Preparedness for when

Possession

prepareathome wrote: »

If it had been bigger I don't know what I would have done as trees fallen outside made it dangerous to go out even if house was falling down, most likely took kids and put them under the stairs.

PAH in an earthquake you should get under a table or something like that which will protect you from falling debris but not make you trapped. If possible you should prop open your front door. it's highly unlikely there would be a strong enough earthquake to worry about in this country though. When I was living in Japan, for a period on the Izu Peninsula there were multiple earthquakes every single day. The pupils in school spent more time under their desks than sitting at them. You are told to be prepared there as well, to have an emergency bag, since earthquakes are a fact of life.

Molly my son really wanted to watch that programme but I had to get him to bed - given the time was it suitable for a 10 yr old? If so he can watch it on iPlayer.

[Deleted User]

We had an earthquake when we lived in Germany, there is a fault line right down the Rhine Valley and we lived about 10k away. Woken up at about 3 in the morning by the most amazing grinding, groaning noise and then the whole house bounced around for about 2 minutes. Trying to stay upright was impossible as not only was the house going up and down, but side to side at the same time. Trying to put a hand out to steady yourself was not on as the furniture was doing its own dance too. Then it all stopped as suddenly as it had started and all I could hear was Dogs howling and barking like mad. They had quite a lot of damage in Cologne and Koblentz about 50 k away but all we had on very,very careful examination was 1 bamboo cane fallen over in the garden. Very scary, Cheers Lyn x.

D&DD

Sorry Mar meant to come back last night about the dehydrating and got waylaid as per usual
On some sites they use a net bag hung up with trays in it,I've seen toy bags similar in the £ shop,they are like a pop up sort of tube made of net wonder if you could adapt one of those??

You really just need somewhere warm and airy,air circulation helps to dry the stuff out as well as the heat.

Molly that programme sounds good wonder if its on Iplayer?

If anyone watched doomsday preppers last week and was disappointed, do stick with it (maybe sky+ and whizz through the daft bits) the first one they had on was not one of the better ones,there are however some really good tips on the series especially on food storage and first aid kits

GreyQueen

I've read that you can use a car parked in hot sun as a dehydrator by putting the stuff on trays and leaving a window ajar.

This, of course, makes several suppositions; that you have a car, that you have the sun, and that it's safe enough to leave it with a window ajar.:rotfl:

Just thought I'd mention it in case it came in handy for someone.

Those velux windows sound excellent btw.

2tonsils

This may be a silly question but what do you do with the dehydrated food when you want to eat it? Do you have to soak it overnight before use or do you just bung it in a stew or something? I am allergic to the sulfides they use to preserve dried fruit but this means I could make my own without them. The idea of using the nylon bag for toys is bl***dy brilliant!!! They even sell them in Greece and I could hang it on the line outside in the hot sun..........I will love you forever for giving me that idea!!!

GreyQueen

2tonsils wrote: »

This may be a silly question but what do you do with the dehydrated food when you want to eat it? Do you have to soak it overnight before use or do you just bung it in a stew or something? I am allergic to the sulfides they use to preserve dried fruit but this means I could make my own without them. The idea of using the nylon bag for toys is bl***dy brilliant!!! They even sell them in Greece and I could hang it on the line outside in the hot sun..........I will love you forever for giving me that idea!!!

I think the idea is that dehydrated veggies get chucked straight into whatever it is that you are cooking (obviously they will plump up from the moisture in the dish, so you'd have to tweak that) and that you eat the fruits as they come as healthy snacks.

But I'm not an expert so I'm sure that someone will come along in a minute with some more detail.

fuddle

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

Morning MAR - did a bit of reading last night and in one of my books they recommend drying over the range, which in your case would be the boiler, on cheesecloth covered racks. Says for peas and beans pod, and spread out on paper in a sunny room to dry. Other books say for the airing cupboard way spread produce on muslin and use the top of the water tank or the nearest shelf above it and continue to dry until the produce is crisp. This will take several days and the door is left ajar. Leave the dried stuff to cool for 12 hours and store in paper bags, tins or jars but check then frequently to make sure they are not spoiling. One book says you can use residual heat from cooking in the oven after use and the veg/fruit on racks is left in with the oven door open a crack for a good hour at a time until crisp. It says you can do this over several days whenever you use the oven and the produce will come to no harm. Hope that's useful Cheers Lyn x.

This bit is really helpful to me, I shall be doing this. I am electric here with no nice stove to play with. I have tried dehydrating in the halogen oven but the cost associated with it are just not worth doing it that way. When I have my oven on for breadmaking batches or larger roast dinners I'll give it a whirl. Thank you x

2tonsils

Greece is a very active seismic area so the children are taught to go under a solid desk or stand in the doorway. It's no good running outside in a village or in the old town as you would get decimated by plant pots and flying roof tiles!

We had a 5.4 when I first came here and all the children I was teaching jumped under the desks and told me to get under mine. We were on the third floor and the whole room was swaying. Here in Corfu it feels more like a cradle rocking than the shaking you see on tv. We were once eating a nice meal at a seaside restaurant when my husband's chair and his side of the table rose in the air shortly before mine did. It was like a huge wave going under us.

The last time we had a strong tremor I was walking down a flight of steps in the garden carrying a bag of rubbish...the next minute the steps had gone from under me and I missed about six before my feet hit solid ground again.

We have to have earthquake insurance because of our mortgage. It costs 650 euros a year but covers us for a full rebuild to the original standards..which considering it was built in 1791 with marble steps, oak floors and a mahogany staircase it is going to cost a fair bit of dosh!

When we bought the house we asked the bank providing the mortgage if they would like to do a full survey of the property...they said no, if it didn't have major cracks or damage after all this time it wasn't going to get them now LOL

Just started sorting out some things to take to a car boot sale to sell on Sunday morning.
It struck me that I could buy prepping bits and pieces while I am there and not have to dip into my housekeeping allowance...good idea...it will challenge me to find them (torches,spirit stoves etc) and it will stop me buying rubbish as I am buying things we can actually use. I got a great trivet last year to use on the open fire. We use calor gas for the cooking so that will not run out as we have two spare bottles that are full.

born_blonde

I had a quick search for solar dehydrators and found this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJqZcTVk9UQ

As my husband is a fletcher we have longbows and a crossbow. The crossbow is a lot easier to shoot and we have lots of arrows and bolts! ( He makes them and then doesn't want to sell them).

I have a campsite so lots of land that we could grow on if need be but I hate growing so it will be a last resort. I know how to as I was raised on a market garden but just remember the hard slog and I don't like veg.

I'm moving a large metal cupboard into the garage and we are going to consolidated our stuff in there.

We have a rocket stove, a kelly kettle and a cob. So charcoal for the cob and lots of sticks. There will also be space for tinned and dried food as it should be mouse proof.

I don't think we will plan for an end of the world as we know it scenario but for disruption, civil unrest and shortages.

2tonsils

Fuddle , you just gave me a good idea! I could use the left over heat in my breadmaker to dehydrate food...it stays hot for hours after making bread in it. I will also use the left over heat in my counter top electric oven to dry apples etc in slices....great stuff...not only are you lot helping me prep but you keep giving me good ideas on how to use the stuff I have and not spend any extra!