We need to have enough tinned food and bottled water to be self sufficient for three days

[CruCru]

There’s a thing in the Times about the Prepare campaign - people need to be prepared for risks like localised flooding, another pandemic, a mass cyberattack which cuts off the internet, disruption to UK space systems that affect GPS signals, conflict and nuclear attack.

I must admit that my first thought was that there are countries in the West Indies who have these sorts of rules - mainly in case of hurricanes. It probably would be useful to have bottled water if we had flooding and the mains water would be turned off. Am a bit horrified by the mention of nuclear war but perhaps this has been overly highlighted by the Times.

Have you seen this? What do you think?

The sudden election announcement does make me suspicious that the Tories want out before whatever shit is going to happen starts

Or they're legally required to call an election before the end of this year, they have to give 6 weeks' notice and parliament shuts down for the summer, so if they don't do it now, they can't do it until September and then time will be even more of the essence, they'll have barely have any time to get going with parliamentary business in the autumn before they have to focus on the election, so they might as well get it over and done with now?

I work in a hospital and a couple of days ago we got an email asking us to make sure we know what to do if a major incident was to happen. Attached instructions for the different roles in the organisation. I am quite new working there so have now idea if this is something that gets send out regularly but it made me wonder in connection with the prepping announcement.

Can anyone else working in healthcare shed some light on if this was a standard, regularly occuring email?

i have this too, also a wind up charger. there may not be a mobile signal or internet but it will keep my rechargeable lights charged.

yup, I retired from the NHS around 15 years ago and such emails were routine, also preparedness exercises. During the Falklands episode, some of the plans were put into practice and brought onto standby including a register of NHS people who would give blood quickly if needed.

<checks cupboards>
Gin✅
Wine✅
Vodka ✅
Olives✅

I’m set.

Just a thought. What will you do if have an electric car? If the national power grid goes off you’re going to be stuck.
I have a full tank of diesel currently so will be topping it up regularly until whatever is going to happen either happens or not.
Also just been checking the obvious targets for nuclear annihilation. I think we are ok but we can drive into mid wales if needed, there’s nothing in mid wales to nuke.
Might make and freeze some sandwiches, and find the camping stove.
Oh, and order repeat prescriptions for DH and I so we are ok for 3 months.
Probably a good idea to withdraw plenty of cash, cards and Apple Pay are going to be a waste of time.
I do love a bit of disaster planning.

I know its all anxiety inducing , my anxiety got worse with the invasion of Ukraine and has ramped up considerably with the Israeli and now Iran problems

I no longer watch the news nor read newspapers, just the radio news and local news, it helps

I personally think this is being highlighted now because of supply problems which are going to get worse as the conflicts escalate. No point people realising that when the bad weather comes and their power is out they havent got this that and the other and then finding out this that and the other is in short supply anyways and everyone rushing panic buying makes things unavailable to the majority

I live rural ( like cut off for three weeks in 2010 ) and so for me its common sense to be as prepared as I can be when things fail or we cant get out and Im of the generation whose grandparents and parents lived through the war and rationing so always had a store cupboard of supplies

As a PP, I remember the fear during the cold war, the information films on what to do if the sirens went off - doors off hinges and placed at an angle on the wall to shelter under , covering the windows, heading to the cupboard under the stairs or down the cellar. I remember those who still had WW2 shelters in their gardens getting them "nuclear ready ", parents glued to the news , fuel shortages, shortages of so much because supply ships werent getting through

What you are doing so far in making sure you have enough supplies to last a while is great. You are taking some control over bigger things you have no control over, so that should help to settle you some. Regarding your medication, you should say to your GP that the thought of running out is so terrifying to you its making your anxiety worse and could he prescribe a month extra so you always have a months supply in stock?

If the worse that happens is a cyber attack or extreme weather a month supplies in stock will see you through those uncertain days

Realistically what else do we need if we're in a situation where we can't safely leave the house to go to one of our 10 supermarkets in our small town?

So we've got water.
We've stockpiled the sort of food we never normally eat....tins?
Maybe we've even stashed a bit of extra loo roll.
We've also bought half a dozen torches.

Has the govt priced up what this should cost for a family of 4/5 who is just about managing every month?
What about for those who are not even managing?

Do they think we have money to waste on food that's extra and in normal circumstances is not anything that's included in our regular diet?

Oh..... Also better head to go outdoors for something to cook it on, plus a few gas canisters.

Anything else?

It's only people in London that need to deal with this. Stop scaremongering and find something else to do

In the event of a nuclear attack, having enough tins in your cupboard is going to be the very least of your worries, believe me.

I wouldn't say regularly but not rare.

