Hell is ever closer-how's your stash looking?

[SistemaAddict]

My brexit cupboard shelves have been depleted due to using up the things that were going out of date like long life milk and juice. We also seem to have raided the baked beans
After today's announcement of buffoon johnson (isn't Johnson an American term for penis?) being our new PM and his threat of brexit on Halloween come hell or high water I figured I should assess my supplies. I still have my original lists somewhere so need to check everything.
Anyone else extra worried now and assessing their supplies?

Oh, but here's my baking chocolate / chocolate chip stash!

My bank account is sadly near empty too until next week. There's nothing I need though until then so it's ok. I haven't got any treats in (goddamn those kitkats and their siren call) so will start collecting those for Christmas as of next week which is what I normally do anyway. We have one of those advent calendars you fill yourself so I buy bags of chocolates and chocolate coins to put in it. I have to remember w wry night before I go to bed as otherwise small one would eat the lot by December 2nd! I do of course still ha e my tin of Quality Street and 3 boxes of after 8 mints We don't buy that much extra at Christmas anyway but quality street is a tradition since I was tiny. I love the smell when the tin is opened. Knock off Baileys from Asda is my main treat. £3 something a bottle. I'll start getting one here and there with a shop. Otherwise we don't eat meat or fish and I don't drink much at all apart from the baileys so nothing much to get for Christmas really.

That's a mighty fine chocolate stash!
My get on with it comments were really directed towards anyone reading this who is unsure about stockpiling, not regulars on the thread nowordforfluffy

I saw the big quality street tubs today. Sadly they would not make it to Christmas in my house. Willpower is in very short supply

Ooh. We get the Aldi blag Bailey's. It's lush! I'll get a few next month!

I've already got the kids' advent calendars (which we decant into a material calendar made by my DM). I just need to get their dairy free coins and some other thing for stockings (it was a Santa 'chocolate' lolly from Tesco).

I'm hoping anything we order from Booths in early Oct will already exist relatively locally when I order it, so the cheese etc will still make it here!

Ah, that makes sense, Socks!

I've made sure I've enough stuff in to make plenty of Christmas treats if all else goes tits up! 😂🎅🏻🎄

I might add extra to my usual Christmas chocolate in case of supply issues and a brexit induced Yuletide depression. Chocolate will keep our spirits up.

My back is knackered. Just done another 45 minutes walk across town to get Ds to school in practise for the start of term.

Ex drove us back so got him to carry the holiday surplus up the stairs. I need to start unpacking it and stashing it.

I need to get a large tub of peanut butter, loo rolls and cat food. We don’t have much storage space, but I feel better that I have some things stashed. If it’s not needed, then It will all be used up anyway at some point. My experience is that panic buying sets in even with a snow shower, so it’s as well to be a little prepared.
I am a fan of fiction written just before wwII where the wealthy families would fill their pantries with dry goods from fortnum and masons !

@bellinisurge My dehydrator is here. I'm going to try it out on my tomato glut tomorrow. Any tips please? What temperature is best?

We have loads of peanut butter. I buy 6kg at a time from Holland & Barrett when it's on offer!

Yes- we get the big whole earth tubs. Dd is vegetarian and eats lots of it.

Started unpacking shopping. Need to put it away now. I wrote a lovely list for one storage space then had to raid it for holiday. Thing is, can't remember what I liberated. Arse.

I've been on these threads under various name changes & have found them v helpful. I need to do a full stock inventory, I've got loads of tins but my treat & laundry & toiletry stash has been used up. I need to restock all of these items including diy & sundry items like light bulbs etc.

I'm planning to do a few car boot sales to get rid of old toys & clutter in the next month. Any money I make from selling old junk will be put towards my brexit shopping. I'm completely skint atm so need to find ways of generating extra cash & people are looking for early Christmas bargains.

It might be wise to stock up on Christmas early particularly long life dinner items like sauces, stuffing etc. Prices will definitely go up so whatever you can get early will help spread the load.

@HunkyDory69 - no defrosting stage needed. They dehydrate as they defrost. Obviously loads of water in them which makes for a longer dehydration process. I only do veg this way, not anything meaty.

@OhYouBadBadKitten - hurray! I shall consult my Dehydrating for Idiots book (that is it's actual name) and get back to you.
The machine I have is all in Celsius and my mostly US resources are in Fahrenheit. I took a sharpie to my temperature dial and scribbled Fahrenheit figures above the Celsius ones. I'm old and was taught imperial and metric as well as Celsius and Fahrenheit so I am rubbish at both

I can do the maths using the formula for conversion, both ways! (9/5C + 32 = F.)

In my head, I should've said!

Mental arithmetic is my thing. 😁

Brilliant, thank you Bellini!

@OhYouBadBadKitten my "The Complete Idiot's Guide to .....Dehydrating Foods" (by Jeannette Hurt Published by Alpha which is part of Penguin USA) that I got second hand off Amazon says - more or less:
Remove the tomato cores, quarter if standard salad toms, slice to 1/4 inch pieces if plum toms or half if cherry toms. Soak for 5-10 mins In a bowl of water that has a quarter tsp of citric acid dissolved in it. Citric acid looks like granulated sugar and is also easy to get off Amazon.
Take out and pat them dry.
Set dehydrator for 125 F (which is about 51 C) and arrange the tomato pieces face up (this helps the tomato-y goodness stay in) on the trays, leaving space between them. Takes between 5 and 10 hours according to the Idiot's Guide. I basically leave them until they look shrunken and brittle. I store mine in a sterilised jar with a oxygen absorber sachet (also Amazon) in it. I attach a photo of some I did last year. I think plum tomatoes or cherry tomatoes are supposed to be best. These have "mini plum" marked on them so I think I went for a Tesco "marked down but still look good" special.
Very intense flavour.

I have heard of storing them in a jar of olive oil but they need to be kept refrigerated once opened and don't last as long.

I think you can go a bit higher in temp - say to about 150 F. But low and slow works well if you can wait.

Johnson's apparently planning to suspend Parliament (as predicted by many). Keep prepping, basically.