Prepping amidst Pandemic - Thread 17

[Sprayitall]

Hi all, starting this thread to continue from preppers thread 16. Because we are amidst a pandemic now, I have changed the title to prepping amidst pandemic than “for pandemic”. I hope all of you keep well amidst this and get all the help, support and hope needed to cope during this challenging times. Feel free to add your thoughts, preps and ideas here.

ohyoubadkitten crisps are tricky aren't they as such a short date on them, essential though. We have bought them by the box recently as DC being off school and bored means we get through loads.

What are you going to get in when you have used up old stuff? We have just got a chest freezer so chucking hm stock, extra butter and cheese in there and adding to the frozen veg. not aiming for months and months worth, just enough in case we are isolating or don't fancy going to the shop.

Will get some meat boxes and do so batch cooking later in the year. I will actually find it easier to cook and meal plan in a winter lockdown although I know the rest of it will be grim, and that's even without no deal Brexit.

Iceland order coming tmrmw, mostly ice lollies so not very useful for long term but just thought best to sign up and do an order or two for if/when we really need to

It's a good question. When I'd stocked up for brexit I hadn't anticipated the issue of not being able to go out and choose my own stuff, if from a limited range.

I think non-seasonable veg. I drowned in cabbages, parsnips, potatoes and carrots in April. It's all we seemed to be able to get in veggie boxes. Also meat. We missed chicken from the farm shop and bacon.

Definitely chips!

Butter definitely. That got tricky.

I don't think I'm going to do much batch cooking this time. It takes up more space than the components. Some easy stuff in case we get ill.

I'm never buying tomato soup again though.

We don't really have space for a chest freezer.

I batch cook the fresh veg part but anything that gets added from a tin or packet will only get added once it has been defrosted as the start of meal preps.

I know what you mean. have had a few veg boxes but not worked out too well as not enough of what we (and the guinea pigs) eat and too much that we don't want. I love parsnips just not in a heat wave! I find salad boxes are better for us.

blackeyedsusan do you mean you sauté the base like onion, celery, pepper and freeze? I don't have enough spare baking dishes and trays to freeze many assembled dishes, just some small enamel ones for 1-2 portions which work well as freezer to oven vessels.

I am slinging in hm breadcrumbs and other scraps to add to meals and yes a bag or three of oven chips!

@WhereDoWeGo Very true. Putting little ones to test the waters isn’t nice at all. Not many of my friends are sending the kids tomorrow. Back home the schools are closed for the new school year that starts in June to cut the chain spread and all kids up until age 15 don’t even need to sit for any exams, they are automatically put a pass or a conditional pass based on their previous grades. This has relieved a lot of stress for parents and kids I should say. I’m still not convinced of the reason why primary kids should be sent to school now here.. if it’s to offer childcare so parents can go to work whom do they think will pick them up from school? The grandparents who should be shielded? I can understand the reason behind starting back the economy again but schools should be the last to open. Until then alternative childcare for the key workers can be continued so it atleast lessens their exposure to a number of people. Obviously all the parents and teachers out there are now put under this unnecessary pressure. For me if I had to choose I think my kids life is more important than her education now and the risk is too high to send her in. No body should be put in this difficult situation to decide this and I think people should be more kind towards each other now and not judge anyone for their decisions with this regard either. With both of us having underlying conditions and being overweight , we don’t want to risk it at all. But I’m sure if dh has to start going to work I might have to risk it.

@WhereDoWeGo very true .. everyone’s situation is different in RL right now and this has put many of them in a difficult situation. School wise there was a discussion in the local group of which few said they were sending the kids back and few were keeping them home. I’m keeping mine at home too. Prep wise I am back to my normal preps and spending more time in the Veg garden.. there is this little bird in my garden who picks all the peanuts from the birdseed tower and buries it near my pepper plants .. how do I even stop it ..

@lexloofah

Yes, cook the carrots, onions mushrooms, of one meal, take out a portion to freeze before continuing adding lentils or tinned tomatoes as they stor in cupboards so save freezer space...

freeze the vegetables in freezer bags, flat if possible..

Brilliant idea thnx

I've got a big bag of yeast now. Yay! It has an expiry date of next year. As I've opened it, does that shorten the life span? Should I freeze it?

I'm getting quite concerned about the water situation down here in the south. I'm quite glad we have some water purifying tablets as the water companies have been struggling to process enough. The forecast shows the heat returning probably, but perhaps with more thunderstorm potential. The only issue with that scenario is that thunderstorms are hit and miss.
My veggies are taking a lot of water and if others are in a similar position I can see where the issue is coming from.

