Prepping: the new world...

Nathalia

The one thing we did during lockdown was pay more for cat food than we would have liked as we just couldn't get it in the shops.  I bought 2x94 Felix sachets for her and from then until the end of her life we never left ourselves with less than a month's safety net in case something else happened.  We had built up a fair store cupboard as we were expecting trade difficulties after Brexit - we were particularly good on pasta, olive oil and tinned tomatoes! - but we could adapt to what we had and the cat really couldn't.

I keep a more careful eye on our toilet roll stock as well these days.

suzeesu2000

I’m a bit late to the party but please May I join?

As a lot of you are saying, my friends laughed at my well-stocked pantry shelves….until lockdown. Then they came knocking “have you got” & “can we borrow”. Now they understand and some are even changing their ways. 

The biggest issue we all seem to have is storing our extras as these modern homes don’t come with lovely pantry’s or the cupboard under the stairs. I am lucky in that DH built two racks of super shelving in our quite large kitchen. I also store all my laundry and cleaning stocks in our downstairs loo. Have a nice shelving unit and it’s all clean.

I try to buy a few extras a every time I do shopping and it soon makes a nice store. The biggest mistake I made when starting out was to buy tins that were cheap - have learned over time to concentrate on things we know we love plus Salt, sugar etc. 

I have an air fryer which is great for dehydrating as well so dry all home grown herbs and make celery into powder. 

Hope everyone is having a great week and look forward to learning. 

ArbitraryRandom

suzeesu2000 said:

The biggest issue we all seem to have is storing our extras as these modern homes don’t come with lovely pantry’s or the cupboard under the stairs.

My favourite place to stash items is under the beds where you can't see it. Not crazy amounts, but I've got some excellent long boxes which fit very neatly two under each bed and are full of all of the basics. Three categories: 

1. First aid/winter kit (an actual first aid kit, but also things like multi vitamins/vitamin D, rehydration tablets, painkillers, antihistamines; and some cat litter for gritting the path, hot water bottles and a battery stash)
2. Kitchen staples (highlights inc pasta, rice, oats, coffee, sugar, passata, tuna and some tinned veg - basically if I'm sick for a week or two and need some easy/basic meals)
3. Household things (mostly things that are fairly expensive full price or things that are needed at short notice but bought irregularly so there's a decent chance I can run out unexpectedly - like dishwasher tablets and toiletries/sanitary products) 

Then in the fourth box my two winter duvets get packed away (with a bit of squishing and encouragement)  

JIL

Elisheba said:

JIL said:

elsien said:

No one is really advocating a home militia or conscription. It was a random comment that’s grown legs and run away with itself. It is certainly neither on the government or the military agenda as things stand. 

I noticed the daily mail are writing about the possibility daily. 

I cant get my head around why they are publishing such things, is it to scare its readers? 

It's clickbait basically. Write about scary, dramatic stuff and people will read it, whether it's true or not.

Yes it is but surely scaring vulnerable people is scraping the very bottom of the barrel. Even for the Daily mail.

I have been busy trying to sort things. I'm determined to start prepping for the years ahead. That means simplifying things, out will go things that don't have a reason to stay and a big sort out room by room to improve our lives. I will start by looking at the food cupboard overflow in the garage. It's not going down, so do I actually need so many tins of beans and tomatoes?  Decision to be made 🤔

mumf

This prepping is interesting. We always kept a stock of what we regularly bought ,as if I didn’t work,I didn’t earn ,simple as that. Then the internet came along and it got a name.Prepping.😆 It certainly helped at times over the years,as we had children,illness and redundancy. 

  Sadly I am now terminally ill and won’t be here in a short time,so I am making sure my dear wife is covered in case of all sorts of issues- which I hope don’t happen! 👍

So our pantry is gradually being changed to her own tastes. When I took ill it took a while to get my benefits paid,so that storage was a blessing! Now the food storage particularly will be sufficient (within storage dates )for one lady. She feels secure with that new way of storage,so that makes me happy.
   She has been *trained*😃 to use the emergency heating,lighting,cooking . That was done because we had a 24 hour power cut! 

  I could go on,but the prepping is useful when you least expect it. Take care everyone.x

Floss

@mumf so sorry to read your news, but can I just commend you & your wife for being so up-to-speed with that particularly sad form of prepping.
Best wishes x

Cherryfudge

@mumf, I am so sorry to hear this, but as Floss says, you're to be commended in your clear headed approach - it's a love that will stay with her and support her when you can't be physically present.

May I suggest, if you've not already done so, that you let her know how to get onto this forum and what she can find here, including support and advice? Other digital access too, of course.

" I could go on, but the prepping is useful when you least expect it."

That's so thought-provoking, thank you. My DH worried that he wouldn't know where I had savings, so I gave him a list, plus insurance details - all part of prepping.

sammy_kaye18

Hello All
I have been away for a little bit and just in general practicing a bit of self care. 
But have been following along a group on fb which is a womens only prepping page and there has been lots of talks on there about farmers strikes. Im very glad I decided to up my growing this year and Im following a grow along group so I can get ahead with my food storage etc. 

@suzeesu2000 how do you dehydrate with an airfryer? I have been looking at second hand dehydrators on ebay but if I can use that then happy days! 

I have also been watching a series on Netflix called 'Rotten' and it has been very eye opening. I have only watched the first episode so far about honey but even that has shocked me enough to now be looking for a local supplier that I can buy direct from. 

weenancyinAmerica

@Mumf - so sorry to hear about your illness. One thing I discovered would have helped me when my parents died and I had to care for the house was a little set of instructions on how to work things around the house like the thermostat and the heater (how often do I change the filter?), how do I turn off the pool filter, how to turn off the water in an emergency, important things like that, anything that you might usually take care of. He died in 2006 and I am still learning things around the house - sometimes the hard way. Would have been nice if they had left their recipes too. Should be a part of everyone's prepping I think.

Also a list of who should be notified of your passing - it would have helped immensely if I had known all of the groups my parents belonged to and who in the group to notify, as well as the names of people they knew who would have wanted to be informed. If you frequent a pub, for instance, is there anyone you know there that she doesn't, that should be informed. Does she know what to do about changing the Council Tax if that is necessary? My gas bill is still in my father's name, even though they know I am the one paying the bill, but according to their records he should be 102 already.

Hugs to you and Mrs. Mumf. Remember, we are here to help when we can.

suzeesu2000

sammy_kaye18 said:

@suzeesu2000 how do you dehydrate with an airfryer? I have been looking at second hand dehydrators on ebay but if I can use that then happy days! 

On the Ninja double baskett option, there is a dehydrate facility. Its brilliant. I did celery in mine and it worked better than my proper dehydrator so I sold that and am sticking with the Ninja.