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My brexit cupboard shelves have been depleted due to using up the things that were going out of date like long life milk and juice.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?

@EveLevine, can you use Laxido? I've loads I was prescribed when on codeine, but have no need for it now. I can post it to you if you want it. (It's orange flavour. Allegedly!)

@NoWordForFluffy , like @ListeningQuietly , I have a Panasonic SD-2500. It's brilliant.

Our stash is looking ok (apart from loo paper but I guess the observer will do, at a push).

We have two freezers full of veg and meals. We have two allotments so fresh veg and soft fruit is ok, for the time being.

We have very few meat products, and we don't keep chickens or other animals. So I reckon we will become fully fledged vegans.

Goodness knows how our dog will manage, though she does eat veg with gusto.

And I have a stash of medications. Now, if we could just sort out how to generate electricity, we would be sorted.

Despite doing our best to survive this shit show, like everyone else, we are up shit creek sans paddle. Ah well, if we get what we deserve in this life, we'must all have been having a fucking good time. Pity I missed it

Thanks, I'll need a Brexit size stash of tea just to read those threads! Or maybe I'll just stash wine. In al
Seriousness I thought it was the case of just picking up the odd tin of beans with my weekly shop just in case but seems more complex than that. I'll have a read of the original threads.

@NoWordForFluffy thank you for the offer, so kind of you, especially considering I’m new to this board!

But unfortunately DS won’t take any medication if he can taste it, so we add plain movicol to fruit shoots, we can manage 2 sachets per bottle without him noticing.

Thankfully, his prescription from hospital says up to 6 per day as required, so gp is really good about giving us 180 per month - we rarely use that many, so I should be able to build up a stash, I have around 2 months extra so far at normal dosage.

My concern is potential shortages of fresh fruit (he only eats grapes and strawberries but eats lots every day) will mean that we have to up his dose.

I’m aiming to have 3 months supply at max dose, not there yet but hoping to get there by October.

Eve would frozen strawberries work?

Evelevine
While fruit is cheap over the summer
or free actually if you are up for blackberrying along hedgerows

make "Granita" - mashed fruit and sugar syrup then frozen
its like poor mans' sorbet but utterly lush and sky high in vitamin C

also look out for wild damson and plum trees at the moment
its a HUGE crop year for top fruit
pick all you can (anything you can reach from the public highway is legally yours) and preserve

whole fruit frozen and turned into 'summer pudding' later in the year is great

put the word out that you'll take spare fruit, preserve and return 10% to the tree owner
you'll have unlimited free fruit till November

@marshmallowkittycat that's how I started-with extra bits and bobs but I don't think I started until February so I didn't have long to get a good supply of things. I've now depleted some of my stash so am starting again. So far I've bought an extra tube of toothpaste and shampoo and conditioner and some detox spray. When I next go shopping I'll grab some beans and something else. It didn't take me long at all to get a good stash and it probably cost me £100 spread over 6 weeks. I have plastic storage boxes with lids under dds bed, chocolate in my bed drawer, and utilised the old bookcase in the cupboard under the stairs for tins and household goods. I also store toilet paper in there. I was surprised how quickly and easily I did things. If you work on one in the cupboard and one in the stash that's quite helpful.

@Bercows is right @marshmallowkittycat . It's all about what you can afford, what space you have and what suits you. Just think of it as a buffer to keep you away from the shops of things get bumpy and/or a bit of insulation if tbe things you need and use on a regular basis become pricey. No one can turn their home into a mini-Tesco (or whoever); no one can predict everything. But just making your pantry a bit more resilient bit by bit (as and when you can afford it and have space for it) is a good idea.
I use the word "pantry" but it doesn't have to be an actual pantry

We used most of it up.

We're moving in a next couple of weeks, so that's just as well. New place much smaller, so will have to re think what's needed. Will definitely have to stock up on dog food and meds.

@ListeningQuietly is right about fruit. We are coming into the time when there should be an abundance of good quality fresh fruit and veg at good prices in tbe shops.
Look at ways of long term storage. Jam -if you know how- or that fab recipe for granita (which I will steal ) is good. Freezing generally also.
For veg - chop up, blanch (put in a rolling boil of water for a couple of mins, then drain and put asap into chilled water. Drain again, pat dry and freeze.
I'm a general prepper so I do other food storage stuff but they aren't an essential.

I don’t know if this helps anyone but I’ve been thinking up recipes for “buddha” style veggie bowls but using tinned and frozen goods - thought it would be a good way to get a bit of variety from the tins and make it feel
Fresher if that makes any sense! Happy to share if anyone’s interested. Also road tested some other recipes using just tin and frozen stuff as the thing I find hardest is visualising what I’d actually do with the stuff!

How long do you keep meat in your freezer?
And does anyone freeze cheese?

I’m thinking of getting an extra freezer in the spare room but then I think what happens if we get problems with power supply :-/
Sorry for the double post, posted too soon!

Bella
Modern freezers are amazing
I had to buy a new one this year
I lost less than 25% of my stash as even without power for two days it kept stuff cold
If you are REALLY worried, get a solar power / battery arrangement as backup

TBH I do not blanch my veg lazy mare so it goes grey but still tastes fab

Oh that’s interesting listening thanks! May well invest, my freezer seems to get full so quickly!

We don't blanch everything, just some stuff.

It's bloody time consuming enough tending the allotment without then spending hours sorting the produce as well! 😂

I have discovered I'm bean-blind. Both runner and dwarf beans are apparently super-stealthy and can hide from me. Even 12 inch beans! 🙈🙈

@Wolfcubisthefemalenominal and @ListeningQuietly thanks for ideas, but unfortunately DS has huge sensory issues :(

We tried frozen strawberries in March, but they were too "wet", and he won't drink smoothies because of the bits.

I have got my NT DS eating tinned fruit, so I'm going to stock up on that for him, but I'm a bit stuck for ASD DS and DD.

So far, on my list I have raisins to replace grapes, frozen sweetcorn (with a few tins for backup), orange juice ice lollies, baked beans and spaghetti hoops. I've also bought some gummy type vitamins.

Does jam count? I usually buy the smooth bitless jam, but DM would happily make some for me, but how difficult would it be to get the bits out?

I have a book reserved at the library called 10 a day, I"m hoping it will give me some other ideas.

You can make jelly which is the jam without seeds. I remember s muslin and strains fruit through it.

I don't particularly have a stash though cupboards are full. It never occurred to me to stockpile food and don't know anyone who has, only heard of it on Mumsnet.

Then this thread probably isn't for you, @Rachelover40. But thank you for your insight.

Freezing cheese: I tried this in January. Creamy cheese such as Brie, Camembert and cambazola freeze perfectly. Shredded Mozzarella is fine (obvs) but cheddar and Wensleydale went all crumbly.

We froze some cheese, but then bought a stack of cheddar with long dates on which would've hopefully got us past bumps in supply, given it's a UK produce.

Start freezing your butter!! It’s gone up from £1.80 to £1.85 in Tesco and I’m sure that it will go up more .

I would edit and repost my Brexit Bingo and Dictionary, but I CBA because the drive-by empty-slogan spritzers never come back after farting their wisdom.

rhubarb how long can it be frozen for? Same question for cheese!