Preparedness for when

ALIBOBSY

Managed to get out in the garden for a short while today, then did some baking with the kids. But think I may have done a little too much as feel rough again now.

Still onwards and upwards. This illness, first flu like symtoms then a bad cough/chest has been horrible and really knocked me back for the last 3 weeks. A few other people have said they have also had the same, so guess its doing the rounds. So if you start with it I would say get down to the doctors as we both really needed the antibiotics.

As soon as I am 100% will be getting my flu shot-got my letter for my free shot just after I started with this.

Finally got some butternut squashes this year, a bit small, but still 6 of them when in the past never actually got a squash just lots of flowers.

Had a chuckle over on the debate the economy boards where there are still people who think the country will start to grow again and things will go back to the "normal". Still people saying people need to get on their bikes and travel to the work and how the taxpayer can't keep supporting those on benefits (no doubt whilst the poster is sat claiming state pension and feeling smug about all their savings stashed away).

Seen a thread where pretty much all but one or two dismissed the idea that the EU, IMF or any country would dare do a cash grab on savings lol.

I guess they would laugh at us as being doomsayers and extreme lol.

Ali x

daftmummy

Well slight change of plan I thought I would sharexx Been so long since we had a take away I went to get it and order it ( saves the delivery charge due to not meeting the £16 min order ) It had shut down ages ago! popped into mr t and got a finest stir fry mix was £3!!!!!!!! :eek::eek: yes £3! reduced to 80p and mixed with a 50p mix I had in stock added some noodles and I loved it but kids and dh hated it!!! dh went for a bag of chips and they shared them oh well saved money.

oh well guess I don't have the finger on the pulse regarding whats happening. We moved a few years on the outskirts of a town but since we moved fields that were land banked have been built on. Shame people who brought them new builds don't know they built on farm land that used to flood in have rain. Gonna get worse due to the surface water that has no where to go and turned my lane into a flow stream few years back.

Dh was asking me what I want for my birthday I just said bubble bath! not posh stuff or bath bombs. I'm easily pleased and would be happy for some more bed socks or slipper socks! I don't see in getting stuff for the sake of it I'm going to be 38 but in my head I'm 24!:p

Wyre

So I am back from the Mother's place - I go every Saturday for dinner. She has been putting by candles, torches and the like after I mentioned it from the beginning of the year. She said that she picked up some tins and bits 'just in case', so you guys are rubbing off on someone that has never been here! You all rock!

Mum also gave me a demi-john for the flavoured vodka I am making my brothers for Christmas, which means I need to pick your brains. I guess it needs sterilising so does anyone have any tips or good methods please as I don't have a clue *hangs head in shame*. So much I need to learn!

DawnW

Wyre wrote: »

Mum also gave me a demi-john for the flavoured vodka I am making my brothers for Christmas, which means I need to pick your brains. I guess it needs sterilising so does anyone have any tips or good methods please as I don't have a clue *hangs head in shame*. So much I need to learn!

I shouldn't imagine it needs sterilising unless it is really filthy or has been used for something unhygienic :eek: as spirit itself can be used as a sterilising agent. I would just make sure it is spotlessly clean. I think we worry too much by and large about sterilising things. I never bother to sterilise jam jars for example - a turn in the dishwasher is all they get, and I never have any trouble with it not keeping or anything.

If you are really concerned about it, you could use the stuff used for sterilising wine bottles (from a wine making supplier) or even babies' bottles.

katep23

Milton tablets or similar generic sterilising tablets will be fine for sterilising the demi-john. Much cheaper than the sterilising stuff from home brew shops or departments, most supermarkets seem to be doing Milton tabs for £1 at the moment.

fuddle

I wonder about house prices and the talk of another boom there, especially surrounding the help to buy schemes. What are your opinions on this if you don't mind?

I've been looking at ikea's tall shelving units in the hope of fiting one in the new place. I plan to have rolling stocks - under the bed aka the warehouse, shelving unit aka organised retail unit and my kitchen cupboards will be what is in use.

I'm busy collecting recipes that use the same ingredients that I generally use in order to get a better variety of meals but without the extra outlay, enabling me to concentrate on bulk/offer grabbing what I use.

I've also decided on a SHTF box for the bed. Up until now I have the items but they're scattered and stored throughout the house. I'd much rather out my hands on it all in one place, including tinned stuffs.

I'm finding that its not only exciting moving but exciting planning and arranging a prepared and organised life.

Actually quite funny as DH asked me was I going to charity shop my trolley as I haven't used it since moving to here 10 months ago. No way! Living in a flat means she will be known as BOB again

Car box (winter but also mini BOB) for both cars, first aid kit checked and a list of what I need to assemble BOB again.

Preparing to prepare is all I can do at the moment but it feels good doing something.

