Newbie prepper advice please?

[97876757user]

I have an anxiety disorder.
I have a health condition.
I live rurally with only one expensive corner shop within walking distance.
Nearest town is miles away.
I want to be ready to self - isolate ASAP.
What do I need to be buying, checking my supplies of? Can someone advise? Just general advice would be fab like you need x of this, or you need to get y or whatever. We have plenty of cupboard space but we only have one freezer. I just need some basic advice about how you decide what to get? I don't want to panic buy or cause any issues I just looking for advice. Please be kind. I only have four toilet rolls, not four packets. My anxiety is through the roof about how my family of five will cope.
TIA

That's great! Thanks!

@97876757user not sure how much £££ you have but certain items that are a bit pricey like my shampoo, conditioner, I will buy 2-3 when I see it on offer, regardless if I’m low on it or not. If it’s £1 off or half price it’s a decent saving and I always use it up.
Tinned tomatoes on the other hand - 20p off 4 not exactly a massive saving, I can pass that by without being too bothered.

I'm back! I've taken a bit of time to do an audit of what I have and came to the conclusion that if I did have to isolate for fourteen days and was unable to go to the shops we would not be OK with what we currently have. Yikes! What an eye-opener that was I can tell you!

We would have clean clothes, but we'd be starving! It's also all the little things that you forget about that prove to be vital - soy sauce, vinegar, plasters, a cotton wool bud etc that would be missed if needed. I've also realised that we eat the same stuff over and over again which actually makes buying supplies easier, rather than harder. I think a meal plan would help with using up what I have and knowing what to add to the list to replace. I like the idea of of having two of one thing in so that you could repeat the week of food if necessary. I'm also thinking just add water stuff would be helpful - noodles, couscous, cupasoups, pasta pots etc. I'm going to look at meal ideas and from there I will make some more lists. I think being prepared will be expensive but then I think it's better to invest whilst I can and be prepared, rather than spend too much in a local shop in an emergency as it will be a gamble that I'll be able to get all the family needs and expensive to boot! Can people recommend any blogs, YouTubers, other threads that will help inspire me please? Thanks!

There is a lovely Youtube channel called "She's In Her Apron". The lady (Kimmy) suffers from anxiety so takes being prepared for her family's needs really seriously. She shows you how to set up a 3 month working pantry and gives lots of recipe ideas for batch cooking. She lives in Utah and is a morman but dont let that put you off, she is lovely and relatable.

Thank you Tana433 I'll have a look.

if you really really want a list... try looking on the help I have a four year old thread... further down this board....

it has all those things that you might need at some point. ok not quite all, because originally it did not contain fuses and guess who had no 13 amp fuse in when the one in the computer plug went. It was compiled from all those brexit lists we made way back in the mists of time.

Sign up to a milkman. I get a milk, eggs and chocolate milk delivery once a week courtesy of the dairy located in the next valley. I get their full fat milk and it tastes superb. I bought a bread maker and have a stock of bread mix in and keep an emergency butter in the freezer. With jam/honey in the cupboard plus a stock of tins of soup I know I’ve got the basics covered.

For you medical supplies make sure you have a thermometer in with the paracetamol, calpol, antihistamine, plasters etc. (I may have been caught out on the thermometer at the first lockdown!)

Do any supermarkets deliver to your area?

Can you write a list of what you ate last week/favourite meals? Then order from a supermarket.

We usually eat home made granola for breakfast most of the year and porridge in winter, so I keep a stock of oats and nuts and honey.

Supermarkets are limiting some things now, to avoid a repeat of the empty shelves we saw in March. But I found a company that will deliver 48 loo rolls. They are slightly more expensive and I bought them more because they are not wrapped in plastic.

If you are interested the company is Who Gives A Crap.

You can order groceries from Amazon.

I am a pasta freak, I could eat it for every meal, so I ordered from Italian Gourmet, again not the cheapest but only limited by their stock levels.

On YouTube there is a man called Alaska Prepper who seems very level headed, not concentrating on defence and fire arms like some of the men I’ve seen. Nothing against men in general, or Americans, it’s just what is on YouTube.

I've bought a special notebook.
The plan is to write everything prepper in there so I can take it with me if I'm out, or shopping or if my husband asks me if we need anything etc.

I've watched a few videos of She's In Her Apron and found I really liked her videos. Very jealous of the room she has available though - is it me or are American and Canadian houses much bigger than the shoeboxes us Brits live in?

I'm going for three months of stock. I've decided this as I already have enough of some stuff to last exactly three months so it seemed sensible to up everything else to that level. So far I have bought or already had :- a first aid kit, thermometer, various remedies cold, cough, cystitis remedy, thrush cream, antiseptic wipes and cream, plasters, paracetemol, aspirin, ibuprofen, vitamins for everyone x 3 months worth, 3 months of prescriptions, deep heat pain patches, ibuprofen cream, indigestion/diarolyte/senna tablets and a few boxes of chocolates and bars of soap, massive box of washing powder and 2 x fab con. Extra SF flour and plain flour. A box of fancy biscuits and a box of crackers for cheese. I need tea, coffee, hot chocolate and those kinds of things now.

It's actually not overwhelming at all and I find with each extra thing I acquire, I hate to say it but not only do I feel less anxious I feel smug knowing that when the second lockdown comes (and I really think it is coming soon!) my family and I will be OK. Its peace of mind.

Will have a look on the thread mentioned, too as I'm now genuinely interested in what others are getting as I may have forgotten lots. Thanks for all the replies so far - every single one of them has helped me, so thank you all of you.

I found the same. Once I had a good start I felt better and more in control. Try to build up across categories. Less pressure on supermarket stocks and if we lockdown maybe better to have 6 weeks of everything than three months of half the stuff.

