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.

@livingthegoodlife sorry for not replying earlier. I had the most awful migraine over the weekend, still not completely over it.

Thanks for the Panasonic breadmaker recommendations, a few people have recommended that one to me. So I will look into it. Thanks again.

Not done much prepping due to migraine but I'm thinking about winter so lurking on the winter thread for ideas

Could someone share the lockdown gardening thread link here please

Oh I wasn’t suggesting prepping the doesn’t need spending is somehow superior than prepping that needs spending.

I have to keep my stash going too. We have a lot of mouths to feed here, it’s a never ending process.
But sometimes it’s good for me to remember that learning new skills or doing things like preparing the house for new seasons is useful and part of prepping too.

Thanks to tip on here I froze some eggs a month or so ago, we are out of fresh so want to use them tmrw. Have defrosted in the fridge but they look very unappetising: a solid lump surrounded by reddish brown liquid, will this all whisk in and look ok for scramble?

Am finding it very difficult to do much prep during the week with school at home and keeping on top of cleaning and laundry, actually not even managing that really. Good job we are home at the weekends to catch up and get things sorted. This weekend we will set up table tennis table in the garage that has been in there since we moved 3 years ago and see if we can build another compost bin out of what we we have lying around as our plastic ones are almost full. We may camp out one night and do a mini campfire.

What else does everyone have on this weekend?

Hi all, hope you are all keeping safe and doing well. Same with me @lexloofah I can’t stay on top with anything forget managing laundry.

I am walking everywhere with spray and wipe cloth - esp with the nice weather everyone is walking in straight from the garden with shoes on. I’m also scared of deliveries! (because we are not popping out- ordering only home deliveries ) the problem is something or the other comes up and we end up with a need to order. All this even after me prepping well before but end up needing essential stuffs like - I bought a cassette for my blood glucose monitor in Feb but with only few tests used ( 43 left) the monitor said the cassette expired and I am left with not testing until I receive another order. The other thing I underestimated was the need of things to keep dd busy, like rolls of paper, some new educational toys, little reward items , paint tins for the fence and large bags of compost for the new planters. I can still order them but it’s all risky as half the things aren’t available or are too expensive. Yes I thought I had prepped well earlier and even had five bags of 20 litre compost bags with me but then I ended up ordering some new planters because the seeds have come up so well - we initially planned a small raised bed but then couldn’t decide on a place that has full sun as it’s a north facing garden so ended up buying largish planters. No one is doing compost deliveries except few online companies now. Amazon is now charging £20+ for the compost bags I got for under £5 before.

Meanwhile dd’s curiosity has reached a whole new level today.. she has cut her dance pants with her child scissors when I was in the kitchen for less than two minutes (no she wasn’t wearing it) . She also had mistakenly put on the round sticky ball catcher on top of her plaited hair to look like a hat - it took a good time to remove that today as it was more like Velcro. Thankfully with truck loads of patience and coconut oil it came off. had all the time in the world so made her sit in the garden while I slowly untangled them. This sure goes in her scrap book though! 😅

What have you all been prepping and what are your thoughts on the school reopening talks that have been going on?

Well, my prepping went in a different direction yesterday. I went into the office and took (with permission) my computer screen, keyboard and proper printer. And got a "puck" from IT to make these talk to my tablet device that is my pc at home.

It looks like we are going to be working from home for another couple of months at least, and I've just been moved to progress something fairly urgently that means I will need to print docs. And I really am fed up of the tiny screen to read things, especially as I didn't have a printer for the 20+ page docs that I couldn't print on our tiny family printer...

I need to spend time in the garden over the weekend as well. Most seeds have come up ok, except broad beans (just 1 of 7 there) so I need to pot on a few things. I also need to plant up strawberry plants we got delivered this week. And I think it's warmed up enough to sow dwarf French and cannellini beans in their planters. Depending on how far the compost stretches.....I have a half a bag left. But I may be eating salad leaves this weekend also.

The other thing I want to do is get into the back of a couple of cupboards and make definite plans to use up older items - spice mixes, giant cous cous, coconut cream (rather than tins of coconut milk), …..oh, and the jam mountain!! I might make a Victoria sponge or some jam tarts. But I think I have about 20 jars of jam (many of them HM). And I need some more jars (as good an excuse as any other) to be able to jar up the mince meat in a large kilner jar elsewhere! (I had made it for Christmas baking, and then not had time, but that will keep well for Dec 2020 given how much booze is in it).

