Preparing for troubled times ahead - Advice on what is needed.....
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I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately?
If we have to choose between going hungry or feeling the cold..in a worse case scenario,surly folk will resort to felling trees for heat or taking the wild life for food or stealing food as it’s only natural to protect oneself & the family.
I remember my mum & dad struggling in the 70,s to put food on the table & to pay the bills. I also remember my mum going hungry so she could feed us four kids.
we were resilient then & adapted to change as our forefathers did. however, in this want want greedy society, I fear the younger generation & a lot of middle aged people
will struggle if they are starting out with bill's to pay?
I think the older generation will find it easier as they’ve been there before.( maybe).
It was hard in the 1940's and 1950's but then we had rationing which helped to make things fairer. Our expectations were simpler and today's everyday items were often rare treats. For example, chicken was only for very special occasions such as Christmas.
Not having central heating or constant hot water helped too. So did the absence of electrically powered gadgets. Expensive petrol was not a problem as few of us had cars and walked or cycled to work and school.
Ah, the good old days!
Not having central heating or constant hot water helped too. So did the absence of electrically powered gadgets. Expensive petrol was not a problem as few of us had cars and walked or cycled to work and school.
Ah, the good old days!
@TLM
I think that's a very sound way to look at it.
To aim for what you will actually use, what you can use for multiple purposes, kind of thing. A flexible approach if possible. Decent storage of stuffs that will keep, be something you and family will actually choose to eat.
Personally my pantry is pretty well set, I know what we use, how quickly we go through stuff, but then I'm old enough to have learned over the years. I don't think that anyone can really lay down just exactly 'what' every one or family ought to have. We're all different.
Knowing what I do, and having a good store of the usual flours, grains, oils, seeds, etc., I have chosen to stash extras of items that I know are already expensive and are likely to become more so, especially since we are on an island where we just cannot grow many of the spices, etc., that greatly enrich our diet.
This week I bought saffron strands and vanilla bean paste and extra cornmeal. Last week I bought more crystallised ginger. All of these will happily keep for years
but we use them, so it'll not go to waste.
Where I live I can easily get to M&S, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Lidl's, Asda, Morrisons, Iceland, Farmfoods, Co-op, Home Bargains, B&M's, etc., all within ten minutes of the house. So, I can compare, but right across the board @Woody girl is right, there are filler uppers in every shelf, and fewer varieties available of items too. The shelves aren't empty by any means, but they're thin looking. Much more like the small supermarkets of the 1960's early 1970's than the 2000's.
Maybe it's just in response to folks not buying as much during lockdown, etc., and supermarkets being careful about overheads and waste
Me ? I'm starting to think like my Granny
I think that's a very sound way to look at it.
To aim for what you will actually use, what you can use for multiple purposes, kind of thing. A flexible approach if possible. Decent storage of stuffs that will keep, be something you and family will actually choose to eat.
Personally my pantry is pretty well set, I know what we use, how quickly we go through stuff, but then I'm old enough to have learned over the years. I don't think that anyone can really lay down just exactly 'what' every one or family ought to have. We're all different.
Knowing what I do, and having a good store of the usual flours, grains, oils, seeds, etc., I have chosen to stash extras of items that I know are already expensive and are likely to become more so, especially since we are on an island where we just cannot grow many of the spices, etc., that greatly enrich our diet.
This week I bought saffron strands and vanilla bean paste and extra cornmeal. Last week I bought more crystallised ginger. All of these will happily keep for years
but we use them, so it'll not go to waste.Where I live I can easily get to M&S, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Lidl's, Asda, Morrisons, Iceland, Farmfoods, Co-op, Home Bargains, B&M's, etc., all within ten minutes of the house. So, I can compare, but right across the board @Woody girl is right, there are filler uppers in every shelf, and fewer varieties available of items too. The shelves aren't empty by any means, but they're thin looking. Much more like the small supermarkets of the 1960's early 1970's than the 2000's.
