Preparedness for when

[Deleted User]

I'd much rather have a planned descent of usage in all things rather than be part of a suddenly occuring crisis caused by shortages. I think cutting back and down on consumption and getting used to a less indulgent lifestyle would be a better way of easing us into an increasingly uncertain future. I don't intend to embrace a sackcloth and ashes way of living but there are many things I can put in place that will let us live well and thrive whilst being better for this sad and abused planet. A couple of vegetarian/vegan meals into the menu each week, not using plastic carrier bags by always having a cloth bag with me when I shop, refurbishing clothes/household items (dying jeans/mending rather than disposing of things),providing our own food where possible,making sure the house is as insulated as it's possible to be, always looking for items I need second hand at charity shops,boot fairs or on freecycle and offering surpluses I have at the same venues are just a very few of the ways we could all make a small difference. Lots of small differences add up to a big difference and we would all benefit in the long run. After all, it's really not a huge amount of time in the grand scale of things since our ancestors didn't even have electricity to make life easier and they survived and survived very well without all the posessions we seem to have accumulated didn't they?

Interestingly one of my neighbours came to see me last night and was asking about the dehydrator I had as a christmas present a couple of years ago and was asking how I used the dehydrated produce as she always has surpluses in the season and I've offered to dry down her extra tomatoes this autumn so she can see if it's worth investing in a small dehydrator of her own, she'd not come across it as a way of food preservation before so I'm of the opinion that Ghandi was right when he said 'Be the change you want to see in the world' and you can only lead from the front!!!

GreyQueen

Well said, Lyn.

I have a question to pose for you, and any other readers who may have relevent experience they'd be kind enough to share.

I have a large broad bean patch on my allotment. My autumn-sown beans are the talk of our part of the site (5.5 feet tall!) and are already in-pod and I should be ready to start picking them in about a week or so.

I'm very much looking forward to eating them but will have an excess. I normally freeze a glut quite happily but this will be too many and they will be followed by the spring-sown broad-beans in few more weeks.

I want to dry them for storage in jars but haven't got a dehydrator and can't really justify the expense. Obviously, people have been dehydrating for millenia before these machines were invented, so it's do-able.

Can anyone offer tips? I have a small very warm home with an airing cupboard, a gas oven and two of those mesh-thingies you can put on oven shelves for £1 but could get some more if necessary.

Also, has anyone put beans into storage by other methods such as salting?

All inputs gratefully received. TIA.

[Deleted User]

GQ we grow borlotti beans every year to dry off and store for winter use. We let them develop and dry on the hulme and then harvest the whole plant and hang them up until the outer cases are papery. Then I pod the whole lot and they get put on a large tray on top of the boiler for a few weeks, I stir them and turn them every day and when I'm sure they are all shrunken, shiny and as dry as they're going to get I do a one bean at a time inspection and take out anything that has the potential to spoil the crop and pop the rest into sealed glass jars which are put into a dark corner on a shelf in the store room. They keep perfectly well and rehydrate perfectly. Broad beans will be exactly the same but might take longer in the initial stage in the pod as they're bigger with more moisture in the seed. You'd be able to make Ful Medames (FULL MADAMS in this house!) for breakfast then, Lyn xxx.

If you have runner beans that get missed and grow to hairy hoary dimensions you can leave them to mature and dry on the vines too, use the same drying technique and they're fine in savoury dishes in the winter too, nice in chillis, waste not want not being our motto!!!

jk0

GreyQueen wrote: »

jk0, one thing we were aware of at the CAB was that there are certain companies dedicated to lending mortgage money to the vulnerable to buy their council homes with no intention that the mortgages be paid off.

They lend the money to people who live on benefits, in some cases persons who are so very obviously learning-disabled that they are completely illiterate and innumerate, people who live on income support or similar and who never have, and probably never will be, able to hold a job. With the intention that they will quickly default on their mortage which will cause the lender to gain a property which then sells on for a lot more than the discounted rate that the tenant purchased it for under Right to Buy.

:mad: On a par with taking sweeties from a baby, yes?

One of the worst perpetrators shared its name with an upmarket London borough. When we saw their name in play on a debt case we knew the client was in grave trouble because they'd never negotiate and would always move to repo asap.

