What preps are you doing this week? Part 3.

[angeuk]

I've been doing a little more planting. Got a couple of raised beds in the yard now. Sadly this has meant a trip to Wilkos for chicken wire, as apparently my beds look like giant litter trays to my neighbour's cat.

So tons more compost until I get my lazy backside round to getting a proper composter. Also looking at one of the 'Berkey' water filters.

Not really a fan of real ale, but after reading through some threads on here, I'm wondering about doing a bit of home brewing. My taste usually runs to cans of what my neighbours cat is doing in my raised beds (Fosters). Just thinking it sounds like a bit of fun.

You can do homebrew lager too, I did it 20 odd years ago with variable results, me and Her Maj are talking about doing wine and cider, even though neither of us drink it we do produce apples though.

I'm tempted to give it a go

[izzy_mack]

Last time I posted here I think it was february and I was all but giving up, I was learning to cope with life in general given a long term change(rhuematoid arthritis) when I was hit by a succession of ailments one after the other,One fairly serious, now I knew i would get over these, albeit slowly because of general health and meds supressing my immune system but I decided then to stop stocking up and use stocks and leave my family to fend for themselves more.

The upshot of this has been that sons now buy stuff for themselves more, one came home with 2 rolls of duck tape unheard of before! as well as actually buying food in supermarkets as well as dvds?! I also haven't had to put up with the inane comments about my prepping now that (they think) I've stopped. I haven't entirely I'm just doing things differently.

one of the interesting things I discovered was that I had far more than I realised, I expected the freezer to be empty by now and stores depleted, they're not and I have kept a record of what I've bought and it is mostly fresh stuff that I haven't got in freezer, like milk, bread once that was used and fruit, vegs getting seriuosly low in freezer and tins now. So now I know that my preps would have lasted about 4-5 months easily, longer if rationed, I thought I had 3 or so months if that. I reckon I have enough teabags to see me to next winter and I drink a lot of tea!

So my new prepping is less stores, which has made housework easier and potential move, less worrying, along with decluttering and more building up abilities.

The main prep however I'm concentrating on is ME. I'm trying to build up my strength again, taking lots of short walks as I can't take a long one yet, ankle still weak after my trip down stairs, increasing length as I feel able. Doing whatever I can without overdoing it (tricky judging that) and setting things back rather than forward, and probably the most important, getting my mindset stronger to cope with whatever life throws at me next.

Things are easier now some decent weather here, even if I am now covered in spots after a trip to the woods yesterday and forgot the midgie repellent

Oh! one last thing, you do know that prepping is addictive, you may try to give up, but - thankfully- you can't

[Arzosah]

Last time I posted here I think it was february and I was all but giving up, I was learning to cope with life in general given a long term change(rhuematoid arthritis) when I was hit by a succession of ailments one after the other,One fairly serious, now I knew i would get over these, albeit slowly because of general health and meds supressing my immune system but I decided then to stop stocking up and use stocks and leave my family to fend for themselves more.

.....

So my new prepping is less stores, which has made housework easier and potential move, less worrying, along with decluttering and more building up abilities.

The main prep however I'm concentrating on is ME. I'm trying to build up my strength again, taking lots of short walks as I can't take a long one yet, ankle still weak after my trip down stairs, increasing length as I feel able. Doing whatever I can without overdoing it (tricky judging that) and setting things back rather than forward, and probably the most important, getting my mindset stronger to cope with whatever life throws at me next.

.....

Oh! one last thing, you do know that prepping is addictive, you may try to give up, but - thankfully- you can't

All of this is seconded I just got back from a trip that was the length of the country, and although I'm exhausted, I don't *think* my chronic fatigue illness has hijacked me, thanks to careful preparations and, um, abandoning some of the prettifying things I wanted to (like dyeing my hair, which is only a "prep" if you're preparing for a wedding like wot I was). There was space at the facility for me to lie down if I needed to, which was really important in illness terms, but I managed to manage, so to speak.

I took a very few of *our* sort of preps with me - a windup radio, water treatment tablets, a seatbelt cutter, a first aid kit, a tiny UK legal keyring knife, matches, that sort of thing. Very, very pleased I had them, and even more pleased that I didn't need any of them.

