Preparing for Winter V

fionaandphil

I have lots of the Covent Garden Soup recipe books @sammykaye and I use them occasionally but generally just use what is left in the fridge or what is on special offer/seasonal. One of my favourites is the roasted butternut squash one, which is very simple to make if you don't follow the recipe entirely.  Basically just roast the squash, boil some spuds and then add stock and blend the two together if I remember correctly.  I think the recipe ask for cream but I don't use that unless I have some lurking.

Our go to one is vegetable with lentil, and I save things like the tops of the leeks, leftover veg etc in a bag in the freezer and then stick it in the slow cooker with stock and lentils to make the soup. My family don't like 'bits' so I just blend it when it is ready.

fionaandphil

I think you can roast the seeds - I might have seen it on the fyf20quid website or fb page, it looked simple and I did think I might try it but haven't yet

Wednesday2000

My husband went to Aldi today, but they didn't have any butternut squash in there. Lidl isn't that near to me. I will have to look later in the week somewhere else. I do love soup.

It is still quite warm here today!

luvchocolate

sammy_kaye18 said:

Sarahspangles said:

luvchocolate said:

Primrose said:

WE have some recently expired Covid test kits in a cupboard. Does anybody know whether they would still give an accurate result?  Know a lot of medications are still perfectly viable after their stated expiry date.

I think they may not detect any new strains..but nothing to back this up just my opinion 

That is true, but the vast majority of Covid19 virus currently circulating is within the family tree of the Omicron variant so there are no significant concerns about test arrangements.

To be honest - even with covid now you are still able to go to work and school etc as well so I doubt many even test anymore when your are able to just go on with life. 
That always really bugged me - especially having ill family members - Im not even sure if you have to make it known to employers etc or not now either? 

I find this hard my Son was 39 when he had 2 heart attacks  brought on by covid and his heart showed signs of damage. 
Fit slim young man with a young family..certainly doesn't appear vulnerable...makes me nervous that people are just out and about with covid 

Sarahspangles

sammy_kaye18 said:

Sarahspangles said:

luvchocolate said:

Primrose said:

WE have some recently expired Covid test kits in a cupboard. Does anybody know whether they would still give an accurate result?  Know a lot of medications are still perfectly viable after their stated expiry date.

I think they may not detect any new strains..but nothing to back this up just my opinion 

That is true, but the vast majority of Covid19 virus currently circulating is within the family tree of the Omicron variant so there are no significant concerns about test arrangements.

To be honest - even with covid now you are still able to go to work and school etc as well so I doubt many even test anymore when your are able to just go on with life. 
That always really bugged me - especially having ill family members - Im not even sure if you have to make it known to employers etc or not now either? 

I think a lot of people aren’t clear on the ‘rules’ now. I work in a related bit of the NHS* so I’m bound to think the approach is now a bit lax! There are no Covid-specific rules about going to work or school. You can work on a hospital ward with Covid although I can’t see any Trust letting people work with really sick patients.

The Living with Covid approach is to give boosters to people who are at risk of hospital admission if infected, and tests and a fast track to antivirals to a sub group at highest risk. For each new variant there’s a period where we’re waiting for confirmation that the tests and boosters still work

That leaves the rest of us reliant on catching Covid and building up increasing immunity. But it’s not pleasant, for me catching it earlier this year was like the worst flu I’ve ever had in terms of being put out of action. So I’ll be paying for a private booster later this year like I always have for flu.

* retiring soon

Sarahspangles

Nelliegrace said:

The chickens like the seeds. I make a thick red soup with butternut squash or sweet potato, red lentils, onion, celery and tomato purée. Lentil soup is my quick standby.
Marguerite Patten did a very good book on soup. A flask of hot soup on a chilly day out, such a comfort food. I might have mentioned it.
We were brought up on soups, hearty soups with bone stock, leftovers soup, “don’t ask” soups which were probably rabbit, Mum’s mushroom soup from our forage field mushrooms, soups from homegrown vegetables and dried beans, cheap and filling leek and potato, and onion soup. 
Ah, soup! Beautiful soup. 

You might appreciate what just happened here! OH has retired and is improving his cookery skills. He wanted to make paella with some chicken drumsticks but didn’t get them out the freezer in time. So I suggested he make stock by poaching them with onion, celery tops and a carrot. Thinking this would ensure they were cooked through and he would then add the chicken and stock at the usual points in the recipe.

Instead, he fished the chicken out to put in the dish, but used a stock cube and water from the kettle…. I genuinely think he believes that is stock, and the homemade version is a pale imitation. I try not to judge his mother.

weenancyinAmerica

Dates on beans and other pulses is just a best by date not a use by date. They have used beans from ancient ruins here in the United States that were several hundred years old if not more. They need to be soaked longer certainly, but don't assume that the date is the final date for using them. We destroy so much food that way.

beckstar1975

Just a warning. I bought a big box of various pulses and beans from Hodmedods last year and had been storing them in a sealed plastic storage create. Went to get the chick peas out to cook today and the entire thing was HUMMING with weevils/bugs.

Had to chuck them all out (about 10 bags worth), such a waste. Have learnt my lesson not to try and stockpile too much if I'm not cooking them often

Floss

Sarahspangles said:

.... I work in a related bit of the NHS* so I’m bound to think the approach is now a bit lax!
 ...... So I’ll be paying for a private booster later this year like I always have for flu.

I'm surprised you aren't offered flu & covid vaccines by your employers? I'm not patient facing but am offered the jabs every year.

Nelliegrace

I save meat dripping to sauté vegetables gently, add the lentils and let them heat for a minute, then stir in warmed stock and the tomato purée, and simmer it for about 20 minutes, then blitz it. To be posh, serve it with a swirl of yoghurt and a sprinkle of chopped parsley. Use whatever spices, or garlic if you like it. 

The essential ranges we rely on don’t make enough profit. Cutting those, or not making them available to the frail and disabled, who rely on home delivery, are ways that inflation hurts the poor much more than the well off, who have more choices. We were told that some items were unavailable for click and collect on our order in lockdown, and we had to buy the more expensive item. It was not as if we could shop elsewhere when I was allocated priority access there. DH would risk going into the store, and find them well stocked, so it was a lie. 

We are well stocked so we can stay at home if the weather is bad, or if we are not so well.