make do and mend for tougher times

prepareathome

It would be keeping this place cool that would be harder - when its hot I close the curtains and fan is on all day but if its so hot that everyone was doing it chances are we would have power cuts as national grid wouldn't cope. So need to look into ways of cooling down the house if need be, only saving grace is only south facing window is the side window in hall, other windows are east or west, north is attached to next door. Snag is its also the tallest window so have to get someone in to put anything up at it but if I had to I would put a survival blanket or two and just cover it all summer, but would have to make sure sun light is not reflected from it on to drivers on main road as they come towards my house, other option is black out material hung down from a tension rod.

I would love to get blinds but that is not going to happen for quite a while, if ever.

Thanks Kittie you have given me plenty of food for thought from stores to house, am glad for the heads up.

fuddle

Yikes, ok. Thanks Kittie. Originally I began to stock cupboard as a way of getting my costs down. It's not happening yet because I keep buying and buying but feel I need to. I'm going to need to store upstairs too as my working stock cupboard is getting too full to actually work.

My worry is that I don't have enough meat stuffs. Yesterday was my butchers shopping day. I buy the meat for the month and portion it all out. Brilliant now, but in 30 days I'll only have a few sausages and burgers to my name. At least I'm aware of it and trying to build a little meat reserve too.

I really feel like I should batch cook but just can't. It's a system that doesn't work for me. I like to cook nightly, mainly SC. But I don't feel at all prepared for eventualities other than tinned stuffs and cuppa soups.

mardatha

TY kittie it's getting worse eh? This house is great, big rooms & brick walls - never been too hot but is often too cold Plus we're high up so we often have a wind blowing, usually from the west but sometimes from the north which isn't funny.
I think the way forward is to grow (and learn to eat) things that the garden/area likes. I hate kale with a vengeance...but it always grows well. I cut it up with scissors and sprinkle some in soup - it would stop you getting vit C deficient. Tatties are always possible, and I will look into more tubs to defeat flooding and slugs. For me the way forward has always got to be looking at the past - they did what we're trying to do and they did it seriously because they didn't have Tesco & Asda ! It was life or death. I wish I could find some books that would be helpful but I not sure what to look under.
Fuddle, thing slike HM soup and bread, porridge, rice puds are great standbys and you dont need meat.

prepareathome

It will take a while fuddle to build up your stocks, you saw the photos of mine I started that one last October and you can see there is not much there as it contains tins and packets that are being used - I have things in kitchen cupboards but only enough room for a weeks supply really.

At first you will feel you are never going to have that extra week, then two weeks and so on but if you just keep buying an extra say meal or two of meat when you go to the butchers you will build up. Remember you need protein but it doesn't have to be meat or even fish. Think pulses, have a look at vegan sites for ideas. My chest freezer has got maybe a month, six weeks mains in it ( meat or fish) but I do not have anywhere near enough vegetables except potatoes to go with them. Hence me trying to dehydrate vegetables and fruit as they take up less space in freezer. They will eventually I hope fill my three drawer freezer, for now it only takes up one drawer and others are filled with bread being sold for 10p a loaf a few weeks ago, cheaper than I can make it, so can keep flour,yeast etc for when I cannot get cheap bread.

Just keep doing what you are doing, you will get there I promise.

I think even if we ended up with a much as those American preppers - 2 years or more we would still feel we don't have enough.

I don't batch cook, doesn't work for me as I don't have the space in freezer to store cooked foods, which take up less space raw as some things added to raw can live in cupboards till cooked.
xxxx

fuddle

I know, me too. Life has got too easy. I remember my dad once saying, I was only a child as I lost him when I was 10, that we expect times to be a lot easier because we think we deserve it. He said that life and surviving was always the same if you take away stuff.

I think that's true, essentially we live on planet earth as an individual. We need basics to survive. Those basics never change, what changes is how we get those basics. We've had everything at our fingers for so long - isn't progress great? Every single piece that is in our lives to make it easier (petrol, Tesco, electricity, water on tap, imported clothes etc) can be taken away because it's just stuff.

