Preparedness for when

[Deleted User]

GreyQueen wrote: »

Anyone else want to play with this idea and say what they'd put in their ideal future house and why?

I think I'd install Kellie Nightlinger.

Purely from a survival point of view (shared body heat) you understand.

[Deleted User]

I'd have shutters fitted to the windows inside the window embrasures and then window quilts followed by thermal lined curtains inside that. I'd go with the pale walls and mirror sconces for candles too and if I couldn't get woolen rugs for the floor would use oldstyle rushes with sheepskin rugs at work stations to keep feet warm and also in front of seating for the same reason. I'd try for a sheepskin cover for the bed too either for on top of the matress or as an 'eiderdown' type final cover on top of the duvet/blankets. I'd love a root cellar outside for storing veg and preserves and I'd make sure there were small windows that faced each other on opposite sides of the house particularly upstairs to give ventilation and airflow in the hotter summer months. If I had the room outside I'd put in a natural pool possibly big enough to sit in on very hot days, but certainly big enough to sit with my feet in. I'd like to put a veranda with a covered roof on the shady side of the house too for summer evenings when it was humid and in an ideal world an upstairs balcony to catch any breeze on hot evenings. Of course to do this I would need many more resources than I have now, I can but dream!!!

[Deleted User]

Frugalsod wrote: »

There was one based on a solar still that could thrown behind a boat or raft and would float and desalinate sea water using the sun. It was on tomorrows world years ago.

I was thinking of something quick and easy to use, say something that works like a Sawyer Squeeze Filter.

jk0

D&DD wrote: »

The power has just gone off,you have a freezer (or two) stuffed to the brim so what would you do? Now it gets tricky,the power company have said no power will be restored for at least 72 hours so none of the usual leaving the door shut and wrapping with a duvet will work oh and its not snowing so no snow caves lol..

I have sacrificed the top drawer of my freezer to twenty ice packs. I worked out that the energy in these will keep my freezer below freezing for 24 hours, in addition to however long the manufacturers say it will last.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Thermos-Weekend-Ice-Pack-400g/dp/B0001MQ8GC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1400261121&sr=8-2&keywords=ice+pack

(It really feels like standing at the north pole when I open my freezer.)

Also, all the other shelves are as full as I can get them, so the water in the food should add a further 24 hours.

Further thought:

Do any of you guys' fridge freezers seem to suck the freezer door in extra tight after you've closed it? Presumably it wouldn't be able to do this in a power cut, so maybe worth plugging into a booster pack any time you need to open it.

Frugalsod

GreyQueen wrote: »

Very worrying story.

I feel that there is a massive amount of denial among TPTB about the energy crisis. Seems that none of them can see past the end of their own nose and realise we need to be planning for generations ahead, not just thinking about what they'll say to get through the next election.

Provincial County is heavily-infested with ex-London NIMBYs who'd like to imagine that they're living in some idealised version of 19th century village life. The don't want wind turbines, they don't want solar panels, they don't want anyone else to have these things. And don't even get me started on how they hate the idea of affordable housing - they particularly don't want poor people anywhere near them. Some of my rellies have the invidious possition of being the last working class family in a particularly desirable village and it's pretty uncomfortable for them, they way their neighbours treat them.

I think we will be getting real before many more years have passed. And real may well mean rolling blackouts as the grid tries to cope, and a run on woodburner stoves and dramatic inflation of the prices of all forms of energy including firewood.

I'd say if anyone reading this owns their own home and has a woodburner/ multi-fuel stove and additional insulation in mind eventually, to go for it now rather than later. If there's a run on such things, prices and availability may well become difficult and the grubbyment will probably be drafting a 'woodburner tax' as soon as they see the writing on the wall.

Righty, need to go offline to head out for the day. Tootle pip, GQ xx

I saw that story a few hours earlier when its headline was "UK's oil, coal and gas 'gone in five years'". When you hear the government claiming that fracking will give us independence for 40 years when it has serious problems sustaining production beyond a year, without serious amounts of drilling and energy use. Germany will be laughing in five years as they have so much solar that they can generate a sizeable slice of their needs from their roof tops, and add wind power and they will be able to cope much better. We on the other hand will be at the mercy of oil companies who will be selling their energy to China as they will still be able to afford it.

