Godzgear Girls: DIY projects

How to Make Butter in a Kitchen Mixer

17:18:00

Affordable Storage Solutions For The Everyday Household

17:55:00

Storage is one of those things we all could do with getting good at. It keeps things tidy and easy to find when we need them.

Unfortunately, most homes are not designed with a lot of storage in mind, especially longer term storage. We need a spot for all that spare fabric, children’s 'grow into' clothes, craft supplies, extra linen, school books etc. The list is endless.

Not everyone has the budget for extra cupboards, storage boxes and shelving. Here are some ideas that have worked for me.

Firstly, work out what needs longer term storage and what you need regularly. Fill your current cupboards with the things that you need regular access to. If you find a handy spot for an item, it will save you time and your place will be neat. For example: your vacuum cleaner needs to be near the centre of the home and have a spot of its own. Otherwise it will just be left where it was last used, tripped over and hard to find quickly. This may seem absurd, but this happens a lot in households.

Suitcases

My favourite idea for long term storage is the common suitcase. It is mouse proof, dust proof and, in most cases, waterproof. You can also wrap your items in plastic bags to guard against moisture damage. People update their suitcases regularly, so finding second hand suitcases is easy and cheap. It is common to find cheap suitcases in second hand shops for next to nothing. Ask friends, they probably have a few and don’t want to throw them out because they are still good. Old suitcases might not have four flash swivel wheels but they usually have strong zips and a tough structure. We have found many on people’s verges when they are having a council rubbish pickup in the area. One time we came home with sixteen cases. Most of the cases we came across were in near new condition. Suitcases stack quite nicely and, because they are well sealed, can be stored in a shed area. Don’t forget to label them. Just use transparent tape over a paper label and make a ring around the handle.

Cardboard Boxes

There is room under every bed. Get some sturdy boxes from the supermarket. Make sure they are plain and the right height for your beds. This is a great place to store your children’s toys. The boxes will act like drawers that you can slide in and out. Cardboard boxes can also be used, in shelved cupboards, as drawers. This keeps a lot of bits and pieces together and gives you quick easy access to them. An exception to the rule would be special present boxes. If you have been given a present in a lovely patterned box, then keep it and use it for storage on a shelf. Try to stay within your decorating colours. You also have the option of covering a nice sturdy box with some lovely recycled wrapping paper.

Remember: keep all your nice old wrapping paper. It can be used again and again, even if it slowly wraps smaller and smaller items. You just cut off the old bits on the edges, then fold it nicely. To store it, place the paper in present bags or paper shopping bags. Keep the similar sizes together so that you can find the right piece quickly. You can even theme the bags. eg. boy, girl, tissue paper, colours.

Mugs & Cups

How often it is, that you cannot find a pen when you need one. Well here is an idea that helps you save that favourite cup from the trash when the handle breaks off.
They make excellent pen holders and they look good too. Choose the cups that match you decor and face the broken part towards the wall. Remember: Always throw out that annoying pen that only works sometimes. When you need a pen, you want to get one that works straight away.

Icecream Containers

You may not consume much ice cream but a lot of people do. In my experience, there are many people that throw a lot of ice cream containers out and they would be very happy to collect them for you. You don’t need fancy plastic containers to store food. Ice cream containers stack well and can be sealed if you place some grocery bag plastic between the lid and the container. Just save your clean new plastic shopping bags and cut them up for food storage. Rubber bands can be used to pull the lid down tighter. This is especially important for food storage. It will keep your food fresh and keep that fridge/freezer flavour out. You can label the ice cream containers with transparent tape over a paper label.

Baskets

If you need to keep bits and pieces on the bench or in plain view, then find a nice looking little basket. Don’t use cardboard boxes, paper or plastic bags to store things in plain view. These will always look messy and unkept. I guess they remind us of a rubbish pile. A lidded basket can make a nice looking bin too. Just line it with a plastic shopping bag.

Chocolate Boxes

Have you ever gone looking for something small in a drawer and you just can't find it in all the clutter? Well, save those strong sturdy plastic chocolate boxes or maybe some old plastic container that has lost its lid and use it to hold all those little bits and pieces that get so easily lost. Even a cardboard envelope box will do the trick if you don’t need it waterproof.

Drawer Inserts

If you have extra cutlery that is cluttering up the space in your kitchen drawers, then consider finding an old kitchen drawer insert. These can be found in second hand shops or just among the stuff in the back of someone’s shed. These are ideal for equipping a shelf or drawer for the surplus cutlery.

