Tips off any of you that are good at home made stuff please!

[Trygg]

(OK, first sorry for the crap grammar in the title :/)

I'm thinking this xmas rather than buying people tat they dont want id love to go down the homemade jam or vodka route. I'm not great at cooking and dont have many store cupboard ingredients, but im not totally thick and im very willing and excited

for example with all the vodka recipes what 'quality' vodka do u use? is tesco vodka not going to cut the mustard?

and where do you get jam jars from for cheap? tbh i think me and dp may get through two shop jars before xmas which isnt much use


anyway sorry for wittering any tips would be VERY aprreciated

cheeers!

[OuchPassVodka]

lakeland do boxes of empty jars and bottles with pretty or plain lids are you chose.

My top tip is to allow yourself double the amount of time you will think it takes if not more. You always underestimate the time you need to make anything. However, this is slightly different when applied to homemade flavoured vodkas etc

Will try to find lakeland linkie for you.

[OuchPassVodka]

lakeland jam jars and other stuff

[Trygg]

ooh waw i dont know how much i thought they'd cost but thats really good!

thank you :)

[LordOfTheFlies]

Lakeland have got lovely carafes at the moment on sale ( I think half price or buy 1 get 1 half price). Your present receipiant can use the carafe later (so 2-in-1 present. Bonus!). And they don't look like a hospital urine bottle like some do

They have the word WECK embossed on the glass.

I saw them in Bluewater today but not online.
They have a little clip-on lid.
I bought a half litre one this year for orange juice.

[louby86]

Ikea have a lot of jars for pickles and things in at the moment that are a lot cheaper than lakeland, although the Lakeland ones are much nicer and worth the extra money if you want to spend the extra

[Trygg]

OK im thinking cherry and cinamon conserve and rhubarb and vanilla jam, any tips for flavours for vodka?

and would this do for the vodka?

definetly going to lakeland for all the jam jars though because they look gorgeous

[Trygg]

(oh and p.s. on account of me and DP juggling a number of jobs we have staff discounts for sainsburys/john lewis/waitrose and ikea, if you have any shop specific ideas....)

[pamplemousserose]

I'm making slow gin with cheap lidl gin. Goes down a storm.

[pamplemousserose]

Sloe

[Trygg]

ooh sounds nice

[acsec]

You can make jelly baby vodka, wham bar vodka, cola cube vodka skittle vodka anyone would think I'd done this before?!

[acsec]

Ooops pressed post before I meant to. Use a fairly good vodka, not the one that has the white label with just vodka written on it!

[Trygg]

i was thinking something like red square vodka..so its not super expensive but not scuzzy either-bit of a half way house? and they sound AMAZING-now for the stupid Q-how do u actually make it?? i know you but the stuff in and then take it out before you give it to the recipient but beyond that.....

[Trygg]

Ignore me!! you posted a link to a tutorial, im a twit!!

[Kewcumber]

ask on freecycle for jamjars and stick them in the dishwasher.

[OuchPassVodka]

acsec that skittle vodka looks deadly.

[Trygg]

ooh yes il try freecycle! and i spose if theyr a bit bleugh i freecycle them back out there ok last stupid question well probably not a lot of people were asking what the shelf life was on the skittle vodka page... any experience? when would you make them if it was for xmas?

[acsec]

That tutorial is a good one and there links to diff flavoured ones at the bottom of the page. Yeah Red Square vodka would be good, but I reckon Lidl vodka would be just as good, it's pretty good quality. Keep us updated with how you get on!! :o

I made tomato and chilli chutney for people last year and am probably going to make apple chutney this year :)

[Trygg]

lidl it is! that sounds gorgeous.. i know its daft, but im convinced chutney would be too hard. and i dont know enough people to make all the flavours i want to make

im thinking of making a vodka with sweets in for my uni friends and fruit for my more 'grown up' friends.... thinking pear drops for the sweets...or cola cubes.... whats the best fruit for vodka that will be a crowd pleaser do you think?

[CherryMonster]

blackberry vodka is ace trygg, i wanna make some but dont have time to go blackberry picking right now

[acsec]

I think it would last a long time as vodka doesn't go off and you are really just adding sugar and flavour which also won't go off very quickly so it should keep ages. I can't find anywhere that says how long it lasts but the vodka will be a preservative.

[acsec]

Chutney was dead easy - my recipe was from the Asda magazine (only had 1 hiccup and that was I didn't stir it enough so it stuck a bit to the pan).

Sounds like a good plan Trygg (would like to be one of you friends!) :o

[missnevermind]

I have bookmarked that. I know what my sister is getting for Christmas this year.

[reastie]

agree with freecycle re: jam. Also, I found it was cheaper to buy a jar of supermarket value jam and dispose of the jam than to buy jars from anywhere, although this was a couple of years ago, I'm not sure how much the price ofcheap jam has gone up like everything else has

[Nagoo]

who do you know with a baby? If you used baby food jars you could make different chutneys etc that you want to make and give them a 'selection pack' :)