make do and mend for tougher times

GreyQueen

Mrs_Chip wrote: »

Was me I think

I have one white eyebrow hair - I just pluck it out ! Eyebrow pencil should fill any small gaps.

Ooh, I have one (just one) white brow hair among the dark brown ones. I pluck it out but it had occured to me that when it has lots and lots of friends, this won't be a viable option.

VJsmum wrote: »

Anyone else feel old cos Fuddle had to look up Dennis Healey .

Yeah!

And I felt even older at work this week when I used the phrase beer and skittles to indicate spending money on pleasurable things rather than necessities and some lovely young lass under 25 frowned her pretty face and asked why you would be eating sweets with beer?:rotfl:Those of us who "got it" were all at least 40. And my right hip is locking if I sit too long.

And I have had my pension forecast from the local governement scheme today. I will be getting about £675 per year.............but I'm worth £35k to my heir (hi Bro!) if I die before claiming it! You have to laugh or you'd be doing a lot of this: :wall:

danetastic wrote: »

Hope you guys don't mind me joining in . Been in os sites off and on for a while am trying to catch up with you all .
Just a wee question for those that know more than me . I use a lot of onions in cooking . Was in £idl yesterday and there was a sack of onions (5kg ) for £2 - bargain . But how do I store them so they will last the month ? I have room in a garden shed , freezer and house . Mine always seem to sprout or go mouldy . Thanks in advance

:j Another one in the madhouse. Welcome in, danetastic. I have a shallow, oblong basket on the corner of my kitchen counter in which I keep potatoes and onions. The kitchen is north-facing and the blind is always down and the tatties don't turn green and the onions don't go off in the basket whereas both of them would be up to no good in the dark cupboard in the self-same basket. And if anything starts to rot off, you can get at it and trim off the bad bits. The onions keep very well like that.

As we gardeners (and non-gardeners who have to listen to our whinging) know, it's been an absolutely bliddy awful year for potato blight. I lifted my spuds in early July and had them laid out between layers of newspaper on the shed floor. Mum and Dad had the other half of the crop. We didn't sack them up as the tops had shown the first sign of blight before I'd de-topped them and I was worried that it had gone down into the tubers.

Well, it had. Potato blight creates soft spots on the spuds which are then colonised by secondary rots and they spread like wildfire and it all gets very nasty, very quickly.

On my wise old Dad's advice, I picked out the tatties which had started to rot and cut out the bad bits. I brought these down to the flat for more immediate consumption and am just coming to the end of them. I brought down 6 kg of trimmed potatoes and discarded about another kg of trimmings and a few spuds which had gone all bad. I put these in the household rubbish not the compost bin as it's not a good idea to keep diseased material around.

I must admit, when Dad suggested this technique, I was sceptical, but of the 6kg I brought home, all with cuts in then, only ONE actually went rotten. The rest have been fine. The cut edges seal themselves and you can just peel or scrape and cut when you ready them for the saucepan. The rots hadn't been given time to spread and the rest of the tattie was perfectly good and very tasty.

I feel pleased at having another tip in my mental gardening/ housekeeping arsenal, and share it in case it does someone else some good. Be a good idea to be very cautious of potatoes this next few months and keep a close eye (and nose) on them as they whiff a bit when they start to rot.

HAve had the second helping off the slow-cooked casserole I did yesterday and it will be good for one more. It was about 200g of whoopsied beef, 2 carrots, one medium onion, the stalk off the broccoli crown (itself of Aldi's Super 6 for 39p), 2 carrots, a basics stock cube and 3 tbsp lentils and some seasoning. Wouldn't win a beauty competition but it is simple and hearty fare for an autumnal evening.

Have got a batch of bread rolls proving on the stove as have plenty of wholemeal flour still left from my last excursion from the farmer's market. It's milled on a site which has been a mill (first water then windmill) since before the Domesday Book. How fab is that?

OK, enough drivel, hope everyone is warm and well. Laters, GQ xx

meanmarie

Not a good day here....OH had a review letter from the company that does his life insurance and they want another €400 PER MONTH to maintain present cover, am shocked as that would be all of our disposable income and more, there is no encashment value, so don't know what to do....DS2 suggests that I spread the extra out among the family, as they will probably ultimately be the beneficieries, not sure that they could all come up with €50 per month as easily as he can, so will be burning ears off in an effort to make a decision in next month, will have to reduce cover but will have to do a new budget first, as we have been hit with extra taxes and more coming....

