General Chat

I think insurance companies are OK regarding freezer breakdowns. At least that was my experience several years ago when on Christmas Day our son-in-law went to get food or ice from ours and told me it was melting. (This was before we got their old swish f/freezer with an ice-maker inbuilt.)

Most rellies and pals had no spare capacity because they’d stocked up for the hols so apart from what we could eat - and we made a brave effort - most of the food was wasted. Our insurance came up trumps like yours, Florence.

Allan, you have reminded me of when we had a bad storm in Dec 1995. We had no electric for 4 days and lost the entire contents of the freezer which was full of xmas stuff etc...
But as we had a lot of snow that year, on xmas day we put the frozen food outside to try and keep it for as long as possible. I did claim £300, but my excess then was only £50 so insurance sent us a cheque for £250 and didnt ask for receipts as so many people were claiming and they knew we were without power for several days.

We did lose most of it though and there were loads of large prawns, haddock, salmon, was such a shame.

Florence in the hebrides

Up here they call your snack a "piece."
Have to say mashing a banana with sugar is lush and evaporated milk. Mnnnn

Don’t throw out your soft bananas, fry them with bacon. Lush bacon and banana butties. :-D

Sugar butties … yum. Maggie, did you know that decades ago sugar butties were a favourite bait, snap etc (name depending where you lived) of miners whose energy needed boosting midway through their shifts.

I came across a fine example of those old terms when my daughter attended crèche in Australia and the head and staff all used the term snap for their mid-morning break.

Since I've stopped eating things like sweets, condensed milk sanwiches, and sugar sandwiches, I've put on weight.

Do you think there may be a link :-D :-D :-D

Or could it be getting old and staid?

Yes Allan, so did we courtesy of nanna.

Used to have sugar butties as a child

Anyone else have margarine/butter and sugar sandwiches?

I like that too Maggie. :-D

I’m beginning to dream of a banana and mars bar butty. Luckily for me OH can no longer eat mars bars :-D

Added : typical - now I read there is a mars bar shortage :-0

Banana and Mars bar butties sound lush!

My favourite spread was condensed milk.

I am known for tackling anything but If I was visiting someone for a meal and was served calimari I’d be polite, eat about a third then plead full. I tried it 40 years ago in a staff canteen and didn’t like it. I have never bought it since.

My favourite is John Dory followed by lemon sole but I am not really not picky as far as food is concerned as I was not brought up to be like that.

I still like banana and Mars Bar butties and other unlikely concoctions from my school days. We girls tried all sorts. :-D

It was amazing what was in the bag, wasn't it!

Have to admit, Mickie, our cat, was the first to utilise the boat's 'leftovers' system.
When we lived in Mevagissey, she'd stroll down to the harbour every morning, when the boats came in, and return with a fish in her mouth - which then had to be boiled.
'Madame' didn't like raw fish!

Once cooked, it was quite often left in the saucepan to cool down.
If we were late giving it to her, we'd hear the sound of the saucepan lid hitting the ground, as Mickie removed the fish from the saucepan, dropped that on the ground, and proceeded to eat it :-D :-D

My Ex called it a Fry as on a Friday once the boat had tied up. The crew shared out what was left and he would give a Fry to the neighbours of prawns(linguistines) or any other fish that they caught.

Strangely thats the only thing I miss, Large prawns on tap lol

Florence in the hebrides

We used to do the same in Shetland - get fish straight from the boats.
I'm not sure what we called the parcel of fish - possibly a ;'fry'. (must ask the ex) :-D

I can tell you - having prepared cod, the rumours are true!!

I also never eat dyed kippers.
I had a phase of doing that - the dye was called 'Factor X', we HAD to wear rubber gloves, and if we caught them on the rusty nails the fish were attached to, we HAD to get new gloves.

Hopefully, the dye used nowadays is safer - but old habits die hard.

Crab paste? Naaaa.

However, I happily ate unprocessed crab, and scallops from the factory for my breakfast.
We were, at the time, living in a tent (2 man tent - as used by Bonnington on his Everest expedition)
Weirdly, when we moved to Kirkpatrick Fleming, we regularly met Bonnington in Tesco's, in Carlisle. :-S

:-D :-D :-D

Maggie, when I worked on the Fish Docks at Grimsby it was usual to ask for a parcel of fish for each Friday. The fish didn't cost anything because it came straight off the Trawlers, but you were expected to give the the guy who prepared the fillets a 'present' at Christmas.

You were never given Cod unless you asked for it but always Haddock, the reason being that throughout the Fish Docks Cod was thought only to be suitable for feeing to cats :-D

And Cod isn't called the dirtiest fish in the sea for nothing!

Allan, all I can say is, that' s a right b*gger.
You can never tell when they're going to die.
I currently have a huge lamb joint and beef joint in mine, bought when, for some reason 'Tescos' decided to sell them at half price.
Whether I will be able to afford to cook them is now in doubt :-(

Strangely, my neighbours freezer failed on Monday.
The things she wanted to save (and asked If I could put them in my freezer) were 2 packets of cod, because, when her friend comes around, that is what she likes.

I duly stored them.

On Friday, she came to retrieve the, as her freezer had started to work again.
I pointed out that I used to work for the factory that processed this stuff.

What I didn't point out, is that I won't eat cod - in Shetland, it's called 'worm fish', and I wouldn't eat anything from this processor, as I know what happens to it! :-D :-D :-D

AnninGlos, the fish were a variety; some Sweetlips, some Pink Snapper, Red Emperor and a couple of other varieties.

As for having the freezer repaired, it may just need re-gassing, but we would have to take it into the repair shop ourselves and we don't have a trailer. Both our daughter and son-in-law are recovering from abdominal surgery so we can't ask them to assist with their trailer.

JoyLouise, we have to be phlegmatic about it :-) It is what it is and no amount of jumping up and down is going to reverse the situation :-(

Cornish Susie, we could claim on the House Insurance but we probably wouldn't receive anything as the excess we have to pay on the claim is more than the value of the food itself, particularly as the fish was, unlike the meat, had no prices showing on it.