THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

fuddle

It's a health and safety issue in primary and not allowed but you have a point because eldest could probably do that in secondary. Can you ge little dumpy thermos pots so she could dip her spoon in as opposed to pour it out?

GreyQueen

fuddle wrote: »

It's a health and safety issue in primary and not allowed but you have a point because eldest could probably do that in secondary. Can you ge little dumpy thermos pots so she could dip her spoon in as opposed to pour it out?

I've seen stubby widemouthed thermoses (saw one today in a chazzer in fact, hence having it in mind) which certainly be eaten from using a long-handled spoon like a dessert spoon or - some of my fave kitchen accessories - a sundae spoon. The one I saw today was about 8 inches tall, with the cap on it's lid, to the food bit was shorter than that.

I expect you know already but you can improve the heat retention of a thermos by putting boiling water into it, top on, leave for 5 mins, pour water out then add the contents, weather coffee or soups.

[Deleted User]

Way back when I were a gurl, and Mr Noah was countin' in those aminals 2 by 2 we didn't have cucumbers in March at all!!! we had to wait for the british ones in the late spring early summer, we didn't get salad in the colder months but lots of cabbage, cauliflower, carrots, swede and those dried 'blue' peas that take a couple of weeks to boil after being soaked overnight and butter beans as a veg. What we did get was Lincolnshire celery with the black earth still on it (delicious, crisp, Mmmmmm), beetroot from Uk stocks both fresh and pickled, red cabbage, usually pickled but sometimes raw, up market families had chicory with orange segments and salad cream, and stored apples and pears from local orchards. Thing is it WAS seasonal and local stocks were enough for local populations to remain fed and healthy, there were NO supermarkets at all, the nearest thing was the food hall at the Co Op and the International Stores and you could get your groceries in 1/4 lb bags if that was all you needed. Then came the Common Market and all the rules regs and subsidies that paid farmers to grub out their long established orchards, take out hedgerows to make 'prairie' fields and grow crops like linseed that none of us had ever heard of to export to Europe. With the result that we can now rarely buy british produce in our local shops, our insect and wildlife populations are mostly at crisis point because there isn't the habitat or the wild food they need in the form of seeds/insects etc. to sustain their populations either. My big hope (probably forlorn) is that we may see a restructuring of farming here after Brexit is finally accomplished and we are free from the beurocracy of Europe and that the farming community gets the support, respect and help it needs to re-establish and again provide the diversity of British foods that is needed to feed the nation (mostly) grown right here in the UK.

fuddle

Fantastic! I'll look into it GQ. We've got 2 years of Primary left then youngest will be Secondary bound and I forsee a solution. Eldest will no doubt have a thermos come next September. By 'eck a solution to a problem before it's even a problem. Only on preppers

GreyQueen wrote: »

I expect you know already but you can improve the heat retention of a thermos by putting boiling water into it, top on, leave for 5 mins, pour water out then add the contents, weather coffee or soups.

I do already know this but only recently. One of my elderly chaps I cared for when I was a domicilary carer let me in on the how to as I had no idea and spoilt his teatime coffee as a consequence.

Am I right in thinking that quite a lot of our farmers support the EU exit? If so, what seems to be their reasoning?

monnagran

Lyn, I must have bought one of the first cucumbers to arrive in this country in the middle of winter. I don't quite remember the date but I do remember not being able to believe my eyes. It was Chiristmas and I bought one for my mother at great expense, half a crown (30p) - extortionate!
She hid it and produced it for Christmas Day tea. Remember when we used to have an enormous chicken lunch, (before the days of universal turkey) a splendid Christmas tea followed by a pretty substantial supper. Where did we put it?
Anyway, back to the cucumber. My grandmother looked at it, took off her spectacles, cleaned them, put them back on to have another look and announced in a hushed voice that she had never thought she would see such a thing as cucumber at Christmas in her lifetime.

I wonder what she would make of the choices we have today.

I do have to say that as far as possible I am eating seasonally these days. I am still managing to get my favourite Egremont Russet apples but most other fruit I have a feeling is being flown in. I can't wait to have my own kitchen again and be able to stock up on home grown fruit to see me through the winter.

Fuddle. Definitely look into thermos flasks for good hearty soups. It will see your little one through the winter nicely. Also, even if you make up a cold nutritious packed lunch it will do her more good than the sort of food the school are offering. 'Hot' doesn't necessarily mean 'good.'

DigForVictory

Fuddle - another vote for a thermos of thick soup. They don't have to have glass in anymore & the tartan is so retro it's extortionate, and for a nice homemade soup I expect the girls would abandon School Lunches in a heartbeat!

I'm not doing as well as I'd hoped food sense wise today - I left both the lidded mug of stew & the two packs of rtc sushi in the fridge as we worked late & I forgot. *Drat*.

GreyQueen

Some farmers apparently make more from EU subsidy than from producing any kind of crop, dairying or raising animals for the table.

I emphasise some because it's typically the bigger outfits like the barley barons who make out like bandits on the subsidy-go-round. Smaller guys go to the wall. Therefore, the little guys don't benefit but do suffer the red tape.

Was talking to a person in the last week who is yet another multi-generational family dairy farm (50 cows) going to the wall. Lots of expertise, not to mention prize-winning herds, being lost.

The trick with the thermoses is one my mother taught me, and it seems even more important with the stainless-steel thermoses than with the traditional glass-lined ones, although both benefit from it. Or their contents do, anyway.

Actually, I think I will pop into the chazzer again tomorrow and if that food thermos is still there, I reckon I'll have it. I'd teleport it to Fuddle if I could but we're a long way apart (hundreds of miles) and the postage wouldn't be economic. I'm sure once she starts looking for one, it will appear.

[Deleted User]

I got DD1 a proper Thermos brand food flask from the local Sea Scouts Jumble Sale last time they had one for 50p and it really works well. There is another jumble sale tomorrow morning and I'm going so should there be another one it's yours FUDS!!!

greenbee

GreyQueen wrote: »

: some of my fave kitchen accessories - a sundae spoon.

ooh.... mine too

monnagran wrote: »

Fuddle. Definitely look into thermos flasks for good hearty soups. It will see your little one through the winter nicely. Also, even if you make up a cold nutritious packed lunch it will do her more good than the sort of food the school are offering. 'Hot' doesn't necessarily mean 'good.'

You're absolutely right Monna. How's the house sale/hung going?

GreyQueen

A sundae spoon, or even several of them, is a very handy thing. I has a couple and there was another couple going begging when we cleared my Nan's (both she and I had had ours gifted from my Mum).

Extremely handy for any number of tasks, especially involving things in tall jars. About the only thing I've never used mine for is eating a sundae.:p