The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

VJsmum · 28 November 2018 at 4:43PM

Awww thanks for the new thread, I'd got a bit out of habit with the old one and then (ridiculously) felt like an intruder when I posted. Hopefully more will come out of the woodwork onto the shiny new one - come out, come out, wherever you are...

Onwards with the prepping - which, for me, seems to consist of running things down, so i can build them up again..

fuddle · 28 November 2018 at 4:46PM

Dear zippy skickied the thread previously because she closed down 2 prepping threads that was born out of argument and disagreement and she wanted people to know where it was. I don't think it was meant to be skickied for two years but it's not important.

What makes prepping so important that it needs to be stickied Doveling?

To be honest I don't understand why the fuss. We have a new thread. We can all use it and if M&M90 thinks it should be stickied then so be it.

elona · 28 November 2018 at 4:52PM

fuddle and M&M90

Thanks for being proactive about the thread. I would hate for it to disappear like some of the others.

Not sure if it counts as prepping but I finally got round to starting to shorten one of the floor length living room curtains - only been meaning to do that for about a year!!!

GreyQueen · 28 November 2018 at 4:55PM

:j Yayyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Happy New Thread Day, preptastic ones.

Re fires, I've no experience of woodstoves but considerable experience of bonfiring and have left a nice deep bed of ash (about 4 inches deep) on my allotment bonfire spot to help the next bonfire get away. Plenty of time in spring to rake out the ash pile and turn it under.

I have plans to grow a large amount of taters to feed all the family. Hope the rains come at optimal times in 2019.:)

fuddle · 28 November 2018 at 5:13PM

Sadly GQ the brainy people think we're on course for hot summers until 2022. I can't provide a link though I heard that on a debate. I'm wondering whether to bother with tatos at all because no amount of watering will make 'em grow if they' re too hot and I'm not experienced enough to suss out the signs, frustratingly.

Cards on the table re:flour. How many in store is sensible in terms of the creepy crawly risk? I have one in use and one in back up. Can I push that further adding more bags?

Karmacat · 28 November 2018 at 5:38PM

In my constant efforts to clear the garden, I dug up a *lot* of garlic bulbs I'd planted sort of randomly - I used plant markers from Wilko that were like thin lolly sticks, but they disintegrated! - and I dug up the garlic a few weeks ago. While I was away recently helping a family member, they sprouted, even while sitting on my patio table

:o:o so today, I've planted lots of them - in containers, in nice fresh soil from the garden centre, which will be flung somewhere useful when I've finished with it. I'm going to have a lot of garlic next year

GreyQueen · 28 November 2018 at 5:39PM

I think if you freeze flour for a few days it kills the bug babies but all flours have a finite lifespan, especially wholemeal. It's to do with the oils in it turning rancid.

Hardcore US preppers seem to favour storing wheat berries and grinding them into flour at need. Properly sealed, what they describe over there as red wheat can last for 30 years.

Re taters, I didn't water this year's crop at all but they were planted in soil with a lot of spent barley grains from the organic brewpub and seemed to hold enough moisture to keep growing. They were respectable if not effing (for newcomers, my allotment is in sight of the road and some passers-by witnessing one year's harvest commented to each other would you look at the size of those effing things!) Hence effing potatoes = very large potatoes.

I have deliberately acquired a second half-size plot alongside the full-size one - on a site with a glut of untenanted plots or this would not have been allowed - specifically to aid potato growing and crop rotation. Planning on sowing 10-12 kg seed spuds next year.

maryb · 28 November 2018 at 5:52PM

OOH shiny new thread. Thank you.
It's good to make sure it can't disappear inadvertently, though I'd love it if the IT peeps at MSE Towers could retrieve old threads. Jackie O had a thread about making do which got gremlinned and the replacement thread lost some momentum

Fuddle I think you'd be fine with storing more flour if you stick it in the freezer first. That kills off anything that's in the flour when you buy it. I stockpile about 8 bags at a time because that's the amount that fits in a plastic crate with a lid and it also happens to last about the right length of time between discounts on the brand I prefer. I keep it in a sealed crate because we had a visit from Mr M Mouse once who nibbled the corner of every packet I had on open shelves in my store cupboard. You would not believe the damage one little mouse can cause!!! But mice don't seem to be able to gnaw through plastic crates (Unlike cousin Roland outside which periodically gnaws through the food recycling bin - they say that, in London, you are never very far from a rat, but thank Heaven they stay outside)

fuddle · 28 November 2018 at 6:28PM

Thanks maryb. How long shod the bags be frozen for?

machasraven · 28 November 2018 at 6:41PM

Another delurker here

Hello everyone :j

The main addition to my store cupboard this year is chutney, I figure that it will bring a bit of spice to any meal and also had a glut of stuff this year. I have rhubarb, beetroot, plum, apple, pear, tomato, green tomato and onion( guaranteed there is something else hidden on the shelves).

Wine I have peapod and mint, apple and blackcurrant, plum, peach, beetroot (not sure about this but giving it a good lie down before trying) rhubarb and apple and pear.
I am going to boost up my tins now as well.

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The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

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