Preparing for Winter V

[Deleted User]

I've started saving the bottles that sauces/ketchups come in as well as jars that are finished and I'm going to try ketchup and fruit sauce as the year goes by and that seems the easiest way to store them.  I've only ever made chutney before so this will be an experiment and I hope it will liven up the more cloggy winter food.

Laura_Elsewhere

I've never made it but there are lots of recipes for hawthorn ketchup, and it's always easy enough to find masses of haws, come autumn! I might give it a try this year too... 

[Deleted User]

• I'm thinking of plums as the base because we have a fruit farm not far away that sells boxes of 'seconds' in the season and I've heard of Plum Sauce so I can find a recipe.  Hawthorn sounds interesting too I'll be interested to hear how it turns out. I'm going to collect elderberries this year to make elderberry cordial, I've heard it's really good for bad colds and the flu if you get them and there's a cough mix that's based on elderberries Sambucol I think that people say is good and works but it's expensive so making my own will be good.

missychrissy

suki1964 - I have a multi fuel stove installed about 7 years ago. It’s lovely and cosy when it’s on but it has become really expensive to run. I was buying kiln dried wood from Home Bargains but about March they reduced the size of the bags though kept the price the same and it’s now more expensive than the gas central heating. I collect wood whenever I walk my dog and store it in large paper sacks in the garage but I find it blackens my stove door and presumably my chimney even after being stored for several months. 

Although I live in a small village we are not prone to power cuts but I have a good stash of candles and some wood stored if we were to become so. I wanted my stove initially in order to become as self sufficient as possible but it has not turned out that way. I understand the govt are cracking down on the fuels people are burning anyway.

suki1964

missychrissy said:

suki1964 - I have a multi fuel stove installed about 7 years ago. It’s lovely and cosy when it’s on but it has become really expensive to run. I was buying kiln dried wood from Home Bargains but about March they reduced the size of the bags though kept the price the same and it’s now more expensive than the gas central heating. I collect wood whenever I walk my dog and store it in large paper sacks in the garage but I find it blackens my stove door and presumably my chimney even after being stored for several months. 

Although I live in a small village we are not prone to power cuts but I have a good stash of candles and some wood stored if we were to become so. I wanted my stove initially in order to become as self sufficient as possible but it has not turned out that way. I understand the govt are cracking down on the fuels people are burning anyway.

You need to store your wood for a year minimum im afraid. The pine I have got needs two years. You are better buying smokeless and anthracite. 25kg of each will last 10 days of full on burning. I get the fire going on the smokeless and then bank it up with the anthracite and it stays on all day and the heat would put you out of the room. Anthracite takes a while to get going and it doesn't flame but it burns long and hot

missychrissy

So where do I buy smokeless and anthracite? is it cheaper than gas CH? 

Laura_Elsewhere

My parents get their smokeless fuel delivered by a coal merchant for the area - worth trying a couple of different ones, as they vary quite a bit, and apparently some stoves/ grates get on better with one than others. That was what the coal-merchant said when they delivered a bag of a different sort and my parents had real problems getting it alight and keeping it alight. I think the variety they have always had, since 1979, is 'Homeguard', but if your first bag is sulky, then try a different sort. 

MingVase

Coalman yes

greenbee

... and it is unlikely to be cheaper than gas central heating ... 

[Deleted User]

Getting a big load of logs over and above the usual stored amount and making another log store in the garden so we can keep one room warm even if we have to sleep there too, we're used to power cuts here in bad weather.