Preparedness for when

1Tonsil

We were discussing a normal type generator yesterday, but we realised that we don't have a lot of places to store fuel for one. If the power was off for long periods of time the petrol pumps at the garage would not be working either, so we have given up on the idea for now.

It turned cold here last night and felt like winter had arrived. I have put the quilt back on our bed as I was too chilled to sleep. Today has been hot and cold on and off all day. I am glad I got all my jumpers and jacket out of the storage. We got a sudden storm and an absolute deluge of rain and town flooded. Within half an hour it was hot and muggy again. You don't know where you are as to what to wear on any given day at the moment.

Restocked my shelves and cupboards today and the freezers are already full. I did notice the shelves were half empty today as the ferries have not been running properly due to the weather here and in Italy.

I will be busy tomorrow and Saturday as I am catering for a buffet for my friend's shop. I am pleased to hear that they have moved the function indoors due to the unstable weather we are due to get till at least Monday.

nuatha

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

I wouldn't have a clue where to start with curing etc.. we leave all that to the butcher in the slaughter house... I know all the bacon has gone, and a lot of the gammon joints we had done have gone..


Will just have to eat loads of pork...it is fab meat.. even though I say so myself, BUT.. you do need a break and eat some other meats too lol..


Think I will get a leg joint out of the freezer, they are huge... approx. 4.5 kgs its like a joint the flintstones would have on their table lol..

For future reference (as the current freezer stock is already processed):

When I was a kid, various relatives had slitches of bacon hanging in their kitchens. Ok, there was no central heating in those houses but there tended to be a hefty sized range that was constantly fired up. Bacon was a lot stronger cure then, I remember it being a lot saltier than modern pre packed stuff.
For a while I worked in a supermarket, one of the jobs was prepping bacon, pallets would arrive with sides of bacon, that's shoulder and gammon still attached (we'd also buy in middles). The main cut of bacon sold was middle, now sold separately as back and streaky.
The worst part of prepping sides was boning, in particular removing the ribs from middles. It was tedious, repetitive work and I remember sore hands from doing 50 sides in a day. It also needs a fairly large work surface.
Curing middles at home is feasible, even better start with a belly, its a manageable size, of relatively even thickness and even going for a traditional dry cure in a box should fit in a domestic fridge. (One modern shortcut for both dry and wetcures is to vacuum pack the meat and cure, which takes up less space in a fridge).


How long would you anticipate freezers being down? - I've sung the praises of igloo maxcold cool boxes before, coming to the end of the camping season, you may be able to pick them up cheap. I've had food stay frozen for 5 days without prechilling when I had a freezer failure.

The other area to investigate is charcuterie, parma hams (and their Spanish equivalent) are dry cured and stored at ambient temperatures as are the various salamis.

HTH

moneyistooshorttomention

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

I think part of my prepping from now on will be making sure that we always have in a supply of stored foods that can be consumed cold and without needing to be warmed or cooked in any way. Most likely oatcakes, crispbreads, spready things like peanut butter, jars of pate, jams I already make, and I'm going to get some cartons of various fruit juices and extra dried fruit and nuts and chocolate. I'm also going to top up on small cans of ham/pork loaf/luncheon meat type things that we can use up in one go thus not having to worry about the fridge being off. I'll also be getting in fair amounts of cuppasoups and cappuccino sachets and instant mash as we'll be able to use the kelly kettle for hot water if we need to. Uncertain times make for thinking don't they???

Re food = do.....keep it cold...keep it safe....for foods that can be prepared inconspicuously if TSTHF.
Yep...pate is one of the things I have in mind if inconspicuous eating is ever required. Don't forget to NOT toast bread...knowing that a version of S*ds Law would probably mean the wrong time would be just the time that the toaster was set too high and the bread burnt and that would be burnt toast smell hanging around for some hours.

I'll add to that list = canned tuna, canned sardines.

You don't know just who cant be trusted...if they notice your preps.

It's not that hard. My own regular breakfast of porridge and toast for instance could easily translate into granola and untoasted fresh bread for instance if need be.

Regular lunch of soup (with some grated cheese on) and more toast could translate into pre-blended (kept in fridge) smoothie and fresh bread with a chunk of cheese.

GreyQueen

fuddle wrote: »

Please could you remind me about the kelly kettle? What can it bring to me in terms of managing that a camping kettle can't. You know me for making do [STRIKE]being tight[/STRIKE] but if it will be a life safer than I would invest.

Hi fuddle, nice to see you posting.

The KK has a firepan undereath it to burn a variety of materials, natural found stuff like twigs and grass and pinecones, and human-made burnables like cardbaord and paper. This frees it from the need to stand on a stove or be attached to a gas bottle, which means that you aren't reliant on anything more than a supply of burnables and some water.

The downside is that it is going to be shooting flames up inside its volcano chimney and producing smoke, so this limits its useability to outdoors or semi-outdoors, such as a semi-sheltered but well-ventilated area.

So, it's spend more up front, but own something which doesn't require the inputs of an industrial society to work, in the knowledge that you won't be using it indoors.

