Small garden update.

 Small update on our garden. Sadly this year was not as great as the year before, we ended up with some sort of nightshade plant in our garden and it was and is a NIGHTMARE to get rid of this year & I think I will still be pulling this thing out of the garden next year! It seriously choked out my Blauwschokker peas I got only one harvest out of them!

The unseasonably cold weather this year did a number on our tomatoes and killed all but one plant off and that was a plum type tomato that my father in law gave me that he got for free! I did get a good harvest off of this tomato plant to be fair I have enough to make a few batches of stewed tomatoes and some for fresh eating.

I also got a few Uchiki kuri squashes however I lost about as many to our chickens who broke into our garden!

One of our little apple trees produced a few little apples however none of us got to really try them as the dog ate them!

To sum it up this year was pretty bad garden wise the unseasonably cold weather and the few bouts of heat did a number to the plants. Hopefully next year will be better, we already are thinking of building a small green house.

Prep shopping and cooking from our pantry & freezers

Now I said in my past post I would post on the 17th however due to some life issues this post is coming out later. Plus I did not go shopping until Monday.

So to start with lets start with what I am hearing. Besides food shortages in rice,wheat,tomatoes, baby formula in some places etc. I am hearing that toilet paper *again again?!* might be in shortage, canned vegetables I am hearing that in the USA this is happening and I have heard that lorry trucks are being robbed/stolen, vegetable oil, vinegar & nappies (diapers if your american).

I am also hearing a new virus has jumped species from animal to human and basically a possible repeat of the covid-19 stuff. I hope that won't happen but unfortunately the current "players" in politics quite frankly don't care about anyone but themselves and what they can get and the power they can have and that is all parties not just one!

It also seems like the world over the farmers are getting screwed over by their own country/countrymen in some way shape or form! It blows my mind how few people really understand where their food comes from and what could/can happen when those people say screw it and stop producing crops or livestock!

That said in my local spotted in facebook group there was a warning put out about our local aldi, that one poor person (if not more that were effected) ended up with some sort of grain and flour mites from the food stuffs they bought from said store and had to throw everything away! Grain & flour mites can spread fungal spores and cause mould, people can get sick if they have used contaminated products! So please just do a quick check of any food stuff you plan to buy.

So on Monday my husband, our son and myself went shopping while our daughter was at school. Around 80-90% of this trip was prep shopping and the rest was a few items for the week that we normally buy. I can't remember how much we spent but we did get the following and I will put prices if I know them.

2 x kids age appropriate paracetamol (pain killer, fever reducer bought at boots got a % off as a boots card holder)

2 x max strength sudafed sinus capsules (it's for me I am the only one that is normally hit with sinus issues)

1 x toddler cough syrup.

2 x 1.5kg strong white bread flour. *Lidl £1.15 ea*

2 x 1.5kg self-raising flour. *Lidl £0.79 ea

12 x cans peeled plum tomatoes. *Lidl £0.37 ea*

12 x cans of garden peas. *Lidl  £0.32 ea*

6 x peeled potatoes. *Lidl £0.38 ea*

4 x 1kg bags rice. *Lidl £0.52 ea*

8 x 500g spaghetti. * Lidl £0.28 ea*

4 x saltin noel saltin cracker *Lidl seasonal special buy £1.49 ea*

I can't think of anything else that was bought as part of our prep shop for the shopping trip on Monday. 

We did also do a prep shop around 12 days ago when we were in Northampton at the Sainsbury's there.

1 x 400g bag natco ground cumin.

1 x 400g natco ginger powder.

1 x 400g og garlic powder.

1 x tropical sun full fat powder milk *it was cheap and we are going to try it to see if we like it*

2 x 1kg natco cornmeal.

2 x coconut milk powder. *it was cheap too and we are going to try it*.

2 x 100g fennel seeds.

2 x 250g kosher fine egg noodles.

Now this coming Friday I will only have £20 to get some groceries why that little? well like most people we have debt and like most people have/are or will be needing to pay more towards paying down debts as interest rates have risen and keep doing so I believe in the last year we have had interest rates rise around 6-7 times so far this year. Not just higher debt payments but higher gas and electric payments are being put in again for winter and who knows how this is going to go this year here in the UK.

Dinners this coming week from Sunday-Saturday will be.

Chicken stuffing meatloaf with mash potatoes, gravy, veg & yorkshire puddings.

Spaghetti with homemade garlic bread.

Bean chilli with crackers.

Tuna sandwiches or grilled cheese sandwiches and crisps (chips).

Homemade refried beans, Mexican red rice and Turkish flat bread "taco's" ( Turkish flat bread as it's thicker and more filling).

Fish and chips.

Pancakes.

I am so thankful that even though I was stupid enough to let our family get into debt, I was smart enough to prep and learn from others how to do so and I will say this post did not originally go how I planned it but hey this works to. Have a lovely day and a lovely week thanks for reading.

