Preparedness for when

Butterfly_Brain

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

I'm going all experimental today, the elderflowers are in full bloom down here and I wanted to pick some fully open ones to make elderflower fritters for breakfast for a couple of days. They smell so delicious it got me wondering how else I could use them? I've made some elderflower and lime honey - pulled the flowers off a good sized head and zested a whole lime and mixed it in with some honey that is beginning to need using us as it's been open for a while. This led me to wonder what else I could do and I'm going to get some lavender from my brothers bushes and do lavender and lemon honey and the roses are particularly good here this year and my neighbour has a beautiful yellow climber that comes over my fence and tumbles down outside the lounge window so rose and orange will be made too. I'm going to leave them a full month to infuse the flavours before I try them but it occured to me that in a SHTF situation, if we still had bees, we'd still be able to harvest honey and if these experiments work it will be the 'treats' to lift us at festival times and a real morale booster too,let along bartering value, we'll see, they might be horrid!!! Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I'll be reporting back!!!

Elderflower cordial
Elderflower champagne
Elderflower Sugar for baking
Elderflower Cup cakes using elderflower sugar
Elderflower Jelly
Elderflower and strawberry or raspberry jam


Elderflower salad dressing
50ml/2fl oz elderflower cordial
50ml/2fl oz cider vinegar
100ml/4fl oz oil
salt to taste


Just put in a jar and shake well


Frozen elderflower posset by Mary Berry
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/frozen_elderflower_07251


Key Lime and elderflower pie
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/key_lime_and_elderflower_59661

White grapefruit and elderflower marmalade

http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-white-grapefruit-and-elderflower-marmalade-recipes-from-the-kitchn-198960


Apple and elderflower cobbler
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/appleandelderflowerc_85238


Elderflower and honey ice cream
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/appleandelderflowerc_85238

Gooseberry and elderflower jam
http://www.milomade.co.uk/blog/2010/06/how-to-make-gooseberry-elderflower-jam/

Elderflower Panacottahttp://britishfood.about.com/od/eorecipes/r/ElderflowerPannacotta.htm

Elderflower cured trout
http://honestcooking.com/scandinavian-twist-elderflower-cured-trout/

Gooseberry creams with elderflower

http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/cuisine/european/english/english-gooseberry-creams-with-elderflower-and-gooseberry-compote.html

http://www.redonline.co.uk/food/recipes/rhubarb-and-elderflower-flans

http://www.herbsociety.org.uk/kh-hedgerow-to-kitchen-elderflower.htm

http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes/519946/elderflower-and-lemon-drizzle-cake

http://fussfreeflavours.com/2012/03/recipe-elderflower-marshmallows/

http://thingswemake.co.uk/2013/06/29/orange-elderflower-liqueur/

Elderflowers can also be dried for use later on in the year

[Deleted User]

Thanks BB time to get the dehydrator out of hibernation methinks, I love the idea of drying them to use later, as tea too perhaps in the winter, oh clever,clever you!!!

womble_lancs

Hi folks, I'm a newbie to this thread, and it'll take me quite a while to go through the old messages, so forgive me if I post anything which has already been suggested.

I've been an 'idle' prepper for a few years and my biggest challenge is storage and organising where to put stuff. I think I need a bigger house/garage/shed, etc. As part of my 'what happens ITSHTF?' thoughts, I've also been trying to live a little more economically and sustainably; trying to re-use and recycle/upcycle rather than just chuck stuff away and buy new stuff, much to the annoyance of my other half, who thinks I have saved far too many butter tubs. You can never have too many tubs, IMO. Great for storage, freezing and stacking.

[Deleted User]

Hello WOMBLE welcome in to the thread, it sounds as though you're already well on the way to being a fully fledged prepper and we always like new friends to add to the mix. We all prep to some degree, some more than others and you never know when someone will come up with an idea ideal for your style of prepsredness. Glad to have you aboard, Lyn xxx.

nuatha

womble_lancs wrote: »

Hi folks, I'm a newbie to this thread, and it'll take me quite a while to go through the old messages, so forgive me if I post anything which has already been suggested.

Welcome to chaos
I can always use reminders of good ideas.

I've been an 'idle' prepper for a few years and my biggest challenge is storage and organising where to put stuff. I think I need a bigger house/garage/shed, etc. As part of my 'what happens ITSHTF?' thoughts, I've also been trying to live a little more economically and sustainably; trying to re-use and recycle/upcycle rather than just chuck stuff away and buy new stuff, much to the annoyance of my other half, who thinks I have saved far too many butter tubs. You can never have too many tubs, IMO. Great for storage, freezing and stacking.

