Prepping for Brexit thread

Goldiegirl

silver-oldie wrote: »

I live in an area which still has several commercial fruit orchards. Last year, after all the 'perfect' apples and pears were picked for the supermarkets and a charity was allowed to pick the rest of the fruit, to give to food banks, feed the homeless etc. They picked 2 tonnes of fruit which would have otherwise been wasted.

Maybe we grow more than we realise.

I did a quick Google search.

The apple info I found related to 2007, but it gives an idea. In 2007 we produced 147,698 tonnes of apples, and imported 552,100 tonnes. We are nowhere near self sufficlent in apples. If there's disruption in less than 8 weeks time, we will need to accept that some fresh food may not be available for a time.

GreyQueen wrote: »

Also, the issue about eggs is that raising chickens isn't as time-consuming as raising cattle, you're typically looking at 22-28 (breed and time of year dependant) weeks from hatching the chick to them laying their own eggs. Although the first eggs will typically be a bit undersized, of course.

Say we do go into Brexit with a deficiency of eggs. This is a capitalist country. Folk will seize the opportunity to fill the gap, everyone from backyard chicken keepers to major suppliers ramping up their production. I'd be very surprised if the latter weren't on the case already.

More local supply as opposed to imported supply is surely a good thing? Far fewer food miles meaning much less air pollution which will save lives and save health, less congestion on the roads, less wear and tear on the roads, greater control over welfare standards, more work for people in the UK, improvements on balance of payments.


It is only the petroleum age which has made the mass international transport of basic foodstuffs (as opposed to luxury foodstuffs for the elites) an affordable vice, after all. And yes, the Romans did used to ship grain from Egypt for several months of the year to pay off the poor of Rome with the bread dole, but they were looting large parts of the ancient world to generate the wealth to do so, and it ended badly.


ETA; just checked, and my eggs are coming off a farm 25 miles away.

Regarding the ramping up of production of eggs, you mentioned that it takes 22-28 weeks to rear a chicken to the point it lays eggs. Bearing in mind that Brexit is now less than 8 weeks away, it would be around 3 - 4 months before additional chickens are available to lay eggs to increase production.

I wouldn't be at all suprised that, in the short term after a no deal Brexit there will be some sort of egg shortage, resulting in higher prices.

I know that this is all worst case scenario, but that's what prepping is about, to cope if the worst happens.

cod3

Lizling wrote: »

I've got some egg substitutes in the cupboard in the form of apple sauce and flax seeds (and bean/chickpea water in the tins of beans.) Admittedly they're not going to go great with baked beans, mushrooms and fried bread in the morning, but they're meant to work fine in baking. I might try out the apple sauce in a cake this evening, for 'research'.

Silken tofu is an ambient food with a long shelf life. Have you tried scrambled silken tofu with a fry up? I love it

Goldiegirl

cod3 wrote: »

I have decided to sacrifice this month's mortgage overpayment funds in favour of Brexit prepping. I think it is necessary for my household, but if I am wrong, we wont have to go shopping for a while so no harm done. I don't think it is alarmist or irresponsible to stockpile in February when the shops are well stocked. If it all goes t*ts up at the end of March, there will be less people in the supermarket queue.

Short term goal: Yesterday I took delivery of a small chest freezer for frozen berries and vegetables. I'm buying extra ambient foods - tins of tomatoes, legumes, beans, coconut creams, nuts, seeds, pickles, flours, spices, tahini, peanut butter, silken tofu etc Also we have an old cat so food for him. The rest of the family is vegan so the additional freezer is easing my anxiety about the possibility of not being able to source fresh veg.

Medium term goal: We have a small house with a large garden, greenhouse, fruit trees and bushes, raised beds. I have ordered more fruit bushes on this MSE deal (ends today) to up fruit production https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/deals/thompson-and-morgan/?&_ga=2.176129505.2120511380.1549102319-2120892817.1547669673#51133

Long term goal: When/if my employer goes bust due to the Brexit omnishambles, I will have a freezer for yellow sticker food and a productive garden to help me in poverty.

Without being alarmist, it would be a good idea to Google 'Power supply after Brexit'. Some of our power does come from the EU.

I am stocking my freezer, but I'm slightly uncomfortable about it, if the worst happens and there are power cuts.

I'm hoping for the best, i.e. an early spring so that the country is not consuming power like we did last March in the late winter.

However, I'll probably I'll be using my frozen food, before my canned goods.

Lizling

cod3 wrote: »

Silken tofu is an ambient food with a long shelf life. Have you tried scrambled silken tofu with a fry up? I love it

Yes, I have and I quite like it. It works a lot better with the silken stuff than the firm version that so many recipes inexplicably use. I haven't quite found the perfect mix of spices for it yet, but I've got a couple of ideas to try.

Silken tofu's been on my shopping list for a couple of weeks but I can't get it from my usual shops, so it has to wait until I need enough bits for a trip to the Chinese supermarket or Chinatown to be worth it.

Honey_Bear

GreyQueen wrote: »

Say we do go into Brexit with a deficiency of eggs. This is a capitalist country. Folk will seize the opportunity to fill the gap, everyone from backyard chicken keepers to major suppliers ramping up their production. I'd be very surprised if the latter weren't on the case already.

