Any preppers on here?

[integrale_evo]

Just curious, there’s a lot going around about the government suggesting we have a few days of food, wind up radio etc, what have you got?

We’re not ‘preppers’ like the yanks with a huge store of MREs and a couple of guns, but having grown up in towns/ villages / the countryside it’s always been pretty normal to have a modest stock of tinned and dried goods, and a decently stocked freezer which would probably last a while even without power during winter,

There’s a camping stove and gas canisters in the shed, at least one car always has a full tank of fuel, and I’ve got usb adapters for my decent stock of power tool batteries - which are usually charged when I’ve finished using them.

I’m sure we’d be fine for several days with no effort. I think the biggest issue would be having no heat if the power went out, we’re on oil but the waterpump is electric. If it came to it I’d probably bodge something up using a cars heater

[DeskJockey]

We're building a reasonable stock of things to see us through a couple of days if the power goes.

Nothing excessive, just a sensible amount of things.

[dinny_g]

A little bit yeah but almost be accident rather than design.

I always keep stocks of canned and dried food and buy more when I get down to 4 cans, than than when I run out etc.

We only drink bottled water (Milton Keynes council juice isn’t the best) so there’s always a weeks supply minimum in the garage.

Back during Covid, I bought 4 x 50 l tanks when there was concerns over supply. This will keep the toilets flushing and could be used for washing etc.

I have plenty of gas and a stove, battery packs etc and, from camping, we have enough fleeces, Down and sleeping bags to ride out the coldest weather.

The only thing I’ve bought is a wind up radio.

But as I say, I have most of what people say we should have without prepping it…

[IanF]

How many wars last 3 days?

[mik]

A freezer full of Greggs wonders, a 3kw generator, and a Jerry can….

[Jobbo]

My wife likes Costco so we have plenty of toilet rolls in stock and various other household bits. Some Fray Bentos pies and other tins. I reckon we could survive for a couple of weeks without going out. But by chance rather than design.

[Mito Man]

I’d like to know what we’re prepping for. If it’s a 3 day power cut then yeah, I think I’ll be ok just with the random food I’ve got in my cupboard. If it’s a longer term war I don’t think there’s much you can do.

[GG.]

No.

That said our new house has a pantry so, er, yes? But inadvertently.

[dinny_g]

I do t think recent advice is aimed at surviving WW3 (which, if it kicks off, I don’t want to . Land a nuke in my head and be done with it)

It’s about reducing the inconvenience and impact of short term disruptions to the supply chain ( fuel issues, problems with access to Seuz or Panama Canal etc) or issues with essential services - cyber attacks etc.

Sad that it’s got to this but there you go…

[V8Granite]

A couple of kg of beef in the freezer, and frozen fruit chunks.

Everything is cooked fresh here, so once we run out of a weeks worth of baking supplies we will have to go out with the dog hunting rabbits.

4 or so months of firewood, lots of battery power, minimal toilet roll.

Dave!

[dinny_g]

Don’t you go in the woods anyway???

Plenty of leaves to use…

[Explosive Newt]

I've never got out of the covid habit of having 14 days of supplies: tinned and frozen... and admittedly a lot of it Branston Beans with Sausages (but honestly that is probably my favourite food).
But
a) I don't know what we would do if the power went off
b) I don't know what we would do if there were no water supplies

[Nefarious]

I'm very much emotionally divided on this.

On the one hand, the messaging has some face-value legitimacy - if power/water supplies fail it's far better if, say, 50% of people aren't reliant on bottled water distribution or emergency shelters. In pretty much all scenarios, people being able to look after themselves for a day or two is *far* better than having to wheel out disaster mitigation stuff nationwide on day 1. On a personal level, I'd rather not be forced into fighting out a 3 hour queue for half a dozen bottles of water.

On the other hand, as others have pointed out, what does 3 days actually buy you in most of the scenarios imagined? I struggle to whip up the enthusiasm to make significant preparations for living in a post-apocalyptic total societal collapse world.

So, the compromise I've settled on is a few tweaks to otherwise normal running:
- One extra box to the pantry cycle (no weird emergency rations, just a little bit extra of the normal stuff)
- Refreshing the 2nd propane cylinder cylinder at the workshop
- Rejigging the solar setup so it can provide 5kW per day (sun dependent) without mains power
- Filling the 2 50L water drums I keep at the workshop anyway
- Extra 1000 rounds of shotgun ammo at the next order