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.

That's one thing I haven't done. Have only bought items we would usually eat.

We’ve been recommended to do this by the govt though. I have family in another European country who are being told the same. Having a few extra bits in just in case won’t lead to ‘hoarding’

Yes and firepit outside plus plenty fuel for both. 1000l in water butts which will do for non drinking plus water purification tabs if needed.

Also the result of people who don't have a stock of food and had to go out and buy things.

We did not need to go shopping for a good few weeks as we always have at least 2 months of food.

We also always have plenty of loo rolls. We buy boxes of 48. Never understand why people buy packs of 2 or 4 loo rolls. They cost more and people must be forever buying them

Have done 👍 as that's what I'm doing

We’ve been building up a store since Covid. Tins, camping stuff and medical.

I rotate the tins to keep a good shelf life.

Really?

That isn't the type of foods they mean as in the event of a power cut it will go off.

It's non-perishable items such as tinned meats, fruits & vegetables, packet rice or pasta, etc

Given that many, many, many of us in this country live in overcrowded conditions and paycheck to paycheck, how exactly does the government want us to prepare and where shall we store all these essential items?

>6kg of oats, which have a shelf life of a year and I cycle through and replace
>15l of water, similar to the above.

I probably need to get some more water and some tinned items - meat/pulses/fruits

No point in storing items that are alien to your monthly diet, or that you would not use as a random cook-up through the year - because eventually they'll perish, unless you really enjoy eating spam and tinned apricots.

If you think about it rationally, then if you need to a stockpile to last for months - years, you'd need the raw survival skills to cope with an event of that magnitude and duration, which would almost certainly involve total loss of the power grid

That means no internet, no banking, no ATMs, no mains water to drink or flush, so where you gonna go for your water - the nearest watercourse probably and I doubt your Sawyer water filter will cut the mustard if people are using it for washing and shitting... Scale that up by 60 million, things get very dark quickly oh, and who's collecting your rubbish?

If you can survive that and defend your territory/food stash from the starving remainders, fair fucks to you, otherwise, no need for huge stashes of supplies, because they will outlast you.

I remember the power cuts from striking miners and the more recent striking tanker drivers at oil refineries so can fully believe a power outage can last more than a few hours. In the event of serious sabotage it could be days or weeks before power is restored.

Don't have one.

Yes. I mean we are talking cyber attacks and severe disruption in other ways.
How incredibly naive you’d have to be to not believe they could last for a long time, especially with the news of what is happening around the world this last week. A perfect shitstorm.

Those who can should. I am sure you could manage a few things, if you wanted to.

I remember the refinery blockades and rolling road blocks in August/September 2000, when the country came to a standstill because petrol had reached 80p a litre

80 pence a litre! How outrageous

One thing to add, I don’t think it has been mentioned? Ensuring you have cash in the house. Cyber attacks aren’t out of the question nor power cuts. Money in the bank is useless in these times. Cash is essential.

If you can afford it, then it's really not that hard to store enough food and water for a couple of days, even if it's annoying losing a bit of space to it. Even just that is much better than having nothing.

If you can't afford it at all, then you can't. It can't be helped. Queuing for council or water company distributions will be an option too, but they will probably take a couple of days to start up and even they can run out. Better for everyone if most people can manage for the first two or three days before needing to do that.

Given the way prices are likely to go up, buying ahead also makes financial sense, if you can afford it at all, but I appreciate that's really difficult and out of reach for lots of people.

Here's a thought experiment

So assuming you have all your emergency supplies and have decided to stay put, instead of bugging out, consider what happens when it's 3-4 weeks in and a number of your neighbours realise you have a stash...

and they don't

revisit that scenario several months in, then you realise why I mentioned about ability to defend your stash, which in urban areas, starts to become highly impractical... unless you have a large tripod-mounted machine gun and tons of ammo

It doesn’t need a cyber attack or sabotage for a power outage to last for several days, it happens with natural weather events. During Storm Eunice in Feb 2022 some areas were without power for several days. That is the type of event I prepare for.

The thought experiment is my army is bigger than their army. My army is better prepared than their army. My army has better skills than their army. If you want to be in my army you will need to pull your weight and work for a team strategy. Will we survive long than those in isolation.

Yes I do have a plan but I'm sure as hell not telling you it!

This.

Gov is indeed advising this.
I suspect Russia are likely to create power cuts or hit water facilities or we will have food supply chain issues thanks to Trump and his pointless war with Israel, quite possibly both. With that in mind have got 2 wind up radio/torch/USB charging/solar power things, a double camping stove and gas, some water clarifying tablets, bottled water, a few pot noodles, pasta, rice, beans, tuna, UHT milk, a pack of those part baked rolls (although I suspect will be hard to cook without electric), solar fan, planted apple/plum/cherry and got blackberry, blueberry and tayberry already. Need to work on veg planting.

Social preparation, like knowing your neighbours and being willing to share and collaborate at appropriate moments, is an important part of individual resilience. It is not realistic for most normal people in urban environments in the UK either to just stay at home for weeks with no contact with neighbours, or to bug out.

We are generally quite well stocked here, after growing up rurally, and in DH's case, in poverty. We also have plenty of water in thanks to the council providing it recently when the water supply went down locally for a couple of days. We have water butts too and a few large containers permanently filled after something similar happened pre covid. Always nice to be able to flush the loo and save bottled water for drinking and cooking.

Two non fussy adults here mean we wouldn't starve if everything went down. Tinned meat/fish/soup/beans live on one shelf of the larder and a couple of tin openers too.

Torches,batteries and a wind up radio/phone charger too. I quite like the idea of a grab and go bag. Might sort one of those out. Hopefully never to be needed 🙏

A few parts from the brochure the Swedish government sent out a few years ago. I mean we could all start to shoot each other or we could try working together..

To resist these threats, we must stand united. If Sweden is attacked, everyone must do their part to defend Sweden’s independence – and our democracy. We build resilience every day, together with our loved ones, colleagues, friends, and neighbours.

Talk to other people in your local community about how to strengthen your collective preparedness – for example, with neighbours in your block of flats or residential area.

Adapt the advice in the checklists to your specific needs and situation. You may be able to share some things with others – for example, with your neighbours. In times of crisis or war, we all must help one another.

rib.msb.se/filer/pdf/30874.pdf