The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

euronorris

Yes, I do remember Virol too. I quite liked it! haha I'd like to say I was a strange child, but I don't think I ever grew out of being strange! haha

Had our first ripe strawberries today. And a few others are close. They are big, and a couple are touching the decking, so I have now put an empty plant pot under them to kind of suspend them in mid air. We are due rain (at last!) from early morning all through the day tomorow, and i don't want to them to lose them to hungry slugs or snails! Reguarly picking mangetout now

Good hiding places suggested to keep stocks in small spaces. Just be mindful of the need for stock rotation, so might want to keep a note of what is where in a spreadsheet or something.

GaleSF63

GreyQueen said:

Si Clist, nearly forgot, there are blogposts online about hiding stashes (food stashes!) in small quarters, if you have the time and the inclination. F'rinstance, most sofas do not fit flush to the wall all the way to the floor. You have the top against the wall, and possibly 12-18 of floor at the back due to the slope of the sofa. Norralot of people utilise that space....... just sayin' .

There is definitely space behind my sofa because my cat used to race up and down!

I've been thinking about the space behind my books. For some reason almost all bookcases are too deep for small books and I already put things at the back if I can but until recently I hadn't thought of food! Some packets would fit nicely. 

Greenglockenspiel

Went to lottie yesterday intending to put out newly acquired netting and all my lettuces had been eaten between then and Saturday 🙄 Have netted peas and beans now though at least. 

Cupboard organisers arrived today and I have duly uncovered some yeast bb 2019 so will be making bread tomorrow and hoping it’s still ok. 

My house is definitely not set up for optimal storage. Sofa is acting as a divider in the middle of open plan living/dining room so can’t put anything behind, no under stairs cupboard, no garage, no shed, loft isn’t boarded, only the one fridge-freezer and since moving here 6 months ago no bed frame or wardrobe! It’s all crammed into my galley kitchen - turns out time playing Tetris as a kid was not wasted 😁 A lot of those are on my to do list to change though. 

Rowan9

I loved Virol, just loved it. Mmm nomnomnom 

VJsmum

So now i have quite an amount of radishes all ready for picking - can i leave them?  Should i pick them?  can i / should i pickle them?

Shropshirelass

I loved Virol too, used to spread it on bread, mmmmmm!

elaine241

I dont know what Virol is so cant say whether I would love or hate it.
When we were unwell as kids my mother used to make us take Collis Brown, a vile, evil tasting liquid that invariably made my sister sick. 
Today I planted out some leeks, PSB, Kale and more tomato plants. I planted two long rows of main crop carrots that I will lift for storing or leave in the ground depending on the weather. I seem to have gone a bit mad on brassicas and leeks as I have at least 50 more plants and 30 more leeks to plant!! I planted more beetroot, chard, salad stuff, white radish and herbs. By the time I was finished I was seriously hot and sweaty! I still have another 30 tom plants to find a space for , plus outdoor Cu's and chillis in the poly tunnel. 
One thing that did worry me today was a discussion with  a friend who is very high up in a big Bristol hospital. He was expressing disgust at the idiots that were not taking Covid seriously. He said it was mainly those who had worked out it was probably not much risk to themselves and they didn't care about passing it on to those who were at risk! One sobering comment was that in  the west country, despite being "generally well behaved regarding lock down" , they were anticipating a second wave in August /September. South East Wales where I am was badly "scared" by the high number of cases and deaths but he felt again the idiot level was high and that it would also spark a second wave despite tighter restrictions. Tbh in the last couple of weeks you wouldn't know there was any restrictions or lock down as road traffic etc is up to pre pandemic levels. He also said that if community infections remain at a significant level that the cold/flu season would cause more serious cases requiring hospital admission. His main caveat was that most of the predictions for this novel virus have been inaccurate and that they still were not able to say whether those who had the virus had any long term immunity, therefore any predictions are based on best guesses! Still a sobering conversation which ended in him saying protect you and yours as best you can. You cant avoid people but you need to make calculated decisions which reflect your individual circumstances. I for one will not be going shopping any more than necessary and certainly will not be queuing for several hours, with several hundred other people,  just to go to a well known furniture store! Stay safe!

