Preparing for Winter V

Laura_Elsewhere

That's a jar of cherry brandy, and three jars of pickled cherries, with some of yesterday's haul - My Intended isn't a fan of things like pickled cherries, and doesn't drink spirits, so it's only for me But both will be nice on cold grey midwinter days! 

3secondmemory

I don’t know if I’m more excited about my Epsom salts and Bicarb or the resealable buckets they come in 😃

stitching_witch

dreaming said:

I'm still annoyed about the flour I had to bin because of bugs, and decided that I would only buy a small bag of plain flour from now as I hardly bake any more and mainly use it to thicken sauces etc. but last week Morries had quite a bit of flour in the big bags but no small ones.

Pop your bag of flour in a freezer bag and freeze it for at least a week to kill any bugs and eggs, then store in a lidded container. I leave mine in the freezer until I use the last in my jar and only then get the frozen one out to decant. 

dreaming

stitching_witch said:

dreaming said:

I'm still annoyed about the flour I had to bin because of bugs, and decided that I would only buy a small bag of plain flour from now as I hardly bake any more and mainly use it to thicken sauces etc. but last week Morries had quite a bit of flour in the big bags but no small ones.

Pop your bag of flour in a freezer bag and freeze it for at least a week to kill any bugs and eggs, then store in a lidded container. I leave mine in the freezer until I use the last in my jar and only then get the frozen one out to decant. 

HasIdic freeze it initially but with only a small freezer I have to rationalise what stays in there longer term. I'm also trying to overhaul my diet so hardly ever bake cakes or pies so can manage with a small bag. All the quilts and throws are washed now but could do with some new thermals. I usually buy men's as they tend to be longer in the body so no gaps.

[Deleted User]

The garden is yielding us some fruit now so yesterday we picked the first proper picking of raspberries and the first proper picking of loganberries too both of which are in the freezer for the winter.  I had some soft raspberries in the pick so I used them with some other fruit to make an 'almost jam' and got a couple of jars.  It has to be kept in the fridge but tastes really nice and saves a jar of jam from the store to have later.

[Deleted User]

Not having been able to obtain certain things I needed in the supermarkets for weeks now I looked to Amazon and today I took delivery of 3kg of dark brown sugar and am waiting on the delivery of 2 x 5litres of malt vinegar for pickling and chutneys this autumn.  I've not been able to source brown sugar of any kind from any of the supermarkets since the lockdown began and the biggest vinegar has been 600ish mls.  I know now that I shall be able to make pickles, chutneys and sauces to see us through the winter.

Laura_Elsewhere

Coo, I'm glad we went and picked all those pounds and pounds of cherries last week - they've, er, well... I think it's probably called "a hard prune"!!! 

[Deleted User]

That's a proper haircut for a tree, it ought to grow back stronger and in a better shape but there probably won't be any fruit on it for a year at least.  

Greenglockenspiel

Has anyone had cavity wall insulation put in? OH read some stories about it causing issues with damp but I think it might be a good idea for our extension - kitchen and bathroom stuck on the back of a 2 up 2 down with 3 external walls so it was freezing last winter. Thermostat (in the main part of the house) would be set to 17 and the bathroom would get as low as 11 in the mornings!

[Deleted User]

I have no knowledge of cavity wall insulation so I can't be any help to you I'm afraid.

Laura you will be green shoot spotting for a long time to come. 

I've washed the first wool blanket today. It's warm with a breeze so I'm hoping they will dry ok. I didn't even use the wool setting. I went down again to the silk setting and appreciate the washing machine that bit more once I picked up the unspun blanket.