make do and mend for tougher times

[Deleted User]

KITTIE - COURGETTE LEMON CURD

12oz peeled deseeded courgette or marrow steamed,drained and mashed until smooth
12oz sugar
juice and rind of 1 lemon
2oz butter

put all in a heavy based pan, bring to the boil and simmer gently for half an hour, keep stirring, then pot it up in jars.

very easy, very tasty
Cheers Lyn x.

Possession

Poor Miss VJ. It will get better, the first day is bound to be hard if she doesn't know anyone.
I need to really crack on with work today so back later.

grandma247

A couple of years ago I bought a whole load of shampoos and bubble baths for about 22p a liter bottle in the big supermarkets and used it in handwash bottles. I also used it as emergency washing liquid for clothes. I need to get some more now. I do have a load of baby bath from mr s when it was 11p but I need to keep that for ds3 because most other stuff brings back his excema. I will get some mr m if they have it in so he can try it.

[Deleted User]

a big thank you mrs LW, I`ll be making that later

Just having a well earned break, I mean honestly os women work so HARD. Dh is happy and out cycling all day with friends but I just set to, lol the upside is that I can twist him around my finger but he is lucky as I am low maintenance My drink is called caro and I am having it with a little hm almond milk, it`s lovely

I`ve been crawling around the cupboard under the stairs and managed to make a small amount of room. Found 3 doz empty kilner jars so am happy and stashed 18 jars of 2012 green tomato chutney. Pulled out 2 demijohns of elderberry wine from last year so will bottle later. The door is 4` 3" tall and ridiculous, dh had to make two sets of freestanding shelves based on my measurements. He can never go in there. Why oh why do they build houses without walk in larders of some sort!!

Got 9 trays of jonagold dehydrating and trying 3 trays dusted with cinnemon. Blocked a newly knitted acrylic cardi for gd. I just fire steam and pat with my fingers, does the job nicely. Made 2 so far but have enough yarn for another 4 (3-5 year old) what a bargain that was from kemps. 10 big balls of aran for £10. Already have several buttons so total cost is £1.70 a garment and they look really good too

[Deleted User]

You're welcome KITTIE - I can't fathom out why there are no Larder Cupboards in houses these days either. We're 70's and there is 1 cupboard in 1 bedroom. The understairs is 4' down to hands and knees only, so no use for anything big. We've turned one of the colder bedrooms into a general store now the girls are away from home, plus side, I can see everything at a glance, down side DH uses it too so I cannot actually get to the shelves!!!!!!!!! Oh well, thats life! Cheers Lyn xxx.

prepareathome

Thanks for the courgette curd, have discovered when I removed all the tomato plants and bushes( tears falling at losing them all to blight - some were even turning red on one side and blight was on other) that my courgettes had survived and were growing nicely, not many about 10 so leaving them to grow a bit more and will have a go at that.

Feeling more the thing today as yesterday was a pain/exhaustion day horrible so plan to get seed potatoes planted today, and sun is shining - yesterday rained in morning and stayed dull and overcast rest of day urg.

My last but one parcel turned up, so only thing I am waiting for now is wartime farm book from The Book People, it was despatched yesterday.

So parcel today was microwave pressure cooker for £5.05 so will have a go using it for rice today, not sure what rice will be with but its definately rice tonight:D

Think Am@zon are getting a bit muddle just received despatch notice for a book I received yesterday (not sent via RM)

Can tell money getting tight round here as the Bright House van which rarely was seen here is again delivering this time to house 3 doors down. We are not an estate just an ordinary road and all but mine is privately owned, but many now are privately rented. Past couple of weeks its been to two other houses I can see while sitting in bed and looking out,which is only 7(if anything happens outside that field of view it is missed by me). They must be doing a roaring trade with people finding it harder and harder to get credit. So far we have never had to use them, prefer to save up and buy as hate the idea of buying anything on credit apart from a car(which is thankfully all paid for)but for many so used to getting what they want now rather than waiting if they cannot get credit then places like Bright House will be their only option.

Well day is awasting and I have been up since 9am when delivery driver woke me(not RM) and all I have done is caught up on posts and made a cuppa so better give myself a kick and get moving.

I have to write up properly my ideas for teaching about storecupboarding for tomorrow. Got lots of notes but nothing concerete. Wanted to show them the website up and full of info and so far all I have is the intro page with reasons why you should have a store cupboard. Not exactly helpful.

