Moving House Old Style

rising_from_the_ashes

Yup, I'd run down before you move and then do a big shop once in.

Take enough to get you through the first couple of days/nights (bread, milk, tea, coffee, sugar etc, pasta & sauce OK for a couple of nights till you get sorted). Don't forget pans, kettle, cups, cutlery, plates etc (which is what I usually do!:o I've moved 19 times so a pretty old hand at it.)

Before the winter sets in, make sure you've loads of staples in the cupboards (tea/coffee/sugar, long life milk, a few loaves in the freezer, pasta & sauces, lots of tinned stuff) as well as things like loo rolls etc (nightmare if you're snowed in for ages & run out:eek:) in case you can't get out for a while.

Meals in the freezer are great but RAS has made a very good point about long power cuts (DM & DF were cut off for 8 days a few years ago) - they now have a generator so can run freezers, fridge and boiler but that's about all it will do.

Camping stoves are great for hot water, cooking on etc if no power.

Have a look at the "preparing for winter" thread - esp important in rural areas where you may be more susceptible to power cuts, being snowed in etc.

Even if the supermarkets deliver, they won't always be able to get to you if the weather's really bad - last winter DM & DF were unable to get out for nearly 4 weeks:eek: and the vans were unable to get up the road to the houses (very rural area).

I grew up in a very rural area (still rural now but we have a couple of shops within walking distance, however, they run out of stuff within a couple of days if the weather's bad and deliveries can't get through) and it's fantastic! Lucky you, good luck with the move.:)

weeze210

charlies-aunt wrote: »

Think about creating a store cupboard - dried, longlife and tinned.
A couple of tins of corned beef are an excellent stopgap - can be morphed into shepherd pies, pastry pies, stews and curries
Living in the country will give you an opportunity to buy potatoes by the sack to store in the garage and fresh eggs, veggies from local small holders
Think ahead and try and meal plan for the next few weeks and buy accordingly
Think about using leftovers and buying a slow cooker - Sundays chicken can be stretched over several days - turnng it into casserole, curries and thick hm soup

Hope this is helpful x

Can't stand corned beef!
Already have a slow cooker but only tend to do big joints in it. I'm too scared to just put stuff in and hey presto out comes a lovely tasty meal, (well thats what you lot seem to be able to do!).

Weeze x

RAS

weeze210 wrote: »

We will have a very small shop for milk, bread etc

Good get a smal amount of UHT milk as a stand by before late November - when it snows or floods or is ice bound, the shop will nit have any. Ditto the flour and dried yeast.

weeze210 wrote: »

and the post office comes to use twice a week I think.

Find out and consider opening an account that can be accessed via the Post office. That way you do not have to travel 30 miles to get an ATM, or even 10-15 if that is what it is.[/QUOTE]

weeze210 wrote: »

have checked and A$DA seems to deliver. (although I prefer Te$co. Not sure about what else is in the area so might go and have a look soon as the kids are off so will have time to get there and back in a day!

It really is worth getting at least one bulk shop a month for thwe tinned stuff like tomatoes, loo rolls etc

OrkneyStar

weeze210 wrote: »

As some may know I am moving to a very rural area of Wales, the nearest big town is 30 mins drive away. Does anyone have any tips on ..........well............surviving basically? I am not an organised person and tend to do what Jamie Oliver calls 'sleep shopping', basically buying the same stuff week in week out. I know I should menu plan but I just don't know where to start. Should I stock up on things before I move or do a shop once I've moved. I'm thinking about moving more stuff and things defrosting or getting damaged verses having to find the shops, travel to the shops and what do I eat before I do the shopping? As if there isn't enough to think about when buying, selling and moving!
Ideas and opinions please.

