'Preppers Recommendations' thread

[RainbowZebraWarrior]

Been on the Preppers board for years. Stuff comes up on individual threads all the time like wind up radios / reliable brand of power bank etc. It's really handy, especially when people can vouch for a product. Don't think we've ever had a place to 'store' all such recommendations though, so thought I'd start such a place. Even better if anyone spots any special offers.

I pickle small courgettes when we're overwhelmed and they're not bad.

Another thing I do pretty much every year is to grow too many beans and dry the seed for soups and stews.

This year I want to try lacto fermented beetroot as we were given some a while back and it's very good indeed, crisp and tangy. I've used that method with other vegetables and like it a lot.

We did have one jar go mouldy once so I recommend these little oxygen sachets

Same here, had a batch go off and now keep a stash of those sachets.

What size sachets do you all use?

And @Justanotherobserver this probably is a stupid question but does the lacto fermented beetroot still taste beetrooty? Or milky? (Am I misunderstanding the lacto bit?) I'm not a be fab of either but was a bit intrigued by 'crisp and tangy' & I know fermented foods is ridiculously good for gut health.

🤦🏻‍♀️*not a fan of either

I still haven’t used my sauerkraut pot. Must pick up some good cabbages to give it a go this week.

I luvs my Callow dehydrator.

@FoolShapeHeart it tastes of beetroot, the lacto bit refers to the bacteria that ferments the beetroot. Think I got that right, but someone correct me if not. It's how kimchi and sauerkraut are made.

There's some waffle and a recipe here: theculturedfoodie.com/lacto-fermented-beets/

rooftops you don’t need fancy cabbages. I make mine from 59p Tesco specials - although I planted some yesterday. Didn’t think of doing my own beets!

That looks good, Edge.

@FoolShapeHeart re the sachets, I collect the silica sachets you get with electronic equipment and use those. A couple per jar usually. I store them in the airing cupboard.

I didn't know there was such a thing as oxygen absorbing sachets so will check them out.

I haven't tried drying my own veg yet, but I use a fair amount of dried mushrooms - I buy them from an artisan mushroom producer (who dries her own gluts) when I get to the farmers' market "down home" (where DH and I grew up) or in the Chinese supermarket in our city. Great for risottos and useful for other things too.

I have seen preppers on youtube with their massive "prepper pantry" stores talk about using the importance of using oxygen absorber sachets in their buckets and mason jars for long term storage of dry goods.

@EdgeOfSeventeenAndThreeQuarter

rooftops you don’t need fancy cabbages. I make mine from 59p Tesco specials - although I planted some yesterday. Didn’t think of doing my own beets!

Local shops the cabbages have been a bit sat. When I say good I mean good, firm and crisp. Not the limp messes I keep seeing.

As a side. Cauliflowers have been atrocious this year. All brown bits on them in the shops

Can anyone recommend a decent but not too expensive kettle to go on a gas hob/woodburner? It'd be nice to have a backup and be able to make use of the fire in the winter.

Can anyone recommend any books that have good information about lost skills (could include preserving veg gluts, making yeast etc.) I have been thinking this might be an area of prep I would like to explore. I am a relatively practical person anyway but had a conversation with someone a couple of days ago about many skill sets and knowledge dying out.

I love my dehydrator I brought a cheap one to see if I would use it. I may up grade this year as we get a glut of fruit and tbe children are still enjoying snacking on the apple rings I dried last autumn.

I have a preserving book I'd recommend, 'Preserving Food Without Freezing or Canning' by The Gardeners and Farmers of Centre Terre Vivante. It's an excellent book full of traditional methods that have been used for centuries.

With making yeast, have you tried growing a sourdough culture? I've done this for years and rarely use yeast these days as the sourdough culture serves in its place.

Making your own vinegar is interesting, you might enjoy looking into that. It's very straightforward and there are plenty of guides out there.

Handyweatherstation that book looks good I think that might be my next purchase. I had thought about making a sough dough starter a couple of weeks ago but life took over a bit.

