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Preppers

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Original poster

Did your prepping benefit you in the recent snow?

17 replies

Tidy2018 · 04/02/2019 06:59

Recent newbie here on the prepping. I used the five days of being stuck in the house as a test of my prepping. I now have a list of items to stock up on. Some things were completely unexpected, like the amount of milk and cereal because of no drive-through shakes and coffees and cookies. Other things I was pleasantly surprised that family accepted substitutilns with no fuss.

A less welcome surprise was the boredom, isolation and general rattiness, as the snow coincided with fluey symptoms. That's given me something to think about.

Anyone else like to share how they got on?

OP posts:

bellinisurge · 04/02/2019 08:41

Very interested to hear. We had a spell of ill health in the house and it was good to be able to crack open a couple of bits from our stash instead of worrying about that.

InfiniteSheldon · 04/02/2019 08:47

I have a stash busting week every now and again it helps to see where you are short and what you'd actually rather not bother with. It amazes me that we can live so healthily and cheaply and curves my food bill for weeks after even with replacing the stash. We now have much more toilet paper and flannels/cloths than I ever thought we'd need.

Dodie66 · 04/02/2019 09:27

Yes I used up milk and some of the meat etc in the freezer. Helps to know what we might need to stock up on

Dyrne · 04/02/2019 09:45

Yep, I live in the SE so not exactly snowed in, but some of my roads weren’t gritted so I wasn’t keen to drive for a few days.

I walk to/from work anyway, so it was just the weekly shop I avoided. Managed to survive quite nicely on pasta and rice meals. Interesting to see yesterday when I popped to the local Co-Op to grab a few chocolate bars bits that they were completely out of semi-skimmed milk; and as I say it hasn’t even really been bad around here!

ElyElyOy · 04/02/2019 11:24

No snowed in problems but spent all of Thursday stuck in my car waiting for the AA in a carpark in very icy -3c conditions. I was very glad of the extra clothes, blankets and snacks I keep in the car boot. Especially grateful for the flask of coffee and book I take with me everyday in the winter too!

NurseryFightClub · 04/02/2019 18:01

Had to walk to shop for milk, but other wise stock pile saw us through nicely.

NurseryFightClub · 04/02/2019 18:02

Mainland uk should be ok to get milk, excepting a fuel shortage. It's NI I feel for

bellinisurge · 04/02/2019 18:35

The thing about milk is I'd hate to have to go to a supermarket if it was kicking off just to get milk.
I get mine delivered because I happen to like that (not for any prepping reason- I just love the sound; it reminds me of my 70s childhood). However, if I couldn't make it for whatever (hopefully short term) reason, I'd rather not go without.

PestymcPestFace · 05/02/2019 10:28

Yesterday our shop was almost out of milk. About two dozen bottles left.

Locally we got some of the worst weather. We had about 6 inches of snow on Friday, outlandish ice on Saturday and Sunday and then localised flood on Monday due to melt water. Main roads were passable by Saturday lunchtime.

In the scale of things only a small glitch but the effects were still felt. The main dairy (a big one) out of town was cut off for about 12 hours.

JurassicGirl · 05/02/2019 16:19

Yes it gave me peace of mind that we didn't NEED to go out for basics like pet food, bread, milk etc.

I'm actually going to use some of our stash for our holiday (UK - Self Catering) this year. I hate having to do a big shop so will take 3 days of basic food. We'll buy most fruit & veg fresh when we get there but tinned carrots & instant mash will definately be included for quick easy meals & we'll eat out twice - perfect.

Having a stash makes me feel much more in control & if that's all it does then I'm happy

Huggybear16 · 05/02/2019 20:19

Yes, it did. So much!

Me and my 2 year old were at home for 3 days.

I've been slowly getting him used to alpro soya long life milk by mixing it with his usual milk. On day 2 of the snow he was happily drinking it on it's own. I've still got 3 x 6 packs of it left and the expiry isn't until October.

I made a huge risotto using only items in the store cupboard - arborio rice, olive oil, garlic granules, onion granules, chicken stock cubes, tinned peas/sweet corn/carrots, chorizo. It was lovely and lasted a few meals.

I'm also glad I kept back a few toys and games and hid them away. When boredom set in I got the new stuff out and he was delighted.

reindeermania · 05/02/2019 20:51

A huge amount . I'm a very very recent recent prepper, like many, off the back of brexit and further thinking behind it. We were snowed in Thursday to Sunday and used 12 pints of milk 😱 and I've still got another 4 pints left in the freezer. Will be re stocking. I also went through copious flour and butter and eggs- because of the boredom, baking becomes a highlight of family fun . I enjoyed the fact that despite only having bananas in, the dc still had fruit from the tinned stash I have (admittedly in a peach cake)

What has been highlighted is dog food ! Never thought about it and almost ran out! (But then they had tinned tuna which I had loads of- the dogs were thrilled 😁)

bellinisurge · 05/02/2019 20:55

Nice one about the pets!

AlphaJuno · 06/02/2019 21:03

We only had one day of snow and there's a shop 5 mins walk up the road from us but with a 10mth old it was reassuring I didn't have to drag the pram out and last time it snowed our shop was decimated of bread and milk. I used some rice from my store when making a curry. I'm quite new to prepping, but did do a bit of forward purchasing when I was pregnant, so I wouldn't have to do so much with a newborn. It definitely helps to be more organised and saves time without last minute dashes to the shops to get essentials.

TwinkleTee · 08/02/2019 13:13

We are on the south coast so we didn't get much snow, but had both children quite ill for several days and DH was working away. Very glad for my stash to keep us going so I didn't have to drag feverish children up to the shops. The only thing I wasn't prepared for was that UHT milk tastes awful in tea Does powdered milk fare any better??

bellinisurge · 08/02/2019 13:16

Oatly Barista is ok in hot drinks.

BiddyPop · 11/02/2019 13:28

Snow a few years back definitely pointed to the need for entertainment in our household. Jigsaws, board games, a couple of decks of cards, and books. Because even if you DO still have power for all the electronics, they pall after a few days of no activities, no school and there's only so much playing in the snow that smaller DCs want to do.

(It also pointed to the need for well stocked alcohol cupboards, as all the adults would gather for hot wine around the BBQ outside some days, or in various houses for hot or cold alcoholic drinks in the afternoons/evenings as we all actually had the free time to spend with each other).

We didn't even get a flake this time. Probably just as well as I have loads of teabags, dried mango and some out of date muffin mixes - but not a huge amount of stuff like milk and some of my "regular" stocks are running low due to frantic lives just now. Like I know DH refilled the rice jar last week, but I don't think I have any spare packets left (I usually have a couple) and the same with pasta. I think I have flour, but we used most of the eggs making fish cakes. I know I have no frozen breadcrumbs left (the fish cakes were nice, admittedly!). And I have stupid stuff in the freezer that needs time and effort to prepare, but I don't have the time and don't want to waste it either...

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