Prepping for Brexit thread

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Funnily enough I got a bit a week or so ago to pot up, but haven't had chance yet

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MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

We used to have vast areas of hot houses producing tomatoes and even peppers back in the 1970s/80s where we lived in Hampshire there were and still are so very many abandoned glasshouse complexes that have been left to deteriorate and grow wild

I've a fantastic booklet from WWII about growing tomatoes on a commercial scale on the home front. It's even got full on plans for building the glasshouse - maybe some of those you remember were left over from WWII

I posted this in the gardening forum, but I'm sure no one minds if I duplicate it here - it's a fascinating bit of ephemera:

[Deleted User]

Most of them were run by the older generation when we moved to Hampshire in the early 1990s so that could quite easily have been their origins but they were still viable until we became a 'global society' and people wanted to have everything available every day 365 days of the year. One couple grew peppers in a two acre glasshouse and made a good living from it selling to restaurants in London when peppers were a seasonal exotic that was an occasional treat but they were forced out of business in the 1970s when all the imports came from Europe after we joined the Common Market and the same with the strawberry growers, most people who were native to our village had a couple of acres of strawberry field in odd places round the village and it was the bulk of their annual income supplemented by hubby doing a local job all year round but the cheaper imports meant it was not financially viable to keep growing in Hampshire and the fields as they were not particularly good soil for anything else have all been gradually developed for housing and now in that part of the world there is no open green, no agriculture, no orchards and one council run farm for the tourists is all they have left.

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Jazee wrote: »

We get lots of power cuts, usually short, but it's amazing just how quickly you can get cold, so I make sure I have spare blankets and fleeces handy.

Years ago I found a USAF bomber pilot's coveralls on ebay for cheaps - like the classic cold war bomber jacket but a full suit. I thought it might come in useful when I retired and could no longer afford heating - but as an early test, it passed with (erm) flying colours when The Beast From The East struck

VoucherMan

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

Write the use by date on the front

This got me thinking this morning (on a Saturday too:eek:)


What do others think of the quality of the product if it's passed it's use by, or more commonly with tinned/packet./frozen stuff, the more dubious best before dates?


I've often thought I must have a poor palate. I'm just as happy with some slow cooked brisket as I'd be with a juicy steak. Other 'fine foods' leave me just as unimpressed.


Last weekend I wanted a lazy lunch, so dug a tin of beans or something out of the cupboard, best before some time in 2018. Also some tuna and pasta. I'm not sure about the pasta, but the tin of tuna was dated 2016. On a rare trip to Lidl yesterday I stocked up on bread flour, because Aldi have a habit of emptying the shelves of normal bread flour, and replacing it with some fancy stuff costing 3 times as much. When I came to put the flour away I found I still have 4 bags dated BB the end of next month.
A quick look in the cupboards reveals all sorts of 'out of date' stuff. Tins, jars, packets. I'm currently enjoying sandwiches containing some beef recently dug out of the freezer from Christmas 2017. I've even got some suet dated 2014. I bought a lot before they put the prices up by about 50% reckoning it was a good buy. Almost used up now, but it still makes good suet puddings and dumplings, and the birds think it's okay too.
I've got some Robertson's jam too.

There must be a point where quality or performance (thinking of my out of date yeast) is affected, but I've yet to find it.

Farway

VoucherMan wrote: »

What do others think of the quality of the product if it's passed it's use by, or more commonly with tinned/packet./frozen stuff, the more dubious best before dates?

I've often thought I must have a poor palate. I'm just as happy with some slow cooked brisket as I'd be with a juicy steak. Other 'fine foods' leave me just as unimpressed.

There must be a point where quality or performance (thinking of my out of date yeast) is affected, but I've yet to find it.

Sounds like my situation as well, but so far never found anything OOD that I had to bin because it was just unpalatable, somethings, like chicken with freezer burn fall into "Wish I'd used it a year ago" category but apart from that, I plod on
I have started writing the dates on stuff I put in freezer now, so at least I know just how old it is


I am currently using 2011 vintage HM apple chutney, tastes better for a few years of maturating, like wine?

Mr_Singleton

VoucherMan wrote: »

Aldi have a habit of emptying the shelves of normal bread flour, and replacing it with some fancy stuff costing 3 times as much.

Would be very interested to know what you mean by 'fancy'

Primrose

Out of date yeast can certainly ruin your home made bread! We use an automatic bread maker and the loaf turned out as solid as a brick with old yeast but for all other items I,d use the visual and sniff test.

We,ve had back of the freezer items that have still been ok three years after storing but their quality does deteriorate with freezer burn and if you want to enjoy you're food its obviously best to eat it whilst still in prime condition.

We try to keep a freezer inventory now and menu plan to use up stuff in rotation but that doesn't always cover of the cupboard items which only get used occasionally or remain hidden out of sight. Running a full store cupboard is handy especially in illness or bad weather but you do have to be disciplined about storing the newest stuff at the backand with most of us time challenged, that'snot always a discipline which is practiced.

So,sniff and taste I say, and don't frightened to throw away if you're uncertain.

VoucherMan

Mr_Singleton wrote: »

Would be very interested to know what you mean by 'fancy'

Only from memory, and a little help from Google, but I think it's https://www.fwpmatthews.co.uk/product/french-t55-traditional-bread-flour/


It happened last year, normal bread flour removed from the shelf for months, with the expensive stuff somewhere else in the store. (I only knew as I was directed there my a member of staff) Several months later they started selling the cheap bread flour again. I assumed they'd either managed to sell all the other flour, or thrown it away due to being OOD, but the've done the same again this year, so someone must buy the stuff.

silverwhistle

Their cheap bread flour isn't very good, and certainly not very strong: only 12% protein, if I recall well.



People do buy the other stuff, myself for one. The Italian and French style flours, Cotswold Crunch which I tend to use in blends and the Spelt which I use in my sour dough bread.