Preparedness for when

Confuzzled

BessieBooBoo wrote: »

Hello all


Being in the flattish 'burbs, I don't think I will need much more, but, any ideas will be most welcome and appreciated...


BBB

though i no longer drive i used to drive in weather as bad or worse than what we tend to get here in the uk every winter, i can't stress highly enough the need to have a blanket and a change of socks in your car. those space blankets fit in the glove box and work though i would keep a fleece blanket too out of personal preference.

also best to keep the emergency food/blanket etc IN the car rather than the boot unless you can access the boot via the backseat as if you wind up in a ditch and the boot is inaccessible or if the lock is frozen shut you won't be able to get to the things you so carefully prepared.

also it might be an idea to have some deicer not just in your home and maybe at work but also inside the car in case the boot freezes and you need to access the jack etc

a small bag of kitty litter or grit for traction is def good too

Confuzzled

GreyQueen wrote: »

Re salt, I don't salt veggies when I cook and rarely salt at table. The folks don't even have salt on their table, just a black pepper grinder. I also make perfectly lush bread without any salt at all.

i find lemon pepper excellent on most veg, it replaces both salt AND butter with great effect and taste, and i don't even like pepper much!

2tonsils

The storm is over for a while and the sun is back out. It turned our village road into a river and now I had better get the pump on to empty some of the water out of our storage tank before it overflows again...fifth time this winter already and it has never overflowed before. Just shows the amount of rain we have had so far. It was so dark in the house at half two I lit some candles as I thought the power would go off , but it stayed on as did the internet. I ran the netbook on battery power for a while to be on the safe side. The wind has dropped as well but no doubt it will be back. My mate in Crete sent me a text saying the wind had carried the dog kennels up in the air in circles earlier...thank goodness both her pets were safely tucked up on the settee with her at the time!

The weather looks awful in the UK....break out the chocolate and brandy everyone!

Mmmm lemon pepper, I am another fan of it and I don't like normal pepper!

Confuzzled

Popperwell wrote: »

That was my Dad. He'd add it without fail and before tasting the food.

Bought my first jar of Mustard for 49p in Aldi's so if it remains unused I haven't spent too much. I guess which might be the mildest and went for Djon(?)Bought some mint sauce and tartar sauce too.

a bit of mustard mixed with some vinegar and a touch of honey makes a lovely salad dressing, also nice over chicken

if you make any cheesy sauces a pinch of mustard powder or even plain yellow american style mustard added to the cheese really brings out the flavour reducing the quantities needed

Confuzzled

Popperwell wrote: »

The Housing Association wants to check the electrics this week and they say it will take up two hours I'll not happy if it affects the fridge freezer and all the food in it. If I keep it closed hopefuly nothing will thaw out! I've too much invested in there to throw it out.

you'll be fine for that short a period, just don't open the door if you can avoid it. if for some reason the power was going to be off for longer you could always put it in a tub with snow around it and place it at your front door so it's frozen by the temps outside if you're in the position to do so (not sure what kind of tower you're in) you may want to watch it from the inside to make sure it doens't get nicked but it would be better than losing it

off the top of my head fridges can go about 8 hours if not opened and freezers 12-18 hours if unopened but i'm not certain, i'm sure someone here has mentioned this before and can better enlighten you

best of luck!

2tonsils

Ours was off for sixteen hours and the only thing I lost was ice cream (well not lost exactly...I poured it over some apple pie lol (gluten free of course). They may not have to turn off the power for all that time, they could be investigating the electric cables and testing the plugs with a tester so it may need to be on for at least some of the time. Hope this helpsxx

mardatha

Still heavy horizontal snow, blowing like hell with poor visibility and the main road (A7) just closed. Power still ok so far.BBC said over a foot of snow already in some parts of the Borders. Wheyhey!

pineapple

Well dear me
The woman at the end decided she is going to get to work tomorrow and has just made a path - piling all the snow against a 80 foot length of a fragile retaining wall that is propping up our road from falling into the field below - so a couple of us have just had to go out and remove it :mad:.
Not only that but we have had to put our own grit down in the cleared area because it never occurred to her that her clearing had actually created a hazard. :huh:
But I was on a roll then and cleared a path to the coal bunker and a channel for the dog to get up the garden. Yes it's that bad.
I'm done in
And it's snowing again.

Confuzzled

suburbanwifey wrote: »

Just thought I'd point you all into the direction of an online course I am enrolled on from the University of Pittsburgh, USA which is a free course entitled Disaster Preparedness. Its an 8 week online course, commitment is around 2-4 hours per week.

Linky

thank you sooo much for that! i've signed up too

some of what we learn will likely be a refesher for me, some will be new but i'm sure it will keep my attention and help me further my mental preps

as for preps i've already done, i'm really glad about my stores because you couldn't pay me to go out in this. it's been snowing all day and i suspect all night. it's very very cold and windy, with big fat wet flakes. tonight it'll become a skating rink i'm sure

i did see the small gritter out doing the side streets, tells me the council is expecting it to be very bad because i've never seen them do it before! i reckon we now have about 4 inches of snow lying

i've had two parcel deliveries today, bless their souls, i don't envy them their jobs today

stay safe everyone

pineapple

The sheep have all come down into the bottom field - where the farmer has been dropping off food. They know him and his landrover and it's most bizarre to see them gather - all staring in one direction - as soon as he appears. Anyhow there I was trotting along in my own little world with the border collie and when I turned to go back there was a whole flippin flock hopefully following on behind :eek:.
I felt like Little Bo Peep - except I'd found them...