Preparedness for when

pineapple

JayneC wrote: »

Must look into ghee as butter only last a couple of months really, although I'm sure you can can it - if only I had a canner.....

I buy butter when on offer and freeze it. There are various opinions on how long you can freeze it for but you are good for a few months and maybe up to a year.
http://frugalliving.about.com/od/foodsavings/f/How_Long_is_Butter_Good_For.htm
Some sources say unsalted keeps longer than salted.

maryb

Just saw this and had to smile

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/matt/

Hard_Up_Hester

Another good hiding place is around the bath as long as you can take the sides off, I had a friend who hid her quilting stash from her husband there.
Hester

[Deleted User]

JAYNEC thank you for worrying about us love, the inside I am planning to use is the integral garage which doesn't have a door into the house but is used more as a store room/work room for He Who Knows. It would just be to keep the majority of the firewood out of sight and leave just a little in the woodstore so it isn't obvious we have stashed away the rest. Food is another matter altogether. I saw on TV a few years ago when Russia was undergoing social changes a family who had moved to the edge of a forest and built thier own house with a big wooden wall around thier piece of land, the same as all thier neighbours. They bred ducks for the pot, chickens for the pot and eggs and hunted game in the forest. They also grew a few veg which they kept stored under the floorboards. We have the wherewithall to do that as we have not conventional floorboards but huge chunks of compressed fibreboard which are screwed to the joists, these will be liftable and the food can be stored (tinned only I feel) in suitably protective containers underneath and the boards screwed back in place. I'm not sure anyone would look as there won't be a trapdoor or entrance of any kind to give it's whereabouts away, Lyn xxx.

PP we don't run the central heating at all in the house, we use the boiler to heat the water tank for an hour twice a day, that's all. We have the woodstove which is in the lounge and we light that mid afternoon (slightly earlier on very cold days) and use extra layers and throws if we get cold earlier than the stove is lit. You do get used to running cooler, we don't actively heat the rest of the house, our bedroom is over the lounge and warms us from the heated room below. What we do with the radiators is leave them open and on and when the water is heated we get warm radiators through thermosyphoning in the bedrooms and bathroom. We try to be as active as possible in cold weather it's not good to just sit and do nothing. The kitchen doesn't even have a radiator or any other form of heating as it gets warm enough from the stove when I cook. It works for us but we've been living this way for quite a few years now and it's become our normal, Cheers Lyn xxx.

BessieBooBoo

Tink_04 wrote: »

Ok im wanting to prepare for power outages throughout winter as we had a few last year but have a newborn this year or having to leave our house in an emergancy - im slightly overwhelmed by this thread as i rememberd it as more of a safty net but reading a few pages its a bit too much for me (lots of expensive equiotment that i have no where to keep or really want) im looking for tips on a smaller scale really (or id never sleep) i already have a good store cupboard, warm clothes blankets, rches/candles, important documents all in a file easliy grabbed, steralisingg tablets, car bag, car always at least half full or petrol. What else can i do without preparing for the whole "blackout" situation? (yes i watched, yes i was terrified) but i dont have the money or space to do these large scale things. Any tips for people like me with two kids small budget and no space?

Hello to another newbie!

Please don't panic.

I know when I first read this thread, I felt quite worried about how prepared everyone was, and the sheer boggling range of things they were preparing for, some I had never even heard of.

Then, as I began storing a bit extra week by week, I felt better to have a little insurance against the 'small' disasters like job loss, etc.

If I go on a 'serious' prepper site, it's enough to give you palpitations, so avoid those for the time being, until you feel ready.

I have been surfing, reading, researching and asking questions on prepper sites and elsewhere, just to get some perspective on various scenarios, and below are my conclusions (only my opinion, do check these out yourself):

1. Statistically, the main disaster scenarios on a national or global level, e.g. nuclear war, pole shift, global pandemic, are far less likely to happen to us than local, 'smaller' events in the scale of things. I won't say never, but, just to get things in proportion.

2. Greatest statistical risks to the average person in the UK are ill health from genetic inheritance, poor diet or exercise (or a combination of all three) - e.g. heart disease, diabetes, etc. I looked at the NHS web-site where you can do a risk survey for health, and it can tailor results if you do their mini survey (based on location, gender, age). I always think about us eating healthily, on a budget, and I walk the dog minimum of 2 hours a day, walk to work, etc. You are your own best asset, so, you must look after yourself first, before you can look after other people.

3. The next, statistically, most risky thing sounds laughable: car driving. This is why we all like to have car kits, especially bad weather kits, as we've all seen those stranded motorists. Car accidents are so common, we don't seem to bat an eye over it, so do remember to include things like a car window glass hammer, seat belt cutter, as well as an EDC or BOB if you are a driver, but, don't get paranoid about it. Just being a sensible driver, being alert, adjust driving to conditions (how many people just don't do that?) and that should help reduce risks.

4. The next thing, statistically, are accidents either in the home or at work, so I duly attend all the H & S stuff at work, know where fire exits etc. are; and have a home plan discussed with OH so we know what to do 'just in case', and have a fire extinguisher (& know how and when to use it), a fire blanket in the kitchen, keys to window locks, and doors, in easily accessible, easy to find places, & remember.

5. Unemployment - another, most likely event, given the state of the economy, and the personal struggle I have had to find another job after redundancy. This includes buying extra food weekly (even if it's only one extra tin of beans, or bag of porridge oats, or tinned fruit); and saving a bit better to tide us over bill paying.

