Crisis What Crisis? Is my friend over doing the stockpiling and am I too? Continuation thread (2)

[RedToothBrush]

Continuation of the AIBU to think my friend is overdoing emergency stockpiling thread for discussion about the government advice to stockpile for an imminent emergency and what the heck that emergency might actually be.

I'm moving it over to chat from AIBU as it makes a bit more sense to be there at this point.

Previous thread
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5576816-aibu-to-think-my-friend-is-overdoing-emergency-stockpiling?page=1

Spoiler: it's more of a perfect storm of lots of factors coming together to potentially form one great clusterfuck from economic woes, global energy shortages (mainly diesel), potential food shortages, war and madmen to crazy weather patterns rather than a clear identifiable singular thread.

This is a practical thread and a bit of a handhold thread to make sense of events and how they may affect you. This is not an end of the world thread.

We are however going through a period where various governments throughout Europe think there is an elevated risk of some kind of problem due to global instability and we should start to get our heads around the possibility of needing to be ready for anything.

Remember an emergency can range from a temporary unexpected event to a much longer crisis but the underlying principles generally stay the same.

So this is for everything from tips and considerations about what might be a good idea to do /save minimise potential risks to just straight old political bollocks talk about how things are developing.

This is the official government information and advice, if you want further details on what the actual recommendations are:
https://prepare.campaign.gov.uk/get-prepared-for-emergencies/

This does actually explicitly say to write a personalised plan for your household which everyone knows and understands and to talk about the issues you may face to help you be able mobilise for any situation which might arise. Which is exactly what this thread is ultimately for.

@RedToothBrush
Lindsay Graham is in Ukraine - it's his bill that put more sanctions against Russia. Until trump decided yesterday to make an executive order that negates half of it. Zelenskyy enjoying the photo op in his spat with trump

Lindsay Graham died in July.

This is thread nr 2, so you’ve got one more!

How has trump caused 20% unemployment in Europe ?

If next summer is supposed to be the hottest ever then we could be in for a very worrying time

I think the talk about defending your property etc is what makes people switch off and scoff at anyone trying to stock up.

Yes we might get a total emergency situation where there is a physical attack on British soil of some kind. Yes we are fairly likely to face power outages etc and fuel prices will go up.

But actually the most likely situation (given that this is about oil and fertiliser shortages and weather events as much as military action) is that we start to see shortages in the shops and enormous price hikes. Personally I want to be in a situation where if we are facing shortage or rationing of some kind I have back ups to supplement what is available.

I did an additional shop yesterday and my task for the morning is to sort out the panty and look at what I have. I bought things which are easy e.g. jars of pasta sauce (there are a couple of ranges which are not UPF and don't contain any palm oil), ghee which was on offer, more yeast (although it doesn't last long and has to be frozen), more beans, more cous cous, more flour, a few tins of chicken in white sauce (which is actually fairly nice and contains big chunks of meat).

I also started a sourdough starter.

Once Ive sorted the pantry I am going to find the food grade jerry cans I bought years ago, clean them out and fill them with water again. I'm also planting some more potatoes.

I've also started filling up the water bottles at night and putting them in the fridge for the next day. It means they're nice and cold and it means we have another four litres of water just in case..

I'm sorry. You clearly are not remotely grasping what I've been saying then.

There have been long term structural issues within Europe and a massive issue with debt. I have never suggested Trump is in anyway responsible for this. I am not sure where the hell you get the idea I have.

I also don't know how you handwave away the issue that Trump HAS accelerated problems with a chaotic and violent foreign policy which has resulted in oil facilities getting flattered. And this has led to fuel prices rocketing in recent months and a clear pressure on the multiple countries as a result of the effects of destabilising behaviour.

The whole point is a perfect storm and Trump being a massive factor that has made a bad situation considerably worse.

I think localised civil unrest is far more likely than widespread civil war type scenarios or a need to defend property.

Looking at France for all the headlines and all the damage, it is still only very localised and it's really worth pointing that out.

I think it's liable to be short lived, but intermittent particularly in France. Once you have looted a load of shit, what are you going to do? In its bluntest terms: you have a small flat, where do you put all the shit you have acquired? There's a finite limit to how much people will do this. The market for second half stolen goods is only so big, and if you have a saturated market of Nike trainers there a point where those trainers actually don't have that much value too. With increasing financial pressures, there's also a limited market to sell to.

Most people involved are opportunists not revolutionaries at this point. This may change. But I do think things will burn out eventually at least for a while.

And in that sense, stockpiling does make sense too. It's disruptions to supermarkets and deliveries primarily in a local area.

who is this aimed at? out of interest

On my to buy list for today is another 10kg sack of rice, crackers, more sugar and butter, more cheese. We have a fairly large fridge and I'm running on having six blocks of butter and four large blocks of cheese in it at any one time as a buffer.

Im also trying to use the bulky things in the freezer and replace with meat.

This post Horace. I thought I quoted it.

They had big sacks of rice in Asda the other day for a Diwali promotion.

I picked up deodorant on special offer the other day.
Going to give the children power banks in their Christmas stockings I think. (Stealth prepping, they need them i think)
Also trying to work out which things will get really- even more expensive.

