Are you using less?

[preppergb]

Dunno about using less food but we are certainly wasting less, almost no food waste to be binned or composted, Even potatoe skins are being made into a fried snack after we learned that Potato skins were sold as a starter at some eateries in east Anglia. And we are very lucky economically at the moment.

[PreppingPingu]

Yes we have less food waste. Family aren't being so picky about which blueberries or carrots they eat and are eating stuff based on use by date rather than what you fancy. But yes as OM said, we are using more gas and leccy but not so much petrol and not having our fortnighly "Bill's" breakfast or our weekly takeaway treat. Swings n roundabouts as they say. As the weather warms hopefully the fuel bill will go down. I'll be using the BBQ more

[grenfell]

Caught the breakfast show on itv this morning , the one with Susanna Reid . They were talking to a cook , Nadia something sorry didn't catch her surname , and she was talking about banana skins. Shred them and cook ( fry i think) with garlic and onion , add some bbq sauce and they come out like pulled pork. Not something i've heard of before but might be worth a go. Definitely no waste then.

[Bosworth]

I’m prepping my kids (11, 9, 7) for austerity. Previously piles of food thrown away. Now very much: today breakfast will be.. lunch will be.. snack will be... etc

Surprisingly little complaining.

[jansman]

My experiences with my own children confirm that they understand serious situations.When mum and dad are stressed,they feel it , and understand. I remember a time,many years ago,that actually turned me into a ' prepper'.

I had an industrial accident that put me off work for quite a while. My boss at that time,an idiot ( think Mike Ashley,Sports Direct,and you'll get the type), refused to pay me.We were on our knees financially.One day,after discussing our parlous financial situation,our eldest ,about four years old,brought her little piggy bank of coins and said, " mummy,here's some money. " Breaks my heart thinking about it.

[diamond lil]

I found out about prepping when I had 2 under-5s and a husband who worked as a crane driver in the docks and who was always out on strike. Longest strike was 5 months, and we got about £11 in those days for me and the kids, nothing for him as they wouldn't pay Social Security for strikers. I found out then that when you're down, nobody will help you but they will all queue up to kick you. I never forgot that.

[Arwen Thebard]

We are paying more attention to portion size control and reducing coffee and tea intake, while tea bags and spud skins go in the compost or wormery.

[jansman]

I found out about prepping when I had 2 under-5s and a husband who worked as a crane driver in the docks and who was always out on strike. Longest strike was 5 months, and we got about £11 in those days for me and the kids, nothing for him as they wouldn't pay Social Security for strikers. I found out then that when you're down, nobody will help you but they will all queue up to kick you. I never forgot that.

It makes it even more memorable when you have young children.

[grenfell]

We are paying more attention to portion size control and reducing coffee and tea intake, while tea bags and spud skins go in the compost or wormery.

Personally i'm happy to eat the skins as they are but they can be cut small and fried till crispy then scattered onto the mashed potatoes makes a good use of the skins . For a long time now i've dried out my teabags so i can rip them open and only put the tea leaves into the compost. Probably not the most important thing but i was getting irritated by finding the plastic mesh in the soil. It has , unfortunately , given ammunition to my friends to take the mick about me being mean , " drying out teabags for reuse" type of thing .

[Arzosah]

For a long time now i've dried out my teabags so i can rip them open and only put the tea leaves into the compost.

I do that too now, all the time. I used to be pretty hit and miss about it, partly because of warnings that it should only be a small percentage of the soil. But it was a New Year resolution which I've kept to, though I havent sorted the issue of where to put them long term. For now, I'm putting them on my side of a shared border at the front. I'm hoping the concentration will be enough to deter the ivy and the leylandii that are trying to take it over, from the neighbour.

In general - I've stuck too much with a few of my preps, so I've broadened out what I use - I'm using olives again, expiry October 2019, not too bad, but there's a lot of them so I need to keep going

Restocking when this is all over will be quite something. Of course, if we're on course for a real shtf event, then that will be the least of my problems