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Preparedness for when

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  • C_J
    C_J Posts: 3,252 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Thank you Mary - looks like I will have to ditch my plan to bottle French beans and just stick to fruits instead. Best to err on the side of caution.

    Mulled wine - what a brilliant idea! Great for a party.
  • C_J
    C_J Posts: 3,252 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Oh, I have seen that Val and John Harrison book being discussed in the Home Farmer magazine I subscribe to. I think the magazine co-sponsored it.
  • nuatha
    nuatha Posts: 1,932 Forumite
    Other of my bugbears of the modern age while I'm on my soapbox are shops and pubs seeming to be open all hours, back in the day when we had 1/2 day closing on Wednesdays and no shops open on Sunday's did anyone actually starve? Now everyone shops with a siege mentality when the shops dare to allow their staff just one day off for Christmas. People could still get as suitably drunk as their needs required when last orders was called at around 10.30pm and there was a period between lunch and evening drinkIng where you were expected to have homes to go to. Now there are pubs and clubs where you can drink from lunchtime to about 6am and still find somewhere open to eat afterwards. (Kebab for breakfast anyone?)

    You can't put the genie back in the bottle. There is now no answer to any of this as the majority of people would feel there rights were violated if you took away the chance to shop and drink 24/7 it just makes me wonder where society is heading.

    Big businesses and the Tory government decided that 24/7 trading would be the way forward. Despite the fact that the 1950s Shops Act only mandated closing at 8pm (unless local byelaws permitted later) on weekdays and all day Sunday. Shops could legally trade from midnight but none of the big chains wanted to do this. However there was still substantial panic buying went on every bank holiday weekend. I worked in retail through the '80s, we'd sell as much loo roll in December as in the rest of the year put together (but January's sales would match November's)
    The major chains seem to be rolling back 24 hour opening some just having self service checkouts overnight, some now closing to customers overnight. The rise of home shopping and click and collect having dented the overnight trade.
    For more than doubling retail opening hours there was no more money to spend, some non-food sales moved from the high street to out of town supermarkets.
    C_J wrote: »
    I have also just acquired a second hand bottling system (essentially a large electric tub where you can sterilise and seal several jars of bottled goods in one go). I have been quite excited by this and have downloaded some good (American) instructions, but am now scared by all the caveats I've seen about how you can poison yourself with bottled vegetables. Any comments/advise/experience with this method of preserving, anyone? Thanks!

    I presume this is a waterbath rather than a pressure canner?
    You may find this blog usefull.
    I always wondered why Americans seem to talk about canning where it's rarely mentioned here (outside this thread) I suppose we tend to go down the frozen route along with jamming and pickling. Obviously the freezer route hits problems in the event of power cuts or appliance breakdowns.

    Canning was fairly well known in the UK in Victorian/Edwardian kitchens. Several of my great Aunts learned canning techniques while they were in service. However canning low acid foods without a pressure canner is potentially lethal. I grew up canning fruit, unfortunately tomato based sauces weren't popular with my older family, so I didn't learn that end of it.
    Canning meat based dishes was regarded as very dangerous - we dried, smoked, brined but never canned meat. It came as quite a revelation to find pressure and retort pack canning.
  • C_J
    C_J Posts: 3,252 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    That blog looks fab, nuatha - I shall settle down to read it with a cup of tea right now.
  • maryb
    maryb Posts: 4,718 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    lots of mockery for Boris on line. Love the tweet from "Larry the Downing Street cat" I know all about asking to be let out then instantly regretting it
    It doesn't matter if you are a glass half full or half empty sort of person. Keep it topped up! Cheers!
  • pineapple
    pineapple Posts: 6,934 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 30 June 2016 at 3:39PM
    On the subject of veggies just to say it's amazing what you can do with a tidgy plot. I moved house last year and have just dug up a section of lawn. Until I can properly improve the soil, I've been growing things like spinach and spring onions in ridges of decent stuff and have some red cabbage on the go. In fact I'm all spinached out at the mo (let me tell you, you can have too much of a good thing :eek:). Plus I have strawbs in hanging baskets, my first ever tomatoes in a pop up plastic 'greenhouse', nasturtiums for food AND decoration and herbs a plenty.
  • mrs-moneypenny
    mrs-moneypenny Posts: 15,519 Forumite
    Nutha, thank you for your post giving more info on the changes in shop opening hours. I remember my parents buying an item of furniture on a Sunday and to get round it the store was selling certain vegetable items for a rediculous price with a "free" suite or furniture item included in the deal. Because perishable items could be sold on Sunday's at that time but not furniture etc.
    SPC~12 ot 124

    In a world that has decided that it's going to lose its mind, be more kind my friend, try to Be More Kind
  • Cappella
    Cappella Posts: 748 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    originally posted by MrsLurcherWalker
    Over the past week I've dehydrated 10lbs of rhubarb from the allotment, it's gone into one large jar! if you have limited space to store produce then a dehydrator is a very useful tool for the prepper.

    Apologies, I know you've already told us once, and I can't find the post, but which dehydrater would you recommend? Also how much space would one need? I'm very limited as to working space in a really tiny kitchen. And I know this is going to sound really stupid ( no change here then) but how would you rehydrate and use the produce. I think it might be a real way forward in prepping, and storing terms but I'm wary of buying something expensive and then not using it.

    I've just frozen two carrier bags full of broad beans, I love the feeling of satisfaction a freezer full of our own produce gives me. :)
  • Goldiegirl
    Goldiegirl Posts: 8,806 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Rampant Recycler Hung up my suit!
    Not in the short term perhaps but who knows what the future would have held, none of us will now but it may not have been all that rosy. The financial markets are picking up if not all ready back to their previous levels and the parties are picking new leaders the dust will settle and all will move on.

    Friends?


    You bet
    :beer:
    Early retired - 18th December 2014
    If your dreams don't scare you, they're not big enough
  • Hi CAPELLA mine is a 9 TRAY EXCALIBUR dehydrator that I had as a combined Christmas present a few years ago, it can hold a large amount of produce, 5 lbs of rhubarb filled 3 and a 1/2 trays so you can dry lots of things at the same time.
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