Between us we have lofts with extra insulation (loo rolls) baths that have water hidden behind the panel (lots of dead space under a bath) bookcases hiding tins behind books, bookcases without any space for books, under the bed warehouses, sofas concealing stashes and probably a lot more that I can't remember.
If you have space it will fill. (A few posts back we even have guidance on the relative merits of tetra pack and tins for tomato storage, thank you GQ)


I was working away over the weekend and returned to find my tub storage has mysteriously emptied (Herself is currently denying everything).

Frugalsod

womble_lancs wrote: »

Hi folks, I'm a newbie to this thread, and it'll take me quite a while to go through the old messages, so forgive me if I post anything which has already been suggested.

It might not be a repeat, plus a new set of eyes on the problem never hurts. We might all suffer from our own blind spots. It is harder when something new is suggested.

I agree you never can have too many tubs. What to use them for is another matter.

GreyQueen

womble_lancs wrote: »

Hi folks, I'm a newbie to this thread, and it'll take me quite a while to go through the old messages, so forgive me if I post anything which has already been suggested.

I've been an 'idle' prepper for a few years and my biggest challenge is storage and organising where to put stuff. I think I need a bigger house/garage/shed, etc. As part of my 'what happens ITSHTF?' thoughts, I've also been trying to live a little more economically and sustainably; trying to re-use and recycle/upcycle rather than just chuck stuff away and buy new stuff, much to the annoyance of my other half, who thinks I have saved far too many butter tubs. You can never have too many tubs, IMO. Great for storage, freezing and stacking.

Welcome aboard, it's lovely to have you. We're all a work in progress, so anything is welcome as it may be just the thing that some other reader needs to see that day, their a-ha! moment.

And you're right, you can never have too many tubs.;)

As nuatha says, you'd be amazed at where you can stash preps if you want. My flat is 242 sq feet. And some of that is under the bath-tub and appliances. A regular household is full of little hidey-holes if you can get away from thinking that X has to be kept in Y place because.....?

F'rinstance, the backs of most sofas stand away from the wall at the base, so you can stand things behind there, like water carriers and bottled water. Things can go under things and behind things. Cupboards and sheds can have a sneaky shelf fitted above the door, which uses unseen and often wasted space. Furniture and attractive storage boxes can contain other things than clothes and knick-knacks.

The only limit is your imagination. You wouldn't see my preps if you wandered around my flat but you'd be gobsmacked at what's stashed here, should you start rummaging around.

I have been to work. Nothing particularly amusing has happened today in respect of floods, pestilence or plagues of locusts. I haven't even got any locusts in the flat atm, just the dead mozzie I smacked upside the head before breakfast time.

Righty, my tea calls me....

fuddle

Welcome womble.

I saw a gent pull up by the side of the road to forage elderflower today Lyn. It made me smile. I will be heading over to there tomorrow when DH gets in (torrential downpours at the moment) as I wont want to be taking the girls in the car. Elderflower cordial for this household.

I suspect our household has an attack of the creature kind... ants! I see one pretty constantly (which tells me it's not one!) so I expect I will need to treat that problem. Any ideas of the OS kind without having to purchase specialist chemical gubbings?

[Deleted User]

Go get those elderflowers FUDDLE!!!

I'm having a thought, sometimes a good idea and sometimes not when it's me!!! I'm thinking that prepping for a SHTF happening and the duration is one set of preps, prepping for the aftermath of a SHTF happening for an unknown period of time is another set of preps but prepping for after that when presumably society will have changed is something else altogether isn't it? I've sat looking through my recipe books and become aware that many of the ingredients for many of the dishes we're accustomed to having on a regular basis will become unavailable as they aren't likely to be grown here in the UK in our climate very successfully even basics like rice and lentils which are a bit of a mainstay will never grow here will they? What I'm going to research is recipes using things that will grow here, old fashioned dishes like pease pudding where I know I'll be able to grow or buy all the things I need to make it. Basic homely peasant fare made from obtainable ingredients possibly without much meat or cheese that will stop us feeling hungry if we have bad winters, our forebears must have had dishes like this, pottage springing most readily to mind. All and any ideas, recipes, thoughts will be most appreciated and useful to everyone here, for when the tins and manufactured processed foods are no longer available, Lyn xxx.

mardatha

Scotch broth, porridge, rabbit stew (with dumplings), game pie, cranachan, jam rolypoly, eve's pudding, apple crumble, flapjacks