Or spend less on some kind of stove which will be tied to some kind of fuel cannister, which will run out and is the product of an industrial society and retail distribution system, both of which may be down for a time, or even permanantly. HTH.

fuddle

Excellent thank you GQ

I do have a camping stove and gas canisters so have always poo poo'd the idea of getting something else when I have the kit to do the job fine. I remember debating the such like on here a few month back. I think this is getting a tad serious for my liking and would really like to have something like the KK so I can be safe in the knowledge that I can have hot water for edible means usig whatever I can grab with my hands. I will investigate and talk it over with DH tonight.

Any chance you can tell me how to make the pinecone firelighters again?

Frugalsod

nuatha wrote: »

"The epitome of unlimited, portable backup power for complete peace of mind...
Ideal for: Laptop, Mini Fridge, TV, Backup, Emergency, Lights"

I'm afraid it wouldn't come close to being able to power a freezer.
And 160 hours charging to power a laptop for 20 hours is probably less useful than you would like.

I think if you have a freezer that is kept shut for several weeks it might scrap through. Don't forget that if you have a high rated freezer and do not open it at all, it might be enough to get you through a series of power cuts. If you have intermittent power then they could also cool down during any return of power but much more quickly, because they are cooler to start with. Freezers work in bursts. If I leave my freezer alone the power needed is considerably less than normal. During the power cuts during the three day week it became normal to leave the fridge closed as much as possible and avoided opening it at all if possible.

GreyQueen

fuddle wrote: »

Excellent thank you GQ

I do have a camping stove and gas canisters so have always poo poo'd the idea of getting something else when I have the kit to do the job fine. I remember debating the such like on here a few month back. I think this is getting a tad serious for my liking and would really like to have something like the KK so I can be safe in the knowledge that I can have hot water for edible means usig whatever I can grab with my hands. I will investigate and talk it over with DH tonight.

Any chance you can tell me how to make the pinecone firelighters again?

:cool: Well, as it's you asking, and I do have to wait for my first-ever attempt at fishcakes from scratch (FQ's recipe from her blog) to cook.

Gather them and lie them on newspaper indoors/ in-shed and allow to dry out for several days until they have fully opened. Use neat or partially dip into some leftover melted scraps of candlewax. Allow to dry and store in a dry place. I have a large carrier bag of them handing up in the bike shed ready for KK-related emergencies. There are a lot of silver birch growing around here and MrsLW reckons their twigs are the best fuel for KKs. I may well gather some of them up this autumn and store handily in little bundles.

I mean, the power may be off but a wumman still requires her morning cuppa, does she not?

[Deleted User]

FUDDLE have PMd you re kelly kettles but GQ has said it all, and in far less words, All Hail GQ!!! You need some scrunched up newspaper, only very little to get the kelly kettle going and you have to make sure the ventilation hole is facing into the wind as that helps the fuel to catch and burn. I use silver birch twigs as they get really nice and dry and I've got a whole row of big trees just over my fence in the neighbours garden that give me lots of twigs regularly but really ANY dry twiggy material will burn in them, so wherever you are, you'll find something that will fuel it. Pine cones dried as GQ says and dripped with melted candle/tealight scraps will burn very easily and if you ever buy Edam cheese its red wax coat will melt down and drizzle over them just as well and do the same job, Lyn xxx.

nuatha

Frugalsod wrote: »

I think if you have a freezer that is kept shut for several weeks it might scrap through. Don't forget that if you have a high rated freezer and do not open it at all, it might be enough to get you through a series of power cuts. If you have intermittent power then they could also cool down during any return of power but much more quickly, because they are cooler to start with. Freezers work in bursts. If I leave my freezer alone the power needed is considerably less than normal. During the power cuts during the three day week it became normal to leave the fridge closed as much as possible and avoided opening it at all if possible.

A good efficient chest freezer (the figures are from a hotpoint that offered the best figures I could find fairly quickly).
The start surge of the compressor motor is likely to be 8-10amps (can be 12A) which defeats most small generators. The standard power cycle is 80% off on an efficient freezer - this depends on ambient temperatures, how well ventilated the freezer is etc, which gives a power consumption of 100W per hour, ie double the power consumed by the laptop example quoted on the website you linked.
So the power pack would give 10 hours of use for 80-160 hours of solar charging. The hotpoint I drew figures for claims 81 hours of non powered storage.
Effectively you'd spend £1300 plus solar panels for an extra 10 hours, around the 70 hours mark I'd transfer into Igloos which would give me an extra 120+ hours and cost considerably less. (Currently 48L around £60 or 150L at around £150, and should be a lot cheaper second hand).

If you want to solar power a freezer, start with a 12V commercial freezer compressor (One option is from a scrapped freezer van) Its possible to build walk-in freezers using insulated panels, building a chest freezer from the same materials is only problematic in counter balancing the hinges for the lid. 200-250W of solar panels should yield enough power to charge batteries to keep the system running. Add around 450AH of leisure or marine batteries (more would be better but this is already the most expensive part of the build)
(This paragraph's figures are from notes I made designing such a rig a few years back - it was far cheaper to install a serious genny and diesel tank at the time)

[Deleted User]

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

this isn't sounding good re-electric as we have our big chest freezer in work with all our pork in it... I have at least 2 pigs in there ( all jointed and vac packed etc)

So, I'm guessing a power cut would hamper you.