It's getting tough out there. Feeling the pinch?

Siebrie

My dds (now 13 and 11) have to eat as many bites as they are old of anything they claim not to like. I tried several methods before, but only this one seems to have stuck. I do not serve alternatives, dessert is served immediately after for those who want a dessert, and if they don't eat, well 'breakfast is tomorrow morning!'. No snacking after dinner, and although I may be lenient on this once in a while, I am not lenient if they didn't eat their dinner.

London_1

Wow this certainly brought out a good few opinions good and bad.

 Re :  FQIF. Some of the stuff I can assimilate to, and some stuff I may disagree with her .True she has rather an abrasive manner and I've sometimes found the stick and carrot method works a bit better.

I think she means well ,and if it makes you stop and think, its not written in stone that you have to follow her slavishly but thinking before spending isn't such a bad idea sometimes .

I think we often (I'm no different to anyone else) think 'Oh that looks nice I'll treat myself ' and why not .Sometimes even a small treat cheers you up when things are getting a bit too worrying. Its good to have a little bit of "Happy Cash Stash" just for something totally daft,(even a squashy cream cake can cheer you up.) But we all need a bit of happiness and if by a bit of belt tightening we can achive it, and spend the spare cash saved on a goodie for a treat the world won't stop spinning .
I use my spare cash for my holidays I have a couple of weeks on the IoW coming up and in October a five day break to Wales.

A change of scenery from the routine is my idea of a treat so if by budgetting I can have a break now and again then its what I do.I also use some spare cash for my grandsons and help them get through their Uni careers with a helping hand when they get short. They are all good kids and they never expect it or ask for it.

The menstual cup thing for me is a thing long forgotten about at my age a good thirty years ago it might have helped but not needed now thank goodness  

So what the film and take from it bitas that suit and ignore stuff that doesn't.  

Jackieo xx

I think on the whole it just gives you some ideas and maybe a little motivation and we can all do with that at times xxx

General_Grant

timehastoldme said:

I've got heavy periods and tampons needed  regular (4hr at most) changing, whereas the cup can go 12 easy. Pair it with period pants and there's never any concern about overflow. I started using them at least seven years ago now, and I'm on my third cup (only due to accidentally flushing one and the dog eating another). For me they're also incredibly comfortable compared to tampons (never having to remove a too dry one again makes everything worth it).

I've only bought them half price on international womens day. 

In fact, post covid vaccine menstrual cycle has changed, less painful but heavier. The cup definitely made feeling secure around that much better. 

I had a "tulley" cup in the 1970s (possibly earlier).  It lasted a very long time and didn't cost a lot - I'm pretty sure would have paid for itself compared with tampons in about a year.  It was great for holidays - just take the one small item instead of boxes or trying to purchase products when abroad.

Spendless

sammy_kaye18 said:

Spendless said:

@sammy_kaye18 - What's your eldest's situation, now and going forward. Is he at sixth form/college or working, intending going to Uni and moving away soon etc?

I had my eldest one learn to drive when still at college, he passed first time at 18. He's not been able to afford a car during the 4 years he spent at Uni, but now he's finished that he already has a license is going to be helpful with his job hunting.

Youngest however turned 17 the week after lockdown1. Plus had too much anxiety from school trauma in her latter years there to consider feeling confident enough to start lessons. She's only mentioned liking to start them very recently but she's moving away in October and there's such a backlog here there's no chance of getting her in with someone and her passing before moving away, so that is going to have to be on hold for now.

My boy has just turned 18 on the 26th. Hes currently in college 3 days a week studying an electricians and plumbing course and then 3 days a week he works in a well known sports shop in our local town. So he is working on his education and working to save some money. Plus his child trust fund is obviously now open but hes doing his best to leave the little bit he had (about £850) in there and add to it as his car fund. 
He is looking for a better paid job at the minute as he is on a low wage despite his age but other than that hes working hard in fairness to him, he has anxiety too so he has only really now shown interest so we have applied for his provisional online to give him options and at least an official form of ID if nothing else

Ahh ok, that sounds like he'll be in work/apprenticeship once college has finished, so he's got time to start lessons and take his test, you're not up against a deadline of him moving away.

We had my parents to a BBQ this Jubilee weekend, but I shopped in their cupboards to add to what we had in and then DS and fiancée went back to their digs and needed shopping before they returned so they shopped in mine -lol. 

Brambling

littlemoney said:

Could you post how you make rice pudding in a pressure cooker please. I have an old prestige high dome cooker, nothing fancy but I do like rice pudding but can't justify having the oven for the long time needed. I failed at microwave rice pudding.

I have a electric pressure cooker but I'm sure it's the same 🙂 

This is the recipe but I do cut back on the butter and sugar 

25g butter
100g pudding rice
50g sugar
700ml milk
grated nutmeg 

melt butter and add sugar and rice.  Stir and add milk.  Bring to a simmer and put on lid, once it's at pressure cook for 12 minutes (mine does this automatically).  Remove lid and add nutmeg to taste simmer for 1 - 2 minutes to thicken 

I sometimes replace some of the milk with tinned coconut milk 

ariarnia

Brambling said:

Usually I first make the stock in the slow cooker and then make the soup on the hob the next day but yesterday I skipped the stock process and made the soup in the pressure cooker from the raw drumstick and skimmed the fat today, it tastes just as good and has the benefit of less electricity used 🙂 

recipe? my soups always taste like salty water with boiled lumps in (if i blitz it make that watery mash). i really don't know what i get wrong

joedenise

@ariarnia - it sounds as if you are adding too much water to start with.  If my soups come up watery I tend to drain some of it off into a jug then blitz the soup, if it's a bit thick then I'll add back some of the stock from the jug to get the consistency I want.  Hope that helps with your watery soup problem.  It's at least worth a try!

