Only on mumsnet do people prep.

[Notlong20]

There is not one person I know in real life that is prepping for a coronavirus outbreak. In fact, no one I speak to even mentions the threat of the virus.

Of course we know of it as the hysteria surrounding it is all over the news / social media, but aibu to think preppers only exist on mumsnet?

I really dont know why people are so invested in having a pop at preppers

I dont prep but I certainly dont feel the need to be rude about people and question their mental health or intelligence

It honestly baffles me...seriously, why do they even give a shit about what people have in their cupboards

The most preppy preppers I know IRL don't talk about it, except for giving me tips before Brexit. They'll survive pretty much anything, I bet. The rest of us just buy a bit extra to make sure our families will be OK in the event of anything unexpected or in this case, sadly expected. I don't think there is anything odd about it, we have a survival instinct after all.

I’m not bothered by strangers judging me, any more than I was in the 70s when I was doing my Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and got called a fucking hippy as I headed for the bottle bank.
I like the feeling of coping calmly and efficiently in challenging situations, and having a well-stocked store room. Rather than running around shrieking that there’s no x y z to be had and KFC are out of chicken.

I can easily feed myself for a month from the freezer- lots of bread, frozen veg, meat etc. I have done no additional prepping but do have an emergency loo roll supply (sparked by a bout of D+V and running out!)
And tins.
I reckon I could stretch it to 6 weeks if needed. The difficulty would be fresh stuff like eggs, butter and milk- but I could manage with plain fare easily.

That reminds me... I rotated the tuna out of the prep cupboard and didn’t replace it...

Need to buy tinned tuna!

Have a look at other fora like Digital Spy and Money saving expert. Loads of peppers on there. There's a bloke on DS who even has a place in the mountains to bug out to that has a year's supply of everything.

Anyway, having a good stock of food and household goods in is sensible.

Preppers dammit.

I don't call myself a prepper because living in a very rural area it's just a very normal part of life.

I don't talk about it with others because in this area and in my social group it wouldn't be seen as unusual, it would be unusual not to be prepared for being stuck in the house for a couple of weeks or to be without power/water because it happens enough to us that it's just a sensible precaution.

I've not got cupboards full of tins but I'm always one or two shops ahead of where I need to be for non perishable stuff we always use and need. So for example I've just opened a new ketchup bottle, there's another full one in the pantry and another will arrive in the next big shop in the next few days. I then won't order any more until the current bottle is finished.

Ditto things like toilet roll, toothpaste, soap, painkillers, coffee, tea, cereals, pasta and jarred sauces, baked beans, washing powder, dishwasher tablets and fairy liquid and a couple of loaves of bread and a few packs of butter, sausages, mince and bacon in the freezer.

They all get used up, they aren't getting dusty waiting for Armageddon but I don't and can't exist on a 'just in time' shopping basis because of where we live.

It's just basic common sense when you live somewhere where it's a 8 mile round trip to the local corner shop.

The thing I found weirdest when I dipped a toe in reading about prepping was how mild some of it was. For Brexit, someone said "everyone should have at least 3 days supplies". Well yeah, but you need that generally just so you get a choice of breakfast FFS.

Another weird thing is people talking about quarantine. I was self quarantined for swine flu and had the delivery guy leave the food at the door. Problem solved.

We could stretch food for a few months, toiletries longer. I know loads of people who keep in as many supplies as us, they just don't see themselves as preppers. That's just because we like to have supplies and choices. Water and medication would run out first.

Nameofchanges I’d never admit to being on Mumsnet! My friends would find it ridiculous, akin to watching reality tv or being a smug yummy mummy. Fortunately they’d think it unbelievable, as I’m far too rational and academic to be a MNetter.

If the UK descends into anarchy, prepping won’t help unless you have a secure underground bunker. It’ll be stabbings, rapes and lootings.

The woman behind me in Waitrose had 2 multipacks of 6 UHT milks.

We always have loads in or DH goes into a bit of a panic.

Not in Lewes, Plom
We’re more into barter and knit your own yoghurt than all that city nonsense.

