This guy's whole bathroom was outside. I assume he must have had a tin bath or something to bring inside for the colder weather but I didn't see one. There was no plumbing in the house at all so I'd love to know how he cooked in the winter.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
On an open fire probably, with rabbit and game. I knew of an old woodman who had a cottage like right, on the edge of a wood with no road access. My parents walked across the field to take him hot dinners towards the end of his life and tried generally to keep an eye on him. They were offered the cottage for £500 when he died but didn't want to take it on. I don't think it had a bathroom at all, no plumbing, no sewerage. I'm not even sure it actually had any electricity either.
Now of course, there's a private road to it, massively redeveloped, all mod cons and worth a fortune!
I was recently having a conversation where we discussed why shops selling freezer foods seemed to do well in poorer areas. Freezer shops, four bookies, greggs ,pound shop, chemist, charity shop.
I put the freezer shop success down to lack of passed down cooking skills . Cookery stopped being taught in schools for a variety of reasons, none of which were to the advantage of the children. A frozen ready meal for one for just over a pound seems cheap if you have no idea how to cook from scratch. Most of the older generation could manage a meal for four or even six for a couple of quid.
Jamie Oliver had a go at solving the problem, but schools need to teach basic life skills. Cooking, budgeting, hygiene and health - basic survival skills with the academic skills.
The first flat I bought in 1982 didn't have a bath, or even a wash hand basin, basically a long thing room with a loo at the end. A room on either side of that ,one of which had a cooker and a sink against one wall.
Only the bl**din obvious to everyone but politicians @philippa smith2 A thread on meals seriously cheap meals might be interesting, but I doubt that we would reach our target audience.
I remember reading a magazine challenge to cook a two-course meal for four people at 50p a head. This was some years ago so it would be more now. The winning entry involved a few days' forward planning: the contestant sprouted mung beans, stir-fried them with some seasoning, rolled them in pancakes and served them with rice. For dessert, she bought a small carton of natural yogurt and used it to turn a pint of milk into yogurt. She used this to replace some of the water in making up a packet jelly.
When I was a student I had a copy of the "Pauper's Cookbook". It had an asterisk for meals costing less than two shillings per head (proper money in those days...). I still make one of them, though it costs a little more today: onion, bacon and potato hotpot. Needs very little bacon, basically just for flavouring the white sauce you add to the veg. Long slow oven cooking combines the flavours and it's surprisingly tasty.
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
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Now of course, there's a private road to it, massively redeveloped, all mod cons and worth a fortune!
I put the freezer shop success down to lack of passed down cooking skills . Cookery stopped being taught in schools for a variety of reasons, none of which were to the advantage of the children.
A frozen ready meal for one for just over a pound seems cheap if you have no idea how to cook from scratch.
Most of the older generation could manage a meal for four or even six for a couple of quid.
Jamie Oliver had a go at solving the problem, but schools need to teach basic life skills. Cooking, budgeting, hygiene and health - basic survival skills with the academic skills.
A thread on meals seriously cheap meals might be interesting, but I doubt that we would reach our target audience.
A shoe box!? That would have been luxury. We only had the lid, and that had been torn in half.....