Its a shame for all its sunny its chilly as sitting outside on laptop would have been nice but think I will be to cold, its the wind again, why is it every time we have had sun this summer it has been accompanied by a chilly wind, yet on dull or cooler days there has not been the slightest breeze, not one nice sunny day without it at all, last time was in March.

Right better move myself

Hugs and Love to allxxx

prepareathome

Oh meant to say I hope Miss VJ has a better day today and it was only the strangeness that upset her, not knowing anyone or where anything is.

My DGD13 who moved schools 2 weeks before end of term - she was travelling 40 miles each way to school every day and it was just getting to much for her for all she loved the school, thankfully seems to have settled back into this school - 10 mins travelling and phoned last night to say she has been moved into top set for everything. Not bad for a girl whom for many years was always bottom due to her dyslexia then her school sent her to a special centre for dyslexic children for two years and boy the difference not just in her reading but in her confidence. They not only helped them with learning but taught them meditation, relaxation, massage and how to talk about problems. Even the school she left in July gave her an award for most outstanding achiever of the year as since starting high school she seems to have blossomed and totally found herself. She is a bit worried as being in top set means she has to do 13/14 subjects for GCSE rather than the 10 the rest of the year does but I told her not to worry, choices are not till end of year and if she finds it a bit much she can always just concentrate on the subjects she likes and wants - at moment she wants to study drama but as a back up wants to be able to study law at University. I told her perfect choice as lawyers are a bit like actors

Hugs and Love to all xxxx

Hippymam

Hello I posted on here about a week ago saying things were going to be tough in our house as my husband would possibly be made redundant. Well, he was made redundant on Friday last week :eek:

He is looking for work and in the meantime we have applied for benefits, but hope he will find a job before we need them. I work part time, but we also have a 10 month old baby and no family nearby so we can't afford nursery fees

Luckily we have a well stocked pantry and freezer so that should see us right for a bit. I am very crafty so am currently making curtain liners for all the windows in the house to try and save on our oil bill this winter (last winter it was almost £1,000:eek:) as we can't afford to spend that sort of money again, but need the house to be warm as we have a little one here. Am also making draught excluders using some upholstery material my mam got me from work and am going to stuff them using odd socks and old underwear!

I have been getting cheap fleeces and blankets when I have seen them so we have a good stock of them in the house

Looking forward to joining in on here x

[Deleted User]

HIPPIEMAM - So sorry to hear that your DH was made redundant. You sound very organised and determined to make the best of a difficult situation. Hopefully he will be able to find work again fairly quickly. We will help all we can if you need ideas to make things stretch in the meantime. Good luck both of you Cheers Lyn.

GreyQueen

Sorry to hear that your OH did lose his job after all, hippymam, and fingers crossed that he will soon find another one. There's a lot of it about at the moment and I'm stressing as a dear friend and hundreds of their workmates are have their livelihoods hanging in the balance at the moment.

I'm guessing you've seen the Preparing for Winter thread as it's on the front page of Old Style (deservedly so)?

Today I'm on annual leave and feeling antsy so spending the time doing a bit of autumn cleaning (have just got under the 3rd and heaviest appliance - the washer- to clean). My kitchen is silly small at 6 feet square but with a bit of jiggery-pokery I can access a small area of dead space in the corner which is closed off bar an 8" gap unless the washer is pulled out as it is at the moment. Have decided that as it's dark and cool under there it shall be my bottled water stash spot.

I'm buying 2 litres of bottled water at 17p a pop and attaching labels to the necks with gardening twisty-ties. The labels went thru the laminator and I'm writing the exp date on them, so I will use them by that date and refill with tap water, label for 6 months on and repeat as necessary.

I've blown a whole £2 on a fibre-tip which will write on plastic and and on steel cans and am using it to write the purchase date and store (unless it's own brand and thus obvious) and the expiry date on the top. This is to aid rotations and make it easier to read. And to help me keep track of the blinking inflation which is getting beyond a joke. It's beginning to feel like the 1970s and not in a good way, either............

I've definately seen shelf spaces formerly occupied by the value/ basics range being colonised by the more expensive ones and the hike in basics can be as much as 50% between visits days apart. I've decided that as things stand, I shall aim to have a 12 month supply of cooking oil at all times (stuff on sale at the moment is BB Aug 2013) so as I start a fesh bottle I will add a new one to the back of the row and thus they will stay in rotation.

We're going to have to be a bit more fly and pantrywise than some people have been in the last 2-3 decades as we move into unpredicatable times. Thank goodness for MSE!