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!

Nothing terrible is coming. Chill. Step away from the internet and go for a stroll.

Buy what you eat and rotate it, get a camping stove if you want so you can warm things.
I don't think you need to go out and get it all at once, just build it up gradually

Remember that 'best before' dates are just that, going past the date DOES NOT mean the food is unsafe to eat
The only things that don't last long past the date are tinned toms, pineapple etc because they react with the tin and will taste bitter

I just think it’s another insurance we need to buy and probably won’t need, just like car and house insurance, only in this case we can rotate and eat most of it before replacing.

Torch and candles and matches, which you probably will have anyway.
A few bottles of water.
Some tins of food /packets.
No need to make a big drama out of it.

We have become people who have willingly given up our everything to the commercial gods who would have us live in an age of digital, technology, paid for using our phone via the ether cloud whilst talking to Alexa about the contents of our fridge and what our door bell saw whilst we were out.

Then when the shit hits the fan the tool of choice is a wind up radio.

I've assumed there is a connection between rumblings about countries preparing for campaigns that fall short of war by Russia.

E.g. there have been suggestions that the 2 incidents of freezers in many countries being hacked is likely linked to state actors rather than random hackers. Makes sense as a strategy to destabilise a country. Therefore the government (of many countries) response to recommend some level of preparedness from citizens also makes sense.

If a good percentage of the population are prepared to some degree then the level of population wide panic should be lower if our food supply chain were to suffer temporary disruption.

I put the terms “three day emergency meal plan” into Google. This is one website with suggestions https://prepforoutage.com/emergency-meal-plan-for-3-days-no-cook-menu. Have a look through and then think about what you will actually eat. And then google some more, if you have to.

The idea isn’t to have your meat and three veg - it’s to have enough to eat that you don’t starve and don’t get sick. Also, remember that you won’t be starting from scratch. You will have things in your pantry and fridge that will need to be used up.

See what you usually have in the house, that may well be enough for a few days if you have a well stocked fridge and freezer, maybe some extra bottles of water. Battery torches if you don't have any and maybe a wind up or battery radio make sure you have batteries. Anything tinned keeps for a very long time. I'm not really doing anything extra.

The novelty of this whole thing is going to wear off when in six weeks time the only thing that's happened is that Tunbridge Wells Lidl has had to put three bags of slightly defrosted garden peas in the red bin in their yard.

Just go to the supermarket and bring back a couple of six-packs of large water bottles every time you go, and get lots of tinned meals - you can get tinned curries, casseroles, chili, bolognese and stuff like dried fruit & nuts.
Then batteries for your radio and torch and you’re set.

What are we all going to be listening for on the radio?

There's only so much Archers you can tolerate whilst sitting on a crate of tinned soup in your understairs cupboard.

The location of where the next food truck is turning up.

How long it will be before the lights come back on (for rationing food).

Hypnotic "don't panic" messages.

Threats against looters.

What Heidi Klum is wearing to the Halloween party.

All this sort of important stuff.

Absolutely do not use bbq charcoal inside your home. It produces carbon monoxide.

I think it's important to work out what you're doing, and why. Before you head to the shops with your £150.

What exactly is the eventuality you're preparing for? A foreboding vague dread (which let's face it we all have at this point, for various reasons) isn't going to be solved with a few bottles of water and a big bag of rice.

If you live in the middle of nowhere, and are worried about power cuts due to storms, or not being able to get to the shops due to snow, ice, fallen trees, then you will already be set up for this.

Nothing new is about to happen which you'll be saved from by a wind up radio. Honestly, if shit goes down other than basic common sense knowing where the torch is, you'd need such a comprehensive self sufficiency set up to get out the other side of it, and that's just not practical for most people.

I think you are overthinking this.

Surely most people have torches and candles?

They only suggest a few days food, which I am sure any well stocked pantry would cover without any effort, assuming you have plenty of grains, pulses and tinned tomatoes/beans etc. Flour to make flatbread/nan etc that can be cooked in a pan if there is no power.