Maybe it's just in response to folks not buying as much during lockdown, etc., and supermarkets being careful about overheads and waste
Me ? I'm starting to think like my Granny
Oldtimer's remembrances reminded me of the early days on the cottage, no electricity, no running water, wood heat and kitchen stove. In certain ways back to the late 1800 or early 1900, of course we had gadgets not available then but the difference is not very big. I think I can fall back to that way of living but it is an awful lot of extra manual work I am not so well adapted to any more. I still split my fire wood with an axe but cut it with a chainsaw nowadays. Giving up the chainsaw would be painful.
I lived off the grid in an isolated log cabin for nearly 5 months.
Coleman petrol lantern and 2-burner "green box" stove. The Air -Tite wood stove burned what ever fit inside. We cut deadfalls with a bow saw and split with an axe, the usual need to take the frost off the mornings.
As TLM says, it's a different set of habits which requires a little more of your time.
Coleman petrol lantern and 2-burner "green box" stove. The Air -Tite wood stove burned what ever fit inside. We cut deadfalls with a bow saw and split with an axe, the usual need to take the frost off the mornings.
As TLM says, it's a different set of habits which requires a little more of your time.
D
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Unfortunately, when people tried to live in Scotland by felling trees, what happened is that almost every tree in Scotland was cut down by the 1750s (the first detailed map). We only started to get our woodlands back after the extensive use of fossil fuels. Indeed places, like Orkney and Shetland never got their tree cover back, until people started planting them.
Likewise, I was thinking "if there were an apocalypse I'd have to hunt the local deer" (that was before I saw survival programs where people failed to hunt dear). But, the biggest problem is that there are about six local deer, and there are 10,000 local people who would be trying to eat them. The same with wild fruit ... yes there is some places where there is wild fruit ... but there would be 1000s of people trying to pick them.
I've definatly seen this comming for a long while, it was inevitable that problems were on their way after the brexit mess, and covid. I started to think about simplifying things and kept an eye out for useful "off grid" type technology wherever I went, and bought a few items such as lamp oil, lamps, rechargeable torch, a large supply of batteries,small solar charger, and collecting wood to burn.
With the " special operations " of Russia, it was obvious to anyone with half a brain cell that we were going to be in trouble this winter, so I started looking at depression era and wartime skills.
I have built a haybox, and used it to make delicious stew.
I have built a food safe, have plans for an outside larder and got a galvanised bucket to make my grans milk saver.
This weekend I made an off grid washing machine, with two large plastic buckets, and a long handled sink plunger.
Composting toilet, loo seat on bucket with sawdust, and a home made milk bottle scoop for the sawdust.
Simple easy projects that don't take much material , and are just more of an insurance , but store easily, and if things get realy bad, I'm sorted.
It's also been good fun making these simple things during lockdowns and I'm glad I did. Seems things are worse than I thought they would be, though don't be fooled by the fact everything seems to be quite normal if a bit pricier .
Think ahead.
Will you need new tyres in the near future? Buy some now, so you only have fitting fees when it comes to replacing them .supplies of many essential goods will be problematic or prices will go sky high.
If you use heating oil, get it now, prices are not coming down, and may be even more by winter, even if the war ends tomorrow.
Start planning for next winter now!
Like Toddy, I'm making sure I have some supplies tucked away and have bought a vacuum packing machine, and also looking at ways of preserving without electricity.
I also buy books that give me info on living well in a system without all the modern convinces. Herbal medicine, trapping, preparing game, fishing, mushrooms, wild foods, and many other topics. I've got so many now, I've had to buy a new bookcase this weekend!
Knowledge is key, and I've started working with my community, showing people how to eat weeds, cook in a haybox, and encouraged the school to start a forest school to teach the little ones skills other than how to push a button to entertain themselves or order a pizza.
With the " special operations " of Russia, it was obvious to anyone with half a brain cell that we were going to be in trouble this winter, so I started looking at depression era and wartime skills.
