The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

[Deleted User]

Hi Tessie bear, welcome aboard, we haven't had to touch our stores yet, I made sure we were as stocked with fresh and fridge goods as I possibly could for the weeks from the 6th January when I first read of a new virus in Wuhan in a tiny 1" article in a side column of the Telegraph one morning.  All my bells and buzzers of Ooops went off at once in my head and I checked stocks and topped up, in the next month I made sure we had veg that will keep and filled the freezers as much as I could not with ready made things but with ingredients.  Even on the Sunday before lock down I said to HWK lets go to the garden centre and get compost and grow bags, they might be hard to get if everyone decided to buy 'just in case' so we did and seeds too.  I made sure to stock loo rolls, meds, otc meds, everything for the house and anything else I could think of that would be useful.  We have enough in to see us through most of the summer/autumn if we can grow and harvest what we grow on the allotments, we're having a weekly fresh box from the village and a couple of suepermarket deliveries since March , we're doing OK so far.

tessie_bear

hello mrs L glad to hear you so well and on the front foot. I read a post from you about i think getting veg via delivery at the local pub ? we have had a veg box from the local market its been lovely probably better quality than i usually buy. It must be a great comfort to be able to grow your own not something we bother apart from a plate of cress on the kitchen window sill. How did you find getting the delivery slots ? i went through the carry on to get an iceland shop seemed quite easy might do that if we start to run out of freezer fodder. We have a costco membership so have been bulk buying loo roll for about a decade no small packs in there. My only real sadness i havent been able to offer assistance to other dh is a key worker so doing lots of hours and my ds has special needs so needs constant care I suppose not asking for help eases the fact i havent helped anyone if that makes sense.
can i ask you all how long do you byu your stock cupboard to last like 3 meals a day for 4 for 6 weeks ? something like that. We are going to aim to keep 6 weeks in going forward. In the past we only prepped for bad weather but after this we know we need longer than that 

annieb64

We haven't really had to touch our stores yet . We always keep a good store cupboard as we can sometimes  get snowed in in the winter. This year I decided not to let it run down in case there were supply problems due to Brexit. We bought seeds as soon as they appeared in the shops after Christmas.
I go shopping once a week so have been able to maintain  our stocks. I have been menu planning for lunches as well as dinners since DH is working from home. One good thing to come out of this is that he's  lost 7 lbs-probably due to the fact that I don't  buy many biscuits and snacks whereas at work there are usually biscuits and chocolates  that people bring back from holidays etc. He's  also doing more exercise.
The only thing I have run short of is elastic for the face masks I am making in case they become compulsory  in shops and public transport 

Greenglockenspiel

tessie_bear said:

hello im new to your thread but we have always been keen preppers for about 20 years.I think you could well be right about a second wave and when this eases we intent to be out  sensibly adding to our stock not glibbly wandering around a park with an icecream in our hands . Why i came on i wanted to ask about your stockpiles % how did they /are they holding out ?
 % what items have you found most useful ?
% what sort of meals have you cooked ?
% how long do you think you could go on for ?
% have you been /had shopping delivered or got for you ?

hope this doesnt come across as nosy im curious about how like minded folk are doing and how we are all coping. We have not been to a shop for about 40 days we have used about half of whats in so could go on for another 40 ish days. I have struggled with lack of variety it has got a bit monotonous but im proud we have through our efforts kept the family at home . Dh is a key worker the rest of us have only left the house to faff about in the garden  How many are your families ? we are 2 adults 2 teenage kids how have your kids gone on ? mine have got bored but generally been quite positive

i hope you dont mind me gate crashing i hope you are all keeping well and safe x
ps when the rumour of lock down started we didnt buy a thing so no panic buying here im very proud of that x

 Hi Tessie bear, I haven’t been keeping track of it very well so not sure of precise figures but I think we could last maybe 3 weeks of a balanced diet and probably 2 months just on pure calories, it’s having enough f&v stored that lets us down. It’s only me & OH. We are in our early/mid 20s & not vulnerable so I’ve been shopping once a week as normal. Well, normally we would get a delivery around once a month of storecupboard stuff and shop weekly for fresh but I’ve not been able to get a delivery slot since this all started. Because of still going out to shop we’ve been ok on the f&v front and eating normally but I think I’ll look into how I can store more. I think our fridge freezer is more of a 60/40 rather than 50/50 split so I’m trying to persuade OH that a second freezer is a necessity, especially since he thinks a box of fish fingers is one serving!

[Deleted User]

We found it impossible to get any supermarket slots for the first 4 or so weeks of lock down, luckily both daughters have young babies under a year and because of that are up at all hours of the night with fretful small people and tend to check slot availability around midnight and they've been able to get us the couple of slots we've had.  We have another one on the 11th May and them looked ahead and got one for the end of the month. I've always been of a prepping mindset and don't aim for a particular length of stocks, I buy 'futures' when I have housekeeping left at the end of each week, I take a set amount every week and have always used what is left after the weeks shop to stock up on things we'll use come bad weather, illness, accident etc. and now it would appear World Pandemics too.  We run on two main meals a day, I don't do breakfast and HWK has toast most days, we're very easy to please when it comes to food and don't mind having the same meal for a few days running if I make a big stew etc.  we mostly have home made soup for lunches so I use ALL the fresh veg and a bigger meal for supper so we go to bed with a full tum.  Prepping is an individual thing for individual perceived needs.  Get in the amount  you feel safe with and add a bit, that's what I try for xxx.

