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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To be disturbed by the "Prepping" board.

845 replies

TheoriginalLEM · 07/11/2015 21:03

Is this a thing now?

Is there really a need to be stockpiling food, medicines and creating a bolt hole?

Am i missing something? Seriously (this is not a light-hearted thread), i suffer from anxiety and this is really disturbing me.

Hopefully people have just been watching too much walking dead.

OP posts:
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KondosSecretJunkRoom · 08/11/2015 18:54

Since the start of the preppers board ( and tbf I did go there hoping to be entertained by a bit of zombie apocalypse hyperbole) I have seen the value in getting together some of the things we would need to see us through a few days without electricity. To be fair, it's mostly stuff that other non-preppers here say they have on standby anyway, head torches, candles, spare blankets, food and water, camping stove and I've also got stuff for the car incase we get stuck in bad weather.

I'm normally hopelessly disorganised and unprepared, I am that person who runs out of food before I even notice the fridge is running low.

So no, I'm not a prepper but thanks to the board I might now pass the 'reasonably organised family standard' and given the concerns over the national grid - might actually come in useful. FWIW, I will share my food but not my gin.

Guitargirl · 08/11/2015 18:59

GingerIvy - I think that was what LEM was referring to.

I am a bit surprised at the posters who claim that nothing could ever happen in the UK which would warrant such levels of preparedness. That's pretty complacent given that am sure people from other countries who have been through disasters probably thought the same. But if it were all to kick off here, I think a shelf of tinned vegetables will make bugger all difference to long-term survival.

DontHaveAUsername · 08/11/2015 19:03

"Well apparently Don't doesn't generally talk to anyone else so I think community spirit goes to die in her house."

No, I do talk to others, I just don't mention the subject of prepping because it's like painting a big target on my back.

"It's like listening to a Tory party political broadcast"

It really isn't. It's not my responsibility to provide for you and your loved ones, you don't expect me to feed and water you now, so why would you expect different if there was a crisis or a shortage. It doesn't make you magically entitled to my stuff. I don't mind if people don't prep, it's up to them, but I don't see how they can say that they won't prep, and in the same sentence say they would just steal from others. What gives people that huge sense of entitlement, that they can't be arsed providing for themselves or their loved ones so will just rely on others to do it for them? Surely if you had kids you would care about them enough to look after them and provide for them instead of just relying on other peoples charity?

swisscheesetony · 08/11/2015 19:04

finally Actually it was pretty scary, I was on skype to my husband and I could see the airport from my hotel window... but "home" was going to be an awfully long way, away if it was the san andreas fault giving up the ghost. But I made it home by way of a serious Sephora binge safely.

Candleabras · 08/11/2015 19:05

What the heck is the prepping board?

Original poster
TheoriginalLEM · 08/11/2015 19:08

So, donthaveausername when the proverbial shit hits the fan, you are every man for himself type? But what about when YOUR food runs out? Will you go to others for help? Would you not work together with your neighbours when the Zombies come?

OP posts:
Finallyonboard · 08/11/2015 19:10

Glad you got home safely Swiss. I love Sephora too!

Sparklingbrook · 08/11/2015 19:11

Some preppers are big old meanpants by the sound of it.

Candleabras · 08/11/2015 19:12

What's the prepping board???

Original poster
TheoriginalLEM · 08/11/2015 19:12

Its interesting isn't it. Even in an apocalypse it would boil down to the have's and the have nots.

Because as a fairly normal person, i don't have the space, nor can i afford to buy extra food and water. Some people can't even really manage as it is. So they may well be the people without the stockpile when the Zombies come. Again, its the haves who float to the top - because that is fair, like isn't it.

I wonder if those people shared their sweets at school?

OP posts:
redbinneo · 08/11/2015 19:13

I'd have thought YWBU, then I listened to that twunt Jeremy Corbyn on the news and thought that if the government won't defend us, then it's down to us.

Original poster
TheoriginalLEM · 08/11/2015 19:15

Candles, it is where people stock pile food and water in case the shit hits the fan in various ways. It ranges from the sensible floods, powercuts, bad weather to batshit crazy hoarding in case the apocalypse comes. I think some of them are considering how to protect their tins of beans with weaponry. Its all a bit of a worry really.

OP posts:
ThomasRichard · 08/11/2015 19:16

Preppers board. Mind the crossbows.

Zetetic · 08/11/2015 19:16

I have a bag in my car (UK). I've already used it twice in the last four years. First time - stranded on a motorway for a day and night. Second time - blocked in by tree falling on remote canal. Both times I shared supplies with distressed people.

