dipping into stocks and improving attitudes!

[Ferricks]

Please accept my apologies for disappearing for a whiley, but sometimes real life catches up and that's been the case for us (financially) as a family, so stocks have been raided and hatches battened in recent months and we have been grateful for the forward planning that we have made. Since things are now improving we're able to review the experiences we've had and I can see 2 key benefits that we've experienced:

1. Using preps over a medium term has meant that we can better identify those areas where we need to focus vs those where we are (or were!) fairly secure.
2. We've been more cohesive in our approach and have a much better team mentality moving forward - this is a huge step forward for us.

Firstly - the key food areas where we fell down were proteins and fresh vegFinancial hardship in dec / jan / feb has taught me that "the hungry gap" HAS to be filled better in this years growing and preserving plans - there simply wasn't enough veg left in the freezer or overwintering on the plot and it was an area where we had to use cash that could have been freed for other things. I also discovered that my OH hates pretty much all forms of tinned ham and chicken and I need to get up to speed with recipes that "sell the concept" over coming months....

Being a better team has meant small things from my 6 year old going 'round the house to check that lights are off to big things like my OH finally agreeing to cash in an endowment and transfer the money to reduce the outstanding morgage balance because in the long run this will make our future more secure. Gary has been more organised with wood "procuring" (ahem) storage and rotation, while referring to the pantry as a first call rather than the supermarket and in summary we have strengthened our good habits going forward!

Overall, we've had a financial "glitch" - but this, as a family is what we chose to prepare for and overall, it's been ok. That said, we need to shore up some gaps that we've highlighted and make sure that we are buffered as well as we can be against any further mishaps (my OH is self employed and our income is sensitive to general economic fluctuations!).

I think that things in the coming years will be difficult economically and our principle focus is to better protect ourselves from such difficulties so this has been a very useful learning experience. I'll keep you posted on how we improve in the coming weeks and months!

Take care all,

[damaralenoire]

Thanks so much for sharing this, as well as it being a real experience for you, your summary helps us to understand to what we could face and what we could be doing to improve our prepping practices. THanks

[Plymtom]

Yes indeed thank you and no apologies please or we'll all start thinking we must attend or be spanked I'm sorry to hear in one way that you've been going through a bad patch, that said we should look at it as an on going success well done.

[itsybitsy]

Great post, Ferricks, and definitely much food for thought there. SHTF isn't necessarily something that happens on a large societal-scale, it can be your own personal SHTF - and having those preps in place can make the situation less stressful for those who are in the midst of it.

[jansman]

I am glad you had a fall-back position. Thanks for sharing that with us. Good luck.

[Eclectickle]

I also discovered that my OH hates pretty much all forms of tinned ham and chicken and I need to get up to speed with recipes that "sell the concept" over coming months..

I have the same problem with my DD. Here are some ways that she will eat it:

- Spam or tinned ham cut very thin and cooked like bacon.
- Ham works well in split pea and ham soup. If it is the soft type that falls apart when you touch it, mash it up so it is like ham mince. If it is the sort that stays together like real ham just cube it.
- Tinned ham or chicken cut into small cubes and quickly shallow fried in butter then added to an omelette or made into special fried rice.

If you find any other good methods of disguising tinned meat let me know.

[preppingsu]

I also discovered that my OH hates pretty much all forms of tinned ham and chicken and I need to get up to speed with recipes that "sell the concept" over coming months..

I have the same problem with my DD. Here are some ways that she will eat it:

- Spam or tinned ham cut very thin and cooked like bacon.
- Ham works well in split pea and ham soup. If it is the soft type that falls apart when you touch it, mash it up so it is like ham mince. If it is the sort that stays together like real ham just cube it.
- Tinned ham or chicken cut into small cubes and quickly shallow fried in butter then added to an omelette or made into special fried rice.

If you find any other good methods of disguising tinned meat let me know.

Will it work in a pie, with added veg, gravy/sauce and pastry?

[unsure]

its not a nice thing to have happen to you and i`m so glad your sorted out .
like you say on the up side you did find the holes in your stratergy sooner rather than later .
i think its about time i looked more at what we have and what we need rather than what we want .

[gadgetguy]

Ferricks good for you. Well done in adapting and getting on with it. I wish you all the best for the future. Whatever King Alex has in stock for us!!

[matthopkins]

good luck to you all in the future

There's nothing like real life to put things into perspective, it makes you realise a few things, such as what you have and need as to what you think you want.