Rice, Pasta , coffee beans, olive oil, chocolate. Chilli sauce is needed.

Because even if nothing much happens (unlikely), some things are going to get astronomically expensive. So worth getting them now

@RedToothBrush it seems to me all these drone incursions, attacks on ships (Bulgaria) etc are definitely tests to check the responses and how much we'll take, how far we can be pushed.
At some stage there has to be a tipping point, I guess.
As you have said before, none of this is normal.
The frequency of these events doesn't point to a peacetime situation.

@MargoChanellingBarbara that's really helpful thank you . Even in one part of the room would be something.

Well we did this last year and yet they and we forget them/don't have them charged etc !
I've spent some time in hospital and went without pb or it wasn't charged and we also got stranded on a day out without phone battery's low or out and an uncharged PB so go a step further and drill into them to charge and take

HurryUpParcelDelivery "I bought the creamy one. Will be pissed off if it's the end of the world and I've bought the diet version (lol)"

Reading this really made me laugh this morning, thanks for the humour - we need it!

Talking of tinned chicken back a few posts, I can't eat chicken in white sauce (gluten) but there is plain cooked tinned chicken so will get some of that, it will break up the monotony of tinned fish!

I'm also going to get some more Ensure Nutrivigor drinks, I used them for awhile whilst I was ill and not able to tolerate much, they are quite filling. It contains vitamins and minerals as it's a nutritional supplement. Comes in a powder form as well but you'd need to add water.

If we have no power over winter then I'll use a large plastic container up in the shed to store some things to keep very cold, probably colder than the fridge!

We have a double garage, during most of the year and especially during winter it is as cold as a fridge so that is actually a big help.

I love mushrooms so I always keep tins of them as they will be used anyway.

I'm sure in fact few people are in a position physically or mentally to defend their homes if it becomes necessary. That doesn't mean they should not bother to prepare. We don't know what may occur when (if) SHTF but we have a responsibility to do what we can.

Yes it is a big help isn't it!

Oooh mushrooms. I can't eat them anymore due to histamine intolerance, so sad!! You can buy dried ones, too, I do have some of those for DP to use.

Gosh that's a frightening sentence 'NATO air defense mission fighter jets were scrambled'

I mean in my little world I know we are part of NATO and when I read this it honestly sounds like we might be at war. Then I look around at the neighbours going about their business, the sun shining, the dog snoozing beside me waiting for his walk and I feel I am living in some kind of surreal world. I mean the neighbours don't look like they are prepping for anything but then neither do I (on the surface).

I veer between thinking we (on this thread) are overreacting to wondering why the hell everybody is not reacting more.

Yes I can quite imagine the run up to WW2 felt like this.

Even if you watch threads again the start shows people going about their lives, interspersed with news reports and some overhead jets (presumably in training).

I know, I know, it was a fictional tv movie but you know what I mean.

When I think about the fact that Russia are buddy, buddy with China and now USA seems to be supporting Russia more and more I think wait WTF. That's alot of economic/fighting power all on the same side against relatively tiny Europe with it's huge debt and increasing problems. Gulp.

GentleSheep I said 'if there's no electricity I won't be making bread'.

A few years ago we had a power cut after I started making bread. We hoped the power would be back on when the bread was finished rising but it was not. We had a fire going (because of power cut!) so put the ready loaf in DH's dutch oven and into a bed of glowing cinders in the fireplace. Perfect! Of course that depends on having an open fire.

It's not the first time I have thought that when my darling little fluffball dog passes (he's 13) my next dog should be german shepherds or some other really protective dog with a big strength and an ability to take down a man.

Talk of individual houses being looted is very scary. A woman living on her own would have little option but to let them take the goods. A threatening german shepherd or preferably two would hopefully make them think twice. (Oh wait my elderly shihtzu has pressed a button on the side of his toybox to reveal a hidden pop out drawer full of concealed weapons. We have a chewed up tennis ball, half a lamb chop and some post that went missing 3 months ago so I think we are good here)

sorry I don't think it's a laughing matter but it's that or be too frightened to go outside

@HurryUpParcelDelivery I veer between thinking we (on this thread) are overreacting to wondering why the hell everybody is not reacting more.

Yes that's the duality I feel all the time, life is going on as normal, isn't it? No need to panic. Yet it really isn't. Best get prepping. It is an odd feeling but I think we just have to accept both those things are OK to feel at the same time.

@ILikeDungs Ahhh! That's really cool. We used to have a coal fire a couple of decades ago in another house, that would certainly have done the job.

@HurryUpParcelDelivery Talk of individual houses being looted is very scary. A woman living on her own would have little option but to let them take the goods. A threatening german shepherd or preferably two would hopefully make them think twice.

Yes, a looter has to actually get in your property to loot it, so make it as difficult and unappealing as possible, the sound of a big dog barking would put most of them off I'd think! It is very scary for a woman, because we know that sometimes a burglary doesn't end with just the looting. So they can take my stuff if they get in, or at least, what they can find, but I will barricade myself in another room for sure if I hear someone breaking in.