@biddypop if I had lots of jam I would make stuffs that would last long like biscuits and bars. The last time I had lot of homemade jam left, I made some
thumbprint cookies and jam fudges. delicious every little time! I have repotted the dwarf beans so far and planning to do more repotting today. Getting dh to mow the lawn is a chore in itself. dd’s school has asked to send in pics of celebrating VE Day and even my Brit friend doesn’t remember a thing about how to celebrate except we are having a picnic in the front garden. We have been scouring resources to know what is all about. Our neighbours are already having banner up! So I am thinking of quick ideas today

@BiddyPop we made these BBC Good food jam slices and they were gorgeous, we didn't ice them as they'd be too sweet. I used up one jar of raspberry jam making these so it's a good way of using up your stash.

Any jams close to the expiry date can be donated to the food bank.

Thanks guys for those ideas, jam biscuits sound good!! I can't donate any as, apart from not having foodbanks near us, most of these are HM (like the "mixed fruit 2011" batch of which I have at least 4 jars - my last summer on the plot yielded a lot of berries but not enough for 1 thing; and a batch of Damson jam from 2012 - the last year that we were able to harvest them at DPIL's lane; and 1 jar left of the winter mixed fruit jam made from a mix of frozen berries from the garden and the sloes that had already been used to make sloe gin - hence only 1 left!).

Although, I was pleasantly surprised to find 2 jars of Sainsbury's TTD bitter orange marmalade up there too - it's really hard to find bitter ones here and I rarely get to Sains generally (unless I go up north - but recent trips (2018 and 2019) have not had time to allow a food shopping side-trip, they've been for DD to compete in sports events).

How are you all today.. keeping safe and busy with lots of lovely preps I believe? Have been busy repotting the little plants yesterday but now think the weather is again playing up.. hopefully not bad enough to kill the plants i think.. dh and I were discussing what will be the outcome after today’s speech and we don’t feel confident enough to send dd to school yet even if it reopens. Can someone please educate me what is the reason behind opening just the primary schools first? I am so scared of the second wave and don’t want to take any chances.

@sprayitall I think the reasoning is 1) primary schools tend be smaller than high schools so more manageable but also for the workforce. High school aged children could in theory be at home during the day allowing parents to return to work - primary aged children still need the childcare aspect of schools (not sure childcare is the right word but I'm sure you get what I mean)

@WhatALearningCurve I’m sure the primary school aged kids don’t know anything about maintaining 2 m social distance if they are back in school. Dd is missing her friends and school but I don’t think it’s safe yet for them. She misses her social contacts though. I find dd’s school not very helpful in connecting people, they don’t want to have an official social media portal (not even a Facebook page and when requested they just said no they don’t want to do it now) , don’t bother to arrange zoom meetings for the class and does nothing to help kids have some social time with their friends. All they do is just update pictures on their portal that too only if parents send and request them. You can’t contact other parents in any other way unless you know them personally. Are all primary schools like that here? I wasn’t raised here so I find many of the school’s politics like this ridiculous. I have just very few of dd’s mates parent contacts but when I asked her bestie’s (a boy) mum upon dd’s request if we can have a virtual play date for few minutes once or twice in a month she just blatantly refused saying they are a busy working couple and don’t have time for all this. I found that to be very rude especially with dd missing him so much. Difficult to explain that to a 5 year old.

@sprayitall definitely not what all primary schools are like. My little boys only 1 but I've got 2 nieces in primary school and their friends are doing Zoom's and things. But they are year 5&6 so are more capable of being left with the devices to speak to each other. If both parents are still working FT and trying to home school I can imagine it's very difficult to balance work school family and friends

Ok after hearing the speech today we are now thinking why won’t they give the parents an option? Let the parents decide if they want to send their reception kids to school based on their work needs. Also what’s the point. anyway the 6 week summer holidays again starts from July. Sorry to sound thick, does this mean they are still going ahead with the herd immunity plan but more in a phased manner that’s based on individual’s level of alertness? asking this because I don’t want to be one among the “non-alert distracted individual with underlying conditions” stat numbers 😭

