Preparedness for when

hauxwell

Ta Bob, yeah the all american ones cost a fortune and are huge. I have a 16 quart presto and it only just fits on one of the burners of my cooker.

I do really love it though, its like playing canning factory!

armyknife

Maybe we should work to change the ethnics of our political culture or wider society, so people won't have to fear 'social/economic' breakdown so much?

notjustlaura

ALIBOBSY wrote: »

I have to hold my hand up to having a TV, but its mostly for the kids. TBH I rarely watch anything live, but do like being able to set the box to record the stuff I like to watch when I get a chance. I suspect once the kids are older/leave home we will get rid of a "live" feed and just use iplayer etc /downloads and dvd's when we want to watch something-so will save on the licence.

Do you not still have to pay the license fee to use iplayer? If you don't then that's certainly something I should think about as I so rarely watch 'live' TV. I have Netflix and the various apps from the TV companies and use those.

homesteadchick

I use a waterbath canner for everything, and it works just fine to be honest.

I've even done meats.

Here in Holland we have never heard of these pressure canners, and have waterbath canned for generations with great success.

Just saying ;-)

GreyQueen

Morning all.

I have a tabletop freezer, which is basically a cube with a shelf across the middle and it's a 50 litre capacity. Its manual says it will retain a safe operating temperature in a power cut for 17 hours, so I imagine bigger freezers would last longer than that.

It's an excellent idea to keep freezers full as this makes them run more efficiently (and they would keep cold better in a powercut). If you're temporarily sans grub, you could put containers of water in there to freeze.

The question of managing power outages is frequency. Is it a once in a blue moon thing for a few minutes, something which happens to you several times a year mostly in winter, or are you trying to get ahead with your planning for extensive loss of power? Adjustments and plans will vary according to what you are anticipating and your type of domestic set up. For example, we have a range of them on this thread, from flat-dwellers to small-holders and everything in between.

I'm chiefly going the canned route, although I am scouting around for cheap clay pots to make the double-walled wet sand insulated type of "fridge". I figure the makings of this would be easy enough to have by me, in the shed, and could be a real blessing in a protracted period of powercuts. I have UHT milk in quantity, but once it is opened, it needs to be refridgerated.

Lots of things to consider, but by considering them, we will be ahead of the game. Running around in a crisis tends to be unproductive, unless you are running towards a particular place with a particular purpose in mind. Such as me going pell-mell to the camping store for more butane cylinders if we get a protracted outage of gas (I cook on gas).

Today's plan involves a discreet shopping trip for some more tinnery and packetry (I hope everyone is discreet in their preps, loose lips sink ships etc) and keeping an eye on the wickedness of the world re the middle east.

I'm waiting to hear the phrases surgical strike and over by Christmas............. prolly won't be long now. I have bread rolls a-proving in the kitchen. You control what you can, and have to be a spectator to the rest.

Perplexed_Pineapple

notjustlaura wrote: »

Do you not still have to pay the license fee to use iplayer? If you don't then that's certainly something I should think about as I so rarely watch 'live' TV. I have Netflix and the various apps from the TV companies and use those.

Only if you watch TV live (as it is being broadcast). You can watch as much as you like unlicensed so long as it is an hour or two late. I have done this a few times now and apart from a few threatening letters no major hassle.

alltrustgone

Re availability of the All-American pressure canners. Back in April I came across a UK company that was early in the process of setting up to stock them here. They are not there yet - European regulation compliance and CE approval hurdles currently being jumped over. No actual price yet, although the ballpark figure they gave sounded competitive to me, and it certainly reduces the postage cost and potential import charges of getting one from the States. I'll update when more news if anyone is interested.

ATG

pineapple

notjustlaura wrote: »

Do you not still have to pay the license fee to use iplayer? If you don't then that's certainly something I should think about as I so rarely watch 'live' TV. I have Netflix and the various apps from the TV companies and use those.

The rule is that you need a LICENCE only if you actually watch or record live tv as it is broadcast. So it is immaterial whether your lounge looks like a branch of
Currys, whether you have iplayer (which of course you might just use for catch up), or even if your home is festooned with satellite dishes

ragz_2

kat360 wrote: »

!!!!!!, I hadn't thought of that! I guess it shows that I'm new to all this Any ideas? Its in a out building which stays quite cool.

My hubby is in the process of rigging up a generator outfit involving his stationary engines and a generator he picked up cheap - well, he says that's the reason, I think he just likes playing with them, but if it means I can keep the £100s worth of meat safe then I will let him. They are in the garage and can be run with the door open.

This of course, will be no use at all if the SHTF involving oil/fuel supply (increasingly likely?)... but I am nervous of storing large amounts of it...

pineapple

More in the news about the problems of the Co-op Bank.
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/aug/29/co-operative-bank-loses-709m
That said, they did say on the news today it was bondholders etc that would take a hit - not ordinary savers.
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/aug/29/co-operative-bank-loses-709m
One to watch, anyway. Though I hope they get back on an even keel. The Coop Bank has been touted for a while as one of the more ethical operations.