Family of 5 'shop from home'food storage challenge...

ravylesley

Kaz2904 wrote: »

Ah art work! The beauty of having an open fire is that we need stuff to light it with and the kids happily donate their treasures to it so that they can see the flames roaring away!

I'd love an open fire again but unfortunately we dont have a chimney!

Well after the torrential downpours yesterday when I hid indoors all day baking up a storm today we have heavy showers.If this rain continues I'm going to have to resort to building an ark

I loved reading Norma Jeans Blog and have to admit to being a little inspired by it.I'd never really thought about my stockpiling being for a reason other than to satisfy my OCD with not having empty cupboards.Shes also got me fired up about jam making and preserving again which I havent done for years so I'll have to get in pursuit of a decent jam pan etc

I was wondering about the comments about hard recycling or rather the lack of it in this country.Does no-one on here use freecycle?Cos there are always loads of cupboards and drawers that come up on there that could be put to good use

Lesleyxx

taurusgb

Yategirl wrote: »

I like clutter too... I like my home to look lived in... but I want it TIDY!!!!!!!!!! why don't my family understand that??!!!!! Our house was built in the 60's...
We looked at house built in the late 90's when buying this one - 2-3 bedrooms supposedly... but the 2nd or 3rd bedroom couldn't even fit a single bed in.... WHY?!!!

We also have a 1960's house. the main reason we bought it was because it was the ONLY house on the market in the small town we wanted to move to (in 1992) that wasn't so tiny that if you sat on the sofa and stretched out your legs you had your feet in the fire ....the kitchen isn't big enough (wahhhh!!! I want an aga and a big scrubbed table)....it was designed by a man - oh yes it was I can tell!.....and I too have no linen cupboard or pantry........*sob* but I want 'em - oh I do !!!

Apart from this thread, the flylady thread and the daily thread, my favourite thread was the one where pics of people's kitchen's were available for us all to covet.

Yategirl

Lesley - yes we use freecycle - given away and recieved many things - it has been a big boon to us and I hope the things we have given away (furniture/cloth nappies/clothes/toys etc etc) have been a big help to someone else.

Taurus - oh YES! these houses were designed by a man... man who wasn't thinking proper.... why oh why was the house plonked in the middle of the land instead of a much smaller front garden and a nice sized back garden? Why do we have no downpipes so I can save water?.. why was the gas and electric meter tucked into the most silliest place under the stairs?.. why????? I could go on!

kethry

lightisfading wrote: »

So this is where you've been hiding, keth

I've just made a 'storecupboard' chilli my normal way (tomatoes, beans, onions, veggiemince, seasonings) and for some reason its come out really bland.. AFAIK i haven't done anything different... anyone think of a way to make it taste 'fuller' IYSWIM, without just blasting it with chilli powder?

Thinking about making some HM peanut butter cups for the OH - he's canadian and thus loves the Reeses ones. I have dark chocolate that I'd rather not eat myself (diet), and about 1/3 jar of smooth natural PB... hmmm

guilty as charged, lightisfading!! (*waves from the BLA - Bed Linen Anonymous group*)..

suggestions for perking up the chilli: teaspoon or two of sugar (don't look at me like that, use it the way you'd use salt. it oomphs the tomato). extra salt. got any boullion? teaspoon of that stirred in helps with flavour. worcestershire sauce?

reese's buttercups - nigella has a recipe for a square of stuff that tastes like it. think millionaire's shortbread type square. google should find it. If not i'll drag out the book and email it to you.

keth
xx

lightisfading

Yategirl wrote: »

.. why was the gas and electric meter tucked into the most silliest place under the stairs?.. why????? I could go on!

we have a pre-pay gas meter.. ie you have to top the card up in a shop and put it in the meter regularly... our meter is in an old pantry/cupboard.. the doorway of which happens to be the ONLY place in our kitchen we can fit the fridgefreezer. :mad: so every time we get gas we have to move the thing!!

kethry

mummysaver wrote: »

Hi Kethry, I had a friend years ago whose parents had a huge rambling old house, I had linen cupboard envy even back then! We lived in a tiny council house, and I swear that in my memory their linen cupboard was bigger than our kitchen! All our linen is stuffed into the airing cupboard, along with pj's, you take your life in your hands when you open the door! One of my friends, no idea why she was looking in there, asked why I had so much linen - couldn't really explain that in my imagination I had a big linen cupboard to fill! I'm so glad that I'm not the only person in the world who has these weird obsessions!

