So if the power went off (indefinitely) how long would you last on the basis of what you have in the house?

[atticusclaw]

So the power's gone off. Everything is suddenly dead, shops can't sell you anything since the electronic tills don't work, petrol pumps don't work, lifts don't work, traffic lights don't work, tap water won't last for long since the pumps won't work, mobile phones won't work, gas/electric heating won't work (and most oil and solar systems also need mains electricity to make them work unless they're off grid systems) - MN won't work!!

How long could you last with what you have?

There are no zombies, this isn'"t necessarily a "top yourself now - who would want to live?" scenario since the power could be restored at any time….or it could last months…

[ThisIsOurBlanket]

I have a small stock of dried and tinned goods in the cupboard - and we have an open fire and a big enough garden to get a fair bit of firewood. Not sure exactly how I would go about heating water etc on the open fire in a saucepan though . I suppose I would have to prop one of the oven shelves on some bricks over the fire.

I've probably got enough fresh food in the fridge to last about a week, then several weeks of pasta, rice, lentils, tinned soup, tuna, jellied stock, jam, peanut butter, tea and coffee. Plus a bottle of Advokaat, and one of brandy, both left over from Christmas . At least because the heating would be off in the house, the food in the fridge probably wouldn't go off too quickly. Not much in the freezer apart from fish fingers and ice cream - we'd have to eat those first.

Would the taps still work? (Otherwise would have to quickly fill the bath with water), and dig a latrine at the bottom of the garden.

[atticusclaw]

mildly the gas supply would cease within hours if the power was out nationwide. Plus there would be no workers to operate all of these things anyway. we'd all be looking out for ourselves.

Taps don't work without power Thisisourblanket The water can't be pumped.

[dontevenblink]

We have an emergency box in the garage with various toiletries, nappies, candles, matches, first aid kit, tinned food etc that can just be grabbed as well as an emergency kit in the car. We don't have as much bottled water as we should have so you've reminded me we need to get more! I recently sorted all our important paperwork into one folder as well so it could just all be grabbed if we need it, plus we have a stocked up camping trailer tent in the garden. If all this sounds a bit too organised/paranoid I'm not in the UK, I live in an earthquake zone and a tsunami zone (have a warning system at our local park as we live by the beach). There's already been a major earthquake here where many were without power, water, toilets etc for a long time so I sometimes think we're not nearly organised enough

[atticusclaw]

The gas supply shuts down because the pipelines have compressors along them to pump the gas, lots of these are fuelled by the gas itself but there are safety mechanisms along the way, all of which use electricity. If they shut down the gas supply shuts down.

[ThisIsOurBlanket]

OK, no taps, hmm.

We are near a small stream, we'd have to collect water from that, and boil it. And put out buckets to collect rainwater. I reckon that would be OK.

I have lots of toothpaste and mouthwash stockpiled in the bathroom cabinet, so at least we wouldn't have to worry about tooth decay . Perhaps I could barter with the neighbours, toothpaste for food or candles or something.

[mousmous]

I would put rainwater through a filter and then boil it.

[Bowlersarm]

Don't forget to stock up on a few things to barter with as well. "I'll swap one box of tampons for 10 carrots" type of thing. So non perishable goods (tampons, toothpaste, loo rolls) you can keep for a long time somewhere for swopsies with neighbours.

I'd better start growing more vegetables which can be eaten fresh from picking rather thsn potatoes etc which need to be cooked.

[Bowlersarm]

Xpost with Blanket

Is it just any old household bleach we can put in water?

[atticusclaw]

Normal household bleach, the cheap stuff without scent etc. Toilet duck isn't going to work.

Apparently you can filter it through sand first and this will help. Even better filter through sand and then charcoal. Not sure how you would filter through charcoal though Does it seep through?

[crappyday]

Actually I've had a rethink. I'd go to my parents house. They have big garden all full of veg, their own water supply (well) and lots of woodburners & wood. And they're friendly with people who shoot (pheasants & rabbits not people)

[momb]

We'd last as long as the water did. That would be the limiting factor for us.

[Bowlersarm]

Sand on the shopping list then. Sounds a bit gritty though. Although I'm sure we would get used to it, as we have no choice.

[MsJudgementalPants]

I love threads like this!

Feeling quite smug about the baked bean mountain in the under stair cupboard. We also have chickens so that's an egg a day each. Might have to guard the chooks at night though in case any of the neighbours get ideas.

