) We've sorted the tap now. Might go and have a mooch around Lidl later and see whats there.What preps are you doing this week? Part 3.
Re: What preps are you doing this week? Part 3.
I came down to about an inch of water all over the kitchen floor, it turned out to be a dodgy tap on the bath, luckly theres no damage (and my kitchen floors never been so clean ) We've sorted the tap now. Might go and have a mooch around Lidl later and see whats there.
) We've sorted the tap now. Might go and have a mooch around Lidl later and see whats there.Re: What preps are you doing this week? Part 3.
I saw a cheap 4 seasons mummy sleeping bag and compression bag for £20, so I thought I'd have a punt and try it out.
It's an Andes Nevado 400.
Even if it's rubbish it's only £20 and as long as I don't nod off singing Frankie Valli songs it'll be useful somewhere down the line.
Mind you, as a Northern Soulie I quite like a few Frankie Valli numbers
Wulfshead
It's an Andes Nevado 400.
Even if it's rubbish it's only £20 and as long as I don't nod off singing Frankie Valli songs it'll be useful somewhere down the line.
Mind you, as a Northern Soulie I quite like a few Frankie Valli numbers
Wulfshead
Area 4 Coordinator
For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack
For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack
Re: What preps are you doing this week? Part 3.
More dehydrating of onions which are always handy and I've inherited a new pair of Haix pongo boots which will need to be worn in. I've been pretty quiet on the practical side of prepping, some more tins whenever I go to the supermarket but nothing to shout about. Her Maj is taking time off and one of the things to sort is the allotment but that's for next week. I'm planning on reorganising the stuff I put in the back of Her Maj's car for myself, she's got her bag which is on the 'light' side so I've dug out an old rucksack for my gear (used to put it in a drybag) so I can beef it up a bit, probably add some tools.
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Briggs 2.0
- Posts: 675
- Joined: Tue Apr 22, 2014 11:35 am
Re: What preps are you doing this week? Part 3.
i've mostly been working on the aquaponics project which is turning out to be a true love-hate thing getting the flow-to-siphon rate set up, in fact, its so difficult, if I so much as see one more bl**y siphon I'm going to stuff it up my ar*se. Oh, wait, I can see a problem there.....
I've stripped out a couple of my spare IBCs and one is now full of compost and seeded spuds. Nice. Maybe I'll do the carrots in the other IBC this weekend. We are up at 300m so I have to be careful of Mr Frost. I'm off tomorrow and the weekend so it's final test of the siphon then I'm off to get some fish. Apparently trout like running water so the one's I get are in for a shock unless they are happy to get dizzy doing four metre laps around their new IBC home.
Other than that, we've been on a no-shop fortnight which means eating through preps to rotate stock and it will be a big re-stock next week/month.
I've stripped out a couple of my spare IBCs and one is now full of compost and seeded spuds. Nice. Maybe I'll do the carrots in the other IBC this weekend. We are up at 300m so I have to be careful of Mr Frost. I'm off tomorrow and the weekend so it's final test of the siphon then I'm off to get some fish. Apparently trout like running water so the one's I get are in for a shock unless they are happy to get dizzy doing four metre laps around their new IBC home.
Other than that, we've been on a no-shop fortnight which means eating through preps to rotate stock and it will be a big re-stock next week/month.
Off-Grid & Living Outdoors
Re: What preps are you doing this week? Part 3.
April is going to be a live off stores except for milk month so I can get the council tax paid ASAP & make sure anything approaching it's best before gets into my kitchen cupboard & used up.
To that end we're starting with making our own easter eggs.
I already had the moulds & the chocolate is from stores (Lidls Fin Carre 100g chocolate bars cost about 37p full price & have about a years shelf life on them - plus it's really nice for cheap chocolate) so cost = nothing!
I'm getting one of those Mad Millie Italian Cheese kits for Easter to experiment with.
Really want the kit to make cheddar (my favourite) but that will have to wait until a few more bills are out of the way.
I've recently cut my hair so it's now waist length again after getting a mad desire to straighten it & realising I kept sitting on the ends (which is really annoying as well as painful) & I'm starting to wonder if I shouldn't buy myself a tie dye t-shirt & a long hippy skirt.
Used to wear them back in the 90s before I turned into a corporate monster for a few years, but between the food growing, making more & more things from scratch etc... I'm starting to question if I'm trying to re-enact the good life or if I'm a prepper.
I prep for poverty in the first instance so I have my sons next 2 sizes up of clothes & shoes, backup heating, ability to cook, food & water stores, ways to stay warm, things like water filters & tools but no defensive weapons & no real way to make my home defensible (rented)
As a single parent of a primary school aged child & female to boot I have little faith I would be able to defend us in a really bad situation which affects everyone for more than a few days.
