The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

daz378

Noticed   unite have managed to negotiate  a 12% pay increase, politics aside,  shows the potential problems ahead   re  transportation  of goods,  similiar to the tube drivers mostly got what they wanted.   Are shortages ahead ?

VJsmum

Prepping for holidays then (aside from clothes and toiletries)? We are currently in a holiday cottage in the Lake District. If going by car, i will take salt and pepper grinders, w.up liquid, a stainless steel cafetiere (if going somewhere with hand luggage only i take a pop up filter cone and filter papers), tea bags (i drink rooibos tea and you can't always get it), picnic stuff (plastic boxes, cool bag and ice packs), a universal plug for the washbasin, mixed herbs and paprika/chilli powder, a small bottle of olive oil, 2 laundry capsules... I'm sure there's more.. 

We do a supermarket run but some of these things can get overwhelming (e.g. you don't need to keep buying salt and pepper grinders) if you go a lot and keep buying fresh.

Any other tips?

DigForVictory

Oxo cubes &/or a small tub of Bovril if the family regard that as an acceptable hot drink. If not, a couple of oxo cubes along with the herbs & chilli powder?
I chuck a shampoo bar in its tin to rattle in the car - not all the chaps realise it’s shampoo, but do appreciate it’s small & lathers up. Saves wear & worry for the picky of the household!
Himself has a micro fibre camping towel that (while barely big enough to protect my modesty) gulps down water, wrings out easily & packs tiny. Oh & we take at least one knife that cuts everything, but that lives a rarely-seen life. It goes all sorts of places but doesn’t see the sights!

mothernerd

VJsmum said:

Prepping for holidays then (aside from clothes and toiletries)? We are currently in a holiday cottage in the Lake District. If going by car, i will take salt and pepper grinders, w.up liquid, a stainless steel cafetiere (if going somewhere with hand luggage only i take a pop up filter cone and filter papers), tea bags (i drink rooibos tea and you can't always get it), picnic stuff (plastic boxes, cool bag and ice packs), a universal plug for the washbasin, mixed herbs and paprika/chilli powder, a small bottle of olive oil, 2 laundry capsules... I'm sure there's more.. 

We do a supermarket run but some of these things can get overwhelming (e.g. you don't need to keep buying salt and pepper grinders) if you go a lot and keep buying fresh.

Any other tips?

I have taken my own chopping board and a good cook's knife. Rented cottages will have knives but they're of dubious quality. Potato peelers and can openers sometimes don't work. Went for a weekend away once with DS3 (young teenager) and I used a 'camera bag' to hold salt and pepper and all the salad I could fit in from my own fridge (carrots, celery, peppers all cut into sticks - used paper cups to separate them) and any other odd bits (knew DS1 and DS2 wouldn't eat them and might have gone off over the long weekend). Mine and DS3's clothes all went in the big rucksack and this was hand luggage. I had put the bags inside the vestry door (by the bus stop), finished work at 7 pm, walked down to the bus stop (DS3 had been told to walk across from the house in good time) and caught the bus at 5 past the hour. Bus and train, then a taxi at the other end. Didn't leave the camp all weekend and their shop had only a limited amount of fresh food (most of the customers were happy to live on burgers and chips from the camp eateries).

I have taken my own knife and chopping board to a church event where I was helping with the catering (hot meals, made to order sandwiches, home made cakes). School holidays so no heating working so used a boiler (super size tea urn) for heating water for washing up. My home was only 5 minutes away so consulted with the two cooks to see what else was missing from the schools supplies. Went back to collect an extension lead so we could put the boiler where we wanted it (and tape to stick the wire along the wall and off our work surfaces), extra wooden spoons, a sieve, slotted stainless steel spoons. 

edit I have taken my bread board for chopping if space/ weight was an issue (I use a butcher's block at home) . Also washing up liquid in a small travel size bottle - some renters clear the property of anything left by the previous tenants. Washing up liquid is fairly cheap but standard bottle is a b***er to get home especially when travelling with 3 boys. I now use a CPAP machine so take a travel bottle of washing up and a bowl for daily mask washing - mum has a large plastic pudding bowl which takes up less room than the one I use at home (can 'nest' the machine part of the machine inside it, in it's own carry bag).

Floss

@VJsmum I've always taken salt & pepper, a good knife, a couple of tea towels, enough washing-up liquid for however I'm away, tea bags / coffee, a clean dishcloth, rubber gloves, matches and a torch with spare batteries.