So now its back to our sort of prepping, as much as I can, while regaining energy levels. I do agree with Izzy - the main prep is on ourselves.

[Briggs 2.0]

I'm trying to build up my strength again, taking lots of short walks as I can't take a long one yet, ankle still weak after my trip down stairs, increasing length as I feel able. Doing whatever I can without overdoing it (tricky judging that) and setting things back rather than forward, and probably the most important, getting my mindset stronger to cope with whatever life throws at me next.

Hey, take it easy on the ankle. I stuffed mine up a while ago and I was a right miserable bugger. I couldn't walk without serious pain, I put on weight, blah, blah, blah. Glad you are back on the mend.

[DustyDog]

Do homebrew on the odd occasion, if you really want authentic pub tasting ale then you need to go as close to doing grain brewing as possible, anything from a can unless you buy the top notch stuff will always have that 'homebrew twang' to it. I do grain brewing, made my own mash tun etc, it is a full day to do the mashing and boiling etc, but the quality of the beer is fantastic, and there are some recipe websites that can give you a recipe as close as damn it to your fav brew and i cant remember the name of it, but there is a book available from various places that gives you recipes for most of the well known beers and gives you the quantities for various sizes of brews. Mmmm beer.....

[Allycat]

So mostly I have been mooching around the site, trying to reacquaint myself with Uk preppers

[Medusa]

We have just invested in a pre owned (bargain) generator. It' been well looked after, serviced and runs great and it appears that my SO and son may just be picking up on my prepping bug a tiny weeny bit. My food and water supplies have now filled the cupboard and my household products cupboard is also full so need to work out a plan B of where to store everything. I've also just bought my first fixed blade knife, a Mora and am taking myself off for a few days of solitude in the great outdoors in my tent.

[Yorkshire Andy]

We have just invested in a pre owned (bargain) generator. It' been well looked after, serviced and runs great and it appears that my SO and son may just be picking up on my prepping bug a tiny weeny bit. My food and water supplies have now filled the cupboard and my household products cupboard is also full so need to work out a plan B of where to store everything. I've also just bought my first fixed blade knife, a Mora and am taking myself off for a few days of solitude in the great outdoors in my tent.

Do the kickboards under tgr kitchen units pull off?

[Deeps]

We have just invested in a pre owned (bargain) generator. It' been well looked after, serviced and runs great and it appears that my SO and son may just be picking up on my prepping bug a tiny weeny bit. My food and water supplies have now filled the cupboard and my household products cupboard is also full so need to work out a plan B of where to store everything. I've also just bought my first fixed blade knife, a Mora and am taking myself off for a few days of solitude in the great outdoors in my tent.

Do the kickboards under tgr kitchen units pull off?

They're great if you want to hide stuff for an 'event' even if thats hiding your hoard from the neighbours but for day to day a bit extreme. "Mu-um, have we got any mushy peas", "Yes love, if you take the boards off from under the dishwasher we've got 50 tins, help yourself, just mind and put the board back" can make life a bit tricky. Having said that, if it gets the kids to move out then it might be worth it.

[Medusa]

We have just invested in a pre owned (bargain) generator. It' been well looked after, serviced and runs great and it appears that my SO and son may just be picking up on my prepping bug a tiny weeny bit. My food and water supplies have now filled the cupboard and my household products cupboard is also full so need to work out a plan B of where to store everything. I've also just bought my first fixed blade knife, a Mora and am taking myself off for a few days of solitude in the great outdoors in my tent.

Do the kickboards under tgr kitchen units pull off?

They're great if you want to hide stuff for an 'event' even if thats hiding your hoard from the neighbours but for day to day a bit extreme. "Mu-um, have we got any mushy peas", "Yes love, if you take the boards off from under the dishwasher we've got 50 tins, help yourself, just mind and put the board back" can make life a bit tricky. Having said that, if it gets the kids to move out then it might be worth it.

Never thought of that one but the kids already think I'm mad enough. Encouraging (read that as it's time you moved out) the kids to move out would free up a bedroom for shelving/cupboards. Son has already suggested that he raid my food stash so he and girlfriend won't need to do any food shopping for a few months when he actually does move out.