Have another harvesting questions.

On the seashore. Can you "harvest" and therefore eat periwinkles, mussels, crabs etc.

Again some people doing this, usually using snorkels/wetsuits to go out quite far (less contaminated, they said).

Also, in Spain people tend to eat seafood "as is", meaning they just boil an eat, whereas we always seen to add strong flavours e.g Garlic Mussels.

Anyone know why?

For winkles and mussels. You can harvest/pick them on the shore. The best time to do so is around spring tides. When the tide is out you can go out an pick them from places that would normally be under the water. That way you are sure of the freshness of the winkle/mussels.

Crabs are not as easy to find as winkles or mussels. Generally if it is alive then you are ok to catch it and eat it. You aren't likely to find large ones without knowing where to look.

Where the surrounding water is polluted mussels can rapidly accumulate dangerous levels of pathogenic bacteria and viruses in their body tissues.

It's important that mussels destined for human consumption come from locations where water quality is monitored regularly by public health bodies, and that mussels are never harvested from waters likely to be contaminated with raw sewerage.

http://www.calvin.utvinternet.com/cjwp/ ... ussel.html

You can dig up cockles on sandbars at low tide and the like. However you'd need to wash them carefully and make sure they are cooked through. Even having done that you can get a dodgy one that will cause vomiting (speaking from recent experience).

Save money on buying bags in the supermarket - wear an oversized baggy shirt and stuff all your shopping down it!
Last week the wife told me put on your special shirt, the local spar is offering crazy deals on chickens but only while stocks last! So down to Spar she marches and within seconds manages to stuff me with EIGHTEEN roast chickens!
Then an old friend walks in and sez gosh you look very fat!
No replies I, not fat, just a hen-packed husband!

I live next to some bogland that is in use and the tractors (over)loaded with turf pass the house, over the summer while walking the dog I've managed to collect at least a couple of pieces of móna ná bóthair on each and every walk.

I now have enough to keep the fire going for at least two weeks.

I collect sticks and wood to burn. I collect them in the local parkland.

Saves on briquettes.

Like many we have been buying books on Amazon for years now, but only recently have we started
to use their grocery section, great bulk buy bargains in toilet roll, water (Isklar norweigen glacier),
even beans! Delivered to your door free with orders over 25 pounds.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/25/opini ... eaper.html

Is Junk Food Really Cheaper?
By MARK BITTMAN
Published: September 24, 2011

THE “fact” that junk food is cheaper than real food has become a reflexive part of how we explain why so many Americans are overweight, particularly those with lower incomes. I frequently read confident statements like, “when a bag of chips is cheaper than a head of broccoli ...” or “it’s more affordable to feed a family of four at McDonald’s than to cook a healthy meal for them at home.”

Envelopes. Get a used envelope, cover over the address using a black felt-tipped pen. Cut it in half and use cellotape to make two enevelopes. You can use violet coloured pens to write over the blacked out address.

Simples.

Save money on expensive personalised car number plates by simply changing your name to match your existing plate.



(sorry... this thread always reminds me of Viz tips)

Save money on your heating bills
Rolls of rock wool in B&Q Tallaght for a tenner. I was out there last night and got 5

don't forget to shut down those pesky drafts - probably more important

Don't get me started on insulation! Currently trying to figure out how to reduce the heat loss this winter and it's not as easy as it sounds. (1980s dormer bungalow with "crawl" space above, most of it blocked by a water tank, plus two side attics, much of the space there blocked by wardrobes and the "DIY" efforts of the previous occupant.)

Looking at that Thermawrap for doing at least some of it on the rafters-anyone any experience of it?