eleanor I would have thought that beef would be reasonably cheap in the US, I mean you’ve got cows all over the gaff aintcha.
I’ve seen far too many westerns
Well, my “sun” tea is really a large pitcher of tea made the regular way(boiling water etc) and then I just let it sit and cool down. Sun tea was easier to type.
chowder–but where does all that UK mutton go? USA is much larger than UK, so transport costs are higher etc, plus I think it’s cheaper to raise sheep than cows, no? No idea, really. Perhaps you could go hunting in the Dales one weekend and bag yourself a few sheep. 
Where does all that mutton go?
Into mutton stew m’dear 
with barley, onions cabbage and whatever else you can find to toss in the pan. Very tasy indeed when accompanied with some nice crispy bread rolls.
Don’t joke about hunting in the dales :eek: people have actually done this and been imprisoned for sheep rustling.
And you thought America had the monopoly on rustlers
Making your own bread is dead easy using Mark Bittman’s recipe. It doesn’t even take an hour, and you don’t need special flour! (Note, this is NOT the now-famous “No Knead Bread” recipe which takes 24 hours. This one is much faster.)
60 Minute Bread
3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons instant yeast
2 teaspoons salt
(optional: 1 tsp dried herbs such as rosemary or dill)
Combine all above ingredients in a bowl. Add 1 & 1/4 cups of warm water, all at once. Mix with hands (remove rings first!). Add additional water if needed, one tablespoon at a time, until a ball forms. Shape the dough into a loaf (by tucking dough under itself) using only enough flour to allow you to handle it. Place on a baking sheet, cover with a clean dishtowel, and allow to rise in a warm spot in your kitchen, while you preheat the oven to 425F.
Make 30 to 45 minutes until crust is golden brown. Cool slightly before slicing.
**You can also mix up the dough in the morning, leaving it covered in a bowl out of direct sunlight on the counter. Punch it down when you get home and proceed as above to bake.
**Note, because this bread contains no oil whatsoever, it doesn’t keep more than a couple of days. Doesn’t sound like that would be a problem in your house!
**Note to British Dopers… “A cup & 1/4” of warm water is about a full coffee mug.
Do the rustlers wear stupid hats that serve no purpose, drawl and have questionable hygiene habits? Most cowboys of lore were anti-social misfits who drifted from job to job due to alcoholism, anger management issues and the like.
Oops–did I just ruin the “Old West” for you? Or did I describe the pub on a Friday night? <rim shot> 
Wait a minute! First you complain that they are knocking prices down only on luxury items leaving the poor to dangle in the wind, then you complain when they provide coupons for the staples that the poor are truly strapped to buy? (Do you know how much of a poor family’s budget gets swallowed by such items as Pampers?)
While I have no doubt that some stores are excessively greedy, I suspect that there is a lot of truth in this observation. In the U.S., grocery stores tend to run on margins of 1% - 1.5% There are very few industries that survive on that low a return on investment. To stay in business, they either appeal to claims of better service and nicer layouts or they cut prices to the bone and try to make it up in volume. Certainly it makes sense to support the merchant that serves your needs best, but it is a bit silly to complain about the ones who are attempting to appeal to a different market niche. My guess would be that a 20p rise in prices in a single week across multiple related product lines is directly attributable to supplier costs and I would not be surprised to discover that the stores made no money on the increase.
When my kids write their own versions of “Mommy Dearest”, my absolute refusal to buy Lunchables and similar items will very likely head their list of Grave Injustices. In 28+ years of combined pre-school and school for two kids, I bought individually packaged lunches (or even deserts) about six times. I always made the kids’ lunches by hand from bulk foods or leftovers. I also encouraged them to bring home their plastic containers and their paper bags (cheap bastard) although I was less successful in that effort. OTOH, they got decent food–mixes of meat, fruit, veggies, and dairy with less sodium than their classmates–and they never joined the ranks of supersized kids.
I would never buy a Lunchable. :eek: I was talking about juice boxes, chips and the like (not much better I know). They hate that I won’t buy Ho-Ho’s etc. Too bad. 
