The downsides of stockpiling

[CurdinHenry]

Batteries are huge fire hazards, particularly as they age
Ditto those mini gas camp fires
Plastic leaches from bottles into water
Food attracts vermin especially if you live somewhere prone

Surely there should be advice on this element of the whole thing

Which is fine for drinking, but I'm not sure I'd want to waste good wine to flush the loo 😁or washing the dishes.

Depends how long for and what kind of freezer, where its stored and how full it is. My chest freezer is in the garage and kept fairly full. I reckon of opening closing was kept to a minimum, I'd get around 3-4 days out of it. Upright freezers don't stay frozen for so long as the cold air pours out when the door is open. Not much in my freezer is ready to eat when thawed or heat and eat so I'd probabaly just keep it closed.

Or folk could be the grown up they should be. Do we really need to be told these things? But then i suppose there are idiots that take no notice of what is going on in the world or even just don't think any further ahead than tonight. To have to be told as an adult that you should have a working torch in your house, a few tins of food and a pack of paracetamol is embarrassing.

According to Google AI, it's about 6 months before you should use up tap water. I live in South East so we had months of dry weather this year so the garden seems as good a place as any to reuse the water.

Re freezer - I think the contents stay frozen for a while as long as you don't keep opening door. Use up the meat first maybe.

I bet they have a supply of tins and dried goods as most have the sense to know you need bits in incase you are poorly.

Yeah, we have a garage chest freezer that we didnt realise at the time had gone off iyswim. Went back 2 days later, clocked what had happened and virtually everything still frozen solid. I chucked some chicken that had been in there to be safe, but that was probs an abundance of caution.

Our cupboards are always full of tinned stuff like tuna and baked beans and peas and soup (even though I do make soup.) There are usually those awful microwave pouches of rice which DP actually LIKES!?! Lots of cereal because everyone in the house likes different things. We definitely wouldn’t starve, our meals would be interesting I suppose. I am a bit inclined to over buy, so I won’t be getting in anything else, other than bottled water and maybe some UHT milk which I can use to make yoghurt if it gets close to its expiry date. We do need a decent torch anyway. Ours is pathetic. Radio, not sure I can be arsed.

Thanks for info re freezers/ tap water @godmum56 and @Squidthing

It's 3 days worth of food, properly sealed and stored it's not going to attract vermin. Our camping supplies are kept in the garage, we've had a camping stove for 10 years with no issues. And we use then replace the bottled water every couple of months. It costs about £10 and when our water was out for the last 24 hours and we had to use a 5litre bottle of it I was supremely unconcerned about micro plastics and just relieved my kids could have a drink/brush their teeth/eat their breakfast.

In considering what to stock up on, I am remembering when I was a child and we were snowed in for weeks with no electricity. I am therefore stocking things that don't need cooking. I have bread in the freezer, cheese, crackers, cans of tuna, crisps tinned fruit, long life milk. I have beans and soup but they won't be the first things eaten if they have to be cold. I am hoping the power would be fixed quicker than it was in the 70s as I don't have the open fires we had as a child.

To the poster who said about keeping cash in case the bank systems etc go down - how will you spend your cash if there is a cyber attack on the banks? Surely most tills nowadays rely on power and some element of internet?

If your freezer defrosts, assuming the power comes on again fairly soon, you can cook any defrosted meat and freeze it again.

Batteries can always go in the garage, as can the camping stove or bag of charcoal. Or emergency supplies can be food you can eat cold - tinned tuna and tinned ham, tinned fruit, cans of soup at a pinch. Eat tinned ham with pickles or chutney or tinned tomatoes.. Eat tuna with tinned new potatoes and some mayonnaise, sweetcorn if you like it. Tinned beans and chick peans can be smashed up. Rice cakes if you'll eat them. Peanut butter or other nut spread. Dried fruit. High fruit jam. Biscuits. Chocolate. Wind up torch and radio, long life milk and cans of soft drink instead of bottled water or drink the juice from the canned fruit. Also wine for a change. Water butt to flush toilet or if a stream anywhere nearby something you can refill from that. Store pasta and rice in metal containers if you have a vermin problem.

Blanket over a freezer will help keep stuff cold.

Does OP mean that power packs might catch fire rather than AA batteries.

Advice? About what and from whom? 🤷‍♀️

Many households keep batteries, a good tinned/packet store cupboard and some cash indoors.

