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Original poster

To think 'prepping' is just shopping to ease anxiety

163 replies

JeffsanArsehole · 29/10/2015 12:44

The likelihood of something 'happening' that prepping would have helped is pretty small isn't it?

Isis/alien invasion/zombie apocalypse - all pretty unlikely.

Apart from the pack of candles, a torch, and a 4 pint of milk in the freezer I'm not 'prepped' for anything.

So maybe people just buy 400 tins and a generator to ease anxiety?

OP posts:
ThroughThickAndThin01 · 29/10/2015 12:51

I think you have it in a nutshell OP.

MitzyLeFrouf · 29/10/2015 12:53

Yep. But better for them to prep than running around like a headless chicken shouting 'we're all dooooooooomed' I suppose.

Come the apocalypse I'm happy to die. Better that than living in a bunker with some know it all prepper with a clip board and a To Do list.

ThroughThickAndThin01 · 29/10/2015 12:54

Although I don't think Isis, or terrorism in some form, is unlikely.

And I think the 'zombie' apocolypse refers to the masses of unprepared people in the event of a disaster who go on the rampage for preppers stores in a scary zombie like fashion. Rather than the zombies my kids are always shooting on the PS4.

fredfredgeorgejnrsnr · 29/10/2015 12:55

Erm Isis exist, I've seen them on the news for sure...

So when do the Aliens and Zombies arrive!!!

I must go buy stuff...

Stratter5 · 29/10/2015 12:55

All of those, about as unlikely as you can get. A very severe winter, flooding, really bad flu pandemic; all well within the realms of possibility, and some, like a flu pandemic, are well overdue. We barely coped with Swine flu, anything worse than that, and the NHS won't be able to cope. We've forgotten how bad disease can be.

As a society, we are very much cushioned from upheavals that are more common elsewhere. It's had the effect of making us complacent. Prepping isn't about underground bunkers, zombies, and aliens. It's about keeping ones eyes open as to what is going on, and ensuring there's enough for your family to get through.

It could be as simple, and likely, as a huge cyber attack that stops banks, trading, etc. Or losing your job. How are you going to feed your family in that scenario? Many, many people have under a week's worth of food in the house. To me, keeping a decent stock of food and bottled water is just sensible. The food gets rotated, it all gets used, no money has been lost. I just know that I can care for my family for X amount of time without worrying. Seems logical to me.

CarriesBucketOfBlood · 29/10/2015 12:56

I am sometimes quite an anxious person. I have come to the same conclusion as Mitzy, I would much rather die than live through an apocalypse and spend the rest of my life on the brink.

DraculasDixieNormas · 29/10/2015 12:56

looking at it lots of people seem to be prepping for snow/frozen water pipes etc because they live in the middle of nowhere and have had it happen before.

Not prepping for zombie attack or aliens like I thought Grin

winchester1 · 29/10/2015 12:57

It depends where and how you live and what you feel is likely to happen. For me its to be prepared in the case of a power cut, heavy snow, water cut - all of which have happened in the last couple of yrs.

So having water, food, lighting, radios etc is part of it and having documents and some cash stored safely and in place (insurance, wills etc).

There are lots of likely events that it can be good to be a little prepared for. Even job loss or temporary cash flows are easier if you keep a week/months food in the cupboards.

DraculasDixieNormas · 29/10/2015 12:57

x post with stratters

LadyMaryofDownt0n · 29/10/2015 13:01

Nip over to the prepper takeover & see why it's done. The list you've given are from the movies. I think you'll find it's all very sensible dependant on circumstances.

GruntledOne · 29/10/2015 13:09

We barely coped with Swine flu

Where do you get that from, Stratter? My recollection is that it was all a bit of a damp squib, fuelled by tabloid scaremongering, and that it was announced that flu rates were not substantially greater than normal and most of those were people who just needed to spend a couple of days in bed. In the largish organisation I worked in at the time, there were all of three cases.

Ricardian · 29/10/2015 13:16

We barely coped with Swine flu,

What? There were barely more cases of flu that year than in a normal year, and the figures for excess deaths have error bars a mile wide. The money spent on Tamiflu was essentially wasted.

Even job loss or temporary cash flows are easier if you keep a week/months food in the cupboards.

Rather than keeping fifty quid's worth of food in the cupboard, which decays, why not keep fifty quid in the cupboard, which doesn't?

Enjolrass · 29/10/2015 13:29

We aren't preppers. But we do have stocks of bottled water and a stash of food. Enough for about a month, if we really rationed.

It's not actually for a zombie apocalypse. It's more for a problem with the water, electric or if we got swine flu and was stuck in for a while. Like we were when we had swine flu.

And yes part of it is just to feel more secure. Like having insurance.

