2019 Brexit Preps

[OVAgroundWOMBlingfree]

I thought it would be useful to have a thread as we head into the new year where we can discuss our Brexit preps.

Today I picked up all gift wrap and cards I will need for next Christmas which I would normally do anyway but I added some neutral gift wrap which could be used for birthdays. I also stashed a few toys in the sale which can be used for birthdays. The thought of the DC going without birthday presents is too sad.

I’ve also just stashed some lightbulbs, candles, lights and matches.

Going into 2019 I’m focusing on:
Solar chargers
Camping gas
Protein
Medicines
Box hair dye
Skincare
Loo roll and tissues + hankies
Cleaning products
Home brew kits
Books on self reliance

cheapest halloumi is generally to be found in aldi/lidl.

For those worried about cheese I had an interesting conversation for someone who works for one of the large manufacturers. Their cheese is stored for months to get the different grades of maturity. He said they have a good few months worth stored in warehouses maturing and would simply start to circulate it earlier than planned. So more mild cheddar would be available and far less mature cheddar. He also said though that prices would have to increase fairly significantly to keep margins stable particularly since the mature cheddar would then take longer to generate even once any issues were resolved.

Tinned rhubarb is worth padding out with a past its best eating apple to make a decent crumble.

I've bought a few packs of chocolate cake/brownie mix where you just add water and an egg so that treats are available. Cheaper than crumble (for us - we have chickens providing eggs) given that butter is so expensive.

I have cake mixes stored too. I’ve also made up crumble mix and frozen it. I have frozen a lot of butter too.

Really interesting re cheese too btw!

I use granola and/or oats as a “crumble” (with a tiny bit of fruit juice or maple syrup to bind it). It tastes nice and everyone who has tried it seems to like it. I also make it with tinned fruit so in the event of an apocalypse it will be business as usual in our house

Thanks OVA and others, this is all really helpful. I think I'll also freeze some crumble toppings and butter. I've booked a big delivery for the weekend. I think most of it should still come at this point in time. Adding cake mixes and all sorts of other things to it as well. Bellini, your help is much appreciated too.

For those with an easiyo there are some decent clearance offers atm. I've just bought 24 packs of greek yoghurt powder (which would make 24kg of yoghurt) for £24.99. It's short dated but will keep without any issues for a good while past its BBE date. Literally just add water so its a really good prep item.

For any NHS workers they also do an NHS discount.

Has anyone had any luck getting extra medication from their GP? I've checked my supply and I have enough to last me until the end of March! 😱 I know great timing! I'm not able to stockpile them as my GP is very strict on giving the exact amount.. I remember losing some on holiday a while ago and being told it was basically tough shite and I had to wait until my next prescription was due.. it wasn't until I kicked up a fuss that I was able to get my prescription early.

So my plan is - this month, to say I'm going travelling for 6 months (maybe a year) and see if I can get a 6month - 12 month supply early.. Has anyone tried this and did it work? I'm really worried they'll just say no. Then again I've had a look and can buy it online But it's very expensive and I won't be able to do that long term.

DH is on essential meds for life. The online repeat prescription system lets him order one week in advance and seems to then reset and so he's managed to build up a month's stash so far.

Is be surprised if they let you have 6 months at once: and if you are supposed to be “traveling” what will you do if you need a GP in that time?

Sadly there are already problems with medication shortages because they are being stockpiled by hospitals and CCGs etc which means lots of people are already suffering without people unnecessarily purposely stockpiling many months worth: although an extra month in advance isn’t a bad thing, it’s when it goes to excess levels that has a negative impact on the supply chain as a whole.

My son and father are both on essential medication and both are already being affected by supply issues, but as medication will be a priority when it comes to Brexit we have to hope that end users aren’t negatively affected.

Aquafaba is the chickpea water :-) There are whole FB groups devoted to using it.

Other vegan egg subs involve using flaxseed or chia seeds in water or applesauce but these are all for baking purposes. It's worth looking at a few vegan hacks as they tend to be things that store well. Most of my giant store of nuts / seeds / pulses is from when I was considering going vegan. The halloumi proved too much temptation!

Another one is nutritional yeast which is fortified with B12 and gives a vaguely cheesy taste. You can make a vegan parmesan alternative by grinding cashew nuts, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, salt and pepper. It's surprisingly convincing on a Bolognese!

Thank you @HalloumiGus . The name for chick pea water was bugging me!
I have a vegan cookbook- not a vegan- but there's some great tips in it.

I have nutritional yeast for just that reason!

I can't believe it's come to this :( dh is now fully onboard with me prepping.

Worth noting that contraception and hrt can be bought online from places like boots and superdrug. If anyone is buying online, please be really careful to buy from properly certified places and don't go OTT in how much we stock up, else we are just going to make things worse for everyone else.

The easiyo looks like a really good hint. Normally we use uht milk and yogurt from the previous batch.

Breadwise you can freeze flour if you have space. And don't forget that you can make a sourdough starter in place of yeast. I think I might have a play with that.

Hi Kitten :-) I'm a fan from the old weather threads - I name change all the time though. How do you make the sourdough starter? I might freeze the flour although that really does make me feel like we are entering shit hits the fan territory.

I was talking to a relative who lives in Ireland today and people there are totally bemused by the whole thing. They think we are mad basically pressing on with Brexit and when I mentioned stockpiling a bit of food they just said how has it come to this?

Im also going to try the sourdough starter again. I had one going last year all looking very healthy but the bread didn't work at all.

www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-your-own-sourdough-starter-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-47337

I made starter using this method but then got distracted with other stuff and gave up going further. It was cool though.

There's also the breadtopia website which a poster on here kindly pointed me to.

Hi Halloumi :) Your relatives are right. What sort of insanity is this?

This is as good as any instruction I think.
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/may/10/hugh-fearnley-whittingstall-recipes-sourdough

Bellinis instructions are better :)

Once you get a stable batch going it's super easy. If it doesn't work it's only a bit of flour wasted, which is probably ok at this point in proceedings.

Most of the bread maker recipes seem to use yeast as well as the sourdough starter. I have found one which doesn't.

blog.rachelcotterill.com/2014/04/making-sourdough-in-bread-machine.html

Absolutely loving all of the bread chat.

I’ve just defrosted our main freezer in order to get it better organised. Finally thrown out the top layer of our wedding cake after 15 years!