The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

pineapple

Deleted_User said:

 I did snort tea out of my nose at the idea of wearing a mask whilst it burns - no offence intended at all, but it just amused me because ours is lit at noon and burns until bedtime. 

Me too .. I'm gone 70 with a likely life limiting condition. I'm not about to spend my precious last few years sitting masked up in my living room. The couple next door have lived there 40 years. The husband is around 90, his wife a bit younger. They have two storage heaters, the same multifuel stove as me and two open fires. I'd better nip round and warn them about particulates.

Greenglockenspiel

Yes I think the fact that they do tend to be used for hours at a time (which obviously makes sense for fuel efficiency) is part of the reason they have such an impact. The study that was done in Sheffield in 2020 measured levels after stoves had been burning in houses as people actually use them, which iirc tended to be for around 4 hours. But even within that period the levels had gone above the WHO daily limit. They also found, unsurprisingly, that opening the door resulted in more pollution so refuelling less frequently and as quickly as possible can reduce the amount you’re exposed to.

pineapple

elaine241 said:

My electric company has just sent an estimate of my electricity use for the coming year, £4533!!! We have electric everything, and the cottage is insulated as best we can. Being listed we can only have single glazed windows. I am now going to turn off everything I  can and limit the teenagers to normal length showers, they spend ages in there!

I feel your pain. No estimate but a simple notification about the new kwh price. I didn't do the maths, just noted the percentage increase. It's horrific. But I'm on E7 and the day rate is going up more steeply than the night rate. So I'll be living like a vampire - up late or pre dawn doing all the high energy jobs.

Greenglockenspiel

Elaine could you get secondary glazing instead of double glazing? It’s like another window you put inside your windows. I lived in a listed building as a student that had secondary glazing in the windows at the front and it really made a difference to those rooms. It was sash windows in that house but I think you can get secondary glazing for casement windows as well.

RAS

The local Polish Centre has been over-run, by queues trying to deliver aid to be sent over to the Ukraine border.

They've received so much that a truck load of bedding and toiletries will be on its way by now. And the originally planned truck will leave later in the week with more of the same plus women and children's clothing and footwear, once donations are all sorted.

Not sure if it will be useful at the moment, but by the time they get there the situation may well have changed. I assume that the larger Ukrainian community in the adjacent city have arranged something similar.

Broomstick

@grace68 I don't use my oven any more but make vegan soda bread in the microwave.  It only takes 6 minutes.  I'm sure it would work fine with cow's milk.  I've used different kinds of oil and vinegar too, whatever's been in the cupboard - it seems to be a very flexible recipe. https://microwavegan.tumblr.com/post/113883346390/microwave-vegan-soda-bread.

[Deleted User]

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Completely agree. We need to be re-looking at everything now and getting ourselves as individuals and families in the best position possible to handle what is coming xx

Si_Clist

grace68 said:

 ... wondering if its cheaper to run a bread maker or the oven to make bread? 

We've never checked that, but for various reasons we'll continue to use our breadmaker for the foreseeable.  Having said that though, isn't flour going to be the number one issue henceforth?  We can see prices rising dramatically real soon now and availability getting a bit iffy in due course on account of grain prices, poor harvests and Vladimir stopping exports.   But what to do about it?  We're currently sitting on 25Kg in Mylar bag long-term storage, another 25Kg bag just delivered and maybe 10Kg in the bag we're working from, but we're stuck now for suitable storage space.

(Yes, it's a lot of flour but it's all spelt wholemeal, which is what we like.  The Lady Wife doesn't tolerate wheat very well, and neither of us can remember when we last ate white bread ...) 

littlegreenparrot

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Some flat breads are cooked on the stove top, so you could do them on the camping stove. 

Naan bread for example is cooked in a frying pan. 

Toonie

For a simple bread, I love making roti. Great for mopping up anything you have. Or in my case, munching on whilst cooking the rest! Most recipes are similar but I found the tips and advice on the below website really useful.

https://www.cookwithmanali.com/roti-recipe/