Living the Good Life - mortgage free and living in line with our values

themadvix

Thanks SL, I knew you'd be the one to have the answers! I wondered if they needed the vacuum seal for chutneys - and as that's what will primarily go in this lot (plum chutney), I'll use them for this. They are all brand new, so no degradation as yet (and I'll try to keep them all upright too). I do always check the lids and discard any dubious looking ones. I've not yet had enough of the same type/shape to need to reorder lids separately (except for my two-part kilner screw tops), but I will if I need to for these. Problem is the jars often get given as gifts and then I only get a few back! (Feels a bit cheeky to instigate a deposit scheme for Christmas presents 🤣)

(On a side note, interesting that you use the spring tops for acid stuff - I've found that they rust pretty easily with salt/acid in them.)

Watty1

I don't know if it is any help but I have been buying kilner jars at our local charity shop, they range between £1.50 and 50p depending who does the pricing.  I'm using them for storage at the moment, but, will repurpose if I ever get around to making chutney etc.   From what I read on the thrift thread they turn up there quite often and if you are gifting as presents might be worth looking out for some there.

themadvix

Thanks Watty - I do buy the odd kilner jar at the charity shop, although I tend to stick to (usually donated) jam jars for jams/chutneys and the two-part screw-tops for bottling (which I don't think I have seen - and I stick to kilner branded ones for those, so I can be sure that the replacement discs fit). They are definitely much better value at the charity shops than new!

rtandon27

themadvix said:

Hmm, using wax discs hadn't occurred to me tbh RT, as I avoid doing that. And not much use for pickles, which is what's in them so far. Never mind.

Haha - it never occurred to me NOT to use them - but then again I learned canning from my grandmother who came from an era before refrigeration and modern jars!

SL is always our go to for good solid Home-Eq skills!  One day when I grow up I hope to have a few more! 

I'm very much of the mind-set to pay the nice man these days, though I can repair most appliances a darn sight better than any handy-(wo)man - I'm just usually too tired to be bothered as there are not enough hours in the day atm!

themadvix

Afternoon all,

RT, if paying the nice man works for you, then absolutely go for it! There are definitely times when I wish I was more inclined to take the easy route! But I think the combination of being self-employed and having that 'Good Life'-esque desire for self-sufficiency mean I'm destined to continue to do things the hard way. And with a potential change of direction for Mr MV next year (or sooner, if he lands a new job), money saving/food preservation are at the forefront of my mind at the moment.

Well today is going better than yesterday (partly thanks to SL's helpful advice, so thank you!). No bank has rejected me, which is always a win (not that I've approached another one yet). Have completed and returned two bits of work and am making good progress with the third (larger) bit, although it's exceptionally frustrating as, as has previously happened, someone else hasn't done an acceptable job before me, so I'm having to do more than I should. It's tricky as I feel I can only say so much to main client about this, but it really is beginning to take mick a bit.

Have ordered another 12 500ml two-part lid jars for more fruit bottling (am down to my last empty one now). Have loads more plums on the tree and also wanted to stew and bottle some of the rhubarb in the freezer to free up some space.

MS things:
* Clicks and HW - no wins again
* Cancelled Friday's milk (which includes Monday's) as Mr MV picked up 4 pints last night (we needed some anyway). Noticed they've put the price up another 5p per pint....
* Two more jars of plums bottled
* Bread baked
* Timed the plums to go in oven just ahead of bread, so it only had to heat up once, and waited to put dishwasher on afterwards, thereby making best use of power (very grey here today and battery still only topping up a bit overnight as we expect sunshine!)
* Car will need charging tonight (I'm out for the day tomorrow), so will time shower to coincide with cheap leccy

Gratitudes:
* Mr MV caught onto my grumpiness last night and poured me a large drink and cooked dinner
* Lovely cuddles with my cat client who is very clearly missing her hoomins now - desperate for cuddles more than to go outside
* Lovely plums to accompany lunch

Have a good afternoon all!

EssexHebridean

We reuse jars a lot - and always use the jam jar type with the lids that “pop” to indicate a seal for things like jams and chutneys as those do often get kept for a good long while (years, in the case of some of our chutneys!) our method is to start with the jars clean (ie fresh from the dishwasher clean) then right before we jar up, MrEH pours a full kettle of boiling water over everything we will be using - utensils, jam funnel, and all jars and lids. We then jar up straight off the boil too - so both jars and contents are as hot as possible at the time of filling. That usually gains us “popping” beginning from within an hour of closing up, and we’ve only ever had issue with any sort of degrading the contents when we’ve just left things SO long that the vinegar does it’s thing on the lid, but I’m talking literally years there for that to have occurred. (And even then we caught it in time so the contents were still perfectly edible!) It definitely suits us far more as a method than needing to put things through a separate sterilise process after filling. 

