What Preps are you doing this week? Part 4

[Brambles]

No, I doubt anyone here will be laughing at your stores MM. I buy my rice in 2kg bags mainly because there's only two of us and a 5kg bag looks just too overwhelming on the shelf. I have shelf envy.
Since we moved, our preps have been a chaotic to say the least and I'm struggling in all directions. There isn't much storage space so once again(grrrr ) stuff is being stored in boxes so I am losing track.

Mouse! having done the same thing many years ago, I know what you're going through and sympathise. Heal up quick.

I have been planning what I'll be preserving this year and getting a list of kit together. It's mainly jars I'm needing. I see a trip to Dunelm or Lakeland in my future.

[Deeps]

Sounds a sore one Mouse, hope you heal fast. It sounds like you've had an epiphany about what will work for you 'people wise'. I think a lot of us have a prepping fantasy of being alone or with the family only but its maybe best left as a fantasy, humans work better together for a number of reasons. On the bright side, you can catch up on your reading.

[izzy_mack]

Maysey, Good for you, it's the way to do it if you haven't got a spare milion or two Love the shelves too, and like Deeps, I love seeing what others are doing, being nosey in other words.

Sorry you've had a nasty time, Mouse, it does make you grateful for the NHS doesn't it. Move to Scotland, we get our prescriptions free - about the only thing that's cheaper here mind you.

Still pretty sore after my gardening efforts, so I'm doing light stuff now like planting seeds in trays and checking stores and making a shopping list, which I'll probably leave behind as usual!

[ukpreppergrrl]

My Preps this week is a big step...
I'm a newbie so feel free to laugh your head off but got to start somewhere.
I buy little and often in the weekly shop.
My Prep was deciding what rice option to go for.
I decided 5Kg bags.... and have started my plain rice shelf! Yay for me!
A little research suggested any bigger and you have more risk of spoiling more food e.g. if a whole 20kg bag of rice was spoiled rather than if just 1 5kg bag if that makes sense.
A little more expensive in the longer term but I feel like living dangerously when it comes to rice.
MM

Its a good feeling to start doing something that may help you and your family and as we all know the first steps are the hardest
Could i suggest breaking the rice into 1 kg bags or smaller if it is just you re-seal into airtight bags and put them into glass storage jars to stop mice or insects getting at it

Yay! Rice and beans! Classic old skool prepping I am a big rice fan and could quite happily eat it every day. Therefore I tend to buy the 10kg bags of basmati (you can get them for £10 again if you shop around), then split them into smaller mylar bags with oxygen absorbers if I'm planning for long term, hidden, storage , or 2L or 3L pop bottles if it's for rotation use. Mice have been known to munch their way into the original plastic bags, even though I have cats! So as to get all the right proteins I also stock dried green lentils to go with the rice - am rather partial to that combination. I think I currently have enough to last me 2 years The rice also goes nicely with those tins of chicken in white sauce...or the tins of curry....rice always good

[pseudonym]

Following on from this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=14462&p=161596&hil ... ts#p161596

I received today from Twodogs' site:

https://www.facebook.com/Twodogs-outdoo ... /?ref=py_c

The first instalment:



Loose enough for a Helle Hansen/ Buffalo jacket underneath.

Bonus is my Snow Smock and Fishtail Parka fit over it also, so now a complete Winter top layering system

[Bearded Prepper]

I started late in the year because of waiting on other people

But I have been building raised beds in the garden using pallets, decided to try and see if I could source, build and install as much as I could for a little as possible.

Managed to get brand new pallets from my sister (works in logistics) in exchange for helping in her allotment, found wood filler and old fence paint along with some panel pins in the shed left by the previous owner (newly move in as we were first time buyers).

I did end up buying sand papers and wood screws however total of something like £5.80 ish.


After spending the best part of 2 days dismantling two 1200x1200 pallets and filling holes and sanding for preparation I was ready to paint, two coats of fence paint later and a total of 3 days I finally have a bed waiting for soil.

