Here's my list

[WhoTheFuckIsSimon]

I'm going to sort all the crap out the pantry and stock up. Saw that Blackout programme the other day and it worried me. Dh works on power stations round the country and reckons the UK is on a knife edge when it comes to power....though he reckons any problems would be short term and localised.

Anyway we have a log burner and a load of wood and kindling. Can boil a kettle, heat a saucepan on top of the burner.

Am going to store:

Some water, maybe 20ltrs. Have an outbuilding I can put it in.
A fire starter Flint
Candles
Water purifying tablets

Tinned food......we don't eat lots of tinned or even jarred stuff at all. Tinned tomatos and coconut milk are about the only tinned stuff I eat. Oh and kidney beans. So will have to stock up on kidney beans.

We eat a lot of dry food such as pasta and rice. I guess the problem is they need water for cooking which if you're short on water might be a problem.

We have plenty of wine and also chickens so get eggs.

We have stuff like camping stove, sleeping bags, rucksacks, waterproofs if things went really bad long term.

I am a bit fretty about my chest freezer, it's stuffed to the gills. I really regret not getting a generator last time they had them in Lidl :(

How much were the generators Stratters?

We've got a nice touring caravan with a big gas bottle which runs the heater/oven/hot water in the van. I reckon enough for a couple of weeks.

But it's in caravan storage three miles away. So if it was just a midlength power cut I could go and get it but if it's a full on zombie apocalypse I may not want to run the risk of fetching it.

Google tells me they were £180, back in May. I might have a scoot around, and see what I can find. Their electrical stuff has a v good reputation, apparently, having had a bit of a sniff around for reviews.

There's cheaper generators on Amazon.

I am clueless, I just want one to run the freezer. Might have a Google.

Hmm the Lidl one was 2000w, for another £40 I can get a 6000w from Amazon.

Did you see my thread on the weird road signs that have sprung up round here? Apparently, they are mass evacuation route signs, would be helpful to know that prior to the fact.

If you've got a massive freezer may well be worth getting a genny - I know someone who lost a YEAR's worth of food when the power went for a week.

Interesting about the power, I see the UK having problems in the future with electricity. I've got a burner with a back boiler, haven't had a fire since sat but still have hottish water. I burn coal, peat and wood.

Coffee! If you can boil a pan, get coffee grinds for cowboy coffee. Plans can be made if you've got coffee.

What wattage is your freezer?

Didn't see your road sign thread. Stick a link up please. Haven't seen any here.

Tell us more about the road signs stratters!

Sadly I can't drink coffee. It makes my bladder inflamed. Dh hates it.

I do actually have two year supply of tea bags because I bought all the national stock of Twinings Chai before they changed the recipe and have over 1000 bags.

And even more sadly I now think that's also making my bladder inflamed and have stopped ringing it. Dh also hates chai

Have googled and found the county briefing paper on the road signs. Am glad I'm inshore. So 30 hours for mass evacuation they reckon? I don't reckon there's that many people to evacuate!

Ha, it says 10-20% of the population may refuse to evacuate.....I wonder if they can be punched till they're unconcious and dragged down the evacuation route?

Nah, I'd say that's an ideal time for Darwinism to do its stuff

Road signs thread

What about tinned potatoes?

You can use them in a hash with bacon and toms for an easy lunch if you need to use them up for normal eating. Plus you get water in the tin as a bonus!

Or keep flour in and have milk in the freezer to make flat breads/chapattis.

Do you have any local water as you can boil it to make it safe so you are more able to take from rivers for example.

Tinned potatoes is a fab idea thanks. Havent had them for years but loved them fried up as a student.

We've got a big muddy canal close by and a lot of cleaner looking rivers within a mile. But I guess in a proper zombie apocalypse canal water would be ok with boiling/water purifying tablets? Oh and I have a Kelly Kettle which would be fab for boiling water! Forgot about that.

