Anyone planning on buying a wind up FM radio?

Do you have a commode? If not, you could buy a cheap one. Or a bucket. Or a camping toilet. Line with 1/2 bin bags and dispose of them.

Jta, you could also scoop the water out of your toilet and put a bag in the bowl.

I think i will get a battery operated radio. Mainly as a source of entertainment in power cuts (hence why battery operated rather than wind up) but also in case we need radio updates. Do people know the frequency we should be tuning in to, for government type updates? There is one, but I don't know what it is and imagine most other people don't either!

@HummusEater23

Do people know the frequency we should be tuning in to, for government type updates

That's actually a fair question..I.suppose any of the national BBC channels would do.

Once upon a time the default would have been BBC R 2? 4? on Longwave at 198 kHz...whatever number it was you could receive that hundreds of miles from the UK....but I think it got shutdown earlier this year in favour of using FM.

Maybe not the cleverest thing to do in terms of national resiliance but I'm sure it saved money...

Yes. I have one that's battery and solar too so that much cover all bases.

That did not sound fun.
In that case our sleeping bags may be too bulky to transport if not using our own car.

I did a 16 hour outdoor first aid course one January and it really brought it home how important warmth was for a casualty (or anyone) before anything else.
We had big foil sleeping bag things to sit in and they really made a difference, but they are pricey.

No. Had one years ago when they were all the rage. Utterly shit. Wouldn’t waste my money on it. I do have battery radios - but highly unlikely to even dig them out and battery life is around a few hours on batteries which aren’t exactly cheap (six number c).
bit of peace and quiet for a few days sounds lovely.

I have a camping solar panel & a battery charger that plugs into it & lots of batteries.

No one is jumping to apocalypse.
But I am in my sixties and apart from the seventies when power cuts lasted hours, not days, then I have experienced two occasions with water off for a few hours and a couple of power cuts for half and hour and two hours. That's it. Over four decades.
So being told to have enough food and water for three days in case of no power is not normal.
I will do it. But I feel I am being gas lit by those claiming this is normal. It is not normal.

A battery operated radio would just be to listen to the news.
I see zero point in battery chargers for phones. The internet would be down. It's purely to get news of what's happening I.e. when power will be back on. If it's longer than a few days news about distribution points.

In terms of warmth I would have no heating. But we have plenty of extra bedding we use for guests. During the day could go walking, as work would be closed, and in evening cuddle up under multiple duvets.

I got one recently! Someone on here recommended a website where you can put in your family situation (kids, pets etc) and it creates a little list for you. Familyprep I think it was called? I was missing a fair few things so stocked up. I’m not a big doomsday prepper but I do think it’s important to be prepared, especially as we live in an area prone to storms and power cuts etc

I don't have a radio but I do have a wind up torch and find the same. It's put me off going for a radio, the ones at home take batteries so I'll just make sure I have enough of those. I do wonder how many of the good reviews for the one a PP linked have actually used it as a wind up.

Already got one, wind up, solar, reachable and battery operated in one. It was something like £13.99 from Amazon, I tested it and it works fine. Also has a torch.

if the water does go out of date then slightly out of date water will be better than no water. It can also be used for washing and loo flushing if needed. Provided you check the "best before" date and note that is is a best before date and not a use by. I'd also suggest that any amount of water is better than none at all? If you want to limit how much water you decide to store then if you can get a waterbutt or more than one. When we had the long outage here, I used water from my water butts. I tied a piece of cotton cloth over the tap to filter out the big stuff, then added sterilising tablets (cheap on amazon) to it and then used it for loo flushes and heated some of it in saucepans for washing. I could probably have drunk it once sterilised and boiled but didn't need to.

wow lucky you! As I said upthread, I have never lived anywhere in my adult life where we didn't get at least 4 longish powercuts a year and often more. Water loss is, for me an new problem but havinghad a long outage once and now knowing what dreadful state our water supply system is in, I think its now sensible to take some minimal precautions.

Would the battery life be that short if you're only listening to the radio? Was it a radio cassette/CD player? They do use a lot more power when playing tapes as they're physically moving something, but I feel like radio alone shouldn't use that much power.

@godmum56 I have always lived in large towns and cities in England, Wales and Scotland. I have lived in five different places, so this is not about one city being particularly organised.

They are soft launching WWIII.
The constant influx of articles about war, conscription etc paired with even more constant influx of articles about stock piling food and other things. Very interesting timing 🤔

I live in semi rural area and we have power cuts weekly, mostly lasting a few minutes but still.
A few weeks ago, we had 2 power cuts and a no water in a space of few days.
I live between a town and a city but both about 10 miles away in different directions, if the weather is really bad (beast from the east for example) we are cut off.

4 foil sleeping bags are under 20 quid on amazon. Yes I know that there will be people who can't afford them but I don't think its pricy. They do come singly as well. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Deecam-Waterproof-Lightweight-Activities-Backpacking/dp/B0FNCR8BGG/ref=sr_1_15?crid=2242BIOVZUD88&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Qt8JfA1PNmYgqCWvhyvjrF7YWv4pR7RXxuRYIEVqh6C5lisK0zbmFtoyyCVTGecnVXxR8ixEMv5gOF5bcAxbna7qTOSLtP_yHXnVOPduOObKIW-JuCcEwyprMP_3_PxH5vLDeikG_xsrCeUe7JeloZuJ2FNt-TQJ0DaUjGVBKL_dB856xdRPJhA8kBv-YNZ8Uq3yoAZGv0sbY4lgPA8AzrW14cfJaBdwoUasebzkGHBdKK_PgyQ0Ky25k8WzuL5lIY50ZSI3WLH6rOKInut8JjmcCey5zZfLPk2wjr4b1DA.otmbuChDJoUbujq48K9jnHrCmsbz1pnoddrhi3IvJzU&dib_tag=se&keywords=foil+sleeping+bag&qid=1792768287&sprefix=foil+sleeping+bag%2Caps%2C190&sr=8-15

Yes I agree this is about world war three although I think this war is basically cyber and infrastructure attacks.

Mine turned up yesterday 📻

I have said this before but its totally people's choice and decision on what to do. Nobody is being forced to do anything and people's different circumstances will change what they decide to do and what will be needful for them.

I got one in the summer when I first started hearing about the super El Niño, along with a power bank and wind up lamp. I used them this morning! After the three day power cut after Goretti I wasn't taking any chances.

I think "years ago" is the key. They have become a lot more efficient than the expensive originals