THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

Jazee

We really are a country of haves and have-nots aren't we? Some good suggestions on here, I think I might write food bank at the top of the shopping list.

Will also pass on some of the supermarket suggestions to those who can make these decisions.

Another bug in my bonnet at the moment is the rise in homelessness and lack of compassion. Just this week in thriving York with tourists in abundance I saw a homeless old man collapsed in the street.

In our poorer days, we made sure the children had as much good food as possible (grandparents also helped) and we had a diet of mainly baked beans.

fuddle

A store cupboard is quite difficult to build when money is tight, especially with a family to feed. I've not had a store cupboard and suffered because of that ignorance. I have had a store cupboard and had to rely on it running it down. I have had a store cupboard that was full to the brim but had to be given away due to moving across the country in 3x trips in a transit van for the rest of the house stuff and that was bare minimum. I have had a store cupboard that saw us able to get out of a sticky situation fast and get back home (ate from the store cupboard to save grocery money to fund move) and now after 2 years of building that store cupboard I now have to whittle it down because so much of it will make me ill. I now have to start again pretty much... again and this time it's coconut flour, buckwheat etc etc that isn't readily available and costs so much more.

Building a stock cupboard is hard. I read up ways of doing it and a tin extra a week shouldn't break the bank but with 4 people eating that extra tin soon goes and before I know it I've lost any surplus again.

I build a store cupboard for my mental health and ability to cope with what if but I tell you my ruddy store cupboard has caused me so much ruddy anxiety and I'm feeling it again now because I feel I'm not ready for what if.

I have never asked for help from a foodbank but I have struggled to feed my family. For me, personally, I feel that we're a nation of people who need the foodbank because we have a lot of debt. It costs a lot to live and many don't have a lot of income anyway. It's bills, debt, food then heating in my eyes. If food poverty is on the rise then fuel poverty must be rife.

Food costs have gone up and are going up and can I just pin point that many of you got ahead in the time when the price of beans was 9p. It's much more difficult to get ahead these days.

For what it's worth I couldn't go to a foodbank knowing I had food in the cupboard and my only motivation was to want to keep my stock levels high because the foodbank exists purely because of our society's kindness. To take from such kindness when I don't really need it would have me very upset. Foodbanks aren't political. They come from a very good place. The thought of using that goodness for personal gain isn't a nice thought at all.

singlestep

mardatha wrote: »

WAll the supermarkets are doing is applying subtle leverage so that we buy more from them, to feed ourselves and also supply the foodbanks. Why can't the supermarkets themselves donate? Even a tiny percentage of the week's takings would be a huge amount.

I read yesterday that one of the German supermarkets is to donate leftover food to charity this Christmas and is encouraging rivals to do the same.

Why just Christmas, though? People are hungry and going without all year round. Is this normally YS food, so may deprive others who rely on it?

monnagran

Well said Fuddle. Moral people will never take advantage of the kindness of others, whether the kindness is directed at them or meant for someone else.
I also take exception to those who feel entitled to decide what other people need without ever standing in their shoes or knowing their circumstances.
Homelessness is a terrible, terrible thing. I am blessed never to have been there, but I have seen enough of it to understand a little of what it must be like. Any small thing that can make that even slightly better should not be hijacked by anyone who can still go to bed at night with a roof over their heads.
I am aware that food banks are there for anyone who needs them, but the word is 'need.' There will always be people who milk the system, that, unfortunately, is human nature, but that must be between them and their conscience.

As for building up a stock cupboard, as fuddle demonstrates, there is no one system that fits all. I used to keep a good stock cupboard but through my life when shortages occur, they occur suddenly and bizarrely. In the 70s who could have predicted the sudden absence of toilet rolls or sugar from the shops. Back in the 60s does anyone remember the great pepper shortage? Hardly life threatening.

In fact prepping in general is much hampered by not knowing what we are prepping for. Remember how at the beginning of WW2 we were all issued with gas masks, all ready for the expected gas attacks. Dire consequences were promised if we did not carry them with us at all times. I remember carting my Mickey Mouse gas mask to school.What we were not prepared for were doodlebugs, they came as an unpleasant surprise.
If we try to prepare for ALLeventualities we will not be living in the present and making the most of it, we will be in a state of anxiety about what might happen in an uncertain future.
There is a difference in being prudent and being obsessive.

PHEW.

GreyQueen

The rise in homelessness is a very complicated situation and there is perhaps a bit more to it than is apparent to many passers-by.

