make do and mend for tougher times

Cheapskate

SpikyHedgehog wrote: »

Kittie, that cardigan looks so sweet! But I should knit for my boys before I do something for my niece that I might not see her wear... I've nearly finished a wrap for myself - I used a lacy scarf pattern but thicker yarn & needles, so its too wide really for a scarf. Then I need to tackle a jumper I've been doing for too long for DS2, I'd gone wrong on the first sleeve for the 2nd time, so put it away for 18 months... Hoping the body will be an ok size still & I don't have to rip the front & back out too.



We were vegetarian since the early 70s, when I was 2, so I don't remember any meat dishes. I do remember mum would do curry & rice 1 day, then cook leftover rice with milk & sugar for rice pudding the next day, & that would be our dinner. & cheese & potato pie, & home made pizza that we'd have hot 1 day, then cold the next.

I don't think we thought about fridges & freezers so much back then.

We ate a lot of vegetarian food, too, partly as we all liked it, partly as meat was so expensive compared to dad's wage and we had no fridge. We tended to eat more meat when he was home on leave and as we got older, as he earned a little more. I only remember its arrival as I was 11, and it was a big deal! Tiny frozen food compartment - mum sent one of us to buy a box of fish fingers for the next day's tea, just because she could now keep them frozen! Small pleasures! :rotfl:

Mum could stretch a chicken in ways that would make many OSers green with envy - basically all week if dad home, longer if not!

A xo

Popperwell

I eat some meat but not a lot and I can stretch it out and add other ingredients to bulk out a meal...I could go vegetarian quite easily...

When there is space in my freezer, the local freezer shop have a packet of cooked chicken thighs and drumsticks for £2(I cannot get them that cheap in the local supermarket cooked or raw)and that even saves me having to cook them.

meme30

My FiL when he was in his eighties got to Christmas one year and discovered he had thrown out all of his decorations! All the ones DH and his sisters remembered from their childhood, all well loved and passed on from older generations. It felt like one of the family had been lost. A silly thing but there was a lot of sentiment in his collection. It made me look at our own well loved collection and I realised they contain so many memories and stories. He never quite got into the Christmas spirit again after that .:(

katieowl_2

Dippypud wrote: »

In our local CS, someone stopped to look at a coat, went into the canging room to try it on, came out and they'd sold her trolley...:eek:



with her shopping in it...:eek:

When the kids were at school, I sometimes used to pop into the local CS on the way home....

One day DD left her lunch box there. When I went back in the next day it was on the shelf with a price sticker on it...I said Oy that's ours we left it here yesterday, and they looked very dubious. That was, until I opened it and the remains of her lunch were still inside!!!! :rotfl:


Kate

SDG31000

Afternoon Everyone

fuddle what a great charity shop haul. I wish ours were so cheap. Hope you are having a great holiday

kidcat Good luck with the shopping. I hope you have good hiding places for all the cereal. The best of luck with the party

GQ How is the trolley shopping going? Have you found the one of your dreams?

My "Why did I throw that out moment???" was when I was pregnant with DS2. DH and DS1 were out and I decided that I had to clean out the cupboard under the stairs. I was ruthless and threw out the box containing all the letters that people had written to me when I was in my first year at Uni. To this day I still regret doing it and miss the memories they could have brought back.

I've made it to the shopping centre and back almost in one piece. I picked up The Hairy Dieters book from the library and was very amused to find that it's about 1/4 of the thickness of the perfect pie one :rotfl: I was also at the reduced section in Mr T's at the right time. The man from the Butcher's counter picked up the things there and told me he was taking them to reduce down to 50%. So I hung arounbd trying to look innocent and like nothing interesting was going on. I got two beef roasting joints for £2.25 and £1.94. They aren't huge, but each one will be a roast dinner for the three of us.
I then popped into the charity shop and got a new bath book for my nephew for 50p and a Cotton Traders shirt for me for £2.50.
Add a huge cauli for 80p from the market and I feel I got my share of bargains today.

I'm using up leftover chicken to make enchiladas for dinner. Fingers crossed DS1 will eat them.

Now I'm off to my friend's house to pick some of the blackberries that are taking over the bottom of her garden.

Take care xxxx

mardatha

Can I ask how you make nice rich brown gravy ? I make good stews but don't colour them, just cook in the juices... I think they would look nicer if they were brown . OH doesnt like Oxo he says - I dono how he knows because I've never used it!

Malfiore

Sounds like an excellent day SDG31000

OH and FIL are doing up the back garden at the moment. I'm excited as to the end result. Basically laying a patio, getting a bigger shed and having railway sleepers along two sides of the garden for growing veggies OH's parents want to pay for the new shed and sleepers but we don't want to let them! We've saved up a long time to do the garden up and it's a lot of money to accept. On the other hand it's freely given and would mean more money to get other works done.

I'm also struggling with my weight at the moment like so many people. I have lost all willpower and keep eating!!! I don't know what's wrong with me, I've put on a stone since March :eek: I think maybe I should get that cross stitch pattern a bit sooner to give me something to do with my hands instead of searching for food!!!!

Maybe I'll update my signature with my weight like a few people do and that might help as an incentive...

Monnagran, do you have any recommendations for books similar to Nella's? You mentioned you had a massive collection!

Possession

Mar you need gravy browning.

mardatha

Just any kind that says gravy browning?

Possession

Are we talking about a beef stew? In which case I might be tempted just to put a couple of teaspoons of beef gravy granules into the stew near the end. This will thicken it as well though. I do this when making stews in the slow cooker as I like a thick gravy. And dumplings. Mmmmmmmm.