[Deleted User]

That is the most sensible and clever idea I've heard in ages FUDDLE, ringing the changes with the same ingredients is about as OS and thrifty as it can get, and it's so do-able too, share what your recipes are with us? and perhaps we can all come up with regional variations using the same ingredients. It would certainly be useful in a SHTF situation and be a real morale booster if it went on for a considerable time, I remember one line from the Survivors programmes when asked what she'd like to eat Abby shouted back 'Not more Ham, Pilchards, Baked Beans, Corned Beef!!!' and if ringing the changes with the same ingredients saved us from that feeling it would be a great help, super idea, Lyn xxx.

GreyQueen

Morning all.

ALI, I guess that people like us, who have probably encountered and understood the idea that infiniate growth on a finite planet is physically impossible, are a minority in the general population.

We all have a strong normalcy bias. Things should be expected to continue as they are, but better, because that's normal, right? But it's not normal, its very much the exception to the wider sweep of history even in the industrial west. People who are wedded to the idea that standards of living move ever upwards in a steady curve haven't thought through what will happen when the oil which powers everything in our world runs out.

We're already headed that way, and running into EROEI - stands for "energy returned over energy invested". If it costs 2 barrels' worth of oil energy to extract 1 new barrel's worth from the ground, you can't do it; you expend more than you get in return. So, it stays where it formed.

All the low-hanging fruit has been harvested long ago, and we're heading into EROEI. Saudi Arabia is keeping schtumm about their oil resereves but they're believed to be very low. Ditto a lot of other places.

If you try to discuss this in certain quarters, you often get an airy Oh, They'll think of something. But the best brains in science have been trying to find that Something for over a century now and we haven't found it yet and there is no reason to believe the world-changing discovery is imminent, either.

Even if I stretch the outer limits of my probable lifespan, I won't see much past the mid-twenty first century. I think I'll live long enough to see some pretty major changes, though. I would expect that we will decline into something which looks a lot like the early-mid nineteenth century in terms of tech and everyday life, by the end of the present century. And that there will be a lot fewer of us than the current historical highs.

******
Just had a quick drive-by of a few threads on the Pure Money board for the first time ever and was rather amused by it all. I guess the eighties never ended for some people, hey? Still, when their bank accounts get Cyprussed, their pension funds looted and various other sharks swim out of the sea to take a bite out of their prosperity, they'll understand that they're plankton, economically speaking.

fuddle

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

That is the most sensible and clever idea I've heard in ages FUDDLE, ringing the changes with the same ingredients is about as OS and thrifty as it can get, and it's so do-able too, share what your recipes are with us? and perhaps we can all come up with regional variations using the same ingredients. It would certainly be useful in a SHTF situation and be a real morale booster if it went on for a considerable time, I remember one line from the Survivors programmes when asked what she'd like to eat Abby shouted back 'Not more Ham, Pilchards, Baked Beans, Corned Beef!!!' and if ringing the changes with the same ingredients saved us from that feeling it would be a great help, super idea, Lyn xxx.

No problem I'll share what I've got:

Store:
garlic
pasta
butter
onion
potato
veg/beef stock
olive oil
basil
plain/SR flour
worchestershire sauce
thyme
eggs
suet
bay leaves
tomato puree
milk
sugar

There's 'fresh' items in there as I have fresh staples as standard.

Fresh:
leek
bacon x 2
soft cheese
single cream
mushrooms
mince
yoghurt
casserole beef
300ml ale
carrots

leek, bacon and potato bake
leek and potato soup
bacon and leek cheesy pasta

to use up the soft cheese:

creamy mushroom and bacon pasta

to use up the mushrooms:

minced beef cobbler
steak and ale pie

to use up the left over casserole steak

beef casserole and dumplings

In order to keep the meat content and portion sizes down 7 variations of steamed pud

golden syrup
jam
chocolate (cocoa)
lemon curd
coffee
apple and cinnamon
ginger

- obviously adding ingredients to the store list

I'm looking to extend it with tinned tomato recipes and ones that get the flavour from spices like curries and chilli - I don't mind investing in spices because they go a long way.

Please add if you can, especially meat substitutes should we lose the freezer contents again. The more recipes that contain items I can store as opposed to buying fresh when needed will be a bonus.

GreyQueen

Have you ever tried TVP (textured vegetable protein) aka soya mince?

I admit I was a bit sceptical when it was suggested to me, but got a bag of it from a health-food shop. It worked out half the price of beef mince, the only kind I find palatable.

It can be used as normal mince and you'd find it hard to detect the difference but has the advantage of being a dry shelf-stable product. You just add boiling water for a few mins before use to reconsititute it.

I'm also switching the storecupboard over from tinned tomatoes to carton tomatoes; they are no dearer in Liddly and lighter and easier to store (being rectangular not round).