I have built a haybox, and used it to make delicious stew.
I have built a food safe, have plans for an outside larder and got a galvanised bucket to make my grans milk saver.
This weekend I made an off grid washing machine, with two large plastic buckets, and a long handled sink plunger.
Composting toilet, loo seat on bucket with sawdust, and a home made milk bottle scoop for the sawdust.
Simple easy projects that don't take much material , and are just more of an insurance , but store easily, and if things get realy bad, I'm sorted.
It's also been good fun making these simple things during lockdowns and I'm glad I did. Seems things are worse than I thought they would be, though don't be fooled by the fact everything seems to be quite normal if a bit pricier .
Think ahead.
Will you need new tyres in the near future? Buy some now, so you only have fitting fees when it comes to replacing them .supplies of many essential goods will be problematic or prices will go sky high.
If you use heating oil, get it now, prices are not coming down, and may be even more by winter, even if the war ends tomorrow.
Start planning for next winter now!
Like Toddy, I'm making sure I have some supplies tucked away and have bought a vacuum packing machine, and also looking at ways of preserving without electricity.
I also buy books that give me info on living well in a system without all the modern convinces. Herbal medicine, trapping, preparing game, fishing, mushrooms, wild foods, and many other topics. I've got so many now, I've had to buy a new bookcase this weekend!
Knowledge is key, and I've started working with my community, showing people how to eat weeds, cook in a haybox, and encouraged the school to start a forest school to teach the little ones skills other than how to push a button to entertain themselves or order a pizza.
So this is where having a productive garden will help out, however small you can grow an amazing amount even on a tiny apartment balcony,
Sprouting seeds, in jam jars are nutritious and easy. I've experimented with dried chick peas, and red lentils from the supermarket, they work, as do mustard seeds , and dried peas, fenugreek....think what might grow, I'm doing chai seeds at the moment for the first time. Not sure what the results is going to be... its at the frogspawn stage today, will they sprout?
Protein is more problematic, but seriously, I don't expect to see hoards of people in the English countryside with guns, trying for venison. They will go for sheep rustling first! It's far easier and more profitable to put 100 sheep in a lorry in the middle of the night, than try to drag a deer carcass out of the woods in the dark, and gunshots alerting anyone nearby you are there.
We will get by, if we don't start thinking like certain American preppers, loading up with guns and ammo, and swearing to shoot anyone who knocks on the door asking for food.
Be kind to those who think they don't need to prepare for a hard winter ahead. Send them candles and food parcelsfor Christmas!
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D
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If anyone wants to start preparing I'd suggest you think about it this way. Start with the very simple:
- Can you cope with a one hour night time electricity power cut ... the main problem is to be able to find your way to a known source of light in total darkness.
- Can you cope with a 24hour winter power & water cut ... as (1) with the new problem of keeping warm, cooking something to eat, not having water and not being able to contact people.
- Can you cope with a week long outage ... as (2) but your fridge and freezer will defrost, you will struggle with some basic things like milk and the house will become bitterly cold in winter. You will also struggle with sanitation and drinking water.
- Given a day to prepare, could you cope in your home with two months totally "off grid"
- Given a day to prepare, could you pack and walk away from your house and live a year away with no human contact?
I'm a knitter, so I've made a lot of my own clothes and I'm learning to sew things. Old duvet covers are a cheap source of material. Keep the buttons and zips when you throw clothes away. I rarely throw clothes away, and all my stuff except undies comes from local charity shops. Shirts become dusters, old towels flannels, years ago, I was involved with a project to make cute dresses for children in Africa out of pillow cases.
Learn to patch things like jeans and elbows of things, darn socks etc.
We have so much nowadays that can be reused or repurposed with a little imagination.
Learn to patch things like jeans and elbows of things, darn socks etc.
We have so much nowadays that can be reused or repurposed with a little imagination.
