Who doesn't have a stock cupboard

[Deleted User]

It's probably teaching Grandma to suck eggs but I write the use by date on the top and front of anything that goes into the store cupboard with a marker pen and then I can see at a glance what needs using first. It's not infallible as a method as sometimes I miss an item and it gets shuffled to the back of the shelf but it really helps me . Cheers Lyn.

Popperwell

lil_me wrote: »

Nope not a cupboard, now I have.....a shed. It has a freezer in there too and is packed with packs of tins, packet/dry foods etc

If I use the outhouse an extra freezer may be an option for me...

Tink_04

my stores have seen me and dh though 2 redundancys - and 2 winters that were just too bad to leave the house at times. I'm slowly building them up again but I have also learned a few things! like know what you have and where it is or things get totally lost (im Making a list of what we have this year) also I bought lots of cheap stuff that we didn't normally eat so it made meal making harder and awful if you decided you didn't like something and had another 10 tins of it!! So this time im buying stuff I know we like, eat and will keep on filling it up when stuff is on offer and also if trying something new only buying one then going back for more if we like it (this was more tinned meats etc but beans, veg & custard etc are all value from anywhere really)

Anyway just thought id join in

adelight

chopped bin bag in gravy :rotfl:

popperwell just put your mattress inside the tent if you are using it indoors. Did you own a house with your mum? You are in a better position than many if you do. No matter how bleak it gets you would still have a roof over your head.
I tried to get basic cornflakes and tinned spuds from mr S yesterday but both were sold out. Weird. Also value pasta had gone up to 39p a bag. I hadn't bought it from mr S in a while but last time it was 30p everywhere.

I wish I knew some like-minded people locally as it's a dream of mine to live in a bit of a commune type thing! Few families/groups sharing a house and caravans all helping growing, doing the school run etc. It's a life style many would love but just can't afford to move to some lovely village. Even having a garden/allotment and friendly neighbours would be fab but it's just not a possibility for me

I am another who eats odd concoctions for dinner. "stew" means all the random left over bits + some lentils and herbs. Speaking of herbs OH killed my basil and parsley while I was away grrr.

My recent order from naturally good food has been a right mess It was split in two and one went to my shipping address and other to billing address. They offered to pick it back up from my billing address and redeliver but I'll just collect it next time I'm there. And a bag of rye at the bottom of the box to my shipping address has split, looks like it was due to too much heavy stuff being piled on top of it. Frustrating but they are usually good so I will assume it's a one off.

Sorry I don't have much positive to say today!

prepareathome

Well my first AF delivery has arrived and am happy with most of it although two of the tins of tomato puree have a bit of rust round the edge so going to decant them into ice cube trays ( after checking contents are ok and rust is not inside). I didn't realise how big the bags of vegetable suet were, massive is an understatement so I guess they should freeze ok, so going to pack them into small bags each one the amount I would use in dumplings or puddings for the two of us and pop them in the freezer.

I bought some tins of margarine which I will just leave for total emergencies - usually I try things to check we like them before adding to stocks but not going to do so with these. I will not be rotating them unless they become years out of date as never seen tins of margarine or butter on sale in UK - you have to buy from abroad, this margarine is from Holland.

I am glad I got the chance to buy from them but doubt I will do so again unless they offer the free delivery as most I could buy from B&M ( but not the margarine.

I do like the pasta its all the tiny type which hubby prefers - he loathes long spaggitti.

I also didn't realise how big the tin of pears was - its catering size so not quite sure when I will use it as cannot freeze them as they are but could make a puree and freeze that or of course dehydrate them.

Still I think it was £42 well spent.

I do have a cheap vacuum sealer I bought from a friend a few years ago when she was running trying to build up a business selling kitchen items but its not very good ( only cost me £10) so thinking of investing in a good one ( I only used it for first time last week after dehydrators arrived). It does take most of the air out but I would not like to put anything sealed with it in the cupboard. Hopefully will buy one that does jars and containers as well.



Tonight will be a see what falls out of freezer meal, as just cannot be bothered cooking at all. I know I have some tomatoes in fridge that need to be used - or I might just dehydrate them, not tried tomatoes yet.

Confuzzled I to have the problem when something comes out really nice and hubby says make it again and I cannot remember exactly how much of anything went into it and I never weigh so even writing down what I am putting is not that much help - I just say we are having a concoction tonight and hubby usually says good your concoctions are always nice.

