moved the insurance. Now that's what I call sneaky.

[Deleted User]

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Spendless

kittie wrote: »

arghh, another post lost. Drat so a summary instead

Kittie - What I do before I hit submit reply is highlight my whole post and click copy, if my post then doesn't take, I then paste it into a reply. [STRIKE]we'll leave out the bit about it being my son who was about 9 telling me to do this
[/STRIKE]I've never lost a post since - watch this be the 1st.

................................................................................................
My DH did the grocery shopping this week and came home grumbling about the prices, I said it's not the cost of <supermarket> that's the problem, it's the cost of food. He claimed he was so incensed at the cost of squash (dilute) that he put in back, however I've just found 3 bottles in the kitchen clearly from his shopping trip :think: so I asked and he changed his mind at the last minute! Still at least he has realised and understands that we can't service any debt, take an income decrease (I'm still temping and my workplaces contract finishes at end of year - and I can see my workload getting smaller) and pay more for everything. JUst need to get something to make him have his 'lightbulb' moment about leaving appliances switched on and complaining of cold whilst sat in t-shirt and shorts in winter (I kid you not!!).

Today I took the kids to nearest city using a family and friends railcard that I got free via a daily mail link. I spent a £10 voucher from John Lewis I was given when I left my voluntary job. I wanted something house-y but that I wouldn't normally buy. I got 4 ice cream dishes with spoons, they look like melamine cupcake holders. I only have bigger (soup) bowls and when we have ice-cream we are putting in too much (as otherwise it looks lost) and creating too much washing up. These will help with portion control, are smaller to wash and ultimately save money.

Softstuff

westlothianlass wrote: »

I am impressed that you got useful bargains Softstuff, as was commenting last night to DH that all the "bargains" in the supermarket where for things we didn't need/want, which was very frustrating.

It's been amazing me. The cupboard is full. This likely means though that next weeks specials will also be good, and I'll have to find somewhere to put them :rotfl:. Hubby has been commenting that our food has seemed extra good for a couple of weeks, this is purely down to some good specials.

My neighbours have been complaining about their electricity bills, but it appears our efforts have paid off. One neighbour in the same sized unit paid over $350, another $800!. Ours was about $250, which was significantly down usage wise on last year considering the price increases. The difference is that our tumble drier died so I got rid of it and now dry on an airer or on a rack over the hot water heater in the cupboard. And also we never use heating, we're well set up now with a good duvet, flannellette sheets and a blanket in bed, and in the day we have bed socks, slippers, and thermals. We haven't been cold all winter so far, but have certainly come out ahead.

squeaky

If you are using Firefox there's a magic extension that automatically saves "new text" for you...

text area cache


I have no idea if anyone has written an equivalent for IE yet, but this one can be a real time and effort saver.

ceridwen

...and then if you're pretty pc-illiterate (errr...like me then....) you whack the post straight up onto MSE and THEN read it afterwards to check for spelling errors/that you've phrased it the way you want/etc and edit it from that if you need to....

(I lost various posts until I realised that a "slap 'em up quick and THEN amend" method meant they get up there in time before the MSE website times out and loses them.)

ceridwen

Re fermentation of food - as I recall from my reading - I dont think its an "absolute" that one has to have expensive equipment for fermentation.

Anyways - a book peeps might like to borrow from the library on fermentation is:

"Wild fermentation - the flavor, nutrition and craft of live-culture foods" by Sandor Ellix Katz

Well worth reading for those into this.

I've not had the chance to try this out personally - because I dont have the space for storing fermenting jars of food (no garage/conservatory/utility room in this little house:() - but bought the book anyway in case I do ever get some storage room for things like this. I'm even contemplating whether I could just manage by putting things up in the loft to "do their thing" (or do you think Kittie that the temperature would be wrong for that - ie boiling hot in the summer and freezing cold in the winter?).

My feeling is that fermentation of food may well prove not to be just a way of storing food if using electric for this proves impractical (ie using freezer space) but may well also be a much "healthier" way to store food.

My suspicion/hope is that those of us living in too small homes will, in the future, have/have to have access to a communal space to leave our jars of fermenting food - in order that those in this situation dont miss out on the chance to store our food this way.

Personally - I am still hoping to be able to "get into" this before it becomes the Next Big Thing - so that I can start up a little sideline on this if it works out. But I suspect it already will be said NBT before I get a chance...oh well...

EDIT: Sandor has a website on this:

www.wildfermentation.com/