Germans told to stockpile

[ThroughThickAndThin01]

Germans are being told to stockpile enough food and water for 10 days, in case of a national emergency.

Sensible or scaremongering.

Any thoughts?

The 'Must Try' items - known sometimes as the 'Oh that'll do for......' things, used to be the bane of my cupboards. I'm of the view that - with the exception of booze - you should mostly buy more of what you might use anyway, and buy that in a form which doesn't require elaborate preparation.

Just try to cook something at the weekend with the power switched off in the kitchen. (Or not used in the case of mains gas.) It will likely be a revelation to you.

We had a very long power cut a couple of years ago and I tried out cooking on the woodturning stove. It was fine for heating things through but obviously took a while to get hot enough. The kettle boils very quickly on it though once its hot.

That was 'heating things through'. Valuable enough in a time of crisis but could you have actually cooked a meal?

I'd love DMIL's stove - it's freestanding in the kitchen and she has the kettle sitting on it all day (handy for washing up water) and occasionally puts pots of bones on it for stock. Ours is set into the fireplace in sitting room so no good for food. DMIL's would probably work well for slow-cooking type meals, casseroles and the like put on hours before they're needed, in an emergency situation. And she has loads of access to wood.

I can testify that gas BBQs work very well outdoors in the snow!! It's a tradition on our street to have a BBQ on the green - but electric kettles are used for making the hot water for coffee and microwaves for hot wine

I could yes but that's because I have a well thought through preppers stock cupboard. My wood burner has quite a large surface area and so I can effectively do anything I could do on a hob.

Could have done all sorts of pasta dishes, curries, chilli, moroccan tagine type thing, corned beef hash plus puddings. That's not even touching the MRE type meals (I only buy the "look what we've found" ones because they're cheap and its handy to have a couple in the cupboard and OFRS) and the emergency pot noodles!

wow, I think "look what we found" is incredibly pricey for what it is.

re medical supplies - I have a good stock of what I need but in fairness I am not thinking long term.

how long term are some of you thinking, just out of interest?

it also occurred to me, however yuk it is, tinned rice pudding is probably good thing to have in the cupboard.

Not compared to mountain house. They're £1.25. On offer they're often £1. When they need using DS1 will happily come home and bung one in the microwave to eat after school.

I like to have about 4-6 months of food. ATM I don't have that much. The bulk of mine is pasta/couscous etc and so it doesn't take up that much room. We also have chickens so we have an egg supply and once we've finished sorting out the kitchen garden we'd have fresh fruit and veg too (hopefully!).

I love tinned rice pudding. It was my craving whilst pregnant.

curly, how weird, the nearest place to me has them at £2.30

I haven't looked at the mountain house, I was just comparing it to other tinned food.

Ah, Asda does them for 1.25. Often on 2 for £2.

And at 2 for £2 they're cheaper than a tin of corned beef.

Long term is a different mindset for me, Lorelei. The rechargeable items (radios, lanterns etc) would be with us for ever, I suspect - or as long as they lasted - but I generally think in terms of immediate issues (fire, snow etc) or a 48er for power and other utilities.

I have a well-stocked medicine cupboard:

Prescription meds
Allergies - Zirtek, Piriton, insect spray, bite cream, hydrocortisone cream.
Stomach - Imodium, rehydration mix, Gaviscon, Alka Seltzer, Talcid (a German stomach thing), codeine phosphate, Omeprazole.
Colds - Day nurse, Night nurse, German aspirin-based potion, pseudoephedrine based sinusitis tablets, pastilles, Olbas Oil, expectorant cough mixture, dry cough mixture, vaporiser, First Defence nasal sprays, Beconase nasal spray.
Beasties - head louse shampoo, nit comb, threadworm tablets, tick remover.
Women's - Canestan cream, Canestan pessary, cystitis powder.
First aid - plasters in different sizes, myelin patches, stick on patches, non allergenic tape, gaffer tape, moleskin, blister patches, elasticated bandages, slings, skin closure strips, burn gel, magnesium phosphate paste (removes foreign bodies by drawing then out) brolene eye drops, ear wax dissolver, antiseptic cream and spray, antiseptic wipes.
Analgesics - aspirin, paracetamol, ibuprofen, Solpadeine Max, stick on heat patches, Ibuleve gel.
Kids - Calpol, ibuprofen liquid, Micky Mouse plasters, non sting antiseptic spray, Piriton liquid.

I knew I was doing OK when when the local GP (a friend) sent his son around for Calpol for a kid that was staying with them! He knew I would have most stuff to hand, carefully stored and rotated!

I also have a pair of umbilical cord scissors!!!!

Do you know, Boffin - I started to laugh gently at that list until I realised just how much of it I actually have, just more ......distributed around.

You've trumped me with the umbilical cord scissors, though!

Interesting thread.
I do a lots of prepping in winter ( live rurally) however I felt a bit unnerved reading the German advise.

Yesterday I bought lots of tinned goods, dry supplies, flour, sugar, jams, and bottled water. I mostly bought what we eat, pasta sauces, beans, soups, but I also bough two extra jams, custard, maple syrup,uht milk, lemon curd,honey, and tinned fruit. I bought extra wipes as they would be good for cleaning.

Our neighbour has spring water which we could use but I bought four bottles of water to chuck in the cellar. ( I'll buy a few each week...like wine)

I think we would be quite prepared in an emergency, we have wood burner, camping cooker, gas bbq, candles, matches, first aid kit is good.
Boffin do you have clove oil in your first aid? ( great for toothpain)

I have umbilical cord scissors, too!

Ah I forgot, this bigger shop took up two supermarket trolleys and I think in an emergency, people clearing out the supermarket scenario would have been difficult to do.

So it's just a head start isn't it, if the shit hit the fan, I'd go and buy it all again and be ahead. ( I'd have a good ideas about what to buy as well)

what's with all the umbilical cord scissors people?!

You're right peonie, in an emergency everyone would be scrambling to get the stuff off the shelves. That's assuming they can even access it. If it was a power issue, the shops wouldn't even be open and would soon be looted.

It does seem likely that in many emergency scenarios, much of the danger comes from other people. If you can avoid contact wth others then you have a big head start.

They are single use only for infection control purposes, and I had a home birth with an independent midwife who said I might as well keep them. Or they might have been episiotomy scissors, I'm not sure. Whatever they were, they were something that's unusable for their intended purpose once the packet has been opened.

Ah.. I thought there was some special survive use for them!l

I like to think I could help another MNetter in her hour of birthing need ... If you boil them for 10 minutes in fast boiling water they are sterile again btw, so no need to chuck them, better than kitchen scissors if the world has kicked off. You boil your string at the same time for tying off both ends so you can make the cut between them. Bet Bear Ghrylls never knew that.

Clove oil ... Nice one. I do have two packs of dental stuff to replace tooth crowns that come loose, wonder if some is in there?

I suppose there is a case for ordering umbilical clips to go with the scissors but where does this even stop?!! Fully equipped operating theatre for a quick Armageddon CS?!!!

Somewhere I also have actual recipes to make baby formula from random milk from random mammals, suitable for age of baby and pasteurising it - I hope for no more than 10 days' food or power supply disruption though!!!! Not global meltdown. This isn't Hollywood.