We have a tent (had two the same but son took one and puts it up in the garden for children to play in and is supposed to be using it to take the family on a free camping holiday I got, hoping he does as don't want to see it wasted) but its a bit to big to put up in my living room really ( could be done but take up all the floor space) as its a four person two room one that you can stand up in, double cover with built in ground sheet supposed to fully rain proof and keep warmth in but amazingly when ever we have gone camping we have always had nice weather so it never been used in rain.

Well better go and see where I can put all the new stores as bookcase I use as a store cupboard is full, its only a five shelf 5ft high one, I have 4 of them, plus others bigger or smaller, think I will have to empty another one, but then that's more books sitting in piles on the floor - going to have to be ruthless and clear out ones I will not read again in near future.

prepareathome

adelight wrote: »

I wish I knew some like-minded people locally as it's a dream of mine to live in a bit of a commune type thing! Few families/groups sharing a house and caravans all helping growing, doing the school run etc. It's a life style many would love but just can't afford to move to some lovely village. Even having a garden/allotment and friendly neighbours would be fab but it's just not a possibility for me

I to would love that. When we first moved here most of the people in the surrounding houses had been in them since the house were built on my side of road 1932 and across the road 1963, we only got the house as the lady who had lived here died as she had moved in when it was new. Slowly one by one the original tenants have died and as I am only house around here that is still rented first from council and now owed by HA the other houses have been sold or in recent years rented out privately which means we have a fluid neighbourhood with most people not living here longer than 2 or 3 years. So no one really plans long term or wants to build up the neighbourhood. Its become a stop gap where people come after losing their own home through bank repossessing or them just having to sell as they cannot afford to pay the mortgage. With being right on edge of city its far enough away for rents to be slightly more manageable than further in but still within commute to city ( about an hour during rush hour in car, 40 mins by bus as there are bus lanes further in which makes buses the quicker option during rush hour). its a nice quiet ( aside from main road) area with good size gardens and houses not a bad size better than what they would get further in - small terraced houses with only a yard at back for same price.

So there is no community spirit really left here and no one really speaks to their neighbours - I speak to odd people as they walk past when out in garden so get to know why they are here. They come rent till they get their finances back in order then go and buy elsewhere or if they do buy they only stay long enough for house to go up in value so usually about 3 years then buy a bit further in.

So store cupboards and being prepared is not something that even crosses their minds living here being as it is only a stop gap. Me I would want a store cupboard even if I knew I was only going to be somewhere for a year but for many its something you do only when you are planning to stay somewhere long term.

prepareathome

Tinks what you found is so important, its no use having lots of food in your store cupboard but none of it is what you like. You should only ever buy what you and your family will eat. Nothing worse than redundancy and you have to live out of the store cupboard and you dread your meals as you dislike the food you have in - in times of stress having nice things to eat is very, very important for morale. I am not talking about cakes and biscuits but actual meals they should be enjoyed so no matter how hard things are you can sit down and actually have a few moments of pleasure away from the awful day to day living on reduced income and trying to find work. Also again in winter and you find you are stuck in, having a nice meal to look forward to breaks up the day and makes it much more bearable.

Many people go to survivalist sites of which there are many and mainly american and what do they find, list of foods they advise you to have in like lots of wheat, dried milk, etc - now unless you totally adore wheat you are going to get really sick of it very quickly, and also you have to buy mills in to grind it etc. Ok if you live in the middle of nowhere and are going to have to make your own bread for a year but not really for the average person. The last thing you want to do in the middle of an emergency is start grinding wheat.

Buying what you like - even if you are someone who only cooks from scratch and likes only fresh - can make all the difference to you mental health during these times.

I know many have come on here and said they won't bother with a store cupboard as they are surrounded by shops but two years ago here, we most unusually had a bad winter and in March it was so bad that the whole city closed down for 3 days - council offices closed, DWPs, shops, supermarkets, factories everything closed as the roads even with gritting were impassable and deliveries could't get to shops nor could the staff and in the local paper ( which my hubby delivers and it was printed and he delivered it) afterwards, there were lots of reports of people who had been without food for a day or so as they would pop out every day in buy in the food for that day and with no shops being open they couldn't do it. Even the small shops who did manage to open soon sold out of what food they had and could not restock as warehouses were not open. People were amazed such a big city could be brought to a standstill by heavy snow, it had never ever happened here before. Those who remembered said even the three day week in the '70s was better as at least they knew shops would be closed so they did buy in extra.

