Preparing for Winter V

Cheapskate

I was born in the late 60s, so just remember power cuts in the early 70s, mum grew food to eat, we ate mostly vegetarian because it was cheaper and with 3 little girls to feed and clothe, dad's meagre wage went nowhere. She made, sewed, baked, grew, thrifted, that's what my childhood memories entail, Dimplex heater on for a precise 5 minutes before we went in the bath on a Saturday night, and only if it was really cold, burning whatever was to hand when coal bunker got low before there was money to buy more. It was quite rough at times, many were the weeks when the money dad sent (worked away and posted it home) didn't arrive until Monday, so we had some very strange weekend meals, and mum went without.

Fast forward to when DH and I married, and our first home, and first few years, were remarkably similar - no money, 3 children in 5 years, one poor wage, canny shopping/cooking, one gas fire in the whole house, no CH....sounds very Victorian, but those things stick in your brain, for future use. Now we live in a nice home, DG, CH, a car, etc., but DH changes his way of working soon, so I'm still squirrelling away money, prepping for a cold winter, foraging for free food, as it will be a bit tougher again next year.

I believe that those earlier experiences are good for one's creativity - being able to manage on a limited income, eating what's available, creating cosiness in cold times - it's what we Brits do well at!

A xo

sammy_kaye18

Well I'm an 80s child.....1984 to be exact but I love listening to peoples stories and how they managed.

My latest visit to my nan was listening to her talk about her christmas's and how her dad would lock himself away in their bomb shelter that was in the garden (he had it there till he passed away although it was used as a shed in the later days) and he would build them little cars and toys from things he could find and he built her a dolls house. All their veg was home grown and my great nanna ran her house with 7 girls and she would sit and unpick old clothes so she could re-knit or resew them into new things as the girls grew. She told us about using the black out curtains to make things after they were no longer needed and bringing in the bath so they could all bath on a sunday night and have their hair washed. That she would sit and try to do her homework by candlelight in the evenings because they couldnt turn the lights on. My great grandfather went away to war and my nan said things got really hard because there was no wage as such.
Interesting story was that my grandfather was caught and made a POW, sent to Italy and put in a POW camp, he only escaped because the volcano near the camp erupted and spent 3 years 'lost' and presumed dead. it was only when an american tank asked him directions one day that he got home and they knew he was alive. I cant begin to imagine.

My dad now grows his own veg and raises chickens. I am attempting to get the garden sorted so I can follow suit.

Although Im 33, we grew up in the RAF and dad was away on deployments a lot. We lived in Germany (mum is German) and had a coal bunker and a coal fire as our only source of heat. Times when dads pay cheque didn't arrive in time and the bunker was low I can completely sympathise with - there's cold, and then there is COLD. Waking up to ice inside the windows is quite something else :eek: - many times my mother, me and my sister shared a bed just to have body warmth. And again I have had some strange whatever is left in the cupboard meals. Both my nan and my mother have a spare stock cupboard that is hidden away in the house with extra tins and packets in. I use to think they were like treasure troves especially my nans under the stairs :-) she still has it now.

My great aunt was the same - her garden was her allotment and it was amazing. Many a time I sat shelling peas for tea on her backdoor step and then she had one little gas fire (with the gas cannister and the 4 bars on the front) that she would wheel into rooms as she needed it and in the winter she lived and slept in the living room because it attached to the kitchen so she only needed to heat one room and she is in Glenrothes, Scotland which to me seems like a different kind of cold at times when I was younger.

I find those days fascinating. I love listening to other peoples stories. x x x

Forgot to add my other grandparents had the old meters you had to put 50p in to keep the lights going and my nan must be the only person I have ever known to never own a cooker.

