The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

MingVase

nannywindow said:

Elisamoose I appreciate that school staff are not medics but I didn't say that anyone was, nor was I suggesting that anyone at the school should have given medical advice, but every school should have a policy in place to tell parents what must be done in the case of a " maybe " covid pupil.The school was asked what the procedure was and at the very least they should give out this advice: -

Individuals with symptoms. Sent home and told to self isolate, have test and await results.

Family members of individual who has symptoms but is waiting for test results:- Family members (and members of their support bubble if they have one) should self-isolate until the test result is known.

Right.  The school should know thatr parents will be worried and ask them what to do next - all they have to do is draft a paragraph from NHS advice and give it. People should use their commonsense and stop being so rigid.

Karmacat

Si_Clist said:

MingVase said:

I'm in hysterics here. Between him rabbiting nonsense and his govt losing 16000 cases of covid then finding them (down the back of a sofa, somebody said) - and Trump all over twitter off his face on steroids yelling nonsense IN CAPS, it's like a monty python film.

Weird, isn't it.  It's all a bit like it was at times in the 60s, but without the need for a spliff ...

The thread has moved on, but this was only yesterday, and I love it

elaine241

Well the test came back negative PHEW!!!!. They have gone to school but two year groups are now off as positive tests in their year groups. The boys have repeatedly said that social distancing and  isolating year bubbles in their school is non existent despite reassurances from the school. My younger son videoed the supposed year group entry gate and there were hundreds of kids from different year groups all crowding to get in, two of which are now off! I asked the school for the procedure for a possible covid case not medical advice as there is v little that can be done for a viral infection apart from hydration, rest, isolation and treating symptoms. Elder son has complained to the head of year and headmaster as their year group are supposed to be isolated in one block and several other year groups are entering the building, using it as a short cut or actually having lessons in the block which is only supposed to be for year 11 in their final GCSE year. As for toilets, there just are not enough for each year to have its own, obviously the school can not rectify this unless they bring in portacabin loos. With four counties bordering in lockdown and their school in one of the counties I feel it is only a matter of time before we are joining them. 
There's an old saying you can not plan for stupid and that has hit hard very very close to our family. As I have said the boys grandparents are both vulnerable and we have spent 8 months trying to distance for safety. SIL and BIL are teachers ( at different schools), have 3 kids at two different schools, one primary & secondary. There was an inset day and MIL decided to have the kids indoors, all day with her!!! Angry, frustrated and just plain flabbergasted are polite words for how we feel. We worked out that between them they probably meet a minimum of 500 different people daily (5 lessons x 30 kids x 2 for teachers plus 200 for the three kids). This is a woman who was a nurse, has been disinfecting her shopping & having deliveries, wont allow anyone in the house , in her 70's,  is very unwell, has bad lungs and smokes!! I am gobsmacked that BIL and SIL were selfish and stupid  enough to ask her to do this, especially as one is only doing supply teaching atm and knew it was an inset day. To top it off this morning BIL has developed a cough and has gone for a test! 
Sorry rant over but I had to!!! 

euronorris

Elaine, I am relieved to hear that your son's test was negative.

I am sorry to hear that the school are not following their own policies. With higher rates in your area, it must be such a worry.

And yes, it must be very frustrating to hear about your MIL allowing that to happen. But I imagine my own mother would do the same! She just misses the interaction with us all, and the kids, terribly. We are due to visit in 2nd week of half term, still seems possible but who knows if more restrictions brought in by then. Parents are very low risk at the moment, but our area has been on the increase for weeks now. My brother was due to go in the first week of half term, but they can't now for two reasons (1) his family is 5, so going to my parents breaks the rule of 6 and (2) he also works at a school and they've had multiple cases in both staff and pupils. He obviously doesn't want to risk my mum's health (in her 70's, with a heart condition, asthma, high blood pressure and scarring on lungs from having TB as a child). My mum is not happy about it though 🙄🙄 Like, I get her frustration, but if we're all careful, she will still be here for many future years to enjoy visits etc.

boultdj

Good news with the test results elaine241.

DigForVictory

Wraithlady said:
then there's a Jack Monroe recipe for 5 minute flatbreads (can't find it online, apologies) 

Me either.  I found this for one flatbread but it isn't Fast & her classic for sodabread, and so I Thugged Google & transcribed it.

makes 4 flatbreads

100g self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting

1/3 tsp bicarbonate of soda 

a pinch of salt 

70ml soya milk (or any other milk equivalent) 

1⁄2 tsp lemon juice or vinegar 

1 Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/gas 7, you'll need this in just a minute! Pop a large non-stick frying pan onto the hob but don't heat it yet

2 grab a large mixing bowl and pour in the flour. Add the bicarb and salt & give it a quick but thorough stir. Pour in the milk and lemon juice & mix vigorously for a minute to form a dough.