I'd like to have a water butt up and running but Dh not keen as he thinks the garden is cluttered enough with animal pens, aviaries, sheds........

I do however have a few plastic dustbins and spare guttering and down pipes so in an emergency I could knock one together quickly. Divert water from the rooves of the outbuildings Into a bin and hope it rains quick.

I haven't told Dh about my prepping plans, he will scoff. It appeals to my inner squirrel.

We also find home made jams, chutneys, squash hold up to a yr in a good store as do fresh potatoes. Sounds like you have some storage space.

We've got a lot of storage space but it's all full of clutter. Dh is a bit of a hoarder. We've got two big brick outbuildings. One has an ordered wood store and some bikes. The other is full of Dh's crap, old tins of paint, planks of wood, etc.

Then we have a walk in pantry with shelving and a proper old marble slab shelf. There's quite a bit of wine in there and about 50 bottles of spirits. I need to get stuff better organised. There's also a lot of clutter. Dh has a load of tools and random bits of wood in the pantry which im going to get firm about and say he has to put it in his outbuilding. I can't be having boxes of grass seed and loads of Demi-johns which he doesn't use in the pantry.

Post 9/11 I did lay down some stores, but when H found out he said I was bonkers. I was a doormat, so we drank the water and ate up the tins.

I've recently read The Road and The Bone Clocks & I'm thinking that it's irresponsible not to have some supplies put by, not (necessarily...) for some major apocalypse, but in case of fuel strikes, power cuts etc. I won't be telling anyone about my prepping, because they will point and laugh. I've done no research, but here's what I'm thinking:

Wind-up torches
Solar phone charger/charged Nokia brick (in case the elec goes off)
Wind-up/solar radio
Batteries
Tinned food
Bottled water
Dried fruit and nuts
Oat cakes (obviously eaten up before they get stale, & replaced)
Water purifying tablets
Candles
Matches
Something to cook on
First aid/medication
SAS pocket survival guide

I'm planning on using the radio, but putting everything else in a mouse-proof box under my bed.

How does that sound for a start?

I think that sounds good. I'm going to add a wind up radio to my stuff, that's a really good idea.

lightroom are you planning for staying at home? (bugging in)
If so I'd not bother with sas survival and have a good first aid book / do a course.

Otherwise it looks good.

Are you prepped in other ways - copies of important paperwork in a fire safe or someone else's house, wills, insurances, passports etc. (Obv actually having these is also a kind of prepping.)

Oh and don't forget the toilet - roll of plastic bags and a bucket is better than nothing. Extras of things like loo roll, toiletries, sanitary wear etc is good too.

That's a good list - although I was also going to add some sanpro and toilet paper to it if not already covered in the other categories.

One thing to consider as well is your actual actions in the event of Troubles. (You could, after all, wake up tonight in the dark and be in the middle of them.)

Things like:

• having a lighter/matches and a candle always to hand when you go to bed (eg using a 'pretty' candle on the bedside table as a cunning disguise - you can keep the utilitarian ones somewhere else if necessary. )

• keeping critical books/documents grouped in a particular place so that they can be found quickly and easily. (It's hard enough finding a single book in this house in the normal course of things because we have a lot of them.)

• keeping items like your wind-up radio easiy to hand, well charged and tested all the time. (You may be able to wind it up without problem but you don't need to have to do that when it has to be by candlelight and you're panicking.)

I'm sure there will be loads more for you. Just remember that preparation is for actions as well as things.

Thanks, folks. I was thinking that the SAS Survival Guide would make interesting reading anyway, even if I was just trying to light a fire in my back garden. I'm daunted by the prospect of preparing for anything more significant than power cuts or fuel strikes right now...

Important document-wise: most of it is backed up only digitally, which is not all that great, really!

Is that backed up on the Cloud or similar, Light ? (Thinking fire here, which is a possibility you can easily put to people.)

Yes, photographed and in Evernote and in the cloud. Although to be honest I'm not sure all the info is there and up to date and in one place...