Preparedness for when

the_cake

Quince vodka is delish. It is indeed a much under-used fruit ..... as well as being a very pretty tree! Do plant one if you have space.
My blackcurrant bush (a Wellington XXX if anyone is interested) has given me over 10lbs of fruit this year. I fed it early in the season with horse sh** (plenty of that here), ash from the woodburner and used coffee grounds. The best sort of recycling?

BessieBooBoo

notjustlaura wrote: »

I also like to lurk here, nomi01, when I'm in MoneySaving Mode (which I very much am as of now!) I am not prepared. I know I'm not. But I like to think I will be one day because ... well, you never know, do you? I can remember load shedding and the miner's strike. I can remember getting free school meals (and in those days it wasn't nearly so common as it is now - I was the only child in my class and mortified). As an adult I've sold possessions because I needed money to buy food.

So I shall lurk and learn and when finances permit I'll put by what I might need and hope I never do. Last autumn I made up a box labelled 'One Week's Emergency Food Supply' and put it on the top shelf of the larder. I ate it in the spring. My family laughed but I shall do the same again this year - and consider a 'Ten Day Emergency Food Supply.'

Hello to another one!

Do not fret, or panic, although after reading the prepper sites (especially the USA one's), I had much of the 'headless chicken' urges...

I found a good read about prepping on a budget, which gives great ideas. E.g. even if you only have £10 a month spare, you can start to build up back-up supplies:

Month one: £10 worth of sugar (white apparently keeps best)
Month two: £10 of salt of your preference
Month three: £10 of rice (your choice, but, again white keeps better)
Month 4: £10 of (dried or tinned) pulses (whatever your preference e.g. lentils, kidney beans, etc.
M5: £10 dried pasta
M6: £10 tinned toms (can never have enough of these, can create allsorts of meals!)
M7: £10 baked beans, pick the kid's favourites!
M8: £10 of dried flavourings e.g. herbs, spices, even dry sauce mixes. Don't forget condiments like vinegar, ketchup - it's amazing how much ketchup can 'help' a meal...
M9: £10 meat/fish (tinned or possibly jerky if you like it)
M10: £10 Fun food e.g. emergency chocolate (hide it well!)
M11: £10 Drinks - I mean, tea, coffee, sugar, dried milk, altho' you could add booze too!
M12: Don't forget flours & baking stuff, and cereals, e.g. porridge keeps well and v. good for you....

These are just ideas, in no particular order, substitute what you and your family will eat. DO NOT BUY STUFF YOU DON'T NORMALLY EAT. Can't emphasise that one enough. No point forcing the family to live on lentils if they hate them... But, start introducing them to things like pulses and see how that goes. V. good to keep long term, and lots of good stuff in them....

I forgot to add oils and fats, although be aware that these probably don't have a long shelf life. Another useful one is honey, as it's one of those things that keep forever.

Finally, don't do what I did, make sure your food is pest safe (insects, rodents, and 2 legged pests wot nick all the emergency chocolate!)

Best of luck

BBB

BessieBooBoo

Hello again

I have made lots of lovely fruit booze, the one's I recommend:

All sorts of fruit wine, Elderberry and Blackberry especially good, but for some reason our Pear wine exploded!

Blackberry Whiskey (or brandy)
Strawberry brandy
Cherry brandy
Sloe gin
Blueberry vodka (also tried with raspberry, strawberry, cherry, er, spiced e.g. cinnamon, cinnamon stick, ginger, blackcurrant, redcurrant, rhubarb....)
Mead

Be warned, turning your spirits into liquers makes them quite strong!

Wouldn't recommend:
Rice whiskey (so strong about took the skin off!)
Rice wine
Potato wine

Tried experimenting with these but, good grief, I think meths would have been more palatable!

OH suggested using them as paint-stripper....:D

Funny how every time I asked him what he wanted to do with surplus fruit he immediately suggests booze!

This year, I will mostly be trying to turn it into jam, jelly, chutneys, pickles....

Hic

BBB

BessieBooBoo

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

BBB but only if she would bring it to Mumi and not eat it herself!!!

Ah. I think you have found the slight hitch in my idea...

BBB

BessieBooBoo

GreyQueen wrote: »

I should worry. My nutty neighbours are playing around outside right now with a cap gun.

At least I hope it's a cap gun. :eek:

Ack! Ever thought about moving to a slightly less 'interesting' area?

I have a shed my OH has just finished insulating FYI. Just in case you are desperate!

BBB

Ellidee

De-lurking to post this http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=62921501&postcount=5179

[Deleted User]

Hello ELLIDEE nice to have you along for the ride, welcome in to the thread and thank you for such a useful post, Cheers Lyn xxx.

thriftwizard

Oh my goodness, wish I'd seen that before I promised to lend the ex-lodger half our camping gear to go off to a festival! Not that he won't look after it, but he could have afforded his own, to keep & use again! Thank you Ellidee.

westcoastscot

Hi Guys,

Looks like I have more reason to prep than ever - my arthritis is proving very aggressive and i've been advised that my long term ability to work is compromised. I work part-time at a job I love, but suspect they are right that working for a further 13 years will be challenging.

Seeing how benefits are being eroded I suspect they won't be there for me when I need them, so I'm looking to try to build some financial resilience to tide me over to state pension age if I have to stop working before then.

No plan as yet - I have some debt which will be cleared totally in 18 months/2 years, which will then give me a bit to save, and my mortgage is paid off already. I live on a very low income, always have, so don't need a huge amount of money, however shall need enough for council tax, utilities and food.

I'm swithering between working more hours now, with the potential risk to my health that may bring, or continue to work part-time and possibly work for longer - slow and steady and all that. I'm thinking probably continue with part-time work.

I need a plan!!!!

Would appreciate any input - I know its a bit of a lottery!

WCS

GreyQueen

BessieBooBoo wrote: »

Ack! Ever thought about moving to a slightly less 'interesting' area?

I have a shed my OH has just finished insulating FYI. Just in case you are desperate!

BBB

Only about twice a day. Trouble is, I answer the anti social behaviour hotline as part of my job so I know exactly what is going on in this city, down to the grubby little details, and there is no promised land for low income peeps like me to escape into. But I thank you for the offer of the shed; there's been times when I've been tempted to move into my lottie shed but the spiders put me off a bit.

Unless I come into money, in which case I shall be up on Acacia Avenue toot de sweet, as they don't say in France.

Strangely enough, there are worse neighbourhoods. F'rinstance, we haven't had a resident arsonist for several years now, there is no crack house operating, and as far as one can ascertain, none of my neighbours is entertaining gentleman callers in return for coin of the realm.

And we've had all of those before, sometimes simulatanously. Along with child sex offenders and people throwing furniture off the upper floors. Someone narrowly missed me with his TV but he wasn't well in his mind, and a miss is as good as a mile, is it not?

So, it could be worse. Some of my neighbours are just daft and inconsiderate like the pop gun cowboys yestereve. As the saying has it there's no cure for stoopid.

I did some candle-prepping before work this morning but can see now they've hardened a bit that we've had a bit of a slumpie going on, so will now melt some more to infill the declivities, as it were.

Keep on keeping, on folks. Remember, if you think that the country is run by honest, decent, competant individuals, with your very best interests at heart, you have no need whatsoever to do any preparations. The Great and The Good will look after you as tenderly as they would care for their own lickle chillun.

Or you can admit to being a jaded soul like wot I am, and aim to look after yourself and your loved ones as best you can.