3 Tip the dough into a lightly floured work surface & briefly knead it to bring it together, just for a minute. Divide the dough evenly into 4 pieces & roll each into a ball. Now turn the on heat under the frying pan to high.

4 Roll each ball out with a rolling pin until about 4mm thick, then pop them into the hot frying pan 2 at a time. Cook on a high heat for 1 minute, then flip them over for 30 seconds. Transfer them to the oven to keep warm & finish off cooking then fry the other two.

And you're done.

Now being a relatively affluent picky SOB, I can think there's a morsel missing on the end, but that's what the lady wrote before going on to try to beat her own time down from 5 minutes. And you have both oven & hob running, albeit briefly (note how she never says And Switch Devices Off - the residual heat should be fine?). 
Anyway, presuming you have enough juice to run a cooker for 5 minutes, there might be other things you'd be cooking as well as finishing flatbreads, but a fresh-cooked flatbread should distract the hungry clientele from what it wraps. Within reason.

elaine241 - stick at it! I've one sent home from his apprenticeship for a fortnight as they had covid positive on site but the lad has no idea if that's to keep The Young (currently hot contenders for Most Likely Vectors) at a safe distance (safe for whom?!) nor if he should be Self Isolating. I'll happily deliver three meals & keep the electricity & WiFi running if he'll stay in his room & use the downstairs loo - but he's already established a hanging out in the same room as the rest of us relax in (so much for this diligently working on his laptop from home) - all I can do is mutter a bit & go longer on the soap & water. With children you have authority. With over 18s you need heavier weaponry & guile..

maryb

Si, when you did your marathon canning sessions did you have any trouble getting hold of canning lids?  My local Lakeland was always the cheapest place to get them by the time you took delivery charges into account but they seem to have been out of stock since forever. I seem to remember you saying you recycled lids but I use my canner for meat based things like big batches of chilli con carne or chicken stock and the processing time is so long, I don’t like to risk having a lid fail at the end of all that work.

Though I did do a batch last week with Kilner lids instead of Ball lids and two out of three failed.  Cheap Chinese manufacturing probably.  I think the Ball lids are still made in the US.  It always makes me jealous when I see American blogs and how cheap their canning lids are.
I don’t know if I save money overall by canning chilli compared with freezing it.  But it does free up room in the freezer which I have filled with more expensive stuff, plus it means I can reheat a jar on top of the wood burner fairly quickly if we have a power cut 

maryb

LOL, 10 minutes after posting that we had what I initially thought was a power cut when there was no power upstairs or downstairs which are on separate ring mains.  DD2 went down to the fuse box in the cellar but said all the switches were pointing up so it must be a power cut.
It didn't occur to her that she had turned the light on to go into the cellar!.
There is an RCD switch that controls all the ring mains but not the lighting circuits.  Reset that and we were fine.  But I still don't know what can have blown it.  We were both just sitting down and didn't switch anything on.  Fridge or freezer cutting in shouldn't have blown the whole caboodle.
Thought for a minute I was going to have to have chilli heated on the woodstove

Si_Clist

maryb said:

Si, when you did your marathon canning sessions did you have any trouble getting hold of canning lids? 

In a word, Mary - no.  Nearly all our standard-size lids for proper Kilner jars are now the Leifheit ones, although we are actually still using a few remaining genuine Kilner ones.  Gawd knows how old those are, or how often we've used 'em.  We've never had a problem with Leifheit lids, but as for the current Kilner-branded Chinese ones,  we tried one pack and gave up with them.  If the steel gets any thinner, you'll be able to read the paper through them.

Having said that, though, we used the E-bay stainless steel ones that we got direct from China for the small modern "Kilner" jars for the second time this season, and once again they were OK with a zero failure rate - which is more than we got with the lids that came with the jars!

HTH a bit!

ETA - We get the Leifheit lids from whoever's cheapest on the internets.  Sometimes it's Amazon, often it isn't.  If you use any of the small (500ml?) modern Chinese "Kilner" jars with the narrow neck and you fancy giving the stainless ones a try, I'll dig out the link to the place we got ours from.  Alas they don't do the same thing but in the bigger size.

maryb

Thanks Si, I'll have a look for the Leiheit lids