Maybe only on a Mumsnet do people call it prepping.

I live rurally and around here it would just be called good housekeeping.

After the general populace miss three meals, society will descend into chaos. It’s only a thin veneer of order.

We were talking about this in work the other day. None of the people in my office are preppers, but all of us are sticking a couple of extra tins in our baskets, buying the odd pack of Lemsip, and so on. The stuff we have in is all stuff we use anyway, so if we don’t need to buy cat food for a while, that’s all good - I don’t personally know anyone who is buying masks or disposable gloves.

Loads of people prep, they just don't call it that or even necessarily think of it that way.

People buying bits for Christmas through the year (seems a lot of people start in January) are prepping for Christmas.

A lot of people who are afraid they will be moved onto Universal Credit do their best to prep in the hope they can make it through the 5 week wait.
You might not think their efforts are enough to count but it doesn't stop it being prepping.

People prep for their holidays.
Buying bits & putting them away to use months in advance is prepping.

Most people who have been in a situation where they have no water for a few days due to frozen pipes or similar tend to have a few litres of water in the cupboard just in case.
That's prepping.

Then there are groups like 48% Preppers on Facebook.
A lot of the people in that group began prepping back in 2016 but had never previously done so.
A lot of them then found that for various reasons (irregular pay due to self employment, unexpected job loss, illness, getting snowed in, power cut etc...) they actually needed to use their preps for those unexpected situations & decided it was a better way to live.
Quite a few others found that it's more economical if you can afford to buy enough e.g. washing powder on special offer to be able to wait for another good offer to buy again.
It becomes a way of life.

There are also Preppers who have their very own tin foil hats & prep for Zombie Apocalypse/Alien Invasion but they are the minority.

Every Prepper is different & preps for different reasons.

The only thing that is unusual about Mumsnet Preppers is that the vast majority of them are women.
Most prepper forums tend to have more men in them.

Just like people who keep large quantities of cash at home don't go round shouting about it in public, Preppers don't go round announcing they have a years supply of toilet roll at home to the general public.
Why would they?

Anyone who doesn't prep is seriously short sighted. I always have a minimum of two weeks worth of food in. I'm a single parent. If I'm I'll, or the car breaks down or there's bad weather I know we're going to be ok.

And let's face it, us crazy preppers are always going to get the last laugh. Cus we've got the paracetamol.

No one tells anyone if prepping. First rule. I'm on a general Facebook group that has now closed to new members as people panicking about one virus

There's prepping (having dried food/ extra freezer bits and paracetamol) and then there's PREPPING; the hobby.

The latter requires you to assume the name Prepper, talk to other people in your prep tribe and visit the Prepping forum on Mumsnet (there is a whole forum) regularly in case a fellow prepper has thought of something you haven't.
Professional preppers are rare. They'll swing between a state of smugness and sheer panic but find comfort in comparing stockpiles.

Water and medication would run out first
How can water run out? It comes out of the tap! If the water treatment plants shut down then civilisation will be on its knees anyway.

I have a few friends prepping for brexit, can't blame them and atleast they got food for when the coronavirus hits. At first i thought the media was to blame for scaremongering but now all those cases in italy already. And in one country a lady has it who has no links to china of any kind. Scarey

Bit melodramatic of you @PlomBear . Getting extras in for Brexit or the Coronovirus isn't actually prepping. It's building up your pantry and having some supplies in in case things get tricky.
So no, most people aren't thinking about turning their house into a fortress. Because there is a very large middle ground between being a snarky smartarse who expects people to sort your challenges for you and going full prepper. Most people are getting more realistic about being somewhere on the very large space that is the middle ground.

Oh and I have prepped a bit in real life but the one person who saw my shopping being delivered said “Oh I know where to come if the supermarkets are empty”, and I thought “Erm no!” and made sure nobody else found out.

"It comes out of the tap! If the water treatment plants shut down then civilisation will be on its knees anyway."
Nope. In Blackpool not long ago they were unable to use the taps for several weeks. It's called "things that can happen"