What will you be stocking up on 'Just in case ' ?

Poppy_Golightly

Junk mail! I'm trying to make the cat litter go further by adding in a layer of shredded paper. My neighbour has promised to add to my hoard!

otb666

are free range eggs available at the moment ? thought I saw something on news to suggest they are not due to bird flu

joedenise

They're all barn eggs at the moment and even though the boxes say Free Range there should also be a sticker or something to show that they are barn eggs; and yes it is because of bird flu.

Spendless

Both me and my Mum found it took ages to get through the amount of freezer stuff we had in.

Today I have swept with dustpan and brush all through my large kitchen/dining area to minimise how long I will need the vacuum on it. That led me to think of things my parents had years ago when I was a child. My mum used a carpet sweeper until they could afford an electric cylinder vacuum cleaner. I don't recall how effective these were. I hated the electric one they bought and as a teenager would do my most to avoid that chore. It needed a really firm hand to pick up, something only my Dad had, and refused to believe that I struggled with as to him 'it was easy' . He refused to replace it for many years as he'd bought it by putting the cost of the appliance  on his electric bill and was still paying for it many years later. I think it only got replaced around the time I was leaving home in my late 20s. Ironically I mentioned this story to my Mum only a few months ago and she didn't remember it! 

We had hot water bottles but in the depth of winter an electric blanket would be switched on for an hour or so before bed. It was always drummed into us this must be switched off before getting in, to not do so was a fire risk. I'm unsure if this was actually true or just a way of making sure we didn't run up energy costs. 

My first boyfriend at 16, his Mum had had her children later on in life, so was more my Grandparents age. At the side of my own Mum, I didn't appreciate what I then viewed as 'old fashioned ways' in boiling ham hocks and having part of their garden dug over to a vegetable patch and buying uncut loaves and broken biscuits as they were cheaper. . If she's still alive she'd be in her early 90s now and I wish my teenage self had paid more attention!

mandy47

YorksLass said

I've just had a sm delivery today and my bag of bread flour was substituted with SR flour.  I find it hard to believe they didn't have any bread flour at all - maybe it was the picker who didn't know the difference.  I hope it was the latter as I don't relish the thought of being on the "hunt the flour" merry-go-round again.  I bake a lot - bread, cakes, scones, biscuits etc - and hardly ever buy ready made, partly because of the cost and partly because we prefer home made ie I know what's gone into it and you get more for your dosh into the bargain.

My "extras" consist of staples that have long shelf dates (rice, pasta, oats, pulses etc) that can be used to pad out meals and are relatively inexpensive.  I'm slowly building these up again by buying one or two extras on each shopping trip so I don't really notice the cost too much.  I also like to have a decent stock of tins of fish (sardines, pilchards, tuna) and meat (eg corned beef) as they're useful stand-by's.  The lock downs showed me what we tend to eat/use most and that's been a useful exercise in deciding what or what not to buy.

It's not always the pickers choice. The system used suggests substitutions and company practise is to always send a sub unless customer has selected no subs. If they were out of bread flour they will send the next available alternative. At least it wasn't flower. Stranger subs have been sent 

mandy47

Spendless said:

Today I have swept with dustpan and brush all through my large kitchen/dining area to minimise how long I will need the vacuum on it. That led me to think of things my parents had years ago when I was a child. My mum used a carpet sweeper until they could afford an electric cylinder vacuum cleaner. I don't recall how effective these were. I hated the electric one they bought and as a teenager would do my most to avoid that chore. It needed a really firm hand to pick up, something only my Dad had, and refused to believe that I struggled with as to him 'it was easy' . He refused to replace it for many years as he'd bought it by putting the cost of the appliance  on his electric bill and was still paying for it many years later. I think it only got replaced around the time I was leaving home in my late 20s. Ironically I mentioned this story to my Mum only a few months ago and she didn't remember it! 

I recently bought a carpet sweeper. I had vouchers for that well known online shop.
I have been pleasantly surprised. I've gone from hoovering every day to twice a week. I was dubious about it's ability to pick up dog hairs but I'm impressed. Only issue is it doesn't go right to the edge/skirting. 

littlemoney

Spendless said:

We had hot water bottles but in the depth of winter an electric blanket would be switched on for an hour or so before bed. It was always drummed into us this must be switched off before getting in, to not do so was a fire risk. I'm unsure if this was actually true or just a way of making sure we didn't run up energy costs.

Many years ago they used to say don't use electric under blankets when you are in the bed. My underblanket  now says I can leave on all night. Never done an all nighter but if I wake up cold I switch it on. It has an auto switch off setting for one hour later.

Over blankets, I have used during the night for many years.

Spendless

littlemoney said:

Spendless said:

We had hot water bottles but in the depth of winter an electric blanket would be switched on for an hour or so before bed. It was always drummed into us this must be switched off before getting in, to not do so was a fire risk. I'm unsure if this was actually true or just a way of making sure we didn't run up energy costs.

Many years ago they used to say don't use electric under blankets when you are in the bed. My underblanket  now says I can leave on all night. Never done an all nighter but if I wake up cold I switch it on. It has an auto switch off setting for one hour later.

Over blankets, I have used during the night for many years.

Now you've got me thinking, but I'm pretty sure it was an over blanket. Whether Mum was actually putting it in the correct area is another matter. My Mum made up beds with sheets and blankets and I'm sure the electric blanket  was amongst them, followed by an eiderdown. A fidget in bed to this day I was always having to remake it. For my 14th birthday I asked for a continental quilt (duvet)  on purpose, got one and never looked back. Though Mum  went onto get them  for the rest of the household, to this day she still makes up a bed with sheets and blankets and a duvet on top of them!. Probably the reason I've never heard my parents complain of being cold at night - daytime is a different story. 

YorksLass

mandy47 sai

It's not always the pickers choice. The system used suggests substitutions and company practise is to always send a sub unless customer has selected no subs. If they were out of bread flour they will send the next available alternative. At least it wasn't flower. Stranger subs have been sent 

Oh yes, I've had my fair share of those over the years!  The mind boggles at what the system comes up with.  I've just noticed that this delivery came from a different distribution point than normal so maybe that was another contributing factor.

The 4 pts of milk I got on Thursday was £1.15, its normal price, and I noticed that by Friday it had gone up to £1.25.  The cynic in me wonders who is getting that extra 10p.    I usually keep a stock of dried powdered milk as well as cartons of long life milk plus the odd tin or two of evaporated milk - so far we've never been stuck for milk!  

jennystarpepper

Spendless said:

Both me and my Mum found it took ages to get through the amount of freezer stuff we had in.

Today I have swept with dustpan and brush all through my large kitchen/dining area to minimise how long I will need the vacuum on it. That led me to think of things my parents had years ago when I was a child. My mum used a carpet sweeper until they could afford an electric cylinder vacuum cleaner. I don't recall how effective these were. I hated the electric one they bought and as a teenager would do my most to avoid that chore. It needed a really firm hand to pick up, something only my Dad had, and refused to believe that I struggled with as to him 'it was easy' . He refused to replace it for many years as he'd bought it by putting the cost of the appliance  on his electric bill and was still paying for it many years later. I think it only got replaced around the time I was leaving home in my late 20s. Ironically I mentioned this story to my Mum only a few months ago and she didn't remember it! 

We had hot water bottles but in the depth of winter an electric blanket would be switched on for an hour or so before bed. It was always drummed into us this must be switched off before getting in, to not do so was a fire risk. I'm unsure if this was actually true or just a way of making sure we didn't run up energy costs.

House fires from blankets did happen, our local council offered free testing of blankets , don't know if they still do but it was being offered 4/5 years ago.