A new 'tougher' thread... and so it continues

oldtractor

A I bake and make from scratch all year last xmas I thought i'd make it easy and buy ready made,a sort of treat to myself. I bought frozen everything and was quite dissapointed,especially a 3 bird roast and canape type things. expensive disappointment. Will be back using local butcher and making my own mince pies [hm mincemeat] cake and canapes and pud once again. At least I know i'm not missing anything by not having supermarket stuff.

D&DD

oldtractor wrote: »

A I bake and make from scratch all year last xmas I thought i'd make it easy and buy ready made,a sort of treat to myself. I bought frozen everything and was quite dissapointed,especially a 3 bird roast and canape type things. expensive disappointment. Will be back using local butcher and making my own mince pies [hm mincemeat] cake and canapes and pud once again. At least I know i'm not missing anything by not having supermarket stuff.

lol I could have written this OT I bought a selected few extras myself for treats and didn't like any of them :rotfl:

I think being brought up on homemade then always having baked our tastebuds are just more refined

lizzyb1812

Softstuff wrote: »

Wow there were a lot of people with chock full trolleys of Christmas crap.

Last week I was in a Family Bargains - like HB but different name - lady in front of me at the checkout had a bulging trolley full of stuff. She paid a huge bill but as far as I could see most of what was in the trolley was pink plastic and a humongous amount of packaging. What a waste :eek:

I had a supermarket boned stuffed pheasant last year for Christmas Day - never again. There was a small amount of leftovers and the dog had them - I'll stick to home-made this year. Mind you, I'll only be cooking for two.

Christina_F

ellanutella wrote: »

However had a lovely OS day yesterday, made baileys champagne truffles and brandy fudge plus a lovely chicken and veg soup which I made out of HM stock for the first time ever. Did it in the slow cooker too :) I'm now pondering whether to ring BG up enquiring where the bill is, or whether to leave it until the new year. Haven't had one since the price rises in August, but when I rang up in July to again, ask where my bill was, we were apparently down on 6 month billing so I don't really want to request a bill that's not ready yet. It shouldn't be too bad (minus the extortionate price rises) as we're very careful.

Anyway, rant over, so pleased this thread is back :T

Could I ask for the recipe for Baileys truffles please?

grandma247

fuddle try not to worry about the others. When the bang comes they will turn to you for advice once their pride dampens.

I don't know why people are so snobby about renting. In my experience people often pay far more to rent than buy. Our normal mortgage payment is half what my kids pay in rent for their houses but their landlords vary from good to downright couldn't care less. We have that good landlords scheme here but its a joke. They want the rent but they will not do essential repairs. It makes me so mad.

charliemaine1bee hugs for you and your family. Have you had any advice about what you can claim for the funeral?

jamanda you can plan your garden now and prepare by getting the seeds and trays ready.

ellanutella If you keep a large bag of salt handy you get get the wee up with it by sprinkling it thickly then brushing it into a dustpan and repeating leaving it a little longer to soak up before you sweep it up. The salt helps to neutralize the smell too.

oldtractor I know what you mean about shop bought and it seems to be getting worse. Dh bought some biscuits because I haven't made any in a while and they were tasteless horrible bits of cardboard with yukky cream inside.

Softstuff

lilac_lady wrote: »

"Trolleys full of Christmas crap" :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:You are so right Softstuff.

Frugality rules for most of us at Christmas too so the thought of buying a lot of expensive things to eat when I can either make them or do without them is so unappealing.

Our homemade Christmas pudding, Christmas cake and mincemeat are in the cupboard. Next week I'm starting to make all my buffet bits for freezing - mini sausage rolls, mini asian chicken rolls, mini quiche, mini seek kebabs, meatballs, samosas, mini pizzas etc. Then I'll be making my mince pies to freeze raw. I'm optimistic that just before Christmas I'll be picking up a reduced ham and turkey to be frozen in slices. I'll also be freezing some full meals like lasagne, soup, meatloaf and cheat - putting them in foil containers ready for the oven, so that it's a bit of a holiday cooking wise (for the sake of 20p a container, it's well worth the expense).

All of this will be on or under our normal food budget (there's more offers and reduced stuff around Christmas) and I don't think there's many will eat better than us.

Oldtractor, I remember the year we bought premade stuff for Christmas. I was working a job where Christmas week was a 60 hour week with just Christmas day off, and we had 10 coming for Christmas dinner. So I went to a really posh food place here and ordered a boned rolled turkey stuffed with apricot and macadamia. 10 kilos of it, for an extortionate amount of money. It was to be picked up, cooked, at 5pm Christmas eve.

I took it home, and had a look at it. I'm not sure what made me do it, but I cut an end off. It was raw. Cue much general panic (and I started drinking the sherry). I covered it in butter and bacon, foiled it, stuck it in the oven. I kept checking it as it cooked. It took over 4 hours.

We ate it Christmas day, it was delicious and much complimented (I was well marinated by that point too). But I didn't feel confident enough to reuse the leftovers, so we threw those away. On boxing day I returned to the store to complain. The chef didn't believe me, fortunately though I had taken a photo of its raw state. He was suddenly horrified and apologetic (I wondered how many raw ones had been sent out and how many people didn't find out until Christmas day). I got a full refund. And vowed never again.

mardatha

Need your help here old stylers ! Woke up with this bottle in my head (Nooo not that kind of bottle!) and want the name if anybody knows it.
It was bath stuff, a glass bottle not plastic, oil or bubbles. it was very thick concentrated dark forest green and smelled of pine. it was quite expensive (to me anyway) and was heavenly. This is going back a bit, to the days when I had money. So we're talking pre-history here. I think it was a French name but not sure. Does anybody know what I'm talking about ??

Jolaaled

mardatha wrote: »

Need your help here old stylers ! Woke up with this bottle in my head (Nooo not that kind of bottle!) and want the name if anybody knows it.
It was bath stuff, a glass bottle not plastic, oil or bubbles. it was very thick concentrated dark forest green and smelled of pine. it was quite expensive (to me anyway) and was heavenly. This is going back a bit, to the days when I had money. So we're talking pre-history here. I think it was a French name but not sure. Does anybody know what I'm talking about ??

Could it be 'Badedas'?....Gorgeous stuff...don't know if you can still get it anywhere tho!

Edit...looks like Boots do it, after all!!

greenbee

Badedas is horse chestnut I think...

I know the stuff you mean mardatha, because my dad is always looking for it as he hates bubbles. I'll have a look and see whether I can remember it or find an equivalent....

ETA - not in a glass bottle but I think this is the stuff

taurusgb

mardatha wrote: »

Need your help here old stylers ! Woke up with this bottle in my head

You fared better than I did then Mardatha - I woke at 3am after a vile nightmare where anarchy had broken out and our house was under attack by marauding neighbours who knew we had food supplies :eek::eek::eek: sounds funny now but honestly it was horrible "seeing" the particularly nice lady from next door threatening my cat with a carving knife......think I might have to stop watching/reading the news for a bit.

Didn't sleep much after that, just tossed & turned worrying about how much there was to do before I go into hospital ref Christmas and berating myself for wasting most of the week just sitting on the sofa reading and using my laptop. I have no choice but to rest a lot but could have been wrapping a few parcels or writing lists for DH and DS2 to work from while I'm away or recuperating.

In an effort to relax and get some sleep I then tried counting my blessings, which meant I thought of my children......before I knew it I was back to tossing and turning worried to distraction about their economic future. Ouch......... I wish my brain had an on/off switch