I used to jog but the ice cubes kept falling out of my glass. David Lee Roth (Van Halen)

If you are not a fan of smoothies, then fruit which you know is not going to get eaten can be frozen into ice lollies.  Try this Jamie Oliver recipe for children of all ages.

Jamie Oliver's Strawberry ice lollies

Ingredients

250 g strawberries  or mango etc.

100 ml natural yoghurt , or apple or orange juice

1 teaspoon honey

Method

Put the ripe fruit together with either the natural yoghurt or juice, depending on the type of ice lollies you favour, into a blender or food processor along with one teaspoon honey.  Whizz until smooth.  Taste, and add a little more honey if you think you need to.  Divide the fruit mixture between 4 ice lolly moulds, then add a stick into each one.  Freeze the ice lollies for at least 4 hours or until solid.

frozen red seedless grapes

Freeze one or two bunches of grapes for 2 to 3 hours before serving with grappa and a good chocolate or alternatively, freeze individual grapes spaced out on a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper for 4 to 6 hours.  These make ideal ice bombs for dropping into white wine, keeping it cooler for longer.

Personally, I freeze both lemon and limes in slices as well as in wedges.  Not only can I bring out the wedges to accompany fish as required, but the lime wedges are always on hand should an impromptu drinks evening turn into a tequila shot challenge.  Both frozen lemon and lime slices are especially nice dancing in a glass of Vodka tonic or Bacardi.

 As tray freezing limes and lemons works so well, there is no reason why this technique will not be equally successful with oranges.  Just imagine a jug of summer Pimm’s  where in place of boring clear ice cubes, there are flat lemonade ice cubes containing little frozen jewels of orange, lemon and lime.  It is worth noting that surplus fresh orange or apple juice can also be frozen into ice cubes for future use.  I have even frozen cider for use in cooking.

Whilst on the subject of Pimm’s, don’t ever throw away fresh herbs, whether shop brought or home grown.  Herbs freeze wonderfully.  Frozen mint leaves work equally well in Pimm’s and Mojito.

Personally I freeze my herbs flat in plastic bags, crumbling up amounts as required, where others prefer to measure out chopped herbs into ice cube trays, speeding up food preparation time.

Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within reach of every hand. Mother Teresa

There can be times when the fruit bowl drops out of favour such as during the Christmas and New Year period due to abundance of other goodies.  Or maybe there are a couple of bananas and a lemon destined for the bin because you are going on holiday for a week or two.  Perfectly good fruit should not go in the bin but you cannot take it with you, so what choice do you have?

The key is to have a freezer.  A small ice box inside an under counter fridge is okay for a few fish fingers but it is useless when it comes to saving money.  At the end of a days trading, the largest volume of supermarket marked down items come from the bakery department and the fresh fruit ail, making a freezer worth its weight in potential savings.

In my experience, Aldi pineapples are reasonably priced but they do not keep for very long in the fruit bowl.  I buy them to use with breakfast cereal or in smoothies and so once I have cut into one, I freeze the balance.

Remove the skin and core before cutting into bite size wedges / cubes.

Place a sheet of greaseproof paper on to a baking sheet.  This makes it easier to remove the frozen fruit later.  Cling film will work but I do not think it works as well as paper. 

Greaseproof paper on baking sheet

Spread the chopped pineapple out over the greaseproof paper, preferably so that the chunks do not touch each other.  This ensures the fruit does not end up frozen in clumps.

Chunked fresh pineapple spread out on baking sheet

Freeze in the top freezer compartment or in the fast freeze compartment of your freezer if different.  After two to four hours remove the tray from freezer and place the fruit in to a freezer bag.  I favour zip lock bags as these give easy access to remove as little or as much fruit as needed.  Although they are quite expensive, they are reusable.

Chopped frozen fresh pineapple in bag

Fruit can be stored in the freezer for up to three months.

Frozen banana pieces

I have used this method to prolong the life of avocado, mango, banana, and raspberries. 

If you have a busy morning schedule but like to take a smoothie with you on the train or in the car, why not make up mixed fruit bags ready to tip directly into the blender.

Mixed frozen fruit bag for smoothie.

Wasting food is like steeling from the poor. Pope Francis

It makes sense to reduce the waste in our lives given recent forecasts of rising food prices.  Wasting anything is immoral but wasting food is the same as wasting money, and so why not start the New Year with the resolve to do better during 2017?

Listening to TV and Radio experts, the general advise to households is to switch to the budget supermarkets such as Aldi and Lidl, as well as down grading purchases to include more of the basic value ranges.

 

But what about those people who already made the switch years ago in order to manage?  What can the people already doing their weekly shop at Aldi or Lidl or in other budget shops do to make ends meet?

