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 🙃

Outdoors only. It is not safe indoors. People do but it’s a very bad idea.

We have iodine tablets, wind-up radio, respirators (provided by work but kept at home), hazmat suits, facemasks, toilet roll, spare water, flashlight, bags for passports, spare food, water purification tablets, filtration syringes, tape to tape up vents in windows, head torches, power banks.

We've never even prepped on purpose, just seem to have all this stuff in our emergency cupboard (some of it gifted by anxious parents!). Hopefully none of it will ever be needed.

My partner and I were having this discussion a couple of days ago when our internet went down for 12 hours, coincidentally just after Iran started retaliating to the US's bombing.

We kind of realised that proofing against things like internet outage, power outage etc seems paranoid at the time of doing it...but when you need it, it is too late.

I would like to sign up to Starlink, and take a wedge out of our bank account to have as cash. We are planning on buying a motorhome for our family of 5 anyway, and have talked about upping the budget and making this more boondocker / self supporting in case of emergency. Things like an on board water filtration system, solar panels and battery, bigger fuel tank, bigger fresh water tanks etc.

I am not one to be paranoid or a conspiracy theorist etc but when you have three children something in you changes and it's hard not to go full on panic-protection mode!!

I think it’s sensible. Friends of mine live in the West of Ireland and were without power for 19 days after the storm last year. I’m in a city centre so less likely, but I could do without power for a few days. Non perishable food, a barbecue, candles and lighters, battery lights and a power bank. I also have a small amount of cash in the house after a glitch in my area meant card machines wouldn’t work in the shops. I could do with a good torch and some water purification tablets. We had pre-warning of water supply on my street being out for a day to facilitate works, and I just filled the Thermos and the kettle, but it makes you think.

I lived for years in an earthquake zone and we always had a pack to hand of essentials. I always have torches etc on each floor and a good supply of tinned food. Sensible for any eventuality really

I have consciously maintained a (small) stock of non-perishable food since we went nearly a month in the first covid lockdown without being able to get a delivery or to a supermarket easily. It just gives me peace of mind on that front.

We have candles, head torches, matches, power banks for phones, wind-up torches and a couple of big bottles of water in the cupboard.

I'm no prepper, but it's sensible to be prepared. Over the last 15 years, we've had a big leak in the loft where we didn't have power or water for a week, the river has flooded a number of times over the years and got sewage into our drinking water so we couldn't trust the tap water for a while, at least twice someone has cut through either power or internet cables on our street while doing roadworks, we had a leaking water main which then got into the gas main on our road so we had no gas for cooking or heating for quite a long time, etc etc.

No to barbecues indoors. Gas canister cookers should be used outside as well.

www.dofe.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/DofE_Stove_Safety_Instructions_Feb_2024-1.pdf

Using camping stoves is really only suitable for outdoor cooking. You might be able to use one indoors if you open all the windows, but it’s still not safe — and it definitely wouldn’t be practical in winter.

Also, while it is a good idea in theory, my concern is that in a real crisis, the smell or sight of cooking could attract attention. The negative comments on this post already show how many people would be unprepared — and in a serious situation, some might try to take food from those who are prepared (yes, I am paranoid 😅)

Unfortunately, I haven’t found many safe ways to cook indoors during a power cut other than a log burner or open fire, which requires a properly installed and functioning chimney or flue.That’s one of the main reasons we installed a log burner. We live in a rural area where power cuts are frequent, and with little ones in the house, we can’t afford to be without heating or a way to cook.

I have also been thinking about this recently, especially with having the children!
my friends say it’s ridiculous… and I’m not talking extremes, more like a small stockpile of non perishable foods, basic medical kits and bottled water etc maybe a few cans of diesel to be on the safe side 😳😂

Also, while it is a good idea in theory, my concern is that in a real crisis, the smell or sight of cooking could attract attention. The negative comments on this post already show how many people would be unprepared — and in a serious situation, some might try to take food from those who are prepared (yes, I am paranoid 😅)

It's not paranoia. People WILL take from you, by force if necessary the longer normal life goes down the road and things get miserable and desperate. How ready are people to defend what they've got?

It's one of those times when watching blackout on ch4 will give some ideas how fast the shit will hit the fan and how to be cautious with prep and what would be essential.

I've had a pantry full of tins and packets since 2020 and now have to slowly get rid of out of date rice pudding and pasta sauce. It just takes up space and I don't really use it apart from the lentils and powdered milk

I don’t keep anything in storage that I don’t actually use. I just buy extra so I don’t have to go to the store as often, and it’s usually cheaper to buy in bulk. Plus, if something unexpected happens, I’ll have enough on hand.

The key is to store more of what you actually use. For example, if you use canned beans regularly, don’t just keep a few. Keep 15. They last for years, and you can restock when you start running low.

