The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

GreyQueen wrote: »

Whole. I put it on a baking sheet in the centre of the oven. The top half browned ever-so-slightly and the peel came of a bit more easily than the bottom half, which makes me wonder if a 20 minute bake (10 mins, then turn it upside down) might be a better option.

I'm going to have a working oven really soon :j I could try this!

The words that come to mind are almost all monstrously unfit for a family forum, other than to wish you the very best of luck.

Then eyeing the met forecast, I extend that to everyone who for whatever reason Has to leave the house in the coming week.
I suspect the Aldi merino undergarments (shirts, long johns gloves etc) will all have gone by the time I can borrow a husky to check, but it's looking like every layer is a bonus & if the forecast ice comes through, then better to walk carefully with a stick and a trolley than take a flyer & end up on crutches. (Which are a complete swine to shop with, I've tried.) And if it is any consolidation, Calais is as nasty. Sub-optimal invasion weather, I'm afraid. How's the shoulder coming, GQ?

I was always wryly impressed that the church slipped in a period of thin commons & prayer (branded Lent) just as the Hungry Gap comes round.

This is the week I expect my condensate pipe to makes itself felt. (It's almost part of the family but this weather brings on a desperate need for gallons of hot tea - applied to the external pipework.) If your heating suddenly stops for no good reason? Check the error codes.

Morning All.

That sucks Jo-Jo but sadly I've seen it happen too many times to be really surprised. Hope you find something better quickly.

DforV Unfortunately our boiler is in the back bedroom and our condenser pipe - which also freezes with boring regularity - is twenty feet or so off the ground. Which makes defrosting something of a headache and involves ladders. Fortunately I have a, rather older than yours, husky of my own who helps us out these days but my next boiler's going somewhere a lot easier to reach.

I noticed here that both Aldi and Morrison's had rather a lot of gaps on their shelves on Saturday. No tinned tomatoes or kidney beans in either and - disaster from MrC's point of view - no tinned sardines!! Still plenty of olives GQ so I grabbed a few tins of those, and some anchovies for pizza toppings just to be on the safe side.
I spoke to a store manager (he lives next door but one) and he says it's not panic buying causing shortages so far, just delayed deliveries, but it's fascinating just how little stock is stored on supermarket sites these days. There is a huge dependency on daily deliveries by lorry, which could make life interesting in the future.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

The most annoying thing is some of us are earmarked for disposal in June, the better paid ones in September - and the ones who are kept and stay for the next year until closure, despite there apparently not being enough money to pay the lower ranks, get a bonus on termination of redundancy PLUS six months' of their significantly higher salary to say thank you. Oh, and we're not allowed to say anything about it. Because the 'customers' might be a little peeved that they are going to be given substandard delivery with next to no specialists.

So sorry not to have seen your post yesterday, I must have been blind. I can't imagine how difficult that situation is these days

Cappella wrote: »

DforV Unfortunately our boiler is in the back bedroom and our condenser pipe - which also freezes with boring regularity - is twenty feet or so off the ground. Which makes defrosting something of a headache and involves ladders.

Mine stopped working for the first time last year, and fortunately my regular plumber was round in 20 minutes, knew what was going on. Now, I'd give it a go myself, obvs, but the plumber's mate took the pipe apart and pulled out a piece of ice 18" long! It was horrendous.

I noticed here that both Aldi and Morrison's had rather a lot of gaps on their shelves on Saturday. No tinned tomatoes or kidney beans in either and - disaster from MrC's point of view - no tinned sardines!! Still plenty of olives GQ so I grabbed a few tins of those, and some anchovies for pizza toppings just to be on the safe side.
I spoke to a store manager (he lives next door but one) and he says it's not panic buying causing shortages so far, just delayed deliveries, but it's fascinating just how little stock is stored on supermarket sites these days. There is a huge dependency on daily deliveries by lorry, which could make life interesting in the future.

Wow. Any reason for the delayed deliveries, Cappella, do you know?



I've been stocktaking at home, found I have a lot of nearly out of date red lentils - as in, 2.5kg - so I'm going to be using them for breakfast, and buying longer dates. I'm also simplifying - using up experimental stuff I bought, to make way for the necessaries.

GreyQueen wrote: »

The JIT delivery model scares the flip out of me, frankly. Even a few snowy days can cause a mini-crisis.

Me too.

Cappella wrote: »

DforV Unfortunately our boiler is in the back bedroom and our condenser pipe - which also freezes with boring regularity - is twenty feet or so off the ground. Which makes defrosting something of a headache and involves ladders. Fortunately I have a, rather older than yours, husky of my own who helps us out these days but my next boiler's going somewhere a lot easier to reach.

My boiler is located in the kitchen with the condensate pipe plumbed into the drainage pipe under the kitchen sink. This however drains into an open drain just outside the back door. So far I've not had any problems with it.

I was concerned during the Beast from the East last year as the kitchen and bathroom (next to each other) were extremely cold due to the icy wind blowing in through the cooker hood vent and bathroom fan. I had to shut the doors from the hallway as it was making the rest of my home chilly - there was no chance the heating could keep up.

I do now have a couple of hotel shower caps to put over the bathroom vent in case the same happens again but haven't worked out what to do about the cooker hood yet. It was only a few days last year but if it were to go on any longer in a future cold snap it could cause problems. The other thing I could do in the kitchen is to direct a convector heater that I have into the cupboard under the sink just to take the chill off the pipes in there.

Karmacat wrote: »

I've been stocktaking at home, found I have a lot of nearly out of date red lentils - as in, 2.5kg - so I'm going to be using them for breakfast, and buying longer dates. I'm also simplifying - using up experimental stuff I bought, to make way for the necessaries.

A few years ago I bought a going out of date 25kg sack of red lentils. I'm now down to the last 2/3kg and they are still going strong despite now being several years out of date - they look and taste as good as new.

I am intrigued as to what you are eating them with/as for breakfast.