Prepping for Brexit thread

[Deleted User]

I think we all wonder just what is coming our way Gettingtheresometime, nothing is a given, the landscape is ever changing and day to day we're leaving...we're not...we might...we may never do so, it will be a week ago, 12th April, 23rd May, 30th June, the end of the year...this year, next year, sometime....never? All any of us can actually do is look at what we'd not like to do without and buy in stocks while they're available and at a price we can afford. If Brexit does happen no one knows what life will be after it and even with a smooth transition there are bound to be hiccups just because there are changes to the norm of trading. I don't prep however just for Brexit, I was a prepper long before Brexit was even thought of and this world is a fragile place fraught with all sorts of problems not the least of which is extremes of weather which are happening increasingly frequently, the threat of terrorism and yes, you have to be extremely unlucky to get caught up in an event but if one happens in your locality there is shut down for an unknown period of time so having stocks in is sensible, there is also the possibility of illness that means you can't get about or even a pandemic illness which the medical experts dealing in epidemiology are saying is long overdue in the normal run of things. I have over the years come to realise that if any of those and a plethora of other possibilities happens the only one who is going to look after you and yours is YOU and therefore being prepared isn't just a whimsical fantasy it's a practical measure that anyone with a shred of practical common sense would be wise to adopt. Your preps will be useful don't worry they won't and if anything untoward does happen you'll have instant security knowing that you've got them ahead of the event.

[Deleted User]

GQ I'd go for loose leaf tea any day, we've changed over entirely as we found that a pot of tea made with tea bags after the first cup ended up covered with dusty 'slicks' that floated on top of the second and subsequent (YES WE LIKE OUR TEA) cups poured from the pot. I changed brand of tea bags several times and all of them did this which is visually off putting to put it mildly and the tea pot was becoming encrusted with dark brown tannin deposits far to quickly. We changed to loose leaf tea and the problem has gone, the tea pot is staying clean and the only inconvenience is having to use a tea strainer (and remembering that fact) when you pour tea. I think loose leaf tea is a superior product and a 250g pack lasts us a week with two pots of tea a day. In storage I think there would be little difference between loose and bags but I'd rather pay £1.49 for my weekly pack and have decent tea than considerably more than that for tea bags and the problems they bring.

Farway

GreyQueen wrote: »

......... but let me not derail the thread. Instead, can I ask the opinion of OS-ers as to whether they think that loose tea or teabag tea has greater keeping powers?

I'm with ML, go for loose, I only use loose these days, for much same reasons as ML

Loose tea, IME is foil bagged and the smaller 125g packs would last yonks in store, as would the larger ones of course but once opened they would deteriorate

I plead guilty to non MSE on this as I buy expensive blend loose tea which suits my taste:o

maryb

I find tea bags do go stale a bit more quickly. I can only think it's because with loose tea, there is less surface exposed IYSWIM, or because tea bag tea is finer. I've switched to loose tea to avoid the plastic mesh in teabags, though it's annoying that most loose tea comes in unrecyclable foil even when it's in a cardboard box. PG Tips is sealed with paper inside the cardboard but I prefer a fuller flavoured tea. Sainsbugs Red Label used to be really nice but the last lot I had was sweepings, so fine it came through the tea strainer. Waitrose Essentials is my current fave for flavour

GreyQueen

Thank you, all. I have about a dozen 250g pkts of Sainsbugs Red Label in the cupboard, have previously found it pretty OK and am now a tad concerned it may be of poorer quality. I'm now stocking up with Mr T's Loose Leaf Original in the red box. Being a cardboard box, allbeit with a pouch inside, it is easier to shelve then the Sainsbugs pouches.


I do use teabags which I take to work, as don't have the desk space to faff around with teapots and strainers.


Loose tea seems to come with a BB or about 14 months, but I shall treat that as a guidline rather than gospel.

DigForVictory

Another opinion that loose tea lasts longer, but unfortunately my stashes are of boxes of teabags as I have trained the menfolk therewith. To achieve a cup of tea Just the way I like it meant I started training them when they were shorter than me.

