Preparing for Winter V

SusieT

Last year I visited Germany and bought a couple of pairs of fleece lined jeans in a shop there I think they would have been the equivilent of £10 - £12. They are not a fashionable close fit in the cut but were super warm in winter for walking. Worth seeing if they are available here as well as with the legs not being tight there is room under them for thermal leggings if needed but even without the fleece gave them a lovely warm feel.

maryb

Uniqlo and Rohan both do warm lined jeans or a cheaper alternative is M&S thermal tights worn under normal jeans.

As for ironing - First the collar, then the cuff.  Then the front and that’s enough

ariarnia

Primrose said:

sarahlouise1972 said:

Thank you all, will start stocking up and batch cooking. 

I think batch cooking is a real life saver.  It not only saves fuel but makes life easier when you're busy.  Our favourite is a basic spag bol sauce mixture which can be adapted to a chilli or a basic sort of curry by adding appropriate red kidney beans or some curry type spiices.

i know it sounds a bit grim but i make something called 'meat base'. its basically mince, lentils, grated carrots, onions, mushrooms tomatoes and sometimes a handful of oats cooked with a stock. the base goes in the freezer in tubs and one can then be grabbed the night before to become 

1 cottage pie (with added mash/peas/chunky carrots and gravy) 
2 bolognaise/pasta sauce (with added chopped tomatoes/rough chopped mushrooms/herbs and pasta) 
3 lasagne red sauce (with added chopped tomatoes and garlic/herbs/white sauce/pasta and cheese) 
4 chilli (with added chopped tomatoes/tins of mixed beans/rice and spices)
5 nachos (with added chopped tomatoes/tins of mixed beans/spices/cheese and cheap corn crisps)
6 enchiladas (with added chopped tomatoes/tins of mixed beans/spices/tortilla wraps/sliced mushrooms/peppers and carrots long ways/and cheese sauce/cheese)
7 stuffed squash or peppers (best with chilli base. cuts a butternut squash in half. fill the seed hole with chilli or other spiced base then top with cheese and bake) 

and i'm sure other things ive forgotten. lets me turn out a different tasting midweek meal in half an hour. 

Laura_Elsewhere

@ariarnia, that's an impressive range!

Seeing how many recipes involve tins of mixed beans, though, makes me wonder - how about buying the beans dried, which is much cheaper usually (you may have a source of very cheap tins, of course!), and then soaking and boiling them (esp the red kidney beans, of course!!), draining and drying them on tea-towels and then freezing bags of them, or even freezing bags of the right quantity of mixed beans. Ready to grab, but cheaper!

Edit to add - actually, you probably could just cook them all together, so long as you made sure to boil the kidney beans on their own; cheaper to do just a couple of pans for umpteen portions! 

ariarnia

Laura_Elsewhere said:

@ariarnia, that's an impressive range!

Seeing how many recipes involve tins of mixed beans, though, makes me wonder - how about buying the beans dried, which is much cheaper usually (you may have a source of very cheap tins, of course!), and then soaking and boiling them (esp the red kidney beans, of course!!), draining and drying them on tea-towels and then freezing bags of them, or even freezing bags of the right quantity of mixed beans. Ready to grab, but cheaper!

Edit to add - actually, you probably could just cook them all together, so long as you made sure to boil the kidney beans on their own; cheaper to do just a couple of pans for umpteen portions! 

i've really never got the nack of dried beans, always seem to turn out like bullets! ive still got probably a dozen tins of various mixed beans bought before the cost of things started to get stupid (these types of meals are ones we only tend to have if someones not feeling well or over winter) so back then they were three or four for a pound. might have to try again with beans in the pressure cooker looking at todays prices!

Siebrie

ariarnia, I have given up on dried beans, apart from lentils and split peas. I never get them to soften properly, or taste nice, no matter how long I soak and cook them, no matter the method of cooking. Tinned beans only, for me.

Si_Clist

FWIW we grow our own beans for drying, then store them when dry in airtight jars.  They keep at least two years.  To cook, we just soak overnight, boil for ten minutes first thing next morning, then put the pan on the floor on top of two folded bath towels and cover with a beanbag.  By teatime they're ready to just chuck in whatever's for tea for 5-10 minutes to heat through.  Works for us

PS  We started growing and drying our own simply because we were unable to buy dried beans anywhere that were of decent quality.  The worst we saw were from Waitrose and from "health food" shops.

Primrose

Si_Clist said:

FWIW we grow our own beans for drying, then store them when dry in airtight jars.  They keep at least two years.  To cook, we just soak overnight, boil for ten minutes first thing next morning, then put the pan on the floor on top of two folded bath towels and cover with a beanbag.  By teatime they're ready to just chuck in whatever's for tea for 5-10 minutes to heat through.  Works for us

PS  We started growing and drying our own simply because we were unable to buy dried beans anywhere that were of decent quality.  The worst we saw were from Waitrose and from "health food" shops.

I suspect the problem using dried beans for soaking and cooking at home is because they,re old stock - either stored too long in in a commercial warehouse or rather forgotten about at the back of our own cupboards!

i always use to soak and cook my own butter beans which we used a lot of for winter meals and soups but started to find they just didn,t cook at all well after soaking. We now use the tinned ones and find the quality much better,  and given rising energy costs I suspect the commercial energy  cost paid  by food manufacturers is possibly a lower rate than consumers would would pay domestically.

Wednesday2000

I can never be bothered with dried beans either and I always use canned beans for convenience. I do use dried red lentils, but they cook so quickly. I need to stock up on lentils actually as I make lentil soup a lot in the winter. 

The solar storm lamp worked so well last night! I did have some solar lamps for the garden at one point but they were rubbish so they have obviously improved since then. I did keep a few lights on downstairs, but I only used the solar lamp on the landing upstairs and that was enough light. I am charging it outside now.

I have booked the chimney sweep for October and my private flu jab for November. I had trouble finding the flu jab as the Boots website wasn't working and Superdrug put me on the waiting list and the local pharmacy said they were only booking over 65s. I finally got an appointment at a Lloyds Pharmacy.

ariarnia

Si_Clist said:

FWIW we grow our own beans for drying, then store them when dry in airtight jars.  They keep at least two years.  To cook, we just soak overnight, boil for ten minutes first thing next morning, then put the pan on the floor on top of two folded bath towels and cover with a beanbag.  By teatime they're ready to just chuck in whatever's for tea for 5-10 minutes to heat through.  Works for us

PS  We started growing and drying our own simply because we were unable to buy dried beans anywhere that were of decent quality.  The worst we saw were from Waitrose and from "health food" shops.

by ;bean bag' you mean a bag which contained the dried beans or a bean bag that you sit on. i know that sounds weird but i don't know if you're covering them for the insulation or just to stop the tops drying out as they have a long soak. but i also can't but think a sitting on type bean bag (even a small one) would get very wet and a scrap piece of polystinrine might do the same job.