The Garden Fence - proper Old Style support and chat!

pollyanna_26

Just lost a post. If you have a small amount of space in the kitchen or elsewhere have a look at the Bekvam trolley. I've two of those in the kitchen will fit under worktops or can be freestanding , Wheels on the back and shelves and holds quite a lot. It has quite a small footprint and no need to balance in mid air Mar.

pollyx

ETA Instead of a fish slice how about one of those grabbers. Meant to pick things up off the floor?

As long as it's light things rather than tins it could work. You can get quite heavy duty ones dd and I have one each to save bending but also saves struggling to stretch across to reach something.

pollyanna_26

Forgot to say you can use mutton for a lamb stew , casserole or hotpot Mar/ My chef dad always said it had  a better flavour.

It takes longer to cook and is ideal for a slow cooker if you have one.

In the past I've cut up lamb leg steaks when my butcher had them on offer and they didn't cost more than his stewing lamb,

They cook faster and they were a family favourite before a couple of the dds went veggie.Not everyone has a butcher with such good offers for regular customers. I prefer them to steak grilled or fried with all the trimmings.

I've watched the match on line and it's past my bedtime.

pollyx

MingVase

I don't roast meat, not ever. Too messy and ruins the oven plus I always worry if it's cooked properly. I do stews hotpots &  stovies. Don't eat beef, hate it. Use a fair bit of liver & kidney though.

There is not a single inch in that kitchen of extra room. I've had cupboards bigger. Two ratty people plus one nosy cat on the floor in there is not peaceful or calm lemme tell you

pollyanna_26

MingVase said:

I don't roast meat, not ever. Too messy and ruins the oven plus I always worry if it's cooked properly. I do stews hotpots &  stovies. Don't eat beef, hate it. Use a fair bit of liver & kidney though.

There is not a single inch in that kitchen of extra room. I've had cupboards bigger. Two ratty people plus one nosy cat on the floor in there is not peaceful or calm lemme tell you

Did you ever buy that Mary Berry book of new meat cookery I recommended to you when you asked about the lamb joint? I got mine in the 80s and it covers pretty much everything including leftovets , gravies and sauces and how to make somthing else from the same ingredients.

I did ask you back then but you complained there were no instructions for roasting a Heffalump.

Just had a look and there are used copies Hardback and Paperback, mines the paperback and they're probably the same over on the Big River site under a fiver.

Roasting meat use a metal container with a lid and it wont mess up your oven, I use a big oval enamel casserole I've had for years. If you want to give it a final browning taket the lid off , lower the heat  and give it a few more minutes.

I prefer middling dumplings not crisp or too soft  so I take the lid of shortly before the end of cooking.

If you worry meat may be undercooked a meat thermometer is your friend for joints nothing is needed for casseroles etc they're easy to check. You can get a meat thermometer very cheap online. SBs may have them when you do your online order.

Failing that if you aren't too far away from the ironmonger who sells everything from paint to a fridge freezer it might be a good run out if you're both up to it and the weather is ok. You good have a good look at all his different goods and I/m pretty sure he'd have a meat thermometer.

I keep meaning to ask what do you keep on the cupboard tops? There may be a different solution ,

 Going to make a brew.

pollyx

silvasava

Polly, I've used an covered oval meat roaster for getting on 50 years, wouldn't be without it. Mar, how about the roast in bags? If you're worried about meat being cooked through generally it's 20mins per pound plus 20 minutes over. So a 3lb chicken would take an hour and 20mins. I've never used a meat thermometer I just stick a knife in the thickest part and if the juices run clear it's done HTH 

MingVase

Yes got the book ty Polly. It's here somewhere... probly up in another inaccessible cupboard. The kitchen units are tall with narrow shelves that can't be moved. Mostly tins in there plus another one with dry goods. I just put the ones I dont use much up top and make the RV get them for me. Thank god I picked a tall man..

