Preparedness for when

thriftwizard

VJsmum, thank you, that's a huge help for planning our trip to the Larmer Tree in a couple of weeks!

Was it GQ who recommended flannelette sheets? By an amazing stroke of chance, 4 lovely doubles have just come my way, along with 3 pure Egyptian cotton ones. I'd asked one of our local CSs to save me some bedding that's not fit for sale, and promised them more than the ragman would give them. I collected a binbag full the other day, and sat down this evening to rip them up for my nefarious purposes - I'm folding & knotting them into furoshiki bags, rather than spend a small fortune on buying in sturdy paper bags for the festival. But I couldn't possibly rip these up, they're far too good! I even rang my friend who volunteers there to ask if there'd been some mistake, but no, they didn't have washing instruction labels, so wouldn't sell, apparently. So I shall raid our linen cupboard & sacrifice some of our more superannuated sheets, and keep these ones instead. We'll all be nice & cosy next winter!

siegemode

GreyQueen wrote: »

:T Thank you!

I was thinking I ought to have the elements of this in the lottie shed and it would be an idea to have them clean and down to the shed at the flat before the cold weather.

Sometime ago when these were first mentioned I remember someone warning that only stainless steel nuts and bolts should be used and to beware of galvanised because of fumes, cyanide I think :eek:
A few months back I bought a selection of nuts, bolts, washers and pots for oh to play with after someone here had said how effective one of these heaters had been in an unheated hallway and cloakroom. We tried with small and large tealights. It got warm but didn't give off a great deal of heat. When we can find some more cheap steel nuts, bolts and washers we'll be trying again with more washers and different pots. I'm sure in the absence of central heating it would be a god send and with essential oil dripped on the terracotta quite relaxing:)

[Deleted User]

my stac a cans have made room for a lot more cans in my food store cupboard. I want to add 42 cans ie 3 high and 7 deep in 2 rows. I want cans of food that we will actually eat, considering that I don`t normally use cans apart from beans, tomatoes and some fish. I have an open mind, as long as they contain good food. The cans will need to be the normal size, like baked bean cans, so that they stack safely. I found 27 cans of tomatoes the other day and 9 tins of baked beans,so I`ll be running the tomatoes down to about 12. I am sticking with just cans in that cupboard, which is just a half sized base cupboard, nothing special. I still have room for other things on a shelf over the 3 can high stack. Oh I will make room for a total of 54 more cans once we have eaten the excess tomatoes. Crikey

I could do with help re what cans to store as I am not used to the makes. I already have loads of dried pasta and brown rice in store as well as lots of dehydrated veg

the_cake

Hi kittie
You don't mention pulses? A good proportion of my cans are pulses, a wide range, my particular favourites are flageolet beans and also chickpeas - for the latter, there is a make called KTC which I find is good, and a very reasonable price. I usually find them in the world foods bit of M*rrisons, sometimes on offer at about 30p or thereabouts. There are the usual beige/pinkish chickpeas, and also some smaller, dark brown ones. They are both nice, I think. HTH!

the_cake

Just posted this on another thread, but it's so nice I thought I would put it here too, as chick peas have been mentioned:
CHICK PEA BREAD
Do try this recipe, it's lovely, makes a very soft, moist loaf and lovely toast:

250ml liquid: I use about 2/3 water and 1/3 milk
30ml extra virgin olive oil (or see below)
175g well drained tinned chick peas
500g strong white bread flour
1.5 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1 sachet easy blend dried yeast

My BM is the Kenwood Rapid-Bake (£5 in a charity shop last year, and now my absolute favourite kitchen helper ..) I use programme 2, which is the basic large white loaf. The loaf comes out very light, moist and with a slightly nutty flavour, and little dark specks. To make it a bit cheaper, I often use vegetable or sunflower oil instead of the olive oil, and I was lucky to get some cheap tins of chick peas when they were on offer.
PS Just drain the chick peas, rinse them briefly and chuck them in - the breadmaker mashes them up.

Popperwell

Morning All,
If I can get the other inbuilt wardrobes cleared I could transfer, thin the food store I have in one already to make it easy to find things or buy more and increase my food bank.

There isn't a Asian type supermarket here but I came across an amazing one in Newcastle so if I took a shopping trolley and rucksack I could come back with loads of stuff that would be useful but it takes nearly two hours to get there.

