make do and mend for tougher times

elona

Great idea of scalloped potatoes!

Think DH would like that even if dds don't and would be a quick lunch as well.

recoverydust

I use the vouchers for Xmas and birthday shopping. Buying sale clothes in sizes too big to fit the kids i buy for and for me and DH, and toys that go in a box so I never get caught short in the run up to Xmas
Talking of Xmas, Asda have 16 inch flat tellies for fifty squid if anyone is planning to get one. Cheapest I have seen

Happy Thursday

Xxx
Dusty

[Deleted User]

Afternoon all, DH took me to Li*l this morning and I got 2 trays of 12 Baked Beans, 1 tray of 12 chopped tomatoes and 12 pks of Passata to go into store for the winter, then we went to Mr.T and got a tray of 12 Basics Rice Pudding at 12p each so the store room is looking better already. I also got some sunflower oil and a 2 and a half kilo pack of Penne and a few other bits and bobs. I am going to try and pick up a few things every week from now on and build a good old stash.

Wonderful warm and sunny day today, 3 loads of washing out and nearly dry DH is going to mow lawns later on when it is indoors.

The polytunnel is producing masses of lovely fresh things, am getting two good helpings of french beans every day, the courgette has turned into a triffid and has masses of them at all stages of development. The tomatoes are beginning to ripen in quantities and the outdoor blackberries are phemomenal, I've over 6 kilos in the freezer already and that is only a very small part of the fruits on the 2 plants. We have sweetcorn in the garden this year and they are beginning to put out tassels, so perhaps we'll get some to freeze there as well.

Hope you are all having a good day and hope the nice weather is with all of you, Cheers Lyn xx.

katieowl_2

elona wrote: »

I got an AF order the order day and some Dr. Oet**** batter mix was in it - thought a bag of it would be handy.

The bag is massive!!! I have about half a stone of batter mix!! Managed to rejig plastic containers so I could fill two huge containers with it and labelled it clearly. I am determined to actually use it up so apart from experimenting with pancakes, maybe fish in batter - I am wracking my brains to think what to use it for.

I'm LOLLING to myself because I ordered a bag of lime jelly...the fact it was 3 kilos of lime jelly crystals seemed to have evaded me entirely...The whole bag makes enough lime jelly to fill the bath :rotfl:


Kate

Possession

katieowl wrote: »

I'm LOLLING to myself because I ordered a bag of lime jelly...the fact it was 3 kilos of lime jelly crystals seemed to have evaded me entirely...The whole bag makes enough lime jelly to fill the bath :rotfl:


Kate

LOL that would make a great kids' party activity!

meme30

Katieowl:- Loving the jelly story! Can I be 'bad' and suggest filling balloons with it and pelting your DD's landlord!:D

Hello all new folk and welcome!:wave:

My halogen oven has arrived and I don't know what to cook first! I think I have to get my head round the 'use it instead of the oven' thing. I bought it in order to reduce our electric bill rather than to try different recipes IYKWIM. I will try some new recipes at the weekend though.

Today is my day of rest, so have pottered about, done a bit of shopping and started making some Limoncello. The recipe I used just wanted the zest of 5 lemons added to the vodka, so I have 5 naked lemons and am wondering what to do with them? :rotfl: Any ideas?

PhGage

meme30 wrote: »

I have 5 naked lemons and am wondering what to do with them? :rotfl: Any ideas?

I've made Delia's lemon curd without the zest before and it was fine.

fuddle

Happy New Halogen Oven Day!

Well my mam and sister have just left and I have rather enjoyed it. I made SC gammon, fried egg and pineapple with par boiled potatoes finished off in the halogen for lunch. It was really rather tasty

My mam has asked if she can have a halogen for christmas from sister and I which I was chuffed about. She's taken with mine.

We also managed to have a decent conversation about pensions etc. Mam thinks her work one isn't going to be as lucrative as she had hoped (education). Mam even said that I'm better off in this day and age childminding than trying to get into education. She said she can see I'm happy and content at home, some she never was.

So I've coped well and talked sense to her. It's a rarity but a really nice day.

Halogen toad in the hole for tea and can I confess something? I cannot frozen veg. I like fresh veg steamed or roasted. It won't get wasted as the kids actually prefer frozen veg... I can't fathom them sometimes.

monnagran

Hi.

I am still grieving over the massive post I lost yeterday. Can't remember what was in it but feel sure that it was devastingly humorous, incredibly useful and informative and a great loss to mankind.

Twink: my heart goes out to you. I cannot imagine what it must be like not to have a background of 'make do and mend' and cooking with mother.
If I were you I'd concentrate on getting one thing practised and right before going on to other experiments.
Mince is wonderfully forgiving and the basis of loads of different meals. What I do is this.....
Fry mince in batches and put into SC. Add whatever you have around. eg finely chopped onions, carrots, mushrooms, baked beans, lentils (if your mind works that way) other veg (useful when kids won't eat them any other way), and a tin of chopped tomatoes. I somtimes finely chop a couple of slices of streaky bacon to shove in.Then you want something to add flavour. Try any or some of these... dried mixed herbs, tomato paste, lazy garlic, crumbled oxo cubes, a dash of worcester sauce, branston pickle (yes, really) or some people ,I believe, pour in some red wine - what a waste! and about half a pint of boiling water with a stock cube in it.
Tip whatever concoction you've made into the SC and cook on Low for about 5 or 6 hours or more if you are out of the house. If it seems a bit watery mix in some gravy granules to thicken it.

Then Freeze it in meal sized portions. You can tip this over Spaghetti or a jacket potato. Put some in a dish cover with mashed potato, heat up in oven and Abracadabra- cottage pie. You can also collect some of Elona's pancake mix and make some pancakes, dump a spoonful in the middle of each pancake, roll up and put in baking dish, cover with some of the cheese sauce that someone else has taught you to make and bung that in the oven or layer mince, cheese sauce and Lasagne sheets and bake again for a very acceptable lasagne. The possibilities are endless.

Here ends the first page of my Cheap and Easy meals Encyclopedia.

Stiltwalker: You'll find that he is even worse as a teenager. Mine had to be encouraged at gunpoint to have a bath but would wash their hair in 3 different substances before going to school. Heaven knows which girl they were trying to impress but I guess she would have baulked at their grimy necks.

Power to the elbow of all of you fighting with offialdom at the moment.

meme30

:wall:I have just been very short with a call centre adviser for E*F energy. I always pay a bit more each month in order to stay ahead of the larger bills in the winter. In May I got a letter saying I was paying too much and they were going to change it, so I rang them and was reassured that it would stay at the higher rate that I preferred.
It was all lies:eek: I am £120 less in credit than I thought I was! :eek: I wouldn't care but I have spoken twice to my bank in the last two months because I have too much money left in the bank at the end of the month!

I know it's a weird thing to complain about.:D

My system is that everything gets paid and what is left is ours. It never occurred to me that one of my DD's was smaller, I just checked that they had all been paid. I am just so angry! I know the man I spoke to today, that it was not his fault but he was so blase about it. Thankfully my fixed rate with them ends in September and I did not really have to build up a big credit level with them as I had the option of changing suppliers. It's just the sheer incompetency of it, that, and it was me that spent the money!!!:wall: I should be bashing my own head against the bl**dy wall!