Government 3day emergency ready

[nahlaaaa]

Is anyone else absolutely terrified of this. My mind is working over time thinking of all possibilities of what we may and may not need and where to store all these things. I have a 2yr old too so extra pressure to keep him fed and hydrated. I know they say just incase of a storm or power outage but what if something worse was to happen like how much cash do you actually need to have at home like most people we don’t have ‘spare money’ we live payment to payment so doing that is super difficult and same for stock piling at what point is it enough of everything there’s so much to consider even down to period supplies and toiletries right up to food and water I just can’t cope. How’s everyone else coping and dealing with this oh and medication like to make sure you have enough of everything is crazy it’s such hard work and as I said my minds doing overtime with worry and stress I can’t cope

Calm down, it will be ok. It’s sensible to just get a few tins of food in, some bottled water, keep a couple of torches and batteries handy in case of power outages. Maybe a wind up or battery radio. We had these in the 70’s and it was ok.

its 3 days worth of food and few bottles of water, do you have enough food now to feed yourselves for 3 days without power?
All you need is long life milk, cerals ,a few tins, bread and cheese or whatever in fridge that won't go off quickly. Get a few big bottles of water in.
A torch a few candles, keep a power bank charged honestly you will fine.
First aid kit, basically painkillers, plasters all the normal stuff you would have anyway

No we didn't in the seventies.

OP it scared me too.
But they are saying three days worth of food and water you can eat without power. The government website advises you can build this up gradually e.g. tin of soup or tin of tuna a week.

Cash is in case payment systems go down. Do you have a cashing or supermarket near you that does cash back? Because if yes you can get some cash out every month and use it during that month.

Toiletries just use your normal stuff. You could always buy a bar of cheap soap in case. E.g. 35p at asda. Period supplies just your normal stash is fine.

It's basically what would you eat if there was no power for three days. So bread and jam, cold tin of soup, stuff like that.

Is anyone else absolutely terrified of this

No, not really.

And if you take a moment to read all the sensible threads on this subject (of which there are so many) you probably wouldn’t be either.

@PappyPatty other threads are full of people with money and space. Not having those makes this harder.

Yes, the number and timing of these “I’m terrified”posts is becoming very suspect….

This.

I don't have enough money to buy food for the whole month as it is. If I bought an extra tin of food a week, it would be so that I could skip one less meal that week, not to keep on the off chance I might need it at some distant point in the future.

I'm not terrified, however. I can go without food for three days. Water would be harder, but I'm guessing there will be supply stations put in place pretty quickly for those of us who don't have the space to store 3 days' worth of water.

Can't get worked up over a simple instruction that involves not much more than a routine grocery shop.

I’m not sure bottled water was a thing, but most families would have had some tins of food annyway, and torches and/or candles especially during the ‘three day week’ period with its power outages.

You don't have to buy water. If you ever have plastic bottles you can fill them up from the tap and store them. Or any container with a lid.

@ErrolTheDragon we had warnings of power outages in the seventies. I remember my mother leaving work early so she could cook tea before the power went off.

And you don't have to buy extra food. Just make sure some of the food you buy regularly does not need cooking. Bread, tinned beans, etc.

Of course we had battery radios, I got a little transistor radio from my Grandpa for my birthday, worked off a 9V battery, I think.

Yes, but we had battery radios because they were the norm. Nothing to do with prepping.

Yes, there were planned cuts because of electricity shortages in the early 70s miners strikes so we had torches and candles etc. But there have always been unplanned power cuts of various durations for all sorts of reasons over the years - mostly weather but we’ve had quite a lot of mostly fairly short ones in the last few years (I think due to all the house building, cables being accidentally cut or suchlike, internet too a couple of times).

I think you seem a bit over invested in the thread. Hopefully you at least realise it’s fairly normal to have 3 days of stuff in your house and that perhaps your recollection of the 70s differs from others’ memories. Are you saying you don’t have kitchen cupboards? That’s where people would usually have 3 days of food. Most kitchens have at least one place to put food.
Even on the bones of our arses in the 90s when we had broken biscuits because we couldn’t afford proper ones we always had a few candles and a couple of tins of paste, tuna or jam and a bag of raisins or some tinned pineapples for powercuts. It’s really very normal to have a couple of spare tins of food and you don’t need to be rich or have a big house to own food.

If you genuinely can't afford to buy the things on the list, try not to worry.

The idea is that as many people as possible do, so there's fewer people that need help urgently should something happen.

Not that the recommendations mean something is going to happen, just that we'll be in a better position to cope if it does. I work on the fringes of emergency planning and most of the scenarios we spend a lot of time preparing for probably will never happen or are once in a century events, if that.

But your reaction to this is way out of proportion, do you have any real life support?

No, I refuse to allow the government and the media (which is the same entity) to keep 'terrifying' me. I refuse to read their shit or believe anything they say. They make me sick. It seems they are hellbent on controlling everyone via emotion like fear, anger, panic, jealousy, negativity etc.

I've opted out.

Think you might be in a better place if you try doing the same thing.

I remember enjoying all the power cuts in the 70’s and remember my mums stashes of extra weetabix etc. It was exciting to be sitting in candle light and playing games. In retrospect i’m not sure my parents enjoyed it…

They don’t want the panic buying of Covid, so if most people have a few days worth of stuff, there won’t be the same panic rush at the shops and there will be more available for those who haven’t prepared as well as they’d have liked. People like you. So there is no need to panic. If you can, just buy a couple of tins or jars each week. If not, then don’t worry. Make sure you have a torch or a free candles. Fill up the bath if there is a power cut and fill a few saucepans with water. You’ll be fine. You can live on cold stuff for a few days. We all can.

I became a biit of a cupboard hoarder after Covid. I always make sure I have extra medicines and stuff in stock too. I've been a bit lax on the toilet roll though, must remember that's always the first to go! Started keeping extra bottled water after a local issue this summer where water supplies were off for days.

There's always the fear of "they know something we don't know" but there have always been storms etc so it's as well to be prepared for such things. The idea of cyber attacks is a bit concerning as I hadn't given much thought as to just how much is controlled by online systems until the cyber attack that managed to take control of the fridges in French supermarkets.

It’s 3 days only! If the emergency started right now, I’m sure you have more than enough supplies in your cupboards, fridge and freezer! You might run out of bread and milk but you will not starve.

My village had a burst main last week and no water for 24 hours.

they had a station at the secondary school to collect bottled water quite quickly.

Errrrr - yeah we did.

During the time of strikes, 3-day week etc, and electricity was periodically cut off. The newspapers detailed the times - I think it was on a rota - that your postcode/town would lose the power and people made tea/dinner around it.

I have great memories of eating tea in the dark, and a mad scramble to fill thermos flasks and hot water bottles. We played cards by candlelight so to us kids it was a great adventure.

My parents to this day have a box of candles, torches, batteries, matches etc at the ready and always a cupboard full of tinned stuff
”remember the winter of discontent” being the reason.

This ^^

We have well stocked cupboards, something I picked up from my parents. When lockdown happened we didn't need to go to the shop for a week which was really good. I couldn't do a week of uncooked food but we would be ok for 3 days.