The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

DawnW

Serendipitious said:

Living alone I batch cook quite a lot - even cooking a small pack of minced beef means one dinner for that day and two meals for the freezer.

Same goes for purchasing - barely anything comes in a single serving pack so chops, sausages, liver etc get divided into uncooked servings prior to freezing. So a lot of my prepping happens by default.

Where i come a bit unstuck is with tinned food - eg I have to be in the mood for corned beef as opening a can means a sandwich lunch, a corned beef hash for dinner that evening, and a sandwich lunch the next day to use it up. And a tin of fruit will give me 4 puddings - I'm not a big eater of puds and I have to remember the fruit is in the fridge.

It's a staggering waste of cash for me to eat out as the portion sizes are massive and a lot remains uneaten. A Chinese takeaway will do two dinners though!

You can freeze leftover tinned food in convenient sized portions - no need to feel you have to eat it all at once.

littlemoney

I freeze corn beef, tin vegetables, bake beans. Haven't tried tin fruit.

Serendipitious

DawnW said:

Serendipitious said:

Living alone I batch cook quite a lot - even cooking a small pack of minced beef means one dinner for that day and two meals for the freezer.

Same goes for purchasing - barely anything comes in a single serving pack so chops, sausages, liver etc get divided into uncooked servings prior to freezing. So a lot of my prepping happens by default.

Where i come a bit unstuck is with tinned food - eg I have to be in the mood for corned beef as opening a can means a sandwich lunch, a corned beef hash for dinner that evening, and a sandwich lunch the next day to use it up. And a tin of fruit will give me 4 puddings - I'm not a big eater of puds and I have to remember the fruit is in the fridge.

It's a staggering waste of cash for me to eat out as the portion sizes are massive and a lot remains uneaten. A Chinese takeaway will do two dinners though!

You can freeze leftover tinned food in convenient sized portions - no need to feel you have to eat it all at once.

littlemoney said:

I freeze corn beef, tin vegetables, bake beans. Haven't tried tin fruit.

Thank you

cuddlymarm

Well done on all the prepping guys.
I didn’t do a weekly shop last week and spent the money on Xmas. Only the freezer and fridge look any emptier so I’ve a shop coming tomorrow and then might manage again without next week.
The only waste this week has been a portion of sweetcorn that OH left, outer cabbage leaves and spring onions were chopped and I’ve a soup box in the freezer which I’ll top up with frozen veg to make soup.
Today we’ve had 4 seasons, heavy winds and chilly this morning, sun early afternoon which warmed things up a bit and then rain (just as I walked out of work, typical) We’ve still not needed heat yet, we had one cold evening and cuddly blankies we’re enough.
I think more people will start prepping if they can as we get more reports of empty shelves. Some people won’t even know how to start as we have had access to cheap food, but might need to be more open to what they eat. Getting upset that you can’t get the brand they normally buy, or learning recipes that don’t need as much energy to cook etc. Maybe a programme for Martin Lewis ?

maryb

LOL at the snow forecast - just as the COP26 on Global Warming summit starts in Glasgow  

Toonie

Prepping may get a little easier for me, I've been offered a job which, whilst only 15 hours to begin with, is far better than the tiny amount from state benefits and eating through what savings I have. The hours are also due to double come February. In celebration I opened a new tub of Ovaltine! (I know how to live!) The new job starts middle of next month, so my first pay check will be just in time for Christmas! (Not that it will change anything regards Christmas as the initial wages won't quite be enough to pay all my basic outgoings, so the savings will still be used).

It will mean that I can start looking at some more useful long term preps though, my DP and I want to get a fridge freezer but to get it in the kitchen we need to get some plumbing work done (for some reason there are bits to do with our boiler in the kitchen cupboard you would presume holds a fridge freezer!) We'd keep hold of the small freezer we already have so that would then be used for batch cooking and baked items which will save us some money in the long run. We'd also like to put some better shelves in our utility room so we can store our excess tins in an easier fashion. It's currently a bit of a jumble of a system which I understand but DP can't make head nor tail of. I'd also like to invest in some more storage items (glass jars, larger tubs, etc)-I sense a trip to the Swedish shop at some point!

Karmacat

Congratulations, Toonie, very glad to hear you've got something in train.

jk0

Wraithlady said:

jk0 said:

I have trouble getting my (breadmaker) bread to rise again recently. I had this trouble last year, and found out I need to keep the yeast in the fridge. I've been doing this, but my bread rises very poorly the last week or so.

Both flour & yeast are well in date. Is it the time of year, maybe? I wonder if we're using up last year's flour surplus that they were unable to get to the shops?

WE had the same trouble (I dubbed it 'mini loaf syndrome') and did the same as you - changed the yeast (easybake), used fresh flour - still kept happening, but only during cold weather and not every time I made bread.

Then I realised that, where I put the breadmaker was in the path of a draught from the cooker hood which occurred only when the wind was blowing from a certain direction - which is why it was intermittent.

I moved the breadmaker to the dining room and (for good measure) wrapped a woolly scarf round it and not had a problem since.

Oh, that's interesting. Mine lives in the garage, as I find the smell a bit overpowering.

Frugalista

Serendipitious said:

It's a staggering waste of cash for me to eat out as the portion sizes are massive and a lot remains uneaten. A Chinese takeaway will do two dinners though!

OH and I ate out a few nights ago (we had a BOGOF voucher).  We both had 12oz rib-eye steaks.  I managed half of mine and OH around two thirds.  I requested a take home box for the meat and massive portion of fries. 

The next day the fries were re-heated in the oven and served with a couple of fried eggs and baked beans.  The following day I finely sliced the steak and made an enormous stir fry in black bean sauce.

Most places now are happy for you to take leftovers home (I believe they have to pay for food disposal) - but I have always done this.  I consider the "extra" meals a bonus.

Si_Clist

Toonie said:

... I'd also like to invest in some more storage items (glass jars, larger tubs, etc) ...

FWIW we have quite an impressive array of glass storage jars which meet all our various needs.  Every single one of them and most of the lids were wombled out of the Council's recycling bins.

No idea if Lidl still do these big jars of "Freshona" pickled gherkins, but they're really good quality (the glass, that is: dunno about the gherkins!).  The jar with the instant coffee in is the type we use most of (including for "bottling" when we run out of Kilners) and they've had all manner of stuff in them originally.  If you can't womble good lids for those, they're readily available off Ebay.