THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

ivyleaf

mardatha wrote: »

Pineapple we could seriously do with a lot more schemes in poorer areas that teach people good cheap old-fashioned cooking! How to make do with less and how to feed a family on next to nothing. That is desperately needed.

We do have occasional workshops in our area where people can learn to make "proper food" at a reasonable cost and without waste! I'm not sure how often they're held though as we rarely see a local paper any more (which was how I knew the workshops existed)..

pineapple

craigywv wrote: »

hi all been awol AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 trying to catch up i see there may be an expert in yorkshire pudding making............YO PINEAPPLE! pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease tell me how to make them i have tried too many times and fail they come out flat and dense many thanks xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sorry but I can only think in old money - 4oz plain flour, 1/4 pint milk, 1/4 pint water, 2 eggs, pinch o salt.
Mix flour and salt, stir in liquids (with egg) gradually then give it a darn good beating. My mother used to let the batter stand then stand at the door whisking in a bit of last minute cold air but I tend not to bother.
Oven at least 200/gas 7 and piping hot oil/dripping in the tins
Everyone has their own recipe and method but this works for me.
I make the large round ones (ie tin divided into 4) but I think the trick in all cases is to get the oil really hot. The way I test for this is to (highly scientific tip alert) drip a teeny bit of batter into the oil and if it immediately sizzles and fluffs up you are good to go. If it just lays limply in the fat, it ain't hot enough by half.:D
The other thing is not to keep opening the door to check them. Shouldn't matter so much with glass inner doors but as a kid I was even fobidden from opening the back door while the Yorkshires were in!

pineapple

ivyleaf wrote: »

We do have occasional workshops in our area where people can learn to make "proper food" at a reasonable cost and without waste! I'm not sure how often they're held though as we rarely see a local paper any more (which was how I knew the workshops existed)..

When I used to work with carers, I came across basic cooking workshops for bereaved husbands. Sounds 'sexist' but in those times and in that area, 'the wife' really did do most of the cooking and if she died, hubby was left clueless. Apparently the classes were very popular.
Bereaved wives were of course, expected to cope.

mardatha

I don't think it sounds sexist at all, to me it sounds sensible. Married men who have worked all their lives don't need to learn how to cook, and when the wife dies then the men are left totally lost. My daughter met and helped a few when she worked in Asda, poor souls trying to stick to what their wives got every week but didnt have a clue what to do with it once they bought it.

GreyQueen

On the edge of my wider acquaintanceship are a widow and a widower who have a 'relationship'. Neither are looking to replace their deceased spouse but they are friends.

The widow has some little repair jobs and garden jobs which her late hubby used to do. The widower can cook but can't bake and can't really see to do a full roast dinner for one.

He is 'paid' for repair services in fruit cakes to take away and the occasional sit-down Sunday dinner at the widow's house. It works for them.

moneyistooshorttomention

Speaking personally - and I think it's necesarry to "rip up the songsheet - and start all over again" at intervals re what to cook.

I don't want to rely on "recipes" to cook with - but every time I think "Right - got a handle on it - re preparing a meal from scratch from the ingredients in the kitchen" and something comes along to upset the applecart.

Thought I was starting to "get a handle on it" and then along comes the latest thing of "Better chuck fish out then as an ingredient" - courtesy of plastic microbeads heading out into the oceans then fish then our stomachs and bang goes things like "a bit of decent salmon as basis for a meal then - and what am I going to have with it?" as fish goes off the menu and it would be best for it to remain so for the rest of my life then (ie about 20 years) and it's back to vegetarian then....

So - fully agree with courses on how to combine basic ingredients into a meal (without having to do a recipe as such) - with the proviso that it will need updating every few years to take acount of whatever has come "onto the scene" since then.

No wonder I am puzzled as to what "the powers that be" actually manage to find to eat - by the time they've turned a blind eye to g*netically modified/antibiotics in meat/the pollution going into the ocean/etc. So - just what do they personally eat - ie that they are "Alright Jack" - despite what they are doing to the food the rest of us eat? That is a genuine question - not a rhetorical one btw....

Personally - I would like a repeat "Umpteen variations on what to do with basic ingredients - and blow specific recipes as such" course about every 5 years to cater for all this mucking around with our food and keep on top of it.

[Deleted User]

Currently in the bath.

I've included a postage stamp, to give an indication of size.

On the subject of cooking, I can make a nice four quarters cake.

westcoastscot

MTSTM you'll be vegan then rather than vege? Given your strict ethical position on food consumption/production?

Edited to add: 4 quarters cake Bob? (am I going to be sorry I asked?? :rotfl: )

milasavesmoney

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

Currently in the bath.

I've included a postage stamp, to give an indication of size.

On the subject of cooking, I can make a nice four quarters cake.

Our neighbor next door was bitten recently by a brown recluse. We kill them (as opposed to rehoming) because they can be deadly in young children or any one with a depressed immune system. About 50% of the time they cause skin necrosis.

We call four quarters cake a pound cake...yummy!!

craigywv

thanks pineapple i shall give it a go tomorrow xxxxx