The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

cuddlymarm

Hi preppers
I hadn’t read for a while but now I’ve caught up so I thought I’d pop by and say hello.
For anyone worrying about the future ( and let’s face it a lot has happened over the last couple of years to make you worry) I think all we can do is our best, There isn’t money to stock up loads and as I’ve learnt in the past you are better stocking up on what you and yours will eat. If things get really hard you don’t want to be inflicting some food they hate on them as well.
There are so many reasons for gaps of the shelves at the moment, price, transport, staff shortages to name a few, The shop where I work just cannot get anyone that wants the jobs, we’ve had vacancies for months and now with the need not to wear masks COVID is rearing it’s ugly head. I finally caught it after working all the way through (and must admit I’m feeling a little bit sorry for myself) 

At the moment my tins and packets are hardly getting touched (so they are building up nicely) as I’m making the most of the winter veg. Jacket potato for lunch with baked beans and bit of cheap cheddar 😋😋😋

LadOnTheHill

houseinafield said:

I just typed a long answer to your freeze drying question before my laptop decided to shut down. Please excuse a short answer. I have one on order - it takes months to get here from Harvest Right in the USA. They're the only company outside China that makes them. You can order directly from them but most in the UK order from The Dab Room, the only place in the UK that ships them here. There's a shipment due next month and the company usually buys more than customer orders so if you want one and don't want to wait 6 months plus for it to arrive, it might be a good idea to contact them. I watched many hours of videos on the dryer before deciding it would work for my long term storage plans. There is a FB group for British owners that's extremely helpful (British Family Freeze Drying). I agree with your friend btw.

That's very interesting and useful, thank you! I really ought to get a Facebook account, there's so many useful groups on there and I must be missing out. I looked online today for freeze dried stuff, one place I came across wanted about £25 for 200g of freeze dried peas. That's just silly money! There has to be a way to produce cheaper than that and still turn a profit, which is leaning me more and more towards setting up a home business. There are food regulations and such to investigate, but if the profit margin is there, then it'd be worth it.

weenancyinAmerica

Trying to prep for some family members is really tough. I have 2 roommates who will only eat what they can pop in the microwave or eat directly from a can. Nothing that requires any preparation. And one of them wouldn't eat her normal pizza rolls this morning because there wasn't an even number of them left. There were only 9 and she has to have an even 20 to eat them. Argh! How do even try to prepare for them. We also have a young man who is here occasionally and he will only eat H*t Pockets and nothing else. None of them know how to cook even though two of them are actually in their thirties (the other is 22 - and is afraid of the stove). Some mornings I am at my wit's end with them.

MrsCD

That must be really difficult, weenancy, and they can't be getting all the nutrients they need with that sort of diet. Do they have anyone you can ask to help?

weenancyinAmerica

All three have parents who live nearby but they are no help at all. They are all on the Autism scale - and I just wish there were more places I could go for help with adults with autism. They aren't getting the nutrients they need, neither is one of my other roommates who got scolded by her doctor because her diabetes is not under control - she eats bags of candy, a whole bag in one day. Sometimes I wish there was a nutritionist here who made house calls. I am envious of places that have visiting nurse services.

euronorris

Wow Nancy, that sounds incredibly tough. I know autism can come with some severe diet restrictions due to food aversions etc. I assume trying new foods is a no go for them as well?

I don't really know what else to suggest, other than to ask if there is any guidance available online to help overcome food aversions? I suspect you've already looked though.

Si_Clist

RE-USING KILNER JAR LIDS -  AN UPDATE

Seeing as how for several years now I've been saying on here that we've always re-used metal lids on our Kilner jars and never had a problem with them as long as they passed a visual inspection before re-use, I now need to amend that!

This year we've been eating fruit and veg that we water-bath canned last year, and as far as we're concerned we've now established beyond doubt that whereas the 84mm diameter ones for the traditional Kilner jars remain OK, the Kilner-branded 68mm ones for the "new" 0.5 litre don't last as well.  It looks to us like the lacquer isn't as thick as on the big ones.

So, for us from now on it's old Kilner or current Leifheit 84mm lids as before, but for the relatively few "new" 0.5 litre jars we have we'll be sticking to the stainless steel 68mm lids we got off Ebay last year.

All this very much for what it's worth, YMMV etc

pollyanna_26

I think it would be difficult to hide vitamin powder ans other things in food for those on The Spectrum . They can be very fixated when it comes to taste textures and other things when it comes to food with some extreme opinions  they don't  always mention.

I knew nothing really about Autism except for a couple of pupils in the infant school I taught in with what was then known as plain Autism.

