Nervous newbie, hello brave new world?

[Opti]

Hi

Not sure where to start on this one. I've been getting more into prepping over the past 5 years since I lost my (ex-forces) father. He would have secretly loved the last few years and probably would've finished digging in fortified tunnels under the garden shed 6 months ago. I have good intentions but lack confidence (for a year a brand new canner has remained unopened in the garage for fear of cultivating botulinum toxin) and now I find myself a carer to an elderly relative so in case of oh poo moments I'm no longer able to just 'wing it'.

I don't feel that I can talk to friends about my prepping and it certainly wouldn't come up in conversation with work colleagues. Elderly relative has high levels of anxiety anyway so really don't feel the need to mention that Amazon will be delivering night vision goggles tomorrow along with a rechargeable radio to go with the solar powered battery pack that came last week...

Hoping this might be a community of pretty normal people who just feel generally better knowing that their lives will hum on a relatively even keel regardless of what might happen that is out of our control. If someone could also offer tips on how to bottle veg in a way that won't cause death that would be appreciated too.

[Smudge]

Welcome Opti, we're about as close to normal as preppers get.

Have a look around, plenty to read any questions just ask especially about canning lots of knowledgeable people here.

[Arzosah]

Hello Opti, welcome to the forum, you're spot on about who might be on here, normal with a touch of prep.

I'm not the world's greatest canner/bottler, so I won't pass on any tips, except that if I was you, I'd be watching a lot of youtube videos

[GillyBee]

Welcome Opti.

I think it fair to say that not many of us are of the run and live in the woods persuasion. Bug Out bags are just as likely to be hospital or hotel bags - and a lot more likely to be used as a result.
Lots of people canning on here so look around and ask questions. We don't bite.

[PreppingPingu]

Hullo Opti yes don't worry - we are pretty normal folks here. This is a good place to share thoughts and ideas onprepping.

Some of us are more that self reliant, self sustaining type of folks, some of us are more heavily into prepping than others, and some of us just lurk around the fringes for some ideas just so we can be a bit more prepared for every day stuff like flood, fire, job loss etc. Having said that though, a lot of us are well aware that socially and economically, the world is in flux at the moment and being a be more prepared than your neighbours means that you aren't rushing to the shops during a pandemic for example!

[jennyjj01]

Hi

Not sure where to start on this one. I've been getting more into prepping over the past 5 years since I lost my (ex-forces) father. He would have secretly loved the last few years and probably would've finished digging in fortified tunnels under the garden shed 6 months ago. I have good intentions but lack confidence (for a year a brand new canner has remained unopened in the garage for fear of cultivating botulinum toxin) and now I find myself a carer to an elderly relative so in case of oh poo moments I'm no longer able to just 'wing it'.

I don't feel that I can talk to friends about my prepping and it certainly wouldn't come up in conversation with work colleagues. Elderly relative has high levels of anxiety anyway so really don't feel the need to mention that Amazon will be delivering night vision goggles tomorrow along with a rechargeable radio to go with the solar powered battery pack that came last week...

Hoping this might be a community of pretty normal people who just feel generally better knowing that their lives will hum on a relatively even keel regardless of what might happen that is out of our control. If someone could also offer tips on how to bottle veg in a way that won't cause death that would be appreciated too.

Hi Opti, and welcome. You have reached your destination: A meeting place for like minded but diverse preppers.

Here, we are not big on bugging out to the woods, but tend to lean towards sensible preparations for feasible crises. Many of us, for example keep a supply of food and alternative heating, cooking and lighting solutions. Such preps help us deal with a wide range of potential problems, so we can take the odd power cut, water outage, social unrest, and even pandemic in our stride. True, we are none of us indestructible, but we aspire to have an edge if whatever S hits the fan. Covid helped to make our little foible more socially acceptable ( having a few extra tins of beans in ) But we still have to recognise a need for discretion. We don't want to be shunned as 'hoarders' and we don't want to be taken for granted if we ever find societal breakdown and starvation.
I advise occasionally reviewing what eventualities you are prepping for. And that will change with world events. Heck, we are now redoubling our thoughts on WW3 apocalypse. Shopping round for geiger counters and barbiturates

Bounce your ideas round here. We have experts and keen amateurs in many fields and there's always something to learn and someone to help.

There are whole threads on food storage. Canning is a bit of an American practice ( using jars???) Personally, I favour dehydrating and vacuum sealing in jars, but there is an overlap.

Don't be shy here. You get out of the forum as you put into it. Share your thoughts, think out loud, bounce ideas about.

Night vision goggles??? Well, if you are serious, then someone here will share that interest and recommend the best ones. Certainly check out Solar panels here. We have some proper practica experts on solar stuff, generators etc.

"how to bottle veg in a way that won't cause death that would be appreciated too. ".....
Well. veg to me means essential staple veg: Carrots, Onions, Spuds, Mushrooms, Tomatoes, Peppers...... Dehydrate the living daylights out of them. Pop in mason jars and suck the air out. Hey presto Safe, reduced volume, long term storage.... And food you can actually use back in your regular diet. Lots to be found on this forum about that. The whole botulism thing goes away with dehydration. It's certain sauces that can be dangerous to 'can' Take US based canning ideas with a pinch of salt.

[pseudonym]

Hello and welcome to the Forum.

[Opti]

Thanks Everyone!

I did look into dehydrators but after a glut of tomatoes thought bottling was the way to go (until I wimped out and froze the harvest!). Definitely something to look into though.

The night vision glasses realistically will be used to see if we have hedgehogs, they were quite cheap so not sure how good they are! I'm probably more likely to trip up on a hedgehog than see it through the glasses. How do you plan to be prepared when there seem to be so many things to need to be prepared for?

So relieved this isn't a site of hard core preppers. My idea of roughing it is a 3* hotel and bugging out could either mean extra mosquito repellent or a delicious Ozzie BBQ. Just aiming for me and mine to be OK until normality is resumed. In case of a SHTF moment look me up, my emergency bag has merlot.

[ForgeCorvus]

So relieved this isn't a site of hard core preppers. My idea of roughing it is a 3* hotel and bugging out could either mean extra mosquito repellent or a delicious Ozzie BBQ. Just aiming for me and mine to be OK until normality is resumed.

Oh we're hard core all right...... Just with a British slant, We bug out to Travelodge (other places available) rather then the Woods and store torches and stoves rather then guns, guns and more guns (with extra guns just in case).
We're more likely to share a good bargain at a supermarket or talk about potatoes then argue 9mm v .45ACP (or AKvAR) and cammo patterns.

We prep for bumps-in-the-road rather then TEOTWAWKT....... But that doesn't mean we can't look out for our nearest and dearest if we lived next door to a bully like Vladimir "I want to be Stalin" Putin*

In case of a SHTF moment look me up, my emergency bag has merlot.

Mine has rum..... UKPreppers bottle party anyone?




*I'm not sure if thats politics or not...... I'll stop there

[British Red]

Nothing remotely tricky about canning . We've taught dozens of people to do it & made videos about it. Let us know what your concerns are & what canner you have and I'll talk you through it.