THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

DawnW

I agree with Mrs LW, I have tried salting beans and they end up just really salty and dry, however long you soak them I remember seeing my auntie do it - though never tasted hers. I tend to make extras into bean chutney these days

milasavesmoney

Nargleblast wrote: »

Good thinking re fuel, Mrs LW - the floods over the Big Pond may not affect U.K. Petrol supplies (we have other sources other than the States) all that much, but you bet your life the petroleum companies will use it as an excuse to put up prices! Cynical, moi?

Prices were already being raised here before Harvey even reached land. A friend said lines in Dallas were really long yesterday and when she finally made it to the pump it was all gone. The governor of Texas has issued a no price gouging statement but my friend said many stations were ignoring that order. Gas here in NM has risen but the President ordered reserves to be released so it hasn't been too extreme. The problem for us is that all things oilfield comes out of Houston so when needed machinery replacements/supplies run out the oiled fields will slow down. I don't think that will happen too severely because Texans are already in high gear toward areas that can be cleaned up.

GreyQueen

There's a useful article here about this; http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-09-02/oil-tanker-logjam-grows-54-ships-gulf-ports-remain-closed

Short version is; tankers with incoming crude for refining can't dock, and tankers awaiting refined product can't, either. Situation slowly improving as ports re-open for business.

Re price gouging, be good to take note of the businesses doing it and to give them a body-swerve once normality is resumed and to make it clear that's the consequence of badness in a crisis.

There's a blog at apartment prepper and she's in Houston and has a couple of recent posts about the storm.

milasavesmoney

https://angeliagriffin.wordpress.com/2017/08/31/the-wrong-donations-some-tough-words-on-disaster-relief/

Karmacat

Loving the discussion on weatherproofing jackets - I used to love wearing my wax jackets, and I have fond memories of sitting crosslegged on patios patiently rubbing it in.

I'd lost touch with apartment prepper, so thats a good one to read again, and excellent to read something from someone who's actually there.

And thats a powerful post from Angela Griffin too - it seems to be something that doesn't change, inappropriate donations, and she writes very beautifully about it. In this case, I'm wondering what on earth the charities that are *sending* this stuff are doing - obviously, they've put out appeals for Houston, and this is what people have responded with, fair enough. But why aren't they sorting themselves?

I know why, really - charities everywhere are overwhelmed, I have a local hospice charity that had to close for two weeks because over a recent bank holiday they were utterly overwhelmed by donations left at their doors, it really can get to be a serious problem.

I'm catsitting away from home right now, which is always interesting seeing what other people have in the house there's an almost empty bag of frozen peas in the freezer, and thats it. I'm also walking distance from a Primark and a TKMaxx, which I'm thrilled about :rotfl: so we shall see what we shall see.

GreyQueen

Very powerful post, that, and delicately handled.

I've often thought that cash would be most useful but things like brand-new undies and socks still in their packets, and unopened toiletries, would be useful for the earliest days after a crisis.

The Red Cross charity shops are doing a Shop For Grenfell promotion of some of the excess clothing, footwear and misc donated by good people, with the funds going to the victims. Seems a good way of turning excess into £££ and getting it back where it's needed. If you have a Red X shop nearby, check it out (they have special labels to identify the donations).

Perplexed_Pineapple

Afternoon all. Who has their bunker ready?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/the-filter/would-really-happen-britain-came-nuclear-attack/

thriftwizard

I am clearly woefully underprepared! No bunker whatsoever here, and I even managed to be somewhat underdressed for the grim, cold, wet weather today and had to buy an emergency pair of leggings!

It was our County Agricultural Show this weekend, and I was (voluntarily) running a stall. Somehow, partly because my van's going to the garage tomorrow for some tidying-up, parts of my normal everyday BoB kit were missing in action - no comb! No decent waterproof! And no warm leggings to pop under my floaty skirt. As the showground is close to my mother's, I stayed there overnight and borrowed my stepfather's old waterproof when the expected drizzle turned up at 6 a.m. this morning instead of at lunchtime. By the time I'd strolled down to the showground, it was evident that "waterproof" was no longer an accurate description... and nor was "drizzle".

By lunchtime "downpour" was a more appropriate term, and whilst the floaty skirt is made of several layers of silk & is thus reasonably warm, my ankles were frozen and my teeth beginning to chatter, so I had to invest £10 in a pair of leggings that are worth about £3 - on a good day. But at least I could defrost, and I can laugh at myself now for being daft enough not to check what was actually in the van, and for assuming that the forecast, last checked on Friday evening before setting off at silly o'clock on Saturday morning, was going to be accurate. It was only supposed to be 3℃ cooler today - I reckon it's more like 6 or 7. Which makes me think - what if there'd been some kind of emergency, and I hadn't been able to just buy something to warm me up? And to feel very, very sorry for people who have to flee with just the clothes they're standing up in. And for those with no roof over their heads today.

It's bad enough that there's a small and very bedraggled sparrowhawk trying to get inside our chicken run to shelter. Despite the fact that it's a quarter the size of the "girls" they know a predator when they see one...

Karmacat

Oh my, that's quite an experience, thriftwizard! Glad you had some remedies available to buy!

I've just read that link to the Telegraph, dear me. And I have the tv news on in the background as I'm typing, as I'm away right now - caught a discussion on how likely nuclear war is, right now ... it's gone beyond tinfoilhat country, that's for sure, quite disconcerting, actually. Not anything I ever saw coming.

No preps done here as I'm away!

short_bird

Grey Queen: Once found 2 bottles of hardly used NikWax cleaner and proofer in the charity shop...

And don't get me started on the sabre rattlers over the water. It's like my finals year at art college all over again.