Prepping for Brexit thread

chirpychick

I have started stocking up on carrots, i was told a donkey sanctuary is struggling to buy the quantity they need right now, fresh. So i figured they would be expensive or hard to come by later in the year, just add a tin each week as well as peas and ive started on green beans and i dont think we ever have eaten tinned veg other than sweet corn.
My son loves broccoli and cauliflower but i hate the frozen stuff, ill be stocking up though to ensure they get their veg lol

dreaming

grunnie wrote: »

I grown my own carrots broccoli cauliflowers onions shallots potatoes and sprouts turnips parsnips and a few more I can't remember. They are either stored carefully or frozen and have enough to last a year. I have never eaten a tinned carrot! I am laughing myself silly with someone telling us to buy tinned carrots now.

So you have done your own form of prepping Grunnie, but not everyone has the facilities to grow their own, either in terms of space for growing, or the physical abilities to do so. Root vegetables can be stored for a good long time without freezing if you have the space and knowledge. How do your store yours Grunnie - is it the clamp method? Might be helpful if you shared your knowledge for those who not have come across this. Of course, as soon as you freeze food you are at the mercy of the electricity supply being maintained (unless you have your own generator of course). I'm not a fan of tinned veg. myself as it always seems too sweet (and soft) for my taste, but it will be useful as a stand-by. I do like tinned pulses/lentils though as they save on time and energy costs (if the power supplies are interrupted - thinking more of winter preps than Brexit). I only have a small freezer, and a small house, so couldn't really store a year's worth of anything. I tend to think in terms of a few weeks at a time.

grunnie

I store potatoes in my garage which is frost free as it is joined on to the house. Carrots are lifted and put into buckets layered with sand and I just dig in when I need them. Onions I dry in a cold frame along with shallots and stored in the shed. All the rest of veg several kinds of beans and peas are frozen. I put them into portion sizes so none are wasted. Beetroot are left in the garden and just lifted when I run out. I picked them in a vinegar water spice mix and the keep forever. Apples and pears are picked and I put them on a bed of newspaper in a plastic tray( the ones the garden centre use to transport pot plants are ideal). These are stored in the garage as well.
I have done this for the last 44 years so it gets easier every year.
Strawberries rasps black red and white currants are in the freezer. I started this years ago as we were hard up and as I don't drive carrying home stuff like potatoes with 2 toddlers and pushing a pram was difficult. Well you did ask! Not prepping for Brexit but just prepping to survive. A homemade blackcurrant drink in the middle of winter when you have a cold is just yummy add a ton of sugar and the grankids will drink it.

grunnie

Just to add my neighbours have the same size garden as me and only one has plants and shrubs the rest are all cement or all grass or chuckies so it is a personal choice to turn the back garden into an allotment.

[Deleted User]

Things I am going to put some stocks of in are suet, veg or beef, either will do and flour with a raising agent and I know it's frowned upon by many people as being unhealthy but if we add dumplings to soup/stews/casseroles be they with meat or pulse and vegetable based we'll have full tummies and not be hungry. He Who Knows parents were Suffolk born and bred and it's an old custom from both sides of the family to have a decent sized dumpling or Yorkshire pudding filled with gravy as a starter to the main meal, it's the filler that lets less meat be able to feed more people and is such a good idea. I know they often had something like rice pudding afterwards too which is another simple and cheap way of filling corners on days when the larder is less than generous. If and it is only an if we do get disruptions to power supplies our homes will be colder and we'll use the dumpling calories to keep warm, if we get frequent power outages we'll all have to do more physical work than we do now to keep homes and clothing in good order so it will help there too and if we find that public transport isn't as available as it is now and perhaps petrol/diesel prices are beyond affording we'll have to start walking to get where we need to go. Bodies need fuelling for increased activities and suet and flour will keep!

dreaming

Thanks Grunnie. I'm sure lots of people will find this helpful. I do have a small brick built shed (old coal-house) but no garage, and do manage to store some stuff in there - some root veg (bought these days although I used to grow more) and some tins in plastic crates - but it does get quite damp so I have to check it regularly.
Most of my prepping came about through financial straits rather than any particular perceived threat, but the knowledge serves just the same, and this is the sort of thing I think we could/should be sharing - not just for Brexit but just for the good of our communities. I have learned a lot from MSE forums over the past few years and thank all of those who are so generous in giving help and advice without judgement.

melanzana

Sorry now.

Leaving aside all the angst about what may or may not happen, there is absolutely NO WAY that folk should have to prep outside a wartime/nuclear disaster situation.

But maybe some people actually like prepping or something.

It should be unnecessary completely in this day and age. And if it proves necessary to be anxious about food and medication supplies, well something is going terribly wrong really.

That is my feeling anyway. I don't like it. Have never had to think about it, and don't want to have to be concerned about it for me or my family. I am actually quite upset about it all TBH. So unnecessary to put this kind of pressure on people in a First World Country isn't it?

But some people like prepping and follow the Spirit of the Blitz and so on. Honestly why?

[Deleted User]

I can only speak for me but I've been hungry before in my life as I've said many times and I won't willingly be hungry again if I can do something about stopping it by putting in some extra supplies to the pantry. I've been cold too so getting in extra wood which I know we'll burn on the stove in any case means I won't be cold either. If you've not had experience of being either hungry and not being able to do anything to mend that and cold waking up to ice on the inside of windows you can't possibly understand the motivation of someone like me. I'm not a crazy old lady, I'm an older lady whose life has at times been less than comfortable is all!

The rights or wrongs of us living in a first world country are irrelevant I was cold and hungry living in this first world country back in the 1950s as a child and the 1970s as a very broke divorcee and if I don't make sure it doesn't happen to me again, then who will?

maryb

Melanzana, I'm sorry if this comes across as blunt but it is frankly absurd to say no-one should ever have to prep in a first world country. Just a few posts ago, Dreaming said she stocks up a bit in autumn as she is not too steady on her feet. I'm the same, with osteoporosis and having already fractured my spine, I like the idea of not having to go out if it is icy or even slippy from fallen leaves after a wet spell.

All sorts of things can go wrong in a first world country. A bad burst water main could leave you without working taps for a couple of days. And having a store of non-perishable staples bought at sale prices is a very good way of keeping costs down over the medium term or riding out a short term cash crisis - does no-one ever have those in first world countries?

It's called resilience

[Deleted User]

Melanzana, if you've never had to think of preparing your life for anything ever before then this thread has achieved it's reason for existence by making you actually do so. If by raising the issue of making provision for unforeseen happenings saves you and yours from being hungry, cold and helpless at some point in the future then it's worth (sadly though) having made you slightly uncomfortable and upset now lovey. The pressure is there anyway as this is a very complex and unstable world even on a good day fair or unfair if we've made just one person think and possibly act it is a very good thing!