Preparedness for when

thriftwizard

It's blowing a hoolie & raining sideways down here in well-sheltered South Central, it must be flaming' awful further north & west! Take great care, peeps.

Feeling a tiny bit smug today; all cards away on time, all major prezzies bought, and some are even wrapped & tagged! Much of the food shopping's done & if things go according to plan I'll hardly need to stir my stumps to the supermarket until mid-January.

But they never do go quite according to plan, do they…? So there are plenty of noodles, beans, rice, stock cubes, flour, etc. stashed away too.

ALIBOBSY

Howling with wind outside so happy to stay inside snuggged up warm.

The steroids are kicking in a bit so am slightly light headed and very shaky-makes for slow typing with alot of corrections lol.

OH got some frozen pizzas for tea and the kids pulled their chops as he bought thin crust nice pizza and they want cheapy deep pan with just ham and "nothing fancy" on. Crazy really as when we do homemade they put allsorts on their own lol. DS decided he didn't fancy pizza at all so OH bless him went out in the storm to pick up some more pizzas and a pasty for DS.

Noot sure if I should try lying down at all or just get set up to sleep upright down here on the couch. Is very comfy puffy leather and I am only short so quite comfy, just don't fancy doing the drag all the blankets out at 2 am again like last night.

Found a ne blog to read up, from another thread on MSE. Its called a year without supermarkets and basically the family are avoiding the supermarkets and othe large chains and trying to source everything locally. Am enjoying it as they are using lots of wartime recipes and making do/making your own. Very old style and frugal so may be up the street of you guys on here if you fancy. I especially enjoyed when they did the below the line challenge as well, £15 to feed 3 only shopping locally was interesting.

Hope ev1's roof stays put and doesn't leak in the storms to come. Our forcast looks like it will go quieter weather wise and be a pretty mild christmas week.

Ali

RAS

jk0 wrote: »

Didn't someone mention the risk of mice to packs of tomatoes some time back?

In view of that, I ate up my SHTF packet tomato supplies and replaced them with tins. I still buy the packets for day to day use.

Tetra packs and rodents are not a good combination; if ever the mices from Hirta get to the mainland, get your tetrapacks on high.

Little bleeders are quite capable of climbing down the handle of a plastic bag hung up and taking a few bites out of every pack.

We tried to evade them by using projecting stones as shelves high in our cooking cleit http://www.francisfrith.com/st-kilda/photos/cleits-hirta-1958_s250023/

and hanging the handles of bags over projecting stones. Little burgers got the lot.

In the end we had to corral the remnants in the upside down containers in sealed tubs to try and keep them off.

Less keen on foil-lined packs though.

jk0

RAS wrote: »

Tetra packs and rodents are not a good combination; if ever the mices from Hirta get to the mainland, get your tetrapacks on high.

Little bleeders are quite capable of climbing down the handle of a plastic bag hung up and taking a few bites out of every pack.

We tried to evade them by using projecting stones as shelves high in our cooking cleit http://www.francisfrith.com/st-kilda/photos/cleits-hirta-1958_s250023/

and hanging the handles of bags over projecting stones. Little burgers got the lot.

In the end we had to corral the remnants in the upside down containers in sealed tubs to try and keep them off.

Less keen on foil-lined packs though.

Thanks RAS. Regarding tins, there is a further mouse precaution needed:

You need to always wash the top of a tin before opening it, as mice pee constantly. There may be dry mouse urine on the top of a tin, and of course to open it, you drive a spiked object into the can.

the_cake

A bit eeeky here ...the wind is really howling, and horizontal rain is pouring through all the gaps in our old timber framed house! Got lots of old towels to soak it up, the curtains are out of the way now and I will run the dehumidifier tomorrow. No point doing more right now. Just hoping the electric fence stays up and on, with the two horses on the right side of it, otherwise they will be in the garden .. such as it is! Only got garlic growing at the moment. I'm amazed we still have the leccy, but am keeping my solar powered (and fully charged!) lantern close by. One of the two lanes out of our hamlet is already blocked by a fallen tree, so glad the larder is full. Stay safe everyone.

mardatha

Mad here too cake
Westcoastscot - are you ok or have you been washed away ??

bluebag

ALIBOBSY

I do the sleeping on the couch thing too when poorly as it allows me to sit up better than the bed, I find I nod off and then slip down the pillow mountain. I also keep DH awake.

I find it more comfortable on the couch and I also usually have the TV on some soothing wildlife documentary which helps me nod off when i am busting a gut with the coughing.

It'a a pain sometimes, but it's better to get settled and get some sleep to my mind.

GreyQueen

mardatha wrote: »

What I want to know is how GQ prepared and cooked her kill... recipe please!

I traded it with the instructor for 4 Ch*pa chops lollipops. There's not much flesh on a bauble and I'm a lazy cook at the best of times.

(((ALI))) sorry to hear that you're so poorly again and thank goodness the GP is on the ball. Hope the the medication soons improves and that you are more comfortable tonight than you were last night.

Hae been busy and just nipped out for a few mins to hand-deliver a card and wee pressie to a friend's porch. I knew she wouldn't be in so texted her to let her know that Santa had been early this year.

I'm pretty much sorted for Xmas but have Mum getting some comestibles for gifts on my behalf, as I won't be at theirs' until late on Xmas eve and the gifts will have to be delivered to family early Xmas morning. Will be a wrapping demon on Xmas eve. Everything is a little more complicated when you haven't got a car and have to blat around on coaches.

Still, beats the heck out of walking over there.

It's mild and there is a frisky wind but nothing alarming yet. I'm dahn sarf, but not on high ground and not near the sea, and we don't tend to extremes of weather hereabouts. Thank goodness for that.

Keep wrapped up warm. This talk of knitting has made me wonder if I should try to scrounge some yarn out of Mum's loft when I'm over there and run myself up another gumper. I'm not a particularly confident knitter but can run up simple things like a basic sweater or hat. Just detest following pattern and get fractious when it goes wrong.

Righty, teapot calls. And I've declarted my stovetop stainless steel kettle and it don't half look luvverly. Just got to do the stove top now - yuck.

parsonswife8

mardatha wrote: »

Mad here too cake
Westcoastscot - are you ok or have you been washed away ??

Take care Mar!

ALIBOBSY

bluebag wrote: »

ALIBOBSY

I do the sleeping on the couch thing too when poorly as it allows me to sit up better than the bed, I find I nod off and then slip down the pillow mountain. I also keep DH awake.

I find it more comfortable on the couch and I also usually have the TV on some soothing wildlife documentary which helps me nod off when i am busting a gut with the coughing.

It'a a pain sometimes, but it's better to get settled and get some sleep to my mind.

Basically last night the coughing and wheezing was waking me up and waking OH up so I gave up and came downstairs, was worried about waking the kids up so sat with the laptp reading.

I am thinking get set up tonight on the couch and watch tv till late to try to be really tired and drop off. Some how wher you are really tired you seem to be able to sleep though the coughs and splutters.

Better for all to at least get some sleep than toss and turn all night with none. Only trouble with the couch is the cats think you are a lovely comfy sleeping place lol.

Ali x