For lead times for increasing domestic egg production, there's a good article here in Farmer's Weekly which includes a quick skim of a case study for setting up a new production unit. Planning permission alone for permanent sheds takes a minimum of 6 - 8 weeks which would be necessary for a 10,000 bird flock.

Agricultural Colleges have met reduced demand for animal husbandry by cutting the number of students for decades so we don't have enough people trained to look after the national flock if it's increasing in size to produce the 14% of eggs needed to fill the shortfall. Putting more food into the existing flock doesn't increase lay; hens can only produce an egg a day for most of the year when looked after superbly well.

Longer term, egg production is one of the few areas we could be self-sufficient relatively easily. We'd need to import a lot more grain to feed them, but the lead time means that it will be several months before there is any chance of the shortfall being met and it will require farmers to make substantial investment commitments. Until Michael Gove publishes his strategy for post-brexit agriculture in the UK it's unlikely most farmers would be willing to risk that investment.

In the Prepping for Brexit context I'm really only commenting on the likelihood of food shortages in the three, six and twelve months post-Brexit, currently focussing on a No Deal scenario.

My crystal ball doesn't work for a longer timescale so I have no interest in it at the moment.

cod3

Goldiegirl wrote: »

Without being alarmist, it would be a good idea to Google 'Power supply after Brexit'. Some of our power does come from the EU.

I am stocking my freezer, but I'm slightly uncomfortable about it, if the worst happens and there are power cuts.

I'm hoping for the best, i.e. an early spring so that the country is not consuming power like we did last March in the late winter.

However, I'll probably I'll be using my frozen food, before my canned goods.

Hiya. Thanks. I did wonder about power outages when weighing up whether to get a big freezer for the garage or a small freezer for the house and went for the latter with only 99L capacity.

In a shortish power cut, less will be wasted with the small freezer and we can always cook up the ingredients then refreeze when the power is restored. Only plant based foods so should be ok to do this. If the power is off for a long time then we will have ambient stores to fall back on (Or make berry vodka haha)

Honey_Bear

Goldiegirl wrote: »

Without being alarmist, it would be a good idea to Google 'Power supply after Brexit'. Some of our power does come from the EU.

I am stocking my freezer, but I'm slightly uncomfortable about it, if the worst happens and there are power cuts.

I'm hoping for the best, i.e. an early spring so that the country is not consuming power like we did last March in the late winter.

However, I'll probably I'll be using my frozen food, before my canned goods.

We've got a fair amount of meat and salmon in ours, all of which I'm planning to eat prior to 29 March. We've been decreasing the amount of meat we eat slowly but surely over the past few years and what's left is only what we bought for a big party and didn't use, or was on such a good offer it couldn't be ignored.

For Prepping purposes tinned fish seems to be the answer to this conundrum, and we live in the UK's biggest fishing ports, about a quarter of a mile from the fish market. If Brexit goes t*** up we won't be able to export what we actually catch, so we're going to become very continental in learning how to use what's actually landed here. Reminds me, must print off cuttlefish recipes now, while the power is still available, and no, I'm not being facetious. Fortunately it works well on a barbeque so it's ideal.

As the main shortage that's discussed for March, April and May is fruit, veg and diary, that's what's going to be in our freezer, along with butter and cheddar. Longlife milk can be used if people must have milk in their tea and coffee (I don't), but much more importantly, can be used to make fabulous yoghurt.

In the event of a powercut, the advice has always been not to open the freezer, as the contents will stay frozen for 24 hours even with no power as long as the door isn't opened.

It's sort of self-defeating if that's where your Prepping Stores are and you need to raid it to eat, and then don't have the power to cook what you took out anyway.

Tinned fish is pre-cooked, so it's win:win.

thriftwizard

Thanks for the T&M link, Cod3, that's irresistible! Between the garden - not big, but big enough - and the allotment, we'll fit all of those in; we do grow some strawbs & rasps already, and have one blueberry, but the bantams stole all the blueberries last summer when OH moved the pot with the bush in "to get more sunshine"... it's just a shame they don't like gojiberries any more than I do!

Shropshirelass

I wonder if European growers realise that they need to be planting less salad, fruit and vegetables, because they won't be allowed to export them to us. Both sides of the channel, some will be very cross with the politicians who have been 'negotiating the deal'.

On a more cheerful note, if there was a shortage of eggs/chickens, I'm sure regulations would be passed quickly to provide for the shortfall. Both sets of my grandparents kept chuckyhens in the back garden during rationing, and DFIL had his East London yard full of tomato plants, which did very well. But I somehow find it difficult to believe that our supermarkets will allow shelves to be empty for any length of time. They won't want customers to get used to spending less and growing their own.

GreyQueen

I think there may be a presupposition that producers are going to wait for Brexit and then put in PP for agricultural sheds/ bring additional chicks up to point-of-lay. I'd be very surprised if business people are sitting on their hands until the end of next month then making moves which require a lengthy lead-in time. You don't run a successful business by being so lackadasical, do you? And backyard chicken keepers are a lot more flexible in terms of their ability to add a few hens to satisfy their own household needs and possibly have some extra eggs to sell/ barter or gift to others.



Ordinary people adding ambient foodstuffs to their pantries/ armageddon cupboards aren't waiting until the last minute to do so, either. I've been making gradual additions over the past several months and I'm sure there are plenty on MSE Old Style and beyond who are quietly doing the same.