Prepping: the new world...

cashlink

You have all got me thinking….my DH has a beautiful shirt that he loves…but the collar and cuffs are getting ragged.
Would a seamstress be able to turn them? I think I remember my mum doing it with dads shirts but I’ve never been into sewing, I can do sewing a button back on but that’s about it!

MingVase

Anybody prepping for rising food prices? Although the PTB will say food inflation is going down, it isnt going to go down very far. How are you preparing for this? Are you growing veg or changing what you eat?

Nargleblast

I am trying to reduce portion sizes slightly, not only for reasons of cost but also because I think we have become conditioned to expect large portions of food on our plates. For example, if you look at a breakfast cereal packet it might say a portion is 30 grammes, but I weighed that amount out once and it was far less than the amount most people would pour into their bowls.

Take sausages. Apparently a portion is 2. Most people I know (me included) would have at least three. We must have been taught to expect that at some point.  I am also thinking of the fast food culture, and the availability of snacking foods everywhere. No wonder obesity and its accompanying diseases are more common, especially since we are more sedentary as a society nowadays.


Some people may find three good sized meals a day with nothing in between works, others may have four or five smaller meals. I am trying to keep my eating within a 6-8 hour window to give my body a long fasting session to rest my gut. Eating late at night is not a good idea, having your body processing that food when it's supposed to be repairing and renewing cells.

I am not suggesting we should all measure and count our food in a miserly fashion, but in view of rising food costs we could look at what nutrients we actually need for good health and concentrate on getting those nutrients from as wide a selection of foodstuffs as possible. If you can grow fruit and veg, all well and good. I am the Kiss of Death to most plants, although I do have some success with herbs. 

Watching what we buy, and making sure we don't waste anything is a good start.

London_1

I have potatoes growing in a patch at the bottom of my garden that my grandson planted at Eastertim plus around a dozen red onion setts growing in an old butler sink in the garden that I used to grow flowers in.
I use a smaller plate, but then my appetite isn't the greatest.I only eat at most one main meal a day and I changed it so I eat at lunchtime instead of the evening simply because by the evening I'd rather sit down with a small snack/soup to pudding.
I don't snack between meals although I do enjoy a cuppa mid morning and a coffee in the afternoon.

It seems eminently sensible to tuck some odds and ends away before the winter sets in, especially basic stuff.

JackieO xx

Nargleblast

If you have the wherewithal in your fridge, freezer and cupboards to make several days' meals, then you don't have to venture out to the shops on winter days when the weather is filthy and the roads treacherous. Obviously looking out for the bargains, going for the reduced price stuff, taking advantage of food waste apps/schemes and learning to make homemade versions of expensive meals at reduced prices all helps.

Auntycaz

I also try to have a few things put by so I don't have to go out on really hot days in the summer. My nearest shop is a bus ride away and I'm not very good in the heat as I'm fair skinned and freckly and get headaches in the sun.

MrsCD

@Nargleblast that was the reason I first started prepping. Where we live, we used to get snowed in regularly and I didn't want to be short of food for my family. Nowadays it's more likely to be a power cut, so my tins of quick meals come in handy.
Whatever the reason, it's worth having a couple of weeks or months, or more if you can afford it, stashed away. Just remember to rotate the stock!

DigForVictory

Mum was raised with a larder, Dad built the kitchen seating with storage and our kitchen sideboard/cupboards (took a look at flatpack & decided he could do better, seemingly - and over 50 years later, he has still having the last laugh). While we were  primary school age, Dad would take all three of us to Bookers & if babysis was too small to drag a trolley she was sat at one end holding a basket of fragile stuff. We would eventually lurch (dragging 3 laden trolleys) to the till & "membership card sir?" Dad opened his wallet & fanned out notes - the manager would key in a code & it would all be scanned & then dad would load it into the car & shove us in somewhere (It wouldn't be allowed today on So many counts!) then all put away in the house.

So when I found I was allowed Costco membership - well, three small boys meant I needed a lot of Persil & a lot of nappies (I did try cloth! Just the babies didn't like it) and assorted habits learned at my fathers knee carried right on. Although I never packed the car that ferociously.
As the boys got a bit bigger, we moved to a place where there was a bit more space for them & it is on a hill so when winter comes, taking the car to get food is not wholly straightforward. There are some very sharp bends as well as a steep angle. So I shopped so that when the weather was not ideal, we didn't have to go shopping. Only when we were flat out of fresh bread fresh fruit & fresh veg did I contemplate taking the car out & then solo.
I'm cautious about commending the Mormons, but one aspect of their faith I do admire, They reckon you should hold 3 months worth of food (and water!) as part of your faith. I never managed 3 months water for my lot (in rainy Lancashire it never seemed mission critical)  but ye gods I tried for tinned goods, cleaning kit & medicines. Just boys eat like a steam engine goes through coal, with the additional if they know it's there, by the time you get back to it, it isn't any more.
So I use Costco to make the branded stuff (that the chaps are awkward about, like Branston beans) cost less per kilo & we've downshifted supermarket too. Meal planning, shopping to a list & getting the lads to cook has held the food spend within the realm of reasonable. There is space to cut further (I can live without butter when some shop wants £2.50 for a small lump!) and if we need to, we will, but meantime, I'm keeping them interested by unleashing (second hand) cookbooks on them...

YoungBlueEyes

I think we're on the same page as yous really. Slightly smaller portions - no bad thing in general - and less carp. We weren't big junk food eaters or snackers anyway so cutting it out hasn't had much of an affect, other than on my purse. I do occasionally make cookies or wee buns or something if I've the oven on but neither of us would miss them.

I agree with @Nargleblast about thinking what you actually need to shove down your neck. Your body needs more water than you'd think, but what about nutrients/vitamins/minerals...? We're meaty more than fishy people but I make sure I balance it out through the week. I recently discovered a big Iceland Warehouse a couple of towns over so I run the freezer down then go there to stock up. Plain meat and fish (and veg actually) can bought cheaply enough if you're capable of turning it into something tasty at home. 

There was an ad on telly recently for a pizza co, you can get a large pizza for £12 and a medium for £10 (or similar). I thought gawd I've got a good week's worth of meat/fish/veg for that! But then we were never big takeaway eaters so we weren't the target audience. The target audience were probably thinking ooh that's cheaper than last week, we'll have that for dinner. And then whine that they've never any money and the govt needs to do more to help....

Rosetta92

Auntycaz said:

I also try to have a few things put by so I don't have to go out on really hot days in the summer. My nearest shop is a bus ride away and I'm not very good in the heat as I'm fair skinned and freckly and get headaches in the sun.

I really like the idea of preparing for summer too 😀