make do and mend for tougher times

Popperwell

kittie wrote: »

I oven baked (in my diddy £19.99 table top oven ) a couple of slices of pork belly that had arrived in my 4 weekly meat box. Wow, it was gorgeous

How good are those ovens? Especially energy wise? I was tempted before I invested in my halogen oven(still to use)and the combi microwave(and now the slow oven)

Popperwell

kittie wrote: »

Mardatha, the local wheat is for animal feed. Stock is having to be kept in because of the state of the ground so meat production costs will be higher. All this rain will be no good for bread wheat either. Personally I have got a few protein tins in but mainly pasta, rice and all the other stockcupboard items. You need to think potato subs

Yes that sounds about right...

Mrs_Chip

Afternoon All!

More rain over night,dry at the moment but very humid, it's horrible .

Went to do our weekly shop for stock today and had a bit of a result in the wholesalers. I got two 2.27ltr bottles of double cream for £3 each - so that's me making butter this afternoon :j:j:j. First cheap cream I have managed to get since we all went butter crazy in the old thread! And even better than that... I picked up a 5kg (yes that's right, 5kg) BAR of Callebaut milk chocolate for £15. So I'm sorted for trying the chocolate tempering thing and having a play with sweetie making. I shouldn't really have spent that much on a non-essential but I could not resist it - if I had left it behind I would have been kicking myself for days! Of course there will have to be a quality check first... :rotfl:.

Not venturing up to the garden for fear of finding the beans eaten to stumps and the tomatoes blighted to bu88ery, what a dreadful year it has been. Our best crop has been baby birdies, the garden is full of them, they are eating us out of house and home.

Right time to get the Kenwood out and set to with that cream - i'm hoping I will be up to my ears in butter, which wont be difficult!

ETA - Pops, I have a De Longhi mini oven and it is brilliant, I can cook a roast for four in it, and very good energy wise as it is so small internally. I don't know about the cheaper ones, but this one has lasted ages and I an dreading it going wrong as they don't make the same one any more.

Popperwell

Mrs_Chip wrote: »

it's time to get the Kenwood out and set to with that cream - i'm hoping I will be up to my ears in butter, which wont be difficult!

I have one still in its box never used but being single not sure if it will ever get used. I ha so many plans for it when Mum was here too...but I probably don't need such quantities of stuff made in one and then what you do needs cooking in an oven...

annie123

Possession wrote: »

Thanks Annie, this might be of use to DH who is out of work at the moment - there doesn't seem to be anything which actually tells you how much you need to be earning though!

My son asked them that and was told , as a guide, roughly the same as tax credit levels, which for a couple is under 16k ish. It's done on a sliding scale, but as he earns sub 7k he was told he would he probably wouldn't to need to pay anything. Time will tell takes months apparently for the first application.

You can also claim back monies paid out if on a low income, ask dentist for form H....something, dont remember exactly what but it's the NHS low income scheme. Our dentist was aware of the scheme and had all the forms there, but only when asked for.

paidinchickens

No rain yesterday or today :j

Hubby has been laying the block paving out the front. The blocks we got for free from the big posh houses round the corner who wanted to extend their paving but didn't want to wait for the new blocks to weather and instead chose to replace it all. More money than sense if you ask me but hey ho at least we were there to take the dirty ones off their hands

The bathroom is being updated. The tiles are porcelain and as they were end of range they were marked down to a very reasonable £3.50 a box and are being put up in the bathroom by DHs friend (total under £40) Bin men came today and I cheerfully waved goodbye to the grotty purple flowered tiles that even Aunt C said were outdated :rotfl:


Well obviously with all the banging and cutting I had no choice but to pop off to the charity shop for a quick nosey

Although I promised myself NO SPENDING ON NON ESSENTIALS I came away with a Nigella cook book for £1 and series 1-4 box set of open all hours £2, DH loves it and I have only seen clips so I am looking forward to watching it.

The weight situation is still a struggle and I am now 2 stone over weight so carefully recording everything on my fitness pal (free) so hopefully I won't put any more on at least.



I baked a low calorie honey and oat loaf this morning, the recipe being of the healthy sort, so healthy I've had to smother it in icing for some flavour :rotfl::rotfl:

Has anyone got any recommendations for a lovely tasting cake with full not diet flavour, not including the lovely virtual cakes we have had on here

PIC x

Popperwell

Mrs_Chip wrote: »

ETA - Pops, I have a De Longhi mini oven and it is brilliant, I can cook a roast for four in it, and very good energy wise as it is so small internally. I don't know about the cheaper ones, but this one has lasted ages and I an dreading it going wrong as they don't make the same one any more.

Will have to keep an eye out for one similar...Can never have too many gadgets even if some are used only now and again...

paidinchickens

Mrs Chip I am very envious of your cream bargains as I am always on the look out ......... I blame the old thread for this new obsession as well :rotfl:

PIC x

Ellie83

Popperwell wrote: »

Pity when we quote some of the quotes from others in the post don't show up...As I said to someone on here the other day I watch very little tv now and lately have done my viewing on here...

But in your home country they are trying to introduce an ammendment that would mean watching tv via a pc(live and I assume recorded)in France you will still have pay the license fee. And I bet that will be introduced here eventually.

I do like a lot of BBC Radio though and if I don't buy it then I get free BBC radio and don't give anything towards it's cost as it's included in the license fee.

Still tempted to do without the TV altogether. I almost do now...

Yep they do, always trying to find a way to squeeze money out of people :rotfl: And who doesn't own a PC nowadays? The Treasury will be happy!

But that will be another botched job, like they did with the anti-piracy law... Just you wait and see :rotfl:

I don't listen to the radio at all, but because I use IPlayer, I still feel like I should pay the TV licence, as I still use the service provided. But the temptation is great sometimes to get rid of the aerial and cancel the direct debit

Evie74_2

Afternoon everyone

Hope all is well with you all - (((hugs))) to anyone in need.

Fuddle - thank you for the link to the OU free courses, I will definitely have a look at those; I've always been put off further study because of the costs involved so it will be good to see what is on offer for free.:T

GQ - thanks for the note about the blight. Still no sign here but I'm staying vigilant. Obviously not vigilant enough where the evil slugs and snails are concerned as despite all my precautionary measures they've been at the purple sprouting broccolli and I now have lots of stumps and the odd sorry looking plant left :mad:. No sign of the blighters when I went into the garden though - I shall be out there as darkness falls to take my revenge however. Like Fuddle said, it feels like a rubbish year to try and learn more about growing your own veg - the more I do, the more they eat, or gets washed away in all the rain. The Good Life it ain't! :mad:

I had no idea you could make your own butter - do you just whizz the cream up in a food processor? And if so can you then freeze the results like "ordinary" (bought!) butter - sorry if this is a daft question

I have been experimenting with the SC today - finally got around to trying the lemon drizzle cake recipe. I haven't tried it yet but it looks and smells yummy. At least having no oven is forcing me to be resourceful (although having said I can't wait to get my new one).

Right, better go - got to get peeling spuds for dinner and then write a shopping list for this evening's forays to A!di and Mr T. Such a rock 'n' roll lifestyle!:rotfl:

Evie xx