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

Florenceem

Been on my first SA outing today in the minibus. I was worried about being travel sick but as I sat in the front with the driver and it was high off the ground - I was fine. Good trip for £3 to a newly opened free entrance mining museum followed by lunch at the riverside. Managed a non spending day as I took food with me.

wondercollie

Mortgage rates?

Here in Canada in 1980-82 they went as high as 23%.   I remember this well because I got married in 81 and my Dad was paying for my wedding the same year as he renewed his mortgage!

betterlife

Hi, I’m new to this thread but after reading about chicken dispatches reminded me of when I was little, my mum and dad raised rabbits, chickens and ducks for the table, I think my dad did most of the dispatching but one day after my mum had read an easy way to do it she decided to give it a go. She had read that if you put a chicken in a box with a small hole in the top, the chicken would pop his head through the hole to investigate and you could give it a quick tap on the head (with a bat or the likes) and the chicken would be dead. So my mum took herself off to the shed with her box and a chicken, when she got in the shed she locked the door as she didn’t want anyone walking in as she did it, popped the chicken in the box and waited for her to pop her head through the hole, when she did my mum swung her bat (wood ? Not sure what she used) at such a force she smashed the dangling lightbulb plunging the shed into darkness, apparently my dad could hear my mum screaming from the house as she couldn’t  unlock the shed door in the darkness and the chicken had escaped from the box and was flying around in the dark clucking frantically 😂😆😂
With regards to feeling the pinch, we are a family of 6, so I’m trying to build a reserve for the coming months, I try a pick up a few extra bits each week, we normally have rice a couple times a week, or I make a big batch of fried rice for the fridge for the kids (teens and adults) to help themselves too, a kilo of cheap rice is still 45p, and I’ve perfected cooking it 😂 so have been stocking up on that, also Wilko has all there seeds 50% off to I’ve bought a bunch for next year. I was really lucky last night as I had to pop to Asda to collect school uniform I had order, and they had reduced packs of 2 mangoes down to 10p! Along with punnets of black grapes, and bananas, so today I will be making mango chutney (for the year/ and to gift) and banana bread, the grapes will be store in glass jars in the fridge as it extends the life significantly (I have blueberries in a jar that I bought reduced nearly 2 weeks ago, and there are still firm!) 

Siebrie

I was at Adli's at the right time, as they had reduced lots of meat by 30% (the best they will do), so I stocked up on porc-veal ground meat and a whole chicken. It's all portioned up and in the freezer now. Husband claims he doesn't want to eat porc (he's from a muslim country, but not practising), but happily eats bacon and ham, so I decided to not feel guilty

euronorris

I've been visiting the parents for a few days, so have just caught up on the thread.

I love salad cream, though admittedly never get through it as quickly as Ketchup. I use it in my egg sandwiches, instead of mayo, as it gives it a nice kick. Can't say I've noticed a shortage here, but then I last bought a new one about 3 weeks ago. I opted for sainsburys own to see if its acceptable. Haven't tried it yet, as was using up the last dregs of the heinz one first.

Ketchup, Batts version in Lidl is great. I can't tell the difference. Much cheaper, but often sold out. So, also tried sainsburys own version recently. The texture is slightly more liquid, but the flavour is great so that is an acceptable swap for us.

Benefitted from some free chicken nuggets and turkey dippers from a neighbour. She was running down her freezer before holiday and had those left. She's emptied it completely so she could have it switched off for the duration of her holiday and save the electric. And offered us the last bits for free. So that's good.

Otherwise just trying to keep us stocked, and keep costs and energy use down. Garden coming on well, will check on it in a bit. The difference between the grass over in the south east (parched) and here (still green) was startling. We've benefitted from more rain here in the south west.

Been looking up sewing gift ideas, and little things that can be made quickly and cheaply, that can be sold at a xmas fair my MIL attends. Got some ideas banked. And some ideas for teacher and school friend gifts for xmas, that can be made inexpensively or with things I already have.

Elisheba

Regarding chickens, I became a veggie when I was 11 after reading a book where one of the characters said if you can't kill it yourself, you shouldn't be eating it. I stand by that personally - I had to kill a pigeon once that had been run over by a car and was suffering. It freaked me out so much I almost had a panic attack, and there is no way I could do it again.

Meat is very sanitised in supermarkets, but I personally think you should at least know what sort of life it has had and that it was of an acceptable quality. When I was with my ex he would eat free range if at all possible. Yes, it is more expensive but that just means eating less of it.

Having kept hens myself for a few years, there would be no way I could have killed them to eat. There is something about having a living creature in your arms and feeling its little heartbeat that means I just can't think of it as food. Maybe if I was starving and needed it to live, but happily I've never been on that position.

Quite a few years ago now I took a youth group camping in Uganda. We stayed in the compound of a local vicar. We would pay him for chickens he had running about the grounds. He would dispatch and butcher them and give us the bits we would eat (breast and thighs I presume - not sure as I didn't eat them) and then him and his family and staff ate all the other bits which apparently were numerous and filling.

It's amazing what goes to waste in this country because we are very fussy about the bits of animals we will eat. When you need to invest the time and money to raise and butcher animals yourself, and where many, many people live in dire poverty such as in Uganda, its a real eye opener what turns out to be edible! 

Woolsery

Elisheba said:

 where many, many people live in dire poverty such as in Uganda, its a real eye opener what turns out to be edible! 

 This is why we in the more affluent areas of the world should be asking why so many celebrities, allegedly worth £millions, suddenly want to persuade us to eat bugs. It could be a coincidence, I suppose, but it seems rather unlikely that the wonderful taste sensation these nutritious creatures provide should have eluded us, and them, for so long.

DuranGirl

Katiehound said:

Woolsery said:

 

  Many children find it hard to "hear the words inside their heads" if they are not used to having that regularly modelled by an adult, at home or at school. Sadly, by the time I left teaching, the class novel had disappeared from many classrooms.

 

Long ago- yes, I mean long, we used to have an expensive scheme called SRA reading laboratory,  it came on loan . The teacher read a passage- usually fascinating (who knew the only army survivor of the famous Little Bighorn battle was Custer's horse Comanche- who then led the regiment in ceremonials with stirrups reversed?) and then there was a questionnaire with multichoice answers. Block charts & graphs  for them to fill and assess their own progress. Yes, from the US, but very well thought out and the children loved doing them. Their reading and listening skills improved in leaps & bounds.

Just googled SRA- it's still around!

just remembered the read aloud story was the listening element, otherwise there were sequenced work cards for comprehension etc which the children used idependently.

I have very fond memories of working through the SRA scheme over 40 years ago. Moving through the colours spurred me on. I've been a voracious reader all my life and was able to pass my love of reading on to my children.

pumpkin89

I'm a bit late to the thread but thought you might be interested to know that the shortage of salad cream is down to a poor harvest of mustard seeds.  Likewise, most mustard condiments (especially Dijon) will be in short supply this year.

YorksLass

Today's trip to the local Co-op was a successful venture as I managed to get a few ys items (saved £4.24) and a bottle of He*nz salad cream for DH that I had a 50p membership MOC for.  Interesting pumpkin89 that the mustard seed harvest has been poor.  I've just stocked up on English and wholegrain mustard as they're on a price lock in Sainsburys at the moment, own brand 50p each.  

After my dithering a couple of weeks ago over whether or not to go for another fix for gas & electric, I'm feeling vindicated (and more than a little relieved) that I did go for the fix.  Today's announcement that a typical household could be paying £500 pm from January is frightening, to say the least.  British Gas owner Centrica and energy giant Shell have today posted huge profits - billions, not millions - yet many people will be struggling to pay their bills.