What Preps are you doing this week

[the7ps]

Ive managed to get this site on my computer at work but cant log in so have had a good read as a guest and have today picked up some little gems.

Ive had a re-think after reading some great views from Ian in the equipment forum and had a 're-adjust' of some kit, I also had a good think after reading about bartering and totally agree with the idea of 'if you think you would end up needing to barter for an item then just buy extra of that item now' so I thought out the box and went and visited the lads in the wood shop; Ive walked out of work today with a lump hammer, claw hammer, 1000 nails and shovel gratis.

Then, just to make sure the work printer still worked I printed off a few PDF docs of edible berries and plants which I plan on doing a little pick of over these next few weeks to try my hand at something new. I used to think that 30 metric tonnes of tinned goods stored away would see me through whatever is thrown at us but now realise this is a little naive, so Im branching out (no pun intended).

So, I guess, in answer to what preps are you doing this week well for me it has been opening my eyes and ears to some great advice from here and making slight changes to my prepping mind set.

Cheers all

[Arzosah]

Ian's posts were great, weren't they - certainly made me think about masks - I have a dozen or so surgical masks (picked up during swine flu thing a few years ago) and the same of disposable builders' masks, so I'll rest on my laurels with that one for now, there's a lot else to catch up on.

My Approved Food order arrived, with the slinky thing to unclog drains. I now have enough cleaning fluids to last about five years and I *must* learn how to portion size dried beans etc, because I now have a *lot*.

[Pestweazle]

2 paraffin lamps and 4 litres of fuel. 2kg dried peas and 1kg of red beans. These provide a good source of carbs and protein in one food. I have a pressure cooker which reduces cooking time to about ten mins.

[unsure]

on my way out shortley to collect 100 ltrs of veg oil [ fuel for the landrover ] .thats 20 ltrs in the tank and 80to put back .

[SooBee]

As a relative beginner (says she as an ex-Guider and Camping QM) this week I'm clearing out a large craft cupboard which is cool enough for food storage and starting to lay in some basics, organizing the shelves as I go...I need to get a life, don't I? Well I'm doing that too with a good long walk each day.

[Moony]

Delivery man just knocked on the door with my new food dryer. Think ill give it a go later with some chillies, onions and mushrooms. Already got a vacuum bag sealer to put the finished products in for storage. Just a shame I haven't produced enough in my own garden so far this year to get a good system going for seed->storage all at home.

[the7ps]

Six boxes of paracetamol, four tubes of toothpaste, 2 x 20m of catering foil, 2 x 20m cling film and 4kg of sugar. Slightly random, I concur - but not to worry, that's me all over

Ha ha, just a quick chuck up to itsybitsy as who hasnt seen this opener a million times. So, Itsybitsy, how much foil is left?

[Arzosah]

I've been working really hard on the garden today - clearing the long straggly grass from under the cobnut tree, then dumped two bin bags full of half rotted leaves onto what was left. I've had 3 big bags of bark mulch sitting on the patio for a year, and this time tomorrow they'll be dumped onto the leaves. I'm a bit worried, because the ants have found them, and I can't find my ant killer, but I don't think they can actually build a nest in the leaves, can they? I think they're about to be ex-ants. And the cobnut tree will hopefully be well nourished.

Big shop from earlier this week now almost fully stored away, most of it was future provisions.

Went exploring footpaths between me and my town centre on Thursday, thinking about if something happens, how do I get away. It was good.

Spent a couple of hours yesterday working with maps; I go to 3 or 4 local towns all the time on public transport, and I've been building up routes for how I'd get home if public transport was stopped for any reason - I've been using the interactive county map, the open source map that was listed on here, and google maps, which is really handy because you can recognise *some* problems before you get there, by using streetview.

And I *tried* to burn some of the prunings I made earlier this week - they're nicely dry, and frankly I thought I'd be having a nice easy time sitting in near a little fire in my cast iron firepit, feeding it as necessary. Nope! Matches. Crinkled newspaper, which I remember from my childhood. I even tried a box of firelighters I found, which I've been hoiking around from house to house for about 30 years now. Little strands of stuff I actually *want* to burn. Nada. Rien. Zip. I suddenly have much more respect for what everybody says on here, that starting a fire is really difficult. One more try, now I've had a cup of tea, with the famous bits of cotton wool and vaseline, and then I'm drowning my sorrows in the shower.

[bulldogeagle]

picked up a brand new,still in the box,15litre cast iron apple press at a market yesterday....RRP£135-£150...cost me £35!!

[itsybitsy]

Six boxes of paracetamol, four tubes of toothpaste, 2 x 20m of catering foil, 2 x 20m cling film and 4kg of sugar. Slightly random, I concur - but not to worry, that's me all over

Ha ha, just a quick chuck up to itsybitsy as who hasnt seen this opener a million times. So, Itsybitsy, how much foil is left?

I've actually just finished the first roll.