Every year about this time I used to write a piece for the Suffolk Smallholders Society Newsletter all about Preparing for Winter in the country. It was aimed at new members of the SSS who had moved to the Suffolk countryside - and there were always some every year.
Twice in our married life we were without electric for a week - once was this time 37 years ago, In Bacton, over night on the 15/16th October 1987, the night of the hurricane, I remember it well as I was 8½ months pregnant and son remembers opening his birthday presents by torchlight on the 17th. Our next door neighbour had electric back before us and the electricity company didn't realise we were still off for another 3 days. With no TV and no phone line we had no idea how widespread the devastation was until much later. Colin was a supervisor for County Council road maintenance and went out with the men working long hours clearing trees and I hardly saw him all week. Luckily we had propane gas cooker and gas fire.
The second time was sometime in the early 2000's at the smallholding in Knodishall, again caused by strong winds and again we had bottled LPG cooker and a wood stove and old multi fuel Rayburn for heat.
Since those events I've always kept candles and matches, plus torch and radio with batteries to run them in the house. And now with only electric for cooking I have a camping stove and gas cylinders ready too, plus the wood burner of course.
And Food............
There was a time early on at the smallholding that shopping choices were very small - before supermarkets moved into Saxmundham it was just the Co-op and you could guarantee that something I'd run out of at home would be exactly where the empty space was on the Co-op shelves. So I got used to keeping a big stock in my lovely big pantry.
No big pantry now but lots of cupboards in the kitchen and plenty of room to keep a good amount of spare things for one person.
Everyone likes a look in other peoples cupboards but in 11 years I've never shared mine on the blog before .
I never want to be without toast so flour of all sorts is one thing that I keep plenty of in stock, more than anything else - ever since Ukraine was invaded and we were told there would be a flour shortage, there hasn't been but the price has certainly gone up.
Top shelf new bread flour two each of quality Allinson's and cheaper Aldi - I mix them for a good but slightly cheaper loaf. Also up there is a part bag of cooking salt that was huge from Approved Foods about 10 years ago and has moved house four times!
Next shelf has plain flour that's in use, granary and wholemeal, new yeast and new cornflour at the back, baking powder in the jar. Malt extract for malt bread, standing on a piece of kitchen roll to catch any sticky dribbles
Bottom shelf bread flour that's in use plus self raising in the tin that came from a boot sale. Behind is cornflour in the jar and storage jars of brown and demerara sugar.
In the pull out unit are two more plain and self raising plus a new granary
No flour shortage here!
More cupboard photos another day.
Back Soon
Sue
Having had more than one incident of "little creepy crawlies" in bags of flour from three major supermarkets I invested in some large Lock n Lock boxes for the unopened bags. I don't care how little or how much I paid for the flour, waste was waste and if being kept long enough then the air tight properties of those boxes kept everything fresh.
ReplyDeleteIt's always good to keep at least a couple weeks worth of tinned and dry shelf food on hand, even in the summer these days.
I remember the SSS magazine we used to get every month. It was interesting. I also remember the storm of '87. We were cut off from the rest of the world for a week. Our relatives were worried as they couldn't get in touch. I remember some Irish soldiers came to put us back on the grid and cut up the rest of the hundreds of trees that were blocking the road for over half a mile. Luckily we had Calor gas for cooking and hubby could get down to the animals that were fortunately unharmed.
ReplyDeleteBack at the farmhouse, I had plenty of room for big earthenware jars to store various dry goods in, flours included. I still have the jars, but several are in the stables now and no-one is interested in buying them as they have no room! I have a big enamel Flour bin for my flours once they are opened, and "seal" the tops with a stout peg. The back up flours are in the little pine sideboard that Tam and I drove all the well to Dolgellau to buy after it was on Marketplace. That was the first year we were here and it is my Baking Cupboard.
ReplyDeleteWhen we were first at Ynyswen, powercuts were a regular thing but only for a day or so - a week without must have been a challenge. We had the Hergom stove in the kitchen for warmth and heating stuff on top (lost the oven heat when we changed over from wood/coal to oil). Plus a wood burning stove in the living room, and plenty of candles. Gas camping stoves in cupboard too (still have). Here we have oil central heating and electricity and no wood burner, so I would struggle more in a power cut. Fortunately lots of blankets, quilts and cats for warmth . . .