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

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.

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.

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 🙂

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)

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....

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).

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

That's really funny. Particularly in hindsight.

Why did she think if there was a virus that she would be allowed to travel to France?!

😂

You could also use them as weapons if someone tried to rob you of your stash.

Equally bonkers.

There's a sane middle ground.

I honestly feel a lot of people are balking at the idea simply because the government have mentioned it. People are so entrenched in the push back against the nanny state/government overreach mindset that they are unwilling to even consider it even sensible advice.

I naturally stockpile a small amount simply because of my nan and dad drumming it into me when I was a kid. I think it was partly because of her experience through the war and raising him through the years following and partly due to the impact of lived experience with weather/power cuts etc.

It has come in very handy at times when we have been flooded or snowed in (still in a rural location), when power has been out for extended periods (increasingly more so), covid, when the banking hacks have happened and cards/card readers go down, issues with water being cut off for routine maintenance/burst pipes, illness and nobody wants to go out.

I'm not some serious doomsday prepper just somebody who keeps a little extra to hand just incase. Nobody is saying go out and spend £100's in one go prepare for all eventualities and batten down the hatches immediately. Just it's advisable to build up a little buffer for yourself.

Most of us probably hadn't thought much about the practical implications at all.

Not being able to travel into France was also an inconvenience to the residents of Switzerland, many of whom routinely go to France for shopping etc because it's a lot cheaper there.

So most supermarkets operate on "just in time ordering". They dont hold a lot of stock, they are restocked daily. Imagine there are big storms that disrupt transport, and your local shops empty, rapidly, and arent restocked. Can you manage for a week or two with bits in your cupboard?

The problem I have is we don’t eat much tinned or jarred food. Except for the odd tinned tomato spag bol or pasta sauce.

I like a ready meal but they won’t keep for long.

So what do I do with the expired tins and jars? Food bank won’t want them.

if there's flooding, power cuts etc the roads and rail will get blocked or not run and food won't make it to the supermarkets! Being close to a shop isn't going to help you if their shelves are empty! During the beast from the east and that previous bad snow a few years earlier (2013?) our local supermarkets didn't get deliveries for days and you had for dinner whatever you could get your hands on! And I live in a major city, not the middle of nowhere.

Yes, my local supermarket is out of a lot of food come 7pm.

Regularly check your dates. Give them shortdated to a food bank and replace if you really don't eat anything like that.

I've only bought things I will realistically eat, but honestly there has to be something you would eat that is worth getting.

Is this new advice? I haven’t followed it closely.

No. It's been around a while. But I think it's being pushed more and there's a realisation that not enough people probably are taking it seriously.

Don't worry, there will be special food parcels for Mumsnetters who only eat good quality fresh food. We can't risk you not getting your 7 to 10 a day.

It's only the great unwashed who will be expected to exist on canned ravioli and pot noodles.

Did you miss my fondness for ready meals in your rush to judgement?

Remember Covid.

I think it depends on where abouts you are in the UK. For some people who live in remote areas who are affected by snow and storms they probably prepare for these events every year anyway.

We are likely to get more frequent storms with the risk of flooding and power lines being brought down. I live in an area which has never been affected by these things but we do have torches but I expect every household does. We also have a camping stove which my husband uses for when he goes fishing. We have never had to use it otherwise.

I thought it was mainly due to extreme weather. This year already we’ve had people without power or running water due to heat and drought. In the floods and snow people were also without power and couldn’t get to the shops. I’ve seen some headlines that make it seem like it’s to prepare for war, but the government pages mainly talk about flood and fire. I didn’t think we had to worry about random fires, but obviously this year has changed that assumption. I only really buy fresh or frozen food so it’s actually quite useful advice. I’d have way less to eat if something happened tomorrow compared to when I was a kid and we had loads of tins and packets. I also clearly haven’t learnt anything about loo roll or eggs from the covid days!