MrsCD

I have very high cupboards too, right up to the ceiling, ming. I just store my things that don't get used very often up there  like my biscuit cutters, mandolin, electric knife....
The lower shelves are stacked by most used at the bottom then occasional foods higher. I have a small folding step to reach the 3rd shelves up.

pollyanna_26

silvasava said:

Polly, I've used an covered oval meat roaster for getting on 50 years, wouldn't be without it. Mar, how about the roast in bags? If you're worried about meat being cooked through generally it's 20mins per pound plus 20 minutes over. So a 3lb chicken would take an hour and 20mins. I've never used a meat thermometer I just stick a knife in the thickest part and if the juices run clear it's done HTH 

I wouldn't part with my years old oval meat roaster for anything. I've had it since the children were gtowing up and it's good for hotpots as well as roasts. Just used to remove the lid to brown the sliced potatoes near the end of cooking .

When Mar first asked about roasting lamb a few years ago I remembered she was cooking on Calor back then so we had to adapt cooking times for roasts to that and a meat thermometer seemed a good idea to ensure meat was properly cooked. I;ve never cooked on Calor so it was a learning curve.

I stick a skewer in my roasts to make sure they're cooked through they usually are but I still check it's something I always did so a habit..

I need to catch up on posts Arthritis and Fibro have been flaring so little sleep snd a bit hapless. Feeling much better today. Hadn't shopped for at least 6 weeks and was watching the Coop online tracker online yesterday on red= very busy during the day.

Towards evening it was showing quiet so I pulled myself together and got ready and went there. I had the whole store to myself. They were restocking the shop after the rush and everything that had been in short supply was back. Fresh  food with good dates and no shortages . People have noted shortages of Toilet rolls but all the brands and different size packs were there .

Best of all no price hikes.

I did a huge shop, The staff there are lovely and one woman packed my bags as they went through the checkout and put them back in my trolley. We always used to do some shopping there but not a lot . It's by our GPs surgery so with youngest on 2 weekly Drs appts we would pick up some of theor own brands there then head to town to either SBs or Morries depending on what was needed .

Stopped going to Morries at the start of the Pandemic then SBs when they got too relaxed about the number of customers in store then Hands , Face , Space.

I would go to Marks food hall for certain things but that's in the centre of town and always busy so haven't been there since early last year.

We got the fallout from the Liverpool v Atletico Madrid match played at Anfield early in the pandemic. No maske etc then or restrictions on flying abroad . Thousands of fans packed into the ground screaming and shouting/  A lot of Madrid fansvisit other areas while their here . They came here and shortly afterwards we were level 4 and in lockdown.

Liverpool FC are about to play Atltico Madrid at anfield again so I'm glad Ifinally made my local Coop where I do my shopping. They have a much bigger range now, the staff are wonderful and I'm not facing town anymore. I've avoided online grocery shopping because youngest is ECV and it's not wise to have couriers coming to the door.

I promised at the start I would keep her safe and have done everything possible to krrp that promise. I'm not about to follow do what you like attitude now with no restrictions . Our local hospital is filling up again since the new Omicron varient.

I listen to Chris Whitty and the other experts and go by their advice.

If I need a Wiko  order it's online and goes to where she is and her very careful boyfriend takes delivery at a distance from the courier and puts it in isolation until I collect it

It sounds extreme but it would wipe out all the not going anywhere much, seeing ourselves more often etc of the last ftwo years

They have had two scares the last two winrers she was tested within 24 hours being ECV and it was flu not Covid. Her boyfriend had too wait a few days for his results but flu too.

He used to wander down to the village shops but stopped doing that and so far so good. She;s had a lot of catch up appts at the Drs here, Hospitals Nurse and Dentists recently as they were long overdue but so far so good.

A lot of people have said it's all a bit extreme and we should behave normally now and get out and enjoy ourselves.

We don't look at it that way. It's taken a wonderful GP over 20 years to keep her alive along with hospital and other health proffessionals and we're aren't about to waste all their efforts/

Looking at Ukraine we are blessed not running for our lives, have good homes with gardens , food and freedom. having children living through that must be a nightmare. For various reasons there will be a lot of damage mentally whether in Ukraine or elsewhere with disrupted schooling and health care. family incomes being lost cuts and price rises across the board.

