What 'meals' are you putting in your 3-day emergency kit?

[CheeryOnion]

Please be gentle, my mental health is delicate and I'm trying not to panic about preparing a suitable emergency kit for my family of 4.

I just wondered what meals you are putting in your kits please? It's me, my partner and our 2 DC (8).

I'd like to write a 3 day 'meal plan' which I can laminate and pop in my box so I'm fully prepared (for MH reasons I think this will make me feel a lot calmer)

Breakfast lunch and dinner with snacks.

Drinks
Water
Hot chocolate (we're not tea/coffee drinkers)
Long life milk.
Squash

Breakfast
Weetabix
Porridge oats
Tinned fruit
Long life milk

Lunch
Dry spaghetti & Tinned Bolognese
Baked beans & ?
?

Dinner
Rice & Tinned curry
?
?

I'm so sorry if this is a silly question I'd just really appreciate some help so I can do a shop, prepare it and 'forget' about it! I'm finding it very stressful.

Thank you :)

I’ll just go to the chippy.

Just get in 3 days worth of cereal, crisps and biscuits and enough to drink. Beans if you like them I guess and some multivitamins. I

I don't but I'll be re-evaluating my 3 day supply before it starts to get sunny again. I think my plan to keep things cold in the event of an extended power outage will be good until at least the end of February

I started a few months back when I first read about the campaign, but honestly I couldn’t imagine myself eating tinned curry or meatballs so there’s no point stocking up on them, yes if I was prepping for some apocalyptic disaster and trying to keep us alive for months you’d give in and eat whatever there was, but anything up to a week I’d sooner manage without! Same goes for the tuna ‘light lunches’ or the microwaveable carbonara pouches etc, I’ve hovered over putting those in my basket but having tried them before I thought they were awful and so decided against it, if you or the kids like them though go for it - I also like some weird stuff others wouldn’t!

Keep in mind it’s 3 days - yes a little more if you can isn’t a bad thing, but the government, huge supermarkets etc are also going to have their own contingency plans and are going to want to start selling you stuff asap after any problems so if it really went much beyond that; well we’d have bigger problems than how many tins of beans we’ve got. Also, day 1 you can use up fresh and freezer stuff even if the power does go off - obviously depending on cooking facilities.

Also, yes it’s good to have some stuff that doesn’t need cooking, and some that doesn’t need water, and a good idea to have a torch and some extra toothpaste or whatever. But the least likely scenario is that you’ll be in a situation with no water, no gas, no electricity, no access to any kind of shop, no bank card, no phone, no water company able to get through, no neighbours able to help etc etc. They’re all situations that could happen individually, but you’re unlikely going to be faced with all of them at once.

That said - we’ve got the following, a lot we’d have in anyway; some is extra or stashed in a separate cupboard for ‘just in case’

Breakfasts:
Weetabix
Ready brek
Tons of oats - always have these as I bake a lot with them
Couple of other cereals that could be eaten dry in a pinch eg Cheerios
Long life milk
Oat milk
Tinned fruit
High fruit jam
Peanut butter - we go through masses in this house so I buy in bulk anyway!
Stuff to make bread if we do have power - always have in anyway
Shop bought loaf in the freezer - yes the freezer might go off but the resulting defrosted bread will be good for up to a week after
Also got butter and milk in freezer so would have to use that up quick in event of a power cut

Lunch/ Dinner
Tins tuna, sardines, mackerel, anchovies
Jars of M&S potted beef - the one exception to my aversion to tinned/ jarred meat!
Tin corned beef with a key - I wouldn’t but DH likes it
Crackers
Breadsticks
Crispbreads
Bottle of mayo
Tinned sweetcorn
Tinned potatoes
Tinned carrots and peas
Jar of roasted peppers
Jar of olives
Lots of seasonings and sauces etc (have this in anyway)
Pickled onions
Baked beans
Tin of mixed bean salad
Other canned beans - butter, black, kidney etc
Couple of the micro rice pouches
Couple of microwave mixed/ different flavour grains pouches
Wraps in freezer - as above

Drinks
Normal and various other flavour teabags
coffee
Hot chocolate - couple of the make with water sachets and a tub of the milk kind
Long life apple juice
The long life milks/ an almond milk and an oat milk
Bottled water
Tins of coconut milk in a pinch?