Do you have the means to cook without power? I would think most people do if they have a charcoal or gas BBQ or camping stoves

I think the only extra thing is to get some water in. I will do so and just stick it out the way in the utility room, where it will be used next time I go on a trip in my van.

This is a great answer and I am doing the same. Minimal, pragmatic prep with food that we can eat and replenish if use-by dates near and disaster (hopefully) has not struck.
Adding from our list:
A couple of days supply of bottled water
Oats for simple porridge for fibre
Tinned fruit for our little one to brighten the days if we do have a grim period.
Tinned fish for protein
Long life milk (just a couple, nothing wild) for tea and coffee
A big bag of cat food
A camping kettle for boiling water for tea
One full bottle of multivitamins each - after 30 days, if everything is awful, we'll have bigger problems than zinc!

What are we all going to be listening for on the radio?

@FairyInTheMossGarden We’ll be listening for government advice and instructions to find out what the hell is going on. Remember the Covid updates every evening? They can’t do that on TV if we’ve got no power.

And when you know what the hell is going on, that's so severe that it's seen everyone huddling round a wind up radio for salvation, what then?

Well if the news was that the power had been cut by a cyber attack was going to be back on in 5 days, I’d rather know that than worry it was going to continue indefinitely.

This is the point at which I will break into my beer ration.

Just buy a pack of batteries and rotate it. Wind up radios are great if you live somewhere batteries aren't readily available but they take an awful lot of winding for very little power.

I can't be the only one really wondering what the hypnotic "don't panic" messages will sound like. They should have started them earlier. About 30 years ago really.

If you really want to know you can find them on the Gov website

Edit to add that I mean the advice that would be broadcast

We have bought:

• wind up radio (and put a sticker on it with the frequencies for local and national news channels)
• a few torches with spare batteries
• Extra power banks for our phones (we will keep these charged)
• bottled water (3 litres per person per day, so for 4 of you for 1 week you need 84 litres)
• tortilla wraps, crackers, oat biscuits - all last a long time.
• tinned tuna, beans, vegetables and fruit
• long life milk and coffee drinks (I admit iced coffees aren’t essential, but if we suddenly cut out caffeine we will not be happy)
• we’ve replenished/checked the first aid kit
• we’ve got a wood burning stove so have bought more firewood than usual in case the heating goes out
• we take prescription medications so have ordered our refills a little earlier than usual
• one extra pack of toilet paper, some baby wipes, and some extra soap.

We do have a bbq so have bought an extra gas canister.

All of this (other than the wind up radio) is stuff we will use eventually anyway.

We have also:

• filled in the emergency booklet (here https://beready.campaign.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/252/2026/10/Be-ReadyHousehold_EmergencyPlanEnglish_Final.pdf ) with all the details we might need
• printed off copies of passports, birth certificates, key medical information, and
• bought a physical map of our city and written in there the actual addresses of our friends and relatives, and taught the kids how to use it to find people if me and DH are not around and there was a crisis.

I’m with you OP. The truth of it is, we can’t all always be prepared for every eventuality. But we can’t do our best to make life as moderately comfortable as we can.

Ive always had a reasonably well stocked pantry. When I thought about it the only real challenge I’d have is cooking if no electricity-so I bought a camping stove with refillable gas bottle. Already had wind up lights from camping days. Loads of candles (but no matched so threw some in next shopping trolley).

I read somewhere (might have been MN actually) to have a practice 24hrs - so no electric (or anything that needs it for the duration) - it was a bit boring but we coped. We all ate, drank, stayed warm and entertained ourselves. We’ve got a weekend (Fri-Mon) planned for November cause that’s how we rock 🤘

The message that appears to keep getting lost is this is part of a 3 year plan.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/households-encouraged-to-take-small-simple-steps-to-stay-prepared-in-an-emergency