Prepping for a Pandemic... 15

[FuckThisWind]

A lot of us have been here before. We Prepped for Brexit. Some of us are Heathcare workers. We prepare for the worst every day. It's difficult to predict what will happen in our lives. In our lifetime. Will we get Cancer? Will a huge meteorite wipe the world out?

One thing is for sure, this new virus is either affecting us, or is going to affect us all very soon. You are all already onboard. I hope you are prepared and much as you can be. And in the meantime this thread is here to support us all.

This week will bring many new challenges. We are almost certain to have some sort of lockdown. Like other parts of Europe. We aren't special. We aren't different. We are all
fragile souls. But I hope we live to tell the tale.

God Speed.

Got sent this today for any fans of Lego...30 day build challenge ideas

Afternoon all. Again I'm posting before catching up. Had another morning off it all.

I'm feeling angry now re the over 70s plan. It's a load of shit. Government pretending to do something. They know damn well it would only protect a minority. So many holes in the plan, the most gaping being many in the more vulnerable groups don't live alone.

Most of the rest of the world is taking proper measures to protect ALL their population, which is really the only way.

It's also a sneaky way of continuing the othering, the false reassurance that "it's only the elderly and ill". Too many people only care if they think it will directly affect them or their families. They won't bother taking precautions.

I was at my Tesco at 10.05 and it was madness, not horrible pushing and shoving, everyone was being polite and kind but it was heaving! 20+ people queuing for self service checkouts, every aisle super packed. Just bonkers.
I thought it would be really quiet. Guess everyone else had the same idea

Has anyone got a good recipe for dishwasher powder? I have let my bulk box run stupidly low. It’s not vital as the washing up liquid could fill a bath. (I buy massive refill 5L eco bottles).

www.gov.je/News/2020/Pages/index.aspx?Department=28

I have posted above the advice being given to islanders (Jersey).

Over 65s are being asked to limit unnecessary contact with people outside of their homes unless it is absolutely essential (unless they want to keep on working, it seems).

If you can leave your shopping until afrer school drop off then do so. It's not as horrifically busy like the weekend although this may change now that I've put it out on the Internet! I just buy a carrier bag of stuff daily so as not to draw attention to myself. It's mainly replacing things from my brexit stash so not crazy stockpile shopping.

@Notstrongandstable that’s a good idea / Lego. Charts. Thank you :)

For Handwash try your local garden centres and National Trust shops for hand & liquid soaps. They will be a bit more expensive and won't be anti bacterial but liquid soap is better than nothing.

I'm hearing rumours originating from an SLT that the aim is to close schools at Easter. Too late IMO.

That covid schedule on the imagination tree has bike rides and daily walks. If you are self isolating you cannot do that!

Figures for Wales
Public Health Wales has confirmed 34 new cases of Covid-19 in Wales, bringing the total number confirmed in the country to 94. t.co/w3ca5I6ef2

Is there a Cobra meeting today? Can't find any details of time etc

Many of us will already be in pre-stash mode, which means shorter shopping trips at weird times with less to buy. We'll just be getting stuff for the next couple of days and won't be after items like toilet rolls, hand washes etc. The stash is the stash, apart from things that'll go out of date, you don't touch the stash till you need to. You don't start defrosting stuff.
For as long as you can buy fresh, buy fresh but only for a couple of days at a time. If you have a stash, leave the frozen/tinned for those who don't have a stash.
And long term preppers - it's only when we 'twitch' that we add to problems. Let's have the courage of our convictions.

Does anybody know how the restrictions in Tescos work right now? Is it a total of 5 emergency items or 5 of each? I dont need 5 of each because I prepped in advance but I probably need about 7 in total.

Also does anybody know what time scan as you shop starts in 24 hour tescos? Would rather not have a cashier handling all my items after handling cash.

Free pattern on ravelery for fellow crochet affectionardos

We've just popped to the green-grocers...It's a stall outside a local garden centre. They have said that they have been busier than Christmas but they had pretty much cleared their stock out by 1pm.

@NotDisclosedToday my DH is just back from Tesco it's
Any 5 fruit tins
Any 5 veg tins
Any 5 meat tins
3 jars of hotdogs

@ChilliMayo thank you, and very well put.

I just popped out for bread and eggs and wondered down the pillaged tin aisle in my local express size store and kept my hands off!

I will keep this in mind, I have prepared, I know how to preserve and I don’t want to be part of the problem.

Dh is off work next week and I’ve got him focussed on mapping out veg growing in our raised beds, so that’s him out from under my feet with a project.

@ChilliMayo this is exactly where I am, have only bought fresh stuff for the last three weeks. Trying to keep fruit and veg topped up and rotated so that we have fresh veg for as long as possible.

I'm lucky in that I have local shops in walking distance, so haven"t had to go near a supermarket. DH went to Iceland the other day to buy some bacon as he wanted to do a fry up, and said it was really hard to resist the temptation to buy more than we needed because he could see stripped shelves eveywhere. Human nature I think. Thankfully he did resist!

@Whatthefoxgoingon are they having another one today?

Not sure. Just reading it on this thread.

What I'd like to hear is that special arrangements have been put into place to keep the food banks running. Have I missed an announcement (please)?
Our food bank donations was nearly empty this morning. I put a tenner's worth of fortified breakfast cereals in, the multipacks so they could be divided up (there were plenty on the shelves). A real dearth of tinned stuff though.
As the airlines say, I've put my oxygen mask on, now I'm worried about others. Heck, I even messaged the next door neighbour who I haven't spoken to in six years since a row over a fence to make sure she was ok and had my phone number if needed.

@ChilliMayo

Definitely agree, we're only buying fresh fruit and vegetables at the moment. I've got onion and potato bags for storage which will mean less trips out.

I blanched and froze some veg last week and will do the same with what I've bought today.

@Wheresmymojo - when we started we did 5 mins walk, 1 run. Everything helps! I need to reduce the Diet Coke too - I drink that in place of coffee (low car diet). Not a good habit.

@colouringinpro - I said to DH yesterday about not cycling for fear of injury. Today he's sliced his foot open feeding the fish in the garden with no shoes on. Deep enough to need stitches. Sigh. Made him soak it and then rinsed in my precious 70% alcohol. Luckily I bought some antibiotic cream a few weeks ago so I smeared him in that. Not taking any chances. He whinged big time at the alcohol rinse but I told him to STFU since he only had himself to blame!

@Waitasecond - that's hard. Do you think your DF has the capacity to understand the consequences of his decision? If so, I would explain to him that you can't see him if you decide to self isolate.

@Notstrongandstable - we will do that! Thank goodness we brought some Lego here (most in storage)

@MagisCapulus - we can still walk around. Bike rides aren't forbidden - people are still doing it - but I think they shouldn't, it's more of an injury risk than walking.

Matt Hancock in the news today saying he’s confident the food supply will be stable. He totally doesn’t understand that even if the supermarket shelves are full, nobody wants to risk their lives by going there.

@ChilliMayo that's a good point actually. It's been a week or so since I did a donation so I will do one tomorrow (depending on how much I can get hold of)