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!

They wouldn't need all that to survive one week.

They might want all that. But going a week without food isn't a major problem for most healthy people.

I reckon excluding the water I could survive about a month at least on what is pictured there. I may come out of it a stone or so lighter, but I certainly wouldn't starve.

if we’re supposed to stockpile drinking water, what’s the plan for toilets? Have I missed something in the guidance? Even if we have drinking water for 3 days, how is sanitation going to work, you need quite a lot of water to flush manually.

You can hold off as much as possible and avoid flushing at all for wees, but a household of 4 will need to flush over that period…

Houses with gardens could get a water butt, but that’s not going to work for many people.

It’s not about people starving but there’s a real risk that some foods - or drinking water - might need to be rationed if supply chains are disrupted

Thing is, the relevant test isn't just will a healthy person be not dead at the end of the week. It's will the person go out and become a problem for law and order at some point during this period, particularly if they have not healthy people in their household and doubt those people's ability to weather the lack of food.

Obviously governments might not want to spell out that they're recommending these amounts to try and stop the more tempestuous amongst us from going out looting and rampaging, but that's definitely part of it. Three meals away from anarchy and all that.

Dig a hole and crap in the garden.

Or bag it.

Anyway, if nobody has stockpiled any food there won't be much need for disposal.

Lol.

I assume the sanitation systems in flats would get pretty unpleasant during that period, but fortunately the majority of the UK population does have some kind of garden.

Only on the ground floor.

It was obviously a typo.

Waitrose has a "stock up" tab - glass bottles of San Pellegrino are in it 😂

To be fair, the first item was their own brand baked beans

Surely if it all goes to shit and we've got no electricity we'll all have a freezer defrosting full of food that needs eating. You can buy a one ring gas camping hob for about a tenner, the refills are cheap too.. They're the size of a can of hairspray. I haven't bought anything extra, it's right on the end of my too do/can't be arsed/fingers crossed list.
A lot of it we have in the house already when I think about it.

You use bags and something to absorb it - cat litter is good, shredded newspaper if nothing else

I do raise an eyebrow at some comments from my fellow Londoners on these threads. Yes, we are surrounded by shops, but we are also surrounded by lots of people. And we are not used to going without. I think rural people must be much more well prepared, and there is less demand on resources, surely.

That could end up being useful, thanks!

But shouldn’t stuff like this go into the same guidance suggesting you need to stockpile drinking water? I’m not sure “most” people in the uk have a garden, as per a PP’s claim. Certainly not in cities.

My most expensive purchases have been two huge power stations to run my freezer and internet in the event of a total power failure. I do live rural and my prepping for all that’s happened since 2020 and current day dramas centre around being warm, comfortable, well fed and safe.

Without lighting and heating life can be cold, miserable and frightening and the truth of the matter is, none of us know for sure what’s coming or how long it’s going to last. I personally think a 3-month window should be looked at for supplies.

Just this morning I ordered a Thetford portable toilet (and associated fluids) as the idea of having to stick a bin bag into our toilet and have himself drop deposits that would knock me the fuck out if I walked into the room I just couldn’t face. So a flushable (yep, we’d get the water from the river) toilet that provides comfort with no mains water or power would enhance my experience of the whole hellish thing. Money well spent.

people really do need to get sorted with food, a way to cook and ways to keep warm. No one is coming to save us, they’ve made that abundantly clear. You need a camping stove (gas bottle or canister) to cook, a kettle able to sit atop that stove, torches (head torch best for safety) lanterns (battery if possible, I have several that run of 3x AA batteries and last ages) You can also cook with tea light candles, an oven rack on top etc (basmati rice can be made from cold in 25 minutes) a calor gas heater if you can afford it, portable living flame warmth and economical) rice, dried beans, tinned fruit (for the juice and a bit of variety) tinned meat (chicken, curries, spam, corned beef) tinned fish - you need to look at protein to keep you alive and healthy etc. dried milk, UHT milk, coffee, tea, the lot. They are going to a lot of trouble to ‘warn’ us all to get ready, they don’t do that unless they have plans …. What they had planned last time was lockdowns, who knows what’s going to happen this time. I’m so skilled at all this nonsense now I can bake a loaf of bread in a cast iron pot above tea lights - yes, you can!

Don’t forget pet food, pet carriers for emergency evacuation from your home if necessary and look at ways of protecting yourself inside your home. Not all threats are obvious to some. Let’s hope it’s all bollox and nothing happens but if it does and you don’t prepare, you’d regret that decision xx

I have lived in London for almost 40 years. In that time we have had one brief power cut, and none of the others. So I admit that we haven’t been prepared. Thus I have looked at all the guidelines and have done some low-level and sensible prepping. Better late than never!

I feel doomed. My adult autistic son won't eat anything except beige oven cooked food. He won't go for a number two unless he can have a shower straight after. We had no water for a few hours recently and he was highly agitated refusing to go to the toilet because he couldn't flush. It was a nightmare. So all I can do is hope that nothing happens.

What would have happened to your actual passports?

Each to their own; it's to be adapted to the needs of you and your family.

Personally, I think the amounts are based on a healthy diet, plus some treats or higher calorie foods for when you start to run low or run out of normal food. Given that it's recommended that the average woman should have 2,000 calories per day, this list that is about 2,300 calories per day isn't extreme and anyone who would regularly eek that amount of food out for a month must be eating very little.

I also think making yourself weak through malnutrition is bad for the spirit and the body. And it's extremely unhelpful if you need to be physically strong to help someone else, like a sick child, partner or parent.