Most people I know, don't even have torches or candles. But I suppose power cuts aren't as common anymore

Enjolrass · 29/10/2015 13:31

Rather than keeping fifty quid's worth of food in the cupboard, which decays, why not keep fifty quid in the cupboard, which doesn't?

anyone who keeps a stash of extra food will probably already have a system so they rotate the food so it doesn't go off.

Keeping £50 in the cupboard is all well and good. Except I would spend it. Can't spend food. No one is going to swop anything for a bag of pasta. Grin

Ricardian · 29/10/2015 13:33

or if we got swine flu and was stuck in for a while.

And that would stop you buying food online because...?

MitzyLeFrouf · 29/10/2015 13:34

........Tesco food packers were lying dead in the aisles?

Stratter5 · 29/10/2015 13:38

Yet every ECMO bed was full, and of the admitted patients, 45% survived. All beds were full, and yes, for the majority it was mild. Not for DD1 though, btw, she was v v ill.

That makes that scenario more scary, not less. Any worse, and what would have happened? I've just come out of hospital, after a severe asthma attack because of a chest infection. ALL respiratory and critical care beds were full. I was on the Acute Medical Unit, and at one stage had a critical care nurse brought down to me. It's October, there's no flu around, and already the local hospitals can't cope. I couldn't be transferred because there was nowhere to transfer me.

So, given that brief insight the past week, I'd say our chances of doing just fine in a major flu outbreak are pretty bloody dismal if we can't cope already.

Enjolrass · 29/10/2015 13:41

And that would stop you buying food online because...?

Because I don't do online shopping.

Not everyone does. I live rurally and you can't just get a delivery at the drop of a hat.

Why should I do online shopping when I an have a stash of food in the house?

If it's snows here, like it did 2 winters in a row about 4/5 years ago a van couldn't get in. We can't get out.

Swine flu was one example.

Why does it bother you why I want to have extra food in my house?

Graciescotland · 29/10/2015 13:42

I don't think I'm a prepper but I live in the sticks so good idea to have full oil tank/ wood store, emergency water rations (pws), decent amount of food in case the drive gets blocked with snow or a fallen tree and some easy to cook stuff which can go on top of the wood burner for the annual power cut.

I suspect this is a bit of a city/ rural divide as I didn't use to do any of this. That said whilst it's a bit time consuming/ inconvenient we can easily survive a few days without power.

Stratter5 · 29/10/2015 13:44

Not Tesco food packers lying dead in aisles. Think further back down the food chain, it's transport that the problem. We have v v little food reserves in this country.

I can see how few of you have been properly snowed in. You'd be amazed how nasty it can get over that last loaf of bread. Thinking everything is always going to be just fine is head in the sand stuff. Keeping £50 wort of dried and tinned food in, just in case, seems bloody sensible to me. You rotate it, it doesn't rot, and you've always got that to fall back on.

Nobody is talking bunkers, zombies, and cellars full of years worth of produce. Just whatever you would need to get through a couple of weeks or so.

MitzyLeFrouf · 29/10/2015 13:44

If I lived in the wilds somewhere I'd definitely have a chest freezer stuffed to the brim and a well stocked wine rack.

The idea of being snowbound for days without some nice food and drink is too dreary to contemplate!

GenevaMaybe · 29/10/2015 13:54

I fully agree that the Preppers topic is full of anxious behaviours and may be triggering for some people.
I avoid it for that reason.

WizardOfToss · 29/10/2015 13:57

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

costbenefit · 29/10/2015 13:59

I started prepping a bit back in 2003 or so when H5N1 was first hitting the news. Since then, I've developed a rotation system that makes it easier to keep stocked up than not, and it makes sense for us.

Costs:

  • some of our assets are in food rather than in a savings account (but not a high proportion)
  • I have to keep on top of the recording system so that we know what order to eat things in (but that's easy now the system is established)
  • some space I might otherwise put other crap stuff in is occupied by food
  • very occasionally something might have to be discarded because it didn't get eaten in time, but this is really rare. (Stock what you eat, rotate, know the difference between "best before" and "use by"!)

Benefits:

  • we hardly ever run out of non-perishable anything. It's great: it's never true that "there's no food in the house"
  • so we save on "let's just get a takeaway" (and only get takeaways when we actually feel like them Smile)
  • and we save on regular shopping too because any time there's an offer on something I stock, I buy lots, so the average price I pay goes down
  • oh yes, and should there be a pandemic or similar, we're prepared.

Basically even if you told me you knew for certain there'd never be a disaster of the kind we've prepped for, the other benefits still make it sense to stay prepped at this point.

Stratter5 · 29/10/2015 14:00

There isn't a Prepper's topic to avoid.

I don't get the British mentality about this. Many, many countries, it's normal, sane behaviour. The UK, unless you're rural, seems to have its head firmly stuck in the sand in a 'it can't happen' way. All for spending £50. Madness. I guess it's the same people who don't put basics like blankets, coats, food and water in their cars in winter.