I always have one shelf of treats, not to live on but so on really difficult days I can give him a KitKat or a couple of squares of chocolate, the mood boost having something really delicious gives is worth the price we pay for it.  You have to be very disciplined though and NOT dip in every time you get fed up or a small wobbnle xxx.

mrs_motivated

I am having a re-think about prepping and storage at the start of lockdown, I worked out we could eat normally for about 4 to 5 weeks and then survive with some kind of nutritious food for about another 2 weeks albeit some strange combinations of food.  I am not in the high risk category so have been shopping weekly and replenishing anything we have used and buying a few extra items for winter storage.  Other items such as toiletries I previously just had one on the go and 2 in stock, cleaning products I tend to make my own for most things kitchen , bathroom, toilet cleaner etc. and have enough of all I need to make things for about a year, although I have started buying bleach recently.  Toilet rolls we always buy in bulk, 48 rolls at a time and reorder them when we are down to about six so never had a problem, but for the foreseeable will reorder when we have used half.

This situation has made me realise how quickly my stocks would actually run down if the worst should happen, so I am going to start buying more of things like toiletries, washing up liquid, soap powder etc.  Mr M has made me some shelves in the garage to put them on.

I am interested what food stocks people have how much in stock and of what, also how much cleaning products, toiletries etc.  Also food stocks eg. A tin of beans, do you use one from the store and then replace it when shopping sort of a stock rotation system to keep things in date?

annieb64

I do replace things like tinned beans as I use them. I don't  drive so until the lockdown was going to the supermarket  a couple of times a week . Dh would drive me down every month or so and we'd  buy wine, toilet rolls etc.Now he drives me down once a week and sits in the car with a book while  I shop.

[Deleted User]

I have tins of veg, fruit, meat, evaporated milk, custard, dried goods like tea, ground coffee, flour, sugar, oats, cereals, dried beans, rice, pasta etc.dried milk powder, gravy granules, stock cubes, herbs, spices, oils, dried fruit.  I have frozen fruit, veg, meat and bread with some milk, nothing pre made but ingredients for me to cook from.  I make sure in the fridge to have cheese, spreads both for cooking and for bread, fresh salad ingredients (when available) and vegetables to cook or make salads from (coleslaw etc.) butter, anything I've cooked in quantity and whatever we've got for puddings usually crumbles. also fresh milk. I run with a cupboard full of home made Jams, jellys, chutneys and dehydrated fruit and veg... the quantity varies as to what time of year we're at as I use the store as a 'home shop' in the bad weather but try to stock up with non perishables in the warner weather when we're eating mainly fresh foods. Last count I have 52 bars of soap!!!

greenbee

I don't keep a huge amount of food in stock. At least, I didn't think I did, but it's amazing how long what I do have lasts! It has made me realise that I need to manage my stock better (easier said than done with no proper kitchen). I was planning on running down what stock I had ready for the new kitchen, but that doesn't seem wise at the moment. Having said that, I'm not going out to shop, and until this week hadn't managed to get a SM delivery (Tesco tomorrow hopefully!). However, it's amazing how well I've been able to feed myself from the freezers, cupboards, veg boxes and a couple of small shops by volunteers. I'm eating extremely well as like @MrsLurcherwalker I'm prioritising using up the fresh stuff. 

However, I do bulk-buy things like cleaning stuff - white vinegar, distilled water, loo cleaner, surface cleaner, floor cleaner, washing up liquid etc are all bought in 5l containers and kept in the garage for decanting. I also buy 5l at a time of shampoo and conditioner and do the same. Soap tends to come from hotels as I spend so much time in them, and I'm finally working through my stocks! Loo paper I get in boxes of 48 and had a delivery at the beginning of March, so still have plenty. 

I found that I was short on body lotion, cleanser, moisturiser and night cream, as I'd worked through what I'd stocked up on at TKMaxx on my last visit. I don't want to have too much clutter, so this is a difficult one. I don't usually need a huge amount at home as I'm not here much, and I have plenty of all of them in my locker in the office in Sweden!

tessie_bear

thankyou all for sharing its very impressive . We have a membership for costco and a bookers card so we buy a lot of things in bulk. We dont really apply a one used buy one like tins of beans we save the cash and go and buy a tray at a time. Prior to this carry on we only prepped for bad weather then we had a bit more for brexit but now it really seems important and is very deserving of  our time money and trouble. We have a good medicine chest and over the course of this ds had a paracetomol for a headache so hopefully that will last a bit longer. I now feel the urge to count our soap we have a fair bit but not quite 52.The only thing we have not had a lot of is puddings so need to think about a few nice bits going forward