Topic takeover - weve discussed 72hrs, bit how long could you cope, what are you aiming for?

[winchester1]

We live rurally and are quite self sufficient so could cope long term esp in winter. I think we would become dependent on next yrs crop, potatoes we could do (already do) but we don't keep seeds in our stores (prob have some kicking about).
And I guess with everyone round our way lack of petrol would become an issue for the chainsaws, etc eventually.

We have a lot of prepping stuff because we just use it day to day and are defiantly bugging in if something happened.

I'm not prepping that long term though, thinking more a few weeks.
But what's sensible?

I've got a 72 hour bag in case we need to leave the house for some reason: gas leak, sink hole etc.

Water: enough to drink for a couple of weeks.

Food and household-wise, my aim is to be able to get through a tough time for 3 months without shopping for essentials. We'd need fresh veg and fruit but could make do with tinned or dried if really necessary.

Longer-term, enough basic supplies for 12 months. I'm thinking survival here rather than a comfortable existence, so long-life dried goods.

DH wants to buy 3 years worth of MRE. I think he is a little odd. We would never have approaching that amount of water. We could probably currently do a few weeks.

What's MRE?

Meal Ready to Eat - generally in pouches for about £6 a piece but you can also buy the large mountain house tins which last for 25 years. I think they're roughly £100ish for a month's worth of food.

Not that bad an investment really, you could always eat them as a pensioner whilst knitting in front of the fire

3 yrs - why? Does he think in that time society would be rebuilt?

I think by then he thinks him and DD would have turned into Vikings or something. He doesn't think society would be rebuilt. Just the initial breakdown would have happened. Since we are on an island, which is very well-provided for in terms of salmon, forage stuff and so on, once a level has been reached it's possible a small population could survive here very well.

Sounds like you live near to us, kinda, OH has the toddlers in viking training!
We alreaady grow crops, farm, hunt, fish, pick berries, make preserves etc so I suppose if it was end of times type situation we would aim to do it all FT and hope for good results. So would aim to eek out what we have to last us until the next crop.

In reality I'm thinking a few weeks with toddlers stuck inside in extreme weather. Me and OH only able to go on the yard for short spells to fetch wood and water etc.

Is he also learning skills already?

I'd like to learn more but don't have the time atm so would be relying on OH and MIL.

So we are Vikings, not Preppers. I like this v much.

I have about 3 months of food, but not of water. Having an extension built atm, and have v little storage space, as the garage has gone.

You wants to get yourslef a well presumably you have lots of availble water just have to work out how to make it useable.

Right now we change the campaign - I want a Vikings board! [stamps feet emotion]

The Viking Bunker?

I've always assumed that society would be disrupted more or less permanently if The Troubles lasted for more than a few days. We're too interconnected nowadays for easy recovery.

Interestingly, I was leaving a movie with one of the (older) youngsters some months back and he asked me - in total seriousness - how I would recommend he survive in our city for 72 hours. I put forward my Stay Flexible and Keep Moving for Long Term Survival thoughts and he expostulated that that really wasn't necessary because THEY would come to rescue him/us in three days so that was all the time we had to survive.

He wouldn't be shaken from it. It seems that the influence of movies and games is such that Troubles are now like play-camping in the back garden. After a short time, you get to come in again, have a long hot shower and use the Internet.

I think that's pretty much how most people view it, which baffles me. There's bugger all support from the government at the best of times, when the SHTF they'll look after themselves first. Emergency services, yes; to a point. That point will be when/if something impacts on their families.

This 3 days talk is so weird for me the emergency services coming in that time frame would be laughable. I think we would all be stood about wondering were the crisis was.

How long did Katrina take to sort out and that was isolated to one area?

Have you seen the pics of The Gash, MrsT?

I hadnt realised there were 'preppers' on MN and I recognise poster names so k ow you are not trolls.

What me and DW prepared for a x we were literally hours away from was a full financial meltdown in 2008. We forsaw it and were prepared. The financial syste. is still fragile.

The big question we ask ourselves is how we would survive if bank closed for a month like they did in Greece this year.

We keep plenty of food in the house and plenty of small denomination cas in a safe. If bank machines close people will run out of cash very qui k and there will be no cha ge to break big notes. Supplies will stay in shops for a while but having cash will be key in the week after the banks close.

Longer term disruption over a month long is very unlikely but I have a lot of tools, seed and a garden with skills to grow and kill food. Water we have access to a river and open fires that work in the house with a stock of wood fuel closeby.

Short term planning isn't a problem.

However if you want to scare yourself silly about how interconnected the world is (in a complicated bad way) read this book...

'The Knowledge, How to Rebuild Our World From Scratch by Lewis Dartnell.

Interconnectedness is a huge problem. The fuel tanker driver strikes a few years ago caused serious concerns because the supply of food for supermarkets depends on road transport and the majority of food that will be bought tomorrow is actually in a truck right now.

Furthermore, power stations need people and fuel which cant get to the power station without transport. Without electric the fuel pumps at petrol stations and refineries dont work. It quickly becomes a circular problem and could be much harder to restart the system than many people realise.

We'd be fine for a few months in our second home. In London we'd probably have to either shoot or be shot by our neighbours after a week of no Ocado deliveries

I have now Stratters.

I guess this interconnectedness is why rural communities are more prepared and I assume more likely to be the ones to recover as communities. Id also think more likely to be able to work as communities more quickly than people in cities as you already know each other.

We are moving this over to our brand new Preppers topic in a mo

Yay, well done MN!

Currently we could manage a few months in terms of stored supplies. We're aiming for long term / indefinite with solar panels and batteries for power.