[Deleted User]

I am going back to ancient roots this winter, being an artisan, genetically programmed breadmaker, I want something interesting to do this winter, so have ordered seven different types/millers flours milled from ancient grains for breads. They are varied and are identical to those used hundreds of years ago, specially grown and milled in small quantities. This should be fun for me to explore and will keep me and visiting family supplied with very interesting breads through winter. I have the lock n lock boxes out, some large and all labelled for flours delivery tomorrow

I just had a piece of yummy hm spelt with a newly opened damson jelly, made in 2010 and fresh as the day it was made, yes we learnt on our feet, we learnt how to preserve, so as not to waste anything

[Deleted User]

I'm buying in two portions of something 'instant' that only needs boiling water to make it edible when it's reconstituted every time I go into town. Today I added 2 Mr.T own Instant Golden Syrup Porridge Pots to the store. Last week I got us two Kraft Macaroni cheese pots, sometimes it's a couple of Mug Shots or packets of cuppasoup, preferably the Heinz Tomato ones as they are what we like. If we get electricity cuts or bad weather that disrupts the supply chain we have the Kelly Kettle to boil water and these instant meals will keep us warm and feed us for a few days. We'll be warm indoors because of the woodstove and the Kelly Kettle will also boil us water for hot drinks and hot water bottles, we already have appropriate winter clothing indoor and outdoor so hopefully we'll weather any 'event' If we don't need to use them, the instant meals have good long use by dates on them and will keep for quite a while.

[Deleted User]

what a good idea mrsLW. I am going to copy that. You can`t beat soothing warm food if the weather is harsh

Primrose

For those who are retired and at home all day, heating your home and staying warm is becoming an increasingly high outlay on the domestic budget. Last winter I. invested in some really thick black tights to wear under my trousers and some new thermal vests. I also bought
some cheap woolen fingerless gloves to keep my hands warm when sitting typing at my computer or when reading. It's quite surprising how much a difference wearing warm clothing makes to your feeling of wellbeing on a cold miserable day. I haven't yet had to resort to wearing a woollen hat to keeping my head warm but if theres a power cut comfort will come before elegance! I also bought a couple of cheap Sleeveless quilted body warmers from charity shops which are very effective too.

mardatha

Our house is heated by coal - which costs a lot , and our stove stays on 24/7 for most of the year. So I take the rent, CT, and coal money off the pension every week and we live on what's left. If ever that goes down then we will still live on it, just shop and cook more carefully.
Keeping the fire on all the time heats the stone walls and keeps the house cosy, in a village at 1000ft that gets bad winters and a lot of wind. It also gives us unlimited boiling hot water and dries washing overnight when left in the livingroom on an airer. So I reckon the coal is worth it.
Re the good bad old days, my dad was a miner so we always had plenty of coal, but only one fire in the house and I remember chilblains and iced up inside windows. Also big storms with blankets hung up in case the windows blew in (I seem to have always lived at the top of a hill lol).
I don't want to go back to all of the old stuff but I'm glad I experienced it, every experience we live through teaches us something doesn't it - or should do

[Deleted User]

We've not used our central heating for quite a few years now, since we had the multi fuel stove (we only burn wood) stove installed. We use the boiler to heat the water in the tank for an hour twice a day, morning and evening, and we've adapted to living in a cooler home. Having said that we're on the south coast and don't get the extremes of temperature that are in the far north. We keep the doors closed, have thermal undies, have throws on the sofa and chairs, have extra jumpers and layer up, have as much wood as we need to see us through the next 3 to 4 years, we have hot drinks regularly through the day, have hot water bottles to snuggle up to if we're not in the one heated room (the lounge) under our layers, we close the curtains as it gets dusk and have 15 tog down quilts and real wool blankets on our bed AND we wear bed socks which helps enormously! Our bedroom is over the lounge so we get a little rising warmth and all in all we both find going into other folks homes a real trial in the colder months as they're just way too HOT!!!

mardatha

You'd fry in here then MrsL .... temp in this livingroom sits at a steady 26C

[Deleted User]

How else are you going to keep those little 'haggis babies' warm enough to grow up to the size when it's safe to release them back into the wild Mar? 1000 feet up a mountain and I'd probably want 26degrees. Sea level on the south coast? not so much!