Hi, first post

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Frnc
Posts: 3182
Joined: Sat Mar 12, 2022 1:54 pm

Re: Hi, first post

Post by Frnc »

Hi, watched the video. Good summary. I do have a bit of food, maybe a couple of months worth at a stretch, could fit a bit more under my bed. Also could put some in the cellar, not really used that much for prepping yet. I keep a bit of cash and a couple of small gold/silver coins but nothing like £ thousands. Might try to up that a bit. Cheers.
jennyjj01
Posts: 3429
Joined: Sun Jun 04, 2017 11:09 pm

Re: Hi, first post

Post by jennyjj01 »

Frnc wrote: Sun Mar 13, 2022 12:51 pm I probably do concentrate a bit too much on bugging out. But of course wild edibles could be foraged if bugging in. ...
I guess I find bugout prep a bit more interesting than bug-in, but realistically bugging in makes most sense if possible. Of course a lot depends on who you are with, and what the situation is like in the area in general.
Fair confession. We all have our biases and motivations and by sharing and listening, we collectively cover more bases. We have some great expertise here. Figuring out emergency ration recipes fascinates me. Others here know how to grow stuff, kill stuff or fix stuff.... or even forage stuff. We'd make a great community in a crisis.

I don't have a bug-out plan beyond rocking up at another family members home, or nearest travelodge if my home becomes temporarily uninhabitable. The idea of foraging in the UK would soon see me starve or freeze. I'm probably pretty local to you and looking around locally, the only edibles are probably occasional blackberries and whatever i could steal from farms. Doesn't strike me as sustainable at all. I don't even have a tent. But within my home, I could hunker down without utilities or groceries for a few months. Covid gave us a useful dress rehearsal for a few eventualities.
Frnc wrote: Sun Mar 13, 2022 1:16 pm Hi, watched the video. Good summary. I do have a bit of food, maybe a couple of months worth at a stretch, could fit a bit more under my bed. Also could put some in the cellar, not really used that much for prepping yet. I keep a bit of cash and a couple of small gold/silver coins but nothing like £ thousands. Might try to up that a bit. Cheers.
I'd love to have a cellar. It would soon be better stocked than ASDA and BargainBooze :)
One thing from the covid dress rehearsal was finding that we seldom have the right mix of reserves. Masses of carbs needed, and didn't have, masses of veg or fibre, or flavours. Loads of tea and coffee and not enough powdered milk. Etc Etc.

Forethought and training are preps in themselves. Getting into the right mindset can save our lives. Big part of the value here is our diversity.
Graceful Degradation! Prepping's objective summed up in two words. Turning Disaster into Mild Inconvenience by the power of fore-thought

Not Feeling Optimistic. Let me be wrong
Frnc
Posts: 3182
Joined: Sat Mar 12, 2022 1:54 pm

Re: Hi, first post

Post by Frnc »

jennyjj01 wrote: Sun Mar 13, 2022 3:40 pm the only edibles are probably occasional blackberries and whatever i could steal from farms. Doesn't strike me as sustainable at all.
Masses of carbs needed, and didn't have, masses of veg or fibre, or flavours. Loads of tea and coffee and not enough powdered milk.
I did have a big tin of dried milk.
Re wild edibles, you'd be surprised. A common one is the chickweeds. These are found all over, most of the year. 1 cup of raw chickweed contains 96 calories, 15g of carbohydrates, 6g of protein, and 1g of fat. Another is the rhizomes of cat-tails and the common reed, which are full of carbs (possibly up to 80%). Obviously this is last resort, famine-type stuff, better than nothing though.
PS, might be worth getting a tent, might come in handy one day. I just have a small, fairly cheap one that only weighs 1kg. It doesn't have poles, trekking pole is an extra 170g. Packs down to maybe 4 times the size of my fist, ie small.
Arzosah
Posts: 6323
Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2012 4:20 pm

Re: Hi, first post

Post by Arzosah »

Hawthorn and Good King Henry. Young beech leaves.
jennyjj01
Posts: 3429
Joined: Sun Jun 04, 2017 11:09 pm

Re: Hi, first post

Post by jennyjj01 »

