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

taurusgb

I LOVE this thread - now read most of it and will be visiting daily...thanks so much for the recipes you've posted D&DD...and can I just say how amazing people like you and Lil-me and all the others who have children with special needs are? I have felt so overwhelmed reading this thread with admiration for what you do and what you have to cope with on a daily basis. You are amazing people :beer:

D&DD can I just ask whether you grind your dried veg in a food processor after you've dehydrated it please? have spent today drying various stuff and want to make a mixed veg powder out of it but I've only ever dried stuff and used as is before, never thought to make a powder out of it

Yategirl

right dh taste tested the pastry... it was a blind test - 1 was slightly doughy the other a bit more crisp.. he preferred the doughy one.... the gluten free one!

I added a whole egg because it still didn't seem to bind but I will test next time with 1 egg right at the start.

lil_me

Thanks for that Yategirl, yes with the timer like tonight I have switched the heating off once it is warm enough for me, I haven't got a small thermometer, had one when they were babies but gave it to someone who was having one, might get another. Our radiators don't have thermostats on them, it's just on the boiler. It goes up to 8 which DP keeps putting it on or 7, I've got it back down to 2.5! DS1 has been told wear clothes, that's not worked well so far, he has a tshirt on which is a little better.

I have shown DP the bills, he was here when they arrived, I said about it and he said 'I can't help how much it costs' which helps so much doesn't it. Tonight however during dinner I had a bit of a rant. I have told the children that they must switch the lights off after them and close doors, they earn points to earn pocket money, they still struggle a bit with the concept of this a bit but I think I got somewhere. DS2 since I mentioned the closing door thing has become a bit obsessed with closing doors slamming them in other peoples houses. I have explained the lights problem and said we won't be able to have the Christmas lights which DS2 loves switched on if they keep leaving lights on.

DP might have listened as we went in the garage and he didn't put his heater on (usually switches it on as soon as he walks in) and said 'I wonder which costs more, to charge the battery off the car battery and charge that up or to charge them seperate'. He said about getting one of those meters to find out how much appliances etc we have use. Sooo I thought he was getting there. Then he left the garage door open and the lights on as he walked back in :rotfl: I proceeded to bang my head off the wall. Oh well maybe some of it is sinking in. I just get sick of being told 'stop nagging me' when I tell him to switch things off, told to 'shut up' when I tell him to put clothes on instead of the heating. He's qualified in electrical engineering & electronics, everything he enjoys doing unfortunately uses electricity.

I was even thinking of all this when making dinner, decided cooking by candlelight isn't that good an idea but it's easy to fit 6 eggs into the frying pan at once, do scrambled eggs and dry fry mushrooms in the same pan etc. I always make sure the oven is full. I have started switching it off at the wall when it's trying to use the fan to cool it down, I am hoping this will not break it, I open the door to heat the kitchen and utility (where the breakfast bar is)

morwenna

lil_me wrote: »

Unfortuunately gas and electric bill which was £47 electric and £42 gas for 24 days! has arrived so unfortunately that will eat up some of the extra money I had coming in. I went to Lidl's for a few basics and tins and went to the farm shop for some meat for the start of next month.

Lil_me I work buying gas and elec for blue chip companies can I help you at all??

Yategirl

It is a start though lil-me carry through with the pocket money "fines" if the children keep leaving lights on - use the pasta jar method if that helps them understand the concept - it will soon sink in!! Another thought... depending on the age of your children - get them to work out how much electricity you use in the house each day - read the meters etc etc... would be a good project, perhaps get them to look at environmental issues and money issues etc etc etc... would only work if they are old enough... however I did discuss with my then 3/4 year old about "how if we switch lights off, we would have more money for other things rather than mummy having to pay big electricity bills etc..." it has sunk in... not that he is perfect - far from it :rotfl:

for DP... there is a gadget (am trying to remember the name!) which you plug into the socket and then plug the item into and it measures how much electricity the item uses. From that you can work out how much electricity an item uses per wash (e.g in the case of washing machine) or per hour (in the case of a light or heater) - it is fascinating to work it out. We did this about 2 years ago (time to do it again I think!) and were shocked at the costs of some items.... we now switch the microwave off at the wall when not being used (which is rarely) rather than pay for the clock - was only a small amount but it all soon adds up! This is ours.. was £9.99 from Maplins.