I may have to make a special trip in the coming months...

mardatha

We don't eat much out of tins and now I'm trying this Paleo/Primal diet we seem to not use tins at all. Only bother to stash things like ham, salmon, tongue, and some peas now.

GreyQueen

thriftwizard wrote: »

VJsmum, thank you, that's a huge help for planning our trip to the Larmer Tree in a couple of weeks!

Was it GQ who recommended flannelette sheets? By an amazing stroke of chance, 4 lovely doubles have just come my way, along with 3 pure Egyptian cotton ones. I'd asked one of our local CSs to save me some bedding that's not fit for sale, and promised them more than the ragman would give them. I collected a binbag full the other day, and sat down this evening to rip them up for my nefarious purposes - I'm folding & knotting them into furoshiki bags, rather than spend a small fortune on buying in sturdy paper bags for the festival. But I couldn't possibly rip these up, they're far too good! I even rang my friend who volunteers there to ask if there'd been some mistake, but no, they didn't have washing instruction labels, so wouldn't sell, apparently. So I shall raid our linen cupboard & sacrifice some of our more superannuated sheets, and keep these ones instead. We'll all be nice & cosy next winter!

Jealous I is, jealous. Wish they were mine.

Can you believe the insanity of the modern world. Can't sell a secondhand cotton sheet because it doesn't have a care label?!

Cotton = washable even to boiling temperature. There isn't a domestic washing machine in the land capable of going too hot to wash a cotton sheet. 'Nuff said.

VJsMum, thank you so much for your detailed post, that kind of info is invaluable. Last time I camped I used a hm "carpet" in my tiny tent fashioned from 2 Poondland car sunshades. It worked really well but took up a lot more room than a space blanket, which is what I shall use next time.

Oh, and I'm deffo with you on the folding chairs. If humanly possible, have a chair with you, it makes such a difference.

With prepping, I think the importance is the mental rehersal, first considering What If... ?, the making or purchasing or appropriate tools and equipment, practising with them to be confident in using them, and then having them handily stored where they can be retrieved in good condition when necessary.

We don't, for example, want to be like people who store stuff in basements and then the basement floods in the emergency.

It doesn't have to be a wide catastrophe, either. These flats at Shoebox Towers have two cupboards side by side in their halls; the boiler cupboard which contains a humungous water tank, and a skinny cupboard 20 inches wide, probably intended as a broom cupboard. Originally, when the block was built, the water tanks were smaller and there was room for a couple of shelves below the tank, so it was the airing cupboard. Then the tanks were replaced with bigger tanks, displacing the shelves.

Some folks, like me, responded to this by shelving the narrow cupboard, which had hot water pipes going thru it and a vent above and functions very well as an airing cupboard.

SuperGran hadn't done this, and had several wool blankets, neatly folded on plastic sheeting on the floor of her boiler cupboard. Couple of years back, the tank ruptured.........

It was a minor SHTF situation which I helped her with and I can tell you dealing with sopping woollen blankets in a tiny flat is no laugh. We got there in the end. And Mum has shelved out SG's cupboard so she now has a dedicated airing cupboard too. All done with recycled pine bed-slats.

Sooo, have a look at your low level storage and ask yourselves, Do I have anything which would be damaged by water in the way of a leak from internal plumbing? Or water ingress?

If you can get stuff up off the floor, it would be sensible to do so, IMO. And I have all the things which should be kept dry like washing powder and soda crystals under the sink inside 4 pint milk bottle containers, so if stuff leaks under there, it won't be spoiled. Plus it makes it easier to dispense. HTH.

BessieBooBoo

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

Eating 6 tins of baked beans, while sharing a tent?

You really think that's a good idea?

:rotfl:

Hello BSB

Well, I could always use the excess wind to power up the Barbie!

BBB

BessieBooBoo

siegemode wrote: »

BBB Phew ! what a list. Looks like my kind of packing. The things that sprung to my mind were noodles as they are so easy and quick, a strainer/colander and a roll of freezer bags and ties. Also if you have one a wind break and a plastic backed picnic blanket. I'm not very good at travelling light when we go in the car lol Every space is occupied by something just in case.

Ras You are the voice of reason, but I would probably do as BBB since oh would not be keen on shopping whilst on holiday.

Hello Siegemode

Thanks, I have bought noodles!

And I am excluding most of what RAS has listed from our original list (except extra undercrackers!)

BBB