Prepping for Brexit thread

My son pointed out to me that CO2 is used in a lot of packaging processes, not just in fizzy drinks.

No idea about the dairy products though.

Hello all,

I have been thinking about this thread a lot over the past few days. It chimes in a lot with my own thoughts. I am pretty shocked by how insecure Brexit has made me. Usually, I am much more accepting of and even confident of my ability to adapt to change, but I feel deeply resentful that this change is happening. 40 years of British diplomacy is being shredded and I have zero confidence in our politicians ability to lead us safely through. Indeed, for the first time ever, I feel tempted to vote for the SNP.

Anyway, apologies for all that political stuff! You lovely people have made me realise that I am much better channeling my insecurity into positive action to mitigate the effects of the oncoming chaos, so I am going to make some preparations. This weekend, I decided to do a Waitrose shop using a voucher sent to me for £22 off of a £110 shop. I would usually never use it because it is just far too much for me to spend, but I have decided to invest a bit of money over the next few months (probably £40 or so per month) to try to put me into a situation where I will not need to do any major shopping in March or April next year.

I would appreciate any advice on how best to prepare. At the moment, I am planning to buy tins and packets (beans, pulses, vegetables, tomatoes and spices) for the next few months because my freezer is already full. I want to eat to make a bit of space in my freezer, to let me store more practical items which can be turned into better meals.

I usually have quite a lot of meat in the freezer anyway, but by the beginning of next year, I want to have made space in my freezer to freeze some butter and cheese, two things which I use a lot, and which I think might be scarce (or at least dearer) for a while.

I also want to learn how to make bread. I Have wanted to be able to do this for a while, so there is no harm in making sure I can be self-sufficient in this regard by next year.

One thing I have decided not to store too much of is fish. If our trade with theEU breaks down for a while, then our fishing industry will have a lot of surplus, so hopefully that will still be available!

Part of me feels that everything will be fine, and that I will look back on these worries and feel a bit foolish, but I would rather be overprepared, rather than be caught out. Mainly, I just feel really sad that it has come to this. I think we have been hoodwinked into making ourselves poorer and Europe weaker. Who wins?

I tend to eat simply anyway......sticking as far as possible to a paleo diet for health reasons, although I do eat dairy which technically is not paleo. I could and should cut down on the amount of cheese I eat.....:rotfl:

I too,love the old British favourites, good filling grub. I also like a lot of the European peasant dishes, again same principles at work. Good hearty nutritious food. Italy, Spain, Greece and various eastern and Northern European cuisines have some fabulous peasant food which is cheap and nutritious. Chinese and Asian dishes tend to be light on meat too, with plenty of vegetarian options. Again good healthy, hearty nutritious food.

Living as I do in a cosmopolitan city and Bejng able to buy any manner of spices then I really don't think I will have any problems cooking good healthy interesting food. I shall make sure I stock up on fats, oils, spices and dried herbs. They have a long shelf life.

I hadn't given much thought to fish prices ......yes you are right, fish might actually come down in price. That would be nice.

I think a bit of money invested in food, household supplies and consumables now or the next few months is actually sound financial sense. Interest rates are pitiful so it makes more sense to put a bit of spare money into commodities that you will use rather than have it sat in the bank doing nothing.

Even if there aren't too many shortages I do feel sure that prices will rise.

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

I'm going to simplify our meals and go back to how we ate in childhood, I don't remember masses of choice in the shops but I do remember simpler meals on the table and in school lunches. I think simplified meals will cost much less and feed us just as well. I remember smoked haddock on mashed potatoes with a poached egg on top served up with tinned peas, Lancashire Hot Pot, what was called a Cowboys Dinner just boiled potatoes with fried bacon and baked beans, sausage, mash and greens with gravy, bacon and eggs with toast, egg and chips, the odd bought pie with mash and peas and gravy, steak and kidney pudding (which I detested)but that I can make much more palatable by replacing the kidney with mushrooms, shepherds pie and veg, fish and chips with mushy peas, simple food but the component parts thereof more easily obtained. I think I'll implement this way of eating as soon after we've made the move as I can and re-train our taste buds to a different diet that doesn't rely on all sorts of exotics from across the globe and mostly comes from local sources.

I think Mr Ivyleaf would be blissfully happy with those meals (apart from the smoked fish!), as long as he could have a curry occasionally We had sausages and mash last night and really enjoyed it as it had been a while since I'd felt up to cooking.