After that, you can expand your prepping as you want to or can afford to - both skills and goods, no need to buy expensive kit e.g. making a rocket stove from easy to obtain materials - you can see you tube clips on-line for all these sorts of things.

Most people, including myself, tend to steer towards storage of water and food first, as it's the easiest for most of us, whereas obtaining skills is more time expensive (and expense of attending classes, etc.).

What you do, how you prep, is up to each individual - whether you have children, older parents to support, your own health, income, location, so much is dependant on these for you to develop your own priorities. You can browse government sites too, and see their priorities, for instance, in the UK, the gov seem to prioritise the following in order of risk (to their own governance abilities?): epidemic, flooding, weather extremes.

HTH

BBB

GreyQueen

Morning all.

PP, you can use an uncooked spaghetti thingy as a taper if you need to do something a bit awkward, such as light a candle down inside a tall container, f'rinstance.

You can also use potato-based snack foods as tinder. I'd rather eat them, personally, but they're dry and oil saturated and very flammable.

I recall reading a Sunday supplement article about John Pawson, an architect famed for his sparse design and personal minimalist home. He had a white walled home, but what appeared to be one wall was floor-to-ceiling narrow shelved cupboards, which were so beautifully fitted that they were invisible.

They had no handles, just catches which responded when the door was pushed in the right place. And nothing to indicate where that place was. Everything not in immediate use lived behind these doors.

He was laughing about a time he and his family were away and were greeted on their return by a neighbour who was distraught; he told them they'd been burgled and EVERYTHING was taken.

When they went in, they discovered nothing much had been taken at all, as the thieves had only had the pick of what was left out, which wasn't much, and they'd never discovered the Wall-O-Cupboards.:rotfl:

Now this is obviously very high-end carpentry and finish, but I think that any of us, given a fair wind, ought to be able to finesse a little false backing into something.

Butterfly_Brain

pineapple wrote: »

I buy butter when on offer and freeze it. There are various opinions on how long you can freeze it for but you are good for a few months and maybe up to a year.
http://frugalliving.about.com/od/foodsavings/f/How_Long_is_Butter_Good_For.htm
Some sources say unsalted keeps longer than salted.

So do I, but what if the power goes out? Ghee has a shelf life of about a year in the cupboard

Butterfly_Brain

Today's challenge

You belong to a local Emergency Preparedness Group and were asked to teach a class on basic first aid and CPR. You must put together a packet of emergency information to provide as a handout, pack up emergency supplies to bring as a display, provide a recommendation for “home kits” and be prepared to demonstrate basic first aid skills.
Goal: Gain knowledge of basic first aid skills and CPR
Today’s Tasks:

• Print out instructions on basic first aid techniques (add them out
• Prepare an outline of your First Aid / CPR lesson plan
• Practice doing CPR on a doll (view video at this link)
• Practice wrapping up an injury using proper bandaging techniques
• Do an inventory of your medical supplies. Add items to your daily report card that you need to purchase (there is an awesome comprehensive list of suggestions found on this post Modern Survival Blog)
• Put together a sample first aid kit to bring to demonstrate, include a contents list to hand out with your recommendations for what the class members should store

That's easy for us, DH, DD and I all have had first aid training so we will probably give DS a few lessons, I am off to look at the link.

thriftwizard

GreyQueen wrote: »

...
I recall reading a Sunday supplement article about John Pawson, an architect famed for his sparse design and personal minimalist home. He had a white walled home, but what appeared to be one wall was floor-to-ceiling narrow shelved cupboards, which were so beautifully fitted that they were invisible.

They had no handles, just catches which responded when the door was pushed in the right place. And nothing to indicate where that place was. Everything not in immediate use lived behind these doors.

He was laughing about a time he and his family were away and were greeted on their return by a neighbour who was distraught; he told them they'd been burgled and EVERYTHING was taken.

When they went in, they discovered nothing much had been taken at all, as the thieves had only had the pick of what was left out, which wasn't much, and they'd never discovered the Wall-O-Cupboards.:rotfl:

Now this is obviously very high-end carpentry and finish, but I think that any of us, given a fair wind, ought to be able to finesse a little false backing into something.

A little less exclusive & more achievable, if less elegant: we have a couple of those ubiquitous IKEA Expedit shelving units. In our house, they're set against walls & used for storing fabric/paper/glue/craft tools & football programmes, kept in neat boxes that fit just about exactly into the holes. But they don't go all the way to the back... I can fit 12 standard tins behind each box, and there are 16 holes in each one. That'd be 192 tins per unit, times two in our case. OK, it wouldn't fool any determined searcher for very long, but - better than nothing, and a good answer to storing stuff in the everyday sense.

jk0

Perplexed_Pineapple wrote: »

I think 99% of the population is in denial. I've been working seriously on improving the energy efficiency of our set-up - more insulation, energy efficient lights, foil behind the radiators, that sort of thing. We'll see how it works but my aim is not to turn the heating on until at least November. At the weekend I invested in a cheap thermometer (pretty basic but we didn't have one) - am thinking about aiming to keep the temperature in the house above say 14C - thinking anything lower might be hazardous to health. Not sure about that though, what do others think?

PP, I don't know your age, but if you are over 60, I believe that temperatures that low put you at risk of hypothermia. Have a look at this booklet:

http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/winterhealth/Documents/KeepWarmKeepWell2012.pdf