The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

mrs_motivated

No problem with getting bread here DandyCandy, the supermarket has plenty.  I am lucky enough to live near to an artisan bakery who bake all their own bread daily so I’ve been popping there when out on my daily exercise. It is quite pricy but tastes amazing.

Sorted out the garage freezers yesterday with the intention that the small chest freezer becomes the winter store one. Normally we only eat fresh veg, but have bought a couple of bags of frozen to start it off.  I have got a feeling we will have a long harsh winter this year, hopefully I am wrong but it would be nice to be prepared just in case.  

Normally when cooking things like chilli, stew , Spag Bol types of things we eat one portion for dinner and freeze a portion or two for later in the month.  I was wondering if I cooked 3 portions, 1 for now, 1 for later in the month and  froze 1 for winter would it still be ok and taste as good in 6 or 7 months?  

euronorris

Bread is no longer an issue to buy here. You can't always get your preference, but there is always something available. 

However, now that I've mastered a decent loaf, we don't want to go back to shop bought. Home made tastes much nicer. Plus, it allows us to be that bit more self sufficient. Particularly if it does become difficult again at some point in the future (if we have a much worse 2nd wave for example). Or, for example, if prices go up later in the year. My flour & yeast stash has the bread coming out about 80p a loaf, for an organic loaf. The big name brands are already more expensive than that. Supermarket own branded bread is cheaper, but is not organic.

VJsmum

You can make bread with normal plain flour...  adding water from cooking pasta or potatoes adds to the 'strength' of the flour but you can make it without.  Jack Monroe swears by it

https://metro.co.uk/2020/04/01/jack-monroes-lockdown-larder-bake-bread-without-yeast-bread-flour-bread-maker-12491158/ 

elaine241

Hello all, caught up again!
We have finally finished lambing Yay!! Although my body clock has yet to get the message and still wakes me up for a 5.30 start!!
We are still on lock down here in Wales for the next 3 weeks despite what Boris says tonight. The lane outside the farm is still really busy with families, walkers, cyclists etc but on the whole they have been really friendly and nice. We had to " remove" a couple of young men who had lurchers and terriers and were in the fields with my ewes and lambs. They were from the closest city so had travelled quite a way to come hunting on our ground without permission. They were very aggressive, abusive and foul mouthed  but so were we unfortunately! One of their dogs has run onto our neighbours property and killed one of their hens which they were not bothered at all about. We took their picture and registration number of their van. We then said we had a picture of the dog and that if it wasn't their dog they were welcome to go, otherwise we would shoot the offending dog with the gun in the truck, this got their undivided attention and they left very quickly with me following in hot pursuit to ensure they left the area!! There has been a huge increase in theft and burglary in our area so all the locals are on high alert!
As for lock down unfortunately the VE day celebrations seemed to have given many the idea they can get plastered and have parties. Both local hospital A&E departments were rammed full of drunks with head and other injuries; so expect a rise in cases in a couple of weeks.
I am still only going shopping once a week for groceries, animal feed, all errands needed and shopping for shielding friends. I am determined to keep this going until they have a decent treatment/drug regime or possibly a vaccine. The boys are thinking they are going back to school in June but the home schooling via google classroom seems to be working very well. I am considering keeping them home until the start of the next academic year. The school work will continue to be set online as many parents have said they are considering the same. 
We are lucky to live in the countryside, have plenty to do and space to enjoy it. I understand those cooped up in a flat would be going stir crazy by now. I never understood why sitting quietly in a park , reading or picnicking , was so bad? Keeping social distancing in place surely those people could have a little more than one hours freedom. Its the idiots not sticking to the rules that are causing the greatest risk of infection.
During this lock-down I was surprised at the things that disappeared so quickly, mainly flour and yeast. I expected pasta, jarred sauces, ready meals etc but not the staples that did. It has taught me a valuable prepping lesson! I haven't run out of anything and have several alternatives such as garam flour etc. My local Morrisons is still selling their bread flour in 1 kilo packs using their bakery bags, also big 20 kilo sacks which I assuming it comes into the shop in. I am now starting to plan to build up supplies where I think I was lacking or had not put a comfortable amount away. My veg garden is now huge!! I think I will have enough frozen,stored or preserved veg to last winter if needed. I have started to clear a freezer of "old stuff" that got thrown in when we moved, mainly veg and dog food that will be fed to hens or dogs.  I have a big fridge freezer and a chest freezer in the house plus a spare in the dairy. I am going to write a list of what I have, need and what level I wish to achieve for winter. I am going to slowly build up the stocks or alternatively try and find bulk buy places that are not too far away. The plastic company shared earlier looks very interesting and I bet we could all spend a small fortune given the chance! Lol!

MingVase

Great post Elaine, agree with you 100% re staying isolated and keeping kids off school etc. I wouldn't trust Boris to know what day of the week it is, nevermind know what to do re the virus. Scotland too is sitting tight. And the scenes from London yesterday were just unbelievable.

euronorris

@mrs_motivated you could always aim for stock rotation. Once you have a few in the freezer, eat from them, then replace with a full fresh batch

Greenglockenspiel

dandy-candy said:

Lots of posts about hunting down bread flour, in London i haven't seen any since lockdown began. I already had a couple of bags in stock and thought they would get used up quickly, but i haven't actually had to open them because the shops have always had plenty of bread every time I've gone shopping. Have other people had trouble buying loaves?

Once towards the beginning of lockdown we went to Lidl near closing and they had no bread left but otherwise not seen shortages of loaves generally. I am fussy about bread - I only eat wholemeal and am still not too keen unless it has seeds, so I have been struggling to get my preferred type in Tesco (although fine in Lidl). I had wholemeal bread flour and seeds in my stocks, so no bother.
 I actually managed to get some plain flour in Lidl this week, which is what I had been short of. 

maryb

I go to a town centre Lidl in suburban London which doesn't have a car park and doesn't have trolleys, only baskets.  This means people can't bulk buy.  There was only one week when they didn't have bread flour, otherwise I have been able to get as much as I needed.  They also had yeast

prepareathome

CCW007 said:

prepareathome said:

It is Solent Plastics. I placed an enquiry at the weekend, they phoned me Monday to take payment and the bins were here today.  Delivery was £8.

https://www.solentplastics.co.uk/

Sorry, realised that is just the home page, this is the actual storage bin we ordered:

https://www.solentplastics.co.uk/45-ltr-airtight-clear-plastic-food-catering-bin/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw17n1BRDEARIsAFDHFezPVGqLjCrwsm9Uf10m3Zg0ldOnK_pt1KpK46JMbmWSkk8XsCXNre0aApGUEALw_wcB

Thanks that is just what I want xxx

r.a.i.n.b.o.w

CCW007 said:

I do love elderflower champagne, so easy to make! I'm eyeing up my elder bushes already, won't be long.

I tried making elderflower wine once...just the once...had it brewing in big 5 litre bottles in my kitchen, all seemed well, until one day, it made a strange noise, and I went to investigate. One of the bottles had farted, and the kitchen smelled like rotten eggs! I tentatively sniffed all the bottles. I couldn't have drunk any of it, the stench was awful