As an experiment for doing it on the cheap I find it was successful and doable, I could have abandoned the sanding and hope for the panel pins to hold along for a 'free build' but I wanted longevity, especially after the amount of time involved, but I won't be doing it this way again, in future I'll either use a pallet collar if I can source or buy the required wood. the time spent preparing the wood isn't worth the hassle but at least I proved to myself I could and can if I need too.

[ForgeCorvus]

Mayesy: Don't forget to bung grains & pulses in the freezer to kill the weevils before you seal stuff up for Long Term Stores.
I recent tried cooked rice mixed with baked beans (and all that tomato-ey goodness), its quite good... Cheese makes it better though
5kgs of rice is more then we have, but I'm the only one who eats it

Mouse: Ouch! I hope you're mobile again soon.

Pseudo: We need an 'Envy' emoticon

Beard: I blow torch rough wood to get rid of splinters etc, with softwoods like pine it also seems to make it a bit more weather proof

[jansman]

Well my prep plans of finishing up on sorting stuff out and getting storage sorted came to a shuddering halt on Monday when I dislocated my kneecap! I've never felt such pain and when the paramedics reset my leg, even the morphine and gas and air didn't stop me bellowing like a stuck pig. They commented that the neighbours would think they were killing me!

What's this got to do with prepping apart from putting a halt in my original plans? Well being up on blocks has forced me to think a bit about how I do things. I live with family, but in a granny annex, and for the most part keep myself to myself. But, if it hadn't been for family being seconds away, I would have been utterly bu**ered, because in my panic and pain-addled state I actually forgot my phone was in my pocket and just yelled at the top of my voice until someone came! I'm an anti-social bu**er by nature, but this episode has made me realise that whatever my future plans are (probably moving closer to my mum who is in sheltered accommodation), I will need to be more social with my neighbours because I won't have family close by who could help if I hurt myself. In the meantime, I will appreciate the family I live with even when they drive me round the bend (I'm sure I do the same to them in return!) and it's made me wonder why some preppers go all 'lone wolf' when really that's likely to be a one way ticket to trouble.

Plus I've been thinking heavily about the future of the NHS. I was treated in record time on Monday night and with care and courtesy and apart from expecting a bill for prescribed painkillers (I'm sure that's new!), I was treated for free. I rely on the NHS fairly regularly because I'm asthmatic and I go in for reviews and suchlike. We may complain about prescription charges, but without the NHS, we'd be paying a whole lot more for the medicines that in some cases keep us alive. It's a worst case scenario, but I've found myself trying to plan for a time when we no longer have an NHS to rely on.

Blimey, being immobile makes a person ruddy miserable!

What you say there about the 'lonewolf' situation makes absolute sense.My mum,who is recently widowed has just been to visit.She does great for a lady of almost 80.She drives the 140 mile round trip in the day!

Anyhow,she's having a new bathroom, and is unsure of the flooring.I told her she should think about the non slip option; because she lives on her own! She mentions rushing to the phone ( she has a walking stick) and I told her to use the answer phone.Anyone who needs to get in touch will ring her mobile ( latest smartphone don't ya know?) Or send a text.

Up until recently my brother lived alone.It worried him that he may have an accident,as he had a basement room that was used as his sound studio ( he is a guitarist) and he likes his beer! So what he did was text me twice a day with a pre written text,even if we didn't speak for a month.Because he lived alone.

Anyhow,I hope you get well soon.

[Deeps]

I recent tried cooked rice mixed with baked beans (and all that tomato-ey goodness), its quite good... Cheese makes it better though

Rice......and cheese........you sick sick individual. Its like vanilla and arsesweat crisps. Its a no from me.

[shocker]

Sick as **** - a mucker once served me rice and cheese...fried, with brazil nuts.

...mind you, he's the one who decided to fry up our last food, in washing up liquid. Because "its the same consistency as oil, and you can wash it off before you eat it"