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 am a single parent living in an area with almost no support, last week DD had chicken pox and we didn't leave the house for ten days. We survived quite comfortably because I had a ridiculous amount of food in the freezer and cupboard and we could have survived longer. However, if there had been no internet , I'm not sure which one of us would have died first and who'd be responsible for the death.

No zombies thatbloodywoman . This is about survival not dying. If you introduce zombies into the equation everyone just says I'd rather not live and they don't bother thinking about how to survive.

Everyone seems so sure, though, that they'll be allowed to bake their hedgehogs and dry their vegtables etc in peace and transquility - just with electricity taken out of the equation. My main thought about any outage is not how much food I'll have in at any one time but about how many planks and nails I'll have to put across the front windows - or how to unseal the shutters from many years of painting in.

Round here, I would give it until maybe nightfall on the first night (at the outside) before the first gangs came round looting. I'm not so sanguine as some of you about the maintenance of any structure in society. I think it's a thin skin indeed.

This thread had inspired me too take some emergency cash out, me and DH never carry cash so would be lost if atms went down! Between both our wallets, DDs money box and a jar of pennies we probably have about £7

I would say I'm pretty well prepared for what my hubs tells me might happen in the next ten years or so!! He's quite high up in a world known power company and says there will be a surge causing a blackout for a while.
I have enough food to last our family of six for a year and water maybe six months... But...
I also know where the recycled rain water storage tanks are and how to access them! There's enough in each to last us about a year and there is six in close proximity to my house.
We have BOBs in the house, car and shed! Bikes, tents and lots of waterproof matches (also a few fire lighting tools!)
We're learning how to hunt, sew and to take care of our selfs medically

I would have to make a call on whether the rule of law is breaking down/going to break down. Sit tight or try to head to nearest army base?

The thing is you could be prepared and then your just a target.

We only have food for probably a week. Perhaps should get my old air rifle from elderly parents place in case I had to shoot birds/vermin?!

cozie nightfall on the first night? That might be a quick for a total breakdown in society

Even if there is an extremely swift descent into gang-related looting etc. then I think they would be more likely to ram raid supermarkets etc than try to nick our home-grown celeriac.

cozie I think an electricity blackout might mean safety for a bit as its known and everyone has experienced it. I think in a disaster of something not experienced before like the total collapse of the banking system (my favourite potential Armageddon) people would be more scared and desperate.

For anyone planning to move away from their home in a disaster, I think it's estimated that within 3 days it is relatively safe to travel. After that roads get blocked, and thieves start thieving, and killers start killing.

Oh I've assessed this, HoneyBee. I've lived my adult life under the threat of imminent nuclear armageddon so it's only a small extra step in thought. If you have nothing then opportunity is a powerful aid to motivation - and knowing that the police and army are likely dealing with problems elsewhere is a significant opportunity.

(Besides which, all the supermarkets near us are heavily metal-shuttered when closed and on the main drag so houses present a much easier target when no-one can see what you're doing. Country areas might be better for a long time but I live in a city and I'd be getting out as soon as possible.)

Enough of my doom and gloom though. I think your celeriac is likely safe enough!

Anyone else watching Kevin McCloud's Man Made Home on C4? He's building a methane producer today, fuelled by poo.

I would rather take my chances, Breaking, than decamp to an army base; have you seen 28 Days Later?

lol stratter yes many films have them as not being the best place to be though I would hope they have some sort of safety zone in place, again I think would only be if staying in own house was untenable.

Im guessing there are plans somewhere as to what the governments response would be.

I'm a cynic, I'm guessing that it will largely descend into an 'I'm alright, Jack' situation before long.

Cooks with bottled gas, has a year's suppy of firewood, a DS who's no slouch with an air-gun and can cope with dead critters (well, pigeons and rabbits) and DH who got very rattled after another crisis and stocked up with tins... will ignore the sell by dates and dream of bread and cheese.

Spotted this thread very late in the day but it's a family fantasy!

Stubbornstains, I'm in SE Scotland. I live on a big rural estate and the landowner has found coal and has apparently evicted/or is going to evict two farmers and will be starting an open-cast mine. It's a former mining area, so I suppose it makes sense. Went for a walk last year before we knew any of this and came across bits where someone had been digging, and you could see the coal in the ground! We kept meaning to go back with a rucksack/wheelbarrow, but a bit of coal-theft would have involved organising a babysitter so we didn't have to also carry a toddler and a baby, so it never happened.

I quite a bit of kit from the 10 years of owning my own pacific island, from solar charger for phones/lap top to the sorts of skills you need in using a pen knife, foraging etc. So pretty much for years really. Got good self defence skills etc too.

OK, I am new to this whole zombie apocalypse/survivor/revolution/natural disaster scenario but I have just been thinking through the practicalities.

In my favour: we have 2 open fireplaces and a huge multi-fuel burning stove. The latter is linked to and can run the central heating but we would need electricity for the pump so that's a bit of a bummer. On the plus, we have lots of wood and access to lots more as we live within walking distance of open countryside.

I am pretty resourceful. I can knit and crochet, mend things. Dh has done a lot of DIY in his time. I know lots of old time crafts eg how to bottle stuff, make preserves etc.

Also, re water: if tap supplies failed, we have a stream next to our house. I don't like the thought of drinking from there, but presumably it would be relatively safe to take water from the stream, boil it over the fire, and then drink it?

So far, so good. I know for a fact that when the stove is going full whack, you can heat a pan of water on the top surface to boiling point, so I guess I could heat a can of beans for a nutritious meal.

We have a large garden. Nothing much edible growing in it now, but if I can get hold of seeds from somewhere, I could plant enough to feed us pretty much all year round. Well, fruit and veggies anyway. Give me some chickens and that would help...

The main trouble is waiting for that first harvest. In terms of food, and bearing in mind we would be on stream water almost from the off, we could probably last a week!

That sounds pretty good. Fill up the bath with tap supplies as soon as you can (they'll likely go pretty quickly) and then it's off to the stream. I've drunk from streams and the water is usually pretty good drunk straight - depending on the stream. (You don't want to drink from any loose-living streams without treating or boiling.) You always check upstream a certain distance for eg dead sheep though - and make sure that people pee and bath downstream of where you're collecting water. Just commonsense really.

Dumbledoresgirl - i guess you could get a cheap solar panel to run the pump?

Thing is generators need fuel - so diesel or petrol? if no fuel supplies I guess you could run sunflower etc oil through the diesel one if you preheat it, though for the petrol one you would need to distill alcohol i'm guessing (would be quite a waste of booze lol)?

Does anyone think the govt has secret bunkers full of food and supplies in case of emergencies and they will only let the 'important useful' people In ?

Cressetmama your say it's your fantasy of this happening, are you not afraid of how people will panic? This is my nightmare not the making do and eating bland stuff from tins it's the people reacting to the situation.

stratter5 The book 'last light' by Alex Scarrow has a UK with running out of fuel panic, majority of troops are committed overseas, things escalate quicky!

Breaking, that's a brilliant book, love Alex Scarrow.

I really think in a societal breakdown,you need to be bad assed to survive.
I can't see mr and mrs nice couple surviving for long.
I think we'd be in poo with the nuclear power plants after so long.
Fires from people using candles and open fires would start,and there'd be no firefighters putting them out.There'd be explosions as the fires spread.
Chemicals would contaminate the waterways.etc etc

Finally,apocalyptically,MN might even go dark.

For good......

Nooooooooooo! (wails pitifully )