What have done towards your prep?

[bigpaul]

the trouble with canned food is what is added to them, chemicals and stuff, besides a diet full of canned food is not good for the human diet, we need fresh food, stuff like Broccoli is good for staving off cancer and dementia, and I have yet to see Broccoli in a can.
growing enough food for one or two people should not be a time consuming effort, we will all have to do it post SHTF or starve, start small, one or two types of plants at a time and gradually increase.
being out in the fresh air will do a world of good, better than being hunched over a computer, I spend a lot of time outdoors this time of year.

[Pete Grey]

I’m looking towards any winter power outage or gas shortage.

We have topped up with coal (on summer prices) coal shed is pretty full, plenty of kindling.

I have a friend that can get me empty gas bottles for nowt, I think two or three propane would be a most useful addition to our stock. I can get them exchanged for full bottles in the next few weeks as and when convenient, no rush.

We have an old two burner picnic stove, now just for emergency use, it’s serviceable but a better one with a grill is on the shopping list but no rush.

We’re having a job keeping in front of the squirrels with the fruit trees, must get the air rifle out.

[Pete Grey]

Before you ask MB..........NO i’m not going to eat them.

[bigpaul]

(11 August 2023, 21:09)Pete Grey Wrote: Before you ask MB..........NO i’m not going to eat them.

why not??

[Mortblanc]

But PG, squirrel was a staple food of the American frontier. We made rifles specifically geared to shooting the little critters, called "squirrel rifles"!

The .22 rimfire cartridge was specifically designed to take squirrel and other small game. Not much use in having one otherwise.

Squirrel stew, squirrel dumplings, squirrel head soup, roast squirrel, fried squirrel,,,, it's like Bubba Gump and the shrimp thing.

Besides that, squirrel are one of the few critters one can catch using a big old "rat trap"! You can even catch them with fish hooks on a climbing pole or snares if necessary. They are also one of the few critters one can harvest with well placed shots from a 12lb air rifle.

If everything crumbles, as is so eagerly anticipated, they will be a vital food source and much better than rats! They don't stink of urine like the rats do. I cultivate and manage my squirrel heard as I would cattle or sheep or hogs. I manage the deer heard too but that is a seperate issue.

Just be careful and sear the fur off before you clean them, their hair gets all over the meat when you open them up and ruins the texture.

[bigpaul]

Squirrels, Pigeons, Rabbits will be my main meat source post SHTF, plenty around here, plus Canada Geese during the summer.

[Straight Shooter]

A better way forward is to become proactive ( if you have some room ) is to keep some chickens and rabbits obviously if you live in a flat you can’t do it plus planning laws may not allow it full stop .
When I was a lad half the village kept a few chickens some kept rabbits as well , the men held down a full time job , looked after and tended a garden and a allotments and kept hens or rabbits , some kept both and harvest time they worked on farms so it was done and can be done again if needs must ….or go hungry ! Yes times were harder then but I lived through them and have more good memories than bad ones .

It all comes down to how bad one thinks things will get ….and prepare to what YOU think will happen it’s that simple , what any individual bases or arrives at any given conclusion on how they proceed as they deem fit is their choice and made of their own free will , influences from others could and will take place , this is a good or could be a bad thing , the decision is up to YOU alone ! ….you are responsible for you and yours that’s the deal ,rely on you ….if you make mistakes , learn from them .

M B yes I am obsessive growing fruit n veg , but there was no need to be flippant especially when all I am trying to do is inspire others to do something similar , as for your remark regarding tinned food being useless you or anyone else for that matter has never ever heard or seen in print any such reference to tinned food being useless by me …..just something you made up , I am surprised at you ! WHY ? You discredit yourself not I , if you are that pissed off with what I post just let me know I can sort that out in two seconds and no big deal for me .

[Mortblanc]

"I would not be in a hurry to buy a load of tinned foods unless you eat the contents regular and can rotate out the supply by date ….you will end up throwing it away …just like I did ……and do now still , but not so much anymore ! ." ---from about 5 posts back.

SS you grow all you want too, I don't care, but I'm not putting in a garden any more. It is a year around job to get 3 months food!

I can buy a year long supply of nutritious and varied canned foods for about 700 of your pounds money. Multiply the number of hours you spend tilling and sweating and risking you near 80 year old heart in the veg patch times the minimum wage at a job under roof in the AC and see how long you could eat canned goods?

What about 2nd year, or third year harvest? Chances of living to second or third year in a truly stressful event are ZERO!

I have a year supply laid back. That is about 6 months more than I need.

For most of us, old geezers over 70, the issue will not be food but meds and medical care.

I have had three heart attacks, each with its own procedures. I have endured five separate back surgeries. I have an electronic implant blocking the pain in my spine so I can walk. I have type two diabetes. About 17 pills daily and a highly restricted diet that eliminates almost all long storage life vegetables are keeping me alive at this point.

Me, and most others, are not going to die of heart failure, uncontrolled blood sugar from sweating or over exertion, or rip our spines out working the garden patch preparing for possible survival of an event that is never going to happen.

And if said event does happen we 70+ year olds are not going to be the survivors. That will fall to the younger group with better backs and stronger muscles. You will be turned out of your houses to face starvation within days of social breakdown.

I myself would run out of meds at the 6 month point. I will last another few weeks in severe pain and reduced capabilities to move about and care for myself.

There are no plants growing in the hedge row that I can boil, or dry, or simmer down and keep myself alive. I am only alive today due to 21st century medicines. 19th Century ones won't do the job, that is why the life expectancy when my grandfather was born was 47. Because of the discovery of antibiotics he made it to 60 before cancer took him.

You absolutely do not have to work yourself into the ground to put food on the table for the duration of your limited remaining time after "SHTF", a term no one can define and fewer can mark the start point and end.

[bigpaul]

it depends on how big a "group" one is providing for, a small plot for one or two people should not be much of a problem, after all post event no one is going to be going off to their normal job it wont exist, our only job will be to put food on the table.
even where one has no garden growing food is still possible in containers of any sort, its not quantity we need but successive sowing to ensure coverage of the whole growing season.
if someone can grow their own food they will live longer than anyone with a garage full of canned food, canned food is not replaceable post event when the supply chain no longer exists, once its gone so are they.
anyone who is only alive because of medication will succumb in the first wave of the die off.

[Pete Grey]

I think as most of us who haven’t much space for chickens or rabbits for meat, rely on tinned meat, wether corned beef, pork, spam, chicken breast, tuna etc as the only way to provide protein after an event, when all the freezers have died. There aren’t all that many pigeons and squirrels to shoot.

Any fruit and veg you can grow is a Godsend but will not be enough for a balanced diet, even one tin of meat a day

Work on the open veranda/canopy should start soon.