I've done my time living in the woods etc.. & don't really want to have to do it again.
Actually now that I think about it, I do have a couple of tie dye sets in my cupboard for textiles lessons so I wouldn't even need to buy anything because I've already got the fabric so I could make the clothes too!
While I'm glad I finally got an allotment, I'm also sulking about it as it's actually a quarter sized allotment (or possibly an eighth) - big enough to park one car on, but you couldn't really get a motor bike on it too. The council have been splitting them into smaller & smaller pieces.
Am trying to persuade them to let me either move to a bigger one or have 2.
I've been experimenting with how we'd cope without the central heating for some of the time during the winter & we used one bottle of calor gas in a portable heater (cost about £37) & managed to reduce my winter gas bill by approx a quarter compared to last year (all cooking, hot water & heating are gas here).
I consider that a win.
As a result of that I also bought an extra cheap kettle so I could recycle the water from the hot water bottles as I didn't want to reheat it in the same one as the drinking water.
So, I now have one kettle for potable & one for non potable (hot water bottle water smells rubbery, I'd rather not ever have to drink it!)
The heating actually did it's traditional breakdown for a few days so we genuinely needed it for that time.
We also did an experimental week of cooking only with SHTF stuff.
We went through just over 1 bottle of gas in one of those little camping stoves over the week for all cooking, drinking & hot water bottles - I have a massive thermos & don't drink tea, so I filled the thermos & used that water to make drinks throughout the day rather than reboiling the kettle.
Water stayed hot enough for me for about 6 hours, even with frequent opening & closing to make drinks.
I do have a Kelly kettle & a couple of other ways to generate fire for cooking/heating, just used that for simplicity.
Sadly not allowed a woodburning stove in the house.
Some scaffolders have accidentally left a few scaffold boards leaning against my house a few days ago & moved on to a new job - I don't even know what company they were from, does anyone have any suggestions of what I could do with them?
Sorry for the odd post, I'm in a bit of odd mood right now
To that end we're starting with making our own easter eggs.
I already had the moulds & the chocolate is from stores (Lidls Fin Carre 100g chocolate bars cost about 37p full price & have about a years shelf life on them - plus it's really nice for cheap chocolate) so cost = nothing!
I'm getting one of those Mad Millie Italian Cheese kits for Easter to experiment with.
Really want the kit to make cheddar (my favourite) but that will have to wait until a few more bills are out of the way.
I've recently cut my hair so it's now waist length again after getting a mad desire to straighten it & realising I kept sitting on the ends (which is really annoying as well as painful) & I'm starting to wonder if I shouldn't buy myself a tie dye t-shirt & a long hippy skirt.
Used to wear them back in the 90s before I turned into a corporate monster for a few years, but between the food growing, making more & more things from scratch etc... I'm starting to question if I'm trying to re-enact the good life or if I'm a prepper.
I prep for poverty in the first instance so I have my sons next 2 sizes up of clothes & shoes, backup heating, ability to cook, food & water stores, ways to stay warm, things like water filters & tools but no defensive weapons & no real way to make my home defensible (rented)
As a single parent of a primary school aged child & female to boot I have little faith I would be able to defend us in a really bad situation which affects everyone for more than a few days.
I've done my time living in the woods etc.. & don't really want to have to do it again.
Actually now that I think about it, I do have a couple of tie dye sets in my cupboard for textiles lessons so I wouldn't even need to buy anything because I've already got the fabric so I could make the clothes too!
While I'm glad I finally got an allotment, I'm also sulking about it as it's actually a quarter sized allotment (or possibly an eighth) - big enough to park one car on, but you couldn't really get a motor bike on it too. The council have been splitting them into smaller & smaller pieces.
Am trying to persuade them to let me either move to a bigger one or have 2.
I've been experimenting with how we'd cope without the central heating for some of the time during the winter & we used one bottle of calor gas in a portable heater (cost about £37) & managed to reduce my winter gas bill by approx a quarter compared to last year (all cooking, hot water & heating are gas here).
I consider that a win.
As a result of that I also bought an extra cheap kettle so I could recycle the water from the hot water bottles as I didn't want to reheat it in the same one as the drinking water.
So, I now have one kettle for potable & one for non potable (hot water bottle water smells rubbery, I'd rather not ever have to drink it!)
The heating actually did it's traditional breakdown for a few days so we genuinely needed it for that time.
We also did an experimental week of cooking only with SHTF stuff.
We went through just over 1 bottle of gas in one of those little camping stoves over the week for all cooking, drinking & hot water bottles - I have a massive thermos & don't drink tea, so I filled the thermos & used that water to make drinks throughout the day rather than reboiling the kettle.
