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

ivybois

I'm seriously looking into growing my own food! At least some of it so I can save money on that/not have to worry about shortages. And I was looking at how to make my own pasta the other day – little changes but hoping it will help in the long-term

KxMx

I have 3 ProWorks water bottles in various sizes bought at various times.
No leaks 😊
I went for that brand after a cheap stainless steel one from B&M leaked within a few weeks. 

NotWhereIWantToBe

I use a contigo sports bottle about £9 from a£$a that you can actually lock the spout shut.
I like that I can chuck it in my bag whatever way up and it never leaks.

tooldle

Klean Kanteen have a good range of bottles and the caps/lids are interchangeable, and can be purchased separately. We've had ours for a good few years and no leaks.

Woolsery

ivybois said:

I'm seriously looking into growing my own food! At least some of it so I can save money on that/not have to worry about shortages. And I was looking at how to make my own pasta the other day – little changes but hoping it will help in the long-term

Growing decent amounts of your own food is harder than many people imagine and resource-heavy in terms of time and available space. I'm not pooh-poohing the idea, but work out what will be most viable for you. For example, salad leaves are easy and possible in containers, so the vast majority of people can grow those, but something like peppers and tomatoes are more demanding. Fruit is often expensive, so it may be a good low-input option, but wild creatures like fruit too! Not all soils work equally well for cabbage and related greens either, so if I wanted to grow those I'd have to spend money and time adding lime. It's smart to know your limits as well as strengths.

Even though I normally grow more tomatoes than we can possibly eat, I've many cans put aside for the coming rationing. I don't want to stuff the freezer full of relatively cheap toms when there's a glut, if it can be looking after yellow label or 'free' meat instead. ( I farm and swap produce.)

Wednesday2000

Every reusable water bottle I have ever bought has leaked. Very annoying!

EssexHebridean

A tip to help prevent leaks on reuseable bottles is to be scrupulous about ensuring that the "threaded" bit at the top is dry before screwing the lid on. I've rarely had one with a screw on lid leak at all - and that includes ordinary plastic bottles that have just been reused. If it's a "sports cap" type then also make sure that is pushed fully down when you've finished drinking from it - sounds obvious but some take a bit more of a shove than others I've found! 

I rarely buy bottled water when out and about now but if I'm buying something like a meal deal where the drink is actually free then I'll grab one - you can bet your life that the bottle will be reused until it drops though! 

Siebrie

For an easy garden, look into perennial veg: vegetables that you plant once and that keep giving year after year with minimal care. Gardener's World has a page on them: https://www.gardenersworld.com/plants/perennial-veg-to-grow/

Wednesday2000

Does anyone know of an OS way to repel flies? 

We used to have a problem with mosquitos as we lived near a lake but since we moved to our new house we seem to get flies downstairs. I put a few drops of lavender essentail oil in a bowl of water today as I read that was supposed to work...

I am very careful about putting food away and washing up as I go so I don't understand why I keep getting flies in the house.

newlywed

I haven’t had water bottles leak… but some smell a bit odd after a while. Some sterlizer tablets help - like the ones used for baby bottles.

I use refillable because when out walking there is often a refill point at farms or hostels for walkers, for free. Plus there’s an app called refill that shows where in the near area you can refill your water for free at pubs, cafes, libraries etc. Always a bonus to get free water refills. There’s quite a lot of places in my city