Winter 2020...

[Uptheclarets]

Been lingering for a while now. Thanks everyone for all the tips. Out of curiosity, if covid19 is going the way the Spanish flu did, what are you putting into place re food to get you through the winter months especially with shortages.

With regards to Christmas presents and clothes in next sizes you etc, can I ask why people are buying those? Is it in anticipation of money being tight or is it supply issues?

For both reasons. Finances will definitely take a tumble and prices will go up as there was a long pause in some manufacturing.
Supply issues could occur at anytime, so I always try to keep ahead with what I need but in these circumstances I judge them to be far more likely.
Earlier in this crisis it was mooted that toys will in short supply and see increased prices later in the year.

WRT clothes in next sizes, both my DC seem to have shot up in 2 months. It's not necessarily width ways. They've both outgrown their shoes and PJs. I put it down to more sleep, more food and less running around.

@31133004Taff we use Kilner jars or the ikea equivalent.

@BiddyPop do you know any of the sort of mushrooms you use from the Chinese supermArket? I've bought a couple of varieties in the past not knowing what they say & they've not been nice at all after I've rehydrated them, (2 bags out on kitchen worktop now in purgatory!)

Does anyone know of any Chinese supermarkets that deliver nationwide?

Children always seem to grow like weeds in spring. I'm buying just a few bits off eBay for birthday/stocking fillers etc. Lots of craft things already out of stock. I'm considering a jaunt to poundstretchers tomorrow for craft things & toys. It's not knowing what on earth might entertain them & be good gifts that's an issue too. There's not a queue at local £stretcher but there is at the b&m right next door. Ideally I'm hoping for one very rainy day which will hopefully put people off shopping/queueing so I can quickly grab some things!

Yes the manufacturing break will have an effect - I've been after a freezer & breadmaker & very short supply but think we've got a breadmaker (refurb) from eBay if it arrives ok.

Also there will be less freight - P&O have let a lot of staff go due to passenger shortage. Am I right in saying that our more exotic fruit produce will be first to go? I've bought a bottle of lemon juice & Lime juice!

I've ordered an extra electric hot water bottle on eBay. I have one and they are great but have various brands of them over last few years & know they are prone to just stopping working also.

If I didn't think the other parents in dc WhatsApp group would be 😒 I'd suggest a big book swap for winter. I'm really missing the charity shops for dc6 getting books.

@buckeejit, I think they are chestnut mushrooms, shitake, morels and a couple of others. I sometimes get dried mushrooms from an Irish producer who used to go to the farmers' market near my parents house, so tended to recognise them from that - I only buy the ones I generally recognise from Chinese supermarket, as they have quite a range and I don't know what the others would be like. But I don't go for very black ones, things with long stems, very white ones, or ones that look like they have shiny caps etc. I'm quite conservative that way.

Chinese supermarket is very useful for getting herbs and spices in decent sized bags though, different stock cubes like fish and shrimp ones (I get knorr but there are others there - but I can never find those knorr ones in regular supermarkets), tins of coconut milk, large tins of tomatoes (the 2 standard can size), and large bottles of clear vinegar (I use for conditioning the laundry as well as on chips) - as well as specificially Asian ingrediants like marinades, sauces, noodles, fish sauce, Chinese rice wine etc. I would buy the big bags of rice, but I commute by train and that's not feasible for me to carry. But I am likely to be commuting by car when we return, I think, so I may try to do a couple of trips then.

@BlackeyedSusan, thank you :)

How do you guys recommend storing large amounts of flour please? I’m looking at a 16kg(!) sack but am unsure how to best store it. Any suggestions gratefully accepted...

I split each 16kg sack into two 16l lock and lock containers. Then decant into smaller box in the kitchen as and when required. I get through two sacks in 6-8 weeks, so not too worried about long term storage. If you don't use as much flour, think about freezing for 24 hours to kill eggs etc. particularly if you don't know your source and how long it has already been stored.

Many thanks for that

We use these bins for large food storage
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B015KHQUTC/?tag=mumsnetforu03-21
We do freeze our flour before storing though.

I should add, we don’t store the food loose in those bins, but inside their original packaging.

Womb

I plan on baking bread and freezing it when I get some more freezer space. Not sure if this is helpful at all. We keep running out of bread. I never ran out before because I used to buy a massive sourdough and halve it and freeze it. At £3.50 a pop and with our new sourdough making skills, I won't be doing that again.

Thanks Rustica 😊

Can you decant flour into a lock & lock & then freeze that box? Sorry maybe that's what you mean.

Hopefully the powers that be will be prepared for the increase in demand for flour & for next waves it will be easier to get hold of.

Depending on where we are with Covid, I'm thinking some might benefit from warmer costs and better footwear as we'll still be walking more as other things will still be limited. Also, indoor entertainment - I love books so will keep those topped up to read. Others might enjoy games, jigsaws

Morning everyone and thanks for this post. It’s helping me organise my thoughts for winter. I am really lucky to have a cellar for storage.

I’ve gone for a big 16 kg sack of flour but am going to split this with a friend. I am definitely going to carry on baking more after lockdown ends. I am fed up of the over packaging on biscuits/treats too.

Ooh also, we go through a fair amount of yoghurt and I also use the yoghurt to make cheese. Given that I have now secured a milkman, I’m wondering if a yoghurt maker is a good investment? What do you all think?

We've used a thermos flask to make yogurt in the past. You need some decent natural yogurt to start off, boil milk in a saucepan then let cool to to blood temp, stir in tbsp of yogurt, pour into thermos and leave overnight. Then keep some new yogurt back for the next batch. After a few months we would buy a new tub to start over. I think a lot of those yogurt makers use a sachet of something to start, so check what they need and that you can get it.

We don't eat much yogurt these days, and the milkman sells it, so simpler that way. But when we used a lot of it, it was a big money saver.

Did you use a thermometer for the boiling or cooling or did you just guess roughly blood temperature?

Boiling you can tell because it looks like it's boiling. Blood temp you can tell by sticking a clean finger in - if it doesn't feel hot or cold, then it's the same temperature as you. It's not a lab experiment, just yogurt. I wouldn't waste resources buying thermometers or anything.

You don't strictly need to boil the milk first, but you get a creamier yogurt if you do.

Boiling you can tell because it looks like it’s boiling can you tell I’ve been up all night with a poorly four year old?? Sorry for being so dense I have, in fact, boiled stuff before haha, I don’t know why I asked that!!

Thank you for the blood temp bit though

No problem - there are no silly questions. Yogurt manufacturers want these things to seem mysterious and complicated to sell yogurt and/or expensive yogurt-making contraptions to us. But it really is a simple thing that peasants have been doing for a very long time without complicated equipment. If you have no thermos, you could use a haybox, or blankets to wrap the container in, or leave it in a warm (not hot) airing cupboard...

I like to think of the Ancient Greek four-part cure - what is good is easy to get. This helps to negate all the nonsense that our current system tells us is necessary for a good life. Without getting all political...

I love that - what is good is easy to get.

We have a thermos and our milk is delivered tomorrow so I’m going to bite the bullet and give it a go!

Light bulb went in a bedroom yesterday, made me think to check we have spares for all the other rooms before autumn arrives

I am going to try thermos yogurt too, used to make it years ago and remember I used to wrap the pot in towels and put it in the microwave, not turned on just as a small space to keep the heat in, this way sounds much easier - thnx

@AlohaMolly but an instantpot. I make yogurt in mine all the time - it's about a quarter of the cost of fage greek yogurt & much better