Preparedness for when

skintscotslass

Evening all

Just popping in before bed. Well, all the Scottish preppers might explain why I couldnt get any of the UHT skimmed milk in Lidl at the weekend lol.

I've asked DD to clear out a cupboard that she is currently using as a wardrobe. She has a ridiculous amount of clothes and need to clear it out. I'm planning on that being my prep cupboard.

I work in West Lothian and have started to feel panicky about driving along the M8 in the Winter, although I've only been working through there just over a year. I missed the chaos in Dec 2010. Thats probably whats got me thinking about prepping.

I've been in IKEA a couple of times in the past week and have stocked up on some candles. I need more matches as well lol.

D&DD

Finally caught up *phew* I think it's great you're all arranging a meet I've never managed to make it to one yet but love reading about how they went don't forget we want all the gossip once you've been and a tally of who ate all the cakes :rotfl:

You have however given me an idea..I can see the Ikea towers from my house and Costco is only a stones throw in t'other direction so may have to plan a 'Burt Gummer' trip myself although Croydon seems a lot less glamorous lol...

Caterina

Good stock up today, AsDa have got tinned tomatoes and tinned beans (various types) for £1 for 4, but very low stock on tomatoes as they are very popular. However I found more tinned tomatoes at the Turkish shop (in Lewisham for the Londoners among you) for the same price, plus they have 3 x 400g packets of pasta for 99p, so I stashed up. DH and DS were sort of making fun of me and my stocking up, laughing about being all right for the Zombie Apocalypse, but I explained calmly that in this day and age there is a strong possiblilty for food shortages and panic buying and that our family is in a much better position than so many others because we have some stuff in stock. They agreed and I hope that the point will stick with them. I am glad I managed not to launch into a passionate Prepper speech, just made my point calmly and rationally (this was before I had dinner AND wine hehehehe!). Seems to have worked.

Re. meet and the possible venue in Swindon, I will see whether anyone else is interested after I come back from Italy in late September, I am sure that the farm will always need people to give them a hand on their working weekends. When I am back I shall post here again (or maybe we should have a separate thread as well) and take it from there. Re. Scotttish meet, if it is in September I am out because I am not even in the country!

Off to sleep now, good night!

valk_scot

D&DD wrote: »

Val one of the books I have is called Back to Basics and it covers a whole range of useful stuff

Interesting book. I looked at the preview index and was happily ticking off the skills I already had when I came to..."Flower Drying & Pressed Flowers." Am I missing something here, lol? I can dry herbs and such but I've never really thought of knowing how to press flowers as a survival skill. :rotfl:

ETA: I have this book, Practical Self-Sufficiency. It's got a lot of good stuff including herbal remedies, brewing and how to build a smokehouse, though it's aimed more at self sufficiency than prepping of course. It was a good buy though...I found in Marks & Spencers, of all places, a few years ago ay 75% off.

D&DD

valk_scot wrote: »

Interesting book. I looked at the preview index and was happily ticking off the skills I already had when I came to..."Flower Drying & Pressed Flowers." Am I missing something here, lol? I can dry herbs and such but I've never really thought of knowing how to press flowers as a survival skill. :rotfl:

lol I never really thought about that I suppose if you dried a whole sunflower head it could be used as a lethal weapon against zombies :rotfl:

Thanks for the other book link I enjoyed their series didn't know they'd written a book about it all

Fruball

FOR ANYONE OVERWHELMED.... (as I once was, and still am when I read about others' preps!)

Prepping can be as big or as small as you feel comfortable with - I know when I started prepping it was small - ie I lived out in the sticks and felt that a few cereal bars, some water, spare hat, gloves, scarves and wellies for us all stashed in the boot would make a difficult situation easier so I put them in the car..... It has escalated but that is where I started...

So for anyone reading this who thinks OMG I AM SO UNPREPARED... Don't worry - a trip to your local supermarket with £10 and a clever list will make you more prepared than you were yesterday... It takes time to prep - and to get your head around it.

Think about the basics and build from there. Water #1, food #2, and whatever thereafter.