Bluegreen143

I listened to a great podcast once about soup making which I found helpful.

Best tip is “season every layer”. Season the aromatics while you’re frying them, season any meat, season the liquid. She says that it’ll never taste the same adding the salt at the end and I have to agree that this seems to have made a big difference here.

Another piece of advice I found helpful is to take the time to individually sauté each ingredient rather than dumping it all in a slow/pressure cooker (which is what I used to do). 

These two tips have really helped me and I’ve not made bland soup since 😆

Also listening to her discuss blended versus chunky soups made me realise that I was utterly fed up of blended soup, which we were having every time because the kids will eat it. So now I only blend their portions and Red and I eat it more chunky. But I do chop everything into very small dice as I think that is nicer than big chunks in your soup. 

I really like lentil soup and love that it naturally thickens soup and prevents it being watery, so I tend to add lentils to other soups too (like carrot and coriander). 

When making soup in the instant pot, I find that 20 minutes under pressure is ideal for most soup. I used to do 15, but I think you need the extra time for it to all be well combined and melting in texture.

London_1

When I am making soup I first dice the onion first and put them into the saucepan with just enough oil ( a couple of squirts of the spray stuff will do ) to cook very gently to lightly soften them about 5 minutes stirring occasionally. Then add the veg and stirring again so the onion gets mixed into the chopped veg
 I always add a couple of diced small spuds for thickening. Then add around a pint of stock from a couple of stock cubes (The aldi ones are fine )

When I make the stock before I add the water to the stock cubes they are crumbled up and I add perhaps a teaspoon of curry powder ot cumin and tumeric mixed together, a good dollop of garlic purree or lazy garlic ,some black pepper maybe a decent spoon of mixed herbs as well, then gradually add the water stirring until its all mixed up into a pint of spicy stock. this I pour over the veg in the pan so the stock just covers the veg,adding a little more water until it does If I have a lot of veg in the saucepan.

 Bring to the boil,once bubbling ,turn down to simmer until the veg is cooked chuck it all into the blender ,blend until thouroughly mixed then return to the saucepan, stirring all the time and once bubbling turn it off, and decant into my tuppaware jars.

Once cold store in the fridge, or portion into bags for freezing. When reheating the consistancy will be usually fairly thick, a bit like the Campbells condensed soup in a tin,  so you can thin it a little with a bit more water if you want (helps it go further as well)

I have been making soup this way for the best part of 60 odd years. Back when I started of course I didn't own a blender (far too broke ) so I would mash the veg with a spud masher then as I got better of an electric stick blender , I now have as an attachment from my food mixer, a jug blender so its even easier.

I use any veg thats reduced in the supermakets as veg is very forgiving in soup, and also anything that's a bit past its best in my veg box. 
 I love spicy carrot and lentil which I also add some ground coriander from my spice cupboard for a bit extra oomph. adding lentils (the red ones I use the most of) also helps to thicken things if I'm a bit short on sprouty spuds (I use the sprouty spuds up in soups as chop the sprouty bit off and peel and they are fine for soup) so no binning potatoes A kilo bag of carrots at around 40p will make enough soup for lunch for a week for me with a bit left over to freeze and its cheap as chips to make.

I have soup almost daily as either for lunch with crackers and cheese and maybe a piece of fruit to follow or as a starter before my evening meal. My late Mum always had a soup pot on the go and as children we had soup before our main meal but no pudding after wards or the main meal and a pud but no soup. In the winter coming in from school freezing cold from London fog a cup of soup from Mums soup pot was wonderful and heated you up beautifully.

When I see the price of tinned soup at perhaps 4 tins for £2-3   I just shake my head and think Gosh I'm glad my late Mum taught me how to make good nourishing home made soup. I must have made gallons over the years,  and save hundreds of pounds .Its probably about the easiest thing to make in the kitchen .I will use virtually anything in soup.

My favourite is probably the spicy carrot one, or leaving out the spices for a milder parsnip and apple when the parsnips are in season or are being sold off, use a couple of windfalls to flavour it, diced up and chucked in  and you have a gorgeous almost nutty flavoured soup.

Sometime I will add the broken bits at the bottom of my pasta jars to a mixed veg soup when its been returned to the pan, and cook them to add a bit of bulk to the soup

Save any outside crusts from bread, (I rarely eat bread but my DD saves me her end bits as the boys don't like them ) and toast them and store in a jar, and you have a tasty soup with crutons ,that will fill the emptiest tummy in the winter.If you don't want to toast them then just dry them out if you have used the oven in the cooling down oven once completely dried out they store well.

Hope this helps a bit  Zero food waste in my house  

JackieO xx

-taff

ariarnia said:

recipe? my soups always taste like salty water with boiled lumps in (if i blitz it make that watery mash). i really don't know what i get wrong

Are you following recipes or making it up as you go along? Is there a particular soup you want a recipe for? What kind of soup do you like?