Government 3day emergency ready

I’ve got loads of spare duvets so we’ll just wrap ourselves up in those. Others will use their sleeping bags. You can use anything really but it’s worth remembering that it gets really really cold with no heating.

Pregnancy is naturally an anxiety inducing time. Try not to let yourself spiral. The government aren’t “expecting” all these things to happen, they just want us to be prepared just in case we lose power OR water OR ever need to evacuate our homes because of flooding or wildfires etc.

So they’ve given us this list to cover ALL eventualities. Seeing it all listed together can appear overwhelming - like they’re telling us that we’ll have no food or water, and banking will go down, and we’ll freeze, and we’ll all have to flee.

In reality, they’re not expecting us to be stricken by all or indeed, even one of those events but it’s better to be prepared just in case. Just like having insurance for your car. Chances are you won’t crash, but it’s best to prepare for the worst!

@nahlaaaa you don't need a sleeping bag or stove. Just some food you can eat without cooking and extra duvets or clothes to keep warm in a power cut.

I'm a 70's child. My mum
always kept a small box of tins in the bottom of her wardrobe. It was tinned potatoes, corned beef and cans of soup mainly. We always had candles handy plus a battery powered radio and a torch. I remember lots of power cuts.

We were a camping family so they had everything else they needed for cooking.

I haven't given it a second thought

oo, just remembered I've got some Nerf guns! I must get some target practice in.

Some of were prepared for a nuclear strike, so yes, we had food, water, medicines and first aid supplies stocked up. We just ran with a full food cupboard, which when living at the end of a supply route, was considered good housekeeping in those days.

And yes, we did experience winter power cuts and blocked roads for several days at a time. It's just a matter of getting your head around what you might need if shops are closed/empty and resupply will take a few days.

For those like @nahlaaaa who are concerned about money - the way we used to build up stocks was by buying a few extra things every week. Cash wise, try to put away £5 per week as well. I know it can be really difficult if you're on a tight budget, but even a little at a time can build up really quickly.

I’m in a holiday cottage in Devon. We’re stocked up with sausages, eggs, bacon, beer, wine, quality street and water so all good here!

It must be exhausting living like this. I haven’t given it a second thought.

Get a grip.

If it was something awful they would be advising to keep far more than three days of food in the house.

How many PM's did the Conservatives get through that were elected by their members not the public? Four I believe, were you calling for a general election then? I hope so. Plus the UK have been supporting Ukraine far before Labour got back into power so calm yourself down and think rationally

Here’s what I think as someone who has lived in the Middle East during a conflict: know how to respond quickly to an emergency warning without panicking and drill the children to listen song follow instructions immediately.
Find the safest spot to get to within a few minutes.. a basement, a downstairs internal room with strong walls away from windows, a stairwell, an underground station etc.
Have a bag and shoes by the front door with water and food inside and chargers.
Set your phone to send emergency warnings.
Don’t panic buy, just ensure that you have essentials like tinned food, tissues, tampons, dry foods etc and batteries.
Buy a generator and a camping stove and lights.
Be aware of your own surroundings and make sure your children know how to stay safe if they’re not with you.
Personally I’d stay away from large gatherings/crowds too.

I used to live in a village with regular power outages during winter/stormy weather. We were also electric only. Have never not kept camping gas stove and fuel since. Longest was 5 days. House did get cold so we decamped to friends with the children as they were so young. But now they’re older and have done years of scouting and guiding between them, I’m confident we could rough it for a few days. We’ve got winter weight sleeping bags and blankets, can cook food and have a well stocked pantry as a matter of course.

I think to a degree, as a society, we’ve got used to things being easy and therefore the idea of discomfort or hard work scares us.

Surely its just being an adult? As a kid I remember knowing where the candles, matches, torch etc was kept incase of a power cut. Be prepared - basic Brownies/Guides motto. I've grown up always having a spare few tins of food in the cupboard. Paracetamol etc in the first aid box, spare batteries, torch.. i don't get what everyone is freaking out about? No one is being told to build Anderson shelters in their gardens!

We have supplies up in our attic, along with all the general stuff we have baby wipes for washing ourselves, a camping stove (which we already had) along with gas for that, and I bought a couple of battery operated lanterns which can also charge by solar and have a wind up handle too, plus a USB port for charging mobiles. I'm happy that if the power gets knocked out we'll be absolutely fine for a week or so. I also have some cash put away because if theres no power bank cards will be useless. Obviously though if a war broke out, that stuffs helping no-one and were all fcuked! But I do think its advisable to have some sort of back up plan, especially with the extreme weather that could be on the way, its better to be safe than sorry and having a little stash doesn't hurt anyone does it, I think it's sensible tbh

“Death comes to us all sooner or later. We cannot escape it.”

The winter of our discontent!

It's just sensible to have a bit of extra food in and a torch etc. Please try not to worry. Once you have some supplies in you can put it out of your mind, secure in the knowledge that you have a safety net in place. It's not worth letting it affect your mental health though.

Operation albistion shadow is taking place next year. This prepare uk campaign is running alongside. Plenty of countries have been giving this advice for years. Its nothing to be massively concerned about. For a myriad of reasons we are now more susceptible to power cuts, systems going down etc.

Try to build up a small kit of essentials focusing on children first. Water and other drinks are the most important. Most adults would be fine with no food for at least 3 days.

FFS if you don't want to do it, then that's your perogative.
Just don't go bitching about how unfair it all is if there is a glitch for a few days.

I confess that I'm terrified too.

I'm from a country where most homes have a food 'store' of sorts. Most homes (even luxury homes) don't have grid electricity or mains running water. This means you have your own borehole or well, your own electricity generator or solar panels and you cooked using huge gas cylinders or kerosene stoves (for lower income families). We have massive tanks and drums for water lasting many months. I can be very self sufficient. Grow my own food etc

I feel totally unprepared here. I managed 6 tomatoes and not much else this year. We are so dependent on the government providing water, heat, etc that although we have tins of this or that, bottles of water, crank up radio, and torches, I feel totally useless to get ready.

What if it's longer than 3 days? How bad can it get? What about our kids in Uni halls, who would look after them? How will they travel home? Thank goodness we have one petrol car; what if both cars were electric cars? It's getting colder now, that's my greatest worry, how to keep warm. My family are British and they don't seem worried at all.
Hopefully, this is just general preparedness guidelines, not that there's something imminent.

I bet my Head would still expect me to teach remotely somehow!

Wind up radios are probably more of a boost to the economy than a simple battery one.

I had a little battery one in my allotment shed until someone broke in and stole it.

No not at all it’s sensible and really should have been advised for some time. But the government decided to not panic us and in the meantime we have had cyber attacks and other security issues and all it’s done is make some panic more

but with so few people trusting the government (and I really don’t think it matters who is in government it’s a decline over many years the mistrust that increased after Covid ) it’s hard to persuade people without the panic

wr are under threat and always have been at times it will be more so than other times and the threats change it’s a practical measure to stop panic buying