Never have a tank of fuel less than half full" - share your Prepper everday stuff

[bellinisurge]

Only store the food people in your house will actually eat. There's another.

At the risk of being a Viz comic parody, what tips would you share with others on here.

If your landline is a cordless one, or otherwise needs to be plugged into the mains, buy a cheap basic corded handset to use in the event of a power cut. Keep it near your phone socket so you can easily swap them.

... and label it with the numbers of your utility providers, and any other numbers you might want to call in an emergency but don't know from memory.

My people!!!!!

Glad it helps Whatthefox. I've got little ones who would at least drink milk if nothing else, so it's been my major priority. I think the other downside of the powdered milk is that it doesn't contain fat (or very little?) so far less calories as well. The evaporated milk reconstitutes into fresh milk, or can be added neat to things like coffee/tea.

Next steps for me include getting things like a slimline water butt www.amazon.co.uk/Ward-GN339-Slimline-Water-including/dp/B007TTFMEE/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=water+butt&tag=mumsnetforum-21&ie=UTF8&qid=1532250835&sr=8-3 , which I can use for gardening/grey water, whatever happens, and a useful storage spot if there are any water interruptions.

Longer term plans include gardening and getting a dehydrator (more for the nutrients than the calories).

It's only thinking about the worst case scenarios that make you realise just how very dependent we are (well, me certainly!), and I'm really enjoying creating a bit more self reliance!

@VanillaSugar - glad you've found us.

I picked up some large deep plastic boxes on Amazon and used them for my food items.

The only thing I can’t figure out how to store safely is petrol. Any ideas?

I want to turn my back garden into a vegetable patch but it's been so dry this summer that the earth is like stone. I was hoping for a summer of courgettes! We definitely need to grow more veggies and try to become a little more self-sufficient. I'd like a goat.

vanilla we have partially overcome this by planting in containers of various sizes. I grew my tomatoes from seed in empty yoghurt pots (donated by the DC 😁) and planted in hanging baskets and containers, and have had runaway success.

Much easier than turning over an entire section of your garden, far less labour intensive and probably cheaper too. Plus the soil gets that bit warmer that bit earlier for planting out, Ive found.

We’ll have a glut of tomatoes in about a month, so I’m going to make pasta sauces and jar them for my stash 😇

I’ve had success with growing potatoes in trugs too. With all the containers, we move them so they’re in the sun pretty well all day. I’ve got herbs in a hanging basket too.

Next year I’m going to sow actual peas with the sweet peas in my borders, do tomatoes and potatoes in containers again, and salad leaves in pots too. I’ll think about strawberries in hanging baskets.

Everything of mine is from seed other than the potatoes, you can get tubers but I just planted actual potatoes 😁

You are only allowed to store a maximum of 30 litres of petrol at home before you start having to notify the authorities.

www.hse.gov.uk/fireandexplosion/petrol-storage-club-association.htm

Brilliant, thanks ziggy - I might get my sprout seedlings going

I’d be very careful about storing patrol at home. A big fire risk. Please be safe. Really safe containers, clearly labelled and secured in garage or shed. I would like to store a few litres but I haven’t been brave enough yet!

Cherry tomatoes - a bush type variety rather than a cordon type variety - works well in hanging baskets. I've been doing 3 plants of Tumbling Tom in a 16" basket every summer for about 6 years now, and we get a fair amount from that. And we've done strawberries in hanging baskets before as well.

Window box type planters are also helpful if your garden is not good or you only have balcony/windowledge space. I have spring onions in 1, salad leaves (to pick individual leaves rather than whole heads as cut and come again) in another, radishes in another and dwarf French beans in another. Spinach also goes ok that way. And there are dwarf varieties of courgettes, broad beans, peas, that I know of to experiment with.

And I also have cordon type tomatoes in a deep pot, and another one with canes for French beans to grow up. One more way to "hide" veg in a more flowering garden is to grow peas in a line up the fences - where they almost hide into the background.

I only have a small bed for veggies in the actual garden, but get as much again from my various pots and planters scattered around the patio and windowsills.

My dad (war boy) used to fill the loft with tins of food and boxes of candles. I'm similar; but whereas he had a thing for Heinz sponge puddings, I stash tuna (use by 3/2021!).

Little tiny thing I thought about today... I've been writing the expiry date of my (few) stored away goods visibly on them with a marker, so it's easy to see it. I hope it'll make it easier to take into use the ones that need using soon, without the need to squint at the packaging.

@GoneWishing - really good idea

Stock small bottles of spirits and cigarettes for trade.

Keep your go bag in your car,

Nice one @RedneckStumpy

I wouldn't bother with storing petrol. A far safer and more long term solution (as the fuel doesn't explode or run out!) is a bike.

Either a regular bike with a good set of panniers (Ortlieb are excellent) which will cover a weekly shop for 1-2 people, or add on a trailer for transporting bigger items, or switch to a cargo bike for transporting big stuff and / or DC.

And before anyone says anything about safety
a) it's statistically really not that dangerous at all; it's on a par with walking on a per mile basis (more dangerous per minute, but bikes make the journey faster)
b) if petrol shortages are that bad, there are going to be very few vehicles out on the road anyway.

So petrol storage not a realistic option - what about gas for a camping stove? To store or not to store?

We store a lot of fuel, petrol, diesel and gas with no problem.

A bike is a excellent idea, depending on how it’s used. It is no good if you need to accelerate your way out of trouble

@Redneck keep the petrol in the car for emergencies, and use a bike for the more day to day stuff, like taking the kids to school.

If you want to get really paranoid about this sort of thing, a bike can be better for getting you out of trouble than a car because

• it can't be easily traced (no ANPR)
• it goes faster than someone can run so you can outpace an attacker on foot
• it can go down routes that cars cannot, such as alleyways and parks where the paths are too narrow, making it easier to lose someone

Of course a motorbike will beat a bike in these regards, but it shouldn't be assumed that bikes can't get you out of trouble