No spend week/fortnight/month is out the window. Prep time!

 So back in July we were going to try a no spend month and that did not happen and thus agreed on a no spend week/fortnight or month in Sept. However things are not looking so good in my personal opinion, I am still hearing of shortages in grains and products from grains, tomato and products from them, sugar, chocolate and cocoa powder and I am hearing of possible potato shortages. Not to mention we are heading into fall (has been feeling like fall since July in my honest opinion) so vitamins,cold & flu medicines and pain killers will of course be in short supply come a month or two. I know these issues are really hitting the USA but I know that we in the UK import at least 45% of all food and I do know that some countries that we import from are having crop issues and we will see a shortage of these for example tomatoes. Plus I am having some health issues that are really driving me to make sure I prep as much as I can, not to mention I believe prices have increased again and I spent quite a bit for not a lot of stuff.

I will also be doing Hanukkah & christmas shopping early I suggest if you can do the same go ahead and do it for both food and gifts if you have the space!  Don't wait as prices are going to increase they always do. I also suggest looking if you can afford it that is to see what summer clothes are being put on sale and if you can find your partner's/kid(s), your size or maybe a size or two up for the warmer months ( I do the same for winter clothes).

With that said I have made a prep list for my whole family so I have stuff in stock and on hand for at least a few weeks/months depending on what it is. I highly suggest stocking up enough for you and your family and only stock the foods you know you will actually eat, along with personal care products.

Things on your prep list should include *note this is not in order from most important to least*:

Summer & winter clothes for everyone in the family. It is best to try and shop the end of season sales for the next year, so go one or even two sizes up for kids and adults.

Summer & winter shoes for everyone again buy one or even two sizes up for kids shoes as you can add thicker socks.

Tinned (canned) vegetables (I hear rumours that in the USA tinned vegetables maybe in short supply).

Tinned (canned) meats & fish.

Bottled water.

Powdered milk (skim milk apparently has a very long shelf life).

Beans, both dried and tinned (canned) and any type you like.

Rice. White rice will last longer than brown rice if stored correctly.

Condiments: bbq, ketchup, mustard etc get it in while you can.

Oil. any type of cooking oil you like especially olive oil as there have been issues hitting olive farms from my understanding.

Coffee and/or tea.

Soda if you really like it.

Sugar. White, light brown, dark brown etc. I am also hearing of sugar shortages/ price increases.

Chocolate. I am hearing of issues effecting cocoa farmers and there will be a shortage of cocoa so stock up and store your chocolate some place cool and dry.

Cocoa powder.

Sauces, like pasta sauce.

Tinned (canned) fruit.

Flour: all-purpose, bread, pastry etc.

Baby formula.

Nappies (diapers).

Baby wipes.

Toilet paper.

Personal care products.

Batteries.

Lamp oil, if you have these kinds of lamps.

Firewood if you have a fireplace or wood burning stove.

Over the counter medicines for everyone including animals: vitamins, cold and flu, pain killers etc.

Wound care for humans and animals: bandages, cleaner, ointment etc.

Animal feed for all your animals.

Matches or any type of lighters.

Pancake mixes & the like.

And whatever else you can think of prep it and get enough for your whole family.

Now if you can I suggest trying to get a dehydrator I bought mine off amazon *I don't get/earn anything from links unless otherwise noted* SousVide Dehydrator . I also bought extra silicone dehydrator mats but I will not link those here at this time as I do want to try them out first! I did buy them though as I plan on trying to dehydrate some of the fresh eggs I have. I know in the near future I will have more eggs as this year I hatched out roughly 100 chicks and a little over half of them are hens, males do have a place and that is in our freezer as we only want 1 or 2 roosters (cockerels) 1 large breed and 1 bantam (however he is a noisy little bugger!). In seeing how we are talking about eggs you could try putting a thin layer of food safe mineral oil on eggs to prolong their shelf life if you will I have done it in the past and they keep quite will on the counter out of direct sunlight. I also suggest getting The Ultimate Dehydrator Cookbook as a starter guide to using any dehydrator as it tells you temps and time frames for dehydrating foods and it does have some recipes in there.

Not just that but if you can afford to get a generator whether it's diesel/gas powered or even a solar generator get one. We are looking to buy one ASAP but things are a bit tight currently as we did have to get a new chest freezer and other things have cropped up that we have had to take care of plus we are still prepping and the cost of things as everyone knows has gone up.

So please prep even if it's just a week or 4 for you and your family.

I plan on trying to do a weekly blog post from here on out so I am aiming to post next Sunday the 17th of Sept. I will be making a post about my either weekly shop or prep shop cost depending on everything going on and what I need, empty shelves etc & I will be throwing together meals with pantry items and the recipes for those meals and rough cost for those meals if I get the time.