Preparing for winter III

Blue_Elephant

Eliza wrote: »

Did they say whyever not? Can't imagine any reason at all - all kinds of bread from cheapie sliced to artisan/ home made/ posh stuff freezes brillantly! I tend to slice it first then freeze, then you only need to take out as many slices as you need. It's usually recommended to fill a freezer with bread if there's spare space in it (unlikely to happen with any of us lot!!) to make it run more efficiently.

Go for it.

rosieben wrote: »

I can't think of any reason why they don't recommend freezing except they hope it will go off so you have to buy more, sorry, I'm such a cynic!!:D

I have frozen their bread in the past as well as bread from other sm's; it may be their dough is frozen, but once cooked its fine to freeze again. In fact I read in the Home and Freezer Digest - wish it was still around! - in the 70's that you can refreeze bread quite safely and I've done that on many occasions.

Thanks guys

I didn't think there was any reason I couldn't, but I just asked the lady anyway, and all she said was "we don't recommend it" I'm inclined to agree with Rosieben - that if it goes off I have to buy more. Was never an issue before as there are usually 3 of us in the house and more often than not the bread runs out, however on my ownsome for the next 6 weeks and dont want to throw money away lol.

Thank you again *wanders off to stick bread in freezer*

lizzyb1812

Re freezing the bread - it's almost certainly going to be OK. But imagine the scenario where Mr/Mrs X ask if it's OK to freeze and bakery person Y says "of course". Then Mr/Mrs X bungs the loaf in the freezer without proper wrapping and it doesn't defrost just like a freshly baked loaf, crisp crust and all. So Mr/Mrs X complains, bakery person Y gets it in the neck and a memo goes out to say that bakery staff must say bread is not suitable for freezing.

Supermarkets set themselves up to avoid flack from the numpties and there's nothing wrong with that, but we're not numpties and can make sensible decisions/ask sensible questions on here - freeze the bread well wrapped and don't expect a crispy crust when defrosted and you'll be fine.

Blue_Elephant

lizzyb1812 wrote: »

Re freezing the bread - it's almost certainly going to be OK. But imagine the scenario where Mr/Mrs X ask if it's OK to freeze and bakery person Y says "of course". Then Mr/Mrs X bungs the loaf in the freezer without proper wrapping and it doesn't defrost just like a freshly baked loaf, crisp crust and all. So Mr/Mrs X complains, bakery person Y gets it in the neck and a memo goes out to say that bakery staff must say bread is not suitable for freezing.

Supermarkets set themselves up to avoid flack from the numpties and there's nothing wrong with that, but we're not numpties and can make sensible decisions/ask sensible questions on here - freeze the bread well wrapped and don't expect a crispy crust when defrosted and you'll be fine.

Ok going to ask a stupid question now lol, when you say "properly wrapped" do you just mean in the packaging I bought it in? Or do I have to do something special?

And any frozen bread is just for toast iyswim, so crispy crusts not an issue. Thank you!

*puts on numpty badge* :P

PS I have frozen branded bread (full of all the additives) before, when I was at uni and shopping for one, but it usually says on the wrapper that you can, and that never has the crispy crusts either. Then again those crusts weren't crispy to begin with lol

twiglet98

No snow and not even particularly cold here in south Cambs, it's 2.4C now and has been drizzling slightly. DS is in SW Scotland with GF's family, he hasn't mentioned snow there - he's just back from Oz and feels the cold!

Please can someone who understands these things help me work out how I should use my dehumidifier - just on cheap rate, or are they really cheap enough to use on day rate? It's a Challenge RAM710 which my mother used in her very damp cottage, until she replaced it with a smaller new one. My house has aluminium double glazing, and the walls are concrete. The shower room gets terrible mould on the outside wall and ceiling (embossed paper over polystyrene, done by previous owners). There are five adults here so a lot of wet towels. I no longer have a tumble dryer and most of the washing gets hung up to dry indoors, on pulley ceiling airers, concertina airers, hung on curtain poles... you get the picture. The dehumidifier seems a good idea.

No manual but the plate says 220W. It has two fan speeds and an unmarked dial that I currently have on the highest setting. I haven't had it long enough to work out what effect it has on the electricity bill, but if a tumble dryer is say, 2kw, but is only on for a few hours, is it really worse than keeping the dehumidfier on for 24 hours (or more), which what it seems to need to stop the windows streaming with condensation when washing is hung round the house. We have oil heating and the room thermostat is set at 14C, with only the shower and DDs' bedroom radiators on for now.

In practice, when I had a t/dryer my DDs would put a pair of polyester work trousers in it for half an hour before dressing "so they're warm to put on", and that's one of the reasons for getting rid of it, but on days when DD decides to wash every towel in the house, and it's damp and drizzly outside, I envisage the dehumidifier being on non-stop all winter!

I cleaned mould off all the window frames yesterday and I wonder how long they'll stay that way!

Kimsmum

We have snow here and its bitterly cold

pinkmami

I have frozen fresh bread from the bakers & TBH I prefer the packaged loaves from the supermarket to the fresh ones after defrosting. I find the ones from my local bakery very dry.

I need to start filling the top of my freezer with bread this week - Farm Foods here I come!7

Oh & no snow (only on Snowdon!) but its just pelted down with hailstones! According to the Countryfile weather earlier we should see some flakes by the end of the week!

Cheapskate

Hello all

Still behind with prep, but as we're sort of forecast a bit of snow (maybe) I need to get my arris in gear tomorrow - some stuff can wait, but a couple of things can't. I still need 2 torches, a load of bubble wrap (can get free from DH's work tho) and a few more non-perishables.

No snow in my bit of Yorkshire just now, or even rain, but it's definitely a bit thin out there and really smells like snow! :eek:

Got my flannelette quilt cover on now - it was gorgeous to get into last night - pain in the a**e to get out when it was cold this morning!

Keep warm all.

A xo

saverholic

I have what may be a daft question. I've been using yankee tarts in an old ceramic oil burner and I know people on here have suggested putting the tart (or part of it) in a silicone cupcake to allow tarts to be swapped around easily.

I know when you buy oil burners there are always warnings saying not to let them burn dry. When using the cupcake holders should I surround the cupcake with water or will it be ok? I really don't want to crack my oil burner but I'd love to be able to swap the tarts around more easily.

Hope everyone is wrapped up warm, there's a weather warning for snow tomorrow here, can't say I'm particularly looking forward to the prospect

beanrua

prepareathome wrote: »

so far just made a draught excluder, filling it with the insides of cheapest pillows I could buy, far cheaper than buying stuffing and don't have anything else in I could have used. l

You've just inspired me - I need a draught excluder but coudln't think of anything to fill it with - reading your post reminded me that I have some old pillows lying about. I'm going to cut the leg off an old pair of jeans and stuff it with a pillow or two.
tugrin - what if you just painted the sliding doors the same as the wall.
I have a habit of doing jobs that involve wrecking the house coming up to Xmas ie re-wiring, insulating etc etc It's now a standing joke every year to see if the house will be sorted for Xmas - it usually is - I think I work better under pressure and a def deadline.

prepareathome

Its pelting down here but temp has now gone down outside to 0 so if it stops we are likely to have a lot of ice, the rain obviously is warmer than the actual temp if not it would be snow or sleet........so looks like it might be slippy out there tomorrow. If it ever does stop raining and temp stays at zero I will put some grit down on paths. Stay safe everyone