Snacks and treats
Some of the stuff above would fit here too, but also biscuits, cereal bars, rice cakes. I’ve already bought the Christmas chocolate tins so they could be broken out if needed! I’ve got a couple of tins of custard and one of rice pudding too.

A lot of the above is part of our normal consumption/ meals and we’ll just be sure to replace as we use things. But there are some extras too.

Do you have sufficient fuel in the house for 3 days of cooking?

I'm making sure my cupboards don't run bare and just keeping an extra 'pack' of certain things in. We were really bad for running out of everything and going to the shop and buying 3 days worth of groceries at a time - so i am trying to avoid that & just have a good rolling 'stock'.

I figured if the power, gas, water went off for 3 days, I have enough stuff to keep us sustained. Mostly the kids. I could live on little, I'd just not want them to be hungry.

We'd drink up and eat up whatever is in the fridge first. Cheese, juice, fruit, milk. I put some huge containers of water in our chest freezer - so one of those could be transferred to defrost in the fridge, and hopefully keep stuff in there a little bit cooler.

Then we'd move onto the tinned goods - mixed bean salads (my kids are bean mad), baked beans, soups... stuff that would be fine to be eaten cold.

I also have chocolate spread, jam, almond butter, breadsticks, crackers, bread, etc. All long-life; we eat anyway, and it will keep the kids from moaning if they're hungry.

Wouldn't be that balanced, but if it's only short-term, I wouldn't particularly care.

Obv we have meat in the freezer, plenty of other stuff in there too, which could be cooked if electricity is on.

Totally agree. It should be about storing a little more of the things you always eat anyway, rotating the items, and always replacing what you use.

The problem arises for those who almost never eat tinned or dried or long-life food, except maybe some rice and the spice jars. There are people who always shop and eat from the fridge or freezer: ready meals, fresh veg and salad, sometimes frozen veg, fresh pasta, refrigerated sauces, fresh meat, etc. etc.
The ever-increasing size of domestic fridges is testament to this.
When not eating fresh, they get takeaways or eat out.

These people will either not get in any emergency supplies, or they will get in some stuff to put aside, never touch, and bin in a couple of years when it goes out of date.

We have in the last few decades become so "spoiled" when it comes to the availability of fresh refrigerated meals in supermarkets. Our great grandmothers cooked from raw ingredients, involving a lot of flour. 😀

My god that is unremittingly grim. I think I'd rather eat my own head first.

Cheese and crackers, maybe with some tomato relish, is a perfectly nutritious meal if there’s problems. Add a pepperami if you need some meat.

It kinda depends on whether this was an “out of the blue” emergency or “due to bad weather, power is down” type situation. If bad weather is coming:
charge up power banks and all devices (phones, iPads, rechargeable torches etc);
cook up foods that can be eaten cold (eg. Sausages or chicken, maybe a _Spanish omelette full of bacon pieces and veggies, or some hard boiled eggs to eat whole or make into sandwich filling, bake some part baked bread if you don’t have any bread in and can’t get to shops (and don’t want to bake from scratch)….);
fill a flask with boiling water to use if the power goes out;
and pull out foods that only need hot water to work (ramen noodles, instant tubs of pasta, couscous; instant mash; instant coffee; cup a soups….) or nothing (cereals, cold drinks, biscuits/crackers, granola bars, tins etc). They don’t need to fill the counters, just be readily accessible in cupboards (as sometimes these are pushed to the back).

I know DM used to do a big comforting dinner in the afternoon when there was bad weather forecast as our power went out a lot in bad weather - so we’d have a good meal ready before that happened. Often something that cooked low and slow in the oven and could sit and stay warm until it was dinner time.

Electricity, gas, water, and internet are unlikely to all go down at once. That would be truly unlucky.
What is more likely is that one of them will go, but you will still have the others.
Or, you will keep all four, but be unable to travel to any shops.

e.g. only one of the following happening:

water contamination at your local water company
electric cables down in a storm
floods making roads to shops impassable
internet hacking shutting down your Wi-Fi connection
4G hacking shutting down phone connections
forest fire damaging electric cables
gas pipes damaged or supply interrupted
payment systems or bank hacking means the big shops close and the small ones only take cash

A power cut almost always means no water in the UK. Not many back ups for the pumps needed to push water through the network. Whilst you still may have gas for cooking many people don't. So power cut= water cut.

