Do we actually need to get two weeks of food in?

I don't remember that poster, but I remember the one who had grown 30-odd swedes and was going to barter with those.

Cities also have a much higher population density so while there are more shops, they have to supply more people. And those people might live in smaller homes, so less storage space, although if needs must, you could get creative - under the bed, bottom of wardrobe, storage crates used as side tables etc.

I always remember a poster on Mumsnet when rumblings about COVID and shortages started happening. She proudly announced that she had no need to stock up - if UK supermarkets ran out she would just nip across to France on the ferry and shop there.
I always think that those who live in cities are more at risk when logistics go wrong. I live in an old house in a small village. I have a coal fire, the original range and a beautifully clean river nearby . As long as I have fuel and food, which I do, I will manage for a while. My children who all live in cities will have no way of heating/ cooking if the power goes out and no way of getting fresh water if the shops shut.
The survival plan of all my children is to try and make their way home. They all also have forest skills training so would be very useful (although there are two that I wouldn't trust with a chainsaw).

Surely freezing won't help if the power is out. I think it's sensible, but I live in the smallest apartment in London and would have nowhere to put any of it. I barely have enough space for the food I have now!

How about a filter or water cleaner so you can drink water from the Thames, or whatever? that will take less space....

Remember that a full freezer will generally be OK for 48 hours, unopened.
Anything less than full will take less time to defrost in a power outage.

Also, remember that adults need approximately 2 litres of water a day, not counting hygiene, flushing, etc.

(One suggestion is to put bottles of water in your freezer, to fill it up. The ice will also help to maintain the cold temperatures in the event of a power disruption)

Here are a few ideas for meals. All can be cooked on a camping stove, although two stoves or a large gas bbq would be more convenient.

Obviously use everything in your defrosting freezer before you break out the tinned goods

Tuna or sausage pasta
pasta, pasta sauce, tinned tuna or tin of hot dogs, longlife grated parmesan cheese

Curry and rice
Tinned curry, microwave rice ( boiled or added to curry) , tinned dhal ( added to curry to bulk out), longlife mini naan ( toasted over flame)

Corned beef hash
corned beef, tinned potatoes, dried onions, olive oil, baked beans

Chicken noodle soup ( or tuna noodle?)
Tinned chicken breast 🤢, noodles, miso paste, tinned veg or bottled peppers, squirt of chilli, garlic and ginger paste,

Chilli
Tinned chilli, extra tin of tomatoes, extra tin of kidney beans in chilli sauce (to bulk things out), microwave rice, boiled. Doritos and jar of guacamole

… or just live on Heinz tomato soup for a week.

All these products have a massive shelf life and don’t need to be refrigerated

Also good to have, lots of bottled water, milk powder and of course, loo roll 🙂

Btw Nagoya has the ability to cope with up to 50cm of rain in a short period. It got 100cm. Japan's infrastructure is actually really good for flash flooding but it still got caught out.

If there is a power supply disruption are you sure the shop will be open?

This could be caused by any number of reasons - be it weather related, accidental system cock up or a hostile action.

The government is saying that at the moment we are vulnerable to any sort of disruption to normal services and we should be more robust in our individual abilities to cope.

We are seeing increasing reliance on tech and on energy. This matters because our ability to cope if there is a disruption is becoming weaker.

In other words: if something happens, don't expect there to be any support from government for several days during a significant incident.

Take a look at Nagoya in Japan and what's happening there. The shops will not be open there for several days. Because there is massive flooding and much stock will be ruined.

Keep this in mind too, if there is a flood warning. You may want to move food supplies upstairs as a precaution. Sounds silly but it may be valuable if you do get flooded.

Here is the UK version of the Swedish booklet. Most governments will publish something similar, it's the main focus of a lot of people's jobs and is no different to fire, police and ambulance services, which most people are fortunate to rarely or never need.

Prepare - Prepare

Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be available in booklet form, which would be better as it would still be available offline, although there was a more basic version delivered to all homes some years ago.

