Preparedness for when

mardatha

WCS, you are the first and only person apart from me, who has their stove running 24/7 all year round! And I never even thought of firebricks might make a small diff for us - can I ask who sells them? Our stove only needs filled once in 24 hours and doesnt take loads as we leave it on at 0.

Confuzzled

valk_scot wrote: »

If it really was a Zombie Apocalypse there wouldn't be any dead people lying around to eat, surely? They'd all be up on their feet intent on eating (or whatever zombies do) you!

well it was the zombies i meant, def don't want to be eating that, call me fussy but ewwwwwwwww :rotfl:

westcoastscot

mardatha wrote: »

WCS, you are the first and only person apart from me, who has their stove running 24/7 all year round! And I never even thought of firebricks might make a small diff for us - can I ask who sells them? Our stove only needs filled once in 24 hours and doesnt take loads as we leave it on at 0.

Yes we only fill ours once too - it makes a bit of a difference - I can get away with less than a bag a week in summer, which builds up to fill the coal cellar by autumn to give us a bag-and-a-bit over the winter (if you know what I mean) - means we only buy a bag a week all year arounds (although we have one delivery of wood over the winter also).

I got mine in a wee Ironmongers locally - will send you some if you can't get any - mine aren't brick, they're metal, wedge shaped and they work great - but the shop did have bricks. The wedge shaped ones you can have one either side, like me, or use them flat to raise up the back of the fire in winter so less coal is at the back but right on the boiler, and more at the front (ifkwim!)

edited to add, mine look like these, only mine are metal -
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PAIR-OF-UNIVERSAL-COAL-SAVER-SIDE-CHEEK-BRICKS-FOR-14-16-OR-18-OPEN-FIRES-/110756005290?pt=UK_Home_Garden_Other_Fireplaces&hash=item19c99285aa#ht_2155wt_889

WCS

Gigervamp

Speaking of zombies, we were very disappointed to learn that Cockneys Vs Zombies is only being shown in 7 cinemas across the UK and none near us. 4 in London, 2 in Scotland and 1 in Liverpool.

viv1956

Anyone looking for the Sept - new year thread - its been moved to Debt free forum - don't understand why as its not about being debt free

mardatha

Great WCS - that's a lot less than we use. Always 2 bags a week here, at £16 a bag, but we don't burn wood, its too messy and not hot enough. I will get these ones on ebay, thanks for that.

Popperwell

mrs_lds wrote: »

I came across an interesting horizon pogramme pointing out that those that lived during the great depression lived longer during that period as people ate less. I really do think we eat too much today ( me included) and the body needs to occasionally rest from food. The article also pointed out fasting is beneficial. Just something to think about, when things have gone to pot we obviously would cut back a lot and ration what we eat.

That's true, I eat much less and smaller portions. I do worry though about what's coming...but aren't we all.

Confuzzled

Gigervamp wrote: »

Speaking of zombies, we were very disappointed to learn that Cockneys Vs Zombies is only being shown in 7 cinemas across the UK and none near us. 4 in London, 2 in Scotland and 1 in Liverpool.

you might be able to find it on dvd on amazon in a few months, i was sad to miss one of the rare showings of stakeland in edinburgh but found it on amazon for less than the price of what i would have paid to see it in the cinema

your movie sounds small and independent so give it 4 months or so and start looking on amazon, bet you'll find it

speaking of zombies, can't wait for walking dead season 3 to start in october.... yes i do sorta make mental preps in my mind (food and normal survival don't really expect zombies!) when i watch it

this season they find a prison, now i got to say, grim as it may be a prison could be an excellent fotress provided it's not full of all it's previous inhabitants!

SpikyHedgehog

Caterina wrote: »

Got something that bothers me and I would love to hear others' opinions:

in terms of survival, do you think that people like me, practically vegetarian, are going to have a substantial disadvantage? I read about all sorts of bushcraft stuff and a lot of it is about hunting and fishing etc. I even saw something about eating worms (apparently a very good source of protein).

If TSHTF and we stay put, stores of food would see us through for a while, but in the situation that we were to be on the move, I am really worried.