Designated Spaces

Keeping things together is a key to tidiness and organisation. Theme things together and store them close to the area where you use them. If you make bread, keep all your ingredients and implements in a shallow plastic box and keep it on a shelf. When you need them, just whisk out the whole box in one trip. You can do this for cake making gear or anything you cook regularly. Obviously you will want all your toiletries near your bathroom. Keep them together in a box in the cupboard, in a basket on the bench, or neatly separated in boxes in a drawer. This will keep things neat and save you heaps of time. This also works great for cleaning supplies and laundry supplies too.

There are many more ideas. Be resourceful. Don’t just throw something out, think about its possible other uses. Packaging is also useful. It is such a huge industry now-a-days, and a lot of it is quality made.

Get thinking and you can come up with all kinds of solutions!
Storage, storage solutions, easy organisation, reuse, recycle, icecream containers

Written By Guest Blogger

Mrs Evelyn Hair

(Our Precious Mother)

DIY projects

Easy Homemade Icecream

00:45:00

I Scream , You Scream, We All Scream For ICE CREAM !!

Yes, we all love our ice cream, but does our ice cream love us?

As you may know, from other blog posts, we have our own milk cow and so our own cream. Our Jersey cow provides us with beautiful thick, almost yellow cream that is sometimes thick enough to spread on your toast straight from skimming it off the milk. See our milk blog post.

With this yummy cream, I decided to make our own ice cream. If you don’t have your own milk cow or access to fresh farm milk, you could buy pure cream from the shop. Make sure it is real 100% cream and not thickened cream. Thickened cream is no good for you. One good thing about real bought cream is that, at least, it is not homogenized, just pasteurized. See our milk blog post.

When we first moved to the country, I met a lady who said that she always bought cream and made her own ice cream, rather than buying ice cream from the shop. Her reason was that it tasted better, was healthier and it was real ice cream. As I studied the ingredients on the labels of the ice cream in the shops, I too realised that a lot of them don’t even have any cream in them, let alone any milk products. That is scary. On the contrary, there is a list of very disturbing ingredients. I like to call them poisons because our bodies just can’t handle them very well, and these ingredients certainly are not food for our bodies. If you do happen to chance upon a real ice cream, in the shops, you will have to pay a premium and there will still be some ingredients that cause concern.

So, you were worried about putting on weight because you love ice cream. You are right. However, real ice cream is at least food for your body and digestible. If you make your own real ice cream, you can keep it as a treat, with the assurance that you know what the ingredients are. Also, you then have the option of reducing the amount of sugar in the ice cream, which is the cause of gaining weight.

Making your own ice cream is not only healthier but cost effective as well. Yeah!

Anyway, I have been on a little recipe journey to making better ice cream. At first, I simply whipped up the cream, with vanilla essence and sugar, to a soft consistency that held stiff peaks if you pulled up the cream with a spoon. This ice cream was great but very heavy. I found that when I added cocoa to make chocolate ice cream, the consistency of the ice cream was better. This led to adding sifted flour to my vanilla recipe. Yum !

However, I thought the recipe could be improved. I wanted to make it lighter and fluffier. Also the above recipe was freezing rock solid and took a long time to defrost enough to spoon out. I suppose this was due to the butter ratio.

So here is my recipe now.

Mum Hair’s Ice Cream Recipe

Ingredients: Cream, Sugar, Vanilla Essence, Egg whites.

Method: Use the amount of egg whites that , when whipped, give you the same amount of whipped cream and whipped egg whites. If you don’t have enough eggs, just use what you have. You can use the yolks for other baking, like brownies.

The cream and egg whites are whipped separately. See below.

Whip the egg whites with sugar to sweeten and encourage the whites to stiffen. Beat till you can get stiff peaks by pulling the mixture up with a spoon.

Whip the cream with some vanilla essence and sugar. Control the sugar to taste. Remember cold food tastes less sweet than warm food. Also, remember that the sweetened egg white mixture will sweeten the ice cream too. Beat the cream to the consistency of the egg whites, not too stiff.

Don’t beat the cream too much as the butter will start to separate and your ice cream will be crumbly.

Fold the two mixtures gently together, put it into your containers and place it straight into the freezer.

Variations: You can add cocoa to the cream before you whip it. You can fold fruit, chocolate bits, biscuit crumbs etc. into the mixture at the end. You can also drizzle a syrup over the ice cream before you freeze it. Try adding sifted flour to the cream, before you whip it, to make the ice cream stretch a little more.

This makes lovely soft, fluffy ice cream that you can scoop with a spoon straight out of the freezer. ENJOY !!

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Written By Guest Blogger

Mrs Evelyn Hair

(Our Precious Mother)