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 would make sure that in my freezer I had spare bread, butter, milk, bacon and cheese, plus some home made frozen veg soup all date labelled used and replaced as it got to its use by date

And all defrosted if there is no reliable electricity supply.

if we will be without electricity or water for a few days my family will survive on oats and weetabix with almond milk, peanut butter, tins of beans and pre-cooked rice. And any crackers, crisps, chocolate, protein bars etc that we have in the house. It might not be tasty or fun but we will be ok…

If it's just a few days stuff in the freezer and fridge will be fine, just don't let stocks run down to empty.

The "danager" is having too much frozen stuff and it all going to waste when the power.comes back because it defrosted and you couldn't use it quickly enough.

My only real concern is water, probably the most important. I can't really see me keeping up refreshing it regulalrly for very long.

@cuckoolodger Thats dedication to the cause!

Firstly, do you have a gas hob? If so it’s highly unlikely that this would be affected by any outage, you will need matches though to light it. Failing that or in addition a camping gaz burner, the kind that is stable can be used inside with adequate ventilation (never use other sorts of camping stoves inside).

next is water. At the supermarket buy a couple of 5 litres containers, they were £1.75 today at Sainsbury’s, I looked but couldn’t be bothered to be honest, river is across the road! If you have a camping water container you could fill that up too.

have a decent first aid box, every family should have one, it’s not prepping just common sense

finally food - the most likely reason for an emergency is storms, they happen frequently, or good old fashioned heavy colds and flu so have some cans of soup that you can heat, then some food that you can make full meals from, couscous is good as you just add hot water, noodles maybe, then maybe canned fruit you can just eat and I love cold tapioca pudding but perhaps that’s just me . I keep a spare loaf of bread in the freezer, I also have ingredients to bake bread and make flat breads you can even cook on a bbq, if you have a garden pizza oven you could have jars of peppers and pesto that you could put on bases you make, get a jar of those cheese cubes… whatever you do, rotate the food and water so they don’t go off.

Amazon has a clockwork and solar powered radio that is also a torch and power bank, was £30 last Christmas, I bought one for dh for Christmas

I'm hoping it'll be the guy from Dads Army.

Or we get to choose the voice like when you do couch to 5k.

The more I think about this the more I think those Keep Calm and Carry On posters weren't just a bit of tat interior design. They were the first wave of anti-panic propaganda.

This. No need for a drama. 👍

I'd expect those things to last several days before full defrosting if they're careful about not leaving it open.

We basically have:

• charged power banks
• battery powered mini lanterns
• torches
• candles
• mini fm/am battery powered radio
• several packs AA batteries
• 80l of water (some in reusable containers from camping for washing/loo, some bought in bottles for drinking - after a few months we will use at cubs and buy more. It’s not great but I can’t be chewed with the level of changing out needed for refillable ones)
• crackers, rice cakes, oat cakes, nut butter, tuna, hard cheese in fridge (would be ok for a few days even if power was off), various merchant gourmet pouches/rice, quick cook pasta, tinned fruit, smash, Cous Cous, macaroni cheese, baked beans, various snack foods, pop/squash, chocolate spread, jam, hot dogs plus whatever food we had anyway
• baby wipes, hand sanitizer & bar soap
• bleach, heavy duty bin bags
• pack of 9 toilet rolls
• 4 hot water bottles
• camping stove, gas for it and a camping kettle
• mini first aid kit
• key phone numbers and other useful notes
• couple of card games, new books for kids and a new Lego set

Maybe a bit OTT but anything we don’t fancy eating at the point we check and it’s less than 6 months validity we can just give to food bank and replace.

The UK guidance is not so great, the guidance in my country explains about this, and many other things.

I’m imagining I can’t get to a supermarket or pharmacy for 5 days, the electricity is off, gas supply is down, and the mobile phone networks, banks and internet are all down. I’m assuming no one in my family is hurt or very sick.

What might I need?

Water
Toilet rolls
Paracetomol and cough medicine
hand sanitiser
First aid kit (plasters, bandage, etc)
Jar of mayonnaise
Jacobs cream crackers
breadsticks
Sachets of flavoured couscous
A few jars of frankfurters from Lidl
Powdered potato
Tinned soup, baked beans, chickpeas, fruit, tuna
2 Cartons of UHT milk
Coffee granules and tea bags)

Other things:

charged up battery packs x2
spare AA batteries
A few rolls of Spare bin bags
Sellotape and masking tape

“grab bag” backpack in case of emergency we have to leave the house containing:

• printed copy of the Contacts in my phone
• printed colour copy of our passports and birth certificates.
• List of my bank accounts with bank’s customer service phone numbers (I have not put the whole account number).
• Cash ( enough for a return taxi to a hospital and a weekly shop)
• cereal bars and some spare drinks
• pack of paracetamol

My last thing is to that I’d want to know family and neighbours are safe. Without a landline that is harder to guarantee for family but we have a “rest in situ” plan to hunker down and I’ve made sure elderly relatives and neighbours similarly have the provisions they may need.

I wasn't taking it seriously until I heard relatives speaking about their supplies. Food is a concern so I've bought tins & pasta. I'm even more concerned about the possibility of being in the dark for 3 nights with no light. Candles aren't enough so I purchased a flashlight. I hope the government are taking into consideration families who struggle to buy food for a day when shouting about emergency supplies.Children could go hungry so this needs addressed.

I thought that it was a sensible thing to do. Basically a lot of it, it just having a bit of extra in the cupboard in advance really just in case.
I have bought : 2x cases of bottled water, camping stove and some gas, candles (ikea), matches, battery radio (Roberts 925 sport), couple of packs of AA batteries, a torch (although I was going to use the headlight from my bike!) and then some beans, soup, pesto and pasta stir in sauces, tuna, long life milk, cereal bars, fig rolls, tinned fruit, pasta and rice and some of those merchant gourmet packets of veggie beans / lentils which are a meal in themselves. Also bought a few extra sanitary products (as that's what I struggled to get in Covid times) and toothpaste (must look after your teeth!). Got enough cat food for a month rather than get a box every week. Already had a decent sized powerbank but now making sure it's always charged up when I've used it and not sat in my work bag half charged. Now I've done that, I feel somewhat prepared and now I'm moving on and not thinking anymore about it. I agree it felt a bit overwhelming to start with but just getting a few things in has sort of put my mind at ease a bit.

The thing I don't understand on the advice is the 3l of drinking water a day. They expressly say extra for cooking, pets and sanitation etc, but most people don't need or want 3ls of water to drink a day surely?

The more water they can get people to store without panicking them, the better. Most people can survive quite a long time without food. No water would soon create panic, so better give everyone a covert longer than three days supply without worrying anyone.

The first Amazon sponsored apocalypse.

You don't need a week's worth. And remember everything you usually have in your cupboards, fridge and freezer can be eaten in the three days too. As without electricity it won't all go off instantly. So why are you spending that much? Just make sure you have a bit of bottled water and a few extra cans

BusyGreySnail, the 3 litres works as a safety margin rather than a drinking target. Most adults won't get through it, but it leaves slack for warm drinks, children, or someone who is unwell. If refreshing water is the worry, sealed supermarket bottles have long dates, so you can use and replace them in your normal shop. Tap water in clean containers is fine for flushing and washing, so that doesn't need keeping drinking-fresh.

Just a reminder to please use torches or camping lanterns with spare batteries rather than candles
The last thing you want is a fire when your mobile phone is dead and you cant call the fire service