The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

mothernerd

Thriftygifty said:

Thank you everyone for your reassurance about School, sorry to clog up with my wobbles about everyday life!  Hobbycraft sell the really useful boxes, also if you sign up to their free reward club they email you a £5 voucher on your birthday to use online or in store, They will be perfect as you said Baileys_Babe for flour etc.  Whilst on the subject of storage, I was looking at those over the door shoe hanger pocket things to clear the kids shoes which seem to be everywhere, I saw quite a few people storing their cleaning products in them from the photos online, I did also see one that had stored their packets in which looked really good.  

I bought one with clear plastic pockets and put it on the bathroom door and it works really well. The top has eyelet holes so I tied it onto the three hooks I'd put there (overdoor hangers on the reverse side to hold some of the clothes overflow from their room). My bathroom is so small that the door opens outwards and it was limited floor space before my DS3 and his Beloved bought a small stool/ towel bin - I didn't have the heart to complain because it was the first thing they sent for and built together when she moved here. They were so proud (DS3 is an excellent light bulb changer and mattress wrangler but his only previous diy effort was putting a new toilet seat on). He will do things but only if I prove that I can't do them first - very good with duvet covers as well.

I also have an over door storage basket thing (from wilco) which goes on my door - it takes all my stationery (as yet unused notebooks bought in sales, pens in small plant pots, glue, string and other useful box stuff), all my prescription meds except the packs currently in use (2 months worth of 5 different items), stocks of otc meds and first aid stuff, medicinal creams I use for various stages of eczema/ dermatitis outbreaks plus preventative stuff I use all the time, suncream (I come out in white patches and shops see it as a 'seasonal' product so I stock up in end of summer sales).

I found rat droppings in the shed a couple of weeks ago - the wild bird food had several holes in it and some of the toilet rolls had been scraped to produce a corner 'nest' - wasn't wet enough to wet damage the wood so I think it had only recently got in there (part of the doorstep was scraped out. Last week two bins were delivered. A large metal lidded bucket for the bird seed  mixture and a huge plastic lidded tub (thought I'd gone with the 30 l but it's as big as my 50 l plant pots) advertised as 'rat proof' - well it's mothernerd proof, going to have to use a large screwdriver to get the lid off again but will wait a few weeks so the rat gets the idea that there's no more food around. I have a piece of metal I dug out of the garden which I'm hoping will go over the doorstep and I'm making sure to fasten the bottom catch (door swells a bit in winter so it doesn't always shut)

bluesooz

started weetabix would probably go in one of these: https://www.plasticboxshop.co.uk/home-storage-c1/food-locker-plastic-cereal-containers-p2156

there are boxes of all sorts of shapes and sizes on here for unstarted ones  - reasonable prices too

elisamoose

Thriftygifty said:

Thank you everyone for your reassurance about School, sorry to clog up with my wobbles about everyday life!  Hobbycraft sell the really useful boxes, also if you sign up to their free reward club they email you a £5 voucher on your birthday to use online or in store, They will be perfect as you said Baileys_Babe for flour etc.  Whilst on the subject of storage, I was looking at those over the door shoe hanger pocket things to clear the kids shoes which seem to be everywhere, I saw quite a few people storing their cleaning products in them from the photos online, I did also see one that had stored their packets in which looked really good.  

With regard to school .....I am back next week into a inner city one form entry primary. We are using each class as a bubble and will have a strict hand washing routine as we know children fInd social distancing hard especially as they have been at home and not needing to distance from parents.

All soft toys put away , no toys or equipment used outside the bubble And the same adults every day where possible.The adults will try to distance from the children and will have to distance from other adults. Extra cleaning of toilets and touch points by a dedicated onsite all day cleaner.
The operating procedures and risk assessments are almost 30 pages.Schools have this under control. the senior leaders have been working on this with the LA or academy trust for several weeks or even months. Most schools opened for some kids in June or did not fully close so this is nothing new just on a larger scale.
in my school the children can have their own water bottle but fill points are closed so once it is empty we give out plastic bottled water . If he is starting Reception he will be provided with a universal free school meal so no need for a lunchbox.