No one has to though. 👍

We always have a good supply of AA batteries, we get the large packs of Duracell industrial ones as DH uses them lots. They have a long date on them

Some places still use cash. When I go to the farm for eggs. They take cash. Small independent stops will take cash and keep a tally. There's always someone willing to take cash if you look. It doesn't have to be supermarkets.

You have your cash out and ready in the house for bank problems.

I think 3 days is just the amount the Gov think most people can manage to store and afford. It is better than nothing.

That 3 litres of water is just for drinking. The WHO suggest 10 litres for basic living and hygiene.

And if you want to flush the toilet (as opposed to getting your DH to dig a latrine in your garden) then add another 4-5 litres per flush.

The numbers get unrealistic for many (certainly those living in flats) quite quickly.

As the good people of Tunbridge Wells have discovered, you can be without water for a lot longer than 3 days.

That is why stocking up on wine and chocolate, as suggested by PP, is probably good advice too, as life could become depressing quite quickly.

see I'm not convinced! Maybe it's because I live quite rurally and don't really have small independent shops about... but I imagine if there is a cyber attack big Tesco's won't be able to accept cash. Ditto Lidl etc. My neighbours would give me eggs and let me pay later, the farm where I get my veg box probably would as well, but I don't see how I could spend £200 or whatever people advise keeping to hand.

So many shops these days seem unable or unwilling to take cash even when the power is on!

I’ve just done my online shop and added 2x tins of fruit, 2x tins pasta, 2x tins beans, 2x tins tuna, x2 tins rice pudding and 20L of water (although the advice is to have 10L per person so at some point I suppose I’ll need to get over double this but as others have said I don’t love the thought of stagnant plastic bottles of water). I’ll probably do this for the next 3 weeks and then put all the tins up in the loft, we just don’t have the space to store it all in the kitchen. I’ve also just ordered a decent first aid kit and water purifying tablets. I do need to get a torch, power pack and possibly a gas stove at some point too. I feel a bit ridiculous doing it but equally with young children I can’t risk not being able to feed/water them in the case of an emergency x

It's three days. Basically don't let your cupboards get completrly bare before you shop.

No, I agree and I don’t think it’s about “privilege”. Yes, of course there is a proportion of the population that lives from week to week, but the vast majority of people can add a few items to their weekly shop to build up a bit if a buffer.

I always have lots of pantry items because even though I have lots of shops only a short walk away, I always think “what if I am ill” etc. I also find it stops me getting takeaways - because there is always something that can be turned into a quick meal.

i also already have things like extra bedding etc. Maybe deep down i am a prepper in denial!!! My house, however, is quite small, so that stops me going too far.

We keep stores so that we do not have to go to the shops when unwell, are out of the house for 12 hours and in preparation for bad weather and utility breakdowns, gas, electricity, IT and of course I multibuy good store cupboard offers. We have some cash to buy from the butcher - all other shops would close. Our freezer will be ok for two days without power, less time than in Arwen as the house we are in now is better insulated. We keep at least 18L of drinking water used in rotation and a covered water butt for flushing.

We have big warm jumpers to add on top of usual jumpers, fleecy joggers and warm dressing gowns. Batteries are topped up in September. Everything that can be recharged was done this morning including the LED cupboard strip lights that can be moved around and a pair of bluetooth speakers. The fairy lights will be on this evening and tomorrow so we can easily pick up other light sources. Our only new provision is a indoor compliant single gas ring and small gas canisters to heat up water or a can of food. As our winds on Sunday are forecast to be 60mph I'll start a crockpot of soup.

Those in cities get fewer weather related power cuts as their electricity is underground but cyber attacks can affect everyone taking out all utilities and geting all up again may take a week. The php flaws have taken so many websites off line this week and only a fortnight ago there was the refridgeration attack in France.

do people know about the "has my freezer defrosted and refrozen" hack? Its more for if you aren't at home. You put a freezable pot half filled ish with water in the freezer and freeze it. Then you put a coin or a pebble, something small that you know will sink, on top of the ice in the pot. If you check and the coin/pebble is still on top of the ice then your freezer didn't didn't defrost. if its sunk down in the pot then even though the water in the pot may be frozen, it has melted at some point.

Sorry but as far as i can see there is no downside to stockpiling. It means that i only need to buy items when they are on offer (i buy enough to see me through until they are on offer again.) I never have to worry if i feel too ill, tired or just cant be bothered to go shopping as i can always rustle up a meal even if it isnt gourmet. I can help out friends and family without making a big song and dance about it. The peace it gives me knowing that im covered for a short term emergency or shortage is honestly priceless to me.