Preparedness for when

nuatha

Doveling wrote: »

Whatever it is, I didn't do it :rotfl:

Nor me. Looks like the swear filter is on overdrive again.

moneyistooshorttomention

Yep...am getting exclamation marks right left and centre on posts. They obviously put it right at about 10am this morning....and presumably are working on doing the "get the existing posts sorted" thing now??

maryb

trying to make sense of the posts with exclamation marks scattered like confetti is interesting. The brain does largely fill in. But at first glance it does all look rude

ivyleaf

Thank goodness they've sorted it now!

Doveling I'm glad you and your DS enjoyed the flow chart

Well, there I was this morning coming downstairs with a bundle of washing under my arm, when my right knee gave way :eek: i managed to save myself by grabbing the banister, and somehow got to my chair by a combination of hopping and hobbling.

Yesterday I noticed there was a Boot's "Knee Support" on top of the fridge, so I'm now wearing that! It must be about the first time DH has bought something "because it might come in handy" that it actually has :rotfl: . My varicose veins aren't too keen, but at least I can walk. He's had to go out to the baker's on his own this morning though.

This afternoon we're helping with childcare for DGKs, so it looks as if he may have to do a bit more of that than he usually does (As a rule he does the driving and I do any "looking after" that's required - thankfully not as much as when they were younger).

Nargleblast So glad the news is better than you feared xx

AnimalTribe

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

I've asked He Who Knows the question and he's come up with this as a suggestion,
http://cdn.toolstation.com/images/141020-UK/388/77439.jpg

Never seen these before, but I'll try it out for the outside taps in the animal pens. I'll try to make my own though. Another thing I've learned from this thread. Thanks Mrs LW

thriftwizard

Another cold-weather-whilst-broke thing: soup! There's nothing so comforting as a big bowl of delicious steaming HM soup, says she after two bowls of pumpkin, tomato & coriander. We usually make up a big batch on Monday, using stock from the Sunday roast & boiled-up bones, any veg I've managed to nab at the market for 50p just before closing when they all want to go home, and a variety of grains which I usually bulk-buy, either from Asian grocers when I visit the big city up the road, or from wholefood wholesalers online. It'll keep those of us who work from home (or are between jobs) in lunches for most of the week. We cool it rapidly (lid on, outside the back door on a metal grille) & stick it in the fridge in a 4l catering ice-cream tub, then just reheat what we need on any given day; if we're going out, we'll take it heated up in food flasks.

So there's two more things: appropriately-sized ice-cream tubs for batch-cooked food, which can then just be heated when you need it, and food (and drink) flasks, for when you're out & about. Our stainless steel flasks have mainly been sourced at car boot sales for pennies, though we do have two from !KEA as well.

ETA: soup also being one of the things you can do, when your friend proudly presents you with a prize-winning 14-stone organic pumpkin, because "you'll know what to do with it!" Now shared between 5 households, but we had at least half of it. There's pumpkin in the freezer, pumpkin in the dehydrator, pumpkin bread, a vat of pumpkin soup, pumpkin pie... now to tackle the crab apple, garden apple and quince glut!

[Deleted User]

Whatever happened.....it wasn't me either, I wasn't even here!!!

Soup is a very good idea for penny stretching not only because it's easily made from bendy/glut/end of day at the market/YS veg and therefore cheap as soup (well chips really) but it has the added advantage of being a filler to a meal where you have very little meat to go round. A good bowl of soup and perhaps a dumpling in it as a first course is very old fashioned and was used in the past to fill hungry tums so that the small piece of meat and some veg were enough to continue the filling up process.

Suet pudding is also a very good filler, I know it's now not regarded as terribly healthy and also seen as old fashioned but a plain steamed roll (like a long dumpling) sliced and served with a good gravy for starters or with jam or golden syrup for pudding costs pence and fills corners like nothing else I know of. So if you're on a reduced income for whatever reason soup and suet puddens are lifesavers.

Nargleblast

When I hear people spout on about butter, puddings, sweet things etc being unhealthy, I have the urge to shout out that no sensible person is going to shove suet puds and great slabs of butter down their necks every day of the week. Butter spread on bread or used in cooking is much better than the chemical cocktail known as margarine, and suet pud and custard on a Sunday is not going to kill anybody, as long as the overall diet is a healthy balance of good quality protein, vegetables, fruits and moderate amounts of fats and carbohydrates. Moderation in all things!

[Deleted User]

Neck of lamb too is about as cheap as you can go for muscle meat and with it you can make Irish Stew, Scotch Broth and Welsh Cawl all of which use a relatively small amount of meat and potatoes, carrots, onion and various other veg and in the case of the broth pearl barley and marrowfat peas. All three dishes are good rib stickers and wonderfully comforting on a cold and hungry day, specially if you NEED the hot meal because you're limited as to how warm you can make the house. Our grandparents knew a thing or two didn't they?

In fact our grandparents had to rear families in homes most certainly without central heating, just a coal fire or a range and often without electricity, sometimes without piped water and often using calor gas as the gas mains were not universal. They really needed to know what would warm hungry folks up from the inside out and give them enough energy to do all the chores that needed doing without power tools/mechanical/electric aids in the home too, no washing machines or fridges, no vacuum cleaners or electric kettles or electric irons, and they must have succeeded well or we wouldn't be here today to have this conversation would we?

[Deleted User]

Ryanna2599 wrote: »

If the Winter is as cold as predicted one tip would be to visit free museums, libraries, other public places during weekends / days off to take advantage of them heating their buildings.

Or obtain a very high TOG duvet, and get yourself under it.