Preparedness for when

lillibet_dripping

:wave:Just popping in to wish 2Tonsils a safe journey to her new life. Hope it brings everything you are wishing for. Do pop in and let us know how you are getting on.
Lilli x

annie123

craigywv wrote: »

went out to check on my spuds, i think theymay have blight again!!!!!!!!!!!!! startin to take this personal mama nature!!! you did the same to me last year. they have frecl=kles on some leaves so its prob burn and get rid of the soil AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!! they were growing great should i give them a few more weeks to see if it is blight as its only freckles on 1 of my plants help preppers please xxxx

Sign up to blight watch
http://www.blightwatch.co.uk/content/bw-Home.asp

I get a text message when it could strike, so I know when to keep a close eye on things. It's not perfect I got a text 2 years ago as I was looking at blighted toms but most of the time it's gives a good warning. No good looking at the map on there as it only list commercial growers and there aren't any in London for example.

Just for info blight on toms isn't the end of them if you pick the leaves off/ cut the branches off as you see it spreading. Kept mine going for 2 months last year and got a full crop of tasty toms.

annie123

nuatha wrote: »

I didn't find a vacuum sealer that I bought from lidls gave that good a vacuum, I ended up replacing it two years on with one at 4 times the price that does actually vacuum pack. Having said that, its a good sealer, it did draw a lot of the air out of the bag (just not all of it) and worked with ordinary bags. Subjectively I think I got less freezer burn on stuff that I packed with it. It was using the lidl's one that convinced me I could justify a decent bench top one.

Bags, lidl do a roll of freezer bags that are marked as suitable for sous vide (posh boil in the bag) they're cheap, work as well as anything else I tried with that vac packer, and good quality.
HTH

Thanks Nuatha, I'll give it a skip I think. Don't have £20 to fritter away on something I'll want to replace with a better model.
It's a want rather than a need then I think.

spanishlivinginUK

Hi everyone!
Yesterday I went for a long walk around the local protected park and the river and came home with a bag full of eldeflowers!
As soon as I got in I started the recipe for champagne, it's sitting in a big bucket in the living room.
When should I see signs of fermenting? I've read if there are no bubbles by the end of day 2 to add a pinch of yeast?
It already smells lovely! A bit strong actually... My OH doesn't like eldeflower so he will be moaning untill it's bottled.... Lol
I've been looking for cheap 1L bottles of sparkling water, but all I can find is 500ml, 1.5L or 2L! The only 1L are expensive brands and it defeats the purpose of making a cheap drink.
However OH remembers his grandad making plum wine, and he said if this goes well we should give it a go, he loved it. anyone made it?

nuatha

annie123 wrote: »

Thanks Nuatha, I'll give it a skip I think. Don't have £20 to fritter away on something I'll want to replace with a better model.
It's a want rather than a need then I think.

Many years ago, I bought a little battery powered bag sealer which lived on my freezer door (magnet in the base). It was a bit of a faff to start with but I soon picked up the knack of sealing quite wide bags. It looked like a fat stapler, and that allowed me to repack dried goods and keep them dry - it looked a bit like this.
You can also get oxygen absorbing sachets - which I haven't used - which many US preppers seem to favour for long term storage.

Just remembered there's a thread on here that might be useful
Vacuum sealers for food - money-saving or not?
HTH

[Deleted User]

SPANISH you shouldn't need to add yeast, there should be enough natural yeasts on the elderflowers to begin the fermentation, but, if you want to add in some yeast it won't do any harm at all, and it won't affect the taste, let me know how it goes. I bottled my first batch last night and am off to get more flowers right now, Cheers Lyn xxx.

[Deleted User]

spanishlivinginUK wrote: »

I've been looking for cheap 1L bottles of sparkling water, but all I can find is 500ml, 1.5L or 2L! The only 1L are expensive brands and it defeats the purpose of making a cheap drink.

Have you tried Aldi?

spanishlivinginUK

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

Have you tried Aldi?

I've found 1L bottles of soda water on offer, it shouldn't affect the flavour I think.
The closest aldi is about 30 minutes away, I only go every now and then to make a big shop, but I'll look next time a go.

MrsLurcherwalker, thanks, I'll keep the yeast for making plum wine then.

[Deleted User]

SPANISH I've just walked the lurcher and picked some more elderflowers, just at the perfect stage, so the second batch of champagne is in the big bowl and doing its 24 hour soak. If you don't get a 'fizz' from the first bottle you open, don't think it has gone wrong, it sometimes takes as long as 10 days for that petillance to develope, if at first you don't 'fizz' leave the other bottles a few days longer, Cheers Lyn xxx.

spanishlivinginUK

Oh! I forgot to say, Annie123

The sealer from Aldi, if its the same they sold before its good, but the bags that come with it aren't.
You can use them for things that don't really need an airtight seal, but buy better ones and the seal is perfect, mine gets all the air out.