daz378

While in work today i popped a button on my jeans   thankfully belt took the strain and that was a size up from when the pandemic started ....so on way home popped into tezzco    ..massive queue   but only took 15 minutes  to get in    bought 2 pairs  size up    and some tins for   for my hallway covid cupboard    for the almost inevitable  2nd wave....might buy  a couple more cotton masks from etsy ...stay safe

prepareathome

Oh gosh I am so jealous of all the gardening so many of you have been doing, my own efforts have not been much as I had to give up my allotment a few years ago because of my health and had made my very large side garden into my vegetable/ fruit patch but as I live on a main road into a city and we can only have a 1m heigh fence( conservation area, although why no one knows as not exactly quaint or houses built by someone famous)  around front and side garden and even though I have mixed hedging all the way along there are still some gaps plus the driveway is between front and side gardens and so its easy for people either walking by or in cars ( they often stop as there is a roundabout 500m away so its causes long queues down the road) and now am nervous to plant anything out in the side garden as I worry people will just help themselves if we have a second wave and food is short.  Back garden is small and on quite a steep slope but although we had some landscape gardeners out when we first moved in, they all agreed space left if we terraced it would make it seem even smaller.  So am using pots and a couple of small raised beds( to steep for bigger or many) so I had put fruit trees in pots as did not plan to put them in side garden so they are all along one side and fruit bushes on other with all the vegetables, herbs and fruit I can cram in the rest of the area but even if I used it all I could not grow enough for us to survive on.

I am way behind as may or may not have had the virus end of February/March or some bug ( no temp and only coughed last two days before I started to feel human again but was left with such bad fatigue I was unable to do anything until mid-April so that was when I planted seeds indoors but not enough room for many so as they grew and became big enough to go out I started on next ones so my tomatoes are at moment 2ins high.  Strawberries have been in the back for years and I let them go where they will and they are flowering well and some are starting to grow fruit.  Apple trees as well have plenty of tiny apples on them.  Pears are not showing anything yet sadly.  Already had one lot of Rhubarb, again its been out there for years and I just leave it and now growing again.   Nothing else is anywhere near ready and I have just concentrated on the veg we love rather than many different types so peas, melons, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, plum and salad tomatoes, cabbage, cucumber and onions oh and potatoes of course.   Plus I have flowers dotted around and roses all along another side 

This house sadly is the smallest one we have ever had ( we wanted to live in this area so small house and main road were the part of the price we paid but we have lovely countryside walks 5 mins away) so lack of space to store a lot is a big problem - my big chest freezer has to live in my hall but do have a fridge with seperate small freezer on top of it.   So I have full cupboards in kitchen and food stores all around the house.  I guess at a pinch we could manage 2 months maybe another month but meals would be very boring even if nutritionally ok.  For a few years, we did have a spare room and I did turn it into a walk-in storeroom but its been back to being used as a bedroom for the last 6 years so slowly stocks have reduced.  Its times like this I wish I still lived in my last house, big, spare rooms and a marvelous windowless cupboard that was the size of a double bedroom that was my food storage area.

What are people doing about water? -  I always keep a weeks supply in but thinking of increasing this and had added extra water to my Iceland order for later in the week before BBC mentioned how water companies are asking people to ease up on use, today as guessed being UK such a hot spring meant unless we have a very wet summer, water will be in short supply.  Now I wonder if I will get the water or will that news report cause panic and water vanish like toilet rolls. Supposed to rain tomorrow so I have waterbutt without lid (it's empty now) and every large bucket I own set out in the back garden in hope they collect plenty of water that I can use in the garden if things do get tight water-wise. 

-taff

My parents used to give us Hactos when we were  kids It was very warming but tasted disgusting. Guaranteed to make you bring up phlegm...The nicest medicine we used to have was little pink tablets in a tube, god knows what they wer,e but they were lovely.

I've ordered another waterbutt because the rain we had a while ago filled the first one up and I've already used it all.