Preparedness - the continuation thread

FairyPrincessk

I've found nothing more effective against flies than a bored cat who regards them both as an excellent game and tasty snack. She'll also chase spiders, although they're usually far more skilled at evading her.


Given there have been several reports that food inflation will probably begin anew, I'm going to be re-vamping my stockpiling efforts. I've been adding a tin or two a week and a bag or two of pasta. I may also start buying butter to freeze again. Back around 2013 (I think) the price of butter increased significantly. It was one of the things I found made inflation the most noticeable. I probably won't differentiate between domestically produced vs imported as the rise in fuel prices will likely mean everything is affected. Instead I'll probably focus on staples.

maryb

I'm also interested in herbal remedies started doing an adult ed class in it but then it was cancelled when numbers dropped. Dried calendula flowers are also very useful. Make up a tea with them, let it cool and use it for rashes and sore skin. I found it worked as well as hydrocortisone cream in many cases.

And arnica cream is amazing. I fractured a vertebra earlier this year and it was quite painful to start with. I got Voltarol gel extra strength from the chemist but didn't find it very effective. Arnica cream, by contrast, was much better

FairyPrincessk

Oh, now I like the sound of calendula. Something I could easily grow in a pot. I seem to remember we discussed this once before and calendula and french marigolds are often mistaken for each other. I think it is french marigolds that are good for garden pests, I believe GQ knows.

moneyistooshorttomention

Right - that's calendula and garlic then that I must grow. Why had I forgotten that? I've had garlic scapes once or twice too - and they're lush:). Still not sure how good (or bad) an idea it is to plant "shop" garlic - but I cant help thinking it would be okay (ie as I buy organic bulbs anyway). Unless its a type of garlic that grows better elsewhere in the world I suppose..

ancientofdays

I have never minded spiders as they are good at catching germy flies but my son has always freaked when he sees one.

I seem to have rather a lot of tea bags stocked up, but they are in foil packets so should be ok. We always have a few months wort of rice and pasta, pulses and emergency pulses in tins, the freezer is mostly fully stocked and there are cleaning products, enough to withstand a siege since I don't use them too fast, am quite sparing with them. So naturally, in siege conditions, I will be doing the obvious thing and cleaning things.

It is really my OH who is the stOcker upper, I am never quite sure what emergency he has in mind but I noticed the other day that he bought a humunous bag of bread flour, not the usual 2 kilo bag. I think I have caught the bug from him.

I am a bit low on shower gel (though not on soap) since I put lots in the food bank collection thing at work. We were invited to offer non-food items and things that might be a bit of a treat, so I am down to one bottle and a drip. If the S does hit the F though, will we be able to have lovely warm showers or will we be reduced to scraping ourselves with strigels?

Lots of loo rolls but that is pretty meaningless here, since DS appears to either use twice as much as would be required for the normal bottom or has unknown uses for it.

I have enough clothes for work without needing to do washing every single day so that ought not to be a worry if Armageddon strikes but if it does, perhaps my first thought might not be if I look reasonably decent for work.

I have some mousetraps too but am not sure if I could eat a mouse. I might stick to chickpeas.

maryb

Fairy Princess you've just reminded me of another inspirational blog
Elaine Colliar used to post on MSE as Memory Girl and she posted some very popular diary threads. Her business was destroyed in the credit crunch when the bank called in their loans overnight. She made the mistake of having her personal banking with the same bank and they froze her personal account as well so she found herself standing in the bank with 71p and two nappies to her name followed by the bank trying to repossess her house.

Her diary was about how she clawed her way back to that and she then went on to set up a blog which was one of my all time favourites. She cooks amazing food for peanuts. - ALL her recipes work - and she is truly resourceful.

One of her main techniques was building up a really good store cupboard even when she was on benefits.

Read this post and have store cupboard envy!

http://mortgagefreeinthree.com/2012/06/armageddon-cupboard-show-and-tell/

Elaine now has a full time job which leaves her too busy to keep up her blog, but she posts old posts on Facebook everyday so that's worth following if you don't want to read through the blog from the beginning

ancientofdays

I did try the conker thing but it didn't work at all.

I have mint, basil, rosemary, sage, thyme, coriander parsley and rocket in pots. I tried growing garlic but don't think it liked the soil. I did have oregano but it was the most invasive thing ever.

pineapple

Going forward (my how I hate that phrase) the Peak Prosperity site and Chris Martenson are worth a read. It's from a US perspective but we'll forgive them that.
There is a mix of interesting preparedness stuff on there but sometimes the emotional/mental side is neglected. We are going through uncertain times and this oldish article might be helpful. The comments below are also worth a look.
http://www.peakprosperity.com/wiki/193/emotional-resiliency

ivyleaf

Fairyprincessk I was discussing food prices with my brother recently - he currently lives in Germany and was complaining about the amount he and his wife had just spent at the supermarket. I don't know what they'd bought but it had cost 119 Euros and he felt they really hadn't bought much for such a large spend for only two people.

He then reminded himself that as he's now been living outside the UK for several years he has no idea what prices here are like now. I said food prices had gone up quite a lot some years ago, but that some had come back down (though not usually to the level they were at previously) but others had stayed high.

Butter is the one that really sticks in my mind - it's now far dearer than it was several years ago and I don't know why. can someone remind me?

FairyPrincessk

Thanks for reminding me about MemoryGirl! I do think store cupboards need to be tailored. Personally I limit my prepping to basic emergencies, rather than the apocalypse, so MG's approach is useful. I was a student during the time MG made that post and was finding the food inflation very difficult, so I started trying to buy extra of things when I found them at a good price so that I had the choice to walk away. I was already buying from a discounter and never bought much in name brands so it gave me another option for breathing space in my budget.

I tend to keep basic grains and pulses, tinned tomatoes and pulses, butter in the freezer, a selection of flour, sugar, leavening agents, passata, condiments and a few quick and luxury jars, which for us includes things like artichoke hearts that are great for spicing up bland meals.