I'm going to start the BLA group!!! (Bed Linen Anonymous). Who wants to be a member?

Yategirl wrote: »

pmsl!!! I am a Monica.. in my dreams... I try and strive towards it (I am a virgo so if you believe in horoscopes.. then it is in my nature!).. but am thwarted at every step.... I like clutter too... I like my home to look lived in... but I want it TIDY!!!!!!!!!! why don't my family understand that??!!!!! Our house was built in the 60's... we have an understair cupboard that we cannot get into due to it's shape... we have a so called airing cupboard.... but a new boiler was put in by previous people.... right in the most silly place.... we have a garage that would be huge... but the previous people altered it (apparently to get a car parking space outside but if you park *any* small car there.. you can't get out the doors - believe me... we tried!!)..... We are making changes and trying to make it work for us... but progress is oh so slow.............

i'm a virgo too!! oh but i know i really know what you mean about bad builders.. you should see our block of flats. We live on a street corner, road going in both ways. so. do they put the front door on the side facing the road? do they hell. they put the front door on the other side, make a little alleyway so you have to walk down between our block to get to the front door and the side of the house next door, and then they put a bin shed in between the front door and the road, and a nice little roof over the front door, with an overhead light so that a) its secluded from inclement weather, b) secluded from the road, c) a terrible security risk because the only people who can see you are the people who walk down the alleyway.. its a magnet for kids behaving badly, up to no good, we've had fires set at the front door.. people breaking into the communal hallway.. all because of bad design!! ARGH!! :mad::mad::mad:

keth
xx

taurusgb

Yategirl wrote: »

Taurus - oh YES! these houses were designed by a man... man who wasn't thinking proper.... why oh why was the house plonked in the middle of the land instead of a much smaller front garden and a nice sized back garden? Why do we have no downpipes so I can save water?.. why was the gas and electric meter tucked into the most silliest place under the stairs?.. why????? I could go on!

dunno - tell me this...why (before we had new windows) did the kitchen and bathroom only have a teeny tiny window that opened and HUGE panes of glass didn't? and what earthly use is an opening window on the wall going up the stairs that is so high you need a LADDER to reach it? and one - yes ONE electrical socket in the kitchen and 2 in the living room? I could also go on...but as am off topic will shut up and go back to working out if my shopping from home would be better done by buying from myself and saving the cash to re-stock at quarterly intervals or whether I should write on a list what I use and replace weekly....don't like shopping but have a terrible dread of empty cupboards.........D&DD's meringues with cherry icecream from my new ice cream maker for pudding this evening.........dinner? oh yes dinner...umm cottage pie I think - see how many veg I can "hide":rotfl:

taurusgb

kethry wrote: »

I'm going to start the BLA group!!! (Bed Linen Anonymous). Who wants to be a member? :Dketh
xx

Me!!! me please!

taurusgb

lightisfading wrote: »

we have a pre-pay gas meter.. ie you have to top the card up in a shop and put it in the meter regularly... our meter is in an old pantry/cupboard.. the doorway of which happens to be the ONLY place in our kitchen we can fit the fridgefreezer. :mad: so every time we get gas we have to move the thing!!

Oh blimey !! that's awful...... you win - our house has it's problems but none quite THAT bad :eek:


Oh and the chilli ...garlic? either fresh or powdered

kethry

taurusgb wrote: »

Me!!! me please!

i guess that makes you BedLinenAnonymous Member No 2 welcome to the club! Here's your free pack of bedlinen, please make sure to fold it properly, and we expect that when you use it on the bed, to make the bed with *hospital corners*, when dirty, to lovingly wash, dry and iron each and every item, before refolding and stacking neatly in your BedLinenCupboard. With an obligatory nice smelling thing in there to keep out moths and other nasties.

keth
xx

p.s. sorry Dee. i know. its off topic.xx