To stockpile 72 hours of supplies

For those who assume that everyone has this already, bar perhaps water, try living in a starter house or HMO.

I do indeed have enough to live on for about 6weeks- we did it once for lent- but that’s a big pantry of pulses and tins, a garage and a chest freezer.

One house I lived in required daily shopping as there was no storage for food. The cupboards had the crockery and pans in, there was literally nowhere. I was temporary, but my permanent neighbours used to shop for dinner on the way home from work every day.

You can only last 3 days without water. I think i could kill someone if my child would otherwise die.

It's more about providing for your loved ones.

If your baby hadn't eaten for three days and and I had food, and you had the means to take it from me, you would.

God if it’s the day before the Aldi shop there’s nothing left! My other half is very uncomfortable if there’s food in the freezer for more than a couple of weeks. We are doomed.

We're not stockpilers or hoarders but we try to be prepared. We have a box of tinned food, bottles of water and a GoBag Emergency Kit/Family Survival Kit in a 175L Strata trunk stored next to camping equipment in our garage.

very few people have 3 days water

I always have a decent supply of bottled water in a 'grab and go' bag incase I'm called to the hospital in the night (elderly relatives...) along with toothbrush/toothpaste, etc.

I have enough food for 3 days but not enough if gas/electric supplies were cut so that could end up with me going on a diet or creating a Brownies style fire in the garden.

Us!! we tend to buy our meals day to day - ive not done a weeks shopping in years!

We have snacks, could maybe cobble a couple of days meals from freezer but i cant be sure!

I’m rural so sensible stockpiles food ( tinned packet and frozen, uht milk, water tablets) toilet paper not because of Armageddon but if a tree blows down or there is bad snow or Tesco fails to deliver. Could last a week easily probably three in a pinch.

I have a full pantry, fridge and freezer so should be ok for about a week, food wise. I never buy bottled water, but I suppose it wouldn't be a bad thing to stock up on some - or at least purifying tablets.

I've also got a decent amount of cash hidden in the house, although I'm not 100% that would be any use.

I was all smug, thinking that we'd be ok in the event of a long term power issue, as we have solar panels and batteries. Turns out you can't use them during a power outage, so having a full fridge and freezer won't be the great saviour I thought it would be.

In the event of a nuclear attack, I'd just want to have enough drugs in the house to take us all out. Wouldn't want to live into a nuclear winter.

Doesn't everyone have batteries, candles, meds back up at home etc or us it just us?

I'm a child of the 70s and grew up with frequent power cuts though 😂

Well have have got enough for 74.5hrs so there ! 😂

In reality, with the exception of water I have enough to last me at least 2 weeks with no problems , I could make it last 4 weeks with the exception of fresh veg and bread

I don't personally keep 72hrs worth of supplies I just keep notes on who does.

Knowing that everyone else is going to wait 72 hours before they go on a rampage means I'm gonna have about 71 hours headstart too

No street lights here so everyone has powerful torches and batteries - couldn't find your way home from the pub otherwise!

If there’s a disaster or attack, it’s very unlikely to be back to business as usual in 72 hours, surely?

@MrsTerryPratchett I was living in Croydon during the riots and looting - the health food shop opposite my office was looted for lentils and multi-vits.

That reminds me, the flush stopped working in our Airbnb so we used a large saucepan of water. I told my OH to use the saucepan instead of the flush, and he asked, what do I do when the saucepan is full? 😫

Me!
Not on the bread line, can afford to shop in waitrose (tho usually at aldi).

I generally use fresh ingredients, I eat mainly salad and veg, DH likes stodge, DS eats a specific four meal rotation and I have never menu planned in my life and I'm 47.

Sure I might do a big shop to last a week, but I don't plan and I always add things as the week goes on. I don't buy big bags of pasta and quite often run out of loo roll and milk!

Hopefully we will be saved by our chickens who lay eggs everyday!

What !!! That's only 3 days FFS!!!

IMO you'd have to be that way inclined to kill someone for food after only 3 days.

If you're worried enough to prep then 72 hours worth feels incredibly underprepared and pointless in the event you ever needed it.

It's to prevent the "72 hour rule" from kicking in.

It's accepted by Emergency Planning Ops that after 72 hours without food/water, perfectly ordinary, civilised, law abiding citizens, WILL begin to kill eachother to get access to supplies.

Also, it seems THEY know something WE don't.

Wonder what is about to happen . . .🤔

Not that you'd necessarily get notice but I used to live where there were hurricanes so we always filled the bath so we would have water to flush the loo if the water was cut off, and for washing.

I have three days worth of bottled water in storage. My sister had a pipe burst one summer and it wasn't repaired for days. You never know. I have matches, and a candle. I keep my phone and tablet charged up. That's about it though.

There are plenty of farms nearby where I could get eggs, milk and vegetables. I have some fast flowing streams within walking distance, a woodburner and a stack of logs. I could probably survive for a while without electricity, shops or tap water.

That is a really useful leaflet, thank you. I wish the UK was as organised, but local communities could set up their own version of this.