themadvix

Afternoon all,

It's been a busy (and spendy) four days! Friday I was out with my ex-Brownie friends. We visited an NT property in Buckinghamshire. It was nice, but a case of we've been, I don't think I'd rush back. Friends bought cuppas (we rotate and it happened that it wasn't my day for it, which as I drove, seems fair) and I bought my lunch (with the cat-sitting cash that's been hanging around - more on that below). Stopped in Buckingham for a quick mooch (and the second cuppa) - found a copy of The Chameleon game in a charity shop, virtually brand new, for £1.50, so nabbed that; also got a small gift for another friend who tends to buy something for Mr MV (and it's a case of buying the thing when you see it, IYSWIM) - Mr MV owes me for that. We decided against pub in the evening, but invited BIL and SIL round for drinks and a fire in the garden - so saved a bit of money there.

Saturday Mum and I went to Hyde Hall RHS garden for the craft and design show we like to visit. No longer a member, I took the affiliate membership card from my allotment society (which conveniently as the secretary, I hold onto) - it should get us 50% off, but the lady just waved us in for free (I did query it, but she just smiled and said go for it!). Mum and I had lunch (sort of each paid for our own, but cash was involved and I lost track a bit), an ice cream and I spent a bit of my birthday money on a couple of items. In the evening, Mr MV and I and his family went to the cinema. £3 spent on a bag of popcorn (which frankly was pretty disgusting).

Sunday I spent all day making two batches of plum chutney, stewing and bottling some rhubarb, juicing pink currants to make jelly and doing various other bits of housework. I also collected some jars from FBMP, which I then discovered half the lids of which were rusty, so have ordered new lids (which were more than the jars themselves!). I told myself I'd have the day off yesterday - and yet I still made the jelly (which hasn't set, so I need to add some lemon juice and reboil 🙄), baked bread and cookies, bottled four jars of plums, cleared out and tided the cupboard under the stairs (the cupboard of doom - mainly because the cats jump in whenever you try to put anything in there, so thing just get shoved) and did an hour's weeding/watering/picking at the allotment. And then visited the two new cats. I'm not very good at sitting still. 

As you may have noted, cash has been used, and I haven't worked out what, or where I need to transfer to savings from. This is why I don't use cash! I think I'm over on personal spends for the month (albeit not by much) and I'm definitely over on grocery, although this has all been covered by the small 'grocery savings' pot, which is there for such an eventuality (I think I'm about £18 over on a £200 stripped-down budget, so I'm definitely not worried). I do have some 'personal spends savings' I could transfer from, but as I really don't know how much, I might just leave it - I do have the money to spend, after all.

I had intended to do some work over the weekend, but in the end, I didn't, and actually, main client has been quiet today (and yesterday  - I hadn't told him it was a holiday here), so I'm making good progress with work.

MS things:
* We're getting pretty good about having car-charging/sunshine showers (and even better, have discovered that our cheap rate has returned to 7p/kW - we thought it was 9p still!)
* Clicks and HW done
* 1P survey done
* 9 jars of plum chutney, which tastes promising - will be used for us and for gifts come Christmas
* 6 jars of stewed plums; 2 jars of stewed rhubarb (I need to organise my stores as these are currently taking up increasing amounts of space on the floor in Mr MV's office
* Bread and biscuits made for the week
* Meals are all largely making use of the homegrown produce - courgettes, salad items etc. 
* Harvesting Coco Sophie and Borlotti beans now - and they're drying nicely
* Cambridge time sheets submitted

Gratitudes:
* Lovely day out on Friday with ex-Brownies friends
* Lovely day out with Mum at the show
* Lovely evenings with BIL and SIL (Friday and Saturday)
* Nice to see parents-in-law on Saturday too

Have a good evening all (I'd better go and pick some plums soon and then see my new furry friends).

Jessy103

Sounds like a very busy but nice weekend x

EssexHebridean

That does indeed sound like a busy weekend! I have bean envy - my borlottis came to very little this year, so we've opted to just throw them in with the runners and use them that way - it certainly isn't worth trying to dry them!  I have been growing the dwarf variant as it proved tricky to find the regular full sized ones, I think I shall bite the bullet and buy the normal ones for next year though. 

Suffolk_lass

EssexHebridean said:

That does indeed sound like a busy weekend! I have bean envy - my borlottis came to very little this year, so we've opted to just throw them in with the runners and use them that way - it certainly isn't worth trying to dry them!  I have been growing the dwarf variant as it proved tricky to find the regular full sized ones, I think I shall bite the bullet and buy the normal ones for next year though. 

I had exactly that experience last year. This year's regular crop is much better. I bought Kings Seeds this year; described as a climbing French bean! I also grow Blauhilde (T&M) - a climbing purple bean with no strings - very easy to see the ripe beans, except the stems are purple too!!