Anyone starting to wonder if they should be making a little ‘emergency inventory’

[tghwqomn]

Don’t laugh! 😆

I mean I’m not overly worried about there suddenly being ww3 and bombs dropping above our heads next week. But hey, natural disasters, some variant of a Covid drama put upon us again, one day one of the mad countries with some nuclear weapon may surprise us. God knows, nothing surprises me lately with the stuff going on. The trust in our politicians and well our own royal family member of two shows these people just say what they think we want to hear or need to hear. Who knows what’s going on behind the scenes.
The world seems to be pretty balmy lately.

But one thing since becoming a mum is you do think more about ‘what if’.

I didn’t have kids when Covid happened. And I didn’t really buy into it as much as others (I know we all have our own viewpoints on it).
But you’ve got to admit the world is feeling a bit weird lately.

So I’d love to hear what others would in a worst case scenario think they’d want or put in an emergency suitcase or keep stocked at home or whatever.

It can be light hearted or serious.. enlighten me 🙃

I don't understand why people buy bottled water at all! Hopefully, in an emergency situation I will have time to fill some bottles and the bath.

There are two common 'emergencies' for me in semi rural life.

Power cuts and loss of water. Both happen two frequently. So we have torches, USB power banks, lanterns, batteries and lots of cheap bottled water to flush the loo.

Not so frequent any more, snow. But we are then totally cut off. Never for more than a week. I am prepared for snow in winter ( well we have food in always I mean. 4 kids so never use everything up before buying more). Cars get stuck on our hill. I have some plastic cups if those drivers need a drink etc. They tend to get stuck a bit further up the hill.

Really should check my batteries and torches more regularly as we dip into both then don't replace batteries or put the torches back. It cost about £15 total for peace of mind.

The water situation is not ideal as you need so much. But from experience of loosing water for weeks repeatedly, you only need two days worth as the first two days of queuing for water are the busiest. Plus we have a river very near the house. Unfortunately just down from a sewage plant that discharges raw sewage. Not sure I'd even trust that to flush the loo. Maybe need to dig a pit in the garden if we got to that point.

Nuclear war etc? Walk towards the light.

@tghwqomn There won't be a world war. Iran is not the world, and it's not as if Russia and China are going to confront the US and Israel over Iran.

It's just Iraq over again, basically. Except hopefully this time, the war ends before it deteriorates into a mess.

I created a doomsday book with all my financial info, utilities etc incase I was dragged off by Hazmat suit officials shouting 'bring out your dead' at the start of Covid. I might revisit that and update anything out of date in case a drone drops on my head during a visit to Tesco.

My Will is up to date (I have a copy, solicitor in another area has the original) so hopefully DS will be able to sort out my affairs fairly easily.

Otherwise, business as usual for me. I doubt we would have a electricity outage for long although I can imagine an attack on Internet connections so hopefully that will mean putting my feet up rather than WFH. DH is an essential worker so hopefully will be prioritised if there is a fuel shortage, otherwise he can join me with the putting feet up...

I am terrified for all the normal decent people who just want to live peacefully in their home countries of Iran, Israel, Kuwait etc, the innocent women & kids who inevitably will be killed. I really can't be concerned about me and my life when people are living a nightmare and our service personnel (UK, US, Nato etc) are on active service.

It's the cheapest way to get nice big bottles suitable for storing water.

There wasn't anything wrong with your post, at all!

I seem to remember Jerry Springer told the story of his father who was a Jewish refugee always kept his car filled with petrol & a packed suitcase by the door in case what happened before in Europe happened in the US

Battery operated torch

Battery operated radio

Lots of batteries

Bottled water

Dry foods (Long use by date)

Solar powered Battery packs

Got them all... Had them awhile.
Change over water & Food often

@tghwqomnThere is a preppers thread on mumsnet. Head there :)
Im a prepper tooo

I have for years, ever since Hurricane Sandy when we were without power for 2 weeks. It was BRUTAL and we have a generator but it wasn't a lot of use when all the petrol stations couldn't pump petrol because they also didn't have power (something that had never occurred to me!) and then, when they could, they ran out of petrol. By the end, we just used the generator to keep the garage fridge going and to allow us to charge our phones. We had the fire in the family room going constantly and now also always have a full load of wood from early fall to spring delivered.

