THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

Nargleblast

Keeping with the medical theme, but returning to prepping......

What do you keep in your home medicine chest/cupboard to deal with the everyday illnesses and injuries that occur? What could you also keep for the hypothetical times when (heaven forbid!) there are no doctors or hospitals due to war/pestilence/zombie invasion?

I tend to use tea tree oil as a good general purpose antiseptic.

ariarnia

milasavesmoney wrote: »

Could be made into a cough syrup, a tincture, in muffins...

its very nice in iced tea with or without mint and/or honey

most lemon drizzle cakes can also made with maybe a quarter of a cup of diced young leaves

eta i found this recipe to show what i meant http://www.eat-well-live-well.co.uk/index.php/recipes/dessert-recipes/item/59-lemon-balm-cake.html

Cappella

Keeping with the medical theme, but returning to prepping......

What do you keep in your home medicine chest/cupboard to deal with the everyday illnesses and injuries that occur? What could you also keep for the hypothetical times when (heaven forbid!) there are no doctors or hospitals due to war/pestilence/zombie invasion?

Honey. It's brilliant for small burns and scalds. Takes the heat out straight away and prevents scarring. I keep a jar of runny honey in the kitchen and scoop a little on when I've been clumsy and burnt myself.
It's great for sore throats and colds too, with or without lemon.

Dried Sage: gargling with an infusion of sage eases sore throats.

Dried or fresh ginger: make a honey and ginger tea if you're cold and shivery. It's also good for digestive disorders. And if a zombie invasion is imminent it's very heartening :rotfl:

milasavesmoney

Thanks you guys!!!!

I need to talk to my daughter about what to keep for such uses Nargle. I've been meaning to do so. She is a preventative medicine MD. She is very interested in what different cultures use in healing. Here in the American Southwest there is a lot of emphasis on Mexican herbal medicines. My friend from Mexico was telling me last week to give my husband holy basil for his arthritis. I'm going to see if it's available in capsule form.

I bookmarked the recipe Ariarnia. It sounds good.

Maybe the soapiness is obscured when used in recipes PrincessT?

Sage infusion for sore throat? My son will be thrilled to have another use for the sage we grow.

Nargleblast

Yes, that is the sort of knowledge that a prepper needs, how to use plants as medicine. I have rosemary, lavender, sage, mint, oregano, parsley and chives growing on my patio, and some lemon balm in the garden (grows like a weed), half a dozen small camomile plants and some sneaky clumps of feverfew.

milasavesmoney

I first had sage tea with a woman of Romanian descent in Be'er Sheva Israel. She picked it from patch by her front door and served it hot with lemon and honey. I came home, planted sage and have been enjoying it since.

No wonder I don't get sore throats anymore! :j :beer:

melodramaticme

I keep Vicks vapourub in my medicine box along with normal paracetomol and ibuprofen. And a packet of "injury peas" in the freezer. These are a polybag full of peas that are never eaten but kept frozen for treating twisted ankles and knees.
The Vicks is great for coughs and colds used for inhaling, but also rubbed on the soles of the feet when going to bed can ease a chesty cough. (a reflexologist's trick which works for me and mine)

pineapple

One of my neighbours replaced his heart meds with Hawthorn Berries and has never looked back. I thought 'Yeah right' till I looked it up and there is a ton of clinical evidence - apparently it is well used in Germany. I was even thinking of using it for my ectopic heartbeats.
Disclaimer: At your own risk!
Seriously though it's worth googling.

milasavesmoney

Ohhh I didn't know that about Vicks on the feet. Mother rubbed it on my chest when I was little.

Nargleblast

Yes, good old Vicks! Kids used to have it slathered over their chests when they had a cold. (Mila Vicks vapour rub is a petroleum jelly base with menthol, comes in a blue jar. A little in a bowl of boiling water is good for steam inhalations, and you can rub it onto sore noses full of cold bugs.)

Edited to add, in view of mila's post, Ah, so you know about Vicks then? Thought it was one of those quaint British things.