To stockpile 72 hours of supplies

[seriouslessness]

..in case of disaster or attack. A new preparedness strategy inspired by Nordic countries and Germany, who already do this.

Is this something you already do, or will do?

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/26/stockpile-supplies-72-hours-disasters-attack-eu-tells-citizens

That reminds me, the flush stopped working in our Airbnb so we used a large saucepan of water. I told my OH to use the saucepan instead of the flush, and he asked, what do I do when the saucepan is full? 😫

@MrsTerryPratchett I was living in Croydon during the riots and looting - the health food shop opposite my office was looted for lentils and multi-vits.

If there’s a disaster or attack, it’s very unlikely to be back to business as usual in 72 hours, surely?

No street lights here so everyone has powerful torches and batteries - couldn't find your way home from the pub otherwise!

I don't personally keep 72hrs worth of supplies I just keep notes on who does.

Knowing that everyone else is going to wait 72 hours before they go on a rampage means I'm gonna have about 71 hours headstart too

Well have have got enough for 74.5hrs so there ! 😂

In reality, with the exception of water I have enough to last me at least 2 weeks with no problems , I could make it last 4 weeks with the exception of fresh veg and bread

Doesn't everyone have batteries, candles, meds back up at home etc or us it just us?

I'm a child of the 70s and grew up with frequent power cuts though 😂

I have a full pantry, fridge and freezer so should be ok for about a week, food wise. I never buy bottled water, but I suppose it wouldn't be a bad thing to stock up on some - or at least purifying tablets.

I've also got a decent amount of cash hidden in the house, although I'm not 100% that would be any use.

I was all smug, thinking that we'd be ok in the event of a long term power issue, as we have solar panels and batteries. Turns out you can't use them during a power outage, so having a full fridge and freezer won't be the great saviour I thought it would be.

In the event of a nuclear attack, I'd just want to have enough drugs in the house to take us all out. Wouldn't want to live into a nuclear winter.

I’m rural so sensible stockpiles food ( tinned packet and frozen, uht milk, water tablets) toilet paper not because of Armageddon but if a tree blows down or there is bad snow or Tesco fails to deliver. Could last a week easily probably three in a pinch.

Us!! we tend to buy our meals day to day - ive not done a weeks shopping in years!

We have snacks, could maybe cobble a couple of days meals from freezer but i cant be sure!

I always have a decent supply of bottled water in a 'grab and go' bag incase I'm called to the hospital in the night (elderly relatives...) along with toothbrush/toothpaste, etc.

I have enough food for 3 days but not enough if gas/electric supplies were cut so that could end up with me going on a diet or creating a Brownies style fire in the garden.

very few people have 3 days water

We're not stockpilers or hoarders but we try to be prepared. We have a box of tinned food, bottles of water and a GoBag Emergency Kit/Family Survival Kit in a 175L Strata trunk stored next to camping equipment in our garage.

God if it’s the day before the Aldi shop there’s nothing left! My other half is very uncomfortable if there’s food in the freezer for more than a couple of weeks. We are doomed.

It's more about providing for your loved ones.

If your baby hadn't eaten for three days and and I had food, and you had the means to take it from me, you would.

You can only last 3 days without water. I think i could kill someone if my child would otherwise die.

For those who assume that everyone has this already, bar perhaps water, try living in a starter house or HMO.

I do indeed have enough to live on for about 6weeks- we did it once for lent- but that’s a big pantry of pulses and tins, a garage and a chest freezer.

One house I lived in required daily shopping as there was no storage for food. The cupboards had the crockery and pans in, there was literally nowhere. I was temporary, but my permanent neighbours used to shop for dinner on the way home from work every day.

Everyone keeps saying water 🤔 I can’t imagine a scenario where the taps ran dry. I’ve never bought bottled.

I keep a few crates of water in glass bottles in the cellar. Have enough food. If I lived in a flat would stash a few five liter containers (stack well) under the sink.

An attack along the lines of WW3 would be so catastrophic it almost isn’t possible to prepare. More worried about a nuclear power plant being inadvertently hit in Ukraine or critical infrastructure disruption.

I think people with gardens/local communities/schooös should be encouraged to grow more. Particularly fruit trees and berries. The UK is ridiculously reliant on imports. Plus you can easily grow berries and fruit that is organic. Also cuts down food miles and packaging. Well kept chickens too.

Solar charger and some solar lights a good idea too. Can easily be part of a camping set.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned that they are sorted because they have the MN roast chicken that will feed their family of 5 for weeks and then make soup with the carcass for the whole neighbourhood 😂

I’d be too busy eating all the rapidly defrosting food from my freezer. Seriously though, after that we could eat rice, pasta and home made marmalade for about three months along with random tins and veg from the allotment.
Water though ..hmm 🤔

We are always permanently stocked up.
Larder, two fridges and 2 and a half freezers.

When thinking of stocking up I don’t consider three days anything.
Surely at least a month would be considered stockpiling. Although we probably have more than this except for eggs. (which technically I could freeze of course )
If the water was cut off we wouldn’t have enough of that though.

We recently got the survival manual in France. I live very rural and we all laughed at 72 hours, I'm good to go for at least 6 months. I have a well with potable water & rainwater recycling. Wood burner for heat, cooking and boil kettle, at least 2 years wood in barn. 100's of books. 2 large freezers that I can switch over to solar. I grow enough fruit n veg if disaster during growing season, if I could stomach it, enough courgettes for a lifetime 😂 I am use to power outages, phones going down. However if the shit really hits the fan we are all buggered. I'm not going feral and eating the local wildlife.

Last time ours didn't run dry but it was undrinkable. It was yellow/brown and smelled bad. Took 3 days for them to fix the pipes. They did provide bottled water at the end of the first day, the local shops were completely sold out of water at this point.

We have lost water pressure as well on a few occasions.

I keep a large barrel of water in the shed, rain barrels and 20ish litres of bottled drinking water. Hangover from living in Africa, always shocks me how ill prepared Brits are if water goes off. It has come in handy once. Kitchen is always very well stocked. Just common sense.