1 week of being a bit hungry for a healthy adult is not the end of the world. But emergencies are unpredictable; that's why we're being asked to plan ahead. Who knows whether 3 days will stretch into 7 or more? Even living in London, something simple like a burst water pipe left everyone in my neighbourhood without running water for 4 days. What if it was something more difficult or there were multiple emergencies at once? COVID showed what a shitshow being unprepared was. If you weren't already signed up to an online supermarket, it was impossible to sign up as a new customer. If you could get to a physical supermarket, the shelves were bare. Many medications are regularly out of stock as it is in the UK. I dread to think what it would be like if we were genuinely cut off or supply chains became even worse.

It's common sense to stock a bit extra of what you need, particularly if you're looking after more than just yourself.

Water is the main thing because you can’t manage without it.

make sure uou have a high power charged up power bank. A camping lantern or other form of lighting (much brighter and safer than candles).

wet wipes for washing.

after that….. tinned food. Fruit, tuna, sardines, veg. Also nuts, chocolate and digestives or crackers.

personally I always have nuts and chocolate and tinned fish to last at least 3 days anyway. I don’t normally have water and wipes in stock, or a camping lantern but I do now.

I read some advice online to have copies - maybe in case you need to prove your identity and whoever you’re proving it to wants to keep a copy? Maybe so that if you’re evacuating you can give each family member their own passport but also have copies of them to make it easier to trace them if you get separated, as there are lots of people out there with my name but obviously passport number is unique? I don’t know tbh, I’m just following the advice.

I live in the North East of Scotland regular winter power cuts for multiple days are just a fact of life up here.

What I would say is think about options for how you would heat something up. Its miserable being cold and eating cold so a camping stove or even makeshift emergency stove (a metal cake tin, tealights and a wire rack).
Next is power and light - battery packs, latterns and candles (don't forget a lighter).
Warmth - layers, oodies, blankets.
Food and water - 2litres per person per day. Food this will depend on cooking options. If not planning on then cereals, tinned fish, things you don't mind eating cold. Plus snacks biscuits/tinned fruit/jams and crackers/oatcakes. Generally teenagers eat a lot so think about what you would have on a day then double it!
If you are able to heat food then tinned meals (curries, chilli etc) and tinned soup are all easy. Rice pouches can be heated in a pan with a bit of water. Uht milk, or milk powder.
Don't forget about pet food if you have a pet.
Final one is boredom - have you any games, jigsaws etc. When the whole area is out there isn't really anywhere to go other then walks/bike rides and that's not fun in the rain for many!

To us it's not prepping it's just winter ready and we are very used to power cuts and delivery interruption due to weather conditions (I always have flour and yeast in). But we have a wood burner so always stay warm and can cook.

You don't need to waste stuff if it's things you eat anyway you just rotate it

To add to my previous comment - I forgot lots, here’s just some of the things I think it’s wise to get if and when you can … a Berkey type water filter (can filter river water if necessary) a water well purifying straw (to enable you to drink from river water) a first aid kit, hydrogen peroxide (to sanitise and purify and stop bleeding) over the counter pain killers, at least 30L of bottled water, lots of baby wipes for personal hygiene) a Kelly Kettle & a Rocket Stove, a cast iron pan, kitchen towel, tinned sardines (lots of them, high nutrition and essential fats) board games for entertainment, as for passports …. I think if anyone starts asking for those we’ve all got bigger problems than we realised! Lots of people won’t be able to get everything you’d need, but whatever you can get will make your life more comfortable whatever happens x

If it's a traditional corded phone rather than a more modern cordless/hands free one it doesn't have a separate power source so keeps working even in a power cut. Although I have now just seen on BBC news saying the government will cut off traditional phone lines from January 2027 so there goes my plan! BBC News - Landline switchover could cut people off in emergency, minister warned - BBC News
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c6x29g1nlr51o?app-referrer=deep-link

You look at what your family normally eats that is non perishable (tuna and sweetcorn, pasta and a jar of sauce, cereal, part baked bread or crackers, etc) that would work for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks for your family for 3 days and make sure you always have that minimum at the back of the cupboard. But things you will use - so you use a tin of tuna and replace it (or better yet, buy tuna this week because you plan to use it- but you actual use the older tin from the cupboard and put the new tin away).

You keep a couple of plastic bottles of water in a cupboard for drinking. You identify possible water to use for flushing toilets (garden water butt etc).

You have some kind of lighting that doesn’t depend on electricity - torches, candles (with suitable holders, never leave alone and never leave with unattended DCs) etc.

You think about what options you have to cook if you have no regular cooker - you started by saying you have a BBQ so having a couple of bags of briquettes is useful (we’ve cooked outdoors in all weathers when necessary - it’s fine, it just takes longer and you need suitable clothing like a proper raincoat or a second person to hold an umbrella over you both…). You’ll use the coals next summer..and there’s something magical about a BBQ in the snow!

It’s not about spending hundreds or having a massive cellar of survival gear. But nowadays, people are out of the habit of looking after themselves and managing unexpected events.

So it’s mostly about making sure you keep a basic amount of things in your cupboards, some basic supplies, and the knowledge of how to cope.

If you are someone who normally has enough to manage an extra few days before going to the shops compared to normal, or having 4 unexpected friends of DCs staying for tea, you’re probably fine.

Maybe pop your car keys on top? Saves the burglars having to root through your drawers for them.