@WhatALearningCurve yes we are both working individuals ourselves (I run a business myself and dh is in business as well though we aren’t getting as much face to face contracts now we still have lot of internal work to do) but my top priority will always be dd’s wellness -it’s really tough being a little one stuck all day indoors with no siblings to play with. I am trying to give her as much normal happy days as possible. I know I can’t exactly re create school atmosphere at home but once in a month play date is fine with me. Glad couple of other friends and their parents are fine with it and dd also has extracurricular classes on zoom but she is missing her bestie lots.

chng.it/VgwrZtDW9w - to all the mums who is supporting this petition, feel free to sign it. Thanks

I started reading these threads in February and because of them put together some preps for if I was unwell. I came down with Covid 4 weeks ago and they were a lifesaver!

I had plenty of paracetamol for fever and headaches, throat sweets and ice poles for sore throat, vitamins for me and my DC to give us a boost. Then I had lots of easy food for the DC to make/eat. Plenty of cleaning supplies, toiletries, toilet roll etc. to last us while we couldn't go out.

Thank you to everyone for all the advice I read on here.

Seems like it’s time to start prepping for my assessment of what’s safe and reasonable being different from the ‘official line ‘ or ‘official non-line’ or something or other.

@UndertheCedartree you are welcome, hope you get back your robust health soon.

@Neome I have started prepping for waves of this now. I’m expecting atleast two large waves and two small waves after this. What have you all decided about sending dc’s back to school? I am now prepping the spare bed room (which is just used as a dressing and a dumping room into a proper organised place so we have some room for more preps) does anyone know where to get largish vacuum bags to store blankets and duvets please?

I hope my 6 year old's school isn't pressured into asking us to send him back in June.

@Neome I had previously shared a link of one petition to give parents an option and I stand by it. This is the petition link for parents who think they should have an option if they want to send their child to school once they reopen.

chng.it/VgwrZtDW9w

My father called me after reading the news about the speech yesterday and said don’t care what they say ,want my grand daughter to be at home until we feel it’s safe. I have now started to prep for the same in waves too ( you see a pattern or flow - go with it) The infection occurs in waves, even an affected individual says it comes in waves so I think the preps for the same should be in waves as well. I am sorted with most of the things and was happy with my preps for the first time around but I am expecting the second wave and the third wave around to be slightly different to the first one. Like having more mobility - so more gloves, masks kind of stuffs. The ones I have ordered will be shipped only in August though so I’m thinking what to do for dd . What other things do we need to prepare ahead?

This might seem a very odd thing to call prepping but I am taking a Udemy course on a type of psychotherapy needed by a family member. Having a rudimentary knowledge seems useful.

I am already fairly practically minded with a decent collection of tools and experience with basic household maintenance type jobs. There's always more to learn of course.

If I could learn more practical skills solar power related anything would be great - anyone have suggestions? I am truly awful woth heights though so no installing things on roofs 🙂

I am not at all sure about schooling altogether. This is complicated by my child having additional needs and possibly being better off at home. Serious dilemma.

@Sprayitall just thought I'd add an alternative view to online playdates which your child's friends mum might have felt unable to say in real life. I have certainly struggled with a polite answer when people have messaged me for an online playdate with my kids. Reasons I decline are: I can't vet what your kid will say to my kid eg my kids do not watch the news, they do not know people are dying, they know there is a virus, I have not mentioned a possible return to school, my kids are happy at home and other people suggesting they are sad just gives them ideas etc. Other people's kids are privy to a lot more information and I don't want them scaring my kids. Do you get where I'm coming from? I've made up excuses to avoid online playdates.

Also my kids are weirdly shy online, not in real life, and don't like zoom calls!

I'm gently prepping for extended livk down and future waves by keeping food stores stocked. I need to think ahead to winter clothes. Annoyingly I gave had to buy my son new shoes & shorts this week because his feet have grown 3 sizes!! And he has managed to destroy 3 pairs of shorts.... Sigh. I was hoping to embrace the scruffy stay at home look but this is too far!!

@Neome , that sounds like an excellent idea.

This suggestion isn't solar power generating as such but it is rather good and not too expensive. It's not, in my view, worth buying a fancy one.
I made a chicken stew thing in it in the summer.
Planning to try something in this cooler weather.

That looks brilliant bellinisurge, thank you.