My youngest dd was diagnosed with Aspergers by a haplee child psychiatrist at CAMHS who had just discovered Tony Attwood and his first book , She'd been sruggling in senior school with a bullying head of year and classmates who  were bullies.

She was referred to that psychiatrist and he droned on and on during the big meetings he called quoting from the book. I'd withdrawn her from formal education after two meetings one with the head the other head of year who denied there was any bullying.

The head of home ed in our area was lovely and supportive, Her huband was a distance learning tutor funded by the EU who would come to the house to do tech and some other subjects,

If she was having a bad day he would go to the shop and bring back 99s for the three of us,

It was a long story and her life went downhill in many ways eating disorders self harm and others.

It took a dedicated GP already treating her for physical heath problems and ourselves to overturn that diagnosis, She didn't really have any of the signs of Aspergers, The daignosis was based on she loved reading was interested in the planets and watched David Attenborugh programmes normal things to us but not the Psychiatrist .

She finally got the correct diagnosis 20 years after the fist, She;d found it herself by putting in all her problems and symptoms in a search engine.

Not usually recommended but she was spot on. She printed it all off handed it to me and said I'm going upstairs read that and see what you think.

There it was Borderline Personality Disorder Acting In, She;d been blaming and judging herself all those years thinking herself stupid ugly and worthless, She's a very pretty girl but was thinking  she was ugly.

She showed it to our GP a few days later and he said now we fight.

It took a long time but she got the correct daignosis . The child psychiatrist was already struck off the medical register for life as it became obvious every child since he discovered Tony Attwood with Aspergers, Some of them didn;t live to see his downfall he'd damaged so many and those without support didn't cope.

I wish you could find some proper informed back up for your room mates Nancy it isn't good for them not to be monitored more or for you who's carrying the weight..

You have achieved some things with cutlery etc  i'm not so sure the Husky is happy though.

Something I found really ironic one of those do I laugh or cry things.

A few years ago Tony Attwood realised his own son had had Aspergers throughout his life and he had never noticed over the decades.

pollyx

houseinafield

Si_Clist said:

RE-USING KILNER JAR LIDS -  AN UPDATE

Seeing as how for several years now I've been saying on here that we've always re-used metal lids on our Kilner jars and never had a problem with them as long as they passed a visual inspection before re-use, I now need to amend that!

This year we've been eating fruit and veg that we water-bath canned last year, and as far as we're concerned we've now established beyond doubt that whereas the 84mm diameter ones for the traditional Kilner jars remain OK, the Kilner-branded 68mm ones for the "new" 0.5 litre don't last as well.  It looks to us like the lacquer isn't as thick as on the big ones.

So, for us from now on it's old Kilner or current Leifheit 84mm lids as before, but for the relatively few "new" 0.5 litre jars we have we'll be sticking to the stainless steel 68mm lids we got off Ebay last year.

All this very much for what it's worth, YMMV etc

I'm not at the stage where I would be reusing the lids yet but I tried the Wilko jars last week with the Amazon lids and had 4 lids that didn't seal. I still have about 20 new Kilner jars and lids (the 0.5 ltr unfortunately),many Wilko jars and lots of the made in China lids. I like the Wilko jars but on the advise of my sister, I've invested in the Tattler reusable seals and lids from America. I'm hoping they'll cover my canning needs for years to come because, as you know,  the initial costs for canning aren't cheap. I'd like to try water bath canning but  we don't grow any of our own fruit or veg yet (hopefully we will when we move house next year) and I never come across bargains like the amazing blueberries bargain found by AnimalTribe. Though that might be because we rarely go out!  
Has anyone heard of or tried a steam juicer? I came across it on one of the Youtube channels. Looks interesting if you grow a lot of fruit.

houseinafield

LadOnTheHill said:

That's very interesting and useful, thank you! I really ought to get a Facebook account, there's so many useful groups on there and I must be missing out. I looked online today for freeze dried stuff, one place I came across wanted about £25 for 200g of freeze dried peas. That's just silly money! There has to be a way to produce cheaper than that and still turn a profit, which is leaning me more and more towards setting up a home business. There are food regulations and such to investigate, but if the profit margin is there, then it'd be worth it.

I only have an FB account to gain info on things like canning, food preservation, prepping etc. There are many very useful groups including an American freeze drying group where they post a lot about selling. I think someone on the UK group is selling too. Might be worth joining to find out more. A lot of the US people are freeze drying sweets - Skittles seem to be very popular - and selling at inflated prices. Ice cream seems to be another favourite. I might have a go for the novelty aspect but it's not why I want the machine. But there are a lot of people freeze drying whole meals to sell as well as fruits etc. Obviously the regs will be different here as they appear to be from state to state in America but interesting anyway.