make do and mend for tougher times

Pooky

Lovely to see all the newbies delurking :wave:

I'm 39, married to my amazingly brave and utterly gorgeous DH and we have 2 DDs (16 and 14), 6 cats, a parrot and a few fish. We moved into our "forever" home this time last year, in a small village on the Kent coast. I'm currently DHs carer and love "home making", craft, cooking, procrastinating, a glass of wine and am trying to make our lives as simple and cost effective as possible.

Pooky

fuddle wrote: »

Foraged another glut of blackberries. I swear no-one is wanting them but me. I can't understand it.

Going to do apple and black berry preserve with this lot. Also going to try a banana preserve as I have a few that is on the turn. Not masses, just want to try it out.

A few preserving questions if I may?

How do I sterilise old jam jars. Do I need a solution? I don't have any solution :cool:

Should I store preserves in the fridge? I have always put opened relish/pickles/jams in the fridge but it's getting a bit full in there now. I was hoping that a preserve will cope on the shelf?

I used to sterilise mine in the dishwasher but we don't have one now. You can do it in the oven (not sure of the details but I'm sure someone will know). For wine bottles we use Mr As own brand baby sterilising tablets, cheap as chips and does the jobs.

I store my preserves in the cupboard until open, then they go in the fridge.

Possession

I do mine in the dishwasher Fuddle, and time the jam/chutney so its ready about the time the dishwasher will finish so everything is hot. As Pooky says, you can definitely do them in the oven. I don't keep any of them in the fridge except lemon curd, until they are opened.

nuatha

fuddle wrote: »

Foraged another glut of blackberries. I swear no-one is wanting them but me. I can't understand it.

Its quite possible that folk haven't realised they're ripe yet, they are early this year - I can't remember picking blackberries before September.

Going to do apple and black berry preserve with this lot. Also going to try a banana preserve as I have a few that is on the turn. Not masses, just want to try it out.

A few preserving questions if I may?

How do I sterilise old jam jars. Do I need a solution? I don't have any solution :cool:

Should I store preserves in the fridge? I have always put opened relish/pickles/jams in the fridge but it's getting a bit full in there now. I was hoping that a preserve will cope on the shelf?

You don't need any solution, wash them and rinse well then put in a medium oven for 15-20 mins. More details and methods on this thread

Jams should store perfectly ok at room temperature, clearing cupboards a few years back at the family home I found a kilner jar of my Gran's blackberry jam, made 10 years earlier, perfectly edible - actually better than just edible, but some of the flavour may have been nostalgia.
HTH

Byatt

nuatha wrote: »

Its quite possible that folk haven't realised they're ripe yet, they are early this year - I can't remember picking blackberries before September.


You don't need any solution, wash them and rinse well then put in a medium oven for 15-20 mins. More details and methods on this thread

Jams should store perfectly ok at room temperature, clearing cupboards a few years back at the family home I found a kilner jar of my Gran's blackberry jam, made 10 years earlier, perfectly edible - actually better than just edible, but some of the flavour may have been nostalgia.
HTH

they are early up North but bizarrely not down South, as I proved this morning, loads of berries but very few ripe.

kidcat

hi fayehare

as we are doing intros I am married with four kids, 2 daughters 17 and 6 and two sons 14 and 8, boths boys are autistic and my OH is undiagnosed but definitely autistic too. We have three cats, one dog and a wabbit!
I live in Cheshire but am originally from Liverpool (not far from PAH in fact). I am currently a SAHM and full time carer for Ds8 who requires alot of care and attention.
We bought our first home last year and its probably going to be the last one - I really could not face moving again, besides the physical stuff the upset for my three guys was just incredible.


Am admitting slight jealousy over the blackberries, we have none at all here yet. In our last but one house we had blackberry bushes galore and I managed to always have enough for all my puddings and then freeze enough to keep us in puddings for the year.
I used to make wedding, baptism and birthday cakes and often was asked to provide desserts too, many of my favourite recipes were heavy on blackberries and it was never an issue before, but considering DD17 has her 18th coming up I will be wanting to make the desserts again and will need alot of blackberries - just hope we can find some in time. Have my mum keeping a space in the freezer for me to freeze large ice cream tubs full.

Popperwell

grandma247 wrote: »

Pops it may not be cost effective for you to do many eggs and certainly not a good idea to go out and buy another freezer. Maybe think about a larger one if yours stops working.

What a good idea, wait until this one is no use any more and also see where I am in case there isn't room for an extra freezer...I so hope I remain here...

I forgot apart from sorting out cancelling British Gas on Tuesday Morning I booked into CAB to try and get advice whether they can tell me what is likely to happen in the future regrading possibly changes in my situation and keeping a roof over my head and changes that could happen if when the BT and CTB change in April or what would happen if I lost or did not qualify for DLA or the equivelent...

I suspect they'll be working in the dark too...I nearly cancelled the appointment and thought lets just see what happens but they'll be closed until Tuesday so I cannot phone them up so I may attend I may not like what I hear but...

[Deleted User]

I was a child in liverpool kidcat. Near beacon lane, everton. Could hear the roar at anfield on match days

just had an e mail from spices of india
20% off all kitchen stuff, deducted at checkout. Also a £10 voucher off £100 code SEP12

some unusual stuff there
http://www.spicesofindia.co.uk/acatalog/Kitchen-and-Tableware.html

kidcat

My OH used to live very close to Anfield kittie along with all the match day parking issues!! :

Pops - its worth attending, they may be able to sort your Utilities nightmare out as well while you are there.

D&DD

:cool: <- this is me wearing a blindfold and not reading Spices of India have a sale on *resisting the call of more lock'n'locks*:rotfl:
(Thanks Kittie)

Hello newbies I'm terrible at remembering to say that

Reporting on blackberries dahn sarf ...it's dire here!!
Very tiny nuggets and drying up then dropping off mostly,even my trusty thornless one in the garden I curse every year because its too loaded has forsaken us this year!