Preparing for Winter V

cuddlymarm

I like beef and lamb done in the slow cooker but chicken and pork I prefer roasted. We have a George Forman type grill that’s old but ok at the moment but when that dies won’t be replaced. My air frier or the oven if I can fill it are much better.
My microwave is 15 years old and when that goes I’m not sure I’ll replace it ( it might take a bit more organisation because it gets used mainly for reheating things and the occasional jam sponge) The extra space in the kitchen would be nice. 

PipneyJane

cuddlymarm said:

Hi guys
I know we’re just coming into spring but as far as I can see it next winter is going to be a toughie.
So maybe we need to think outside the box and start sooner than later, getting the winter preps sorted earlier and building up a war chest ( so to speak) of food ( packets and tins) fuel ( if you have access to a wood burner or open fire ) and money if you can afford it. All things that can be dipped into as emergency measures when your money is needed elsewhere.
I know if you’re on here chances are you know what you are doing but there must be a lot of newbies that are realising that things are going to get bad and I really feel for those with young families. It’s not always possible to leave the heat off, or not use the washing machine, or do without the car. The list is different for everyone.
The cost of living is going up daily at the moment and after yesterday’s government offering I think we know we’re on our own so I thought maybe this thread needed a bump to get started early.

So I’ll start. I try to add a couple of tins or packets to my store cupboard each week. Or shampoo, soap etc to allow me to not shop if I need to. I rotate every week before my shop so nothing goes to waste.
A lot of preppers have more than one freezer, but will the running cost be worthwhile.
Those that buy solid fuel or wood, will the price rise later as more people move over to using it too.
If fuel is  getting really expensive and difficult to buy for the electricity suppliers might there be power cuts ( again a thought for having a lot of frozen stores) I really struggled to find normal candles recently ( if the power had gone my flat would have smelt fabulous 😂)

Anyway I hope no one minded me doing this.
Bye for now

Good thoughts, @cuddlymarm. 

I guess the thing is to spend thoughtfully and to understand ones own needs.  There's no point buying something because it's cheap, if it'll never be used. 

Another thought:  if you need to buy equipment - say a pressure cooker - consider the size that you are buying and whether a larger one would be better.   Definitely bigger is better in the case of pressure cookers and slow cookers, since you can double up/triple up quantities and freeze stuff for later.   (My first slow cooker was only 3L in size and almost too small for anything except mulling wine for parties.)

If it helps anyone, I have a pantry and a store cupboard and always operate my stores on a imprest system i.e. a one-out-one-in basis, so if something gets moved to the pantry from the store cupboard, the store cupboard item will go on the shopping list to be replaced.  If it's in the pantry, then it's in use. (The store cupboard is an iKEA Ivar bookcase in the corner of the lounge, the one where you buy the uprights and then as many shelves as you need.  The "drawers" in it are cardboard fruit boxes, perfect for holding things that don't stack easily e.g. bags of dried beans.)

HTH

- Pip

PipneyJane

Primrose said:

Even small economies will help save fuel.  If you,re planning on using frozen food from the freezer it will help to menu plan,, removing it the previous day and lettting it thaw out naturally on a kitchen worktop overnight instead of using electricity from a microwave to thaw it. 

Even better, thaw it overnight in the fridge, where it will keep the temperature down and thus cut down the number of times your fridge motor will have to run to keep things cool.

- Pip

YorksLass

Good thinking cuddlymarm - any advanced prep we do can only be a good thing and, in the current economic climate, we probably need to be even more prepared than normal.

Like Pip, I have a one out/one in system but will own up to a bigger store of regularly used items such as tinned tomatoes, various kinds of beans, bread flour etc and stock up on these when they're on promotion or clearance.  It's something I've always done and I was very glad of my stores when lock down came along.

I have a SC and an air fryer that get used often and a MW that's used occasionally but now I'm on the look out for a counter top oven.  There's only the two of us and I think that would work better for us and be more economical than the big oven.  We have gas for heating and hot water but everything else is electric, so another thing on my wish list is a camping stove so we can at least boil water for a cuppa if we have power cuts.  If all else fails, I could always heat water in a pan over a tray of tea lights!

Novice_investor101

I’ve virtually stopped using my oven since I bought an air fryer. With that, the slow cooker & george foreman grill I rarely need to use it anymore unless I’m batch roasting or baking something. 

I stocked up on gas cans last summer for my camping stove & I’m glad i did. The price is going up! My hob is gas so I’d not be stuck if power cuts happen again but it’s nice to know I’ve got a range of methods to still make hot food & boil water. An alcohol camping stove is also a useful thing to have around. 

I keep all my camping power banks charged up (i go camping a lot) & have battery powered lamps & torches, with lot’s of spare batteries. 100 pack of tealights from tesco too, which I’ve been using more of in the evenings anyway. I’ve a folding solar panel i use to keep the power banks charged while away camping so that would keep the phone & radio etc working. Always have a battery powered radio handy if the power ever goes out! 

I’ll definitely be sorting a cash war chest over the summer to prep for next winter & be able to keep the heating on but still save elsewhere. 

London_1

I only use my big oven when batch baking stuff ,I use my Remoska for most stuff as a rule as its quicker and a lot easier to keep clean  
My SC get a lot of use as well as its excellent for batch cooking stuff mince for lasagne or chilli or cottage pies.
Every little helps  

Laura_Elsewhere

I use the big oven quite a bit but am trying to organise my weeks better so I make bread the same day as baking, the same day we have eg baked potatoes for tea... but it does mean a day when I get very little else done, and I keep on finding it awkward to push it all together into one or two days a week.

Laura_Elsewhere

We live in a small top-floor flat and recently had loft insulation fitted - they kindly put it on top of the existing inefficient c.7cm-thin layer so with the new 27cm we now have something like 34cm  

Also we've now put up a short length of curtain track in the hallway - we have a wide shelf above the front door (it was dead space) where we keep our emergency supplies (torch, gas hob, kettle, lanterns, etc.), and we fitted the curtain track onto the front edge of the wall-to-wall shelf. Now I can make two spare curtains into one long curtain and we will have a portiere to put up come autumn. I think it will make a difference. 

Auntycaz

I've been wearing a dressing gown over my clothes during the winter so I don't have to have the heating on so high. I also pinned 2 x door curtains together to make a double thickness for both my front and back doors as they both have half glass panes and I also made thick draught excluders for both doors too, and it has made a big difference. 

Primrose

Last year I bought a really thick body warmer from a charity shop and it,s probably saved its purchase price in fuel costs several times already!