I have been wondering whether to start eating some meat (other than the odd slice of Parma Ham I mean!) but not sure about the ethics of eating meat in preparation, and in any case one thing is eating a nicely prepared chicken breast, another to eat a (possibly raw) pigeon or rabbit leg! Let alone a handful of grubs or wood lice! Advice and comments welcome. Thanks.

GreyQueen wrote: »

Caterina, the subject of vegetarianism and veganism came up on my course last year. They cater for such diets but they don't shy away from discussing what would happen if you had to forage in a climate like the UK's either.

The short version is that it is very hard to get carbs from the wild in a northern temperate climate like ours, even to supplement a regular omnivorous diet. It isn't possible to get enough carb-rich foods in this zone to survive as a vegetarian. You need to have a mixed diet and when you're living outside you use a lot more calories that when you live warmly in buildings. The fat element from flesh foods is particularly important.

For example, we were eating like pigs inc chocolate and we were visibly losing weight in only 6 days. This same bushcraft company take people up above the 48th parallel in the US state of Maine in winter and one of the guys on the course had done that course with them before. His wife jokingly called it the Fat Camp, he lost so much weight. In extreme conditions, take can you average man's calorific requirements and x 3 or even more and he'd still probably lose weight.

Asd to whether you should practice meat eating, that isn't something I can really comment upon, as it is such a personal choice. I've been both vegetarian and vegan at different times in my life and such diets don't agree with me. They make me physically weak and lower my mood. Red meat has the opposite effect within minutes. I guess only you can decide. HTH.

In a SHTF survival situation your choices would be pretty stark; eat animal foods or slowly starve. I've never met a veggie bushcraft tutor although they are all slim, wiry and very fit.

ETA can recall reading about the necessity of having something in your SHTF stores to ease consitipation if you are suddenly going to a predominantly beans and grains storecupbaord diet as this would be a real problem. I also know a lot of vegetarians and vegans who struggle with depression and have often wondered if there is something in the diet which excaberates that, but I am a lay-person and only making an extrapolation from my own experience of low mood on a veggie diet, so it's probably co-incidental.

I'm vegetarian, & so are my boys - DS1 by choice, & DS2 because I said so ;-) ... I'm vegetarian because of ethical considerations & I feel I have a healthier diet than if I were eating meat (& I'm saying so here because of the reasons that the boys are also vegetarians, I'm fully aware that it is equally possible to eat a healthy omnivorous diet) & because in the society we currently live in, we do have plenty of choice. I've said the boys can choose for themselves once they get to secondary school, but need to be aware of the implications of their diet, whatever it is, to encourage their thinking & knowledge of where food comes from. (I'm always so long winded... It's a nightmare typing all this on my phone!)

Anyway, Errant Husband was calling DS1 & me hypocrites the other day as DS1 got 2nd hand bike leathers, & I buy leather school shoes for the boys, & because I expect DS2 to know that meat comes from animals before he makes a decision to eat it. DS1 & I both feel that in a SHTF situation, we would be able to kill animals to eat, but Errant Husband doesn't, & wouldn't kill a chicken for his dinner now.

I don't have a source of meat I would choose to eat right now, so am making sure we've plenty of protein sources in my winter prep store cupboard. If we get to the zombie apocalypse, I'll start to introduce meat into our diet. But till then, I'm planning to stay vegetarian.

My mum, as an (argumentative) vegan, says she'd rather die than eat meat. But I've never managed to get an answer to the question ' But what would you do for the children?' ;-) I was just thinking, my dad as a red meat eating omnivore with a largely vegetarian diet would fare best, but then I remembered, his stomach is so bad & stress levels so high, he'd not cope anyway!

greenbee wrote: »

After a weekend with friends' children, I'm sure we could power a small commune from the energy generated by half a dozen under fours... :cool:

Giant hamster wheels needed!

jeanniefaethecarse

Thank you for that charlies-aunt and WestCoastScot
I've seen them in the local ironmongers, so I'll nip down tomorrow and see what they cost. Last year we were £13 a bag for coal. This year, it's gone up to £17. We don't use wood because my DH maintains that the chimney isn't suitable (1900's flat in the middle of a wee town) and that using wood coats it with volatile oils which could cause a house fire.....Not sure quite how accurate that point of view is! He may be trying to get out of chopping wood