We have an outdoor kitchen and always make sure it's fully tanked up with bottled gas. We have a storage room in the basement that has gallon bottles of water. It also has a whole shelf of canned goods and dried noodles/pasta. Torches with batteries (although I often use those camping and then forget to buy new batteries!) and super warm sleeping bags which can be used for camping or to help keep us warm if we are in freezing temps with no heating again. We have learned the hard way that the first thing you do is run the bath so you can flush the toilet!

So, yes. I think we'd be ok for a bit but the reality is we are really lucky to have a big house with room to store all this crap without even thinking about it and have had an experience that actually taught us what we needed.

We have enough food etc to keep us going for 2 or 3 weeks. If the electricity was off we might struggle for protein.

I started having a stock of tinned and dried food in the garage after the fuel strikes about 25 years ago. We lived rurally, our DC were very small, and we had no petrol so could t get to the shops. No online deliveries back then. It really worried me and ever since I've kept a stash of food, even though we now live in a town with multiple shops.

It came in really useful during Covid. I keep our freezer very full and of course in Covid there wasn't any issue with electricity. Those first few weeks of empty supermarket shelves looked horrendous, but thankfully I didn't need to go anywhere near a supermarket.

We have a subscription for toilet paper every 6 months so, depending on where we are in the cycle, we might have anywhere between 6 and 48 rolls.

If we had a power cut then we have a barbecue plus camping stove. So we'd get a cuppa at any rate.

yes OP that’s the official UK government advice- be prepared!

items as listed here prepare.campaign.gov.uk/get-prepared-for-emergencies/#:~:text=Pack%20a%20few%20essential%20items,tape%20for%20dressings%2C%20and%20tweezers.

Whereabouts is this?

That's also worrying that they have increased activity there

We actually had a day and half without water this winter and it surprised me how much we rely on our taps and take that for granted.

So now I totally get why people would have some for emergencies

I never said not to have water for emergencies, but it doesn't have to be bottled water from a shop. Just keep any large bottles you have (I use juice bottles) and fill them from the tap.

I live in a country prone to earthquakes, we know all about this stuff!

And possibly the mice!

In my country we are supposed to keep 72 hours worth of essential supplies at home for any kind of disaster - natural or man-made (war) and we've been reminded of this a lot lately (and recently a group of volunteers tested out staying in a shelter with these supplies). I've experienced a time when such supplies were invaluable before (5 day power cut whilst living far out in the sticks - I had the foresight to fill a massive bucket full of water when the storm hit and the electricity started cutting out and coming back on. If I hadn't, we'd have had no water.

Where I live is prone to natural disasters so yes we have water, a radio, torches, food and other basics stocked. We have a gas bbq and a wood burner that you can cook on top of also.

satellite phone
bunker
weapons & know how to use them - then you can just loot from others if needs be.

I’m in California.
I’m not really near any major Naval or Air Force installations.
I’m old and disabled. I can’t run on foot. I’ll have to stay home and hope for the best.
My pantry is literally overflowing.
I have a barbecue ready to go, and lots of stuff can be cooked on a barbecue if you’re desperate.
That’s my reality. I’m good with it.

glad we cleared that one up.
FWiW those of us who prep are generally of the view that the more people who prep the better so threads about being ready for potential difficulties are good wherever they are posted.

Financially it's a given that many of us with finite finances will be affected. Higher inflation and cost of living increases "part 2". Possibly considerably worse than the Ukraine effect.
I would plan for that because it's a definite. Rather than worrying about a worst case scenario that you would have no way to influence.

I just followed the latest EU guidance after realising we didn’t have anything on the list! And bought a wind up radio/torch with charger (about £10 on amazon), water purification tabs, tea light candles, lighters, a small camping stove, and we generally have some extra food in the cupboards. Have some basic medicines and a first aid kit. Am thinking about a solar charger for things bigger than phones, but the cost a bit more, so I haven’t yet

This ☝️

Anything nuclear goes off, its all over for humanity.