AIBU to think my friend is overdoing emergency stockpiling?

[bagpuss90]

I get that we have been advised to stock up on essentials, though I think it will encourage panic buying. I will probably get a few days worth of stuff at some point . My friend however has, at least in my opinion gone ott about it. She’s stocking up a six month supply of food. She’s bought head torches, a camping gas stove and various other stuff. She thinks I’m being naive …Am I missing something here ?

If the crops fail we may be in danger. This is very serious not just scaremongering.

We already have 2 head torches, wind up torch and camping equipment and I have always been a bulk buyer to save money. Not a prepper though. Switzerland has had a recommended emergency list of items for many years.

@BeasKnee we buy bottled water for our motorhome, it could last for years. If you have ever camped it’s amazing just how little you can get by with. It’s just that it’s not supportive of a modern lifestyle. More back to a bath once a week like when I was a kid. It’s 2 to 3 litres a day drinking water per person. In dire times washing and cleaning just wouldn’t happen so it’s the mindset that would need to change in a genuine emergency.

When I think of genuine emergencies I do wonder how many can do stuff like make a fire, know what you can eat out of a hedgerow, bait a hook, kill an animal.

With that stash, she’d need a gun as well. If it all goes to shit for that amount of time, she will likely be ransacked by people with weapons looking for stuff well before 6 months!

Aw, that's like a little poem. 😊

That’s why I stopped prepping. Seemed utterly pointless. And that’s when I was rich and lived in a big house with land in the middle of nowhere.

Now I live in a little house in a really rough area, I’d give it about 20 minutes here before looting started.

I usually have a pretty full pantry, not intending to do anything more than usual. I think the advice is just aimed at people who don't have any back up if say you couldn't get to the shops for a few days or there were power cuts. Of course at the start of Covid I was getting the kitchen done so had emptied all the cupboards and had hardly any food in the house, but we managed fine. And survived the 3 day week, power cuts and fuel shortages in the 70s when we had no money to stock up with.

Anyone 'digging for Britain', I'm just planting out my over winter greens for the spring. Fresh fruit and veg may be the biggest problem with food if imports were affected by something.

Because the government is the one telling us to do it. So therefore, every conspiracy nut is poohing it.

I don't see anyone wrong in prepping for power cuts tbh. We're not very resilient in that area, as we've had our arses wiped for so long

I go with the flow of life and I'm not a panicky or anxious person by nature.
Two weeks of usual food, the world can bring it on, I'll deal with it day by day.

There is no panic because the government has very carefully ensured that people are stocking up without giving any information that will cause a panic.

We’re discussing it here, people are buying stuff and it’s been a very, very soft launch.

Other countries get to grips with this and have done for years. There’s no harm in thinking through how you would manage if the resources that you rely on day-to-day, without thinking, weren’t available. How would you eat? How would you keep warm? How do you keep clean? We’re extraordinarily lucky that we have such modern camping systems. It’s very easy to do. But if you don’t, then you really are on your own..

I feel I'm missing something here, I've heard there are going to be shortage of certain items but surely you do without them.
The OP has really alarmed me!!

Are you advocating prepping to help beat the shit out of pensioners?

Well, obviously you do without what you don’t have. Why not think ahead? that way you need not be alarmed and you can be prepared.

Prepping for 6 months plus off-grid is basically a hobby for some people. If they have the time/funds/space it's harmless.

@Dontmentionitlove is right though, true preppers don't talk about it in case their stash gets robbed!

Don't be alarmed. A lot of people are simply making sure they have a sensible store of items- my personal view is cyber attack/power outage is the most likely. I'm just of the view that I'd rather be able to sustain myself and my DH if there was an issue for a few days, or more, and leave resources for more vulnerable or those not prepared. I can't and won't leave it to chance as my DH has multiple health conditions.

My DH is doing this, he has all sorts of emergency prep gear now. We have 50 cans of butane gas and a camping stove in the shed which thankfully is far away from the house.
it’s basically a hobby for him now. I let him enjoy it, it seems to give him pleasure in making sure we can survive in a zombie apocalypse. I am fine with this as long as it doesn’t impact me day to day, also I will be pleased if we ever do need to survive in the wilderness for a year as we are pretty well stocked for that despite living in the city

Yes, yes, of course @BeSharpHelper is advocating doing exactly that and has explicitly said so.

Are you not in training? We all are around here!

Well, am sure some of it will spoil, but if anything does happen, at least she can help friends and family.

Oh to have the space/money to do this! Not that I would, lol, not someone who panics.

Unless there is a war or an e.l.e event all the big time prepping is a bit of a waste.
As for the storing water bottles for months / years, plastic leeches into the water why would you do it? They would need to be rotated regularly for use and then replaced, if water supply was cut off and you can't replace your bottles what then?

Totally agree with the water, I suppose could use them for washing though?

Food prices will be going up - poor harvest due to weather even the area we import food from.

El nino is supposed to be super charged and brings risk of more storms and it being very wet in UK. This after a very hot summer that stressed trees - could mean higher risk of tree falls - so power lines and roads could be hit.

Government saying have a few days supply in case floods, storms hit our infrastructure hard this winter.

I do not think that needs 6 months of supply - though due to previous warnings and power outages in our local area we do have widn up lights. We did carry quite a surpless post brexit - expecting prices rises which with full house we'd have felt - which came in really useful during covid.

I don't think we can afford to do the same now but usually have a few days of food in - we have both gas and electcity but if both go no-way to cook.

Why does it matter to you? We have nothing but don’t care if others want to spend their money doing that

Obviously not, im advocating not prepping , because it will be easy to steal from pensioners. 🙄 i dont think you would need to beat the shit out of them though, seems a bit harsh, they go down pretty easily, but you do what you want .

Each to their own, if it gives her comfort then leave her to it. There are now two of us and I have a months supply and loads of survival stuff in case we lose power. But I have always been this way.

If she is on her own, its more daunting than having a partner as its harder to go out and find stuff without worrying about your home in a proper emergency.

I remember our street losing water for 4 days and me being the only one able to flush my loo as I had stock piles of water for emergencies plus the emergency supply given to us by the water company - you can laugh but it worked for us.

I also have a small generator with solar charging ability, not for any survival reasons but because my husband used a cpap machine on a night and we needed it for camping.

Ultimately, I think each needs to prepare in a way they feel comfortable

Butane in the shed?? Potential big BANG !!!

Unfortunately completely sensible advice like having a few cans of soup in the house and perhaps some uht milk if you have kids gets taken completely out of proportion by some people. If you live on one of our islands you do need to be prepared for ferries to not be able to dock for days so having a few weeks supply of essentials is really sensible, for the rest of us it is just realising that sometimes logistics and distribution gets tricky so keeping a reserve pack of pasta or two is sensible.