I've, literally just swopped a knitted beanie hat for a rake handle repair a few mins ago. My rake is old and rather in need of a new handle for a couple of years, it finaly broke Saturday while trying to rake up a tangle of brambles that I had cut down, to make more growing room.
Skill share is something I'm trying to instill in my neighbours by offering my help and not being shy about my needs. A few years ago it wouldn't have happened, but perseverance is paying off.
I'm also trying to get a repair cafe going, and guerilla planting food plants in corners around the area.
I think people are beginning to understand we need to pull together.
The Ukraine emergency has shown us the way to go to survive when the chips are down.
Skill share is something I'm trying to instill in my neighbours by offering my help and not being shy about my needs. A few years ago it wouldn't have happened, but perseverance is paying off.
I'm also trying to get a repair cafe going, and guerilla planting food plants in corners around the area.
I think people are beginning to understand we need to pull together.
The Ukraine emergency has shown us the way to go to survive when the chips are down.
Much of that though is physical work, and it's time consuming. It wears the body done for all that it can be satisfying.
There's the other major issue in the whole fuss about being fuel poor though. Modern houses aren't built to use scavenged fuel, fireplaces are discouraged and woodburners stoves are very much now seen as a hugely polluting (particulate matter) issue in urban situations, and houses aren't built with built in draughts to allow them to air thoroughly, especially in Winter.
Even drying the washing indoors instead of using the tumble drier, (it can't be hung outside to dry for much of the year here) leaves the house sodden wet, and at 67% humidity mould grows.....and that rapidly becomes a health problem, especially for children.
It's one of the reasons that poverty goes hand in hand with ill health.
We've become reliant on central heating, on hot water on tap, washing machines and dryers. To us it's always been normal to have clean clothes, as in fresh on every day clothes, in a way that was impossible in the past, and is impossible in true fuel poverty.
Such simple stuff, cleanliness. Damned hard to keep up in the cold and wet without fuel though. Fred posted a while ago about how to do a 'standing bath', that was commonplace knowledge once. Now we use many gallons instead of a pint of water.
I don't think there's any quick one strand easy fix for things.
Most of us live very urbanised lives, even those who claim to live 'country'. Simple internet and phone access is basic to almost all of our lives. Running water and decent sewerage are crucial though.
Can we survive without it ? well yes, but not healthily for long. Not en masse.
Priorities are always going to be contentious. I firmly believe that we'll keep up the main strands and folks will just have to manage as best they can with the rest. Everyone's different, every family is different.
However, maybe the old adage about living a little more simply so that others might simply live, is not far wrong though.
Hot water bottles are very good things
We'll see what we see. Me ? I'm away to make bread
M
There's the other major issue in the whole fuss about being fuel poor though. Modern houses aren't built to use scavenged fuel, fireplaces are discouraged and woodburners stoves are very much now seen as a hugely polluting (particulate matter) issue in urban situations, and houses aren't built with built in draughts to allow them to air thoroughly, especially in Winter.
Even drying the washing indoors instead of using the tumble drier, (it can't be hung outside to dry for much of the year here) leaves the house sodden wet, and at 67% humidity mould grows.....and that rapidly becomes a health problem, especially for children.
It's one of the reasons that poverty goes hand in hand with ill health.
We've become reliant on central heating, on hot water on tap, washing machines and dryers. To us it's always been normal to have clean clothes, as in fresh on every day clothes, in a way that was impossible in the past, and is impossible in true fuel poverty.
Such simple stuff, cleanliness. Damned hard to keep up in the cold and wet without fuel though. Fred posted a while ago about how to do a 'standing bath', that was commonplace knowledge once. Now we use many gallons instead of a pint of water.
I don't think there's any quick one strand easy fix for things.
Most of us live very urbanised lives, even those who claim to live 'country'. Simple internet and phone access is basic to almost all of our lives. Running water and decent sewerage are crucial though.
Can we survive without it ? well yes, but not healthily for long. Not en masse.
Priorities are always going to be contentious. I firmly believe that we'll keep up the main strands and folks will just have to manage as best they can with the rest. Everyone's different, every family is different.