These despicable companies leaflet door-to-door in social housing neighbourhoods to entice people to move away from the security of social tenancies into the market, so they can be fleeced. I've talked to one person through my work who was about to buy their house using their DLA - because the lender was happy to lend on the strength of that benefit income. The tenant didn't know that DLA was on its way out, that its replacement would be harder to get and less money overall. I'd bet my last tin of corned beef that the wannabee lender knew it.

It's not at all uncommon for former-tenants who RTB to be back at the council as homelessness cases in less than a year. And sometimes there is no 'duty of care' beyond basic advice. I often see repo-advisory letters to us from mortgage lenders.

I think by merely reading this kind of site and this kind of thread, we're a self-selected bunch who are liable to question authority, including banks. Just because someone is willing to lend you money, it doesn't mean that it's your best interests to take it. We need to hold the banks in contempt and treat them with civil suspicion at all times.

If you ever wonder how far you should trust a bank or an insurance company, ask yourself the rhetorical question; how far can I spit a rat?

Crikey GQ, that's shocking. I wonder if the CAB/council could maybe report such predatory lending to the Financial Conduct Authority, or have they already tried?

GreyQueen

CAB is a campaigning organisation as well and a big part of what it does is campaigning and even going to law. If you ever get a chance to put some money in a CAB collection tin, please do so, for the good of society.

A debt advisor with our CAB went balls-to-the-wall on behalf of a couple of extremely learning-disabled people. I'm talking people with the mental ages of pre-school children, btw, who'd been enticed into multiple debts by multiple organisations. And it was very obvious to anyone who encountered these people even briefly that they were not mentally-competant to sign contracts, any more than a toddler would be.

It got ugly. Very ugly. The outcome was a threat to go massively public with this in national media if the debts weren't written off. Hardball; the creditors wrote off the debts in full.

There's stuff going on out there that decent people would find hard to believe; I swim with da sharks, at times.

VJsmum

But, surely, under contract law, these can't be valid contracts as one of the key ingredients in contract formation is " capacity"?

I guess you still need someone to recognise what's going on and fight your corner for you?

Possession

That is absolutely awful about the dodgy financial contracts, though depressingly unsurprising.
GQ is there any possibility you could sell your glut to friends at work? Nothing better than fresh broad beans and (if I worked in an office) I'd be happy to buy some.

Frugalsod

Possession wrote: »

That is absolutely awful about the dodgy financial contracts, though depressingly unsurprising.
GQ is there any possibility you could sell your glut to friends at work? Nothing better than fresh broad beans and (if I worked in an office) I'd be happy to buy some.

I suspect that these sorts of deals are typical of the fraud that goes on relentlessly in the City. If they were to clamp down on these sorts of practices I wonder how much the public would benefit. When you think about those fraudulent "advisory" websites that copy government websites and get "a fee" for facilitating a passport, fishing license etc and yet the government does nothing to stop this practice. Fraud is clearly tolerated and not even worthy of government intervention.

thriftwizard

I'm sure the predators operate in the private housing market too, thinking of our poor friends whose mortgage loan now amounts to more than 10X what he earns; she's unable to work reliably for health reasons, which were already apparent when they took the mortgage out. They have spent more than 10 years battling to keep their heads above water, but every crisis, personal or national, sinks them that little bit deeper & the loan just keeps getting bigger. The bank won't lose out; the property is a delightful ToC house with a pretty garden which they have cared for & done up beautifully, in a pleasant area close to plenty of jobs in the finance sector. But they've spent 10 years of miserable grind & are in imminent danger of losing everything they've struggled so hard for.

Fraud is clearly tolerated and not even worthy of government intervention.

Can't help thinking sometimes that the whole d*mn government thing IS a fraud... the biggest one every perpetrated!

Memory_Girl

Sneaks into room and checks out Greenbee isn't around - cos I am in the middle of editing a huge file that she needs tonight!!;)

Lookie - a new toy!!!! I mentioned last week that combining the Thermal Cooking Bag with a rocket stove was a way of future proofing our food and a family that is emigrating sent me theirs in exchange for a Tutorial and the new Recipe book.



I WANNA PLAY!!!

But I shall be a good girl and keep working till school run time instead

Anyone ever played with a rocket stove before?

MG