I have actually stood under a 75 m high 2 Mw wind turbine and yes while it was loud right underneath, the noise of the wind the further away you got from the wind turbine overwhelmed the sound of the turbine. Yet I wonder if we could afford wind turbines when the crisis strikes? I suspect we will be having to do a three day week to managed on the reduced generated power output?

It will hit the poor very hard when power prices shoot up and when they are still waiting for insulation because the government scrapped the green levies to appease a few voters.

Frugalsod

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

I was thinking of something quick and easy to use, say something that works like a Sawyer Squeeze Filter.

Problem is the salt. The molecules are so small that they can get through most filters. There are osmotic filters which are used on big cruise ships but they need lots of power. Though I think there are low energy versions that can be used but look for osmotic filtration systems.

mardatha

Oooh D3, that's a hard one!

[Deleted User]

Frugalsod wrote: »

Problem is the salt. The molecules are so small that they can get through most filters.

I understand the problem.

Such a device, if it existed, would be a major lifesaver (literally), for people adrift in a life raft.

I'd say the open sea, is probably the hardest place on earth, to survive.

Water as far as the eye can see, but not a drop to drink.

nuatha

D&#8517 wrote: »

The power has just gone off,you have a freezer (or two) stuffed to the brim so what would you do? Now it gets tricky,the power company have said no power will be restored for at least 72 hours so none of the usual leaving the door shut and wrapping with a duvet will work oh and its not snowing so no snow caves lol..

Tomorrow morning, I'd pack the freezer contents into the Igloo Maxcolds I have (currently sitting in the loft, with picnic and catering supplies in them).
On Tuesday, its decide whether to fire up the genny, annoy the hell out of my neighbours and me (it makes a racket) which would power the garage fridge and freezer, or cook off the freezer contents.
Raspberries, rhubarb and berries become jam, cauli and broccoli get a cheese sauce and become supper and the following days lunch. beef joints, get spit roasted on the BBQ, alongside the whole chicken, chicken fillets get grilled on the barby.
Keeping the cooked meats safe, means at least getting the fridge down to temp, so that's two hours with the genny, repeat every 12 hours.
I don't currently have a longer term method of ambient storage for meats. Replacing the dehydrator at the end of the month would give me the option of jerky. Pressure canning would open up other possibilities.

GreyQueen

Hmm, good scenario, DD&D.

My freezer is only a tabletop model, 50 litre capacity. It has a maximum safe operating temperature zone of 17 hours, minus power with the door closed, according to its destructions. Given the warmth of my home, I'd reduce that to about 15 hours. So, with a definate outage of 72 hours or more, I'm going to be looking at losing stuff.

Sooo.......I'd be looking at my list of contents and trying to mitigate the financial losses. There are some things in there like cheese which can unfreeze and re-freeze safely. There are some cooked things, like portions of homecooked meals, the odd bargain ready meal, bits of fish, homegrown beans and blackcurrants and some bargainous frozen rasps.

I'd do some hard thinking before I opened that door and would decide which of the protein in there would be best to cook and eat (I cook on gas with a battery ignition, plus have a butane stove). I'd get the most valuable and nutritious protein down my gullet.

I have far more beans than can easily be eaten, so would look at thawing those out, and spreading them out on the oven mesh, in a low oven, to see if they can be dried and then survive in that form. Not sure if this would work, but would give it a go. What's to lose, hey?

The fruit I'd take out and eat as much as possible when fresh, then get out a big pan and the sugar and have a go at jamming. Have a book to tell me how, and several spare jamjars. With the blackcurrants being so much smaller than the rasps, I'd be tempted to see if I could dry them off, particularly if there wasn't enough sugar to jam them and the other fruit.

I have some packs of YS sausages there, which I'd grill and hope to be able to keep for a few days in a zeer pot type contrivance.

I'd also offer the perishables before they perished to pals living nearby, but they might be away from home or might be awash with perishables of their own, who can know?

I'd do my best not to waste stuff, but I think I would lose some of it.