euronorris

This is my holiday checklist:
[  ] Masks
[  ] Gloves
[  ] Distance tools
[  ] Hand gel
[  ] Washing up Liquid
[  ] Sponge/Scrub brush
[  ] Washing Tablets
[  ] Dishwasher tablets
[  ] Tea Towels
[  ] Kitchen Roll
[  ] Tin Foil/Sandwich Bags
[  ] Bin Bags
[  ] Cleaning Products (multi surface cleaner and/or anti bacterial wipes)
[  ] Toilet Roll
[  ] Soap
[  ] Dd cutlery
[  ] Dd plates and bowls, bottles, cups
[  ] Sauces
[  ] Tea Bags (or coffee if you prefer)
[  ] Salt, Pepper, Herbs etc
[  ] Wipes
[  ] Groblind
[  ] Gro Clock (or Mr Sun as we call him)
[  ] Monitor
[  ] Toys
[  ] Stool
[  ] Potty
[  ] Fave Teddies
[  ] Towels
[  ] Matches/Lighter
[  ] Torch
[  ] Boots, waterproofs
[  ] Medicines
[  ] Hair brushes
[  ] Toothbrushes
[  ] Toothpastes
[  ] Cooler bag
[  ] Shampoo
[  ] Conditioner
[  ] Razor
[  ] Flannels
[  ] Jug
[  ] Bath toys
[  ] Picnic blanket
[  ] Swimming stuff
[  ] DVDs
[  ] Books
[  ] suncream
[  ] Rinse Aid
[  ] Dishwasher salt
[  ] Dd Pillow
First Aid Stuff

Used to include other kid stuff like pushchair, Toilet seat, nappies etc, but she's grown past them.

Had a tough day/week. DD had cold early half of week, got over that, back to school on Thursday, was fine. My parents arrived yesterday for weekend visit (DDs 5th birthday tomorrow). She stayed in hotel with them last night, no issues. Got to restaurant today for meal with all of the restaurant, starting complaining of cheek pain (?!), quickly escalated, lots of tears, so we left grandparents to enjoy their meal whilst we went home. Cheek pain quickly turned to earache, then call to 111 who sent us to urgent care, 3.5 hour wait! Ears inflamed, but not oozing so pain management for now. Poor mite is miserable. Hoping tomorrow is better for her. Especially as its her birthday.

herbily

I have a very long list of things that the dogs need, while for the humans, it's a corkscrew and can-opener that actually work, plus a hairdryer. (On the basis that most other things can be acquired once I'm there, but the dogs are fussy!)

MrsCD

@euronorris, poor DD. Hope it clears up soon. I remember Dr Chris on tv years ago saying that chewing gum sometimes helps children with ear infections as the chewing action helps to clear the tubes or something. 
My holiday list is very similar to yours, just we don't have littlies now, so don't need all those bits and bobs. I take a set of cutlery for each of us and a tin opener, a serrated knife for bread and a peeling knife. I also have a home made washing line for in the bathroom to hang up anything in an emergency! It's a length of string which I twisted until it twisted back on itself then put sucker hooks on each end. I try not to do any washing while we're away these days.

thriftwizard

It's amazing how much stuff you need when travelling with small children! But it does get easier... I got to the stage of letting them pack for themselves fairly quickly, just doing a cursory check that they had the basics & anything they considered vitally important - often not what I'd have thought important, but what do parents know?! The two vital things for me to make sure we had were the tin-&-bottle-opener, and some washing powder; most of mine came out in a rash at the merest whiff of "ordinary" washing powder, & "sensitive" varieties can sometimes be quite hard to track down when off the beaten track, so I took the precaution of always taking some (not a whole box, just a couple of washes-worth) with us. Sometimes it wasn't needed at all, but sometimes we'd produced the first load of washing before we'd even arrived at our destination, as they weren't the best travellers.

I still take the bottle opener, and always have a sharp knife, decent scissors and loo roll in the van too. Old habits die hard! But they often come in useful, under all sorts of circumstances.

mothernerd

thriftwizard said:

It's amazing how much stuff you need when travelling with small children! But it does get easier... I got to the stage of letting them pack for themselves fairly quickly, just doing a cursory check that they had the basics & anything they considered vitally important - often not what I'd have thought important, but what do parents know?! The two vital things for me to make sure we had were the tin-&-bottle-opener, and some washing powder; most of mine came out in a rash at the merest whiff of "ordinary" washing powder, & "sensitive" varieties can sometimes be quite hard to track down when off the beaten track, so I took the precaution of always taking some (not a whole box, just a couple of washes-worth) with us. Sometimes it wasn't needed at all, but sometimes we'd produced the first load of washing before we'd even arrived at our destination, as they weren't the best travellers.

I still take the bottle opener, and always have a sharp knife, decent scissors and loo roll in the van too. Old habits die hard! But they often come in useful, under all sorts of circumstances.

Oh the kitchen roll - always had a roll of kitchen roll in the nappy bag and it came in so useful, both for us and other parents. When we went on the train, the first thing I did was to hang up a thin plastic bag and tell them 'that's the rubbish bag'. Any food wrappings went in and when we left the train, the bag went in the nearest bin (not terribly environmentally friendly but at least not leaving your mess behind for the next passengers.

For picnics, I would fill a large vimto bottle (do people down south get vimto now?) with diluted cordial and froze it overnight - it kept all the picnic things cool and defrosted gradually throughout the day. Did the same thing with water when I worked in a place where we were locked in all day. enough had defrosted by morning break for my first drink, more by lunch time and then afternoon break.