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

London_1

I iron as little as its possible to do. mainly because it makes my wonky arm ache too much and to be honest as I'm normally in non-ironable clothes it seems pointles.So my iron and ironing board are usually tucked away in the cupboard out of the way far nicer things to do than iron I think. 

When my children were tiny babies back in the 1960s it was often just a small flanneltte sheet that you wrapped the baby in to keep warm in their cot .I used to buy a single one and cut it in four and hem round the edges as the Mothercare ones were nice but out of my budget at the time.

Two single sheets did for both of my babies ,born two years apart and I handed on 8 small ones to my friend for her twin babies.They washed out well and could be boiled if necessary in my Baby Burco boiler and spun dry and line dried pretty quickly.
I had two dozen Harringtons terry towelling napies which did both of my babies and I still have about four left that are thin, soft and are used as soft dusters now. when my youngest was born in 1969 nappy liners had just come onto the market and I thought they were the best invention since sliced bread

We were living in a tiny two roomed flat back then with a minute kitchen off the sitting room and only had a tiny water gas geyser on the wall for hot water so I did a lot of handwashing or in the winter trailed up to the local launderette with the children and the washing .I did have a 175ft line from the small balcony in the childrens room that went to a tree at the bottom of the ground floor garden (we lived on the first floor) which was brilliant for drying the washing My late OH and I slept on a put-u-up sofa settee in the sitting room. (I actually gave birth to my youngest DD on it ) as there was a shortage of maternity beds where we lived at the time .

But we managed Ok, and when I think of the extra luxuries that's around today, I think how lucky Mums are with all the stuff you can get now that just wasn't available back then , but you adapt to what you have and women have been having babies for thousands of years and survived. I never owned a 'sling' I guess thats what Mums arms are for :0 I did have a large pram that my sis-in-law and I shared between us whilst having our babies (she had three to my two and the pram went backwards and forwards between us as the babies arrived . The a small pushchair for the second one to be in eventually.

My eldest granddaughter has two little girls and the stuff she has had over the past couple of years is amazing. She said she isn't going to have anymore but is going to store what she can save into her loft and pass on the rest.

Babies stuff just seems so expensive today,and I don't know how Mums today manage as they seem to have every gadget under the sun But good luck to them I wouldn't want them to have to struggle as my generation did 

JackieO xx

Brie

Just in case no one has mentioned it - for those gardeners with beets...

don't forget that the tops are really tasty.  this is why I get cranky when they are removed in the shops.  for those that have never had them the taste is between that of the beet root and spinach.  cook the same way you would spinach or chard.  

ariarnia

-taff said:

If the soup is tasteless for you, are you OK with tasting other stuff? soup i buy tastes fine. and it's not just me. everyone thinks i make bad soup

To make it smooth, you really do need a blending stick or a food processor jug, or push it through a sieve [ the last will only work if the veg is super soft] i have a 'soup maker' and a stick blender. when i use potatoes or cook the veg too long then it turns out mushy like runny mash. when i use other things it turns out grainy. this is what other people say. not just me. 

Cauli is OK in a cauli and cheese soup but I wouldn't put it in a normal veg soup, ditto for kale, too bitter. Broccoli, also wouldn't use in soup unless it was specifically broccoli and cheese of some kind. Basically, most brassicas really. i was told by someone to use cauliflower because it breaks down and thickens the soup as an alternative to potato. and it did. but it was mushy rather than thick if that makes sense?

If everything is tasteless, unless you over salt. i don't add salt. i don't think we add salt to anything other than the occasional chips and eggs. when i add stock (marigold or oxo are what i have in) then to add enough to taste it then it's too salty.  

i'm happy to try a recipe but don't really want to follow recipes iyswim? the idea was to find a way to use up what we have and add an extra 'course' to the meal to fill up on veg. not buy things to cook something specific. i read how easy people find it on here and just can't figure out the knack.  

thanks for all the help and advice again. i've got a couple of butternut squash that have been lurking in the fridge for a while so i might try again this weekend. 

Brambling

ariarnia said:

i'm happy to try a recipe but don't really want to follow recipes iyswim? the idea was to find a way to use up what we have and add an extra 'course' to the meal to fill up on veg. not buy things to cook something specific. i read how easy people find it on here and just can't figure out the knack. 

thanks for all the help and advice again. i've got a couple of butternut squash that have been lurking in the fridge for a while so i might try again this weekend. 