I could try & teach them the joys of loose leaf but the teapots & strainers as well as bewilderment just seems fatiguing. Says she who runs a teapot at work to avoid incessant wandering to & from the teapoint. I do plan to start a leaf tea assortment (assam, darjeeling, ceylon as starters, gunpowder, pekoe etc as the next logical steps & just see how I go) but that may be a retirement project.

<inspects for slicks, thoughtfully>

silvasava

Builders tea here with Co-op 99 teabags. I do have a lovely cast pot with a strainer that I sometimes use on the woodburner for coffee though

DryTheRain

I practically live on tea, and while I dabble with herbal brews (YogiTea's Choco Chilli is nice) it's PG Tips every time for me My new favourite pep up is an espresso cup of hot stock, with a dab of honey, a slice of ginger or chilli maybe, topped with black pepper and a drizzle of sherry. It sounds eccentric even writing it, but really it's delicious (like a hot bloody mary) and goes very nicely with book at bedtime!

timehastoldme

The poor and the ill always get the worst end of the stick, but it's not the fault of migrants or foreign nationals.

Having worked in the NHS I can 100% guarantee that it would buckle faster if we took away everyone working in it who was not a native Brit. The NHS relies on doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, care workers etc from all over the world. It actively recruits abroad because there are not enough doctors and nurses here to meet demand. The NHS has seen rule changes and management shifts that cost money, and instead of investment, it has had a real term budget cut.

The reason we don't have as many nurses and doctors readily available is the pressure on education. The other public sector I've worked in, until financial constraints forced redundancy. Schools and colleges have no money. The cuts to the budget have bitten deeply, resources are scarce and redundancies are common. This is central government policy. Nurse bursaries went, tuition fees went up, less kids are able to afford education. Those who are affluent can, and those who are poor, they struggle. I've taught in well to do areas where kids all had their own horses and parents were mostly bankers' I've taught in poor areas where the majority of students were refugees and migrants and the problems were the same. It's not the fault of the kids and the language they speak.

Social housing is sold and not replaced, council budgets are slashed. This isn't the fault of migrants, this is a funding issue. I taught a students who lived in awful hostels and contracted TB, students who lived a family of four in a one bedroom flat, students whose whole family were evicted when the oldest turned eighteen. There is no luxury for the economic migrant.

Perception of foreign nationals doesn't always match realiy. I grew up in an area where the majority of people were of Indian or Pakistani heritage, and it was quite frankly glorious. The reason the demographic was such, was the need in the fifties and sixties for workers in industry. They came and worked the jobs that no one wanted and built their lives here. My experience of all the students and nurses I've worked with is that, this hasn't changed. They come to work and build a life and enrich this country infinitely.

The government finds money for high speed railways no one wants, for Chris Graylings numerous errors, for higher earner tax cuts, for expenses and MP salary hikes, for the DUP, for goodness knows how many flights to Brussels, and not for school meals or to train nurses. Not the fault of foreign nationals.

[Deleted User]

We all have different backgrounds and we all have divergent stories of how life has been shaped, we all come from different regions and we ALL have to find a way to live together. My own beginnings are very humble, church mouse poor, always cold, always hungry and with a family life that was parents at war constantly and my brother and I were the ammunition used by mother against father. I remember very well holes in shoes that I couldn't afford to have fixed chilblains every winter, having to collect lemonade bottles for the 3d deposit they gave so we could buy batter bits from the chippy or we didn't eat, not from choice but because that was all we could afford.


My children both had a superb education from school and because we as parents gave them as much extra input as we could, I worked specifically to put the fees into the bank before they went to university so they wouldn't have debt, I never took 1p of my wages for me, they went direct into the bank for the girls. We made choices in life that now enable us to have a relatively comfortable old age we didn't have all the possessions, trips, holidays, new cars etc. we paid off the mortgage when we were made redundant rather than splurge the money on 'things' and have a much more comfortable life because of our choices and we now live on a pension so still have to make considered and careful choices. We've never been unemployed, never had to claim 1p from the state for anything and have all our lives been grateful for the systems that have kept us educated, in good health and safe in our homes. My much loved dear Sister in Law was born in India and we have friends from many diverse races and creeds. We are all people under the sun, we do NOT have a phobia over foreign nationals, we celebrate their enrichment of all aspects of our lives!