Preppers Paradise: Pickled Turnips and Sovereignty Spam

[RedToothBrush]

Despite all the accusations of hysteria for those saying they intend to prep, today Theresa May said households were going to be given guidelines in August and September on how to prepare in the event of No Deal.

Robert Peston@Peston
@theresa_may says 70 "technical notices" for businesses and households will be published in Aug and Sept setting out how we can all prepare for a no-deal Brexit (should that be what happens). Yikes

Arla are already warning that milk product may be scare and baby formula will be 'an occasional luxury' even if we do get a deal
Dairy products 'may become luxuries' after UK leaves EU

Whilst we wait for the government to advise us on what action we all need to consider taking, this is a thread dedicated for those people who wish to share tips, advice and what they plan to do rather than clogging up other threads.

One thing I always keep a lot of is sanpro. With teen DDs we get through a lot so I always stock up when offers are on.

We have been talking about our plan B, too. We'll have EU passports, we could just leave. It's not plan A, because we're finally settled in a town we love, in a house we love, and have managed to create friedships locally etc. I hate moving, and having moved countries twice in my life, it's a massive stress that I'd rather not go through again... But it's good to have a plan B, I guess, if sitting out and waiting for things to settle doesn't pan out... Or if DH's employers (a massive global company) will decide to end their UK contracts. I'm just really sad to even find myself having to think about it.

On another note, there is a busy thread on stockpiling in AIBU today. It's not been moved to the brexit section and it also means this whole topic is becoming more 'mainstream', which I think is progress.

In Lidl today

Only bother if they are beans you will eat.

The Lidl "Simply" baked beans are, according to dh, perfectly fine (but need a bit of salt) and only 23p a can!

(I'm on the MN HFLC Boot Camp so have never tried them myself).

@prettybird - sounds like a good'un any way.

Only bother if they are beans you will eat.

Exactly, although this concept seems to escape many of the sneering naysayers going on about finding 20,000 tins of whale vomit dating from the Crimean War in mad Great-Aunt Val's loft.

In point of fact, I'm not a massive fan of baked beans and although DH and the DC quite like them, they don't find them essential to their wellbeing either. So we are not really buying extra tins of baked beans. We are buying extra of things that we either like or need, and that we will use anyway.

I'm buying extra canned tomatoes, kidney beans, rice, spaghetti and canned soups (dh loves the Lidl canned soups) plus extra bread flour, sugar and condensed milk (I make brilliant tablet which would be great for energy and raising spirits and possibly for bartering ).

Reading The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

OMG. The little town of De Smet, South Dakota, is isolated by an exceptionally harsh winter in the 1880s. Laura and her family are trapped in their home for days at a time by blizzards. Zero visibility and if you want to go out during the blizzard you have to tie a rope from one building to the next or risk losing your way and freezing to death on the prairie.

A Native American warns the settlers how hard the winter will be but no-one listens. Everyone says the trains won't stop running but they do stop running. Now they can't get any groceries from outside and are forced to rely on what they have until spring comes. Laura's family have two meals a day. One meal consists of sourdough bread. The other is potatoes. That's it (she's clearly suffering from the effects of malnutrition towards the end of the story). They grind wheat in a coffee mill to make the bread and they can't stop grinding, someone has to be grinding all day. Laura's dad risks his life on a daily basis to go and get hay to burn for fuel.

I am half , half "I want to learn to make sourdough bread!"

The Swedish government have issued advice to citizens on what to have on hand in case of emergencies, which makes for interesting reading www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-44208921 - in particular the suggested foods that keep well and don't need to be heated. I'm planning on adding some crispbreads/oatcakes to our supplies, and closer to the time will be getting some of the sliced rye bread from Lidl that has a long shelf life.

There's a British RedCross app (don't freak out because it's the Red Cross) with a tick list for emergency stocks. My local council has one on its website although it was a devil to find.

On the App Store it's called British Red Cross Emergency . It's described as a weather app and you can have multiple locations set in it. However, it includes a "prepare" tab. Which is dead useful as a general list.

Went onto Goodness Direct website today to stock up on some health food things, they have a 25% off everything summer sale on just now, code 32235cqw.

I’ve commented on a few prepper threads and I’m glad I found here. I’m not prone to panicking but there is something about this that is making me very anxious. DS is 2 and gluten intolerant, both DP and I are working in tourism dependent industries although I’m looking to go back to teaching. Currently I’m making a loss of around £40 a month even though I’m working so I don’t see how I can start a slow stockpile. Gluten free stuff is already expensive and I buy raw ingredients as opposed to ready made stuff. I don’t know how to go about preparing if I can’t afford living now anyway.

theanonymum1 welcome! What is your DP's attitude? Supportive or not? This is something you'd be doing for the whole family, so wouldn't you also take his income into account?

We’ve just had a chat now because DP takes medication that he needs daily or it all goes tits up. He laughed at me for a bit but has agreed that his ‘winter’ project will be sorting the shed so I can stock up on gluten free things and sort the water butt. I don’t think he really sees it being necessary but is (intheory) supportive, as long as it doesn’t get in his way, I suspect!

Finances are a bit complicated over here my wages go on food, childcare and two thirds of the household bills while DP covers the house and the other third, but I’d like to think he would find a bit extra, probably during November/December when things start to look a bit ropey, as the OP stated further upthread!

What do people think about jobs? I work in a B and B so obviously it’s tourism based. Ideally I didn’t want to go back to teaching until next September when DS starts school, but are education based jobs going to be more stable than tourism? I’m guessing yes?

Great idea to sort the shed anonymum. Maybe you can adjust the bills so your DP pays a larger proportion of them, as food is going to cost you more over the next few months. Once you have a plan you can budget and see how much more it's likely to cost per week.

Sympathy to everyone dealing with the gluten-free issue. I buy some gluten-free products myself to reduce wheat in my diet - it's a lot more expensive and often there's only one brand I really like. E.g. I love Waitrose own brand gluten-free pasta but can't bear Dove's Farm.

Today I went to fill my 14 month old’s cup from the tap and realised the water was off... it was lovely to just crack open one of my prepped bottles of spring water with no panic or even worry. Turns out it’s a burst water main and the water board are giving away bottled water in a nearby village but they’ve already run out. Happy that water was one of the first things I started stockpiling!

Nice one magpie! At least brexit was good for something eh?