Dunno if anyone else does this but I have a drawer in the bedroom that I keep treats in (I also put all the 'posh' Christmas dry food in it) so I might just go and check what's in there . . .

Also got loads of spirits, but am a bit panicked that there's only one bottle of wine in the house. No point stockpiling that though cus we'd only drink it!

Thank you for the top tip about the bin bag in the loo

[atticusclaw]

At least we have plenty of rain on our little powerless island.

[ThisIsOurBlanket]

Great minds BowlersArm .

By the way, in case anyone thinks I am a paranoid zombie-apocalypse type, I just went mad stocking up on toothpaste because I found a lemon flavour one, I'm not normally an excessive stockpiler!

[atticusclaw]

OOoo I have the easter egg stash for the woodland hunt! I've been buying a couple each week. Result!

Msjudgmental you might want to bring the chickens indoors. I suspect they'd be stolen within days. The poop could probably be dried and burnt too.

[BramwellBrown]

I have a large shed full of equipment I'm storing for Dad's scouts, my sisters cubs and my Rainbows so I'll be fine.

I have 8 camping stoves with gas bottles, 3 barbecues, a lot of coal, a sack of kindling, a few of those sparky fire lighter things and several axes, there are woods near by so heat/cooking will be fine and i have at least 7 sleeping bags in there. I have more tinfoil then any normal person would need in a life time and a lot of frying pans, camping cuttlery etc I also have around 500 paper plates so can save water by chucking dirty plates in the campfire rather than washing them up. I have hundreds of various candles (mostly tealights) at least 12 wind up torches, lots of batteries and normal torches, some LED tealights, 7 or 8 camping lanterns and solar lights on my balcony so should be fine for light too. I've got a nice stock of tinned food, pasta and rice, probably enough to do a couple of months, loads of flour and yeast plus a vegetable patch and there is a community orchard near here, im quite good at fishing as well and know how to skin a rabbit, what wild mushrooms and berries are safe to eat, how to cook a hedgehog etc so we should be fine for food for a while and I have special water filters left over from a survival camp and live near the river, so water won't be a problem.

I also have 3 parachutes, some mosquito nets, 4 boxes of clean jam jars, a box of toilet roll tubes and some carpet tubes, oh and hundreds of pots of glitter and PVA glue, facepaints, sequins, coloured card etc should we get bored.

The biggest danger to me will be killing DH once there are no computer games or tv to distract him from constantly talking.

[atticusclaw]

OMG Bramwell - we're all coming to yours!

[unlucky83]

I have Solar panels and they won't work but there are ways of disconnecting them from the grid 'bypass system' so they would ....but only in daylight and only a relative small amount (generally absolute max 4kw) - not much good for heating etc - some kettles are 3kw! You need a store for surplus etc - you can get batteries etc already but so far they aren't cheap or particularly good ...suspect a bypass system wouldn't be cost effective. And not sure you are allowed to in the UK if you get feed in tariff (and it isn't worth paying to have them installed unless you do) ....
I do keep meaning to look into it more for power cuts etc - and I bet there is a dodgy way of doing it if there was an apocalypse ...I'd have to google how to....oh wait .....no power , no internet, no google....
(otherwise live near a river, have a woodburner and access to lots of trees -(neighbour has one in their garden I'd love to take a chainsaw to ) and lots of cereal, tins of tomato soup, cat food (and cat -sorry) -we'd survive a few weeks I think ...

[stealthsquiggle]

Bramwell - surely you can send DH hunting to keep him out of your way? It could easily be as time-consuming as games ;-)

[BeansInBoots]

I think it would be interesting to see who around you is willing to help and who isn't, I genuinly think that the next door neighbour who glares at you every time you make any noise etc would end up being the first one helping out.. And those who are friendly with you etc will have a gun to your head demanding your last tin of beans..... That's how it happens in films anyway

[WeAreEternal]

We have enough supplies to survive without having to leave the house for three months comfortably or probably six months if we rationed.

That is not including my garden in which I have a good sized veg patch and a large green house, so theoretically we could live off my garden and the stockpile for quite a long time.

[crappyday]

This thread has made me wonder if I should stock up a bit more on dried and tinned food. We don't have much...

[RedToothBrush]

We'd be ok.

We have a 'plan' for this situation