Prepping goals for 2024?

[NoelleNameChange]

I am a beginner / wannabe prepper, so looking for inspiration!

My goals at the moment are:

1. Build up more pantry stock
2. get some wind up lanterns
3. install some raised beds in my garden to grow veg

That is indeed a quandry. We camp annually so I have a gas stove but do have a little shed so it's out there. I just checked amazon and you can buy mini canisters and single burners that shouldn't take up much space? Otherwise perhaps tealights and a muffin tray? Slow but would work.

Tea lights, muffin tray - hmm, could work.
Would you put say 4 tea lights in muffin tray then a lidded pan over the top, and the heat should warm (maybe boil eventually) the water?

We've just gone through a week of severe storms and people local to us lost power for over a week. I'm seriously considering buying a generator.

We need to stock up on water. We have a gas BBQ and a small camping stove that would be useful in an emergency.

We were in this situation this time last year with the threat of the power outages. We'd just come to England and were renting a 2nd floor flat. We looked into various options.

We have one of these with a view to using the car tailgate (or putting up a gazebo if practical but it will take up more space to store so we ended up not getting one) and using it in the car parking space for ventilation if needed. The advantages are it folds small for easy storage and it takes other fuel types if needed like wood (but less efficiently) and alcohol:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ohuhu-Portable-Stainless-Burning-Camping/dp/B0125U36Q2/
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Godora-Powerful-Solid-Tablets-1300-Degree/dp/B09RZJSG7D/

We field tested it camping totally off-grid in August. We took a 30cm barbecue too, so we could make a big enough volume of food in a reasonable time for 4 people. The solid fuel stove took a bit longer than our £8 Argos cheapo barbecue to cook our sausages and it took about three solid tablets to do sausages and bacon, but I think it's great because you can put a kettle on it and in a prolonged power outage, the main thing I'll want is a hot drink. It packs down nicely and we stored it in the back of a kitchen cupboard along with our stainless steel camping pans (I don't like aluminium due to leaching).

It's better than a barbecue if you're extremely limited of space because it's really small and you don't have to store a big bag of barbecue briquettes, firelighters, and a barbecue.

Obviously in a major SHTF cooking in the car park won't be ideal, but for anything where I'm not worried about people seeing that I've got food, I'd do this.

@nannynick Cooking food without a heat source is certainly an interesting problem. The best advice I can give you is chose your emergency rations wisely. So start with foods that are palatable (and energy rich) if you have to eat them cold.

You can get chemical heaters for camping food. You mix water with the heating tablet that causes a chemical reaction. I have used both the military and civilian versions and honestly they are not to bad. The only downside is they are bulky if you need to carry them any distance and of course, they are not the cheapest option out there.

The other option is "forget" to remove the small camping gas stove from your camping bag under the bed. Yes it is naughty, but in a major fire a small camping gas stove is the lest of peoples worries. I certainly would be worried if my neighbour had a patio heater cylinder in his flat.

Remember it is all about the energy value of the food, not its physical temperature that counts. Hot food has very little to do with raising body temperature, but saying that the psychological value of a hot meal is important.

Palatable energy rich food... hmm not sure Mango chutney with Peshwari Naan counts for a lot, but the Naan has a 2 month shelf life unopened. The Naan says 1240kJ per 100g and a table spoon of mango chutney is 163kJ.

That's not as silly as it sounds, I do know of someone who lives on peanut butter and wraps when he is out on the hills.

Personally I prefer Shortbread (its near enough the same as lifeboat rations), tins of corned beef and the boil in the bag meals

I got a slight side-eye from removals man about my camping gas canisters when he was packing me up. (He let it slide as my goods were going by sea - he couldn't have packed if being airfreighted). I know the rules here in the apartment are no petrol to be stored but I need to check the details as that may also refer to camping gas.

My plan had been single gas ring on the balcony - and there is a spot where I would be unlikely to be noticed (11 floors up, angle to road and across a plaza to next neighbours, and offset to 10 storey building alongside me so the end nearest immediate neighbours is hidden from their windows). But it may get me in trouble.

I also have a tea light hostess thing - chafing dish? To hold a dish and keep it warm by a tealight. I definitely have plans that it could slowly heat a soup or water (especially if I put a few tea lights under it).

But I think my best idea would be to get a decent sized solar generator and a single plate induction cooker. I have a small panel now but not a decent sized battery for that kind of use - but they are easier to get in mainland EU than Ireland...🤫

Solar oven/kettle?
Or if you have outdoor space, a Kelly kettle or other camping stove that burns small bits of sticks.

Combine with some decent flasks to keep water/food hot.

I have run my food prep right down to zero and I'm about to restart.

This tone atound im thinking about we we eat, not what we should eat. So just going to prep basics that we will eat anyway.
Dried pasta
1kg sack of rice
Tinned tomatoes
Passatta
Baked beans
Chicken peas
Lentils
Tinned soup
Instant noodles

We are 6 so I'd aim for max ten of each tin / packet and always have a sack of rice.

I but two items a week when I remember, add it too a list with its bbf date. I normally have to oat mils and two long life milk cartons in..

I only prep for a month or so. It's more than enough to cover bring snowed in ( rural) and being caught out at the very beginning of covid.

I have got usb torches for all six of us. Ideally I'd buy a few more each year as they do go wondering.

About 6 litres of water that's probably off by now. We had a major water outtage recently and I think you need two days of water to drink. Beyound that uou need to go out and collect it. Our water collection point was simple enough

Lots of power banks always fully charged and little lamps that plug into them.

I did mean to get a few of the light bulbs that charge up to but never did. One in the living room and hall would be handy

I need to rearrange cupboards as lost track of stocks after Christmas. Also took things to DD2 in Uni. I bought a couple packs toothbrushes today.

Kelly kettles work great - a few small sticks or a couple of pine cones are enough to boil water and cook on. Pine cones tend to leave some sap residue in the chimney though so harder to wash after the fact (you don't want to let it build up or heating will become less efficient).

I am slowly getting organised and finding things again.

I have a store of basic foods mostly organised and holes in that patched. I need to get some water to store and UHT milk. But I have found a decent sized supermarket last weekend for doing that (mostly its tiny express stores - and last weekend was about getting my spice rack and general food restocked).

I am focusing more on things for the month rather than the following year.
My main yearly goal is to grow more veg/fruit and hopefully get an allotment. Im 7th on the list and have said Ill take one I need to clear myself if need be so fingers crossed!

So this month Im focusing on

• garden - getting it tidy, putting things in place to protect what I grow so the dogs dont eat it, cover back on greenhouse when weathers better, having a clear up, encouraging birds and pollunators etc
• researching sourdough and dehydrators. Sourdough seems like a good choice so Im not buying supermarket bread with all the preservatives and dehydrating some of my harvest will help to store it.
• Lastly I did a food shop with the intention of making quick dump meals - ie things I can make ahead and dump in the slow cooker to slowly cook whilst I focus on other things like the garden.
• I do also need to look into things to do that dont involve electric or internet in case of a power outage or internet being off and putting them all in a box so board games, books, jigsaws etc.
• Also a bit of self care and a hair cut since I havent had one in 2 years!