I also try to avoid throwing food away. Just because the rice have passed the “best by” date doesn’t mean it's automatically unsafe.

Prepers board is very good and has some good threads with ready made lists compiled between posters.

Swedish government puts out a list in English that's good. UK government have a list and often local councils do too.

There are some good you tube channels but you need to be selective.

Think what you need to prep for depending on your geography and family set up. I would keep an emergency bag for little one in case he needs emergency babysitting overnight. And an emergency bag for you both.

Cyber attacks, banks' IT failing, floods, storms, wind, heat waves, snow, illnesses, (eg staying in with chicken pox for a week) power cuts, water going off/boil water incident, evacuation in case of local incident (WW2 bombs are popular round some parts, factory fires, wildfires) supply chains failing, house fires, hospital visits, car breakdown (even just failing MOT and needs work or replacing can leave you without access to shops)

@Historian0111101000 I suppose I could taste the cans, as it's a nightmare trying to dispose of them. I've just been adding a can or two to my daily bin bags to go out. I understand the food is still safe I'm just imagining the solids and water separating and it tasting weird

@tghwqomn
It depends on how much medicine you have, but you can buy battery-powered mini fridges. I have one: I used it to store breast milk. For example, I pumped while we were on the road and kept it in the little fridge so it stayed safe until we got home. They can’t hold a lot, but they come in handy.

Starting list:
Solar powered lantern. (Camping shops, ) £20 ish or battery lantern from home bargains for £5 approx. Asda do small cheaper lights next to their motor section. You need a small screw driver to open the battery compartment.
Head torch. (Outdoor shops, )£5 ish if you want hands free. (I'd have the minimum of two light sources. You can use one to change the batteries in the other)
Batteries (Aldi)
Wind up/solar radio Amazon approx £20 or battery one from Asda. Much cheaper.
Power bank. Approx £20 from Asda.
Drinks: (Juice, pop, water for cooking)
Eat straight from the packet food : crackers, biscuits, dried fruit, nuts, seeds, tinned meat and fish, tinned fruit, condensed milk, chocolate. Sweetcorn, jars of pickled, onions, beetroot etc) Stuff you like and eat anyway.
Just add boiling water food (mug shots, noodles, cous cous, instant custard, )
Just heat through foods, (soups, beans, tinned veg and curries, rice pudding, custard, pouches of rice)
Disposable BBQ. Or camping stove. Use outside only.
Phones numbers on paper.
Prescription meds and over the counter meds.
First aid kit.
Warm clothes and blankets.
Small denomination of cash and change.
Waterproofs, good footwear, hats, gloves, sun hats, suncream.

I think in the UK we are pretty relatively safe from war for example. I do think Russia could disrupt our power and internet though. I have a battery powered radio (which needs new batteries) and a power bank for phones (which I need to charge) and candles. I should probably buy in some bottled water to last a few days. I'm not too fussed about a food stock for a few days. I buy food to last 10 days when I shop anyway, and I'm sure me and my older teen DC could manage a few days on a low amount of food. I can't see a powercut lasting more than 3 days or so

This is a silly comment. I keep £500 in cash in the house "just in case", because it would feed me for a month in a short term banking outage. I have enough food in at any given time for 2-3 weeks anyway, and wind up radio and water purification tablets. And we have off grid solar panels.

If nuclear war breaks out, I don't want to survive it. If we have a short term disruption to normal service of water/banking/power, then I'd quite like to be able to survive the month until it's back up and running.

Most people aren't prepping to survive the apocalypse - just to minimise disruption in a short term event.

Actually dried fruit, seeds, and nuts are a really good idea, as they don’t need to be cooked. I’ll pick a couple packs up next shop. As are packets of crackers, muesli cereals, etc. and they will actually be eaten rather than random tins of stuff.

And yes I remember that Blackout show, it was terrifying! I think maybe someone was cooking on their camping stove and it attracted people to attack them, from memory

It won't get you anywhere if you had to evacuate as a refugee to another country. Banks won't crash. A short term outage is like 12 hours maximum.

Eta I have a well stocked larder and torches, battery radio, and thankfully a medium sized garden.

That's actually a good idea for me in general. Dried fruit. I can't afford to buy fresh food every four or five days, I buy shopping of shelf stable and frozen foods to last ten days when I shop. So I don't really eat much fruit other than satsumas. I think I will buy some dried apricots next shop

Where I live our local supermarket has had a few occasions when their banking has gone down. The on site cash machine gets emptied as they only then accept cash.

I always have cash at home, and £20 tucked into my phone case. It makes me feel prepared. But I'd be unlikely to have the stash on me exactly when the system goes down.

I mostly use cash on people avoiding the tax man. Teacher tutors side hassle and the local Chinese takeaway.

What ever happens, I will have prawn crackers and kids who are ahead in maths.....

Seeds and dried fruit don't keep well.

Oh, do they not. That's a shame