I work in a local authority. At any report of rough sleepers, a designated officer goes out to approach them and offer assistance. The official parlance for what often happens when they do is 'failure to engage with services' which is a catch-all term for rejection of help.

Homelessness charities also prowl the streets at night, looking for people to help, and oftentimes meet with the same reaction. I know of one lady who has lived rough on the streets for years, to the great despair of all statutory and charitable and religious groups who have made multiple attempts to help her - unlike picking up stray dogs, you can't kidnap stray people against their will and take them to a place of safety unless they fall into certain very specific criteria of mental health. And you can't keep them under those circumstances for very long.

Failure to engage can have many causes; mental health problems, severe drug addictions, utter bloody-mindedness or, sometimes, refusal to accept that there are limitations on the kind of help which can be offered. Examples of the latter might be that the person has just arrived in the area on a whim, with no local connections and not with the mitigating circumstances of fleeing violence, and needs to claim help in their home area. Or that you cannot keep your hostel place while attempting to deal Class A drugs to fellow residents or beating up the staff and/ or other residents.

Some of my own neighbours beg in the city centre with Hungry and Homeless signs when they are 5 minutes' walk away from their secure and comfortable council flats. They are so dirty and dishevelled that you'd swear they were sleeping under a bridge if you didn't know better. Other so-called rough sleepers stay overnight with pals, often half a dozen at a time, then head off in the morning in office hours, clutching their sleeping bags, to beg as homeless. Seen this with my own eyes, and have spoken to people in other neighbourhoods who report the same thing.

Becuase of what I know, I would be reluctant to give to beggars, for fear that my little contribution would be the final element of the price of the fix which killed them. Far better to donate to the Sally Ann who are very active here, or to the food banks.

I'm sorry if this isn't a pleasant read, or terribly PC, but my home is within 20 yards of several half-way houses and hostels and I see things on a daily basis which horrify me and horrify my neighbours, several of whom have been homeless themselves at various times. All this is in addition to what I know via my work, and is RL experience, not some home counties matron forming her opinions off the Daily Fail.

So, if you find yourself looking at the shameful sight of rough sleepers and beggars and thinking This is awful, why isn't somebody doing something?! perhaps pause a moment and remember this post and realise that an awful lot of people are trying very hard to help, with very little to show for it in some cases.:(

monnagran

I totally agree GQ. The situation in city centres is very different to the situation we find down here. In any case I would never hand out money to anyone. I have offered a sandwich and a hot drink. Genuine homeless people are very grateful. The tryers-on will refuse and go on pleading for money.
Also councils differ greatly. Here they are much better than they were. Until 5 or 6 years ago the council refused to admit that there were any homeless on the island. Their eyes have since been opened.

Yes there are charlatans as in any other walk of life. There are also cases that bring you to tears and officialdom can be very caring or very cruel and callous. There is no answer. People will go on being people, good, bad and indifferent, whatever side of the fence they find themselves on.

Chieveley

If only the food bank recipients were appreciative of the goods they receive then I might consider donating. The local Salvation hall is a few yards from our home. When passing there on foodbank afternoon two young mums were vocalising at how light the bags were this week as they lit up their ciggies and huddled into their designer togs.

Doveling

Totally agree with Mardatha :T

And, although the people who kindly donate and/or volunteer at foodbanks may not be political, the existence of foodbanks is because of politics :mad:

Back to lurkdom because I am eyeing up my soapbox which I have been keeping stored under the stairs :rotfl:

Jazee

I'm aware of all the things that are being done to try to help the homeless. However, the chap I saw the other day lying in the snow was genuine. I think all the professional beggars stayed in their warm flats that day.

Cappella

Chievely said

If only the food bank recipients were appreciative of the goods they receive then I might consider donating. The local Salvation hall is a few yards from our home. When passing there on foodbank afternoon two young mums were vocalising at how light the bags were this week as they lit up their ciggies and huddled into their designer togs.

Perhaps you should come and help in our food bank. No designer tog clad mums come to ours. Though we did get a very young mum who’d just been thrown out by her abusive husband last week, and she did look quite smart. And I’m definitely NOT a Home Counties matron, ( sorry Greyqueen can’t acknowledge you by quoting as quote won’t workagain for some odd reason) I live in one of the most socially deprived areas in the UK. Yes people abuse food banks. I don’t deny that. And yes GQ is correct, there are people who just won’t be helped living rough on the streets. And yes, it’s a political minefield.
But I don’t care. As long as there are genuinely hungry and needy people coming to our door I shall carry on manning the barricades.
Because there but for the grace go you and I - as my friend only too recently found out.