The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

wondercollie

I've noticed that there are products missing and there is no rhyme or reason to what it is each week.

I haven't seen Fanta in weeks, I know first world problem.

There is a limit to the variety of fruits and veg around.  I can only assume that the border closure has a lot to do with it.  Only essential vehicles are permitted to cross the US-Canada border.

The forest fires in our fruit producing region has limited the soft summer fruits available.

The drought is affecting the wheat and corn crops.

Not to biblical levels but prices will get much higher this winter.

Si_Clist

If anyone's wondered about long-term storage in Mylar bags but been put off doing it because they don't have a strange beard and a manic gleam in their eyes and they don't live off-grid, neither do we but we've finally had a go. 

Total time to divide 25Kg of wholemeal spelt flour into 14 bags, drop in oxygen absorbers and seal with a clothes iron learning as you go was one hour ten minutes.  Failure rate looks like being zero.

There's actually nothing to it, but from now on we'll use a hair straightener rather than faffing about with the clothes iron.

FWIW the most sensible YT video we found about this lark was https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rC80DafNWs&t=352s

ETA - We looked into vacuum-sealing vs Mylar bags and decided that for us, bags won on the grounds of they're far more straightforward for anything powdery plus we didn't need to buy a vacuum sealer and clutter the house up even more. IMO they're a far better bet for long-term storage too. 

Nargleblast

i can see that tip being a handy one for those who use a lot of different flours  in their household and who don't have much freezer space. Is a Mylar bag something like a Jiffy bag?

Si_Clist

Nargleblast said:

i can see that tip being a handy one for those who use a lot of different flours  in their household and who don't have much freezer space. Is a Mylar bag something like a Jiffy bag?

Nothing like it.  Check out the video

DigForVictory

Mylar is the business for food storage wikipedia for the science here but not as padded for safe postage as jiffy envelopes. Share your view they're better for longer term storage but to vermin-proof I'd add a glass jar! Or thick tin - you can get pretty thick Mylar but the blasted rodents are formidable. I'm still waiting for teenager proof packaging but misdirection is vital there.
For "oxygen absorbers" think the little packets you find in your lateral flow test saying desiccant & scale up the science (& alas price) a bit further.
Hadn't thought of loading up on spelt etc & dividing down, but canny & one way of saying "Ya Boo" to inflation whilst still enjoying the good stuff!

Si_Clist

DigForVictory said:

Mylar is ... not as padded for safe postage as jiffy envelopes ... For "oxygen absorbers" think the little packets you find in your lateral flow test saying desiccant & scale up the science (& alas price) a bit further.

You'd have to be daft to use these Mylar bags instead of Jiffy bags.  Different things for different purposes

Sorry, but I don't understand your second point I've quoted above.  Are you saying that dessicants can be used instead of oxygen absorbers, or that you could use both together?

DigForVictory

No question Mylar & Jiffy have very different roles!
I’ve met the term “oxygen absorbers” on other prepper  sites, but it’s not universally understood so I was trying to explain them as a food storage specific tool like the test desiccants.
How are you finding water storage, as that’s proving a real challenge to “non-believers”?!

Si_Clist

DigForVictory said:

 ... I’ve met the term “oxygen absorbers” on other prepper  sites, but it’s not universally understood ...

Really?  Well just in case anyone on here is puzzled, "oxygen absorbers" do just that: they're small sachets of fairy dust that absorb the oxygen left in a Mylar bag or other airtight container after you've sealed it.  Sachets of dessicant are filled with a different fairy dust (silica gel) and are used to absorb moisture.  They're different things, used for different purposes.

Anyhow, while I'm here - FWIW the best before on tins of Nestlé Milo is still 2 years from date of manufacture, and IMO any of the £1.50 tins of Tesco own label chicken curry, sweet and sour and whatnot are good value for long-term storage.  The sweet and sour chicken we got in today are BBE June 2024!

ETA - ref water storage, all we have at any moment in time is 8 x10 litre containers of tap water for drinking and something like 1000 litres of rainwater for everything else.  Much more simply wouldn't be practical, and besides - if it came to a situation in which we needed more than that, we'd no doubt have plenty of other worries to take our minds off shortage of water ...

jk0

I've got eight four pint milk cartons full of water in the cupboard, plus a couple of packs of bottled, and three water butts.

I have found the milk cartons spring a leak after a few years, so replace them from time to time.

daz378

Seen a couple of posts on Twitter   that the haulage association  have warned that the supply  chain  in the next few weeks  is going to be really challenged...and they have tried to warn the government....but my last few supermarket trips   ..seemed well stocked....although upped my prepping...oh for some objective news reporting