Nargleblast

That's comforting to hear, elisamoose, I would think most if not all schools have a plan in place ready for the new term. It will also teach children important lessons about basic hygiene without frightening the living daylights out of them.

elaine241

Well Thriftygifty is not the only one having a wobble about sending the kids back to school! Mine are 14 and 16 and will be in year 10 and 11. My eldest is over 6', got a 50'' chest and is a strapping great rugby player, he is definitely having a wobble about going back to school. My younger one was the son who tested positive despite feeling totally fine and having no symptoms at all. Both are concerned as they do not want to pass on the virus to their grandparents both of whom are vulnerable  but live on the adjacent farm where both boys help them with the farming. I think one positive of my son testing positive was that the school was descended on by every conceivable agency and their covid precautions have been significantly ramped up. We have had an email saying they will need to wear masks on the school bus, in corridors, communal areas and anywhere where social distancing can not be guaranteed.
I have finished my third course of antibiotics and started coughing again last night and had a tight chest.  . It is not as bad as before and I am hoping my body will be able to fight off the infection on its own this time. I went for a chest x ray this week as doctor wants to cover all possibilities. 
I too have stocked up on loo rolls. I had a pretty good collection already when my sister announced she was off to costco to get some loo rolls. They are really good value being £12 for 40 rolls of three ply. I also managed to get my personal shopper to buy me catering size jars of paprika, garlic granules and pink salt, these again were exceptionally good value. I am tempted to get a card myself as we have a business, although OH may have a fit if I turn up with cases of tins, spices, more loo roll etc. Apparently the meat and cheese is good and the catering size packets can be split up and frozen to suit.
Speaking of freezing my bean harvest seems never ending, another 4 kilos prepped and frozen today. I have managed to get the hang of the vacuum sealer and things have sped up considerably. I have also bottled tomato sauce for pasta etc using the water bath method of bottling. Today I processed more tomatoes, skinning them, cooking them down with just a bit of salt added. These too were processed in the water bath and I added a 1/2 teaspoon of citric acid to the jars to ensure the contents were acidic enough. Some people use lemon juice but I find citric acid doesn't flavour the food you are bottling. I have put the skins into the dehydrator as I have seen they can be dried, processed into a powder and used in cooking or as a condiment. Again an experiment as I have never tried this before but if it uses something that I would normally throw away I will have a go ! 
 I also picked a bucket of elderberries and have boiled them for a while, I am going to make jelly with them after they have hung in a muslin overnight to let the juice drip out. I have never had elderberry jelly so I am only making a small batch at first just in case we don't like it!

3secondmemory

elaine241 said:

Well Thriftygifty is not the only one having a wobble about sending the kids back to school! Mine are 14 and 16 and will be in year 10 and 11. My eldest is over 6', got a 50'' chest and is a strapping great rugby player, he is definitely having a wobble about going back to school. My younger one was the son who tested positive despite feeling totally fine and having no symptoms at all. Both are concerned as they do not want to pass on the virus to their grandparents both of whom are vulnerable  but live on the adjacent farm where both boys help them with the farming. I think one positive of my son testing positive was that the school was descended on by every conceivable agency and their covid precautions have been significantly ramped up. We have had an email saying they will need to wear masks on the school bus, in corridors, communal areas and anywhere where social distancing can not be guaranteed.
I have finished my third course of antibiotics and started coughing again last night and had a tight chest.  . It is not as bad as before and I am hoping my body will be able to fight off the infection on its own this time. I went for a chest x ray this week as doctor wants to cover all possibilities. 
I too have stocked up on loo rolls. I had a pretty good collection already when my sister announced she was off to costco to get some loo rolls. They are really good value being £12 for 40 rolls of three ply. I also managed to get my personal shopper to buy me catering size jars of paprika, garlic granules and pink salt, these again were exceptionally good value. I am tempted to get a card myself as we have a business, although OH may have a fit if I turn up with cases of tins, spices, more loo roll etc. Apparently the meat and cheese is good and the catering size packets can be split up and frozen to suit.
Speaking of freezing my bean harvest seems never ending, another 4 kilos prepped and frozen today. I have managed to get the hang of the vacuum sealer and things have sped up considerably. I have also bottled tomato sauce for pasta etc using the water bath method of bottling. Today I processed more tomatoes, skinning them, cooking them down with just a bit of salt added. These too were processed in the water bath and I added a 1/2 teaspoon of citric acid to the jars to ensure the contents were acidic enough. Some people use lemon juice but I find citric acid doesn't flavour the food you are bottling. I have put the skins into the dehydrator as I have seen they can be dried, processed into a powder and used in cooking or as a condiment. Again an experiment as I have never tried this before but if it uses something that I would normally throw away I will have a go ! 
 I also picked a bucket of elderberries and have boiled them for a while, I am going to make jelly with them after they have hung in a muslin overnight to let the juice drip out. I have never had elderberry jelly so I am only making a small batch at first just in case we don't like it!

