To feel totally overwhelmed about Be Prepared?

[Witchhunted]

Sorry im sure there are hundreds of posts about this but I used Search and couldn't find what I was lookimg for.

I'm not really looking for a conspiracy theory type discussion about whether something terrible is coming. I'm trying to keep really calm and thinking - we don't really know either way. But it seems sensible, on balance, that if lots of governments across the world are telling people to have a bit of a stash in plus some things like torches, radios etc - in the interest of my family I probably should. If I don't need it, hurray, and if whatever happens is too awful for a 1 week supply then...well, canned food will probably be the least of our worries.

SO my AIBU is just that I'm totally overwhelmed with what to get? I want to get a one off bulk shop really, with budget of max about £150. Would rather spend less because it's nearly Christmas and could do with that money elsewhere! We are a family of 2 adults, 2 teenagers. What would we need for 1 week that's vaguely palatable and wouldn't require either water or electricity to cook?? We do have an old school bbq so I guess if I get some bags of charcoal, could heat things on that if it isn't raining outside. Also - what can I get that will genuinely keep for a really long time as I stocked up for Covid and there was soooo much wastage; really don't want that situation again where everything just gets thrown out.

I've looked on the Preppers section but that all seems quite hardcore and survivalist! What does the absolute average Joe family buy who isn't prepping for the apocalypse, realistically won't survive a worst case scenario, but wants to be prepared if there are 1 week of power cuts etc? Specific brands, foods, recipes hugely appreciated!

i havent even thought about it, or done anything about it, i only remember when i see a post on here 😂

Yep this exactly. It’s been an eye opener that so many on Mumsnet DON’T have all this already. Maybe I naively assumed that power cuts, water cuts, floods, downed trees blocking roads etc were a common experience and that people would be prepared for them anyway and this messaging was just for the handful of numpties who are incapable of applying common sense.

Things I’ve bought since reading about this:
wind up radio/torch
solar phone charger
dried packet soup (takes up little space)
sachets of rice (ready cooked)
some ready cooked pasta and meatball sachets
12 tins of ratatouille (for some veg if we can’t get fresh)
12 pots of mandarins in jelly (for fruit, I don’t even eat fruit most of the time but I do like tinned mandarins)
some pots of custard
a bag of oats
a 48 pack of nature valley bars
long life almond and oat milks (I usually have normal milk but prefer these to UHT cow milk)

most of these (bar the packet soup/mash and the meatballs) are things I’d eat anyway, so we have already started on them (DD ate all of the first box of cereal bars in her packed lunches!) We’ll use and replace as we go, but hopefully if the need arises we’ll have a decent stock of most things.

I was quite ill a couple of weeks ago and it was actually really handy to have noodle soup, cereal bars and I make easy meals with microwave rice and a Kiev from the freezer etc. We also had an issue with the water being off in my town for 24 hours. I’d bought some 10L water containers but hadn’t yet filled them up! As soon as I heard I filled them both and put them in the cupboard for next time. Will add a couple of drops of Milton to keep them safe for 6 months.

It doesn’t have to be for some catastrophic event, just think back to Covid times and what would have been handy to have if you and your family were unable to get to the shops. But also if there was a power cut and you couldn’t heat food

I mean if you have managed to raise 2 kids to teenagers then being "totally overwhelmed" by getting a few tins of beans in sounds a bit over the top.

Get a few of those big 5l bottles of water in, candles (and a way of lighting them), torches and spare batteries. Get a load of tinned food in that you would eat anyway. Try to makes sure some of it can be eaten cold (most tins can be, but some are a lot more disgusting than others for example rice pudding vs. tinned steak and kidney pie).

Make sure you have the means to keep yourself warm if the power goes off for a week. Sleeping bags are normally good for this.

Remember that if the power goes off then everything in the freezer will spoil within a few days, so don't rely on that.

I found chatgpt really helpful with what to buy as I was basically drawing a blank after baked beans 😂 You can tell it what you like to eat and explain the scenario and ask it for a menu for 3 days and shopping list.

Given that you may never need the stash, it makes sense to buy things you like anyway so that you can eat them on rotation and not waste things.

We always have candles in. We have torches scattered around in various places and thanks to halloween now have a decent stock of battery operated candles (for the pumpkins).

Enough tins and cereal and snacks to feed us for a few days but that's just standard in the cupboards and I keep a 12 pack of water bottles in the boot of the car anyway, so just got a fresh one of those.

Already have a small powerbank that I use when I travel for work - that will do 2 full phone charges.

Oh and have a gas BBQ outside, so can cook and heat water if we need to.

So tick on all fronts just by standard daily life.

I'm amazed that simple planning ahead is considered panic by some people.

I'm a lone parent, planning ahead is my forte 😁.

We also have plenty of candles left from when we got married 7 years ago and I had some kind of brain fart in ikea when calculating how many we'd need to decorate the venue. I'm not sure I'll ever need to buy candles again honestly. I did buy a packet of matches though, as the lighter we once had knocking around seems to have disappeared.

I sort of think the warning is for the sort of people who have their heating whacked right up from August 30th to June 1st. People who send out for a sandwich three times a day and don't know how to get an egg out of its shell. I can see why they need 'just get some beans in your cupboard in case it snows.'