Frnc wrote: Sun Mar 13, 2022 6:03 pm
jennyjj01 wrote: Sun Mar 13, 2022 3:40 pm the only edibles are probably occasional blackberries and whatever i could steal from farms. Doesn't strike me as sustainable at all.
Masses of carbs needed, and didn't have, masses of veg or fibre, or flavours. Loads of tea and coffee and not enough powdered milk.
Re wild edibles, you'd be surprised. A common one is the chickweeds. These are found all over, most of the year. 1 cup of raw chickweed contains 96 calories, 15g of carbohydrates, 6g of protein, and 1g of fat. Another is the rhizomes of cat-tails and the common reed, which are full of carbs (possibly up to 80%). Obviously this is last resort, famine-type stuff, better than nothing though.
Arzosah wrote: Sun Mar 13, 2022 8:30 pm Hawthorn and Good King Henry. Young beech leaves.
I bow to your superior knowledge, but with ZERO foraging skills, I'd still expect to either starve or poison myself. Maybe I'll download some ebooks and explore the topic. All I know so far is blackberries, elderberries, and nettle tea.

Serious question... Have either of you lived on foraged food for a week? Did you need salt or ketchup? It's one thing knowing the calorie count, but totally another knowing how to make passable meals from those things. Kudos if you have tried it.

PS, might be worth getting a tent, might come in handy one day. I just have a small, fairly cheap one that only weighs 1kg. It doesn't have poles, trekking pole is an extra 170g. Packs down to maybe 4 times the size of my fist, ie small.
Hmmmmm. I'd have to be full on homeless refugee to need a tent and I'm not prepped for that. Maybe I should. There would need to be no alternative structures to shelter in and I cannot envisage such a scenario. We do have a set of bump keys, so as long as there's an empty house standing, I'd have a home :)
We also have about 4 good tarpaulins, including a huge one. Also a selection of ropes. Not an ideal tent, but more multi purpose.
Graceful Degradation! Prepping's objective summed up in two words. Turning Disaster into Mild Inconvenience by the power of fore-thought

Not Feeling Optimistic. Let me be wrong
Arzosah
Posts: 6323
Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2012 4:20 pm

Re: Hi, first post

Post by Arzosah »

jennyjj01 wrote: Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:43 pm
Frnc wrote: Sun Mar 13, 2022 6:03 pm
jennyjj01 wrote: Sun Mar 13, 2022 3:40 pm the only edibles are probably occasional blackberries and whatever i could steal from farms. Doesn't strike me as sustainable at all.
Masses of carbs needed, and didn't have, masses of veg or fibre, or flavours. Loads of tea and coffee and not enough powdered milk.
Re wild edibles, you'd be surprised. A common one is the chickweeds. These are found all over, most of the year. 1 cup of raw chickweed contains 96 calories, 15g of carbohydrates, 6g of protein, and 1g of fat. Another is the rhizomes of cat-tails and the common reed, which are full of carbs (possibly up to 80%). Obviously this is last resort, famine-type stuff, better than nothing though.
Arzosah wrote: Sun Mar 13, 2022 8:30 pm Hawthorn and Good King Henry. Young beech leaves.
I bow to your superior knowledge, but with ZERO foraging skills, I'd still expect to either starve or poison myself. Maybe I'll download some ebooks and explore the topic. All I know so far is blackberries, elderberries, and nettle tea.

Serious question... Have either of you lived on foraged food for a week? Did you need salt or ketchup? It's one thing knowing the calorie count, but totally another knowing how to make passable meals from those things. Kudos if you have tried it.
Good heavens no! My ambition is to make my own pesto: the above plants, plus dandelion leaves, sorrel (both of which are naturalised in my garden :) ) nettles from the local fields, whatever. If I could manage to produce one portion a day of home grown pesto, I'd be Smug McSmugFace. Check out the Woodland Trust for a place to start https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/visiti ... lsrc=aw.ds plus WildFoodUK https://www.wildfooduk.com/wild-plant-guide/

Those sorts of plants aren't primarily about carbs - nutrients and micronutrients are the name of the game.

PS, might be worth getting a tent, might come in handy one day. I just have a small, fairly cheap one that only weighs 1kg. It doesn't have poles, trekking pole is an extra 170g. Packs down to maybe 4 times the size of my fist, ie small.
Hmmmmm. I'd have to be full on homeless refugee to need a tent and I'm not prepped for that. Maybe I should. There would need to be no alternative structures to shelter in and I cannot envisage such a scenario. We do have a set of bump keys, so as long as there's an empty house standing, I'd have a home :)
We also have about 4 good tarpaulins, including a huge one. Also a selection of ropes. Not an ideal tent, but more multi purpose.
I used to have a pukka backpackers tent, that I used for weeks on end, but no longer. All I have now is one of those ridiculous festival tents that spiral-fold down into flatness. If something terrible happened here and I had to walk to my sister's, I'd take it, in case I couldn't get there in one day - I'd need a shelter from bugs etc - I know myself, I'd die of adrenalin poisoning if I couldn't lie down in peace. At home, if the energy goes off during winter, I could shake the tent out like a big blanket so it would put it itself up, quite literally, onto my bed, and I'd sleep pretty well warm and toasty.
Frnc
Posts: 3182
Joined: Sat Mar 12, 2022 1:54 pm

