Your ‘emergency supplies/stockpile’.

[ohyouagainclarence]

Has anyone else started stashing a few things away in the event of some kind of ‘national emergency’ and if so, what sort of things are you storing?

I’m certainly not going to turn into a prepper but as I have plenty of storage space, I’ve got two big plastic boxes filled with dried goods (rice/pasta etc) and then some tinned stuff. I’ve also stocked up on batteries, candles and matches and I bought a solar charger. And oh, got two 5 litre bottles of water.

The temptation to go a bit nuts and plan for Armageddon is high! 😂😂 But I’m being sensible and just having enough for the basics to keep us going for about a week. I’m also cycling through the food so it doesn’t get wasted - use a tin of beans and then replace it etc.

I always have extra packs of vitamins (buying when on offer). I'm pretty sure it would help with long term issues while on "tin diet". I am constantly on low ferritin, no way I can keep it up with noodles, sweetcorn or pulses....

I added vitamins in this week's shop. Tesco had an offer on plus I had an additional voucher. Well worth stocking up when they are on offer since if we do start to have issues then we are likely to find gaps in our diets.

I was wondering about this - how are people storing water long term? If I fill my water bottle for work and leave it a few days, the water tastes really “stale” and not good? I don’t know if that makes it unsafe though?

Years ago, I was at our late in laws place when the film 'Threads' was on. If you don't know, it's about a nuclear war and explosion in my city - Sheffield.

Anyway, we got to the end and the future mum in law got all emotional. Thinking it was about the war, we asked her what's up?

She had loads of canned stuff in the basement, but realised she didn't have a tin opener.

Your long life tomatoes and beans won't be as much fun if you have to bite your way into the can.

Make sure you have a tin opener !!!

It isn't unsafe, it's just flat. Shake it and it re-oxygenates.

Not stashing anything, partly because I have no cupboard space. I always buy loads of tinned/dried foods when it's on clearance at work.

It will help me since I have an open fire I can cook on and plenty of trees to chop down.

And if you have solar panels and batteries set up the right way, you can just run the freezers anyway.

How does anyone not have a tin opener!!??

Even though most have ringpulls now, I still have two tin openers.

They mean manual tin openers, not the electric kind. I only have manual but some folk only have electric, which might be problematic.

My anxiety is in overdrive. I’m terrified about the state of the world and what might happen. I’ve invested in a portable gas hob and an all in one wind up radio, torch solar charger. Started buying 5 lifer water bottles with each weekly shop and extra cans and dried goods to put in a box under the stairs. Also have being withdrawing a bit of cash each week to build up a stash in case. I think it’s common sense. We all rely way too much on technology and what would we do if it was all gone even for a little while??

Well only if you have whole house islanding and a decent sized battery array. I’m getting islanding next week. The vast majority of solar set ups don’t have whole house islanding and so don’t work in a power cut.

It sounds like you're well prepared already, prepared enough you can start to relax again and focus just on everyday life? You can always keep adding a few tins here and there and fine-tune things, but once the basics are done it probably doesn't need your complete focus if that's really stressful.

I've never had, nor known anyone who had, an electric tin opener. Sounds like a pointless invention.

Well, I would consider one if the arthritis in my hands gets worse, because using a manual tin opener is getting painful, however as yet another battery-requiring device I'll hold off on that!

Just buy ones with ring pulls and get one of those jarkey ring pull things?

I do have one, and most of my tins do have ring pulls but sometimes one of those breaks, annoyingly.

The most worrying thing for many people will be if pharmacy supply chains break down/are disrupted.
GPs are very careful not to allow people to stockpile medications so the potential for harm is enormous if people have to suddenly stop taking medicines that may be keeping them alive.
My partner is a Type 2 diabetic and I am so worried for him in this scenario.

Yes, or people breaking into pharmacies desperately trying to get medications because they've run out.

That is a real "check your privilege " comment. Should you one day be unfortunate enough to get arthritis in your hands you may rethink that opinion.

Re tin openers. My Dad volunteers at a food bank and says the number of people without a tin opener is amazing. I put a tin opener in the food bank collection occasionally for this reason.

But beyond that the number of people who only have access to a microwave or a kettle (so no pots, pans, knifes, chopping boards etc) is huge.

Often these are people in overcrowded temporary accommodation which don't have proper kitchen facilities.

So I think the comment about not having a tin opener and then talking about electric tin openers needs this adding to it in terms of realising the scale of a potential problem.

On this note whilst people are talking about stocking up, it would be useful to also put a couple of extra things in the food banks to take pressure off there (and to protect yourself and others) if things do go sideways rapidly.

But beyond that the number of people who only have access to a microwave or a kettle (so no pots, pans, knifes, chopping boards etc) is huge.

Wow that's crazy. Those people will need to be prioritised in the event of a power failure, all the more reason for those of us who can prep, and/or help out neighbours, to do so.

I've always kept some long life goods in, partly because I've grown up in a world of multibuy offers so it's usually made sense to buy several at a time, or other promos where it's best to stock up when it's discounted than buy when it runs out at full price. And I like just being able to open the cupboard when a packet of something run out, rather than have to go out to the shop. We always buy loo roll in quite big quantities (about six months worth) because it works out cheapest and less hassle for delivery.

So I'm not stockpiling in response to any specific news or anxiety, I just like to be economical and have things readily available. Even when we lived in small flats I shopped that way, it would be much more expensive to just buy food week to week.

It goes beyond not having a tin opener.

If the power is down for any length of time in the winter, most people will be without heat because gas central heating switches won't work.

We had no power for four days a few years ago, at new year and my elderly neighbours stayed in our spare room because we have two log burners and were able to heat food and warm bedrooms.

Yes have experienced no heating in the depths of winter for 5 days when our boiler broke down, it really is awful, the cold will kill a lot of vulnerable people.

It's great you were able to help your neighbours. 😊