 

I can only see two options;

Option one is to eat less.  Most of the UK start a diet every New Year, making resolutions to eat healthily, to stop drinking sugar filled fizz or alcohol etc etc etc., but once those extra few pounds have been lost what then?  Eating less long term because your finances will not stretch to include sufficient food to satisfy the entire family is not a long term solution.   Food banks can help those who have fallen below the line but they are not available to everyone.

Option two is to get more out of the food you do manage to buy.  It is more of a long term option than number one and is based on the English saying ‘waste not want not’.  This sentiment may be an old one but it is not outdated.  It is as relevant today as it was during our great grandmothers day and should be used in tandem with ‘take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves’.

With option two in mind, education is the key.  The kitchen bin and the composter should only be used as a last resort, never as a first choice.  Wasting less may require inventiveness, it will definitely test your resourcefulness, but it is worth trying.  

WW2 One person’s week ration (http://www.lavenderandlovage.com)
The ration was the maximum allowance but not all items were available every week. 

Butter: 50g (2oz)
Bacon or ham: 100g (4oz)
Margarine: 100g (4oz)
Cooking fat/lard: 100g (4oz)
Sugar: 225g (8oz).
Meat: To the value of 1/2d and sometimes 1/10d – about 1lb (450g) to 12ozs (350g)
Milk: 3 pints (1800ml) occasionally dropping to 2 pints (1200ml).
Cheese: 2oz (50g) rising to 8oz (225g)
Eggs: 1 fresh egg per week.
Tea: 50g (2oz).
Jam: 450g (1lb) every two months.
Dried eggs: 1 packet (equivalent to 12 eggs) every four weeks.
Sweets & Chocolate: 350g (12oz) every four weeks

Think back to your high school history lessons, specifically those on world war two.  Schools teach pupils about battles and alliances, they concentrate upon enemy defeats but they do not teach students about the home front.  Some lesson plans may touch upon rationing, illustrating a typical weeks supply, but they do not go into detail on how young families coped with shortages. I bet many people have forgotten that rationing continued beyond the 1940’s, beyond the war itself, until 1954.  Even after rationing ended, the resulting supply and demand caused higher meat prices which in turn ensured families remained deprived of specific food items. 

During my own high school week, girls received one and a half hour instruction in Domestic Science, sometimes referred to as home economics, but those lessons did not include any reference to cooking on a budget, to thrift or frugality.  Is it any wonder, therefore, that generations of home cooks struggle to feed their families?  But, if our great grandmothers not only fed themselves as well as their young families for fourteen years on limited food supplies, maintaining nutritional content, surely with all of our education and easy access to information, we can do the same?

Men are superior to women because men can urinate from a speeding car. Will Durst

The speed limit in a built-up area is 30 mph but in some places, such as near to a school or a hospital, this can be reduced to 20 mph or even lower.  It is worth noting that the risk of death is approximately four times higher for pedestrians hit at 40 mph than it is for those hit at 30 mph.

Some drivers appear to be unaware that the speed limit is a maximum limit and not a minimum target.  However, irrespective of the maximum speed allowed, every driver has a responsibility to adjust speed according to road conditions.  This lack of awareness in drivers on our roads today must account for many of the tragic multi vehicle crashes occurring during exceptional weather conditions, such as during heavy rain or fog.

Official published government reports demonstrate that the majority of all collisions involve at least one speeding vehicle.  Of those killed or seriously injured in a collision involving a vehicle, that vehicle was speeding.   Yet, community speeding, along with a poor knowledge of the Highway Act 1835 / Highway Code, goes unchallenged by highway police.  In the absence of any threat of legal penalties, a great many drivers appear to be under the misapprehension that the Highway Code is now null and void, making UK roads a free for all.

Until such time as rural communities insist on highway policing being a priority for local governments, bad drivers will continue to abuse the absence of controls.  At present, our police are invisible; they are unproductive and sterile, making them obsolete.  Without police, should we be looking for alternative ways of enforcing the law before the increasing numbers of self-obsessed, conceited, arrogant individuals chock UK streets?

During the Christmas / New Year period, an increasing number of drivers using the A6015 have abused the 30 mph speed limit through Birch Vale.  Not only do many drivers disregard the speed reduction between the Waltzing Weasel and the old Vine pub, but they actually speed up beyond the 40 mph pre and post Birch Vale zone limit.  Given there is a recreational field with children’s play area accessed via footpaths running along the A6015, surely the police should have an increased motivation to tackle both speeding as well as pavement parking.  After all, child pedestrians are the most venerable highway users.