Looking back on my 50s childhood we weren't well off but had enough. Well fed and clothed . I would see the bomb sites before we moved from the terrace house and was told people lived there until WW2 and about my dads RN wartime convoy duties and the damage to  some of my uncles physical and or mental health which impacted their wives and often their children. I could see the difference in their lives and mine when we visited and felt glad I had a good life.

The only big thing I remember outside home was the cold war. my friends and I would meet up evenigs at a friends house and look at those Cuban missiles on the Black and . White TV .When we were heading home we'd quote When shall we three meet again though there were more than three of us and the boys kept quiet. I did wonder sometimes if we'd be blown to kingdom come but it was so alien I wasn't sure.

I just made up my my mind to trust my instincts. Didn't remember that with some of the awful nuns that taught me but there were good , kind helpful ones and two outstanding teachers who weren't nuns and I got the education  my parents and I wanted.

Instinct failed me when I met and married the toxic ex but I survived that.

We all have our own way of doing things which makes us individuals so we make our choices about what we should or shouldn't do.

Sorry for the long post blame it on the first good nights sleep in a long iime. I'm going to do some knitting for the frst time in ages and make a pair of those owl gloves for myself. I've been thinking those gloves would be nice to put in the parcels for the refugees coming here. No good for freezing Ukraine but something nice for the little ones. Everybody loves Wols so thanks again for your link mrs cd/

pollyx

MingVase

pollyanna_26 said:

We all have our own way of doing things which makes us individuals so we make our choices about what we should or shouldn't do.

Eggsackly. Including the choice on what meat to store in our freezers.

 Am just sayin.

pollyanna_26

MingVase said:

Yes got the book ty Polly. It's here somewhere... probly up in another inaccessible cupboard. The kitchen units are tall with narrow shelves that can't be moved. Mostly tins in there plus another one with dry goods. I just put the ones I dont use much up top and make the RV get them for me. Thank god I pic ked a tall man..

In order to get your head around meat and the cooking therof Mary Berry needs to be somewhere you can access. Maybe with your knitting yarn  or books you are reading at the moment or see if Beeglie will move over a bit in her favourite spot next to you and rhe laptop.You could even put it in an empty pan or cooking dish unless they're hidden away. Tou have to adapt to living in a smaller space than you were living on up the hill.

You're making things harder when your health isn't good. After I suggested some sort of meece, rat and other vermin proof outdoor storage did you ever consider something lower that wouldn't block the light  from your kitchen window as I then suggested? That would take care of excss tins in the cupboard. You wouldn't have to climb or stretch and you could make it the RVs job to fetch  them in when needed/ Unless you're posting pics on Instagram I don'tunderstand this hiding stuff away thing when storage space is limited.

DD2 hated antyhing on show on worktops. She was diagnosed with OCD years ago, Sitting in an armchair clutching a china cup and saucer in her house drinking tea was a nightmare, It was don;t spill it or don;t drop it. Twice we had Christmas dinner at her house and could never face it again.

She watched and commented with every mouthful, don't spill it or drop it and be careful with the gravy, It didn't help that she had a big mad lab who'd hurl himself at us trying to get in our labs , She'd be shouting at him and us.

She finally found her perfect house and I dreaded it. However she loved it still houseprouud but bagan to treat it as a home rather than a showhouse.Your wee hoose is more managable in many ways than living up the hill as the years went by steps , distance from hospitals etc. The RVs health and yours declinng meant you had to  find another home and you found somewhere you love, good neighbours and in a beautiful scenic area.

There are times we have to adapt and look for solutions to problems, That was on the  Poor Health thread a lot as people posted their own ways of doing things when health matters made normal ways difficult. Hoiking things from the top of cupboards with a fish slice isn't ideal.

Finding better ways to sort problems is.People have different ideas on mess versus tidy.You have a clean and tidy lovely wee home but you can find other ways of stroing tins etc unless you go vegetarian which may invove KALE if other supplies are short. Oh I haven't typed that word for a long time and it isn't as effective as the Green version and ROTF laughing emoji.

pollyx