Prepping for Pandemic... 14

[FuckThisWind]

OK folks, we have been prepping for a Pandemic for 13 threads now. And a Pandemic we now have.

I think we all know this has gone beyond prepping now. And most of us agree that the UK Government has not really stepped up to the mark. We have had shared advice here from our Italian residents and those in other countries who have taken much more stringent measures.

So this thread continues to be about us being prepared. But it is more than that. It is about support, sharing of information and advice. It is now a community. A community who acknowledged a long time ago that this was always 'Not Just The Flu'

I thank you one and all for being here. We have tough times ahead. But we are all still here. Please share, rant, whatever. The great thing about these threads is that they have always been supportive and non judgemental. I like to think it's a safe space for all of us who are concerned. And trying to do our best. For ourselves. For our loved ones. And for our community and beyond.

Same in my area, @Justmum89. I've just had my usual weekly Iceland delivery and there was no milk delivered and no bread.

www.facebook.com/groups/3161336880542949/

please join if you think you can help or need help. primarily based for London at the moment.

Volunteers needed to mind children of healthcare workers and support staff when schools inevitably close.

Soon schools will close for a few weeks due to Covid-19 and healthcare workers and support staff with children may struggle with childcare. Anyone DBS checked with free time. Teachers or other school staff not in work could help out by volunteering their time in their area to care for young children who aren’t in school and remove the cost of private healthcare during this unforeseen time.

I’m a very long term prepper. I’m one of the people who originally asked for this forum to be set up on Mumsnet. IMO things are about to get much worse in terms of limiting our movement, quite quickly. Life will be disrupted significantly, likely for months. We now need to think carefully about the medium to long term.

I’m the same I’ll buy pasta and anything every week anyway regardless of when we need it. Same with tinned stuff. Not a full on prepper but always enough for a week without a shop. It stems from times of being either too skint to shop or not well enough.

Does anyone know how to store potatoes so they will last please? When I was a kid my Mum used to buy them in sacks and they lasted for ages but the ones I buy start sprouting within a week.

Anyone having issues with explaining social distancing (to other relatives) ? Also wondered if people wanted to share their activities they've been doing with kids for inspiration?

@pasanda Did BJ say how long schools will close for? Also, Oz has brilliant health care, so don't panic there.

Re potatoes - keep in a dark sack. Ideally still with mud on.

I kind of want the ‘lockdown’ to happen right now if it is! I’m fairly stocked up and have some fresh stuff. If it’s not for a few more weeks I’ll need to keep going out to get more stuff to replenish as we eat it.

My kids are 8-13 so could probably spend the whole of lockdown on video games and YouTube!!
We do have plenty of board and card games, lots of books, craft stuff, tonnes of Lego, etc.
They can go in garden and bounce on trampoline to burn off some energy.
I’m also assuming lockdown won’t be ‘not allowed to leave your house ever’ so as we alive in a small village I’m hoping we can go for short walks in the woods too.
I’ve a got a crazily stocked baking cupboard (like to make birthday cakes etc) so have tones of icing cutters and shakers and sprinkles and stuff so we can do some baking and cooking.

My plan for this weekend -
Stay in
Sow seeds
Finish bedroom decor
Budget
Order seeds and compost
Plan planter (aim to build this out of existing wood we have)

@applesandpears33 I keep potatoes in the fridge. Usually. My fridge is full atm. Now I’ve put them in a bag (not clear) in the hall where it’s cool and dark. They won’t last long in bright warm conditions. Happy for advice to extend them further though.

I live in a European country which has now closed schools, certain shops, cinemas, museums, theatres, restricted hours of bars etc.

From our experience it is seems that most people started stocking up only once a decision on schools was made.

If you are in the UK you still have time to prep before things ramp up to the next level.

Much better to work out a meal plan, see what you have and start filling the gaps then blindly buying sacks and sacks or rice and beans. Variety of food is important too.

I joined these threads several weeks ago (name changed a couple of times) and the advice and solidarity and Tips has been excellent.

I was always a prepper as we are a 20 minute drive to the nearest shop. But thanks to this thread I was able to take it up a level when it became clear more than a month ago where we were heading.

I have learnt a lot and these threads really got me thinking about preserving food and we are now more mindful of freezing veg and herbs and having more protein in the freezer.

