How long could you survive with what is in your house right now?

[3bluellamas]

It seems every day that goes by the world seems more unstable. Its made me think about being better stocked in case of disruption of any kind (whether created by humans or just natural events like severe weather). How long could your family survive if you suddenly had no access to shops (either in person or online)?

I think Im going to eat down the freezer which is full of random things like one stick of rhubarb or a lone pork chop and then try to use the space more effectively to ensure we have a better store.

@Hedgesfullofbirds a Victorian range is my absolute dream. I don't even own a house but I spend too much time looking for Victorian ranges for sale.

Barbara?

Not even a week 😢
usually I’m more organised but I was unwell last week and still not 100% myself so shopping was affected.

maybe 2 weeks but that would be a stretch - survive like not starve but not many proper meals.

We’ve always got food in but if there was a power cut and couldn’t use the oven I’d be living off cereal, crisps and tinned fruit for a while…

A week, maybe two actually.

I could make 10 (evening meals) but we’d struggle on the fresh milk/eggs/bread/veg front. However we also have a massive apple tree bursting with fruit, never ending runner beans and tomatoes plus about 20 tins of random food.

Not very long if the water or electricity fails, just like anyone. Not much point have pasta, beans and so on if you can’t cook it. We’d be OK for heat/ cooking due to log burner and a full log shed plus have some camping gas.

Two very large, very full water butts but they are not potable.

A couple of days tbh!

A lot of good suggestions on here.

My concern, if, for example, experiencing either a cyber attack, or a severe storm which knocks out the electricity for a wide area for an extended time, is that having a freezer and fridge full of perishable foods will become problematic as it defrosts or becomes too warm to be safe.

If I was to prepare for an emergency that could last days, weeks, or longer, I would make sure I had accumulated enough water to keep our family and pets hydrated, for as long as possible.
We actually still have many large clean wine bottles filled with water that we have stored under the stairs since early in the pandemic.
Rather than depend on our electric refrigerator and freezers, I would fill the pantry with cans of vegetables and stews, anything really, whether you can eat it warmed, or not, and of course keep handy a manually operated tin opener.
Packages of dry biscuits and crackers and nutrition bars, cat food ( for the cats only, hopefully) etc.
Most of all water.
A cyber attack that knocks out the electricity would be my concern, as pumps and water supply facilities are dependent on it.

Is 17yo dd here too in this scenario? On my own, at least 2, maybe 3 weeks. With dd here, change weeks for days.

A month probably, or maybe even 6 weeks, but it would get very very boring towards the end, and there would be no milk for coffee or cereals etc after the first couple of weeks.

I think around 3 weeks, but apart from the first week or 10 days, it would be eating random things and not much protein, but we wouldn't be hungry

Lol☺️! Your comment made me chuckle! Glad you've got your priorities straight! Who needs milk, pasta, eggs, flour, tin staples etc! The real essentials are chocolate and sweets! Shortbread and ginger nut biscuits for me!😍 I could ration to one or two a day for maybe week. 😇

A good while. 700 head of beast (though not all ready) some kune kune pigs that were definitely not intended for eating but if needs must and a borehole in the farm yard, more than happy to trade some beef and water for some homemade bread/lentils/rhubarb crumble/wine

*prays people remember this post if the shit hits the fan

I would say a month easily aslong as we had running water. 2 months if we rationed.

Deal! My first apocalypse trading partner!

I would say about a month assuming power and water stayed on but, realistically, our house would be descended on by children and grandchildren, complete with pets so a very short time.
If it was a longer crisis we'd be screwed as we live at the seaside where nothing grows.

Easily a month. I’m not a ‘prepper’ by any stretch but I remember the shortages during Covid/lockdowns and realising then just how vulnerable our food security is. I bought two big tubs and put them in a cupboard - they have all sorts, rice, pasta, tinned stuff, matches, candles, even some water purification tabs and a wind up charger. When the tins get close to the expiry date, I give them to the Foodbank and replace them. If you’ve got room, I don’t think it’s a bad idea to have the basics stashed away.

Was thinking the same...I have quite a lot of food but have two teenagers so it wouldn't last long

Actually lol that’s a really good ‘end of world’ staple! Cheap, easy to make and low volume so could pack in a fair few into an average fridge freezer. I imagine if power failed would still be good for many months. Probably would add some protein powder to them though for more nutrition 😋

We often get cut off by flooding and can't get food deliveries as they refuse to do the long diversion round to us, so I've always got about 5 to 6 weeks of food in the cupboard/freezer. It's a standing joke in the family that if someone needs a random ingredient, I'll have it and we bulk buy tea/coffee/sugar for our business and keep it in our garage.

Probably a couple of months, there is only two of us and rather a lot.

That is a tough one. I think the beans first. Then the ridgeback, and hopefully whatever zombie apocalypse would be over before I have to eat this idiot.

Maybe 3 or 4. We have loads of spices, herbs and tins of tomatoes, potatoes and onions so actually perhaps a week. We get fresh eggs from our hens so as long as we could feed them we’ve got a good source of protein.
But we never buy loads of food, our freezer contains a tub of ice cream, cold patches for aches and pains, a bag of peas and some ice creams - other than that it’s pretty empty.
I do a food shop once a week with the basics, dh does a butchers run at the weekend and then we just shop daily depending on what we fancy for dinner and who’s here.

Have you thought about how to power your freezer in the event of blackouts?

Dry stores and how to cook them are probably more important than freezer stuff.