However, maybe the old adage about living a little more simply so that others might simply live, is not far wrong though.
Hot water bottles are very good things
We'll see what we see. Me ? I'm away to make bread
M
First of all I really hate the term prepper. Just because I could survive for a year or two without going anywhere doesn't make me a prepper - I prefer the phrase common sense.
What's becoming increasingly apparent is many (not all) people could have helped themselves fairly easily. Just thinking about heating bills, I put a foot of loft insulation in my last house very cheaply as the insulation was heavily subsidised. It took time to do but hardly anyone seemed to take advantage of the offers.
What's becoming increasingly apparent is many (not all) people could have helped themselves fairly easily. Just thinking about heating bills, I put a foot of loft insulation in my last house very cheaply as the insulation was heavily subsidised. It took time to do but hardly anyone seemed to take advantage of the offers.
My bungalow is very small by UK standards but fine for me on my own. My water heater packed up in 2018 and I haven't bothered fixing it. I don't have central heating, just a wood burner, electric towel rail and 1 oil filled radiator. The solar panels on my roof export more than I use. Everyone seems obsessed with making their houses bigger but I'm content with what I have. Less is more.
I hate the term prepper too. It's very americanised. I just like to think that I'm prepared in the good old fashoned sense.
Simplified my life, needs and wants, I'm comfortable, able to cope with power outages and water problems, keep warm and dry, and eat well.
Yes, it does take a bit of application and I don't just press buy on amazon and wait for something to arrive. Never have, and I don't miss it.
I realise it's different for others, having children means you have to have Internet etc for homework, food fads need to be catered for, though the nearest I ever got to a food fad, was, ..... I don't like things with onion in...go hungry then.. I eat onion now!
Clothes have to be this way or that, or they get bullied for not having the right trainers. It's a pickle we have to get out of. Maybe, when we have to go back to one pair of shoes for school and best, plus wellies and dapps for play one good coat and one best dress, we shall be taking enough from the world, rather than too much.
It was the norm for me as a kid, I was happy enough, and never questioned it. The norm of the latest and best has to my mind become a virus that we catch with no idea of what effect it has on ourselves and the environment, and we generally don't think about it, or care.
Attention span has shortened and this is being catered for, and enforced with things like tick tick.
Simplified my life, needs and wants, I'm comfortable, able to cope with power outages and water problems, keep warm and dry, and eat well.
Yes, it does take a bit of application and I don't just press buy on amazon and wait for something to arrive. Never have, and I don't miss it.
I realise it's different for others, having children means you have to have Internet etc for homework, food fads need to be catered for, though the nearest I ever got to a food fad, was, ..... I don't like things with onion in...go hungry then.. I eat onion now!
Clothes have to be this way or that, or they get bullied for not having the right trainers. It's a pickle we have to get out of. Maybe, when we have to go back to one pair of shoes for school and best, plus wellies and dapps for play one good coat and one best dress, we shall be taking enough from the world, rather than too much.
It was the norm for me as a kid, I was happy enough, and never questioned it. The norm of the latest and best has to my mind become a virus that we catch with no idea of what effect it has on ourselves and the environment, and we generally don't think about it, or care.
Attention span has shortened and this is being catered for, and enforced with things like tick tick.
I think the average person now has more than enough on their plate just feeding their family, heating their home putting fuel in their car and paying bills to bother about stockpiling extra stuff for 'just in case'. A lot of families can't afford 3 squares a day never mind 3 plus 2 for next week. Thats why there are food banks nowadays - they didnt exist when I was a lad.
D
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Net zero is a plan to destroy the present fossil fuel economy. It was clearly in the Conservative manifesto (along with every other main party). The BBC have been telling people for years they wanted to destroy the fossil fuel economy. The "Great reset" is that destruction starting to happen. Despite people warning about it, people voted for it. Why are people now complaining about the cost increases, the food and fuel shortages, etc.?
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