make do and mend for tougher times

Popperwell

tryingtobethrifty wrote: »

There are toys in Costco at the minute along with Christmas decorations.

Tons of toys in BM Bargains too...amazing what they squeezed into the branch I was in a couple of days ago...

alltrustgone

Monnogran, double eek. Some desperate thoughts. Melba toast (version can be done in a dehydrator apparently, if you have access)

http://www.millersgrainhouse.com/milling/mistakes-and-left-overs/

Bread sauce ready for Christmas. Holiday season winding down, any kind hotelier with (a lot of) spare freezer capacity. Good Luck

born_blonde

Monnagran if all else fails what about Freegle?

Or lots of fat ducks ( yes I know it's bad for them - only joking).

fuddle

So pleased I read back about magnesium. DH is has been having disturbed sleep and read it could be that he's vitamin B12 deficient. He went to the doctor for a blood test - results came back 'no further treatment' so it's back to the drawing board with it. I'll look into magnesium now. Thanks so much for sharing.

kidcat

Monnogran how quickly do you need to use it up?

Also I know you are obviously working on behalf of a church but have you considered asking the other churches in your area? I ask as my dad is a minister and whichever church he is based at always has loads of freezers, its one of his things. In fairness they are usually doing regular meals etc and he is always scrounging freebies but there is usually extra space in them, and I know a few of other churches are the same.

I remember our Christmas turkey being stored in one of the church freezers once and the year we had no electric for a week all our freezer contents were dispersed over many churches and their freezers. I am sure we never got even half back but at least it wasnt wasted

Anyways if you can use them in next day or two if you store them tightly wrapped in black bin bags they should be ok if then crisped up in the oven.

monnagran

Thanks for the suggestions. Kidcat: that is a good idea and I am about to ring round now and see if any one has any freezer space, I have ordered another freezer for the house (not specifically for baguettes you understand) and that will be delivered on Friday. That should take care of a load of them, even if they are slightly stale by then they can be refreshed. Tomorrow I will be making small packets of breadcrumbs to tuck into empty pockets in the existing freezers.

All this bread was left over from the Bestival that was on here last week. Unfortunately the only people who are likely to be doing a soup kitchen is the Salvation Army, and it was them that gave us the bread in the first place.

Onward and Upward!

[Deleted User]

prepareathome wrote: »

Kittie I never knew that about Magnesium, will put it on my shopping list for after hubby's pay day 15th so will be 14th Friday this month, sometimes I can sleep far to much, others up all night. Thanks:T

get the magnesium citrate, it is absorbed much better. Not an instant fix but def works in a while

kidcat

Monnagran - maybe it could be used as a giant advertising mission for your drop in and local food banks etc, if you got in touch with any local food banks, similar organisations and maybe set up a stand in a busy area handing out chunks of bread with leaflets - it may drum up support whilst using up the rest of the bread.

[Deleted User]

Hardup_Hester wrote: »

Things are getting tougher where I work, we have another batch of older teachers being squeezed out as they are too expensive, we are taking on so many NQT's it's unreal. I've been asked to do my 'holiday days' covering evening events, I'm happy to do this, but the person who used to do the evening events is furious.
We have 3 or 4 staff on long term sick with stress & two office staff on 'capability watch'.

How times have changed. In my day older teachers prayed to be offered voluntary retirement and no wonder they took it, full enhancement so they got a full pension. Two friends of mine were good at feigning stress and stayed off teaching for weeks, they were never shy of telling me. They both got early retirement on a full pension. I was never good at ducking and diving so I left with my head held up and now get half the pension of my friends. Oh well c`est la vie. I wonder what I would have done now, incidents like IBS and slipping on a wet floor. I never did anything about them re work, just gritted my teeth and got on with it but I know I was naive.

It is a hugely stressful job, one other friend, a brilliant woman teacher was told to `f off` and I saw a lovely male teacher nearly lose it in an open area, a very mouthy stroppy boy. The senior member of staff in that area just got up and shut it out by shutting his door on it. Back up can be terrible with b sh*tters getting the top managerial roles. I bet they are being squeezed out by making things very very hard for them

ginnyknit

Fuddle, the supermarkets do a basic handcream for about 46p, I use it everyday as knitting drys out my hands and its very good, failing that Avon do quite cheap handcream thats good too.

Our local paper has just done an article on hungry children in Manchester. Apparently youth clubs and childrens centres are feeding huge amounts of children who are ravenous as the parents cannot afford food. Talk of sharing 1 pot noodle between 3 children :mad::mad: I am going to reply to this and point them in the right direction of how to feed themselves and family for little money. They have school dinners then go home to no tea. I know they cannot have beans on toast everyday but just seen the Lidl insert and they have 4 tins for a pound! - add a 50p loaf and theres plenty for a start. It is hard but some of them are capable of shopping around - I know not everyone can do it. Lets face it we have enough vareity of supermarkets and markets here.