Great point!

Glad you are feeling less stressed now.

I absolutely agree with only buying things you normally eat, you'll see YouTube preppers buying huge bags of things like rice and beans for long term food storage, I imagine a lot of it will be thrown away in 20 years when it's out of date and no one wants it.

one thing I do is to buy extras when something is on offer, so if you'd normally buy one box of pasta at £2 and it's buy two for £3 and you can afford it buy 2 or even 4 boxes, use one and put the other ones away, then still buy your usual one next week and keep rotating so you're using the oldest first. Most things I have a stock of I've bought double or treble my usual amount at one point and then gone back to my usual amount.

We use two carton of almond milk every week, I have 8 cartons in the pantry, I still buy two cartons per week but use the oldest two from the pantry and put the new ones at the back. So we have four weeks worth at least but if we had to self isolate I'd be using some to make rice puddings etc.

Rotating and keeping an eye on dates is important, you need a system, it doesn't need to be complicated.

I won't give lists as others have done that. I used to pop to the shop at least 3 times a week, but that's just not practical any more. I have found longer life versions of things I always bought to be best for me. So on the shopping list ham becomes prosciutto, sausages become chorizo. Longer lasting veg like carrots, squash, peppers are bought fresh, but mushrooms and spinach are now frozen. Powdered milk is grim in tea, but fine in porridge, hot chocolate or for making yoghurt. I would rather not eat meat than eat canned, so lentils, chick peas etc as a protein replacement.

Growing fruit and veg over summer was fun and a way to ensure some extra freshness. Garden is way to small to actually feed a family for long though. I am getting my seeds for next year sorted now in case brexit messes up supply chains later on. Berries don't last long from supermarket and are pricey, so fresh from the garden was great, mostly in pots.

How are you doing OP ?

Hi everyone! I'm doing well, I think. I sat down this morning and wrote a list of all the stuff we had purchased for Christmas - presents, food and drink - and I was quite surprised that I'd managed to pick up bits and bobs that amount up to alot. I haven't been doing so well with picking up bits lately as I'm not going out much due to the lockdown. But as part of organising stuff I had a sort through and realised I had quite a few duplicates of stuff we regularly need - think extra bag of muesli, extra pack of cream crackers, extra mayo and tommy k, extra bottle of salt - and I'm actually feeling so much better about not having to go out.

The other day I wanted to make some specific cakes and I was thrilled to find I had everything I needed at home already. I think it's addictive though. I'm now being careful not to mix Christmas preps with normal preps and I still have to stop myself from picking up a packet of paracetamol, for example, as now I've collated all the packets we have enough for us for months and months. It's made the weekly shop go down too as I'm not buying things I already have two or three of. So we are mainly just buying fresh veg and fruit and milk at the moment. I need to meal plan, I'm still not doing that enough.

At the beginning I focused on an area at a time eg - stock the first aid and medicines, stock vitamins and toiletries, stock favourite crisps, sweets, tea, coffee. So I now have an overload cupboard where I keep any extra packets in. When I run out of something I check my supplies first - my own personal shop. I feel very smug and happy when I realise I don't have to make a trip just to get some flour, for example.

I'm also looking at food storage and things like this to maximise the shelf life of things. Nothing crazy just moving things from bags or packets to jars etc.

I'd like to think of a longer term plan to ensure that I can keep this momentum going but it's hard at the moment as I don't want to actually go out to shop!! The best thing about prepping for me is that I've calmed down a lot, I feel less anxious, I have stopped the amount of trips to the local expensive shop. I talked before about all those 'quick trips' to get x or y that ended up costing £20+ and I resented it. I don't do that any more so I'm kinder to myself.

How are others getting on? How do you seperate your Christmas / birthday stuff from usual preps?

I have watched Kimmy from She's In Her Apron and I really enjoyed her videos. Although, I had to stop watching her because I had pantry envy and started looking at massive tubs on Amazon! (We do not need massive tubs, I had to tell myself sternly). I think my relaxed, prepared state will dimish as fast as my preps do.

I also got some face washes, toiletries etc as I can't help but think about bloody Brexit ramifications. Does anyone know which companies won't be supplying to UK or will be supplying less? I still haven't stockpiled toilet roll, either!

How's everyone else getting on?

So pleased to hear you are feeling calmer OP

One thing I did at the start of the year, when there were signs that Covid could be a problem and not knowing if we would all be kept home with extremely limited access to shops, was generally stock up my non perishables but also think about the things I usually use fresh and what were my alternatives.

I would generally always have some frozen veg, tinned corn and various tinned beans, and some tinned bean sprouts etc (handy to use to pad out small amounts of fresh veg in a stir fry), so veggies were not a major problem. And I could keep enough apples, oranges, tinned peaches and frozen berries for fruit.

But dairy was a problem. As DH and DD both drink a LOT of milk, and we use it a lot for various hot drinks and in cereal etc. So I bought a bottle each of almond and oat milk (for some reason, I wasn't keen on soy generally), just to try as they are both long life. Both have become staples - DD loves almond milk and DH and I both like the oat for coffee. So while we still drink a lot of cow's milk (and I do have a couple of bottles frozen, and a carton of dried milk powder - but I know there will be a rebellion if it's needed!), there are now substitutes that I know the family will use and which are long-life that I can have a spare bottle or 2 put away in my stores.

I need to restock AAA batteries - 2 torches didn't work when we had a recent power outage so my spares have been used up (luckily I have plenty of torches and lanterns for camping, and candles with proper holders so we managed) - I think DD had been using the spare batteries in the Xbox controller and not telling me as I had a whole tub!