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…

I've ordered the water butt. Phew, we'll have some water!

If you have a lawn, you can use material (tea towels etc) to lay them on the grass and soak up the dew each morning and night. Then squeeze out the water.

There is a whole host of stuff you can do with a sycamore tree as well.....eat the leaves, drink sap etc. nature could provide when the S really does hit the fan and there's no running water left.

houseofnerds That sounds really amazing, actually. Not the bits about houses washed away, obviously, but the idea of everyone in coffee shops together, unable to go to work... very blitz spirit.

A good month or two if I'd managed to collect some last water or it rained. I don't think the youngsters in the family would last more than a couple of hours though - no internet and phones? They can barely last 5 minutes as it is unless they know that their phones are available to use if needed.

A few months ago, one of the lads said thoughtfully to me - 'What would you do if everything fell apart and you had to last for 3 days?' (He'd just been watching a zombie apocalypse film, I think.) I started talking about having to keep on the move and get out of the city for longer term survival. He looked appalled and aid - 'Oh No - you just have to last for 3 days. They come and rescue you after that'.

He never could explain to me who 'They' were - but rest assured. The youngsters think (on that scanty evidence) that any collapse of civilization will only last for 3 days.

"How to cook a hedgehog."

About an hour and a half.

Come on then - we have to be told how to cook a hedgehog!

you roll it in clay and put it in a bonfire.

I know you weren't asking me, but it's one of the few things I know

I would do great.
I have camping equipment,open fire,water source nearby,oil lamps,camping lanterns,wood,a veggie patch,chooks.
I'm a bit of a closet prepper.

BramwellBrown is the hedgehog chef. Come back and tell us! I also really want to know how you came to learn this.

Btw, for those of us stuck in teeny urban flats with no space for water storage, you can buy water purifier straws online for not too much £. You can use them to suck any dirty water straight from the source, puddles, lakes, cistern water etc, and they filter it as you drink it.

It's a standard old country way of cooking hedgehog, KeepitDown - although you can also use it for other small animals/birds etc. The principle is to slather the animal or bird in clay and then bake in the embers of a fire. When cool, you break open the hardened clay and it should all come away taking the spines/feathers/whatever with it because they're caught in the clay, leaving the meat exposed.

BTW, I admire your notion of 'not too much £' for the water purification straws! I'll have to stick to water purification tablets, I think.

£20 for 1000 litres of water on one of those straws is not too bad. Its actually much cheaper than the water purification tablets which do 50 litres for about £2.50.

Would be good in an OFRS

Oh cozietoesie I thought you were joking about the clay! Wow!

And as for the water straws, only not too much £ when you consider how much it would cost to buy that amount of water storage plus find the space for it in a small flat. Will have to check out the tablets more thoroughly though.

Of course it does rather mean that you'd have to find - and actually recognize - a clay pit. Baked potatoes or a spit roast would probably be easier.

not to mention finding a hedgehog….

We'd be Ok for a while I think, we have a water butt in the garden already, plenty of dried food in the cupboard, open fire in one room and plenty of coal/wood stored up.

If I look out of my upstairs windows I can see fields full of cabbage, broccoli, wheat and potatoes.

I like the idea of digging a shit pit in the garden, I've already decided its exact position.

If the apocalypse would kindly wait a few months we'd have apples, pears, blackberries, raspberries and strawberries from the garden.

I think our limiting factor would be dh's insulin supply but he's well built for roasting and the above list is a bit short on protein

atticus

I just have this vision of a bunch of MNers loping around with burlap sacks full of small prey at their belts (and dodging zombies all the while) yelling 'Where's the ruddy clay, then?' at each other.

Do you kill the hedgehog first? Please tell me you do...too cruel otherwise.
Which brings me on to the next question ...how do you kill a hedgehog?
(They don't really have necks to wring do they?)
Not that I'm planning for the apocalypse....
Ignore my search history - it's all lies - I wasn't really googling ways of converting solar panels to off grid earlier

You see this is why I'm not going to survive. I couldn't kill a little hedgehog and certain I couldn't eat it. I'm very squeamish. Baking a potato instead would be good though

Oh I could.

I'd eat you if I had to.

Oh God. Having just survived 8 days of no running water, the prospect of no electricity either is horrifying. It is really fucking hard work boiling all the water you need for drinking, cooking and washing, and I didn't even wash clothes by hand! However.

Water: I have oodles of bottled water plus a half-full water bowser still sitting in the drive. I also live 10 minutes walk from a reservoir - I suppose I could borrow the neighbour's horse, hitch it to the water bowser and take it to the reservoir. I'd have to boil it all, though.

Heating: We have an open fire in the living room, stacks of newspaper and at least a little coal in the garage. We also have a wood next to us and an honest-to-god coal mine about to open across the valley. I'd take the wheelbarrow and go and do a little private open-cast mining.

Cooking: Tricky - electric cooker. Barbecue? I have a toasting fork. Um. Cooking over the open fire it is, plus trying to rig up some sort of spit and cauldron to heat water.

Food: Go and befriend the farmer and barter something (labour?) in exchange for the odd chicken and a share in his cattle/milk/crops.

If all this happened at a time when the car was full of diesel, I would pack up and drive the 3 hours to Dad's - he's a chicken farmer, has a calor gas stove, a wood burner and even a horse.