THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

Karmacat

pineapple wrote: »

Pineapple is ashamed to admit she bought a packet of chocolate covered raisins for ratty as she heard they were irresistible. But she ate every single one herself. So she got another packet and.... Darn it. They ARE irresistible!

The rat poison that my pest control guy puts down smells wonderfully of chocolate but its in the loft, and I really, really won't eat it, I promise :rotfl:

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

I've just come to the realisation that what we've done with our diet as we've been on the weight loss route is actually very relevant to prepping. We now have very little processed food of any kind in our day to day meals, we aren't reliant on bread/bakery goods any more and have almost (not quite entirely) given up cheese and sugar and we're not feeling the lack.

What we do eat is fish, chicken, fresh fruit and vegetables, lots of vegetable soups and an awful lot of pulse based/vegetable based vegetarian and vegan meals and it's just occurred to me that it IS a sustainable way to feed ourselves and although we'd probably have less protein in terms of poultry should TSHTF the fish might still be available if we could catch them and certainly the beans/peas for the dried pulses will grow in the UK and the fruit and veg can be grown here easily too. It might make sense to start taking out the 'made foods' and getting used to a different style of food before any problems occur, certainly for morale if something isn't forced on your by circumstances but is a choice made before any difficulties occur it might be a better mind set to weather the problems you face?

If you/we/one (:p) had an allotment-sized garden, we could grow our own protein - fish in a fish pond, and friends of mine in a tiny little forum elsewhere grow their own rabbits and quail, as well as chickens. And the one that goes out shooting shoots rabbits for food for their weasels and dogs _pale_ they live in a semi detached in a small village. I'm in awe .... you'd have to be able to lay your hands on enough food for your animals, of course.

Personally, I'm going for perennial veg in my garden - greenery that can be eaten, basically, and dried in the dehydrator. I'm not really growing much of my own food at the moment, though, for the rest of this year I'll be recovering my health and reclaiming the garden from the weeds. If I hadn't already done a lot, I wouldn't be able to *see* the garden right now.

I *have* decided to discourage cats I see in the back garden - they're pooing a lot, in competition with one another, and I've seen a lot more flies than I used to - my pest control guy told me that flies that live in my garden will congregate in my loft to overwinter, and thats where the cluster flies come from in spring. Having cats in the garden doesn't compensate for that, so they're deffo being discouraged, sad to say.

Save

pineapple

Karmacat wrote: »

Personally, I'm going for perennial veg in my garden - greenery that can be eaten

I didn't realise till this year that nasturtiums could self seed. I grew them last year and this year they are popping up in the oddest of places. Fine by me. They look pretty and you can eat them into the bargain - win win. :T

culpepper

pineapple wrote: »

I didn't realise till this year that nasturtiums could self seed. I grew them last year and this year they are popping up in the oddest of places. Fine by me. They look pretty and you can eat them into the bargain - win win. :T

They are a useful lure for aphids if you plant them near beans too.
My bean poles are planted in a bed of them again this year.

Karmacat

Thanks both - thats a winning combination! I bought some nasturtium seeds from Real Seeds earlier this year, but couldn't cope with getting them in the ground, with everything else thats going on. Hopefully some will germinate next year

pineapple

So maybe I shouldn't have dumped my crops that went to seed then
http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/gardening-techniques/self-seeding-zmaz10aszraw

[Deleted User]

Good point about the rabbits and quail KARMA although I'm not sure you'd still find them in their pens in the morning if everyone else is hungry too! Fish might or might not breed in a small pond, we had goldfish in a small pond and one year and only one year they spawned and we got baby fish but there were then too many in the pond for the available food sources to sustain and we lost a few and had to rehome the rest while they were still too tiny to even be a sardine! My money is on the pulses which really are only 'old' beans that dry on the vines, we already grow French climbers purely for that and they keep well if you make sure they're totally dry and give them 24/48 hours in the freezer before putting them into storage. Not sure many folks would be stealing ratty looking old bean husks hung on the growing frame, not the most appealing looking food source except to those of us in the know! Chickens for eggs and the odd old non layer/surplus c o c k e r e l would be a better bet but I'm not sure they'd be around for long if anyone got wind of where they were kept!

maryb

My weight has been pretty stable but about 2 stone too heavy since my mid fifties - thanks, hormones! great job! I have a bad feeling about what this autumn might bring (autumn being the traditional season for financial crises) and I have decided that a big part of prepping has to be getting back down to the weight I should be. Hopefully I will be able to keep my weight stable at the new, lower level eating my normal diet, which is healthy with fresh food cooked from scratch etc but cutting back on bread (which is my downfall).

I'm doing weight watchers for three months. It's boring but it works. If I can lose 1.5 lb a week over that period, I can get to where I need to be. It is increasing my grocery spend but I'm counting it as an investment in my health and fitness.

GreyQueen

pineapple wrote: »

Following my recent rodent adventures, does anyone have suggestions for rodent proof storage? I've not had any visitors to the kitchen yet but never say never...
I have a lot of stuff in glass kilner jars but am looking for larger containers. I do have a big industrial type heavy duty plastic tub for kibble which may or may not be rat proof.
The other issue is fresh foods like potatoes which presumably need some air.

The only real rodent-proof storage is metal or glass, I'm afraid. Even mice can chew throught thick plastic containers, we had one mouse in Nan's pantry years ago, and it chewed through a very thick plastic to get at cooking chocolate, and through another plastic to get at curry powder which was also in a cellophane bag.

Mum baited The Little Nipper with cheese to no avail. I suggested that a beastie with such exotic tastes should be baited with something else and we used the last Eliz Shaw choc mint crisp, although it galled me to part with it. Caught within hours on a pantry shelf.

Grandma and Grandad used to keep the chickenfeed in a metal dustbin to keep the rodents out.

Mice will also experimentally chew on non-food items and cause damage. I've known them to eat sachets of flower food and candles, and they can cause a lot of destruction by nesting in textiles and cardboard, too. HTH.

Lyn, I'm currently making a soup from various chopped up veggies from the freezer inc diced broccoli stems, 3 tbsp of red lentils and some herbs, salt and pepper. It will be cheaper than chips and proper tasty.

[Deleted User]

I'm making spaghetti sauce with home grown onion and garlic, home grown courgettes and basil and home made cider, sadly I don't have a cow so the cheese is bought!!! cheap as chips too and scrummy!!!


Long Live Home Growing!!!

thriftwizard

Mice will also experimentally chew on non-food items and cause damage. I've known them to eat sachets of flower food and candles, and they can cause a lot of destruction by nesting in textiles and cardboard, too.

They will also very happily nest in my Doomsday Supply of loo roll... I've reluctantly decide that come TEOTWAWKI, we'll have to use alternatives. I can't keep supplying the perfect rodent nesting material in my garage!