Prepping for the challenge ahead...

luvchocolate

Fingers crossed this thread stays on track...the feeling the pinch one is on about setting fire to science lab bench...

thriftwizard

@annieb64, if your garage is integral to your home, you're probably ok, but if, like ours, it's detached - keep a good eye out for mice! I once stocked up on loo roll while it was on BOGOF, & stashed it out in the garage. When I went to fetch it in, about 6 weeks later, the blighters had set up home in there...

Appropriate storage, for whatever, is one of the cornerstones of good preps!

Floss

In my home the space over the stairs is a cupboard accessed from the bathroom. It's a great place to keep spare soap & shampoo, makeup, meds, cleaning stuff, towels, loo roll etc, but it's the devil to get stuff out of as it is waist high and as deep as the stairs! 

bouicca21

I have limited storage in my flat. I do have a garage but it is damp so I am none too sure what I can safely store in there. Cans and jars ok.   Paper bags and cardboard cartons clearly a no no.  What about stuff like pasta which comes in what I assume are plastic bags? 

EssexHebridean

luvchocolate said:

Fingers crossed this thread stays on track...the feeling the pinch one is on about setting fire to science lab bench...

Conversational tangents happen in most of the chatty threads on here and the forum is usually better for it IMO - life is a struggle for a lot of folk at the moment and the very last thing many people want is a doom and gloom thread which only discusses how much a tin of beans has increased by and whether it's better value to buy your milk at X supermarket or Z one.

My big thing currently be able to prep a little better is to get the stuff we currently have in the freezer used with a view to being able to re-stock with some different items which might be more useful for whatever reason. I want to make use of the Iceland fish deal, and probably pay a visit to Morrisons at some stage for a couple of their 3 for £10 meat deals as well. (Not least because I can see them becoming either 2 for £10 or 3 for £12 deals before much longer!) 

We already run a storecupboard which I've been gently topping up for a while now - I might consider investing in a lidded plastic box for the garage which will take extra of things like tins too though. We'll be foraging round the neighbourhood for plums at some stage so MrEH can make some more jam - the last jar of last years batch got finished recently. The most recent big pick from our gooseberry bushes is going to make another batch of gooseberry ketchup I think, and the final pick from those will be turned into jam. Then I need to start crossing fingers for my tomato plants to start flowering and setting fruit... 

RAS

bouicca, might be worth exploring the garage a bit. Have leaves and soil stacked up against an outside wall? Is the guttering clear of obstructions and running properly? Does the hard-standing outside slope so that the rain runs under the door? Does the roof leak anywhere? 

Tins should be fine for a few months, jars longer but use a permanent marker to write the contents on the lid. Given the capacity of mice to climb anything and get through the tiniest holes, I wouldn't risk anything that can be chewed.

With respect to fruit, it pays to know your apples. Discovery and Egremont Russet will never keep beyond October. Golden Delicious takes for ever to ripen and good unbruised Bramley can keep until March as whole fruit. We used to use the loft and raid about once a fortnight. These days I have a cellar and some old stone shelves.

Floss

When I was a teen we used to go to a  PYO orchard & pick loads of Golden Delicious and Bramleys to store in the garage, each wrapped in a piece of newspaper. Sadly the PYO place is no more which is a pity as I live about 5 minutes drive away!

London_1

Annie64 my local butcher in Rainham stock stuff sometimes from Brogdale, and Dobbies definitely does .A good time to watch for reductions in Dobbies is check out the sell by dates in their deli/butcher counters They often have some really good reductions ,especially on a Sunday afternoon around 3.30.pm.Their Glocester Old Spot sausages are y go-to bangers as two of those are 97% pork and as filling as a rump steak when cooked with mash and veg ,but a darn sight cheaper.

JackieO xx

Longwalker

I keep a good store cupboard

The pull out larder has the bread, biscuits , crisps , a shelf for all my spices and herbs ( of which I have loads - all used regularly ) and then the jars that are open - pickles, chutneys etc. Then the pasta, rice, quinoa , lentils etc.

I have the baking cupboard - flours, sugars, dried fruits  etc etc

In my turntable cupboard are tins and jars. Always 4 of everything, soon as one is used I put it on my list of "buy at a good price" - that is no rush, get it when I think its a good price

Under the stars is the dog and cat food, the 6 million tins of tomato soup and baked beans that I seem to have accumulated. Well not so many, but a few packs of 4 packs , spare loo roll and kitchen paper and washing powder. I usually work with the cleaning stuff, one open, one spare, soon as the spare is moved into the kitchen or bathroom I buy a new spare 

I dont have a set budget for food. However I pay for the food and Im on NMW. I also obviously have other bills of my own - phone, car, diesel , insurance etc, so I do have to keep the food bill down, especially because my diesel bill is so high now 

Keeping to this system works for me. Its only when the shortages get really bad that things go missing from supplies - Sardines in oil for example - cant get for love nor money , well for money you can - the posh expensive ones not the 40p ones

Two freezers, both quite small, a 3 drawer one built in with the fridge and a 4 drawer one in the garage. The one in the kitchen is full of single left over portions, the garage one gets my bargain yellow sticker buys. The only regular frozen we have here are peas, chicken nuggets and fish fingers. Everything else that ends up in them are yellow sticker bargains. Like after easter lamb gets reduced, - Ive 3 or 4 lamb joints, at the moment pork is everywhere and theres an awful lot of pork chops. All is ok, they all get used, even if I know Ive got 3 pack of mince already but I hit the shops at the right time and Im picking it up for pennies, home it comes, it will be used

annieb64

Thriftwizard-the garage is attached to the house but not integral.  I keep loo rolls in the eaves storage area off our bedroom.  I was thinking of storing tins in the garage but may have a sort out of the understairs cupboard which is used as a pantry and storage cupboard.  If I moved stuff I rarely use into the garage there would be more space for tins.

JackieO-I go to the Brogdale butchers in Sturry. It's on the way to my daughter's.  There's quite a good farm shop next door to it too.