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

meme30

Katieowl:- I think learning how to get several meals out of a chicken is a good idea. Lots of people throw away a carcass which still has meat on it. Finishing up making a soup from the bones gives another meal (try Chicken and Sweetcorn, cheap and easy) Also a workshop on multi use of basics, 101 things to to with Eggs/Potatoes/sausages. People are used to their own limited ideas so new ideas would be welcomed. We all suffer from 'What will I cook today itis!'

Rosanna, Grandma & elizabunny:- lots of sympathy for the neck pain. I am having neck traction at the moment. I trap the eighth nerve which causes a painful knot under my left shoulder followed by pain down my left arm and numbness in my fingers. When bad dizzy as well. Eliza you need to go to Docs now. Nerve damage can become ireversable. Worth having it looked at.

EstherH

Hi KATIE,

I think that your cookery classes sound great. I personally would love the takeaway one as being on a very low income this is something that we do once or twice a year as a birthday treat. The stretching mince/rubber chicken will probably be great for lots of people who have no idea about these things. Also, what about something on homemade healthy burgers, chicken nuggets etc. although they may be more expensive to make than the cheap rubbish you can buy in the supermarkets.

Hope you gets good response. Sure you will. Wish I lived nearer and could come.

Esther x

silvasava

katieowl - your classes sound great. I don't really have any more suggestions but I do know my DGD did home economics with theory one week & practical the next - usually about 2 hours. When I was at senior school we used to have the whole day! I think you would have full classes after all how many of us really enjoyed D.Sc at school? When you run classes people attend because they WANT to learn & its much more rewarding. Good Luck!

Winchelsea

Good luck Katieowl with the classes. Such a worthwhile thing to do!

katieowl_2

Forgot to say earlier...Went into Mr T and they have Cafe Direct Fairtrade teabags on special offer @ 1.04 for 80 - think that it was half price, I know they are usually over £2 - one of our brands of preference - so I stocked up! I've tried Aldi, Lidl, and basics and cheaper brands, but just don't like them, tea is one of life's essential fluids in this house (along with milk, red wine and olive oil - LOL)

Also the last two days, yesterday in Tesco, and today in Aldi, I have picked up whoopsied primulas...how blooming (pun!) daft is that. Admittedly they all looked the worst for wear, watering whilst in store may have helped (!) but they've all perked up with a nice drink, and also Aldi were knocking out bulbs and stuff, in nice china pots for 99p! Switched them around to get the ones with a chance of making it, into the pots I liked best - tee hee - but what a result!

Kate

morag1202

scrabbles wrote: »

It's a great idea, there really isn't much out there that's frugal enough. Shows like Economy Gastronomy are great if you've hit a rocky patch and need to shave your food bill from £500 to £350, but not much use if you've got to cut from £350 to £100 (for example). It frustrates me no end when 'experts' (on MSE and in RL) smugly say 'if you cook properly you can easily eat good, healthy, nutritious food on benefits'. Yes, you can but only if you are given the appropriate tools, skills and knowledge.

weezl74 and friends set up a website specifically to help a family of 2 adults and 2 teenagers eat 3 healthy meals a day plus snacks, for £100 per month. She gives two 30 day meal plans with shopping lists and recipes plus a number of useful guides.

http://www.cheap-family-recipes.org.uk/

scrabbles_2

morag1202 wrote: »

weezl74 and friends set up a website specifically to help a family of 2 adults and 2 teenagers eat 3 healthy meals a day plus snacks, for £100 per month. She gives two 30 day meal plans with shopping lists and recipes plus a number of useful guides.

http://www.cheap-family-recipes.org.uk/

Oh I know, Weezl's website is amazing and so is this website, but the point I am making is that there is a growing underclass in this country who have not been taught the necessary skills to feed themselves well on a budget and who do not always have the skills, equipment or curiosity to seek this information out for themselves. Some people are genuinely ignorant that there is an alternative to the cheapest supermarket junk. They believe that fresh foods are expensive because they don't know how to shop for value, and believe that recipes are expensive because they have a lot of ingredients. I am not one of those people but they are undoubtedly out there.

And I honestly don't believe it should be left for them to stumble over sites like Weezl's. As I said before, I believe that poverty of knowledge is as big a disadvantage to quality of life as poverty of finance is. When the two go together, as is so often the case, it can result in total alienation. I think there should be proper home economics classes in school (I never had a practical cookery lesson, although I did spend months on projects where we researched food additives and 'invented' our own ready meals). And I also think that every local authority should provide classes on how to cook cheap, nutritious food to disadvantaged people, to provide them with the necessary life skills they need. We have classes where adults can learn to read and write, to learn numeracy, to learn computer skills. I think basic home economics are just as important and should be treated as such.

Ooh I am on my soap-box today aren't I peeps! :rotfl:

mardatha

I can remember - away back in the 70s I think - reading an autobiography by somebody (whose name I cannot remember lol) and she said schools were churning out children who didnt have a clue how to run a house or deal with a family, and that a generation was growing up without essential skills. I think now we see the proof of that.

kidcat

mardatha wrote: »

I can remember - away back in the 70s I think - reading an autobiography by somebody (whose name I cannot remember lol) and she said schools were churning out children who didnt have a clue how to run a house or deal with a family, and that a generation was growing up without essential skills. I think now we see the proof of that.

Without a doubt, at college open evening last week the staff were saying how disappointed they were that DD high school had stopped even pretending to teach the subjects and were simply teaching to pass exams, as a result the kids went to college with no idea of the basics and were having to be taught to study. And that seems to be the same across the board - kids learn to pass exams, everything else is out of the window.
Imagine how bad it will be in ten years time when a whole generation of these kids are released into the general world with no skills whatsoever.
The college tutors were also very concerned that kids had no concept of failing - DD and her friends have been brainwashed that A* is the only acceptable mark, and none have ever failed an exam - simply because of there was any sign of failure school didnt allow them to sit the exam.

Added to the complete lack of financial and domestic skills being taught I cant help but worry just how bad it will be for these kids.

smileyt_2

It's true - one of my neighbours, in her twenties, has no idea how to cook. They just weren't taught at school, and her own mum was a ready-meal and oven chips kind of 'cook'. Most of the young people I have dealt with through the charity I'm involved with have no idea how to cook. The lad I've got now is OK but he is a rarity.

Don't know why, and a complete change of topic, but this popped into my head last night and I have been giggling on and off all day. It is kind of OS because it involves a laundry maiden instead of a tumble-dryer.... apologies if some of you have heard it before.

Warning - it's knicker related .....

Early last year I had a problem with damp in my bedroom. Turned out the flashing round the chimney stack was loose. Anyway, initially the housing association sent an inspector out to investigate. I had a load of washing on the laundry maiden, which hangs from the ceiling just outside my bedroom. Well, I'm under 5ft so it doesn't matter to me that said laundry rack is low down (I think you can guess where this is going ....) Along the landing strides Mr Inspector, who is 6ft tall. Suddenly, I hear, "Ooh. Erm. Knickers!" and turn around to see Mr Inspector with a pair of my knickers on his head!! He'd brushed against the laundry rack and dislodged them and they'd fallen onto his head. I was utterly mortified and neither of us knew where to look ..... he pulled them off his head and stood there dithering with them in his hand, a look of alarm on his face .... (something like this :eek: only redder :rotfl:) He popped them back onto the maiden and kind of patted them and dithered a bit more. Oh Lord, I couldn't wait to get rid of him and he couldn't wait to leave!

Next time I will be making sure there are no items of underwear on the laundry rack!!