Preparedness for when

Popperwell

I have had an odd assistant deliberately take their time like that when putting out the yellow stickered stuff and they enjoy knowing that they are making you wait.:mad:

Lately what is being put out is mainly rubbish and so many are now trying to find a bargain you really do struggle.

On the other hand as said elsewhere on MSE I did find Salmon worth £20 for £2.10, Potatoes worth £2.50 for 75p Sausages worth £5 for £2.50 today. I was lucky for once.

bluebag

ginnyknit,

Try not to let it get you down, if the YS dude gets a kick out of making poor folks wait he's a sad sack alright.

I use value frozen chicken breasts a lot as you can do more with them with veggies, pulses and pastry.

I find good quality pork mince and diced pork quite good value too.
I don't usually bother with the YS stuff anymore as to be honest they really don't knock that much off the price.
Keep yer chin up babes!!

pineapple

JayneC wrote: »

I'm interested in the transition movement and have done a permaculture design course, so am more along the lines of adjusting my lifestyle rather than stockpiling stuff that will run out eventually - not that I think that's wrong and I would like to build some stocks too...

Welcome lurker
You might be interested in this sort of thing - Incredible Edible Todmorden. I think the initiative sprung up partly due to the fact that Todmorden is the new Hebden Bridge. Hebden Bridge has gradually become less 'alternative' as it's early activists have acquired jobs and middle age spread. Cheaper nearby Todmorden is becoming the new kid on the block. Wouldn't it be great if it came to a town near everyone.
http://www.incredible-edible-todmorden.co.uk/
http://www.permaculture.co.uk/videos/progaganda-gardening-incredible-edible-todmorden

Cheapskate

I live near Tod, and have heard the ladies behind Incredible Edible talk at a local group - fantastic ideas! We're trying something similar here, it's required a lot of effort, but is slowly starting to gain momentum. Even if you're not green-fingered, you can manage a few herbs on a windowsill, or a few spuds in an old bucket. You never know, when TSHTF the ability to grow even meagre rations may be enough to keep you going food-wise!

A xo

[Deleted User]

Morning everyone, yet again it's bloomin cold down here brrrrrr!!! Hello to JAYNE welcome aboard the thread, glad we've given you some ideas and always nice to have new participants giving us different views.

CHEAPY you're right about being able to grow things making a difference in the survival stakes. My own guess would be that if you had room for them a couple of fruit trees in the garden would tie up little space and give a good yield for little effort other than a yearly prune and feeding the tree once in a while. I know not everyone has space but trees come on different rootstocks that limit thier height and even as a single stick variety which just grows up in a slim column. The downside is that it's usually a couple of years from planting to getting your first good harvest, but if you look after the trees properly after that, you have 'easy'food forever after! Nut bushes/trees would be a good investment as well for the space they take up, and nuts store very well right through the season and give good protien to your diet. Cheers Lyn xxx.

thriftwizard

Currants & berries are good value & very easy to grow in most places, too; you can usually pick up some prunings in Spring for free. Strip off any low-down twigs & stick them about 6" into the ground, twigs upwards, & they'll root & grow. The only thing you need to do is make sure they don't flower & fruit in the first year; pick any flowers off. Then they'll put their energy into developing good root systems. After that, the only care they need is pruning into a nice open shape (no crossing branches) and a mulch of something tasty like guinea-pig hutch sweepings once a year. They're not spectacularly pretty (except perhaps Japanese Wineberries) but productive & they add shape & body at mid-height to your garden. Some, like blackberries, need a firmer hand & are better bought in if you want a well-behaved example that won't gallop all over your garden.

Very little effort, loadsa jam!

GreyQueen

I had a trailer load of manure dumped on the end of my allotment in autumn 2011 and most of it sat for months right beside a blackcurrant bush. Indeed, almost submerging it at first.

It tripled in size in one season and fruited heavily. Much later I read in one of my gardening books that blackcurrants LOVE manure, the more the merrier.

Possession

That Money Week article is essentially an advert which is very off-putting. Scary stuff though.

Angel_Jenny

GreyQueen wrote: »

I had a trailer load of manure dumped on the end of my allotment in autumn 2011 and most of it sat for months right beside a blackcurrant bush. Indeed, almost submerging it at first.

It tripled in size in one season and fruited heavily. Much later I read in one of my gardening books that blackcurrants LOVE manure, the more the merrier.

Will have to remember that as my black and redcurrants look like this -



It is a stick!!

GreyQueen

Contain your envy; my supersized blackcurrant bush acquired a supersized bevvy of snails (they hang on the undersides of the leaves where they're hard to see unless you're trying to pick the currants).

Some leaves had up to 3 big snails each. In one sesh I picked 50 bliddy snails out of that bush and crushed them all. and a few days later another 30-odd were back. After than, I kinda didn't feel like harvesting the blackcurrants.....:p