To think 'prepping' is just shopping to ease anxiety

[JeffsanArsehole]

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?

Better to lure a neighbour in and wack 'em whilst they are drinking tea.
I have just the person my upstairs neighbour but she might not fall for the tea trick.

A snack is still better than nothing...

Disaster movies and apocalyptic novels are my absolute favourites, so in my mind, I am a prepper.

In reality, we regularly run out of food and toilet paper and run out to Asda so I'm probably not a very good one . And I must admit, I hadn't really thought about non-worldwide plague/zombie/earthquake style things so not really real.

DH scoffs at the whole thing and won't even consider buying in a stock of stuff just in case. I'd like to. Not a lot, but as people said enough for a few days.

I've said this on other threads but watch Blackout on more4/youtube.

It's set in the UK (there's an american version called american blackout but its not as relevant to us since they all have guns). It's a scenario drama based on the power going out.

No power = no lights, no heat, no water (pumps don't work), no fuel (pumps don't work), no cash machines (what could you actually buy with the change in your purse?). Shops close pretty much immediately without power since they use electronic tills and the lighting/freezers all go off. Looting starts quickly.

So - scenario 1, you have nothing in your house other than food and water to last a couple of days. Day three you have to venture out since your DCs are upset and hungry. Shops have been looted and there is actually nowhere to really get anything from. You can't get in the car and leave since the roads are gridlocked because people have had to abandon their cars when the fuel in their tanks ran out. By day 14 when the power is restored you are in a very, very difficult situation and if you've managed to avoid conflict you're very lucky.

scenario 2 you carry on at home with food and water and no need to venture out. If anyone does try to break in and and take your stuff you have prepared for this by having a small stash in visible sight (kitchen table is the best bet) and the rest scattered around the house under beds/loft etc). They leave and you still have the ability to remain at home without venturing out. By day 14 when the power comes back on you are relatively unscathed.

Most of us aren't preparing for end of the world scenarios but we would want to get our families through a relatively short term situation like the one above.

In reality, I expect that my stuff will be used mainly for getting snowed in or making us more comfortable in the event of the rolling power cuts that are a very real possibility if the weather turns cold with so many of our power stations being down atm.

Is it the UK Blackout with the BBQ scene?

That's the one.

Oh I must watch that Atticus. I remember it being advertised and then I forgot to watch it.

What's the BBQ scene? Is it gory? I'm not good with gore (the chances of me surviving anything are very low quite frankly)

I agree op

I used to stash food, cleaning products, toiletries. It was psychological and down to my childhood.

I still like full cupboards now but I don't panic if I haven't got 10 tins of beans ready anymore.

The BBQ scene isn't gory but very tense and illustrates carelessness and how neighbours might feel they are entitled..

Blackout was great, i def recommend it. People simply don't think of how much relies on electricity nowadays. Just imagine - Mn would be down!!

No, not gory, but illustrates very well just how vulnerable you could be.

Come Zombie attack I'll be taking it in my stride ala Woody Harrelson in Zombie land :)

I guess if you live rurally there's no harm in having some supplies in the event of bad weather, but the way some people think society is but a knife edge away from total breakdown - anarchy, war, pestilence... well I don't get that. That's paranoia taken well beyond the realms of sanity.

I'm not sure anyone has said they think we're a knife edge away. But its certainly not beyond the realms of possibility.

Exactly Driver.

The thing is, with one breath people are saying it's not about bunkers and ammo and in the next explaining how they plan to ignore their neighbours' starving toddlers.

It just comes across as a bit unhinged and suggests people don't really get how society and civilisation really work. We are programmed across millennia to cooperate, not bash each other's heads in and feast on the goo inside. You see terrible scenarios on TV because they are entertaining, not because they are realistic. The Walking Deas is great fun but in real life there are Alexandrias, not Wolves and Governors.

There's also a lot of misunderstanding about Hurricane Katrina. The people who were stuck there were stuck because they were poor. Every middle class person loaded up their car and evacuated in good time when they were told and came back when it was safe again.

People suffered because of poverty. And "prepping" couldn't help them because everyone blithely insisting on how easy it is doesn't understand that people like that don't have £50 spare for uneaten food. And they don't have the physical space to store things like weeks' supplies of bottled water.

And it's uncomfortable to watch people plan to neglect and abandon people like that. Or it would be if it were in any way a likely scenario.

Also, prepping in that case would have helped very little because the houses were under water.

The thing is, I live in an area where quite a few people act like the zombie apocalypse/global pandemic/cyber attack has already happened.

Looting - tick
Ignoring, or insulting and or/robbing neighbours - tick
Nicking cars for transport - tick
Pissing in the street - tick
Living with no elec/gas as the money's run out - tick
Shoplifting food/drink - tick
Breaking into chemists for prescription drugs - tick

This morning I went out and there was a half eaten pot noodle thrown in the road (and down the side of my car). My immediate neighbours are obviously prepping by leaving multiple shopping trolleys in their front "garden".

It's not too much of a stretch of imagination to think if there are any disturbances such as a cyber attack on utilities, that it might be best to be able to hide in the house and have sufficient supplies for a few days/ weeks. It's bad enough going to the corner shop on a Friday evening for toothpaste, in normal times.

Where I live (Sweden) the authorities have recently had a campaign to persuade people that if you're fit and healthy you should have enough prepared to be able to cope for 72 hours. So that the emergency services etc can concentrate on helping those less able to help themselves (elderly, sick, children etc). Social responsibilty not anxiety!

In case anyone is interested, here is a link (you'll need google translate as its not in English!) here

Also, what makes you preppers so keen to survive the apocalypse anyway? I'd gladly roll over and die rather than find myself living in Children Of The Dust. That book scared the shit out of me.

Exactly Beedle, you look after yourself, so you don't take up resources for others. And no, I wouldn't neglect a starving toddler, but I would expect a parent to have enough foresight and brains to plan ahead for events. It basically boils down to I have the common sense to make sure I have enough for my family for X amount of time, but you (generic) should also do the same. Even if it's a couple of extra cans and a bag of lentils/pasta a week in the shopping.

I live in a flat and have no room for stockpiles, but life experience has taught me to always have:
Half loaf and 4 tins of beans in case of snow
Full sugar fizzy drink and packet noodles in case of tummy bug

DH never likes to run low on toilet roll

Driver, the only people discussing an apocalypse are the scoffers; the rest of us are talking about a major power cut, very bad weather, another fuel crisis. Something with a timescale of days/weeks possibly, not months and years.

But yes, I'd still want to survive. I think most would when push comes to shove.

howabout do you have a balcony? You can grow tatties there in bags and there's always room under the bed for more tins.

People do think that preppers are idiots, don't they? Of course the neighbours don't know we prep any more than the usual 72 hour bag. Of course we have an axe and fire lighting stuff. And paracord and duct tape and water purifying stuff and all manner of exciting supplies.

I think it's interesting that Sweden, Canada and all sorts of other countries encourage their citizens to prep and in the UK it's seen as weird. I think it is partially because the UK knows that in the event of a major issue, the dense population and lack of resources mean it's all SNAFU anyway.

Anyway, it's a fun hobby. You haven't lived until you've researched hidden water sources in your area.