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.

Sky news has got a medieval historian on talking about plague .
Oh my goodness what on earth next!!

Excellent thinking !

The plague didn't make my top 100 things to prep for i must admit.

Rerun of covid type virus - tick
Plague, not so much.

I might file plague with the nuclear war prep. Ie embrace it and die fast

Plague was definitely not on my bingo card!

A bit of a wild card, yes.

I’ve noticed on a prepper group I follow on Facebook people are trying to get their hands on their own stocks of antibiotics checking they are the “right” ones.

Not sure what lies they are telling the online doctors.

Or even go abroad to buy it.

My mother goes aboard shortly maybe I should ask her to smuggle some back 😂😅

”Mum, if you love me you would. Unless you WANT me to die from the plague?” 😂

I bet those mega rich who are building their own bunkers are stocking up on antibiotics now.

I couldn’t even get it when I had a double ear infection so I don’t know what you’d tell the doctor.

Today’s news.

”Sweden is sending Patriot air defence systems to Poland’s eastern border.
The announcement comes shortly after Poland’s Prime Minister warned of Russian attacks.
It is the first time Sweden has deployed air defence systems abroad - and it comes at a time when the threat level is higher than ever.
The announcement was made during a press conference with the Prime Minister on Tuesday.”

Really time someone got rid of Putin. Whole world would be in a better place.

Exactly something like that haha she would probably do it tbh.

Lots of talk about fish antibiotics again.

Then again it could be a new strain where antibiotics won’t help. Otherwise why didn’t it help the woman that died and the other one too, you wonder.

I always wonder why we have so few antibiotics really when there is always the shouts of antibiotic resistance building.

Dh already has less options he became allergic to penicillin after doctors kept prescribing it over and over again for a bad case of tonsillitis that wouldn’t clear up. Though they still try and prescribe it 😂

Who knows what they are baking up in their labs. You’ll never get the truth from any of them anywhere all top secret hush hush.

No government is clean there even testing on their of populations secretly historically and likely still currently.

Just found you people today. A perfect thread for the current spiralling madness, thank you RTB. In a way it is a relief to hear other's concerns and their takes on events. If I could trust major news sources more, no matter what they reported I think I would be in a better place. Instead I fear the news is being crafted to keep the public quiet and we are sleepwalking into something. We just don't know what. Sure that sounds very tinfoil hatish and maybe it is, but if an article says "the public are asked not to speculate at this time" once more I will scream.

Ok, with the "I'm probably crazy" bit out of the way, DH went through a stage of buying numerous staples instead of one whenever he went shopping. So we have multiples of shampoo, toothpaste, bar soaps, cling film, etc. They came in very handy during Covid. Friends and rellies mock us (gently) but it is simply practical to have enough and more on hand, we live in a small village surrounded by farms about 15 minutes from the nearest larger town. No shops. Just a pub and a post box.

DH also has vacuum packed food stuffs like lentils, dried potato, spices etc. He learned long ago that buying the ickle spice jars was ridiculous and super spendy. He buys them in bulk and vacuum packs. It isn't prepping so much as being practical.

My son built us a pantry under the stairs (very small cottage) and we draw from it and replenish it frequently. It won't save us if things go badly wrong but the things we have put by will get us through the power cuts (often) and failures of Thames Water (the very bastards).

@ILikeDungs does he dry his own potatoes?

I like the idea of making say my own mash flour but I’ve never done it.

I dehydrate mushrooms, onions, garlic and chillies pretty regularly. Done apple crisps for the children before and if stored right they can keep ages.

Make fermented chilli sauces as well. Can you see a theme 😂😂

May or may not have a few 🌙 🫙 recipes 👀👀 and the know how to produce it without power.

I've been buying a couple of tins of various fruit every week as a diet of white rice will be empty nutrition, also have quite a few tins of various veg now as well, along with a lot of tinned fish. I shop online so haven't seen a shortage of fruit as yet, but definitely sardines and mackerel is like the Holy Grail now.

Vacuum pack the lentils.... interesting, I live off them!

Honey is very low on the shelves here, but that is probably because of lack of bees.. It’s a good thing to have though, to eat and for wound healing.

HoleyMoley28 does he dry his own potatoes?

No, I do grow potatoes but we only tend to store and eat them as are. He does dry my chillies, and also bottle them into his salsa and sambal oelek, We still have dried nagas from my crop from four years ago but I grew more this year because why not?

Mackerel might be because they are now classed as overfished and sardines might be because of the YouTube trend for sardine fasting

Tip: Don't empty the lentils into the vacuum bag. Keep them in their packaging and prick it, then slip an oxygen absorber in the vacuum bag with it before sealing. The sides of the lentils can be quite sharp (who knew?) and might damage the vacuum bag, hence keeping it in the original bag and then sealing.

What sort of food do you buy?
I have quite a lot of rice & pasta, but realised you need quite a lot of water to cook it and that I would not have enough for..

I prioritise things that don't need cooking. Tins of beans, vegetables and fruit. Tuna, crackers, biscuits, peanut butter, microwave rice pouches etc. Plus bottled water and UHT milk. Loaves of bread in the freezer so even if the power went off they would be fine to eat. Cheese because it'll last for ages anyway.