Teaand, sourdough is really easy. When I was first looking up what to do I got so frustrated with videos where people would waffle on for ages, gushing about how passionate they were. I don't care, just give me the instructions! Then found this site where the guy who runs it does minimalist video guides and there's one for sourdough starters.

I bought a dehydrator during lockdown, its been a learning curve but its immensely useful. My preps last up to 2 years in clip top mason jars, without needing to use Mylar bags or O2 absorbers.

I haven't bought the book yet, but I have read a lot of the associated blogs and have been listening to the podcast for about 5 years now, so am fairly happy to recommend "The Boat Galley" by Carolyn Shearlock. It's aimed at boaters with little or no refrigeration space, but I have been using the same principles at home for a long time now for storing without refrigeration and for storecupboard type meals.

Darina Allen has a good book "The forgotten skills of cooking" which does a lot of basics like breadmaking and preserving, and covers all different aspects of cooking. So it is a good reference cookbook for me and I constantly pull that off the shelf.

I also have John Seymour's book "The complete guide to self-sufficiency", and an American one that goes into more depths about building yourself etc. (the American one is in a box in storage at the moment, until it looks like I will need it because I am buying a house in the countryside that I can be more self-sufficient in, so ). The JS one goes through a lot of information that is useful for a person in a normal house, not just someone with an allotment or a small-holding. (Although, a normal person can ignore the chapters on caring for animals etc). But it was written in 1976, so a lot of the more modern conveniences and tech don't feature.

And a good reference one for veg growing is "Grow your own vegetables" by Joy Larkcom. It's more a paperback size than massive tome, but has good general information to get started and goes through a lot of different varieties of veg individually as well.

I have just had a chance to look at all the book recommendations suggested.

I think I will start buying one a month.

Just a heads up the preserving food without freezing or canning recommended by handyweatherststion is available on kindle unlimited at the moment if any one is a book worm like me and subscribes to this service.

I haven't read the book yet, but a blog I follow was talking about healthcare when you are travelling remotely, and linked a UK reference that the current edition costs money but the previous edition is still available for free, and I thought it might be a useful resource for this group.

From "Gone with the Wynns": (And here is the blog post on international healthcare as a global traveller)
FREE SHIPS CAPTAINS MEDICAL GUIDE
If nothing else (or in addition), download the Ships Captains Medical Guide. It is put together by the UK government for practical medical guidance (non-doctors) working onboard a ship.
It covers just about everything including basic first aid, poisoning, sexually transmitted diseases, and how to deal with a burial at sea.
www.academia.edu/29415592/THE_SHIP_CAPTAINS_MEDICAL_GUIDE

How does everyone store flour, bought in 1kg paper bags. I had a few that went mouldy in my cellar because they were too close together. the cellar isnt very moist, and is very dry for a cellar. But inheated so there is some natural moisture in the cold air. Wondering if silica sachets would help
or would just dry the flour out too much? I dont wantnto decant everything into plastic tubs that i forget about.

I got some of the pre-mylar bagged flour from army surplus places. 1KG per pack, 10 for £12-15.

Worth a look, there are a few places selling them online. Quality seemed fine.

www.realseeds.co.uk/index.html for heirloom/heritage open pollinated seeds. There is a low wage pack for £10 delivered if anyone is financially struggling.

We store flour in 2 litre kilner jars. I buy 25kg sacks and divide it up. We have a vacuum sealing chamber that my DH bought and we then seal the jars. We do the same with 3kg bags of pulses and also our dehydrated vegetables. (We made a choice to invest in some equipment as we will get more value from it in future food shortages/hard times)

Thinking about the war in the Ukraine, as well as interest rates etc, other than flour and pasta, plus oil, is there anything else people are buying more of to store for the foreseeable. I am a prepper by nature anyway, and have enough food for about two months, but was wondering about more specific food stuffs that maybe I haven't thought about in relation to wheat etc. (By the way I store a lot of bread flour in my freezer in 500g bags, which is perfect for one loaf)
Great thread by the way! 🙂