According to Matt Hancock the other day the largest rix is multi generational household According to Matt Hancock the other day the largest rix is multi generational households- of which I know plenty. Yours are not the only teenagers who are deeply concerned that they might bring something home and infect their grandparents 🙁

The rest of your post absolutely exhausted me The rest of your post absolutely exhausted me😂😂

Out of interest, did you know iodised table salt contributes at least 50% of the iodine in our diets? 

It might be worth checking other sources or supplementing occasionally. We all need to head into winter with as many reserves as possible

Thriftygifty

Thank you so much everyone for the reassurance/info re schools. I think my concern is the size of the bubble 60 4 - 5 yr olds, I just wish it was 30. Thats really interesting about the bottled water when I originally spoke to the teacher back in Jul I asked about bottles and she said they have to bring their own in and when they run out we re fill them, I'm not particularly comfortable with that at such. But then the same could be said re school meals with cutlery being touched, how far do we go?! I know even previously to this pandemic we were considering taking our own cutlery out with us as the thought grosses me out, not that we really ever ate out as such. I've also calculated based on numbers to get in the door in given time, We have 30s per child drop off, I really didn't think my sons first day at school would be like this. I have been teaching my son how to wash his hands properly and am happy with it, we have read books about germs so he understands how they transmit, he knows how to cough and sneeze into his arm. I just hope the other 59 parents have done the same. I remember dropping my son to nursery last year and this litte girl walked up to him and coughed in his face, and her mums a paramedic! I just get the impression that down here everyone has become complacent as numbers have been low.
Elaine I don't know how you do it especially with how poorly you have been. All I've achieved today is finally getting rid of my DS cradle cap!! 

elisamoose

Thriftygifty said:

Thank you so much everyone for the reassurance/info re schools. I think my sconcern is the size of the bubble 60 4 - 5 yr olds, I just wish it was 30. Thats really interesting about the bottled water when I originally spoke to the teacher back in Jul I asked about bottles and she said they have to bring their own in and when they run out we re fill them, I'm not particularly comfortable with that at such. But then the same could be said re school meals with cutlery being touched, how far do we go?! I know even previously to this pandemic we were considering taking our own cutlery out with us as the thought grosses me out, not that we really ever ate out as such. I've also calculated based on numbers to get in the door in given time, We have 30s per child drop off, I really didn't think my sons first day at school would be like this. I have been teaching my son how to wash his hands properly and am happy with it, we have read books about germs so he understands how they transmit, he knows how to cough and sneeze into his arm. I just hope the other 59 parents have done the same. I remember dropping my son to nursery last year and this litte girl walked up to him and coughed in his face, and her mums a paramedic! I just get the impression that down here everyone has become complacent as numbers have been low.
Elaine I don't know how you do it especially with how poorly you have been. All I've achieved today is finally getting rid of my DS cradle cap!! 

We are doing cold service meals only so no cutlery!

Thriftygifty

elisamoose said:

We are doing cold service meals only so no cutlery!

Can DS come to your school, ours are proceeding like normal! 

thriftwizard

Just a quick note to anyone thinking of home-educating as a way of avoiding risk; it's not fair to most kids, most of the time, to keep them away from their peers & other people altogether. When we were doing this with our girls, (who both suffer from high social anxiety, one of them with AS-related difficulties too) we made sure they saw plenty of their friends (some of whom were also home-educated) and we were out & about most days, at the beach or museums, sites of historical interest, or just going for a nature walk/cycle ride, sometimes "interviewing" people about their businesses or experiences, or volunteering. They'd have been just as much at risk of infection, to be honest, if not more so, as they were very much out in the world. Mind you, their brothers stayed at school anyway - our risk factors would have been through the roof!