food cost rant

Okay, there’s been a thread on a home ed forum about how we should all be ashamed to even consider eating food taht has traveled further than our own backyards adn how it doens’t cost much more to eat locally grown organic stuff (and heaven forfend we should want to eat meat…. well, okay, that’s another issue entirely, anyone willing to force feed my husband vegetables is welcome to try, in the mean time I’ll stick with chicken nuggets as his staple protien source okay?) One of the poor, poverty stricken dears who is coming over all virtuous about managing to eat virtuously posted this

The average salary in these parts is £15-20k, with the top end of that being for the shiftworkers in the local factories. We’re lucky in that hubby earns a good salary and above average for this area.

There’s nothing to prioritise with though. The bills are paid, and we’re eating better than those who fill their trollies with ready-meals and processed junk.

Aw gee, honey, if my husband earned “above the average for this area” we could bloody well afford to not have to prioritise where they money went and eat better stuff too. In the mean time it’s SmartPrice fish cakes at 50p for 10 (that’s 2 meals for 3 of us when you add in some spuds and a can of 7p beans) and whatever other dreadfully un-ethical crap we can afford in those evil, farmer-killing supermarkets really isn’t it.

This kitchen will be the death of me

having negociated getting rid of the kitchen that’s been taking up all the space in the garage for months, I got a “bite” from Freecycle almost right away.  The chap would come this evening, with a van, adn would take the lot, use what was needed for their kitchen then pass on the rest.  Great says I!  Asked Duke to get the bits that were too heavy for me to shift our to the front, however, he needed to give his mate a lift home (20 minutes each way) then had to bolt his tea as he’s working this evening.  He did it with bad grace, in his working uniform thus making it my fault that his overall was grotty (no s**t Sherlock – it’s been in a dirty garage for months, it’s not going to be clean is it?)

Anyway.  Blokey arrives, loads up most of the wall units, couple of base units adn ALL the drawers, heads off with an “I’ll be back later for the rest” and dissapears into the night leaving me with 2 worktops, a sink, an electric oven and a gas hob on my front lawn (and 2 more base units in the garage)  Over an hour later he phones to say it’s not going to work the way he planned so he’ll not bother coming for the rest and will just skip what he’s collected.  I asked him if he couldn’t just re-offer what he’s got on Freecycle as he has a fair chunk of very good quality kitchen adn if anyone wants the last bits they can come and get them from me.  No, that’s too much like effort, he’ll just take the van to the tip tomorrow.

So I am left with 2 useless bsae unit carcasses wtihout drawers, and they were expensive ones so it’s not like you could just go to B&Q and get replacement ones which I will now have to take to the tip and an oven taht we no longer have the proper heat insulated unit to slot into even if we wanted to use it which, of course, if it rains before Duke gets in from work tomorrow will be academic anyway what with water and electricals not being a good mix.

I had another person express interest, however she only wanted the drawer fronts and teh cupboard doors.  What gives??  What on earth did she think I would do with a load of stuff without the fronts?  Oh yeh, skip it.

what price a free kitchen? (edited for result…)

several months ago Duke bagged a kitchen from freecyle. Sinec then it’s been in the garage taking up spaec that should hlod things like the tent, all the camp stuff, my bike, her bike (strangely his bike seems to still fit in) etc. He thinks he may get round to fitting it soon only….

We need to buy worktop (4 pieces at a minimum of £27 a piece)

We need to buy the router to cut the work top (£200)

We need to buy the jig that provides the pattern for the router to cut round for corners (£90)
We need to buy a new cooker extractor thing becuase the one that came with the free kitchen got left out in the rain and has de-laminated (but it was no good to start with aparently so taht’s okay) Obvioulsy then it won’t match in with the rest of the stuff so….
We need to get new fronts for the whole lot at God knows what price (well, some of the doors are a bit tatty what with it being second hand anyway)

I need to empty the kitchen out totally so he can work
I need to empty and learn to live without the shelves at the back of the current worktop where my craft stuff goes because modern worktop is deeper than 1960s stuff and we can’t lose space off the kitchen side, it has to come from the other side.

Whilst we are at it, he wants more space in the garage so he can have a sideline repairing printers so

we need to get a small tool store for the front for Aprilia’s bike to make it esay for her to access it (and get it out of the downstairs bathroom) at £100

and a bigger one for our bikes, the chimenea etc at the back for £200 to give him space in his garage.

That’s alongside the room he has in the house full of his crap, all the stuff in our bedroom and the overspill in the living room. But it was fine for me to run a business out of the corner of the bedroom and the dining bit of the kitchen and it’s fine for me to lose half of the shelving I keep my and Aprilia’s craft things on because we can just put it all on my sewing shelves cos I don’t really need more than 1 little area do I?

Can I freecycle him?

Edited to add…

Having now presented him with this information….. we are freecycling the kitchen!!!!!!