I keep my bug bag of yeast in a sealed bag in the fridge, it's always been fine.

Our water butts are empty, glad of the rain this weekend

I hope tap water stays on, we have a Berkey filter which apparently can filter fairly dirty water but I don't really want to find out!

I'll pop it in the fridge then, thanks :)

Hello I have newly found this thread although I have been a "prepper" for quite a while ( as in preparedness not doomsday!). I grow a lot of my own vegetables, fruit and have hens for eggs. I am lucky enough to live on a farm so lock down has not been that much of a challenge for me. Actually we started lambing the day it was announced so six weeks of hard work and night shifts meant we really didn't see much of a change to our lifestyle. I had taken the boys out of school a week before the schools were announced and they had been using anti viral hand sanitiser for a couple of weeks prior. I must admit I got very nervous going into town to buy groceries, run errands, shop for a shielding friend and pick up any animal feed etc needed. I only went once a week and wore a mask, nitrile gloves and sprayed anti viral whenever needed. I still have a pack of nhs style face masks but I am also looking into sewing a selection of fabric masks.
I don't know if it was the weather but today I have been very tired and a bit miserable.

Hi WhereDoWeGo
I am glad it wasn't just my crazy streak that made me wound up and anxious before going to town. I always go early Monday morning to avoid crowds and queues. I have got the anxiety under control now and although I am still very cautious I feel I can cope with my mask, gloves and anti viral spray. I am diligent in spraying things such as trolley handles and only go where I need to go, as fast as possible.
I have slowly built up a good medical draw ( or now several drawers!) with the usual bandages, wound dressings mepore tape etc. I have tried to build up an awful lot of over the counter meds for as many different scenarios as possible. I had plenty of ibuprofen, paracetamol, liquid versions, cold sachets etc plus about every type of drug you can think of!! Hell when Trump and the north Korean leader were rattling sabres I even bought Potassium Iodide mainly for the kids. I had nitrile gloves (lambing) and masks also in my preps.
I am concentrating on growing veg as I am sure there will be an increase in prices. A friend lives in Spain and has said the North Africans who usually pick the salad/fruit crops have not been allowed over and lots are just wasting in the fields. Hopefully this scenario wont be repeated here!
Either way I am trying to be as prepared and self sufficient ans possible in the future.

Welcome Millie, being on a farm sounds great, hard work, but great right now. I am trying to avoid supermarkets at all, esp now all distancing out of the window and we are in the SW which is being reported as having a R rate of 1

I think prices are already creeping up sadly. I just think about all those tomatoes and chickpeas etc that won't get canned this year, not just the fresh stuff that won't make it here. Got my first 2024 can the other day so hopefully by the time the canned dates have run out things will have sorted themselves out a bit.

New prep must-do: teach DH to be frugal. It is lovely that he cooks at the weekends but has no idea about making things stretch. His idea of padding out his lasagne was to use 2 packs of mince! He has been introduced to veggie mince and lentils instead. But then afterwards I saw he had also used 2 tins of tomatoes and a whole tube of tomato purée. It was delicious but only 6 portions out of it so rich in flavour and cost per portion.

@Oxyiz I bought some Henry hoover bags on ebay they were cheap but this was a while ago, one of those cut up makes lots of filters. I think you could even was them, but you'd have to zig zag round the edges to stop the layers separating.

Prepping using Asda click and collect is harder than just wandering around several supermarkets. We have hardly touched the stuff in one place, pulled out one pack of pasta a couple of packs of raisins and a jar of coffee.

We are getting back up to desired stock levels.

We live in a flat so don't do much gardening either.

Ex's yard: runner beans in pots worked. That's it. Going to try and repeat this year.

I kill everything else.

Plant murderers of the world unite. ( Ok I have not killed the cacti, they are slightly deformed after being somewhere too dark...but not dead)

Sorry got distracted .. came on to mutter about apricots... So I have a lot of slightly out of dried apricots... ( All still usable) and slightly out of date wheetbiscs... I swapped cereal... I need to swap back.

Accidently bought lots of pasta. You know how you do an order and half/ most of it is out of stock when it comes, so next time you order a few different sorts hoping one lot will be in stock? ...9 packets of pasta... Oops. I shan't need more for a while.

Do you sort by date or by type of product? Or a bit of both?

I am being buried by packets.. and dust...

Trying to sort, hoover, label, date rotation... Etc etc etc.

And I am narked at having to restock from Asda and Morrisons instead of Aldi.

Also not sure what the hell we are going to do about the Brexit stash...how bad will it be? And how long for?