THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

Cappella

Welcome everyone

Petrolhead - it's never to late to start preparing for those nasty emergencies that floor us all from time to time. I spent six weeks housebound three years ago, and was very thankful indeed for a full pantry and freezer And as d-f-v said preps can often furnish unexpectedly needed gifts.

Cheapskate - good point. Sometimes we need to prioritise what to keep and what to throw in order for our prepping to be most effective.

I'm shattered, spent the day digging spuds and pulling up broad beans. The ground is lying fallow now but we'll be putting winter brassica in over the next few weeks. We have three sacks of good spuds which will keep well in our dry shed over autumn, but the yield is very poor compared to last year's six sacks

[Deleted User]

If there is likely to be a smaller potato crop because of the dry hot weather it might be a sensible idea to buy in now some large packs (5kg) of pasta, rice and even flour to use as the carb parts of meals because unlike potatoes, rice and pasta will keep for years without deterioration. I think any shortages will show before the colder weather sets in and undoubtedly the price of potato products will be greatly increased even at the chippy! The flour would be useful to make chapatis and flatbreads to go with all sorts of things as well as making the normal bread and baked goods we're used to.

GreyQueen

I'm going to be planting a lot more potatoes next year on my Plot2, I usually plant 6 kg of seed spuds but I think I will probably plant about 8-10 kg in 2019. A lot of them go to the 'rents, who insist on paying me whatever is the market rate for farm-gate potatoes by the 25 kg sack.


There seems to be a fair amount of hysteria going on about post-brexit price increases - today's wailing and gnashing of teeth being about cheese and beef. Nil problemo, we produce good quality of both in the UK and the ever-growing vegan cohort leave more available for omnivores like yours truly.


I was told the following joke (by a complementary health practictioner, no less):


Q ; How do you tell a vegan?
A: You don't need to, they'll tell you.

:oAch well, it made me laugh, anyway.:rotfl:


Oh, and there's an awful lot of meat available on the cloven hoof in the UK in the form of venison and non-native species like muntjak are causing a lot of damage to our woodlands. We could try chowing down on them, it would solve several issues handily.



GQ - otherwise known as an apex predator, alongside the rest of homo sapiens.

Karmacat

Great post, GQ :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:


I'm gathering together lots of small trays for growing microgreens - they'll be put in larger trays, to group them tidily. I'm determined to work on my greens Speaking of which, I'm going to plant some kale seeds *indoors* - I germinated some very old seeds last year, successfully, but they were eaten when they were about two inches high, by slugs going to keep them inside till they're strong

mardatha

Already got a load of pasta MrsL, from Costco. I'm another one who is going to plant more tatties next year, mine so far have been delicious.

Cappella

Another one here who's stocked up on rice and pasta MrsLW
A word of caution though about storing wholemeal pasta in glass jars on windowsills in full sun during heat waves.
Not 100% sure quite what went wrong. I usually store dried goods in our cool pantry, but left them out on the kitchen windowsill for several weeks thinking it would be easy to grab them when needed and also see at a glance what needed replenishing from my main store cupboard.
Anyway I opened an unused jar of penne pasta yesterday and it ended up in our food waste bin. It smelt horrible, rather like rancid flour, and the smell didn't vanish after a few minutes. I tasted a dried piece and spat it out. It was revolting and most definitely off, though well within its use by date, only bought three weeks ago and was fine when I emptied it into the jar.
White linguine stored next to it was absolutely fine though so I am puzzled. Wonder if it was the wholemeal element perhaps?
Anyway I've moved all of my jars into the pantry for the moment. May reinstate them as the weather turns cooler.

Petrolhead4

I truly admire everyone's gardening skills - I'm so hopeless. I may not even be able to keep my tinned stuff edible!

One great tip I've learned from this thread over the last 24 hours, is to not read through the old posts just before bed. All those scenarios fuelled the most alarming set of dreams I've ever had in my life! :eek:

PS. Thanks for the welcomes Capella and Nargleblast

[Deleted User]

Was it egg pasta Capella? it might be that the egg turned in the heat as the sun through the window would have made it very hot indeed. Or because wholewheat has the oils still in it it might be the oil that has gone rancid. I don't much care for the taste of brown pasta even when it's not rancid, it always has a 'tang' to it that makes me shudder. Always annoying when something goes off though isn't it?

[Deleted User]

Petrolhead, the thread isn't Enid Blyton that's for sure but then if any of the scenarios actually happened life wouldn't be Enid Blyton either would it? That's what the prepping thread is for so folks can learn and knowledge is strength, knowledge of old fashioned 'how to's' knowledge of what's safe and isn't to forage for, how to find/make clean water, a fire, a shelter, how to stay safe in a 'situation' , how to have an escape plan if something kicks off where you happen to be, none of these are ever going to make for comfortable bedtime reading but may just save lives if they're ever needed for real. Worth knowing about even if it is a bit scary!

Petrolhead4

That is so true MrsL! x