If you can see that, strip it all back and work out how to survive without the stuff I think you can at least feel some sort of security. Does that sound a bit strange? I think what I mean is, If I learn how to survive as best I can without the stuff helping me out then I can have some sort of control. I guess it's about knowledge = power.

Everyone around me is clueless. The headlines, shortages, oh dear. It isn't resonating because Tesco will never run out of food. I was at my sisters house yesterday. She went in her under stairs cupboard (I have cupboard envy, shelved throughout) and it was full of carp. I said that she could store food in there like I do. She said why does she want to be like me, that's it's weird, shows signs that I'm insecure and anyway "where will I put all this stuff" I laughed inside. It's just stuff.

So yeah, looking back at times when they didn't have the stuff we do, when they really had to provide for themselves is really interesting. I would like to learn from the previous times too.

Growing my own in pots is what I have to do. I've just chosen the wrong time of year to start.

mardatha

This year's been a disaster for everybody fuddle - and last year up here was the same. lack of sun and warmth. If this was the old days there would have been a famine in the north, that's for sure.

[Deleted User]

fuddle you don`t need to store meat at all. Try tinned fish, pilchards and sardines, like in the old days and easy cook pulses like all sorts of lentils. Nuts, buckwheat and so on.
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Top-10-Alternatives-to-Meat-77543.shtml

Mardatha you have hit the nail on the head, we just HAVE to go back to growing food the old way ie to go with the flow. Kale is not a favourite veg of mine but I make myself eat it and it does grow so easily, even in a turned down bag for a planter. I have planted my kales for this winter but there is still plenty of time. Dwarf curly kale is brilliant and so easy, I am growing a variety called starbor and russian kale is actually nice and can often survive very cold temperatures and heavy snow, when sprouts fail. There are alternatives to potatoes when they fail as this year, they are already quite pricey in the shops. I am looking at my very good parsnip crop as an alternative

Yes, I also bang my head re relatives keeping their heads in the sand. I have told my dd`s several times but one has a minimalistic food store, even with a family. The other visited last weekend and I showed her all my dried produce and she did say that she may think about getting a dehydrator like mine, I think she was serious too

I was up early today, I could feel heartburn just starting so no point lying down. I set to and now have 5 trays of banana slices on the go plus 4 trays of pineapple slices. Re bananas, don`t be taken in by sainsburys basic bananas in poly bags, they are actually twice the price of loose fairtrade bananas. We weighed them on their scales and I was shocked

edit: I just have to add a bit more. It will take a full year for the food situation to `MAYBE` resolve so really we should be looking at keeping as much in as we can squeeze. The worst time will be the hungry gap time ie between march and late may next year

fuddle

That is sneaky re: bananas.

I will look into more in the way of non meat protein sources, thank you. A dehydrator is on my wish list but I wondered how you store items that are dehydrated? What kind of 'shelf life' are we looking at with dehydrated food? Do you add water to make the food edible again?

Popperwell

prepareathome wrote: »

I think even if we ended up with a much as those American preppers - 2 years or more we would still feel we don't have enough.

I don't batch cook, doesn't work for me as I don't have the space in freezer to store cooked foods, which take up less space raw as some things added to raw can live in cupboards till cooked.
xxxx

So true PAH and that is my problem regarding space and batch cooking...one day perhaps I'll afford and can run a small extra freezer but really I probably have enough in the fridge/freezer for one person. And so the store of dry goods and canned goods is probably more important.

And being alone I don't care if i fill cupboards and wardrobes with food and household goods. I don't care that a dining room becomes a food room(I don't use it)nor would it bother me that if due to a lack of space it cannot be hidden. I can eventually have the house tidy even if I end up with crates of food etc...in rooms they would not normally be seen.

Possession

Ugh, that's bad news re. Eastern Europe. Even I am considering growing my own food now and I only have to touch a plant for it to die.
Love the mittens Fuddle, what a clever idea.