Marie

fuddle

Don't do the coffee thing. I have stained around my eye brow and still got the white beggers :rotfl: will try mascara in the morning.

Confession time... I'm sat here with the bacon crisps out of the winter car box I fancy chocolate but I ate that out of the box last night. Am I a naughty OSer?

Love the bit about non gardeners have to listen to your gardening whinge GQ, I enjoy the whinge. I learn what to do from the masters

[Deleted User]

FUDDLE - He who knows has a beard and when the girls were little he developed a small grey patch which he told them for years was paint where he had been decorating, and they believed him too, until the rest of it went grey too, he lost a little bit of credulity after that!!!!! Keep the coffee for drinking eh? Cheers Lyn x.

Popperwell

fuddle wrote: »

My DD has got pupil of the week out of the whole junior school. Very proud

DH informed me not to make the bean enchiladas and cauliflower cheese... he's brought in a takeaway :eek: Was nice though

Glad you enjoyed it. I know how I enjoy even a portion of chips when out(I plan to have some when in Durham for a theatre show a week on Saturday(I now know a lovely fish and chip shop near the bus station...I bet their fish is nice too but being frugal I'll just have the chips.

Well done Miss Fuddle...

I know what you mean about dying your eyebrows. I don't really like beards much(but it's personal)and they do suit some and I have generally been clean shaven but I let it grow this week. I'll soon get rid of mine because even without practical reasons against beards(often when eating)when it growns as a mixture of white and grey whiskers you look so old.

Some look ok with grey hair but if someone wants to dye their hair why not. It's down to how comfortable you are and not always because of worrying about age discrimination say in a job.

And men can be just as concerned as females but the media loves to go on about such matters...they turn it into a sexist matter.

Yes you forget that people like Dennis Healey probably means nothing these days and is unknown to many:pI wonder who of today will be remembered in the future.

ETA I had no idea that Mrs L had posted about beards when I wrote this...

danetastic

Thanks for the replies guys
Reading comments reminds me of when I lived on a farm when I was wee . Once a week in the summer holidays I would put the baby and toddler in a pram and them my sister and I would take turns going to Auntie Peggies at a farm 4 miles away . She was elderly and loads of wrinkles . Our arrival would be announced by her flock of geese and we'd wait at the gate for her . We then " helped " with jobs on the farm like spreading out straw in the calves shed . Mum and dad knew where we were and would come and collect us with the Renault 4 . Happy days

jamanda

Fuddle - I have to use mascara very lightly on brows due to fading and only one white one. Use a brush when dry to soften (make up not yard brush)

GreyQueen

fuddle wrote: »

Don't do the coffee thing. I have stained around my eye brow and still got the white beggers :rotfl: will try mascara in the morning.

Confession time... I'm sat here with the bacon crisps out of the winter car box I fancy chocolate but I ate that out of the box last night. Am I a naughty OSer?

Love the bit about non gardeners have to listen to your gardening whinge GQ, I enjoy the whinge. I learn what to do from the masters

Aww hun, I've only been gardening 40 years, girl and woman.

In gardeners' years that is equivalent to being a babe-in-arms. What I know is vastly-outnumbered by what I don't but give me about another 50 years and I might just be getting there.

Hey, have already learned NEVER let CHARD set seed even if the insects do really like the seedheads. No one needs that much chard..................:rotfl:

Re chocolate, you have to be very careful with that stuff as it has a very short lifespan once purchased (anything from one minute to one hour, but no longer in my considerable experience). Best play it safe and eat it up. I have eaten all my chocolate too, and will go get a bowl of rice pud to comfort me in these dark nights.

PS crisps are highly-volatile and mustn't be stored in cars for too long or they may implode. Don't say you wasn't warned and you're doing the right thing for the safety of your OH to consume them right now. No greater love can one person show for another than to protect them from potato-based snacking hazards. Amen.

Popperwell

Just to say what a lot of Tesco's Everyday Range is going up in price or sometimes similar to the full priced item. However, if you like rice, sauces for casseroles and pasta bakes etc...what a lot of full priced items at present are on offer too many to list but all on half price offer.

And they have taken off £1.39 on Kellogg's Honey Nut Cornflakes bringing a 750g box down to £2...

I wonder if they are doing this here because Aldi is opening virtually next door and soon...

Popperwell

I forgot to add this also includes virtually all the cooking oils including Olive Oil so if you normally pay £6 it is now £3. I was going to buy my first 1litre of vegetable oil(think that will be ok for me)but I found Crisp and Dry for another 11p and got 2litres and it had added Omega 3.