Interesting.
I am fortunate to live in an older house that has a cold water tank in the loft (which feeds the bathroom pipes) and a hot water tank in an airing cupboard in the bedroom. So we would have water for a while, though not as 'fresh' as the stuff coming straight out of the pipes from the mains to the kitchen.

If you don't have water tanks, storing some big bottles of water for drinking and cooking should be very high on the list.

Just joining this thread.

I think potatoes, carrots and apples keep for a long time in the fridge even if the power was out. Butter, eggs and some cheeses will also last for a reasonable time so not too worried about the first few days.

I don't have much space but I have already stocked up on tins and packets of stuff I would eat once the fridge and freezer was empty including:

Tins and packets of soup
Tinned tomatoes and ratatouille
Tinned potatoes and corned beef to make hash
Tinned sardines and mackerel
Merchant Gourmet packets of pre-cooked rice and grains

Tinned fruit
Tinned rice pudding
Jam
Nuts and sultanas

I always have plenty of pasta, rice, flour, oats and sugar so just making sure I keep those topped up. I did stock up on water a few weeks ago so have enough for myself but may struggle if the rest of the family all decided to join me!

I was wondering if the fondue set languishing in the back of the cupboard would be any use in a power cut. I usually heat up the pan on the stove before using it so not sure how it would perform from cold. It could probably warm a tin of soup. Maybe time to stock up on the ethanol gel stuff that heats it.

And the first thing to do in a powercut is fill a bath of water for flushing the loo x

You really don’t need to do anything special. Just up the stock levels of things you normally buy.

The advice is enough to last three days. Not three months.

We have open fires and a wood burner and a decent camping stove with spare gas cannisters. Previously we've cooked chicken and baked potatoes in the open fire and the wood burner and camping stove are both good for heating stuff up, boiling water, cooking etc.

We have an lpg cooker with about a year’s worth of gas. We also have open fires and a solid fuel stove we can cook on. I made a very nice apple crumble in it last week.

If we didn’t have that, I’d buy a small gas camping stove.

To be fair to all the people who have made very valid comments about the danger of flushing loos because a power out might also affect the sewage network, I would follow local advice on your local radio about flushing the loo with grey water. However, still fill up everything you can (including the bath if you have one) if there is a power cut. While it’s reasonable to assume that water companies have back up generators, it’s also a good idea to be on the safe side.

I always have three days food in stock. So it’s just normal food here.

My cupboards are pretty well stocked most of the time. I did buy a litre of Baileys to keep me warm, ease my anxiety and dull the teens moaning if we have no WiFi.

Buy a lot of tea lights because if energy goes out you can heat food/ water on them.

Rather than gas burners as I would’ve like a gas tank lying around look up hexi stoves (used these in cadets island DOE) but you can also heat sons over several relights, takes longer but does work. Put a cooling rack over them and then your tin/pan etc.

Yeah, same. My cupboards are always well stocked and I have a stash of tins, packets etc under the stairs too as I'm in the privileged position of being able to take advantage of special offers and bulk buy.
The only things I do need to stock up on is bottled water and extra cannisters for the camping stove

How would you cook it?

We have a gas hob and gas central heating (mains gas). I think we'd be able to cook using the hob even if the electricity went off because we'd be able to light the gas with a match. If the gas went off but we still had electricity we'd be OK because we have the oven, a microwave, slow cooker (from the 1980s, still working perfectly), kettle and toaster. If they both went off, we'd have to exist on what was left in the fridge, the defrosting stuff out of the freezer if possible, and our stocks of dried food, tins, packets, jars etc. It would not be ideal but we'd cope.

Losing gas over the winter would be grim, though, as we'd have no hot water except what we could heat on the hob. We do have one open fire and a couple of ancient electric radiators. We have a lot of blankets and quilts. We'd manage.

No mains water - we do have some stashed, and we have a butt full of rainwater which we couldn't drink but could use for other things. I think lack of water would be the worst of the lot.

I don't like UHT milk or powdered milk. Once our fresh milk ran out, if we could boil water I'd happily drink black tea rather than have no tea. For coffee and other things I'd use evaporated milk, which I quite like.

Agree. Having said that, tins last for a long, long time if they are in good nick. I don't pay much attention to dates on tins.