Re: Hi, first post

Post by Frnc »

Arzosah wrote: Sun Mar 13, 2022 8:30 pm Hawthorn and Good King Henry. Young beech leaves.
Not heard of Good King Henry before, looked it up, Chenopodium - apparently there are wild varieties eg Fat Hen, all edible and fairly common. Often found around arable fields.
Frnc
Posts: 3182
Joined: Sat Mar 12, 2022 1:54 pm

Re: Hi, first post

Post by Frnc »

jennyjj01 wrote: Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:43 pm
I bow to your superior knowledge, but with ZERO foraging skills, I'd still expect to either starve or poison myself. Maybe I'll download some ebooks and explore the topic. All I know so far is blackberries, elderberries, and nettle tea.

Serious question... Have either of you lived on foraged food for a week? Did you need salt or ketchup? It's one thing knowing the calorie count, but totally another knowing how to make passable meals from those things. Kudos if you have tried it.
Not yet, I've only been studying this a few weeks, and had a medical issue so not been out much yet. Also there are all sorts of factors like some plants you would only want to pull up in a survival situation, and even then you might want to think about long term sustainability, ie not eradicating the supply. Nettles of course are common and you can eat the leaves. Some people eat them raw but you have to know how. Hopefully I'll get out in the spring and start identifying things in the wild and collecting a few things. Yes you have to be very careful not to poison yourself. There is one plant that can harm you just from touching it - Giant Hogweed. Also Poison Hemlock and Helock Water-dropwort are lethal if consumed. The young plants could look like wild carrot, wild parley and a few others. I guess it takes months or years to learn enough to forage safely without a pile of books. There are courses you can go on. Salt is an important thing we need of course, something I need to look into a bit more.
jennyjj01
Posts: 3429
Joined: Sun Jun 04, 2017 11:09 pm

Re: Hi, first post

Post by jennyjj01 »

Frnc wrote: Mon Mar 14, 2022 9:08 am
jennyjj01 wrote: Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:43 pm Serious question... Have either of you lived on foraged food for a week? Did you need salt or ketchup? It's one thing knowing the calorie count, but totally another knowing how to make passable meals from those things. Kudos if you have tried it.
Not yet, I've only been studying this a few weeks, and had a medical issue so not been out much yet. Also there are all sorts of factors like some plants you would only want to pull up in a survival situation, and even then you might want to think about long term sustainability, ie not eradicating the supply. Nettles of course are common and you can eat the leaves. Some people eat them raw but you have to know how. Hopefully I'll get out in the spring and start identifying things in the wild and collecting a few things. Yes you have to be very careful not to poison yourself. There is one plant that can harm you just from touching it - Giant Hogweed. Also Poison Hemlock and Helock Water-dropwort are lethal if consumed. The young plants could look like wild carrot, wild parley and a few others. I guess it takes months or years to learn enough to forage safely without a pile of books. There are courses you can go on. Salt is an important thing we need of course, something I need to look into a bit more.
I look forward to reading about your foraging experiments: Rather you than me. :D
My foraging plans start with a night time raid on the nearby allotments and probably end with me getting shot for sheep rustling. :lol:
If you want to find how bad life without salt and ketchup is, take 'the 'ration challenge' It's free and you will learn A LOT in a week, and lose weight quickly.
Graceful Degradation! Prepping's objective summed up in two words. Turning Disaster into Mild Inconvenience by the power of fore-thought

Not Feeling Optimistic. Let me be wrong
SamVimes
Posts: 25
Joined: Thu Mar 03, 2022 7:10 pm

Re: Hi, first post

Post by SamVimes »

I'd love to bug out and live off the land but lets face it, that a fantasy especially in the UK.
Primary plan is to bug in however I live near a major piece of UK infrastructure that has "tactical nuke target" written all over it. If that situation is reached all bets are off. Could relocate to the midlands but I suspect the roads will be a tad congested.