Preparedness for when

thriftwizard

We can't even keep poultry on our allotments! Not that that bothers me, we have a (just) big enough garden so that's where my birds & all of our "crops" reside. But although the plots are nice & close by - when I had one, I could hear the kids from it - the rules are pretty draconian & strictly adhered-to. They're to be double-dug & manured every year, and only used for the growing of "produce" - no fruit, no flowers, no black or woven plastic, no carpet - except by special arrangement. I did a straw-mulch one year & caused utter horror amongst the higher echelons; it was wildly successful in growing terms, but may well have contributed to me losing my plot in an "admin mix-up" 6 months later. Somehow, despite applying more than once, I seem to have failed to get back onto the waiting list!

Never mind, I have enough to occupy me here. Clearing up again for the arrival of this summer's crop of German students, arriving on Sunday; since DS2 and the TDiL have moved back in, complete with furniture, things are very cramped and I'm having to be very disciplined about keeping track of all my various preps. The last thing we'd need if, say, the river escaped in our direction (it never has, but that's not to say it never will) would be to find that my bottled water supplies had "drowned"...

Frugalsod

I would say that toilet paper would be valuable, especially after a few weeks of trouble. I am going to add soap bars to the shopping list. In the US Tide washing detergent is used by lots of people to pay for drugs and could easily be extended to other uses. I would have thought that flour, sugar and yeast could be valuable people will want bread and if they can make it then they will be happier.

Also while gold might be seized, ONLY if they can find it! Personally gold bars are generally too big for transactions unless you are selling drugs or works of art. Gold coins are good plus exempt from capital gains tax.

jk0

Frugalsod wrote: »

I would say that toilet paper would be valuable, especially after a few weeks of trouble.

There are so many jokes I could make there.

Frugalsod wrote: »

I am going to add soap bars to the shopping list.

Good idea. Cooltrikerchick will give you a good price for them.

Frugalsod wrote: »

Gold coins are good plus exempt from capital gains tax.

Only British legal tender ones. Sovereigns & Britannias yes, Krugerrands no.

GreyQueen

Lots of things have been used as barter goods, it really is only limited by the real needs (practical needs or comfort-needs) experienced by others at the time.

Some things are nearly immortal, such as bar soap, salt and sugar (subject to the containers for the second two listed being sound). Other things like flour have a limited life. Laundry detergents also lose their effectiveness after a couple of years' in storage. I've never had a problem with dried yeast in sachets lasting several years past its BB date.

One branch on the GQ family tree emigrated to a northern european city in the first decade of the twentieth century and was in the wrong place to get caught up in WW1 in occupied territory. When the German army was advancing in WW2, that individual legged it back to the UK but their adult married-father-of-two son didn't think it would be that bad, didn't shift in time, and couldn't get ship when they did. So spent an interesting war as bi-lingual Brits in whom the local gestapo took a lively interest. But, they did have tea, thanks the the Mrs' country cousins approrpiating several tea chests which had to be left behind by the retreating British army.

Dunno how flavoursome it was after 5 years, but they were bliddy glad to have it.

Salt would be a very very good thing to have, IMO, for preserving veggies. Easy and silly cheap now, may be hard to get later. I have a bit stashed away, and vinegar also.

One thing I am looking to do when replacing items for kitchen and allotment use, as and when needed, is to replace plastic items with metal ones, for longer-lasting and repairable qualities. Plastics will break and not be repairable, whereas metal will last and you can at least fix a lot of it yourself with minimal skill and equipment.

Frugalsod

GreyQueen wrote: »

Other things like flour have a limited life. Laundry detergents also lose their effectiveness after a couple of years' in storage.

True but since most disasters here will be relatively short lived then it will get you through a snowed in winter, as long as you have water as well.

For most of us any crisis will not be of a long duration. I doubt that a government will survive if there was a food crisis that lasted more than a year. If we have a volcanic eruption like 1783 then we will only have a couple of years to manage. Most events will be significantly shorter.

Though to have a couple of years dehydrated meals in stock is beyond most peoples budgets.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

not only would bars of soap be good for washing with, you can use to wash your clothes with, so I think a better stash of bars of soap would be good, rather than a huge stock pile of washing powder etc...

RAS

I think my list would include:

Salt - plain boring cooking not table - for pickles, chutneys and preserving, flavour, antiseptic use in kitchens and medical use

Vinegar - for marinades, pickles, chutneys and preserving and things like raspberry vinegar, herb vinegars.

Bleach - bog standard unthickened household - as water purifier, surface cleaner, antiseptic and burns treatment

Soap - cleaner of people, clothes and surfaces. First line of defence in hygiene. The Polish family regarded whole bars as too big to barter and sawed them into halves and quarters.

Dried yeast - bread and brews.

Honey - keeps well, good as a sweetener in pickles, preserves and chutneys and effective as an antiseptic for wounds.

Bicarbonate of soda. Another good hygiene product and surface cleaner as well as a good raising agent.

Dried herbs and spices - just because they make basic food taste so much better but a number are also useful for medicinal reasons.

Alcohol - basic vodka is probably best. Another antiseptic, and useful for extracting active ingredients from medicinal herbs. Also useful for those who have been poorly; stimulates appetite and can calm nausea.

All of those should keep well for two or more years and would make it easier to make use of produce that becomes available seasonally.

GreyQueen

I don't stockpile laundry detergent, beause as a singleton as it takes me a whole year to use one of those big cartons of F0rmil from Liddly - 8.5kg I think? I decant it into a lidded plastic tub as soon as I get it for two reasons; that the box is too big for the storage space I have available and that all other powdered products which need to be kept dry are decanted into 4 litre milk bottles for ease of pouring and protection against undersink leaks.

I book a lot of repairs and slow leaks under sinks are more common than catastropic ones which are immediately apparent. And can cause a fair bit of damage to your supplies, as well as the cupboard itself.

I always have a couple of spare bottles of w.u.p liquid under there which could be used for clothes laundry at a pinch, although you wouldn't want to put it into an automatic machine as too frothy. I'm guessing a crisis would probably be leccy-less, in which case it'd be handwashing only, and I have a modest amount of handwashing powder, too.

Have been busy this last hour re-establishing lauran order in my kitch, and making bread rolls, and moving a few items from the store to the present-use cupboard, checking I have the oldest items used up first. All in good order in there atm, that'll last all of 30 mins in my experience, and then only if I go out.:rotfl:

Am about to do some research about putting a solid tyre (GreenTyre) on my bicycle, which may involve a sojourn to a couple of nearby shops and a phone call or two, as well as online stuff. Anyone here used this product? I'm getting tired of punctures and am thinking long-term, if there's trouble, having puncture-proof bike tyres might be very beneficial.

Frugalsod

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

not only would bars of soap be good for washing with, you can use to wash your clothes with, so I think a better stash of bars of soap would be good, rather than a huge stock pile of washing powder etc...

My next order will contain cheap ordinary soap bars and coal tar bars when you need something stronger.

Longer term I think that people will be making their own detergents as they are significantly cheaper than the boxed versions. It is already popular with the green movement in the USA.

Frugalsod

I found this. An amusing version of government policy on Fracking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfRkKcCs_YU