@JaneBond0007 much younger kids, toddler and preschooler. Am certain will loose my mind but trying to frame positively that we'll never spend this much time together again whilst they are so little.

@WrapTrap

What I used to do with mine when they were younger during the summer holidays when usual toddler groups etc shut down was pick a theme for the week and so for example for farm week I would set up the happy land farm on the floor, we would watch farm themed programmes and dig out farm themed books. Print out farm pictures to colour, make cotton wool sheep etc, we would also go to a local farm attraction and the farm shop to pick some veg to try but obviously those sorts of things are out!
You could just do theme days, stuff like space, or transport or fairies or doctors/vets etc. Doesn’t have to be every day but helps to concentrate your activities and as they are doing different things they won’t get as bored

Also do a trawl of supermarkets/pound ship/charity shops if possible to find small cheap stuff you can pull out in fractious moments- stuff they haven’t seen before will distract them.

Maybe splash out on a couple of kids magazines?? I loathe to buy them as they come with plastic tat but it’s tat kids love and the magazine has puzzles and pictures etc to do.

Also orchard games are good for younger kids.

@butterflylove81 I would say at this stage buy your regular shop but make sure 1/4 of it is long Life stuff. Do that each week you will be fine even if lockdown was to happen shops will still be open.
If you want buy a lot of stuff I suggest buying a little from many different supermarkets.

@JaneBond0007 yes they are great although some of them are fairly similar. A favourite here is Cheeky monkeys. If your kids are very small giraffes in scarves has a rice with coloured spots rather than numbers.

Dice* @JaneBond0007 is there a game in particular you are looking at?.pretty sure we have the majority of them.

Grated cheese can be frozen can’t it? Does it then work ok in sandwiches or do you need to cook with it? I’ve bought a lot of cheese as we are veggie and lentils and beans were almost all out of stock!

I’ve done a decent amount of prepping except for back up baby formula (should I be too ill or taken to hospital and so unable to bf) and long life milk. I massively miscalculated how much powdered milk would make up.

I'm looking to buy small extra freezer and now they are all selling out, there's nothing available close to me...

It has to be small we are small Victorian terrace

Ex has had to bring everything home from work. They are all WFH next week. I think he is a little perturbed by that.

DD has come home with her french text book in case schools close. May the French teacher knows more than is letting on or is just a prepper.

The kids have gone away. Maybe the last time. I better get on and enjoy it.

Sorry if it has offended anyone but I wanted to make clear to all the lurkers out there that us preppers are not stockpilers. This was mainly done as a caution because of the past experience of new posters ridiculing us in this thread. I hope everyone agrees to what I intend to convey with this.

Sent dh to the garden centre today ..making sure I have all the things for growing veg in pots. Last year I was successful growing some tomatoes, mint, aloe, chilli peppers and fuschias, couple of lovely David Austen roses. Dh has bought this plant food granules today. Does anyone know are these salad and vegetable plant food granules are safe? I haven’t used them at all and usually add more compost and top soil once when they start to flower and twice on the fruit growth phase so they get their nutrients well. Has anyone tried this or are the chemicals in it is bad for health? Also what tips to prevent the slugs here getting inside the pots .. all the gardens here are overrun by slugs I believe - I don’t like to pick them up nor do I want to kill them. I have this copper slug tape but they just walk over it like it’s nothing.. can someone help?

@Whatthefoxgoingon - I completely agree.

I am anticipating household only (following their description for quarantine) lockdown to go on for 4-6 months, with some access to supermarkets & pharmacies as in Italy.

This brings up all sorts of trivial queries like - should I try and shop for dc summer clothes now? Would I be better to try and buy a huge pile of books (dc loves reading), or encourage them to use the kindle (which they hate?)

Even daft things like how will I get my mum's birthday present to her (assuming she's still with us by July )?

I honestly think mid - to longer term planning is needed now, just as people are doing with their veg growing.

I also hope I'm wrong.

Spray absolutely!. I've lightly dipped into brexit prep threads and always had one eye on buying little extras where I can. Yesterday people were clearing soups around me and I took 4 of a flavour I've not had before.

Same with other bits and pieces.

And becsuse of this I will be concentrating on what I can buy for food banks this week.