Italy on a Shoe String - Living ‘La Bella Vita’ Inexpensively

[pigro]

Originally Posted by Carole B

Hey - no way did you step on my toes.... I really was grateful for your help on this. I wouldn't have had a clue on how - or what - anyone could have done to view the photo.

Oh - I thought you were just being sarcastic ... sorry!

[shubendr]

Here in the US, things are so oversized! I would love to be able to buy smaller portions. All the fast-food! .....yuck.
Here we eat to much fried and greasy foods. I tend to try and eat fish at least once a week to balance out the fried foods.
shubendr

Originally Posted by shas

yes I agree with you ,Relaxed.At my local bar/alimentari its totally normal to ask for half a loaf of bread and they cut it.That wouldnt neccesarily mean they could sell the other half so its a potential waste for them,but no problem!Who/where in the uk would you get this?? Incidentally,if anyone has any ideas as to how to keep italian bread fresher for longer than half a day...?
shas

[Carole B]

".....Incidentally,if anyone has any ideas as to how to keep italian bread fresher for longer than half a day...?"

Try wrapping it in a clean serviette or tea towel and putting it in the fridge (salad drawer) until needed.

On a Saturday - as soon as it arrives - I put Sunday's bread rolls into a thin plastic bag and freeze them. Then on Sunday morning remove some to defrost for lunch and the remainder in the afternoon for supper.

Also, with salami (a whole one, or whole pieces of ham, crudo, pancetta etc.) for slicing... If you don't slice it all at once, wrap it in a clean serviette or tea towel. DON'T put it in a plastic bag or leave it unwrapped. It will 'sweat' and not last long, or be very nice (yuk!). The cloth will keep it dry and retain it's flavour.

[Nardini]

Originally Posted by Carole B

Also, with salami (a whole one, or whole pieces of ham, crudo, pancetta etc.) for slicing... If you don't slice it all at once, wrap it in a clean serviette or tea towel. DON'T put it in a plastic bag or leave it unwrapped. It will 'sweat' and not last long, or be very nice (yuk!). The cloth will keep it dry and retain it's flavour.

We use kitchen roll to the same end result. You don't end up with a mucky tea towel afterwards that way.

ETA: We do the same with our parmigiano for much the same reason.

[sueflauto]

Originally Posted by Carole B

Also, with salami (a whole one, or whole pieces of ham, crudo, pancetta etc.) for slicing... If you don't slice it all at once, wrap it in a clean serviette or tea towel. DON'T put it in a plastic bag or leave it unwrapped. It will 'sweat' and not last long, or be very nice (yuk!). The cloth will keep it dry and retain it's flavour.

Thanks! You've just reminded me I have a couple of vacuum sealed forms of Pecorino Sardo in my cantina which now I'm back from holiday I need to unseal, give a protective salt wash and start to mature. I think I'll try and get hold of some muslin - had to look it up - 'mussola'.

[HelenMW]

Originally Posted by Michael O

We made sage and onion stuffing last night with freash sage from the garden and left over bread that was on its third day and I was asked to make it again today so it must have been good. There are loads of recipes in cookbooks and its not difficult to make.

I've got my late mother in laws "Main Cookery Book" from about 1960 which is great for all those "British" things like sage & onion stuffing, mint sauce etc and as I have a little veggie patch I can pretty much make them from leftovers for nothing. I also picled my own beetroot which cost me about 1/3 of what it would cost to buy (mind you after my dad's recent visit there's not much left!)

[Noble]

You can live very cheaply in Italy if you live in the countryside but you pay very dearly for utilities...can't grow your own!

[myabruzzohome]

If you can get anything for free take it.Only pay for the things you have to;we've been doing more of this recently esp with wood as the price of heating oil is ridiculous so I scout out and wood on walks with my dog. We picked up some huge holly branches cut around 3 years back but left to rot! Also people having trees cut in their gardens they often don't want the wood! So ask I usually leave them a pot of homemade preserves or wine etc.

I make all our compost from grass clippings/leaf litter which neighbours are pleased to get rid of.Bought compost is expensive.

I don't use expensive tap water for watering the garden.Keep a flip top bin by the back door then empty washing up water in (needless to say I've never owned a dishwasher) you can use that on the garden.Instead of expensive waterbuts I find empty oil drums.they can be painted or covered if the look of them is off- putting.

If guests stay ask them to help with food / wine etc explaining before hand you are on a fixed budget.Don't feel mean ;you can spoil them in other ways, put some pretty wild flowers and candles in their rooms .Make something special with local ingredients like figs or cherries (cherry brandy costs about 4 euros a bottle to make but is delicious).

[cedric]

someone earlier mentioned they use solar panels for water heating, we made sure we had a "mahoosive" wood burning system installed which heats our water and central heating etc but we also own the house next door which we are renovating to use for rentals (hopefully) and wanted solar panels to heat that house (much smaller than ours) and also to heat the swimming pool we are intending to put in the back garden. Our geometra (Italian) and builder (English but lived in Italy for 20 years +) are both lovely but very dismissive of using solar power and suggested it would take many years to pay for itself. We have seen very little in the way of solar panels anywhere when looking over those lovely rooftop views so does anyone a) know where best to get them , b)whether they are cost effective c)if permesso is required to install them, grazie mille

[Technically Blonde]

We put in solar panels last year for hot water and our gas (liquigas) bill has reduced a lot! We do not use the gas for hot water at all between April and October, and not very often between October and March. We estimate that the solar hot water will pay for itself in about six years. As a side effect our pool is now heated by solar as well! We did not need a permesso to install them and there is a tax incentive of up to 50% of the cost for italian tax payers.This is paid out over three years, a third each year - the "refund" cannot exceed the amount of tax due.