How are you preparing...

[Smudge]

More or less everyone (here) stores food, some would class this as hoarding, extreme and Doomsday Preppers'ish.

Some people grow food whether it be garden, balcony, windowsill, allotment, homestead or croft, some would consider this a waste of time even extreme after all the shops are full.

Myself I store some, I've grown a lot in raised beds which have now been dismantled and scaled down to pots.

I forage. I started young getting wild berries and fruits for my dad's wine making. In my youth I once spent 3 months living off virtually nothing but potatoes, I wish I'd known half of what I know now to add to them.

So how am I prepping? I'm no rambo waiting for the apocalypse, I'm preparing for hard times:

Keeping the car topped up save me a big when prices started to rocket,
Keeping a stock of toilet paper meant I didn't worry when sheep were panic buying,
Keeping food meant initial lockdown didn't really affect me,
Growing food and previously keeping chickens taught myself and my kids valuable lessons about where food comes from,
Foraging is fun and gives you a connection to the land understanding the seasons and environment.

Many people in Bosnia, Lebanon, Argentina and Venezuela didn't prep in any capacity maybe they wished they'd.

With more people using food banks than ever before and the risk of a food shortage, anything "prepper/survival" related can only be of benefit.

[diamond lil]

Agree with that - growing some tatties in bags and keeping a couple of hens beats the food bank any day!

[itsybitsy]

Agree with that - growing some tatties in bags and keeping a couple of hens beats the food bank any day!

Somewhat surprisingly, a couple of potato plants have just grown themselves this year - must be from spuds I left in the pots last year by mistake. Let's see what they yield (or not ).

[Frnc]

I'm trying to grow veg, but only succeeded in growing peas so far. Trying to avoid hybrids so seeds can be saved. I might have potatoes, will investigate soon. My neighbour grows apples; I can scrounge a few.
Of course I have a few weeks supply of food with long shelf life, and a bit of space to increase that.

[Vega-J]

I've been growing food for around 10 years now. Each year I've added more homegrown in to my diet and spent less in the supermarket. Last year I hardly had to buy any vegetables from the shops at all. My partner and I have learnt to eat with the seasons and I adjust recipes depending on what crops have been a success.

Another prep which I think is important is to slowly adjust your digestive system to the affects from Jerusalem artichoke they yield so much that we were eating them 3-4 times a week last winter.

I've only just started building a food storage in the traditional prepping sense but I'm slowly adding to it every week.

[Vega-J]

Also forgot to add a few things that I've started doing since taking on this prepping. I'm learning ways to cook, travel and keep entertained without mains electricity. All simple stuff really but it's fun right now and could be vital later on.

[diamond lil]

Also forgot to add a few things that I've started doing since taking on this prepping. I'm learning ways to cook, travel and keep entertained without mains electricity. All simple stuff really but it's fun right now and could be vital later on.

This stuff is very important and sometimes fun.

[Yorkshire Andy]

This stuff is very important and sometimes fun.

Have you tried playing Monopoly with my kids "fun" is one way to put it

And well pie face causes full on melt downs (and that was the MIL as I didn't give her a chance )

[jansman]

Currently continuing my plan on Local Living. The way I see it, we are rapidly moving towards a very limited lifestyle. I am on the verge of semi retirement. Mainly because I have had a gut full of work, and also because I strongly suspect we are all going to have to live on less. I don’t expect private pensions to prosper in the coming crash either , so some kind of earnings will be needed, although I am no expert. Mind you, financial parasites, sorry, advisers, don’t have a crystal ball either!

My neighbour is the local Church Warden. He looks after the woodland at the side of the church. The wood needs a bit of management. They have asked me if I would like to remove suitable dead wood and trees in order to keep it in order. Of course, I agreed! On top of which, it’s over the road and I can get in easily with the barrow. There is enough in there for the rest of my life. And I have the key to the gates!

I have started fishing locally too. Where I did when I was a boy, and had no transportation. It’s been fun, and I’ve had some good sport. IF we needed food from the river, then today we would be eating well! Had I my catapult or an air rifle too, then there was a LOT of game.

[diamond lil]

Works pensions aren't worth it for some people. Husband has a good council pension and all it does is lift us above the level where we get any help for anything, from dentists to opticians to CT and rent.
If you're on a basic state pension then you can get Pension Credit which is a really good help.