I find that recipes are useful if you are trying to get the percentage of liquid to vegetables correct especially if making a blended soup or one with lentils.  I have reached the stage that i tend to judge by eye on my soup saucepan or my soup maker, it also depends on the veg you will using as some will absorb liquid more and a soup will thicken in the fridge 

if you are making a butternut squash soup a sharp apple chopped and added will work or if making a roasted butternut soup recipe add a tablespoon of wholegrain mustard (has long as no fussy eaters to dislike the bits)

Floss

ariarnia said:

thanks for all the help and advice again. i've got a couple of butternut squash that have been lurking in the fridge for a while so i might try again this weekend. 

Try this recipe - I have used it in my soup maker:

https://lifecanbetoff.co.uk/butternut-squash-soup/

Bluegreen143

@London_1 my (now late) nana said when I had my DS that when she was a little girl, the working class women used to tie their babies on them with shawls (she was from a very poor fishing family) to free their hands up to work while holding their babies 🙂

Most cultures in the world have a history of slings of some description used by working women, so they aren’t new (eg babies tied on backs while the mothers toiled in the fields - until prams were invented). But I always got on better carrying my babies than using a pram. So much nicer to just tie or strap them on and just go, rather than faffing bumping prams on buses, folding up to go in and out your car or finding you don’t fit in shop doorways. 

Of course when my nana was having her own babies in the early 60s, she wanted everything new and shiny and modern and had a lovely silver cross pram - she wouldn’t have been seen dead tying her baby on her with a shawl even if it was what her own granny had done! 

My own mum did though have a baby carrier for us in the late 80s. One that buckled up, not based on a shawl.

euronorris

A tablespoon of curry powder into a big batch of veggie soup really lifts it (in addition to all the other advice already given).

greenbee

If you're struggling with soup making it pays to follow recipes until you get the hang of it - once you're confident in what you're doing then you can get creative Look for recipes that give alternatives (Nigel Slater's 'Appetite' was great for this) as they teach you to cook rather than follow a recipe. 

EssexHebridean

Butternut squash makes amazing soup. I do use stock in my soup but usually just home made from a chicken carcass - occasionally I might throw in something like a "Stock Pot" type one instead if I've got no stock made up - pretty sure those contain no added salt or at least only a low level? Oxo I find hugely salty though.  I usually opt for just covering the veg with the liquid - then once it's blitzed you can add more liquid if needed. For butternut squash soup I'd also be looking to throw in some warm spices - something like garam masala if you have it, and perhaps some not-too-potent chilli, and a can of coconut milk would make a lovely addition too. 

-taff

ariarnia said:

i'm happy to try a recipe but don't really want to follow recipes iyswim? the idea was to find a way to use up what we have and add an extra 'course' to the meal to fill up on veg. not buy things to cook something specific. i read how easy people find it on here and just can't figure out the knack.  

thanks for all the help and advice again. i've got a couple of butternut squash that have been lurking in the fridge for a while so i might try again this weekend. 

Getting the texture of thick soups right is quite difficult I think. As you say, sometimes it can be like a runny mash instead of a thick soup. I think in runny mash terms, maybe some more liquid would work. Potatoes go hard when they are reboiled, totally different texture to when they are frist cooked so blend when warm. Rice will also thicken a soup without making it grainy if you don't blend. M&S make a lovely chicken rice and mushroom one that I copied most of the ingredients of to make my own [ the key is the sage if anyone else wants to try it]

Maybe the problem is that you don't salt food normally. And stock cubes are a minefield until you find one you like. I dislike oxo because everything then tastes of oxo and the reason I use the stock pots is that they have a better flavour than cubes, which I find too salty.a

Maybe, even though you don't want to, folowing a few recipes online might help to start with, then you can get a feel for what will work and what doesn't. I'm a chucker inner, I add a bit of this, a bit of that so I can't tell you any recipes. I will say though that I am rubbish at some soups [I have not got a broccoli and blue cheese one right to my total satisfaction yet] , so maybe, you just need to find your soup..