My daughter was happy to bring home the plastic bags; my boys just. don’t. <shrugs>
Hello–thanks! I think I’ll make that tomorrow. No break maker, right? If it turns out well (I am hell with yeast), I’ll play with it–some wheat germ or oat flour etc.
I can’t right now, but when I come back, I may start a thread on household economy or How To Eat Your Gas Tank. 
(feel free to start such a thread before me, if desired).
Excuse me ** tomndeb** but the really poor families can get nappies (diapers) provided to them FOC.
They don’t get food stamps like the USA altho’ they do get family allowance which is supposed to keep them well fed, hale and hearty and summink.
I should be thankful for small mercies like 20p off Daz or Blu Loo toilet blocks
No bread maker! Just make sure you use the yeast packets labeled “Quick Rise!” or “Instant!” – it is a shelf-stable yeast that doesn’t require refrigeration, proofing, or any sort of mollycoddling. 
SAF is the brand recommended by Bittman:
http://www.google.com/search?q=instant+yeast&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
But I always used the (far less economical) Fleishman’s Quick-rise packets (2 tsp is a little less than 1 packet).
I’ve made it with half whole wheat flour, and occaisionally ground flax or oats into the mix… just make sure you keep at least 1.5 cups white flour in the mix or it won’t rise (hard experience)
I just went to the grocery store and spent $127 on groceries that a year ago would have cost me around $80. Fuck those fucking fucks!! I had to quit smoking just so I could afford to eat!
It’s quite simple folks, let me break it down for you:
Last year: trucker charges $2000 to haul a load of butter.
Sees a small profit for time and labor.
Right now: trucker charges $2000 to haul a load of butter.
pays $1200 for deisel to run truck, $500 more for refer to keep butter from spoiling. $120 for company Lumpers to unload (driver not allowed on company dock)
Leaving $180 for 2 days work. Out of which he must pay truck payment, insurance, license, trip premits for every state he enters, 18 truck tires on a regular basis, tolls and hopefully food.
Solution: Trucker raises price to delivery food, processer charges stores more for food and stores charge you more for food.
High fuel prices = High food prices.
Right. Also, grocery stores are fairly competitive and operate on a much smaller profit margin than, say, jewelry stores…they’re not the money-grubbing bastard 'droids you’re looking for, nor are the truckers. It’s all about the fuel.
I think the rant / thread is more about the squeeze everyone is feeling now–the worst off feel it first, of course. I can’t speak for the OP, but I think he’s just grumbling about the higher costs this summer. And why not make the grocery store the focus–it’s not like we’re going to hurt the store’s feelings. Rant away, chowder-we sympathize with the sentiment, even if the aim is a bit off…
hello-Thanks! I’ll do that with the flour. I’m making bread tomorrow!
Tinkertoy Is quite right of course.
That said I can’t rant at the truck drivers so I have to vent my spleen at the supermarket.
When they increase prices by almost 100% then it’s them and them alone that are the money grabbing, greedy bastards.
Fuckers
Good God man, are you shitting me? Every other baked bean tastes rank compared to Heinz’s!
Just how is a profit margin of 1%-1.5% greedy, by any definition?
I wouldn’t call the supermarkets innocent of all price gouging - I have noticed that they will raise prices sharply for, example, orange juice, stating that a poor crop has resulted in these higher prices. The thing about this, though, is that those prices never come back down again.
A talking head on the news the other day said this all might end up being good for American’s health. More expensive food = less food eaten (especially the usually less healthy food eaten out) and more expensive gas = more walking/biking.
Eat less, exercise more = healthier American.
Cutting out smoking would be bonus health points on top of that.
Not that this probably makes you any happier than it does me.
Well, yeah, I wanted to quit smoking anyway- it’s actually easier knowing that I need to quit (to afford food and gas) than it would have been if I quit just because I wanted to. Hope that makes sense. Let’s just hope that I’m not forced to start walking and eat less, too… ::shudder::
The Food Lion’s share?
I’ve heard that business about supermarkets struggling to survive on a 1-1.5% profit margin. Color me :dubious: .
By the way - for cheaper peas in the U.K., aren’t there opportunities to grow your own much of the year (in community gardens, even if you don’t have a plot of your own)? I thought the climate was pea-friendly.