Prepping: the new world...

DigForVictory

After mum was cut off from mains due to improvements work, we quickly learned the difference between water to drink & water to flush. It's Heavy stuff - "a pint of pure water weighs a pound and a quarter"! A Full bucket in each hand had us thinking wistfully of dairymaids yokes. Fortunately she was restored to the usual supply reasonably quickly & we now have several luggable bottles of drinking water stashed!
This weekend? Further improvements have done something horrible to the drains - and there is smelly seepage (which mum being anosmic misses) but its trickling down into the neighbours garden & spoiling their sitting out in the sunshine plans. More phone calls!

DigForVictory

Saw this & read it, with increasing irritation that the 'posh' was getting in the way of 'functional' pantry. Why every home needs a posh pantry | The Independent
Though I have to confess that I covet my sister's "slim pull-out pantry unit" which transforms "even the narrowest cupboard into a functional space for food storage." It is eye-wateringly effective, just Modern. In our old house it would struggle with the angled floor & look like a refugee from another century, whereas the stone larder is cold, heavy & effective. OK, the builders shoved a toilet in, but that hasn't stopped assorted storage ongoing.

joedenise

We updated our kitchen a few years ago and decided that a pantry in one corner was a good investment.  With having the pantry and all drawer units rather than cupboards (apart from under the sink unit) I have masses of storage space without having any wall cupboards which make the kitchen much more open and feels so much bigger.

I also managed to move the washing machine, tumble dryer and dishwasher out of the kitchen into the extension/dining area.  I've since replaced the dishwasher with an additional freezer as it's far more useful.  Having said that if the tumble dryer packs up I'll be replacing it with another dishwasher.  I think the tumble dryer has been used twice in the last few years!

Floss

I've just come back from Lidl, and can report that they had lots of sardines ranging in price from 55p to 79p, in sunflower or olive oil, tomato or spicy tomato sauce. They also had tins of mackerel in tomato sauce.

They also had various packs of noodles for Asian week including some mie noodles that "cook" in boiling water or soup, which might be good for store cupboards & power cuts?

Valli

MrsCD said:

DigForVictory said:

Floss said:

DfV, would your mum do chilled coffee? There are several options in cans.

Given the choice between that & caffeine withdrawal, I think she'd take to canned chilled coffee in seconds. Doesn't stop her chucking half-full cups of the good stuff down the sink when its gone cold (she does microwave them sometimes, often removing a previous heated & forgotten brew to do so). She just much prefers it hot!

Would your mum manage a small camping stove in the kitchen with a window open slightly?

Please please please don't suggest using camping stoves indoors - even with the window open.  That's not 'proper, effective' ventilation.  They're not designed for indoor use and the risk of CO poisoning is real.

Elisheba

Morning, all. I've been reading this thread for the last couple of days, which has been very enjoyable indeed.

It has prompted me to have a proper thing about what the most likely emergencies I would face here would be, and what I would need for them.

I think the most likely scenarios would be power or water cuts, or when out in the car being stranded due to car failure/weather. I'm in Mid Wales and I drive up to Scotland a lot - I remember well back in 2010 or 11 nearly being stranded overnight on the motorway due to snow, and being very low on fuel by that point I was rather worried about freezing!

So, I think the best idea is to have an emergency kit in the car, and a small go back in the house. In case of house power cut, I can always bring the necessary back into the house. If turfed out of the house for any reason, me and the dogs and cat can sleep on the car (which I do camp in on occasion).

I do have lots of camping gear, so to start with I'm thinking the stove can go in the car. Much easier to access there that the garage in case of a power cut as well. Spare gas canisters can stay in the house go bag, meaning no chance of overheating in summer as well.

I'm still drafting my lists of what will go where, so I'll let you know what I've decided on and see if you have any suggestions for improvement when they are finished ☺️.

I used to keep a very well stocked pantry, but this year (as well as being veggie) I've moved to a low carb diet to manage prediabetes, and I'm struggling to think of much I can eat that is long life that I can stock up on - some tins of soup, and bags of nuts are the only things that spring to mind. I'll need to ponder it more.

daz378

Flicking through the TV channels...Together TV uk... caught a couple of episodes of Edwardian farm ...shows how much we take things for granted...a vaguely remember  Victorian farm from a few years ago...worth a look

DigForVictory

I recall the chaps being poleaxed by her completely matter of fact 'make your own sanitary tackle'.
Then bewildered that she could wash all over with a single jug of boiling water (plus quite a lot more cold,) soap & flannels.
She's "Saint Ruth" in our household, we're not really supposed to contradict her. (Her halo slipped on rushlights, but since we'd been making batches for years, we were able to be picky.) The chaps associated are formidable competent, just my lads are altogether more smitten with food.

suzeesu2000

daz378 said:

Flicking through the TV channels...Together TV uk... caught a couple of episodes of Edwardian farm ...shows how much we take things for granted...a vaguely remember  Victorian farm from a few years ago...worth a look

The WW2 series was brilliant as well, enjoyed all of the “farms” 

thriftwizard

We've just spent the best part of 5 days without t'interweb or a home phone, and with a woefully inadequate mobile signal which kept fading away in the middle of conversations with engineers. It made me very aware of how much I can no longer source easily here in our little town, since it "poshed up" and doubled in size - e.g. underwear, decent tools, reasonably-priced groceries (as in tinned & dried goods - there's any amount of posh coffee, handmade chocolate, exotic cheeses, pickled artichoke hearts etc.) & have taken to ordering online, but luckily we do still have an independent butcher, fishmonger & greengrocer.

Anyway, today I arranged to switch my mobile provider to the only one with proven coverage here, and got to thinking about how our prepping needs have changed over the last few years. Three of our youngsters have flown the nest & a couple have since produced offspring of their own. The fourth will be leaving (again) in a couple of weeks, leaving just the two of us plus youngest, who is not likely to try her wings just yet. So the sheer amount of stuff I was keeping in store can now diminish significantly, and also the type, as I've had to change my diet in the last few years (and am far better for it!) and now we're working on getting OH back to "real" food. I still try to keep in a good stock of tinned beans (all sorts) tinned tomatoes, passata & puree, rice, bulgur wheat, buckwheat & other grains & seeds, pasta, lentils (assorted) chickpeas & marrowfat peas, nuts, seeds, assorted flours, herbs & spices, & various condiments. Oh, and teas & coffee, salt, pepper and yeast for the breadmaker! But I no longer panic if I don't have a sack of potatoes - though will still buy a sack of a decent variety once it's cool enough for them to keep well - and only buy fruit juice if I'm planning to ferment it. Drinking water would be an issue; I've hauled my out-of-date stash of drinking water up to the allotment to wash my hands & have not yet replaced it; the IBC tank ran dry a couple of weeks ago, as it only went in in April & never got more than half-full. The garden water butts were just about empty too but luckily it looks as if we will get some much-needed rain now.

Also - I must go through the medicine cupboard again, and remove a vast amount of out-of-date paracetamol & ibuprofen etc., left over from the lockdowns, and buy a much smaller amount with long dates. Hopefully it won't be needed but I'd rather know it was there if it is! And then - there's the paperwork...