THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

[Deleted User]

Fuddles 1 - He Who Fishes 0 result of the day!

mumf

Cappella wrote: »

Mumf - you're right about food hygiene standards here, they're better than in many countries so I'm not shouting you down at all. I've never had a problem with oats or pasta but I buy my rice in bulk from an ethnic supermarket and did once have a very nasty problem with it :rotfl: Also had issues with flour mite from M****sns so take no chances now.

Fair play.Its just something I have never experienced tbh.

moneyistooshorttomention

I don't see anyone "shouting down" anyone else re the possibility of bugs in food. "Disagreeing" but not "shouting down" (goodness knows there seems to be enough of that going on at the moment in other respects:cool:).

Personally - I've found "bugs in my food" once over the years. It hadnt spread from the rice I found it in - and was a bit unnerving at the time:eek:

mumf

My apologies.That was the wrong phrase to use.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

I've just waved goodbye to a full bin bag of flours, rice, pasta, pulses, sugar, dried fruit, seeds and noodles, thanks to *somebody* thinking it's OK to leave packaged foods in the cupboards unsealed.

As Ground Zero appeared to be half a packet of Rich Tea biscuits shoved at the back and forgotten about (I don't eat biscuits), I suspect that the culprits - Mediterranean Flour Moths - fluttered in through the back door from one of the multitude of catering establishments in the next road, if not from a neighbour bulkbuying items of dubious provenance, and found moth Nirvana when the *somebody* repeatedly left the cupboard doors open and items on the side for days on end.


Fortunately, because of my [strike]grumpiness and pessimism[/strike] common sense, the majority of stocks were securely in glass jars or plastic bags firmly sealed with clips, so it was only a full bin bag, rather than everything.

Two massive cupboards have been bottomed, everything left has been examined, wiped and put back (or luzzed in disgust) and I'm about to move onto the small cupboard of 'things I really haven't even looked at' and then the spice cupboard. Fortunately, his wish to make amends - as I didn't actually murderise him, I just showed him the contaminated items - means that he does the scrubbing for me and I just empty the cupboards/[strike]consider the best way to dispose of a body[/strike] chuck things as I go.


The secondhand breadmaker I bought has been tested and works perfectly, so that saves money on bread - I worked out the cost and if 1.5kg of strong flour costs £1 (which it won't forever, but that's what it is right now), I get 3 large loaves out of it, the yeast costs a penny (CBA to work out the actual cost and if push comes to shove, there's always sourdough starter to make), the salt a penny (I like posh salt) and I stick a small glug of rapeseed oil in it, before you allow for electricity, there's a large loaf of crusty bread for about 35p.

A single loaf of the vile sliced stuff he was buying costs £1.35.


I am not going to remind him that whilst I am the one who has a job, 'taking care of the house' does mean not neglecting fundamentals of food storage and safety. And not letting him kill the spiders in the kitchen isn't just because I'm some sort of animal rights crusader, it's because they have done a pretty good job of dealing with pests until the last few weeks where it's got out of hand inside the cupboards.

The latter is exactly why I don't tell the Idiot Cat off when he manages to get himself a lightly squishy baby mouse - as long as he doesn't bring it inside. I like them and wouldn't willingly kill them unless they're in the house then I'm sorry, all animal rights go out of the window), but I'm not going to stop him from fulfilling his evolutionary expectations. It is, biologically speaking, the cat's whole job and reason for the pampered existence of his entire kind.

Having said that, the Idiot Cat is currently splodged out underneath the coffee table with a frozen bottle of water to cool where he's laying. I don't remember ever seeing that on a tomb wall.



Have open frozen my first half pound of blackberries today. Looks like they're going to be far more successful than the raspberries, which were absolutely useless this year, and the cherry tree, which didn't bother flowering at all, but has consented to send out lots more bits that will hopefully flower next Spring.

I'm also hoping that the failure of the chard to do anything but grow enormous almost overnight and then run to seed means that I'll have a problem with chard 'weeds' next year, as I managed to hurt myself and wasn't in a position to get outside and do anything about it for a long time.


My one regret was planting a Pyracantha for intruder deterrent. It's loving it. I don't mind the inherent risks in pruning, I don't completely begrudge the Fieldfares and Blackbirds/Thrushes having berries in winter - but I wish I'd planted a Blackthorn instead.

[Deleted User]

Oh JO-JO it's a shuddering feeling isn't it? so sorry it's happened and so sorry for the waste it creates too, this blistering heat will be hatching loads of nasties, so everyone PLESAE check through your dry goods and make sure you've not got pests in them, do it NOW!!!

GreyQueen

In my job, the environmental health line is busy busy busy now as people are reporting hot & cold running insects indoors. Really good time, if you can bear the heat, to get into your storage areas and check things out.


Re pantry pests, I've not had the pleasure myself but have seen weevils in flour at Mum's and a pal who is something of a gourmet cook used to keep his speciality flours all in their opened packets with the tops rolled down in a wall cupboard.


:eek: Until the inevitable happened and some purchase introduced insects and they went through the lot like billy-o.


Re storing dry foodstuffs in plastic, just to mention that mice are perfectly capable of chewing through even heavy-duty placcy containers. Have seen it in Nan's pantry when they went through a very tough container in order to get cooking chocolate. Only metal or glass is actually mouse-proof. Also, a pal with an older property in the country favours glass jars with rubber gaskets as several species of pantry beetle are small enough to walk themselves into a screw-top jar by strolling around the thread.


Jo Jo, totally agree with you about praising the cat for mousing. the parental cats are about 14 now but will still catch mice and even take down juvenile rats. They seem have a non-aggression pact with the squirrels, tho; I think those are just too fast and athletic for the old ladies to bother chasing.:rotfl:


I have been running down my stocks with intention to restock with new tins and jars. something which is work in progress. I am going to use tinned pulses because many have inconvenient soaking and cooking times and we could be in a pickle if there is little fuel to cook with; my camping stove would have to be used cagily. I do have about 20 butane cylinders for that.


I also have the cookset for the kelly kettle but have not played with that bit yet, it's on my autumn things-to-do (once the drought has broken, of course).

maryb

I prefer storing things in glass jars rather than plastic anyway because of nasties in plastic leaching into the food. I particularly like the 2l glass Kilner type jars from Ikea. They are tall and narrow and fit the bottom shelf of my kitchen cupboard very efficiently and they don't carry such a hefty price tag as the branded type

[Deleted User]

We preppers ought to think seriously about Brexit and how we're going to prepare for that, other than the millennium it's the biggest 'thing' to have reared its ugly little head into our lives this century. It's all guess work at the moment as to what we'll get, won't get and what life here in the UK will be like after it's happened but as we like to be somewhat in charge of today and make as sure as we can of tomorrow and all the succeeding tomorrows after that we might find it useful to have all our ideas on the table so we can all benefit from them. I know there is great division in the population over this and I'm not trying to provoke those who feel it ought never to have happened I just would feel slightly easier in mind if we all come up with ideas for how to live in a very different place to the one we inhabit today.

[Deleted User]

1) Our first change to the new house when we finally get moved will be to install a multi fuel stove, a good one that does a double burn and one that releases as little by way of emissions into the environment as it's possible to get. I want one that has either an oven over the firebox or a cooking plate on the top that will let me cook on it and boil kettles while it keeps us warm. We're moving to the edge of a lovely big forest area so I'm hopeful of a regular supply of good firewood to run it on too. It will cost us quite a lot of money but I feel will be a wise and useful investment for the comfort of lives and our home.