Another stock piling one

[Coldcafeeveryday]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/oct/22/britain-prepare-infrastructure-attacks-hostile-states-wes-streeting

I have a few extra tins in the cupboard, battery powered lights and I could get some cash out but tbh where are people supposed to keep all this stuff? All the bottled water? What about the micropastics fgs! (Light hearted post btw)

The water won't go off straight away

Our water is drinking water. Better to use a bladder than just fill the bath up. There are ways to purify water anyway.

Don't use drinking water to flush the toilet - and flush less: "if it's yellow let it mellow". Wet wipes or flannel for washing.

Yes,. Tbh in the event of a prolonged power cut I'll be aware that there will be some still using the toilet so will be putting a floodsax down both of mine to stop sewage backing up into the house.

I brought it up because you would be surprised how many people dont know how much water the average household uses.

I have tons of filled water containers because I like drink free spring water from the White Springs in Glastonbury a few miles away so I always have loads of it I store in the shed.
Also cat biscuits as I like to keep big bags of it in the house. Other than that I don't do any prepping at all.
People were going mental in Morrisons today. It was panic buying all over the shop. I only went in for a paper and a sandwich and it took me half an hour to get out.
i could probably survive for weeks on the sack of rice I always keep in the house anyway.

I don't think it's a panic buying everywhere, maybe in small cities/villages only, I'm from London, visited 3 different supermarkets this morning, no issues

Looked at floodsax, they’re expensive!

You can get them in singles as well. They're not super cheap but handy to have in I think.

www.thesafetysupplycompany.co.uk/search?q=Floodsax

Thanks, they’re the cheapest so far!

But you obviously won’t be using the bath or shower multiple times per day if there’s no running water.

The idea is that you’d get some warning before the water was switched off so would have a chance to fill up the bath or bath bladder and use that water for essentials until running water is restored. And essentials means flushing toilets, hand washing and cooking, nothing else (presuming that you have stored drinking water separately).

I've never heard of floodsax. Why would you put it in your wc? What do they do? https://www.thesafetysupplycompany.co.uk/p/9386918/floodsax-sandless-sandbags-22l-capacity-single-ed-floodsax.html

Thank you.

That makes sense.

I was thinking you have to always have the bath bladder filled up, just incase 😆

To prevent a disgusting back flow of sewage into your house!

Outing myself as a complete idiot I fear but once one has these floodsax for toilet use above what do you actually do with them?

Safely dispose of them, they will be full of sewage!

A couple of ideas for those a bit short of cash for expensive stores: Mung beans, whole lentils and various seeds eg fenugreek literally sprout enough to comfortably eat raw in a few days with very little water and no fuel required. Full of nutrients. You only need a handful or two - soak in a little water overnight then cover jar with a clean cloth eg a sock. Drain it and re-wet the seeds a few times a day until they start to sprout little tails. Then you can eat. Cheaper to buy in ethnic shops if you live in an urban area. I love them with oil and vinegar in a wrap.

I wash out plastic milk containers and soak them in Miltons before filling with fresh water. Slowly collecting a free supply of fresh water which would be ok for drinking and cooking for up to 6 months. (When I will refresh if not used).

It's meant for people like a friend of mine,

Has an average size kitchen, is comfortable financially but shops every day for her evening meal plus up to 3 things you buy weekly, monthly, less often - milk, coffee, shower gel, loo roll etc.

I don't know how and why she does this. Plus its money wasting as buys 2 apples at 40p each. Bag of the same 6 apples - £1.75. That is one of many things she wastes money on. Over a year, this practice is costing her £32.50 more.

Plus on days like this, when weather is awful - she will do a food courier delivery which has can have up to 4 lots of charges - products are more expensive, service fee, small order fee and bag fee, This is another way she wastes money. She forgot to buy some milk and the cost on these food courier sites was £5.82 for a 2 pint bottle. She isn't disabled.

I always have store cupboards and a freezer (fridge freezer size) full of food.

I hadn't thought about sewage. Is it when there's a prolonged power cut you'd put these in the loo because pumps (somewhere?) would stop working to move it along and it would start backing up? What about if it was a water outage? Where do you actually then "go", especially if you don't have a garden?
Sorry, never had to think about these things before! I thought I was fairly on-track with my food & bottles of water, but this is a new level of worry.

I think if you can't use the loo, you're supposed to use a bucket with clumping cat litter in it and scoop out the offending solids, putting them into a dog poo bag and then into your outside bin until normal service resumes

Oh, I just go and shit in the bushes in the public area at the end of the cul-de-sac.

The actual scripts for radio airplay are here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/public-health-advice-from-uk-cmos-during-a-national-power-outage - there's a lot of info in them, including the water one. Stock up on nappy bags to poo into!

I have a Kelly kettle because I have no wish to use camping stoves or charcoal

Be cautious about cooking food on your BBQ - the smell of food may attract unwelcome attention (watch Blackout if you want to see how this can play out!). And you obviously can't use your BBQ indoors because of the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.

That said, I did see something that said the first thing you should do in this sort of event is establish community cohesion by going around to your neighbours and inviting them all to a communal BBQ where all the meat in everyone's fridge is cooked (before it goes off) and shared. If you can establish an "in this together" mentality ASAP, you will be less vulnerable as a group to marauding hordes and people can share knowledge and resources, making everybody stronger

You can buy a few long shelf life emergency food tins freeze dried. They have at least 25 years on them and have quite a few servings per tin. The tins are quite big but you could stack them on top of each other knowing you have many meals. You do need water though to add

Apparently they're reusable but I think if they've been down the bog I'd probably chuck them away

Nobody is outing themselves as idiots though. We're all dependent on the system and our lives are run where all of this stuff is taken care of for us.

I like to think of myself as well prepared but I guarantee there will be something/ s I have missed. Actually having to use this stuff will be a learning curve.