Preparing for Winter V

London_1

When I was in the little cottage hospital for rehab last week the soup they brought round for tea with a sandwich was Heinz cuppa soup. I must admit I bought some to go into the cupboard for the times when the weather is bad and I'm running short of HM soup or veg to make it

The chicken one was particularly nice, also the mushroom one.I saw it on offer in Tesco's so I bought a box I may get another one to stash away for the odd time when I'm not up to cooking much.

 In the hospital you had a hot cooked lunch, and around five thirty it was soup, a sandwich, and a small pudding and sometime you could have a small bowl of cheesy mash with left over veg mixed in which was actually rather tasty or some cauliflower cheese. It was quite nice as you were filled up and never felt in the least bit hungry in the evening.

Although I'm not keen on lemonade my late ma-in-law when my children had tickly coughs would boil up some lemonade, and they had to drink it as hot as they could ,or if she had none in store she would give them a warm glass of sugar water to sooth their throats The children used to say she was the old wife that all the tales were written about as she had many old remedies handed down from her Granny from the 19th century. As she was widowed at 28 with two small boys she often just couldn't afford a Dr because there was no NHS before 1948 so you had to rely on any remedies around. Mind you they often worked .

 When my late husband went into the RAF in 1951 for his National Service the Dr was surprised when on asking him about his medical records finding out he had none as he had never seen a Dr.  
My Ma -in-law had decided that she would cure her boys if ill, and the two lads were very healthy To be honest in almost 40 years of marriage it was only in the last 6 months or so of his life he ever went to a Drs so her upbringing must have worked OK. Just a thought if you run out of cough mix try the boiled lemonade worked for my two children.

Have a good and safe day, its black as Newgate's Knocker here in Kent at the moment, and like a new born baby very wet and windy

Onwards and upwards chums stay safe 

JackieO xx

Primrose

Our standard cough/sore throat cold  mixture here is hot water with a slice of lemon and honey and a sliver of fresh ginger.  Probably just as effective as all those expensive chemist bought cough syrups  and has the advantage to keeping you hydrated which is probably the most. Important aspect when you,re unwell..
Very  wet and soggy here too.  Definitely not a day for venturing out if you don't have to.
And the laundry is drying on radiators!  . Can't be helped. Have given up waiting for a decent outdoor drying day so the the heating might as well offer full value for the expense of running it !

Auntycaz

I can vouch for the hot lemonade and paracetamol for colds, although I also put a pinch of sugar in to get rid of the fizz. Don't fill the cup up to the top though as when you add the sugar it fizzes up a bit. You don't get the sacharin taste you get with lemsip.   

boultdj

If we had bad sore throats with colds my Gran use to give us a mixture of butter, sugar and vinegar. It worked.

Auntycaz

MrsCD said:

Don't forget a carbon monoxide detector, too, if you're burning candles. Our daughter had a near miss because her neighbour's chimney flue was blocked and the CO came through into her house!! The CO alarm was going off, but her gas combi boiler was ok, and she hadn't had her fire on, so she asked us to change the batteries in the alarm, but it still went off with new batteries. We called the emergency helpline, who advised us to get out of the house, and they came within an hour. They have to check the houses on either side too, and discovered the problem next door. They told him he would have been dead overnight if it hadn't been caught. So....please check your flues, boilers, gas hobs etc, and always have a carbon monoxide detector when you have any naked flame in your house.
Gas/ carbon monoxide emergency number...0800 111 999

Thank you for the reminder @MrsC. They were talking about it on breakfast tv this morning. A couple had lost their daughter from carbon monoxide poisoning and were encouraging everyone to get a detector.They only cost about £15
 

Laura_Elsewhere

boultdj said:

If we had bad sore throats with colds my Gran use to give us a mixture of butter, sugar and vinegar. It worked.

I use butter and sugar- just mix the two to a paste and then take a small lump and let it slowly melt at the back of your mouth. Try to avoid drinking for a while afterwards- the butter's fat coats the throat and acts as a lubricant, and the sugar helps soothe. You could use honey instead. 

Boiling lemonade might have worked in the 1930s when it had a hefty amount of sugar and some actual lemon juice in- but nowadays all you'd end up with is concentrated artificial sweetener and chemical flavouring so I wouldn't bother with that! 

Floss

Auntycaz said:

MrsCD said:

Don't forget a carbon monoxide detector, too, if you're burning candles. Our daughter had a near miss because her neighbour's chimney flue was blocked and the CO came through into her house!! The CO alarm was going off, but her gas combi boiler was ok, and she hadn't had her fire on, so she asked us to change the batteries in the alarm, but it still went off with new batteries. We called the emergency helpline, who advised us to get out of the house, and they came within an hour. They have to check the houses on either side too, and discovered the problem next door. They told him he would have been dead overnight if it hadn't been caught. So....please check your flues, boilers, gas hobs etc, and always have a carbon monoxide detector when you have any naked flame in your house.
Gas/ carbon monoxide emergency number...0800 111 999

Thank you for the reminder @MrsC. They were talking about it on breakfast tv this morning. A couple had lost their daughter from carbon monoxide poisoning and were encouraging everyone to get a detector.They only cost about £15
 

Also note that it is a legal requirement for landlords to provide both smoke and carbon monoxide alarms.

YorksLass

boultdj said:

If we had bad sore throats with colds my Gran use to give us a mixture of butter, sugar and vinegar. It worked.

We had that too and yes, it does work.  For coughs we use boiled and cooled water with honey.

London_1

Laura_Elsewhere said:

boultdj said:

If we had bad sore throats with colds my Gran use to give us a mixture of butter, sugar and vinegar. It worked.

 

Boiling lemonade might have worked in the 1930s when it had a hefty amount of sugar and some actual lemon juice in- but nowadays all you'd end up with is concentrated artificial sweetener and chemical flavouring so I wouldn't bother with that! 

My late Ma-in-law always made her own lemonade and ginger beer, also a wicked sloe gin using sloes from the tree in  her three quarter of an acre garden
It was fairly rural where she lived on the IoW, a lot more built up now.

So she grew every vegetable under the sun, plus fruit as well Sh kept chickens and even fattened up a pig or two.
When my late pa-in-law was alive their runner beans that they grew on 9 huge rows paid for the rates every year as a local green grocer would buy them off him.
 Pa-in-law also tried growing his own tobacco for his pipe but it smell awful so ma-in-law made him only smoke it down at the bottom of the garden where she couldn't smell it  
My husband and his brother as boy went rabbiting or fishing when ever possible to help out as well.

JackieO xx

Cherryfudge

There are a few recipes around for 'real' lemonade - basically tastes like what's now sold as Sicilian lemonade.

Our family recipe for it goes like this:

Put in a basin one and a half pounds of sugar, one ounce of citric acid and the rind and juice of 2 lemons. Pour over all one quart (2 pints) of boiling water and let it stand till cold, stirring occasionally. Strain and bottle.

I reduce the amount of sugar as this is too sweet for modern tastes. Just dilute it as you would with squash or cordial: cold in summer, hot in winter. You can get citric acid on the internet if not locally, and I'd recommend using the unwaxed lemons or scrubbing the waxed ones well before using. The often seem to be in the reduced shelf at the supermarket.

It will be fine in a covered jug in the fridge if you haven't got bottles, and if you do use bottles, sterilise them as for jam jars.