D&DD

We've got one of those gadgets Yategirl they are really helpful..not that I can work the damn thing I just send OH off with it :rotfl: it'll be a perfect 'gift' for your techie DP for xmas lil_me;) I got ours from Lidls one week (was a grabbit on here I think)

morwenna

Yategirl wrote: »

for DP... there is a gadget (am trying to remember the name!) which you plug into the socket and then plug the item into and it measures how much electricity the item uses. From that you can work out how much electricity an item uses per wash (e.g in the case of washing machine) or per hour (in the case of a light or heater) - it is fascinating to work it out. We did this about 2 years ago (time to do it again I think!) and were shocked at the costs of some items.... we now switch the microwave off at the wall when not being used (which is rarely) rather than pay for the clock - was only a small amount but it all soon adds up! This is ours.. was £9.99 from Maplins.

Get the gadget from Maplins, it will pay off big time. If I can help to switch your suppliers let me know. Find out how much you use per day - take two meter reads 24 hours apart and I will let you know if it's above average. Change all light bulbs to energy saving ones: you will save 20% straight away and they are to be found quite cheaply now, if you earn less than a certain amount, I believe you can get them free too. And if you change the fridge anytime soon, get an A rated one, it's the greediest gadget in the house, as it's on 24 hours - the kettle would be greedier, depends how often it's on. All the usual advice applies, don't leave anything on standby, and never leave chargers, modems etc switched on when not in use.

D&DD

taurusgb wrote: »

I LOVE this thread - now read most of it and will be visiting daily...thanks so much for the recipes you've posted D&DD...and can I just say how amazing people like you and Lil-me and all the others who have children with special needs are? I have felt so overwhelmed reading this thread with admiration for what you do and what you have to cope with on a daily basis. You are amazing people :beer:

D&DD can I just ask whether you grind your dried veg in a food processor after you've dehydrated it please? have spent today drying various stuff and want to make a mixed veg powder out of it but I've only ever dried stuff and used as is before, never thought to make a powder out of it

Thanks Taurus
Once your veg has dried lay it out on kitchen towel til its completely cool,I usually just leave mine laying around for a couple of hours.I have one of those coffee grinder attachments for my food processor but the little chopper things you get with the stick blender set works or just a normal blender
You can pulse it into flakes for things like onions or chillis or blend further until it reaches a powder stage..if you dry onions you can make your own onions salt by adding in a bit of salt,same for celery *sorry lil_me*,or garlic.
I dried some strawberries this summer and powdered them then used it as a sprinkle over icecreams twas rather nice!! Add fruit powders to cakes as a natural sugar free flavouring

morwenna

Dee, you are going to have to be restrained! I HAVE an Xmas Tree tin I now need a snowman one! And probably a dehydrator and a Panny..

Harumph... my DD1 already said my Xmas list was too boring, and I had only put cookery books and gadgets on there. Can anyone point me to a good hypnotherapist??

lil_me

**cringes because someone! mentioned celery, yak, **SHUDDER

Morweena, D&DD and Yategirl, thanks. I need to go to the Metro Centre at some point so will get one of those gadget things from Maplins. DP likes Maplins....

I am cautious about creating obessions with the boys as much as I am about making them aware. Things can easily take over their lives so I have to approach issues like this with extreme caution, like with the washing machine, my son refused to eat, sleep etc for 2 days because he seen me do a service wash (with the dishcloths in) at higher than 30.

My appliances that I bought are all A rated, double A I think the bigger FF is actually. So that's ok. They are both in cold places so probably have to heat things up, one is in the garage and there was ice in there last week :rotfl:

I have these bills morweena which I can divide the usage by 24 to get an average daily amount, I will do that in a mo.