I have probably a week to 2 weeks worth of food in at any given time. I bought 6 bottles of water and a large pack of toilet roll plus a torch just in case

That's great until everyone else has the same idea and panic buys because they have no stuff.

Depends where you live surely, near a river thats a flood risk, in a very rural area with limited roads in/out, in a very hilly/mountainous area where power sometimes goes out. Then yeah I would definitely be having food in stock. I live in a Manchester suburb and there has never been any kind of weather disaster here. I can walk to 6+ shops including a big Tesco, Aldi and lidl within a mile. I genuinely can't see what would possible happen here that would mean I need 2 weeks worth of food in the house 🤣

I always have a few days worth of food in just with the freezer and basics. I could probably a week's worth if the meals were rubbish. But it's not something I plan for or would remotely worry about.

If a cyber attack affects the national grid, and knocks out electricity, you are going to be eating a lot of "homemade meals" in a day.

Freezing food is not 'prepping'. Cans, jars, packets, and bottled is the way.

With a bit of careful planning we could probably go at least six, possibly eight weeks as long as we had electricity and water, but I have recently been thinking a bit more about how to cope with losing those. What changed my thinking was not any government messaging, but a question on a YouGov survey.

I think ultimately while the UK supply chain isn't overburdened with resilience the far greater threat comes from the hybrid warfare we are already experiencing in Western Europe. There was an Iranian cyber attack on a UK power plant earlier this summer, and Germany has had Russian attacks on Leipzig airport; the moment they called Russia out for it within days their power grids were being attacked too.

So you’re 100% sure that the nearest supermarket will be open and stocked and able to take payment ?

I’m stocking up gently - when I use a tin of tomatoes I buy two to replace it. Bought the massive bags of fusilli and rice last time I needed more, instead of the small ones.
etc. and bought 48 toilet rolls cos I’ve got garage space.

Also don’t forget pet food!

You don’t have to go out and buy loads just slowly increase stores

Also, our bedside lamps are rechargable lamps so can keep us going during the night until dh sets up the generstor

Definitely - this months shopping Will cost almost £500 for 2 people, but will hopefully have everything we need

We use a generator when the electricity goes off, here in Ireland

Dh needs it for work sometimes but it's so handy. Keeps the lights 9n etc.
Can cook on hob, but it's not strong enough to use oven .
In Ireland here after the last storm , generators were selling out.
About 5 euro of petrol runs it for the day

Did you sleep through 2020?!

Exactly. The same people will complain when there is no water in their taps and expect the Government to help. It’s just so odd.

This is the brochure that has been sent out to us, and it has some good advice. It has got nothing to do with stockpiling, it’s about being expected to take responsibility for yourself and others. Not waste resources just because you couldn’t be arsed not to follow some simple advice.

rib.msb.se/filer/pdf/30874.pdf

I agree. I work on the fringes of emergency planning and it's clear from threads like this that the biggest challenge won't be dealing the actual disaster, but the obstructive and contrary attitude of the tin foil hat wearing section of the population.

If people have a few basic supplies in, they can wait at home in reasonable comfort, meaning that resources can be directed towards people who have been catastrophically affected by whatever is going on.

I think 2 weeks food as in what we usually like to eat and 2 weeks of SHTF diet are very different, & most people have a few days food already . It’s not only weather, we are overly dependent on computers and vulnerable to cyber attacks which could affect the supply chain too .

There are already several really good threads about this.

This is advice that has been given for many years in other countries. But British people seem to be the only ones that take it as an insult, get angry about it or just ignores it. Or start talking about toilet paper, again.

It’s not just about being able to help yourself for some time, it’s just as much being able to help other more vulnerable people if needed.

But for some it is just easier to think they will just pop to the shop around the corner instead of taking some responsibility.

We had bad snow last winter which meant traffic couldn’t get in and out of our village, the local shop couldn’t get supplies, people couldn’t get deliveries, big supermarkets had empty shelves as supply chain disrupted. If you didn’t have a car that was capable of driving in those conditions or were elderly etc then you would have had a good week at least with very limited access to food supplies. We probably have at least a week if not two just with normal freezer and cupboard supplies anyway. It’s just common sense where we live!