Weeze x:undecided

We live on an island (Orkney), we have a Coop 5 mins away (small convenience store) and 15 miles away we have a Lidl, Tesco (not Extra but bigger than Metro sized) and another Coop. We used not to have Lidl and the Tesco was a Somerfield. We used to stock up on the mainland when we went away (once or twice a year) on certain foods (juice cartons, tins, etc) but do that less now with having Tesco. I would say anywhere rural it is a good idea to have a store cupboard of tins, jars, pasta, flour, UHT milk etc, nothing exciting but enough to feed you should you be snowed in or something for a wee while. It might be an idea to take a small cupboard stock-pile when you move, and then each time you make the trip to the bigger shops, you could buy a few extra tins to add to it! A well-stocked freezer also helps, although not so good in power cuts (though lasts for a while if you don't keep opening door!). We tend to shop less too, as of course each trip uses more diesel! We tend to get diesel more often than not in bigger town (cheaper) but do use local station every so often as we do want them to be able to stay open there too!
Hope this is of some help, and good luck with the move!

[Deleted User]

weeze we used to live in very rural wales. The first thing I suggest is to get to learn at least a smattering of welsh as none welsh speakers find it pretty hard to integrate. You will find everything available food and non-food wise so my advice is to take enough basics for a few days and asap get yourself a large empty chest freezer, for an outhouse/garage plus the everyday house freezer. You will very quickly learn to adapt your shopping habits, just by thinking ahead for a few weeks. You won`t starve and you will find delightful old fashioned produce shops

My big freezer was soon filled with bread, meat, fish, butter and so on and I shopped once a month at a big supermarket

Enjoy your new adventure and go with the flow

Red_Doe

Not much to add I'm afraid..I'm also rural but you're one up on me as nobody delivers here aside from Approved Food (worth a look )
Lots of good advice here already. I'd say, always have backups in case of winter powercuts...camping stoves, portable heaters etc, and keep as much dried and tinned goods as you can...don't rely heavily on the freezer.

weeze210

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3418715

Have also posted this thread about getting a tall larder freezer or a chest freezer if anyone wants to add their oppinion.

Thankyou so much for all your replies you are such a helpful lot.
I have started packing, books, ornaments, DVD's, CD's ect but have now come to a standstill as we use all the other stuff so can't pack it yet.

Weeze x

[Deleted User]

The first thing I did when we moved into our cottage was convert a cupboard in the hall to a store cupboard. Then made a list of staples, flour, bread flour, porridge oats, sugar etc, tinned foods like tomato's and also carrots and various types of beans.....the things you use every day, don't forget the loo paper, news paper is hard on the rear and does not flush especially of you are on a septic tank!! Washing powder, washing up liquid, bleach, matches, keep a some bread mixes in as well.

We had a camping gas lamp and single burner stove, plenty of candles, hot water bottles and fleece blankets. Made sure we had a bunker full of coal, the tank full of oil and the woodstore full of wood before the start of the winter. If you do not have an open fire or woodstove consider getting one of the portable hass heaters but make sure you ventilate properly as they give off a lot of moisture as they burn and can cause bad condensation.

I was so glad that I had a well stocked freezer and store cupboard during last winter, we were snowed in for almost 5 weeks, and had it not been for our neighbours clearing snow round the cottage, there were days when we just would not have been able to get to the coal bunker or wood store. Thankfully we had plenty to eat and able to keep warm, despite our fears we did not loose power either.

Farway

RAS wrote: »

Find out and consider opening an account that can be accessed via the Post office. That way you do not have to travel 30 miles to get an ATM, or even 10-15 if that is what it is.

Nationwide can be accessed via PO, cash over the counter if no ATM, no fees

Mojisola

Deleted_User wrote: »

The first thing I did when we move into our cottage was convert a cupboard in the hall to a store cupboard. Then made a list of staples, flour, bread flour, porridge oats, sugar etc, tinned foods like tomato's and also carrots and various types of beans.....the things you use every day, don't forget the loo paper, new paper is hard on the rear and does not flush especially of you are on a septic tank!! Washing powder, washing up liquid, bleach, matches, keep a some bread mixes in as well.

Keep a list on the door and get in the habit of crossing off every time you take something out of the cupboard. That makes putting together a shopping list easy and you won't run out of things.

I used to do the same for our big freezer when we lived in the country - I've got spoiled now that there are several big supermarkets where we live.