The OS Doorstep - a helpful and supportive thread in these tough times

jem132

Thankyou fairy that's brilliant ill have a go this afternoon

Iv got my first load of washing out.
I am waiting for the sky man to come and put sky in my bedroom as for winter I think it will be better. Kids get all snuggly in bed so I don't put the heating on .I will be off to bed with them now lol x

Then I am going to clean my kitchen and make a veg soup and some bagals x

fuddle

I adore reading about Little Al and your relationship MrsC. It's heartwarming and oozes love in the simplest terms.

Nutty don't you spend your day worrying about working with the lady with problems... I've learned a lot about addiction these past few days and think I can say that I very much doubt she is worried about meeting you! What we see as rational thoughts and processes are not what an alcohol thinks - enjoy your day nutty

Can I ask about chips? I'm hoping you can help me with frying chips. I was thinking that I would only need a wire basket in a pan of oil but then I thought about chip pan fires. I have a gas stove. What causes chip pan fires and how can I prevent one. I am thinking about a chip fryer but they are £17.99 cheapest - I don't really want to buy one but are they safer? What do you use to fry chips in and is there a fool proof yummy way to make own chips in the oven?

Also, I was wondering what did people have for breakfast in war-time era? Porridge is getting a bit tedious now... No such word as tedious in war time eh?!

Mrs_Chip

My mum always fried her chips in an open pan (was like a frying pan but with straight sides and a bit deeper) with a basket. I have used a normal saucepan, without a basket and it workedfine. Mum used lard to fry, which she left in the pan to go hard. I prefer lard or dripping becuase I find veg oil leaves a rubbery residue.

The trick with preventing fires is never to leave the pan whilst it is on, if the fat starts to smoke it is getting too hot, and don't spill it over the edge onto the flames. Keep a damp teatowels nearby to throw over if you need to. Remember to turn off when you are finished!

Make sure the chips are dry when you put them in, if they are very wet the moisture will boil in the fat and cause it to bubble up . Take care when putting the basket down into the oil, do it slowly so you can judge how high up the fat is giong to come.

Home cooked chips need a good chipping potato - Maris Piper are supposed to be the best, but any floury potato would do. I prefer them with the skins left on - very OS, and thats where the most goodness is.

Pre fry them at about 140c until they are soft but not coloured - you can do this ahead of time and keep them in the fridge. Refry at 190c until golden.

This all sounds like a lot of faff, but is worth it for lovely chips.

FairyPrincessk

Fuddle, I think there was a lot of toast and of course there were powdered eggs later in the war which I believe you got far more of than your ration of fresh. Porridge was a staple, I think but I can also imagine people finding it tedious then--but all of my investigations have never turned up things like hash browns or baked apples. I curious--I might have a nosey around my favourite websites and see what I can find out in my lunch break.

[Deleted User]

FUDDLE I never fry chips, I always make home made oven chips and you can make them with sweet potato too, much the healthy option as very little oil is involved. Just cut the potatoes into chips, give them a good rinse and dry in a teatowel. Into a bowl and drizzle over a couple of teaspoons of oil, any kind, and some black pepper, don't salt them it makes them soggy, and turn the chips round in the bowl with your hands to get them all coated with the oil. Have the oven preheated to high and have a baking sheet in there to heat up. Pop the chips on to the baking sheet and cook them for as long as it takes for them to crisp up and cook through. Turn them halfway through cooking and you have nice crispy healthy chips.

Wartime breakfasts, in the Marguerite Patten book there is a recipe for potato floddies, just grate raw potato into a bowl and add enough flour to it (s/r or plain either will do) to stop it being wet. Add salt and pepper and fry in a little oil in a frying pan until brown and cooked through on both sides, turn it over half way through cooking and serve it with ketchup, you can make 1 big floddie or several smaller ones. They also had Fadge, mashed potato cakes made with leftover potato, flour and seasoning, mix in enough flour to the potato to make it into a dough and roll it out to 1/3 of an inch thick then cut it into pieces and cook them in a frying pan just oiled, but only enough to keep them from sticking until they are browned and cooked through, turn them over halfway through, just potato cakes really. 1 egg was made to feed all the family by making it into eggy breads, whisk up the egg with some milk on a plate and dip slices of bread into it on both sides and fry in some oil until brown on both sides,you should be able to get 4 slices from 1 egg if you just dip the bread in. If you leave the bread to soak it takes up all the egg mix and you only get 2 slices. Bacon was on ration and something I often do for us in the winter is cook some extra boiled spuds and next day for breakfast slice up a couple of rashers of bacon and cook it until the fat runs out into the pan then pop in the sliced potatoes and cook it all together until the potato is going brown, yummy. You'll also see bread and milk was popular but although I quite like it, I'm not sure it's to the modern taste, Cheers Lyn xxx.

Just had a thought about bread and milk, these days you'd be able to make it with the milk made into instant hot chocolate which would be very much more the thing for youngesters wouldn't it? Lyn xxx

nuttyp

Fuddle and fairypricess thankyou for you kind words of support. It true I am worrying already about work and I don't start until 3. I have a very long weekend off, well 3 days so I just have to get through this after noon, all day Wednesday and Thursday evening.

After every time she just goes, I am sorry for my behaviour, It wont happen again. And what happens - 2 weeks later it all happens again. The worse thing is it causes arguments for me at home, and also another lady at work her husband has complained as we always seem to be the ones that do the extra shifts. I don't mind as the extra money is handy, but the not knowing if you can plan a day off is annoying.

Well that's my moaning over lol.

fuddle

I was brought up to think that lard is bad for you but having read all the primal stuff I'm of the camp that thinks animal fats that are wholly untouched have to be better for us than chemically gaffes about with spreads and oils.

We're having hotdogs in buns tonight. As a side for DH ill try a few chips just in the saucepan with some lard. See what he thinks. Lyn ill try oven chips for lunch with the girls... Some chip butties I think. Ill remember a nice hot oven. Non of us likes frozen oven chips so if I can suss out a good homemade chip that will be a welcome change.

Princess floddies sound like hash browns don't they we're having soft boiled eggs in a minute but I need to try out those floddies!

Mrs_Chip

Nutty - you need to tell your manager about the effect that working with this person is having on you - it needs to be formally recorded. Your employer is resposible for your welfare at work and if you are being stressed out by worry over what this person will do, or if they will turn up, you may eventually go sick yourself, and the cause needs to be on record.

Surely they must start writing warning letters at some point? If not they are very poor employers, as not tackling this person is causing other staff problems.

Hope today goes ok.

[Deleted User]

FUDDLE the floddies are like Rosti, you can add things to the basic recipe like chopped onion/leek, dried herbs, grated carrot, grated apple to ring the changes and use the floddies at other meals, not just for breakfast. Cheers Lyn xxx.

fuddle

Nutty I'm sure at the time when she says sorry and that it won't happen again, she means it. She has no control over what she is doing but that doesn't mean to say you have to put up with a colleague who cause problems at work. If she is not doing as she should then keep up the disciplinaries. She doesn't think her behaviour is effecting anyway and will most likely think she's fine and able to cope with work life. If she can't address her role correctly then she has to face the consequences and the possibility of her p45.