What would you keep at home for a few days' emergency supplies?

[Somewhereovertherainbowwewillmeetagain]

Day off today and I’m doing a big clean/declutter of the house… and apparently I’ve decided to prepare for the apocalypse 😂

I’m a hope for the best but plan for the worst type of person, so while I’m sorting the house I thought I’d also get my emergency supplies organised.

So far I’ve got:

12L water
5 tins of soup
2 tins of tuna
16 toilet rolls
1 hand soap
1 shampoo
1 conditioner
1 tin of rice pudding 😂

What am I missing from my list?

I’m going to have a good search around the house first to see what I already have, then buy anything I’m missing.

I’m thinking food, water, toiletries, household stuff etc. Basically things that would be useful if we had a few days without being able to get to the shops.

What would you make sure you had? And what things have you got tucked away that you’d never normally think of? 😆

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst!

You use stored water and cook with gas

I think you could live off pantry food for ages. Especially if you keep a good stock of different types of beans, chickpeas, chopped tomatoes/Passata, and various grains like rice, couscous, quinoa, maftoul etc etc, plus tinned fish

@CoffeeandCakeBreak whe I first read the guidelines, I realised that we live of mainly fresh fridge products. So for me personally it's been a help in getting me to prep for things I don't usually buy in that often. We wouldn't have had enough for the three of us to last days on what was in my cupboards. I have only bought tinned foods we like though.

😂😂😂

That's a pretty small amount of food. Is that just for you? Do you have kids?

You need to look at the food and imagine actually eating that for a few days, what would you eat and when?

It's good to have a rethink, and be more aware. I know I went and looked around my kitchen with a different eye when I read the suggestions as well.

I try to eat lots of protein, so have ended up with a cupboard full of pulses, all good quality, Bold Beans is the way! I agree, no point stocking up on things you don't like. Jarred food is often nicer than tinned.

Pasta can keep children busy for hours with sticking it to card / paper or threading something like penne on to string.

I'm not sure if this counts as prepping but I have some herbs growing on my windowsil.

If the UK seabed cables are maliciously damaged all internet, banking, distribution, NHS etc will go down, shops will run out of food in 48-72 hours so I've recently read, so having spare cash sounds a good idea if you can.

I have a roll of dog poo bags now.
At the risk of sounding like a poo troll, (I promise I'm not). How would I use them?
A wild camper would go on the ground, then scoop up, same as for a dog, I assume.
I won't be pooping on the bathroom floor though, and I couldn't be fishing them out of the unflushed loo 🤢 especially without proper handwashing.
Please tell me there's an obvious more hygienic solution I've missed.
I REALLY hope I never need to do this.

The same way you'd do a stool sample? Large foil takeaway container jammed in the loo and then scoope with poo bag.
God this is grim 🤣

Of all the horrors in all the apocalyptic films, they all missed this 🤣
Grim indeed.

Grim yes but very good to think about now isn't it and be a smug smooth loo shitter with all the foil trays and special salts and stuff !
Whilst everyone else is panicking

My grim toilet plan is to put a tesco bag over a bucket and use that. Then use powder stuff to make it all solid. Put the tesco bag in a black bin bag and straight out into the outside bin 🤢 putting off buying the powder stuff because I really don't want to have to put my plan into action at any point of my life 🤣

There is no way I could get down that low over a bucket ! We do have a spare plastic loo we had to buy when our loo broke .
So we could re use that and also get bags in our normal loo.

I'd dig a hole in the garden if it got really tight on water to flush the loo. But so many questions! Like how overlooked your garden is? How to get the kids on board and critically - how to deal with my disabled son who regularly blocks the loo with loo roll. Happy days. Cat litter tray anyone?

If everything actually is going to go back to normal, then bagging is probably best and it can go to landfill later. Not much worse than all the nappy sacks that already go that way. It would be hard to clean up a garden that you've dug that sort of a hole in and if it's not exceptionally deep it would just stink for ever. I'm not even sure it's legal, though it does seem like the obvious choice if you've got a big garden with hidden corners.

I think I'd try having bin bags lining the toilet then an individual carrier bag per visit inside those. You could put a bag next to the toilet for paper?

The only truly self-sufficient option would be a composting toilet, but they're really expensive.

You’re missing antibiotics, paracetamol, sanitiser (do you want to waste your bottled water on washing?) blankets and candles.

I hadn't thought about the logistics of actually using the bucket. Quick look on Amazon and seen these portable toilets the first one is a good price, folds away and comes with five packs of gel. In two minds though because this is going down into proper prepping. Wondering if it's possible to get a bucket type thing to fit inside my toilet.

Hillington Portable Camping Toilet 150kg Capacity – Foldable Travel Toilet with Padded Seat, Carry Bag, Toilet Roll Holder & Disposal Bags with Absorbent Gel - Portable Toilet for Camping & Festivals : Amazon.co.uk: Sports & Outdoors https://share.google/f7dnyGxGChLuS2sgW

Thetford Porta Potty, Portable Toilet, Camping/Caravans/Motorhomes, Lightweight and Easy to Clean, 38.3 x 41.3 x 42.7 cm : Amazon.co.uk: Sports & Outdoors https://share.google/60pXqMG77h5pIyPSG

Not sure where I would get antibiotics from or the right kind. I have lots of duvets, blankets and candles already.

Things I've bought since starting this thread for my emergency supplies.

48 toilet rolls
4 packs of paracetamol
2 packs of wet wipes
Radio
More tins
Cartons of orange and apple juice
2 water butts for the garden
Cans of juice
Bottles of shloer
10 packs of sanitary towels
Over 100 litres of bottles of drinking water
A big box of wheatabix
Boxes of rice
Individual tubs of jelly
Pasta
Biscuits
Wine
Crackers
Oat cakes
Tomato puree
1 jar of jam
2 tubes of toothpaste
Big bottles of hand soap, shower gel, shampoo and conditioner

I've only been buying things we normally use so nothing gets wasted. The garden water butt's I got for free from Facebook marketplace. Will keep adding bits to my list weekly. Actually I probably should make a list of all my supplies for rotation and so I'm not buying too much of things and not enough of other bits.

Edited to add put dh in charge of the trivot buying. God knows when he will get round to that!

I keep thinking that I should get a porta potty or some such and then thinking what sort of chaos would the country be in if nobody was able to use their loos.

How on earth do people manage in war zones?

Dig holes.

When my DH was young he had a relative who’s loo was a hut in the garden over a big pit. When the pit was full they dug a new one and moved the hut.

Rum.

Sten gun.

Aphrodisiacs.

Well I suppose that might work if you had a lovely big garden. Not sure how people in flats would manage.

I mean you could buy a single shed and put one of those portable loos in it but what about spiders 🤣 can you imagine the threads? Oh mumsnet there's spider Willys all over my emergency toilet

@Theotheron that sounds like a wild night!

Wheelie bins under the windows? Medieval castle garderobe style.