Preparing for Winter

miemie

Thanks Pink don't post very often as i always manage to put things in the wrong place. Sorry everyone.
Miemie

rosieben

miemie wrote: »

Over the past few weeks i've started to worry about winter and the rising costs of living, so have decided over the warmer months to start a winter stock cupboard that will hopefully help ease the food bill during winter and the money saved can go towards the gas/leccy bill. ....

Great idea miemie! I always keep a good stock cupboard but ran it down earlier this year in preparation for moving house a few weeks ago. Now I'm starting to build up my store cupboard again. Like you I keep plenty of pasta and rice, tea and coffee. I also have extra flour, sugar and dried milk, tins of fruit and veg including baked beans and tomatoes. Other useful items are candles, matches and extra batteries for torches etc. Some great ideas earlier on in this thread.

you do need to have some sort of system for checking dates and using things in rotation

mardatha

I'm knitting a bag for my feet. I found some wool in the bottom of the wardrobe

[Deleted User]

miemie that is a really good idea because the hardest financial time is still to come. I think that the worst time can be after christmas and to have a store cupboard like that could be a lifesaver, as well as the fact that it just may be hard to get out in the bad weather. Mine is already stocked and ready. Everything in there is at least summer 2009 for use by so I can just leave it alone now

It feels as though winter isn`t that far away now. Rotten wet weather, darker nights and mornings and the horse chestnut trees are well on the turn. My postie said that some friends of his had already turned the heating on. I am sitting here in short sleeves getting acclimatised and it is working

The survival thread on the discussion board was very useful and had some great ideas too

miemie

Thanks Kittie, I have a list on the inside of the cupboard door of the things i need, for example 10x beans, 3 x t bags, 2x rice and cross off as i have bought items, i also check list before shopping and add items onto shopping list so when i,ve finished shopping and have some money left i go and buy these items, this is so i don't end up with 20 tins of peaches and no rice IYSWIM. Hope this makes sense.

Lula-Hula

Hello,

I turned my heating off weeks ago & am going to try keeping it that way til 1st october when I'll need to start using radiators to dry clothes again i expect .

I'm on prepayment meters for both gas & electricity & this year instead of cutting down my weekly payments during the summer, have continued to top up each with £10 every week so currently have £45 credit on the gas meter & £37 credit on the electricity one

lula

newlywed

Lula-Hula wrote: »

I'm on prepayment meters for both gas & electricity & this year instead of cutting down my weekly payments during the summer, have continued to top up each with £10 every week so currently have £45 credit on the gas meter & £37 credit on the electricity one

I did plan to do this, but I didn't quite get round to it :rolleyes: I used the "extra" money instead I usually top up monthly.

Do you know what the maximum credit you can have is? Is there one

Barneysmom

rosieben wrote: »

Great idea miemie! I always keep a good stock cupboard but ran it down earlier this year in preparation for moving house a few weeks ago. Now I'm starting to build up my store cupboard again. Like you I keep plenty of pasta and rice, tea and coffee. I also have extra flour, sugar and dried milk, tins of fruit and veg including baked beans and tomatoes. Other useful items are candles, matches and extra batteries for torches etc. Some great ideas earlier on in this thread.

you do need to have some sort of system for checking dates and using things in rotation

That's very wise, I just buy stuff and bung it in the boxroom uppstairs. So I don't really know what I've got, loads of beans and toms though.

I've finally after 8 years put a carpet in the hall :j On a cold day like today you can really feel the difference.

Can someone please tell me what a rice bag is please, I 've never heard of one? What's it for?

chocolate.orange_2

Barneysmom a rice bag is a bag that you make out of fabric, some prefere cotton. You fill it with dry rice or i used pearl barley.
You pop it into the microwave for a minute and then use it like a hot water bottle,without the water HTH

Barneysmom

Thanks Chocolateorange! What a brilliant idea, I actually have a bag of rice that's a good while out of date, but I'm too tight to chuck it, and didn't want to eat it :T