really old style living?

mardatha

If you're seriously into this stuff then join a Survivalist forum-they arent all American. Take things one at a time
Cooking - have both elect & calor gas. (or gas & calor gas which sounds mad but isnt !)
Water - have some bottle water stored, it will keep for ages.
Heat - if at all poss have both elect & calor gas. Have hot water bottles.
Light - have windup lanterns/torches and plenty candles always in store. Dont forget matches
Store yeast, flour or bread mix. Store broth mix and lentils. Then you have hot soup & bread.Google "dutch ovens" if you have a stove or coal fire .
Have tins of meat in case the freezer or elect fails. A freezer is ok for two days in a power cut- keep door shut
DONT tell people what you have. Because when they dont have any they will come and ask for yours!
This is all just basic "prepping" but to me its also basic common sense !

ginnyknit

mardatha wrote: »

Reading the headlines from the TUC conference and looks like we will need our food stores as its going to be an "interesting" winter.
This thread is all about really old style living - and in a way is very apt, because we seem to be going back to really old times .
Jobs that were once safe and for life are not any more. The Victorians and Edwardians were one wage away from destitution - those days seem to be coming back ! (watching the headlines nervously for the announcement that the Workhouse will replace the Job Centre)...:eek:

Well apparently the staff at the job centres are the next to be culled. I also heard on the local news that street lghts are to be turned off - not sure of the details yet so am trying to find out. Its cold here today but we just wrapped ourselves up in woolies. Am checking my stocks and making draught excluders today. I was concentrating on the C word but think more important matters need my thoughts. Went to Mr S for a change yesterday and found the chilled counter had some big reductions on cheese and stuff so think I will sort out the freezers later too. I don't want to resort to packet mixes for soup and stuff as we have avoided all those additives for so long. Just got in a stock of the steralised milk for Dh's yoghurts but I think a few more pints will be a good idea although I don't like the perfume it has - too evocative of a childhood blighted by bankruptcy - I think powdered milk is just too expensive and any milk is better than no milk.

Its quite scary isnt it but at least we aren't all being ostriches on here, so a further crisis will be no suprise for us!

My son is moving home after 4 years of struggling to pay his bills his housemate has let him down badly so rather than get in debt he is taking over his sisters old room - ah well i had a spare room for a few days -but after all there is nothing more important than my boy - he is doing very well at his new job and has impressed his boss no end:T:T

mardatha

So... just before paying off hundreds of thousands of workers, they are paying off jobcentre staff ? O I see.
And just before paying off thousands of cops, they are cutting street lighting ? O right.
Magic thinking, innit ?

mardatha

Can I explain here (cos problynone of you know what I'm wittering about as usual LOL! ) that the reason I'm going on about gas & elect etc , is following on from Primrose's post recalling the Three Day Week. The way things are going now, we will have a winter of strikes and the TDW was awful. I was in hospital having a son and we had no nappies, no babygowns, no sheets. The hospital laundry was on strike and we had paper gowns and paper sheets. The baby milk was in short supply and the meals were hellish as the lorry drivers were on strike. Powercuts all the time usually at teatime. So best be ready then you dont have to scurry around in the pitch dark, hauling heavy prams and screaming toddlers up & down 7 flights of stairs like I did !

seasalt_2

mardatha wrote: »

DONT tell people what you have. Because when they dont have any they will come and ask for yours!
!

This is another thing that worries me. I don't think I could possibly NOT share. But then I suppose you can turn it round and say that it would be good to have things in that you COULD share.

Our cooking/heating (in winter) is from a solid fuel rayburn so can burn anything in it - coal, wood, peat, dried cowdung. We have several times finished cooking our neighbours' food for them during powercuts!

I think our biggest weakness here is being reliant for so much on the ferry. Freight and fuel are huge expenses as it is and going up all the time.

D&DD

Just a quickie for Ceridwen as DS3 has just kicked off!! Excuse any typos..
I slice cherry toms in 4 acrossways in other words widthways across rather than from stalk end down,am I making sense
Larger toms I slice into 5 slices or paste toms I leather with basil and dry accordingly on sheets

seasalt_2

ginnyknit wrote: »

My son is moving home after 4 years of struggling to pay his bills his housemate has let him down badly so rather than get in debt he is taking over his sisters old room - ah well i had a spare room for a few days -but after all there is nothing more important than my boy - he is doing very well at his new job and has impressed his boss no end:T:T

Missed your post ginny, I'm sorry. Glad that your son is doing so well at his job and that he knows he can come home but sorry about losing your spare room just as you thought you had it back - life eh!

As for the decisions of those in power, well...!

ginnyknit

Dont worry Mardatha I remember the 3 day week vividly and people have no concept of how hard it was so all we can do is help them prepare. As we have already said the unions will have to show their value for money against a conservative government ( well lets face it thats what it is!). Its no use going 'Nah it wont happen and if it does we will manage" I guess thats what the middle management bods in the USA probably said - you know the ones that are living in tent cities. We will all be in a better postion on MSE because we are prepared for the worst. Could you even imagine a winter like last year only without electricity :eek::eek::eek: Its not scaremongering its wisdom from experience. Right am off to start my stocktake.

pink_numbers

lovely ladies, would you mind helping a clueless person?

I enjoy bulk buying and stocking up on things, so I have a pretty good pantry now (we converted our 2nd bedroom into a pantry). However, with all this talk of strikes and freezing weather, I've been searching for weaknesses in my pantry and have realised that without eggs, I won't be able to use some of my food, like flour for example.

Now I've never cooked with dried eggs before, in fact I've struggled to find them at decent price! Anyway, what I would love to know is whether cooking/baking with dried eggs are just like doing so with fresh eggs, or is it something that I need to practice beforehand to get things right? We don't eat the egg on its own (scrambled, boiled, etc. as OH doesn't like it), but use a lot for baking cakes, bread (gluten free), scones, pasta, etc. Can I just substitute dried eggs and get on with it?

Thanks for your time in advance

mardatha

I know a lot of ladies do have experience of powdered eggs, and a few have tried wartime recipes with them so somebody will help
Seasalt you're ok where you live - but imagine somebody in the middle of a city and the word gets out that she has heat or flour or coal when the shops have none...one neighbour tells another and another and they tell their families and soon all your stuff would be gone. Or worse, taken or stolen.