Prepping for brexit

[Numberonecook]

Ive just started getting some bits together ready for brexit. As a food scientist I am very aware of how much produce comes into the country and the resources needed to get things around the country. Im also aware of the chain and how everything is ‘just in time’ And a delay in the chain could lead to serious shortages and price rises.

This really worries me as there is 5 of us to feed. So, what non food essentials do you think I should also consider? We are not prepping for huge disaster just 6 months or so. I’ve got things like toiletries, loo roll etc. Anything else?

No need to apologise @bellinisurge. I think ignoring is the way forward. They clearly don't actually want to hear the reasons behind your personal prepping, or believe it's necessary more generally. No point in engaging with determined antagonists.

I agree ignoring is the way forward. Only by not engaging will the antagonists go away, and the rest of us can go back to rationally prepping in any which way we deem appropriate for our particular circumstances.

Agreed, I am not normally drawn in, but being falsely accused of shite tends to rile me. However I will from now on not engage with them: I don’t need to defend myself against false accusations so I shan’t :)

@bellinisurge you have been great with clear consistent message... hence the if you can't stop the signal, up the noise approach. I have noticed I am turning back into behaviours and patterns from living in much more unstable places. However on a practical note as well as all the general good well stocked pantry, keep the car well.fuelled... decent strong led lanterns is good. If you get a series of dark evening's with no power, say from a storm, my experience was that sitting not being able to read or do anything gets boring fast as does going to bed at 6. When we had continual.power cuts I didn't have those lanterns so I would either use candelabras or pressure lantern so we could play cards and board games. You need enough light to do that comfortably.

I have some paraffin oil lamps (and oil and matches) in my garage. Last year we holidayed in a victorian workers cottage without power and they throw out a really good amount of light.

Not that I think we will have significant power problems here with Brexit (but short term issues could be a possibility at times.)

Oops sorry yes I wandered into general there. It's that whole thinking I'm in another country thing..... I wish my Dad was still alive - he could make a well functioning household in the middle of chaos using his trunk of tools, a whiff of fuel and vast amounts of inner tube repurposed for everything.

@falcon5 , my late Dad was like that too

Aaaanyway, moving on ....

Anyone got any suggestions on how to make up cheese sauce from a packet with no fresh milk? Oat milk? UHT? Thinking about what I'd miss and what the toddler would miss and cheesy pasta is HIgH in the list.

Uht would be fine. Or even watered down evaporated milk.

Cheap cheese pasta mixes might do in a pinch too (the dry ones that come with the pasta). I bought some ages ago for around 50p to £1 max and they still have lots of life left.

I use oat cream with a jarred tomato sauce (am capable of making my own but kids like it!) which works nicely for a pasta bake. I always like to have extra of it in anyway as it can sell out for a few weeks.

I finally managed to get some asda uht semi-skimmed. Will be fine for cheese sauces.

I'm going to do the milk/water stock shop later this week I think, having some cash flow issues which are slowing me down.
Am pleased with myself today though as I think I've got my definitive list and I've prioritised it on what to buy first.

Also I hope you guys don't mind me asking more questions.... my tins, jars and bottles feel are safe in my shed (double locked with boarded up windows so hopefully fairly burglar proof, at least equal to the house). But I've currently got flor, pasta, rice, instant mash etc in stackable plastic crates in the shed. I just read up thread that mice can eat through plastic... am I at risk of losing it all? Plastic bottles would be ok though I guess?

@londonloves I use UHT soya almond milk for cooking from Aldi, it’s usually got decent dates and cheap.

Mice can get through plastic bottles too: they can’t get through glass or tins. I work with a chap who has major mice problems so he now leaves a cheap box of cereal on the floor for them as a sacrifice (inside another box) and puts the rest of his food in plastic boxes on a shelf. Apparently since he has been doing this they have left the plastic box alone and he said it works out cheaper than mice traps or a cat

*Sorry, that should say soya OR almond!

I use glass jars or Mylar bags. But yes, I also "put things high up in plastic box things", in the vain hope it's too much like hard work for rodents. Bit naive. I doubt I can rely on the cat.

Yeah my cat is useless and can't get into the shed anyway. Hmmmm. The boxes are at worktop height. Don't really have anywhere in the house to store without opening myself up to criticism from family about going OTT but perhaps I don't care about that too much. Cleaning stuff etc could go in the shed perhaps .

Id be inclined to put cleaning products and tins into the shed and to keep things like flour and pasta in the shed. As well as rodents and bugs I'd be a bit concerned about damp if the containers are not completely airtight.

Just moved the dry stocks into the back of big kitchen cupboard after moving some other stuff. Glad I did as instant mash was going a bit damp already. Good advice all, thanks.
Slipped and nearly broke my neck on icy decking... maybe we should start a prepping-related injuries thread

Id be inclined to put cleaning products and tins into the shed and to keep things like flour and pasta in the shed.

Obviously I meant keep flour and pasta etc in the house but fortunately you understood my gibberish londonloves

Someone up thread was asking about camping stoves. One thing to think about is other means of cooking that you already have available to you.

Have you got a BBQ? Whether gas or charcoal - just make sure you have some fuel for it. (Ours comes out in the depths of winter for our "snowed in BBQ" on the green, and things cook fine on it just a bit slower due to the cold).

Do you have a wood burning stove that you can access the top of? (Not the kind stuck right back into a fireplace - the kind where it is out in the room). DMIL has one of these, and a large kettle on top of it all day long (very useful for washing up water, hot water bottle filling at night etc - and can be useful for tea when coming in from the cold outdoors). And she also often puts a pot with a stew on top to slowly cook, which makes lovely melty casseroles! Or even a tin of soup or stew or beans or something that needs heating through but no additions - could open the tin and put straight on the top. But be careful and use oven gloves as it will be hot when you take it off!!!

Do you have a wood burner of some sort in the garden? Can you cook food on that on skewers, tin foil packets on the embers, place a metal rack (eg. cleaned from the cooker grill) on the top and rest a pot/pan on that? Google things like backwoods cooking or cooking on camp or scouts cooking for ideas and even books in pdf format to download (or print off - even better if there are power cuts as you can just flick through then, when you actually NEED it).

Or stuff like "haybox cooking" - where you heat up food to boiling, and then insulate it well to allow it to slowly cook in its own heat - even if you don't have access to hay, you could fashion something using decent cookware (cast iron holds its heat well for this purpose) well insulated in a picnic bag/coolbag with towels closely packed around it to keep as much heat as possible in. (I know - normally coolbags are to keep things cold, but that's because you put the food/drinks in already cold and the insulation works against the heat outside on a sunny day - if you reverse the scenario, it works just as well!)

If it is a sunny day, you could even fashion a "solar cooker" of sorts with tin foil and cling film in a south facing window, although I've only ever used that to cook a marshmallow here.