I have also been snowed in at home and had power cuts.

If you don't like reading about it hide the topic. What is the problem? Hmm

DontHaveAUsername · 08/11/2015 19:18

Pretty much yes. When my food ran out hopefully help would have already arrived. If help hadn't came I'd like to think that I wouldn't steal from others. Can I say for definite that I wouldn't, can I say that stealing wouldn't even cross my mind? No I can't, I don't think anyone can state for sure what they would do, but it's not the willingness to steal by itself that bothers me. It's the people who lack any kind of desire to provide for themselves but would be happy to steal from others the moment things got bad. That's like saying you don't see any point in having insurance, because you'll just demand that your neighbhours finance any replacements you need if you get robbed. Other people do the hard work, and you come along and take the benefits of that, meaning they work hard and get nothing, you do bugger all and get something. How is that fair?

At least if you prep ahead of time, then end up stealing from someone else to make it through the crisis you at least tried to provide for yourself initially then only stole when you had depleted your own supply. That might still be wrong, but you would have at least tried to provide for yourself. That's still a lot better than someone with an entitlement mentality who thinks "I don't need to prep..i can just steal from those who have supplies".

Guitargirl · 08/11/2015 19:21

Surely if you had kids you would care about them enough to look after them and provide for them instead of just relying on other peoples charity?

Zombie apocalypse aside and just out of interest - what is your position on those parents who are unable to 'provide for' their children now? Tax credits? Child benefit? Food banks?

AllOfTheCoffee · 08/11/2015 19:21

Don'tHaveAUsername, I mean this genuinely, have you talked with your GP about your prepping?

I am genuinely concerned that you might have anxiety/OCD or both.

This is not a normal thought process that you are displaying.

I apologise in advance if this is offensive to you, it's not intended to be.

Candleabras · 08/11/2015 19:22

Fucking hell, I've never been there before. Bit worried though as we grow veg in the garden. Does that mean.....

wecanbuthope · 08/11/2015 19:22

I've been stranded on the motorway before and they were handing out water bottles to everyone.

By all means be prepared though.

DontHaveAUsername · 08/11/2015 19:23

The best analogy I can think of is like benefits. If you try to provide for yourself by getting a job, but you can't (you get made redundant, or don't find work) then I don't really have a problem with you relying on others to provide for you (claiming benefits). What I do have a problem with is you deciding from the start you can't be arsed trying to provide for yourself, "I don't need to get a job, I can just get others to provide for me".

If you try to provide for yourself in an emergency by prepping before, then I don't really have a huge problem with you if you decided to steal if you depleted your own supplies. What I do object to is you deciding from the start that you can't be arsed prepping at all, but you'd be willing to steal from others who have if things get bad. Not a completely perfect analogy but pretty much accurate.

MaudGonneMad · 08/11/2015 19:24

The best analogy I can think of is like benefits. If you try to provide for yourself by getting a job, but you can't (you get made redundant, or don't find work) then I don't really have a problem with you relying on others to provide for you (claiming benefits). What I do have a problem with is you deciding from the start you can't be arsed trying to provide for yourself, "I don't need to get a job, I can just get others to provide for me

Yep. Definitely a Tory party political broadcast.

Pipestheghost · 08/11/2015 19:25

I'd be hopeless in an apocalypse or zombie situation, I haven't even got any candles. I do have 2 tins of soup though. I had no idea about this prepping thing.

AllOfTheCoffee · 08/11/2015 19:25

My mum's been stranded on her way home from work because of heavy snow, it took her four hours to get home, it normally takes her 30 minutes.

She said people from roadside cafe's were handing out free cups of tea and people were sharing blankets and extra clothing with those more vulnerable than themselves.

Zetetic · 08/11/2015 19:26

I guess it depends where you break down on the motorway and in what conditions. They had no way of getting to the people in my particular incident so everyone had to be self reliant.

SilverBirchWithout · 08/11/2015 19:27

It's interesting to read how much misinformation there is on here about real events. Earlier someone mentioned Whitney (actually us locals call it Witney!) being cut-off for 2 days. Bollocks, although the flooding did delay a few Waitrose deliveries but it certainly wasn't cut-off. Grin

As the prepers do have their own board why are they on this thread? Surely their justification for wanting it, was to avoid spamming other people's discussions. If we wanted to hear their side of the story we would go over there to discuss it. As I understand it the purpose of this thread is to reassure the OP about the eccentricity of their hobby rather than discuss the merits of leaving next door's DC to die.