Never panic - whatever small preps you have will be more than someone unprepared

Hope that has been useful to someone xxx

Dippypud

Listening to you guys and girls chatting about onions reminded me...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_YE3jQ982Y

http://www.garden.org/foodguide/browse/veggie/onions_harvesting/502

prepareathome

Thanks GQ for the book info, its one I do not have so snagged a copy for A(brand new fullfilled by A as I am a prime customer no pp so £2.81 instead of £5.81 because its from the Marketplace, amazing how they let people sell brand new books for less than they do)

I have various books on many subjects, collected over the years, a lot from library sales on farming,general,in a hot climate, in a cold climate, small holding, fishing,old skills,old readers digest books on how to fix or build things around the home and garden, The Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency by John Seymour which many took as their bible back in the 70's when they bought their dream home in the country, I see there is a new version out now, but as he died in 2004 and it came out in 2009 I am not sure about what might have been taken out and what added, I will stick to my old copy,its a bit dog eared but still readable. Och all sorts, some have been sitting on bookshelves 20 years or more.

Also have things like collins SAS guide to survival, free food,plant identification, tree identification.

I also have a little book I put together myself, way back in about 1996-8 not exactly sure off hand I decided I wanted something that held all the info in one place so spent weeks at main library reading every survival book they had and copied out things I wanted and wrote them up like how to test a plant to see if its edible, how to make fires under all conditions, how to get water anywhere including a desert......basically something I could have on me and survive if need be. Oldest son took a copy with him when he wandered the earth after Uni and actually got stuck in Australian outback for 24 hrs and was able to get himself some water and make a fire so I was pleased it had come in handy. I printed it on sheets 2in x 3in so although about 1in thick could fit into a pocket easily, although did do a A5 copy. Not read it for ages so going to either find disks with it on, did I know copy it from floppy to CD or if unreadable will type it up. That is a good way to remind myself of the info again. I am no artist but put drawings in, like examples of shelters and how to cross a river, quite laughable really.

I have got so lazy with preps past 10 years due to health problems getting worse but need to reteach myself everything.

I have books also on how to knit( can do that but handy for anyone that cannot) crochet(can only do basics), weaving, spinning, preparing fleeces, tatting and heaven knows what else.

Books on building with mud, wattle and dab etc. Was thinking the other day the paper compressor I bought in sale in Arg*s could be used to make mud bricks as well as paper ones if you put something inside like paper before adding the mud and straw. Its a very solid piece of kit so not going to fall apart doing that.

If anyone wants a list of books I have will type them up,but be warned they cover all sorts.

Am trying to decide I can ( I hope) buy either a storm kettle, the cooking kit and a dutch oven or buy a cobb......works out similar price but not sure which to go for......anyone any feedback on these?

Caterina

D&#8517 wrote: »

Finally caught up *phew* I think it's great you're all arranging a meet I've never managed to make it to one yet but love reading about how they went don't forget we want all the gossip once you've been and a tally of who ate all the cakes :rotfl:

You have however given me an idea..I can see the Ikea towers from my house and Costco is only a stones throw in t'other direction so may have to plan a 'Burt Gummer' trip myself although Croydon seems a lot less glamorous lol...

Oh well maybe the Southern Preppers should think of a meet in the Croydon Ikea then! I have been meaning to go, now that it is so easy to reach by tram (I love that tram journey, I feel like a little kid!).

frugalgal

Fruball wrote: »

FOR ANYONE OVERWHELMED.... (as I once was, and still am when I read about others' preps!)

Prepping can be as big or as small as you feel comfortable with - I know when I started prepping it was small - ie I lived out in the sticks and felt that a few cereal bars, some water, spare hat, gloves, scarves and wellies for us all stashed in the boot would make a difficult situation easier so I put them in the car..... It has escalated but that is where I started...

So for anyone reading this who thinks OMG I AM SO UNPREPARED... Don't worry - a trip to your local supermarket with £10 and a clever list will make you more prepared than you were yesterday... It takes time to prep - and to get your head around it.

Think about the basics and build from there. Water #1, food #2, and whatever thereafter.

Never panic - whatever small preps you have will be more than someone unprepared

Hope that has been useful to someone xxx

Thanks Fruball, I have been a bit overwhelmed with it all. I have decided that I will begin by just getting a few extras so that I have at least a week's worth of food/toiletries, etc in the cupboards at all times. I can then start building from that. I am then going to have boxes that I can store one week's worth of food at a time, that way I can easily rotate food and in an emergency situation I can give someone else a box if needed. In the box I will include tea, coffee, sugar, dried milk and food stuffs (may also include some water purification tabs in the box).

Would other people recommend storing water in jerry cans (I read that they can be stored in a dark, cool place for 6 months)???