Preparedness for when

Karmacat

Frugalsod wrote: »

It takes about 90 minutes to 2 hours to get about a pint of water boiled. As the container is insulated you can use it in the winter as well. You just need bright sunlight. Cloudy days do get it warmer but not hot enough to boil. Since I then keep my coffee in an insulated mug it can take several hours to drink anyway. More than long enough till the next batch is ready.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SunRocket-Solar-Kettle-Camping-Thermos-Disaster-Preparation-Emergency-Kit-/161217900943?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item258955f18f

I have that exact model ... the water's never boiled for me! It does get hot enough for a bit of steam to be coming off it, when I pour it into the kettle to boil. But this supplier isn't on the approved distributor list from the original manufacturers - though they do quote the original website on their packaging - http://www.sunkettle.com/products

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I've had an email from my Californian friend (ie the one I was concerned about courtesy of looming water problems there) and.....with one bound she was out....She told me that things have just fallen into place remarkably, with all "ducks in a row" and everything working out perfectly and she's sold her place/bought another one elsewhere and is on the move very soon now. Positively envious of how fast American housebuying can move compared to our cumbersome set-up...

Well...that was my personal good news to start the day with.....as I've been sitting there steadily getting more and more concerned about the bottom likely to drop out of things (including their localised house market) any day now in California. So - yay!

That's excellent news about your friend, mtstm! I've been wondering, as I've been watching for news articles about water in general and drought in particular. There's a year of water left in the reservoirs, as far as I understand it, and everything else is unknown. Makes me very thankful to live in a temperate climate, even though we still have problems here.

nuatha wrote: »

It is possible to can in tin cans, I've no idea of whether its still feasible (as in the tubes and bases still being available) but even with my dislike of glass for storage I have an even greater dislike of botulism.
The only consumable is the rubber seals if you use glass topped Kilner style jars. If you use the metal lidded parfait style jars then the metal lids are single use only. I do have some Kilner jars that have seen over 50 years service.

Bleep, really? I have to get my head around all this I'm skimming my bad.

Nuatha - best wishes for your MiL from me too - to actually have *made* a bug out plan, and then be prepared to alter it, is a huge thing. Does she know you're preppers, does she understand what that means? Will you be able to make the alterations and add to the water stores as necessary? I know that last summer, when I heard about the potential for increased numbers of water mains breaking, I tried to get my mum to store a couple of 2 litre bottles of water - she often stores that amount fruit juice, for heaven's sakes! She wouldn't though, because she fills the kettle every night before she goes to bed, and thats enough :eek:

moneyistooshorttomention

EDIT: Deleted post I made earlier today - as Mrs L had duly deleted hers.

moneyistooshorttomention

:rotfl:Re the thought of ever being short of water here (ie in Wales). As someone said to me the other day "The Water Board was always on about possible standpipes/etc being introduced where I come from ....but I don't think they've EVER mentioned that here". Cue for mutual rueful laughter about the amount of rain we get here.

My take on is that "Not long before a bit more headed down from the skies if it came to it:cool:" - so just a question of collecting it and how best to sterilise it for drinking purposes.

sb44

Has anyone tried dehydrating steak mince?

I saw a few people on YouTube doing it, I think Americans call it hamburger rocks.

Anyway, I had a go using some of the 7% fat scottish steak mince that was on offer at Lidl a few weeks ago.

Seemed to turn out ok, not sure if I would bother making anymore due to the price of really lean steak mince.

dannie

Thanks moneyistooshorttomention,

I'll check those.

Frugalsod

jk0 wrote: »

Just been reading this on Zerohedge:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-06-20/meanwhile-greece-quietly-printing-billions-euros

It just occured to me that if the ECB wants its money back from Greece, all it has to do is declare the Greek Euros (Y-Suffix) worthless. Am I wrong?

While they might be worthless outside Greece they could still be legal tender within Greece. In fact if they are still being used within Greece it would make converting all the debts to the Drachma easier.

moneyistooshorttomention

Well I guess we all know whats what re Greece by the end of tomorrow by the look of it??

....and here in Britain, as we cant be sure of the backlash level here, then the last hefty cheque I'll be paying out until I have some more money should hopefully be wending its way through the banking system now. Well - I did say "I have the money - but put it through fast". I suspect it will get put through fast anyway - to help their cashflow situation.

So - how long does it take for a cheque to clear through the banking system from the day it gets put in and be absolutely definitely taken into the recipients' bank account please?

Frugalsod

ivyleaf wrote: »

No wonder you're happy with your investment I hadn't realised you had "all the extras" and was wondering how you could do all these things with just the bowl mixer

I have a food processor which came with a blender, and recently acquired a K£nwood Prospero stand mixer - we haven't room for a full-sized one, and my Dualit hand mixer became too heavy for me to use - it started to hurt my wrist as it was quite heavy, so it's been passed on to our daughter as it should be heavy-handed-husband-proof

Yes all the accessories have pushed the total budget up but I still reckon that it has paid for itself pretty quickly.

Things like bread are much cheaper, I can make a loaf for around 45p whereas a loaf in the supermarket is around £1.60, and in the farmers market or bakers is around £2.5 to £3. So the savings are big.

Pasta is about the same price as dried in the stores, but you get it for 40p as compared to £3 for fresh pasta in the stores. I would not consider buying it fresh so I consider that a lifestyle boost.

Things like the grated parmesan are dearer if pre-grated so by grating it yourself you save that difference and can store it for longer.

If you make smoothies then you can get a lot of additional use from the machine.

I have the ice-cream maker as well but need space in the freezer to use that. Though I suspect that the savings will be high if you can make your own rather than buy the expensive craft ice-creams.

Frugalsod

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Well I guess we all know whats what re Greece by the end of tomorrow by the look of it??

Possibly but we have heard such threats before. Though I had warned 1Tonsil to get her money out if the banking system months ago. Default was inevitable. The same could be true of all the European banks, which is why governments want to eliminate cash before they do collapse and people put two and two together. The reason for the cashless society is to allow the banks to recapitalise themselves with depositors money as they are bailed in, and to make bank runs impossible. The rich with offshore bank accounts will simply transfer their money ahead of them.

Defaults are likely in Ireland because they are still carrying too much debt.

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

....and here in Britain, as we cant be sure of the backlash level here, then the last hefty cheque I'll be paying out until I have some more money should hopefully be wending its way through the banking system now. Well - I did say "I have the money - but put it through fast". I suspect it will get put through fast anyway - to help their cashflow situation.

The UK banks have minimal direct exposure to Greek debt but I would not discount Barclays having a lot of exposure via derivatives and credit default swaps.

The UK government will be liable to emergency support but that could take months so nothing immediate.

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

So - how long does it take for a cheque to clear through the banking system from the day it gets put in and be absolutely definitely taken into the recipients' bank account please?

It should be a day now but it can still take up to 3 days or longer.

moneyistooshorttomention

It does make logical sense that Governments would want us all being "cashless" - so our money was just figures on a computer screen. That way - we couldn't draw out crisp fivers and stash them under the mattress and the Government cant get at them (though inflation obviously still could).

I'd thought as far as the Government would be better able to police people paying their taxes if everything is cashless - and that is a good thing. Hadnt quite thought on further to not being able to physically get hands on those fivers. It sounds feasible.

Mind you - even Stage 1 of a cashless society just from the pov of everyone paying their taxes would have more impact in some places than others. Think that would be half the economy of West Wales teetering straight off;). Its not exactly considered the norm in many contexts to pay things all "officially"....

:silenced:

That was a factor I had barely even heard of until recent move...