Preparedness for when

vanoonoo

have adopted bed socks and sheepskin slippers approach - no cold toes today!

so sad to hear about the avalanche

please all stay safe and warm and hydrated x

vanoonoo

Shropshirelass wrote: »

Hi everyone

I've not posted for a while but just wanted to say, Popperwell, since hubby diagnosed with high blood pressure (8 years ago) and I started reducing salt in cooking, I have stopped putting salt in potatoes.

I use dried mixed herbs sprinkled on boiled pots instead, very tasty and we dont miss the salt now. I do add salt to mashed pots though - can anyone suggest a healthy alternative?

I wouldn't like to do without salt altogether.

hi Shropshirelass have you treid switching to the lower sodium version? or have you tried cutting it out at the cooking stage and jsut adding when on the plate? HTH Vx

BigMummaF

siegemode wrote: »

Surely many aspects of prepping and the reasons for it as is debated and talked of on here could be described as scaremongering but I for one would rather know of all the various predictions and senarios. I value everyones opinion including yours kittie and 2tonsils so please keep them coming. Whilst some may turn out to be wrong they all count and only time will tell. Surely it enables us to prepare for the worse and if things are better than first expected fine, if not then all our preps will hopefully see us through. I'm sure many like myself often pass info gleened from this thread to friends and family so everyones input is valuable. Thanks Everyone :beer:

Totally agree with everything you--& GQ--have said on the reader being able to make up their own minds on whatever subject they please. I for one, have learned things about the geographical areas posters mention that I would have never known or considered had it not been for threads like these so Please Peeps, can we shake hands & agree to disagree sometimes? After all, differing opinions make for interesting debate..we can leave all the infighting to the MoPpets of Westminster :rotfl:


Apparently the River Arun froze over in 63, & that is/was always known as the second fastest running river in the UK :eek: I don't recall much about that winter, probably because--as others have said--we just got on with it! I do remember coming home at school lunchtime to a plate of bubble n squeak, sitting in the back room while watching the "hi-dri" full of wet laundry giving off billows of steam that fogged the window over Then just as your nose & toes had begun to thaw, it was time to don cold, damp wellies & dig your mittens out from the sleeves of your tartan-lined navy mac, by pulling on the bit of bias binding they're attached to, to stop you loosing one
That memory is more about knowing I was being cared for & feeling safe than the weather outside, but I do recall looking out the front room window with Dad (he worked shifts) to watch the "ballerinas" dancing on the road when it rained.

I also remember those hard bright orange squares that Mum used to put in to flavour & thicken the stews. As a new bride I (unsuccessfully) hunted high & low for them & made many new variations during my quest with varying levels of edibleness, so perhaps it's no surprise The Offspring now detest stew with such venom :rotfl:

westcoastscot

Shropshirelass wrote: »

Hi everyone

I wouldn't like to do without salt altogether.

Youngest has blood pressure issues due to the meds he takes, and we went onto lo salt at the suggestion of his consultant - it's a different kind of salt and doesn't affect BP in minimal quantities. Never add it to food, but we use it for putting on dinner.

[Deleted User]

BIG MUMMA I think they were Foster Clarkes Soup Cubes, my mum used the oxtail one and I couldn't ever find them and nothing else tastes the same to this day, Cheers Lyn xxx.

THIRZAH

I was seven in 1963 so can just remember that winter. We lived in a house built in the early 1950s so quite modern then but no central heating. There was an open fire in the sitting room, a rayburn in the kitchen/dining room and a wall heater in the bathroom which we only turned on after we'd got out of the bath as it was expensive to run. That winter we got washed and dressed in the kitchen.There was ice on the inside of the bedroom windows.

We had frozen milk at school too and we got lots of lectures on the evils of making slides in the playground-but we still did it.

I can't remember any food shortages but can remember my father shooting at pigeons to scare them off the brussel sprouts in the garden.

DH who started at prep school that year can remember having to help tow a big sledge-load of food back from the local village . We can both remember chilblains and having cold legs-small boys wore short trousers in those days and girls wore skirts and long socks-no warm tights and we weren't allowed to wear trousers for school

Butterfly_Brain

I remember the winter of 62/63 I was four at the time. Even in London the canals froze solid, there were 4 foot icicles hanging from the windows and ice on the insides of the windows. Food was airlifted to animals that had been stranded on fields all over the country. Even the sea froze in places.
The only heating we had was an open fire in the living room, a gas fire in the kitchen and a paraffin heater for Mum and Dad's room. Dad even burned furniture to keep the fire going, it was that hard to get coal, in the February.
We had lots of blankets, hot water bottles and big old fashioned eiderdowns for the beds.
DH says that there were 8 foot snow drifts around here, because basically we are in a valley with the Downs at the back of us.
I do remember the pavements being gritted though, which they rarely do now. Even the disabled car park is not gritted.

2tonsils

Having a lot of trouble with my internet today but its probably the weather. Yet again we have a dangerous weather warning out for us..for the fifth time this month its for dangerous storms and lightning. The good point is that we are at the dizzy heights of 18 degrees outside! Unfortunately we only had three mins sun to go with it...the sky is a dirty grey and its quite windy. This time the warning is for 48 hours.

The awful thing is that the storms seem to be giving everyone ''pressure'' headaches and it feels like a weight pressing on top of your head and temples.

I have given up all hope of working online as the signal is too poor, it took me five attempts to put a weather warning for Corfu on my facebook so browsing is out of the question until it improves. I think I might just carry on listening to my 1960's Cd's as we won't be able to watch a full film on Greek tv either with the signal on and off.

Just got a message from a friend who does courier runs from the UK to Corfu and vice versa....he had to drive through 1300 miles of blizzards to get back to Corfu!! It doesn't bear thinking about, how exhausting. Luckily he had a spare driver with him (female) who could take turns in driving through it so he could rest. Another friend is stuck in France and has been told there will be no flights leaving till at least Wednesday.

Stay safe folks, its looking a bit rough over there for tonight and tomorrow in most areas.

Oh no.....its started lightning again....off to unplug!

Shropshirelass

Thanks Vanoonoo and Wcs, I usually do add salt at end of cooking process, but I should get some Losalt for hubby - we have worked out that anything salty definitely pushes his BP up immediately.

I have low blood pressure, so often feel like eating something salty, then I usually have a nice piece of Marmite toast to give myself a boost instead of including salt in our joint diet. Having crisps or salted peanuts in the house could be fatal!

We have had a slow wet snow falling all day, now turned into proper steady snowfall, which was not really forecast here. Temp just on zero all day. Very little traffic, even for a Sunday -I'm glad people are staying home and hope they are keeping warm. Noticed in church all the old folks had stayed at home - very wise of them!

pineapple

Sometimes, having reached a certain age, I feel I'm allowed to be a tad curmudgeonly. In fact I think it's almost obligatory Anyway, having told one of the neighbours to get his 'act' together (well I didn't quite use that word) a couple of days back, he has shocked us all by setting to this afternoon with a shovel and grit.
Or maybe it's just that sometimes I can be like Nora Batty on speed and he was frightened into submission
I was so impressed that I was almost tempted to give him one of my special melting moments fresh out of the oven. I said 'almost'.....