Preparing for winter III

Fruball

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Al*di do a pretty good one which we use at work - think it's around £6 for a box of 12 (sold individually but we just tend to pick up the box).

Personally, I find the skimmed fine but don't like semi or full versions even though I drink semi in fresh milk.

Not sure what I'm going to do this year as it's the first year since I've been diagnosed as Lactose intolerant .....:(



A huge welcome to Readyforchange and MaxSusie (apologies if I've missed anyone else, memory like a sieve and I read through and forget)


Well, the bad weather:mad: has had one positive outcome ....... drum roll.....

I've finished my knitted shoulder throw:j:j - it's huge (goes from my neck to below waist width wise and way down past my wrists) so hoping it'll do the trick (it's been in use this afternoon as it's pretty chilly here!).

Not sure what to knit next - I've got the bug!

I've got odd balls of wool in the loft etc so thinking it may be squares to put together to make a big throw/blanket for the bed. The only problem with that is the dog sneaks up on there when I go to work and a bit worried about him making "pulls" in it.....

Have you tried Rice Milk? Its a bit like sweet skimmed milk - also oat milk is lovely and creamier than rice milk.

There are also nut milks - Might be worth trying a few before you settle on one you like

warbaby_2

I really am stingy!

I have started bottling my pears and the instructions (Mrs Beeton) start, 'Peel the pears . . . ' But we all know that most of the goodness is in the skin and it would have broken my heart to throw away all those lovely peelings, even on to the compost heap.

So I cooked them up, with a small amount of the water I'd been keeping them in while i did the pears and which had absorbed quite a lot of their flavour, and blitzed them smooth in the blender and now they're sitting, in individual portions, in my freezer ready to make smoothies and tarts and pies and . . .

Incidentally, for freezing small portions like this, those little silicon cake cases are ideal. They peel off easily and the contents can be stored in plastic bags to take up less space. Which is vital in my little freezer!

Red_Doe

Frugal wrote: »

Have you tried Rice Milk? Its a bit like sweet skimmed milk - also oat milk is lovely and creamier than rice milk.

There are also nut milks - Might be worth trying a few before you settle on one you like

I recently tried the Alpro soya milk courtesy of Approved Foods.
I liked it fine on my porridge but made the mistake of putting it in coffee! It made the coffee look sour (all lumpy curdled bits floating on top) and the coffee tasted like drinking chocolate, can't explain that at all!
Apart from that though it was fine.

Becky_2

darkrev, congratulations on your marriage.

Taadaa

You can put Alpro in tea (or any soya milk), but not coffee for some reason

I suspect this has already been mentioned somewhere, but British Gas customers can get free loft and cavity wall insulation - register on the website until 31st October.

B & Q have got big rolls of loft insulation in store for just 3 quid...to think that would have been triple the price a couple of years ago!

tugrin

Soya milk is funny - I was told a long time ago thats its the coffees acidity combined with putting milk in when it is very hot. I have tried several ways over the years and the fresher the milk (ie if you have only recently opened it) the less likely it is to do the curdling thing. I was served some that did that in a veggie restaurant once and when I complained the waitress tried to tell me that it wasnt curdled and was all right to drink - well that may be true but Im not paying for that was my response - I got freshly opened milk!
I just love the tip about freezing in silicone baking cases - makes perfect sense then you get little cake shaped balls instead of what Ive got - medium sized oddly shaped splodges that take longer to defrost!!!! Thank You1

pinkmami

tryingtobethrifty wrote: »

We used cat litter last year when the salt ran out! It made the most awful mess. The driveway and our house was covered in white yuck that took ages to get out of everything. My gut feeling would be if you're going to stock pile anything, get salt first and only turn to the cat litter as a last resort (although maybe different types are better for this, we used T3scos own).

I used cat litter last year & it was vile. As you said it got everywhere. Never again.

pinkmami

pinkmami wrote: »

Glade winter berries, spiced apple, zen, glistening snow & chocolate & honey candles are all BOGOF in Wilko at £3.68. Got 2 spiced apples today!!

Saw some of these in tesco for £1.50 this morning.

Rose_Crow

Wow thanks for all your kind replies regarding the hay.

Suki - Didn't know about that trailer rule, is good to know for if I need to use a small trailer for trips to the dump as you mentioned.

Rainy - Thanks for your kind offer, it's nice to know there are lovely helpful people around Our field shelter (which our horses don't actually use) is now our hay / feed store, so we're ok for storing the hay, though the roof is a bit ropey so we have tarp to cover the hay anyway

Rising - Unfortunately I don't know anyone with a trailer or horsebox, which is a shame because I'd love to take the girls out for different hacks.

However.......

Turgin - Your post prompted me to get on the phone to our supplier, who actually confirmed that he can deliver along our byway (apparently he delivered to someone about 9 years ago so has a good memory!!) Minimum order is about 25 bales which should do us fine over the winter. Going to have a chat with my sis tonight and hopefully book a delivery! :j

Thanks again - feel like it's time for a group hug! :dance:

tugrin

oh grn Im SO glad I was a help - wish I could actually come and help with the ferrying too - i miss looking after horses (not to mention riding them!) . On a rather bleak old day for me its so nice to know that one is not entirely u.s.

I am conducting an eperiment this afternoon - I have my very first loaf of home made sourdough bread baking - I made the starter the way a Finnish friend showed me a million years ago - so will see if its any good in about 30 mins time (fingers crossed)