Preparing for winter III

Confuzzled

Justamum wrote: »

May I just say "thank you" for the inspiration to stockpile. It looks like my stockpile is going to to come in handy this year as yet again there are no boats. Mr T has been empty for days. Literally. Unfortunately the one thing I didn't stockpile was soya milk, so next year I'm going to stockpile with an even greater vengeance and make sure I have loads of soya milk. Shoprite does have loads of stuff as they have half a dozen warehouses here, but they are far too expensive.

one thing i can suggest with the soya milk (also good for uht milk) or really anything is to put the longest date stuff in the back and the shortest date stuff in the front so when you 'shop' from your supplies you are doing stock rotation. the shelf life on uht milk is not as long as people might think, i suspect the same goes for soya milk etc.


i hope you're not taking too much of a beating there, having lived on skye for a few years i remember just how violent the winter gales could get on the island so i'm wishing you a safe and snug day/night!

tryingtobethrifty

Stay safe everyone. Schools got out at midday here. I hate the wind, I'm so scared it will slam the car door against my leg when getting the kids in. All home safely now and DH's work have all been sent home too. Making soup so if (when) the electric goes off we have something quick and easy to make. Aren't we glad now we've been obsessing over this thread since Aug (well I have!) even though some folk made fun of us.

Confuzzled

tryingtobethrifty wrote: »

Stay safe everyone. Schools got out at midday here. I hate the wind, I'm so scared it will slam the car door against my leg when getting the kids in. All home safely now and DH's work have all been sent home too. Making soup so if (when) the electric goes off we have something quick and easy to make. Aren't we glad now we've been obsessing over this thread since Aug (well I have!) even though some folk made fun of us.

funny thing is, some of the very accurate long range forecasters warned us of the nov 29th storm (which did happen but wasn't too bad thankfully) and have been warning about this kind of thing happening about this time of the month too...

i have no faith in met weather for much of anything but when scientists are basing their information off of solar cycles and yearly weather patterns like la nina i tend to pay more attention...

so whilst some (the grasshoppers) were laughing away at us (ants) earlier in the year, now we'll be smuggly sitting comfy, warm, and well prepared to handle darn near anything the weather can throw at us :T

besides, worst thing that would happen with most of our prep items, saved for another year, food stocks used up instead of regular shopping which really is a good thing too cuz then you can save your regular shopping money for good deals to, you guessed it, stock up some more! i honestly don't see how the well prepared lose out regardless what happens, for the unprepared though, hoooboy don't even want to imagine!

singlestep

My emergency bag at work made me feel a bit better about having to go in to work today. It wasn't needed in the end thanks to a kind colleague who left me in the middle of town within reach of alternative options (I walked to my mum's) but it is so reassuring to know that I've taken all reasonable precautions just in case!

poohbear59

Frugal I hope your daughter is better soon.
mardatha I hope you didn't need to rescue your sweeties

It is wild here in Cumbria too. Had a lovely stream running past the house. DH has braved the weather to check on all the empty houses we hold keys for and for once none of them have flooded. All the new flood defences seem to have worked.

DD was meant to be at work but it took her 45 mins to get here, 3 miles, luckily she has here survival pack in the car.

But a warning, a friend was keeping marsbars in the glove box as emergency food and mice have got in and nibbled them!! Maybe put them in a box.

Eenymeeny

I hope that everyone is ok out there. It is comforting to know that you've done everything that you can to prepare isn't it?
Now why didn't I think of using those 'bungee elastics' on my bins? Thanks Beanrua I'll pinch that tip if you don't mind (but I'm not venturing out there again today, it's really wild here!)
Kale recipes, in Holland they do a delicious dish of kale, chopped up and added to mashed potato, served with smoky sausage and a lovely thick gravy. (Not exactly low-calorie but who cares in this weather?)
Maybe some of you might like to try it:
Boerenkool Stamppot (Kale Hash)
Ingredients
3 lbs potatoes, 2 onions, 1 lb kale, 1 pinch salt, 1 pinch ground pepper, 1 lb smoked sausage, 1/2 cup
milk and 2 tablespoons butter.
Directions
Peel and dice potatoes and onions.
Clean, trim and slice kale.
Add the potatoes, onion, kale, a pinch of salt and just enough water to cover all in a 3 qrt pan.
Cover and boil gently for about 25 minutes.
Meanwhile steam the smoked sausage for the same amount of time and slice.
Drain the vegetables, and mash them.
Add milk and butter.
Stir in the hot, sliced smoked sausage, add salt and pepper to taste and serve.
Lovely! (A lot of Dutch recipes are very filling, nutritious and budget conscious as they were mainly farmers who lived off what they grew.:))
Btw you can add the sausage to pan with the veg in to save on fuel and add more flavour.;)

Confuzzled

Eenymeeny wrote: »

Kale recipes, in Holland they do a delicious dish of kale, chopped up and added to mashed potato, served with smoky sausage and a lovely thick gravy. (Not exactly low-calorie but who cares in this weather?)

ooh cheers for that, i love kale and have been getting it in my veg box scheme box so i'll have to give that a try


btw just had a massive house shuddering gust of wind, methinks it's time to shut off the computer, time to hunker down, be safe everyone!

rising_from_the_ashes

Keep safe everyone .... horrendous out there now & I'm really worried something will smash into my patio doors..... (really worried about the patio doors:()

Think the power / phones will go off soon as flickered a couple of times already:

• Have put batteries into the cheap lanterns (thank you £land) and they give off a reasonable amount of light
• Car in garage (with remainder of garage contents I haven't got cleared yet in the lounge:o)
• Gas fire on pilot light so I can have heat when the power goes
• Hot water on for a bath later
• Blinds / curtains shut
• Corded phone dug out

Apparently there's a tree fallen on a house nearby .....:( hope everyone's OK and there's not too much damage - don't know why, but it always seems worse when things like that happen around this time of year.

Stay safe everyone.....

mardatha

Had to go outside to shut hens in and its SCAREY. Wind shrieking and whistling through the phone wires and above that there's this big roar higher up lile a plane passing over, but its just the wind. Amaginzly lights are still on although they have flickered a bit.
In awe of nature's power, totally awesome.

rising_from_the_ashes

I can hear what I think must be my bins blowing around outside ..... nowhere to put them as they won't fit in the garage when the car's in.

Any ideas?