I’m starting this thread for the purpose of enticing all you UK lurkers to come out and help each other! Post your questions, information, suggestions, comments, on how to prepare yourself and your family for a possible pandemic.
For the first post, I’m going to ask if any of you know where are the cheap places to buy bulk items.
My personal favourite at the moment is Costco, which sells even single items at wholesale prices. You have to join. If you have a business, then its easy. Or get someone who has a business to join and get you a card. Or you can join if you are a professional.
Please post your personal favourites!
Dont have a ‘Costco’ near me, but I use ‘Makro’ who also sell at wholesale prices.
anon_22 Do you have the web site for ‘Cosco’ so I can see if one is in my area. If not I’ll try google.
follow the above link :-)
I’ve got access to Makro too (you also need a business to join). They do great special offers. The last time I tried Costco they wanted to charge for access which didn’t appeal. Perhaps I’ll join if we get a little closer to disaster.
I’m still in the process of testing tinned food for flavour. I don’t want to be locked up for months with tins of soup I just can’t stand!
tell us the result of your tests? :-)
LOL! Mostly ‘I’d eat this if I HAD to’.
Vegitables - sweetcorn, Nibblets are best. Carrots, anybody’s, but sliced are cheaper. Broad beans, don’t forget to take the shells off. Peas - bleughhh (though it was a limited trial). Sprouts… nope haven’t been brave enough to buy any yet. Creamed mushrooms, while nice, need a lot more mushrooms. Tinned mushrooms, bland, need a little something extra… perhaps a tin of creamed mushrooms? I would try different baked beans but since I can’t abide tomatoes I’d probably only use the tins to repel burglars.
Meat - Plumrose cocktail sausages aren’t nice like I remember them from childhood. Spam should be grilled or fried, not cold (yuk). Corned beef is best mixed with mashed potatoes and fried. Haven’t tried tinned ham yet but I don’t have fond memories of it. Chicken in white sauce, all makes, not bad but I’ve got to try M&S’s version, it might have more chicken flavour. Fray Bentos pies - I’d steer clear of the ‘chicken and whatever it had with it’ pie. M&S tinned steak, yummy.
Not an exhaustive test so far, but not bad for someone who hasn’t had food out of a tin for years.
The soup trials are next… is it a bad sign when you can’t stand the smell just after you’ve opened the tin?
I recently bought http://www.squarefootgardening.com I find it useful.
I did read in Norwegian newspaper that solar heathers and small windturbines was selling like hot chocklate at the british B&Q, i checked the prices, and they seem to be in the upper level I think in comparison with homemade sytems, but its great that ordinary shops starts selling this. This solar heathers uses waterpipes and stores the heath in water tanks.
A simpler but quite effective product is the Solarventi. Its a air based system, and do not store the heath, but if sun shines and you have a south facing wall or roof, this one will heath your home. It gives out 20–30´C hotter air than the outside temperature. And for the people with some DIY skills, its very easy to build your self, and much cheaper.
You need a small PV solar panel ( the portable ones used for recharging ipods and cellphones etc should do fine, this drives A old computer fan. A clear greenhouse channel plate. A thin blackpainted aluminium plate or stretchgrid painted black. Some flat insulation whit metallic coating (like those emergency blankets, look in carpart shops) and a frame. You make a hole in the wall for a ordinary vent, and thats it. The bigger the better, just use Solarventi data as a clue on how effective it is regarding size..
You construct it as a sandwich. From out to in: Greenhouse plate - 1 cm air- Black and perforated aluminium −2 cm of air- Insulation. Drill holes in the bottom part of frame leading into the outer chamber, How many and how big? Try it out, but make it a smaller area than the vent hole. The PV solarpanel is placed inside or somwhere else near the coolector.
When sun shines the computer fan will suck the cold outside air into the collektor, heated by the sun it will pass the perforation and be blowed into the house. The slower the air blows the hoter it will be. The fan is placed in the vent hole.
http://www.solarventi.co.uk/index.pl?art=5
I havent tried it out yet, only made a small prototype 20×20 cm, but its sure gets hot. And this is a very well tried out prinsiple for solar collectors.