The message isn't for grown ups who have a store cupboard with batteries in.

It's Covid hysteria all over again.

There's planning ahead (i.e. having two lightbulbs in) and there's siege mentality.

I've checked my food currently in the house and I think I've got enough for 7 days at least. I don't have water or a camping stove but have a battery radio and lots of batteries.

I have several bags of logs for wood burner so might take a while but could heat water or food up and tonight my Tesco delivery has pack of 12 Peroni lagers, bottle of rose Cremant and 8 cokes.

I think I'll be ok. 😀

A beer store can actually count towards saved water.

I reckon for every can of beer you might need 100 mls of water to fight off the dehydration, so each can counts for 80% of its volume in water.

Plus there is all that stuff about monks drinking 8 pints of beer a day in the 14th century.

What on earth is everyone preparing for?

Thank you everyone lots of really helpful ideas here!

We don’t know. But it’s not a coincidence that governments all over the world are giving the same advice at the same time. They must know something we don’t.

Yes, it's special gold plated water, guaranteed to repel radiation and zombies, and regenerate itself indefinitely...
😂😂😂

I meant £1.50 each from Aldi.

I think some people are just so conditioned to city life and everything on tap they can't imagine life any other way.

I live rurally but not isolated and had to have a BT man out a few months ago, he was genuinely a bit freaked at being so "far out". Said he half expected to be kidnapped at eaten by cannibals while driving along our quiet roads and a field of cows had "looked at me funny" . 😂

Could be anything from hack of the power grid that takes it down for a week to full on nuclear war.

Hacking looks by far the most likely IMO. Our systems these days are so computerised that if someone did break into the distribution controls for say water, gas, electric it could cause a shutdown for days.

We've already has cyber attacks on supermarket fridges, and what with the rise in AI, plus state actors it increases the probabitlity that sooner or later something will be taken down.

Most people will have a decent stock of fridge and fresh food to start with and eat cold like cheese, salad, bread, raw veg. We have lots of normal food we can cook if we have electricity but I've also bought a few things we can heat on the camping stove or with hot water like packets of cup noodles/pasta, tinned soup, then cereal bars and biscuits, small box of tea bags and tinned fruit to keep to one side and rotate. We have also frozen some milk.

We camp so already have warm clothes, electric throws, sleeping bags, electric fan heater and wind up radio.

Practical stuff we've bought:

bottled water, have got 5 x 5L bottles (we take them camping so will use next year and rotate with new ones) and 6x 2L. We also have cartons of fruit juice and cans of fizzy drinks. Probably need more but storage is heavy and bulky.

extra gas canisters for our camping stove (only use outdoors). We also have a gas BBQ.

a couple extra torches and batteries which I've put away where the kids can't borrow and misplace them

spare Calpol and Ibuprofen

two furry hot water bottles and instant hand warmers

two large power banks for mobiles and kids iPads. We also have an old style phone that can plug into the wall but make sure it's not an electric cordless one as that won't work in a power cut.

I’m glad there’s someone else on here. I haven’t taken the blindest bit of notice as there’s always something to be panicking about.

Where do you think old style phones get their power from ?

I’m not a numpty who sends out for sandwiches, I’m someone who does a weekly shop and tends to eat what I buy!

I have a small kitchen and recently moved so haven’t built up a store of tinned and dry store cupboard ingredients like I would have in my old house.

I would usually buy the cheapest option eg a bag of basmati, but for the purposes of prepping I bought microwave rice even though it’s more expensive because it can be eaten cold, or quickly stir fried on the bbq if necessary, and won’t use up my water stores if the water is off like cooking normal rice would.

Well done if you live in the arse end of nowhere and already live like this, but for some of us having to be prepared for possible several weeks of interrupted deliveries to our local shop, a power cut or no water, it is an adjustment. I can’t even remember the last time we had a power cut - several years ago for sure. So no, I don’t routinely have in all the things I might need for that as it just hasn’t been an issue I faced. Covid was an eye opener for a lot of us about what happens when going to the shop for a few bits isn’t as easy as it usually is. But living like that isn’t a natural thing for many of us.

Well I'm expecting a combined zombie appocalyse, nuclear winter, with an alien invasion on day 3. Anything less would be a disappointment.

There are currently cyber attacks on fridges in shops in Euope.
If we have this here then we might have a temporary supply issue with milk and chilled products as stored will all need to restock. A couple of cartons of long life mean that you can still give the kids their cereal.
Tesco randomly cancelled my delivery last night. DS has taken a rather random store cupboard packed lunch to school as our bread has run out.
Large parts of Tunbridge Wells was without water a year ago for over a week due to a breakdown at the treatment plant. Took ages for them to sort water. Having some at home helps limit the number of people needing immediate help.
Snow and bad weather can shut super market distribution depots.
We are predicted power outages this winter
All these sorts of things regularly happen.
Just having a few bits helps people to cope short term

I grew up in the countryside including in the winter of 1962-63 and lived through the 70s with its strikes and power cuts. Also we go camping so we have battery and gas equipment. I have the advantage of being used to disruption and having some necessary stuff anyway.

OP, breathe, then take the practical advice many PPs have given.