Water stayed hot enough for me for about 6 hours, even with frequent opening & closing to make drinks.
I do have a Kelly kettle & a couple of other ways to generate fire for cooking/heating, just used that for simplicity.
Sadly not allowed a woodburning stove in the house.
Some scaffolders have accidentally left a few scaffold boards leaning against my house a few days ago & moved on to a new job - I don't even know what company they were from, does anyone have any suggestions of what I could do with them?
Sorry for the odd post, I'm in a bit of odd mood right now
Re: What preps are you doing this week? Part 3.
You could use the boards at the allotment to make raised beds, or they make damn fine shelves in the shed or a compost bin. 
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain~anon
Re: What preps are you doing this week? Part 3.
Love this!MissPrep wrote:... we're starting with making our own easter eggs. I already had the moulds & the chocolate is from stores (Lidls Fin Carre 100g chocolate bars cost about 37p full price & have about a years shelf life on them - plus it's really nice for cheap chocolate) so cost = nothing!
Not heard of that - I did make paneer one time, with home made tools, and it was easy but just needed somewhere to store it while it drained and did its thing.I'm getting one of those Mad Millie Italian Cheese kits for Easter to experiment with.
Really want the kit to make cheddar (my favourite) but that will have to wait until a few more bills are out of the way.
I tie it back after I've washed it and cut itI've recently cut my hair so it's now waist length again after getting a mad desire to straighten it & realising I kept sitting on the ends (which is really annoying as well as painful) & I'm starting to wonder if I shouldn't buy myself a tie dye t-shirt & a long hippy skirt.
It's a tough one ... how do we work on being defended and staying legal ... maybe the first thing is to check with the police as to what extra can be installed in your house, by them on offer, by you or by your landlord? And mace and pepper spray and whatnot are illegal in this country, but it would be completely normal to have some aerosol deoderant in your handbag ....I prep for poverty in the first instance ... but no defensive weapons & no real way to make my home defensible (rented)
What a good idea! I like thatAs a result of that I also bought an extra cheap kettle so I could recycle the water from the hot water bottles as I didn't want to reheat it in the same one as the drinking water.
Not odd at all! There's about ten posts worth there, thats allSorry for the odd post, I'm in a bit of odd mood right now
Brambles has responded to the boards, so I won't, it just sounds like you're doing brilliantly! With that long hair of yours, don't forget to put it out for the birds for nesting
Re: What preps are you doing this week? Part 3.
A breakthrough has been made here at stashings
I bought a tin of potatoes (for the first time ever) months ago and sneaked them into a stew this week. Result? Apparently they were 'not bad' and 'fine'. Wooooooot? Talk about a complete U turn....................
So I now have a further three in the cupboard for future usage
The polytunnel has had its annual wash and brush up and seed sorting/planting is underway
Plants nurtured over winter in the greenhouse have now been homed in the garden
Eggs are incubating
Day old chicks are under the heat lamp
Spring is coming!
I bought a tin of potatoes (for the first time ever) months ago and sneaked them into a stew this week. Result? Apparently they were 'not bad' and 'fine'. Wooooooot? Talk about a complete U turn....................
So I now have a further three in the cupboard for future usage
The polytunnel has had its annual wash and brush up and seed sorting/planting is underway
Plants nurtured over winter in the greenhouse have now been homed in the garden
Eggs are incubating
Day old chicks are under the heat lamp
Spring is coming!
Knowledge is power
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featherstick
- Posts: 1124
- Joined: Mon Feb 17, 2014 9:09 pm
Re: What preps are you doing this week? Part 3.
Actually I can see this from the council's side. The turnover of tenants is huge, and costly and time-consuming for a council. Typically the new tenant will take on a full plot, knacker themselves trying to do it all and learn it all, and then give up. A half-plot is a much easier proposition and a quarter plot, with a support network of experienced growers who can help, is right for a lot of people - enough to get out in the weather, grow some strawbs, and enjoy a hobby. If you can show the allotment manager you've really got your quarter under control and very productive, they may well agree to giving you another.
The council have been splitting them into smaller & smaller pieces.
Am trying to persuade them to let me either move to a bigger one or have 2.
Great post, by the way, love the emphasis on trying things out and finding ways that work.
Re: What preps are you doing this week? Part 3.
Her Maj makes paneer from time to time, I've even done it myself once just so I know what I'm doing. We're both big fans of it and eat it semi regularly. I recommend it if you haven't tried it.Arzosah wrote: Not heard of that - I did make paneer one time, with home made tools, and it was easy but just needed somewhere to store it while it drained and did its thing.