Anyone planning on buying a wind up FM radio?

[Kepler22B]

As part of the Be Ready campaign https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwd094x57p32o

households are advised to have basic supplies in, in case of any disruption. Which brings us inline to quite a few other countries. Most is pretty normal and easy to get or we have in already.

Except for a wind up FM radio. I don’t have one of those. But I do love a gadget. Anyone have a wind up radio or planning on buying one?

We have one for this purpose.

I’d like to get one & would be interested in which people think is the best one to go for…..

No, but I did think I must check the one in the kitchen also runs on batteries, and make sure I have a reasonable stock of batteries for that and torches.

I always keep enough food and medicines in so that we'd be OK if we couldn't get to the shop for a week or so. I have some bottled water in the garage, but am considering some large camping water canisters.

I can't really think of a good way of covering cooking and heating without spending £££ on stuff that will, hopefully, never be used.

I am considering an electric fire in case there are problems with the gas.

I'm no prepper, I think if things get beyond needing supplies for more than a couple of days, the civil unrest will be such that you'll need the means to defend your stash too, and I'm not up for that, I just hope it's over quickly.

The latest message has really scared me.

I have one and tried using it in a power cut. Bloody ages of winding for very little radio time.

Actually it may have gone to the tip.

I’ve recently got one that is also a torch.

I do tend to go into panic mode about these sort of things. We’ll probably never use it.

I’ve also got 2 huge bottles of water. Food wise we’d be ok for at least a week and I always have tons of toilet roll.

The one thing I do worry about is prescription medication. We both take various meds including anticoagulants but I can’t stockpile those.

I’ve bought one that also has a torch and works as a power pack charger, bought one for each of my daughters too

We have one. It wasn’t expensive and hopefully we won’t need it but could use it for camping so haven’t wasted any money.

Try to not let it. This is similar to what a lot of countries have had in place for years. A storm taking down a power line can drop electricity for a few days without it being a major problem.

This isn’t doomsday prepping, just having some extras in so if something happens (storm, flood, internet outage, electricity grid problems, petrol blockade etc) you have enough to be comfy and not have to rush anywhere.

Any model recommendations (or ones to avoid) from those who already have one?

Ours is similar to this, although it was actually cheaper a few months ago but I guess it's supply & demand

amzn.eu/d/0iHJ2Lia

The cognitive dissonance must be strong in this government. “Prep for emergencies that will become more frequent due to climate change!” vs “Yes we have just gone back on our promise and approved more drilling for gas in the North Sea!”

We also have this because we can get hit with power cuts in heavy rain. Its really useful with the torches that remove.

amzn.eu/d/00tYADWZ

Wind up radios are great if you can’t get batteries but for most people in the UK a battery radio and good stock of batteries will be better.

That is part of the resiliance planning though. We don't use more gas a result but we become less dependent on foreign gas supplies.

We have most of the things recommended, partly due to childhood in the 70s and partly because I used to camp. Though we do need to get the connectors/converters to be able to run the house directly from the solar panels and the cars (I don’t 100% understand what we need I’ll admit, but dp does).

Tbh as long as my neighbour has one or knows someone who does, we’ll be fine. She is excellent at keeping everyone informed - and no I’m not being sarky, she’s a bit of a gold mine.

No, we've still got some radios that are so old they can run on batteries. I've even still got a Walkman-style radio/cassette player. As long as I've got AA batteries I can use an existing radio. (Also live in London so will rely on neighbour grapevine too.)

My concern with wind-up radios is I'll probably never use it, and it might not work by the time you might need to use it.

Slightly off topic, if you have anything battery operated that you rarely use, don't leave the batteries in it because they might leak and make the device inoperable when you need to use it. I lost a Maglite Solitaire torch because of that. So store the batteries with an emergency torch but not in it.

I didn't think it was doomsday. But I am in my sixties and where I live power cuts have for decades never been for more than a few hours and very rare. So three days worth of food and water is very different

@AnnaMagnani wrote "I can't really think of a good way of covering cooking and heating without spending £££ on stuff that will, hopefully, never be used"

Those costs and storage for things I will rarely use are part of why I'm reluctant to start gathering survival "hardware".

I've nearly sorted back ups of prescriptions (one medication remaining). Longer lasting basic food is being purchased slowly. Without a heat source in mind choices are limited.

I do have an old radio that takes batteries and several torches.

I am not buying a camping stove that I may never use, and if the issue is storms, I wont be able to use outside anyway.
If only electric goes down I have a gas hob. If all power goes it will have to be cold soup, nuts, chocolate and ice cream from the freezer before it melts.

Yes, I'm going for supply chains disrupted, but still have power, so keeping good stocks of things that keep but need the freezer or cooking. Things we'll use over time anyway

Then a seperate plan of things that would keep us alive, even if the meals aren't inspiring. Mostly tinned beans, tinned fish, tinned and dried fruit, porridge (overnight oats if necessary) and evaporated milk.

I'm not buying anything we don't use ordinarily. So no UHT milk, the evaporated milk will serve, and no corned beef!

I really think we're only looking at managing for a few days, things will quickly decend in to chaos if it goes beyond that. I never let the fridge/cupboard run bare anyway, so realistically things like milk, cheese, yoghurt will be fine, even if the fridge goes off.

I think it's good to think about these things, and only a generation ago, everyone had a store cupboard that would see them through a few days of illness or bad weather. We've got so used to having everything easily accessible 24hrs a day, that it doesn't hurt to have a bit of a reset and think what if.

Yes we have one, plus camping lights, a well stocked larder, matches and candles but then we live rurally - it only takes one tree to fall on a power line. Power outages are not uncommon here in bad weather.

No need for a wind-up radio as we have multiple battery powered radios and a good stock of batteries.
Unlike power-hungry tape or CD players, a battery radio lasts for weeks on a couple of AA's.

I’m off to Costco to stock up on booze. If I’m stuck in the house without power for at least 3 days I may as well enjoy it 🤣