So even if your store cupboard only contains enough for a week it is better to have it than not. Someone did post here that they were one of those people who never bothered stocking up but them the riots last year closed the shops by them and as they said even if they were open they would have been to scared to go out.

So you never know what might stop you from being able to pop out.

Right I better get off my soap box:o sorry

Popperwell

adelight wrote: »

popperwell just put your mattress inside the tent if you are using it indoors. Did you own a house with your mum? You are in a better position than many if you do. No matter how bleak it gets you would still have a roof over your head.

Rented house(Been here over 50 years)rented from the council, many councils around here disolved, housing stock transferred to a kind of HA with a less than good reputation, had my name on the rent card for approx 30 years.

The help I get(due to a long term health problem likely to get worse)stops when probate is sorted. Soon afterwards I'll have to reapply as Mum's savings reduce. She did not have much but enough to affect me. If I can get it again...The condition could be life threatening(kidney problems)controlled by strong drugs which I will when the situation changes have to pay for until/if I get help again and drop down to a certain level but my medication is needed.

Mum's savings will reduce very quickly just paying CT and rent, utility bills and food and no luxuries.

Some big changes coming(some benefits being changed, scrapped/reduced, the criteria for entitlement, bedroom tax, how CT is collected and if you are on a reduced rate that discount is being reduced etc...)lots of unknowns.

They just keep chipping away...

Annoyingly but Mum was worth it because I loved her, I was a carer in reality and did not take all that we could've and just when we did start to get more help financially Mum did not live very long.:(

If things stayed as they are it would be very tight but I probably could manage and stay put but with the way things are changing I don't know.

Neighbours and aquintances say stay put, they can't move you and you should not have to go after being here so long but they may get me out by making it harder to stay...

quintwins

pops could i suggest and elec blanket? even with the rising cost of elec there still very cheap to run, many years ago i couldn't afford heat as we ahve oil and i just didn't have enought money for the minium order, i'd had no heat except for a wee blow heater for 2 years and my now hubby bought me an elec blanket as a random gift one day, i loved it and if i was cold i would just climb into bed to read a book or watch tv there cheap enough to buy and would be cheaper to run than putting the heat on, they have overheat cut offs unlike older ones, and different heat settings aswell as 12 hr cut offs incase you forget to turn it off..... the only problem i had was getting out of bed into the cold room

Popperwell

quintwins wrote: »

pops could i suggest and elec blanket? even with the rising cost of elec there still very cheap to run, many years ago i couldn't afford heat as we ahve oil and i just didn't have enought money for the minium order, i'd had no heat except for a wee blow heater for 2 years and my now hubby bought me an elec blanket as a random gift one day, i loved it and if i was cold i would just climb into bed to read a book or watch tv there cheap enough to buy and would be cheaper to run than putting the heat on, they have overheat cut offs unlike older ones, and different heat settings aswell as 12 hr cut offs incase you forget to turn it off..... the only problem i had was getting out of bed into the cold room

What a good idea QT...

I'd have to decide whether to stay in what was Mum's room and use the Double bed or go back into my room slightly smaller)single bed I should get a new mattress for either bed(some springs have gone)may wait until Mum's savings come through as you are allowed to buy essentials. They suggested they want me to keep bills to prove what I am spending and not trying to get back onto welfare.

I'd love to have enough independence financially to tell them what to do with it but circumstances meanI probably will always be dependent on the State and jump through all the hoops to receive help. And live frugally. I don't buy it often but whilst I can it would be nice if a ticket for the Euromillions would be lucky but I bet many say that.

They say that I may try and pass money away to friends and family to get help again...there are no family or friends so that's not likely.

If I move, the single bed may be more practical if the property is smaller(I'd probably have to get rid of one bed)I keep hoping it won't come to that...but smaller properties are rare.

The area where I am is good for me(mobility isn't good)but the location is flat and I am only two streets from the retail area. A new Aldi's is being built at the bottom of the street.

Yet where my home is you'd have no idea you were so close to such a busy area, it's quiet and there is no trouble and the neighbours stay for many years, usually only leaving when they pass away...:(

Seven in recent years(including Mum)