In one hospital I worked at, we had occasional exercises where we pretended something catastrophic had happened to check we had plans in place and knew how to action one.

I remember one was we pretended the petrol station across the road had exploded...

Much more common/routine are the emails when a severe weather event is predicted and you e.g get reminded prior to a heatwave to drink more water, give more water to patients and not put jumpers on patients 😂

Oh, and I remember lots of furore and emails about swine flu and bird flu and how to prepare for mass sickness in teams and cover for it. And covid of course. They had a point with covid TBF, less so with others.

It's probably worth people popping over to the prepping topic. There is absolutely loads of information on there. Its been really quiet since covid since I think everyone was a bit disaster weary.

We always aim to be able to be self sufficient for four weeks. We keep enough basic non perishable food, we have a log burner for cooking and heating, we have solar panels with an isolator switch so that we can still use a couple of sockets in the event that the mains power was out (it wouldn't run the whole house but could run a laptop for example and lighting), we have a vegetable/fruit patch which is reasonably productive at the right time of year, we have chickens, lots of water butts, stocks of candles, matches, oil for the oil lamp, rechargeable batteries, solar chargers for devices, cash in the house and I buy toiletries every six months so as long as the timing is right we are generally more than stocked up enough.

If everyone just did a few things our whole country would be safer since the panic and scrambled to secure resources can cause chaos.

Solar panels and batteries. That’s what I use.

also - your diesel won’t necessarily last. They use electricity to pump the fuel out of the underground tanks. No electric = no fuel.

Only if you have an isolator switch. If the grid is out and you don't have an isolator to take you off grid then your solar panels won't do anything.

I did this with tinned and packet foods during covid - 1 adult household and I'm clinically ext vulnerable.
I stopped buying water a year ago, but funnily yesterday thought I'd better get water in, though we live next to a lake, so my reverse osmosis machine (bought duribg covid) should work on that water for us. 🤔

Ref energy, I have pv and a battery so elec not a risk in the spring summer - winter would be horrific though 😭

I don't think as a country we have things in place to enable self sufficiency or protection in a war situation, do we? We need to rebuild it.

Nuclear war has been a risk since the first warhead was built. I can see the risk of war, it feels like we entered a war ref the Russia and Ukraine conflict, but I suspect it'll bestandard bombs and guns unless the losing country(ies) launch a nuke as a last ditch attempt or our of sheer f&ckery but what glory would they gain from that?

If there must be a war, coubtries should use gaming to decide on the victor. This would stop destroying lives and the environment!

I think this is about getting people through cyber-attacks that knock out the banking system or electricity supply temporarily. Preparing for a nuclear attack would be on a completey different scale.

Makes more sense to keep a bit of cash in small denominations under the mattress then.

It's MN, there's a lot of posters who indulge in scaremongering and panicking.

The early days of the 1st covid lockdown were particularly nuts.

When Ukraine was invaded, there were posts about how some people in the UK were planning which country to possibly flee to if we were invaded.

When the emergency alert test on mobile 'phones was going to happen there were lots of posts about how that was an imminent sign of invasion or world war. Ignoring the fact it had happened in other countries years before and the UK were previously planning to do it years before but shelved the idea due to concerns about cost.

The government released this the day before the election campaigns started.
The conservative government’s big sell is that they provide safety.
they are freaking people out so they’ll vote for the party that keeps them safe.

I still think it’s a good idea generally to modestly prepare for the unknown though.

It's probably worth people popping over to the prepping topic. There is absolutely loads of information on there. Its been really quiet since covid since I think everyone was a bit disaster weary

Yeah so we can have a rehash of everyone telling peppers they're selfish fuckers for prepping. Like a de ja vu in here

You can't prep for a nuclear war, there's no point. If you're bothered about a cyber attack on the electrical grid. Watch ch4s blackout and get a plan going.

A Brexit stockpile? Goodness....it never dawned on me that a Brexit stockpile was necessary. Did you have to use it?

I had a Brexit stockpile and generally prep in case of illness/not being able to get to the shops or get deliveries for a couple of weeks. You can't prep for any long-term scenario, but it's useful for shorter term problems.

I was going to panic buy bottled water after reading this, but then I remembered I have a swimming pool, so I'll be OK for a few weeks at least. Doesn't chlorinated water kill most things (including me, maybe?) Or am I confusing that with Trump's drink bleach to combat covid suggestion?

Quite entertaining that anyone would worry about a nuclear attack. Three days of tinned food would make zero difference. A radiation proof underground bunker with 30 years of food might , I suppose, but failing that, I tend to focus on ensuring I have an absolute shit tonne of strong alcohol I don't generally want to drink knocking around in the drinks cupboard.

What???!!!