The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

daz378

Took a bit of time owing today  1.30pm to 6.30pm....but on the way home picked up a few bits from Uldi ....picked up some sanitizer and aspirin for 29p...few more tins for my covid winter cupboard top shelf full...lower filling up nicely....take care 

CCW007

Went to Aldo's today, first time in a supermarket since March, was pretty stressful and not keen to repeat It! Stocked up on a couple of bits we only buy there.  

Visited a farm shop I haven't been to before, a proper farm shop, not one of these ones that sell loads of artisan products.  Picked up a 25kg sack of potatoes for £8.50 (better than the £20 I was quoted at another "farm shop") so going to dehydrate some for hash browns and try bottling some.

Store cupboards are in disarray but it's too warm to think about what needs to be done - take everything out, write inventory, organise and put away.  

Karmacat

I'm looking at buying a calor gas heater for baddish power cuts ... I'm a bit lost between catalytic and radiant.  Former is environmentally sounder, but latter lasts longer.  Anybody got any opinions on these?  They're the same price, take the same size bottles.

Onebrokelady

elaine241 said:

boultdj said:

Washing up liquid, bleach, tissues, herbs, spices, condiments, laundry stuff, shampoo, aftershave, perfume, soda bicarb, drinking chocolate, stock cubes, gravy granules, freezer bags, toothpaste, tooth brushes, deodorant, shaving foam, lady products, pet food, salt, and in my case also cat litter, as at 20 years old and going blind my furry owner is now an indoor kitty.  
Just off the top of my head to add to your list Elaine.

Well someone wont be smelly if the SHTF!  I have quite a stock of soap, shampoo, toothpaste/brushes but having two smelly teenage boys it doesn't seem to go down v fast!
Pet food usually comes from our farm supplies store as we buy all the farm animal feed there on account, we can get bulk orders if needed. My old cat is min 17.5 years although no one knows for sure as he was a rescue.
My first aid kit is v well stocked and I have still got loads of otc meds as I have been building it up for years and using in date order. Hell ! have even got potassium iodide tablets and two huge bottles of isopropyl alcohol that I bought way before any pandemic reared its head. 
It is good to see what people are stocking up on, I too need to buy a big bag of porridge oats as the boys seem to love it in the winter with home made jam stirred in ( ).
I was wondering what items people think will be in short supply/go missing if we get a second wave/Brexit problem? I know loo roll, flour, yeast, paracetamol were like hens teeth and apparently tin foil will be low supply as we will all need it to line our hats. 
One thing which went missing, which I am not sure was linked to the pandemic, was HRT patches or tablets!! Now this could be a very serious problem for many men as well as women  !!! I for one have only just managed to secure a three month supply of my usual patches. Prior to this I was on a different  patch/pill combo which didn't really suit me and my poor OH has suffered along with me!

Coming out of lurkdome to say that HRT supplies were non existent before the pandemic and supply disruption is still happening in some places. It was blamed on a problem with the glue that holds the patches on plus new regulations meant that factories had to closed down while being refitted to make them conform, some parts of some HRT is manufactured in China ( think it's the glue ) so that won't help in the future either. There was no disruption to the supply of the gel form of HRT and I'm not sure why the tablet form was in short supply 😊

Onebrokelady

elaine241 said:

Gross or not?
Whilst putting feed out for the birds I noticed the containers that have the dried meal worms in are suitable for storing food. They are "no 5" polypropylene and have the food safe symbol of a wine glass and fork stamped on the lid and the base. These containers would be airtight and could easily store 1 kilo of dried food.
My question is would you use these containers to store preps after knowing what was in them previously?
I have washed one in the dishwasher and it has stood up to the high temperatures without warping. I am seriously thinking of using these as they stack easily and you can see what is in them. 
Your thoughts??

I would use them so long as you can make sure they are sterilised because some supplies of imported mealworms can be contaminated with salmonella 

Onebrokelady

boazu said:

It's a cloth one from a lady I work with in the charity shop, she made hundreds of them to sell to raise funds for the Hospice during shut down and we've got some disposables too but I felt very unsafe when it kept popping off my ears.  

Jamanda what is the plastic gadgety thing called? and I'll look to see if they still have them, that might do the trick.

At work we are all wearing our masks attached to a knitted strap that goes behind your head, there is a button on each end to attach the elastic to, if you can knit or crochet it would take a hardly any time at all to make one 😊

Onebrokelady

pavlovs_dog said:

We have shelved part of our basement to act as an overflow pantry.  We are stocking up on plastic storage boxes to store things in airtight containers as it is ever so slightly damp down there and things in paper or cardboard packaging will spoil over time. 

There is something calming about seeing our stores build back up in readiness for whatever winter/covid/brexsh!t may throw at us.  Even now, food availability at our nearest supermarket can be very hit and miss.  I won't miss "shopping roulette" in the shelf stable product aisles once the pantry is fully stocked!  I've grown to actively dislike supermarket shopping since the corona virus crisis, so anything that will help avoid having to traipse from shop to shop in search of the missing items on the shopping list is fine by me.

I think that the uncertainty caused by the virus and the constant background noise/worry it brings means we are in for a potentially gloomy winter.  Embracing hygge will be even more important than ever this year.  I'm fully stocked on candles and matches for cosy nights in.  We need a new duvet, and inspired by my childhood I'm also going to get some flannelette fitted sheets to make our bed even cosier.  Going to stock up on some cross stitch bits to keep me out of mischief too.  Hoping I can find some ultra fine fairy lights to bring a little brightness when the nights start drawing in; there's nothing like gently twinkling lights to make the gloom a little less depressing.

I read up about Hygge last year and fully embraced it. I treated myself to a brushed cotton duvet set and sheet ,it's so warm and snuggly in the winter but I have terrible problems persuading myself to get out of bed 😀

Onebrokelady

Back to lurkdom now 😀

ziggy2004

I need to stock up on candles, nights would be very long here in winter if the electric goes. Luckily we have a functioning fire place so at least that is sorted and we will have plenty of wood by winter . Lots of books and boardgames so whilst I am sure the kids would complain at the lack of computer, tv and internet we will be fine. 
Our onions are nearly ready for harvesting, first time we have grown them and out of 60 planted 58 are now fully grown ( the neighbours cat took off with the other two  ) 

Thriftygifty

Our mini veg plot in the garden seems to be hanging in there, we had loads of runner beans, I put them in the fridge with the intention to blanch them and freeze them the next day, however faulty fridge beat me to it and froze them all 😭 in the bin they went. Our tomatoes in the greenhouse don't seem to be ripening anytime soon and Broccoli and kale is ready. I was reading about plans for school return bu PHE not looking forward to Sept.