Are you all prepping for power cuts?

[User112]

BBC reported the other day about possible power cuts this winter due to gas shortage. Other than having a few torch light and candles, are you all prepping with anything else?

It also affects all social activities in the evenings, children clubs, petrol stations etc. it would basically be a stay at home situation.

even during daylight hours most shops can no longer function without electricity.

Theatres, cinemas, pubs shut once again.

But yes, chill with a candle.

{hmm]

Please, please don't rely on being a "priority customer". While it may offer help during small problems, it us beyond fucking useless in a large scale problem. 8 days we were without electricity and Northern Powergrid admitted that they couldn't help us. It was 4 days before we could even speak to them as the phone lines were overwhelmed. Our neighbours who use a fuck ton of medical equipment only got a generator when the MP went and sourced one themselves. Dh and his cpap was left to fend entirely for himself. We are on the outskirts of a large city and there was no help at all from the distributor.

If you need electric for medical equipment, think of backup plans because you can't rely on the priority service. We were lucky in that we could afford to send dh to a hotel that had power.

On the bright side it might make BT rethink switching off their copper land line service. I think that's a disaster waiting to happen.

we have to have a backup generator for our farm animals and luckily our house runs off it. The posts regarding medical issues have made me think if there's anyone in our village that could do with help.

That is very sobering.

What happens when Europes stored gas runs out by the spring? Europe will want all of Norway's gas, so thats 40% of our supply gone and the rest is subject to price as we've chosen not to nationalise, LNG can't replace the amounts lost through NS1.

The Arabs wont help us, they've sided with the Russians.

Hi. I'm autistic and have major anxiety. I have two pre teens. Husband works away. I don't like the thought of using gas canisters inside. I'll probably do it wrong. How can we eat? Stressed. Thanks.

After being stuck with no electricity for a week last year in the storms we have prepared

We have installed a log burner and had a generator plug out into side of the house and bought a generator

We already had our cooker running off large gas bottles in garden so cooking was covered

After the bad storms last winter we decided we wouldn't be left in that situation again so took action to make sure it won't.

You don’t use gas canisters inside. Please don’t try, that’s how people have accidents.

the power outages if they happen will be on a rota. We will know in advance what time our power will go out. You can eat before or afterwards and of course you can eat cold food like sandwiches etc.

if you look at the emergency Rotas, levels 1-3 are probably best described for most people as inconvenient. Some of the outages are through the night so won’t affect people as much. Yes there are peak time outages scheduled but that’s the time to go to bed and read or sit and have a chat, not the time to think “oh it’s compulsory for me to now try to cook a hot meal”.

minor preps in terms of blankets, torches, keeping some emergency cash and the car topped up with fuel just in case and you will muddle through. Being prepped will help your anxiety

You could prepare cold food like sandwiches in advance

Also if planned outages you should get warning so you could cook in a slow Coker which would hopefully keep it warm for a while

Don't stress you will know when it's going to happen and have time to prepare.

This post has made me think. I'm all electric with oil for heating and hot water, but have an open fire in the living room. I just bought some coal and have a store of wood, battery operated lanterns, torches, thermos flasks, power banks etc. So just need to buy a cheap pot for boiling water/cooking on the fire and plain candles.
I've lived with two dc through 3 days when all the power lines went down in a snowstorm and had to cook by putting a cake rack on the coal fire to support the pan/kettle.

For those with elderly relatives fairly close by, staying together might be sensible so that they are not trying to stumble around in the dark. We will bring PIL in their late 80s over here. We have a log burner and a spare room plus plenty of solar lights and torches.

They won’t want to risk everything being nicked for a start.

Not sure if anyone has mentioned this but in terms of entering teens and kids, netflix, Disney +, bbc iplayer and other streaming services have a download feature. You can download films to your device and not have to rely on Internet connection so if you did this when the power was on in the day time you could ensure you have a supply of things for them to watch.

I do this when we have long car journeys for the kids or if we are going to places with no Internet.

If it does indeed happen, you will have advance notice. So it's about being as prepared as possible in advance.

I have found the wonder bags quite invaluable for the winter. If you are making a one pot meal (stew, curry etc), make in advance and pop the pot into the bag. (it has polystyrene balls inside) Keeps it hot the whole day and you use only the electricity to get the pot to a boil at the start. I'm sure you can use old blankets to do the same job though.

Not when the power went off in the middle of Magic Roundabout and I got shouted at for crying at missing my programme in the days when there were about three a day for preschoolers. (Playschool, lunchtime Trumpton or Mr Ben, tea time just before 6 and the news) and crying as I was suddenly plunged into blackness on my own in a room.

Eating Infront of a mirror and candles was fun though. Gas cooker requiring no electricity as it had pilot lights.

You will have light in flats corridors for a while at least as the lights are installed with back up battery for emergencies.

@Tootels

Hi. I'm autistic too.

Take time to think through your plans and write them out somewhere. Practise them if you can.

If you can afford it buy: (approx costs)
Solar lantern. Keep on an accessible windowsil. (£20)
power bank. Keep it charged and in one place. (£20-30)
wind up /solar / battery radio.(£15)
head torch and batteries. (£7)

cooking:do you bbq? If so you can cook on that. This is more familiar to most people. You can get a couple of disposable bbqs and a stand if you don't have one. I keep mine in the garage.

@Tootels

Army rations (MRE's) can be heated with flameless heaters indoors or outside. Example below but I am sure you can find them on ebay or amazon. They generally don't taste that good but they will keep you going in an emergency.

24 hour army ration pack (3 mains plus snacks)
preppersshop.co.uk/military-style-emergency-24hr-ration-pack---random-menu-11655-p.asp

Flameless ration heaters (just add water, no fire needed)
preppersshop.co.uk/british-army-frh-flameless-ration-heater-pouch-2264-p.asp

How to use a flameless heater:

MREs are handy in an absolute emergency but they are very pricey.
Flasks are a good idea for already cooked heated up meals. Cheap ish to buy but you need to cook them first.
At about £63 is a wonderbag which works as a power free slow cooker. You have to start up the meal (like a casserole) on the hob, get the mixture bubbling, then take it off the heat , sit it in the bag and leave it all day to cook.
All of these require some (considerable) outlay of money and need to be used with careful planning.

If you can sew you can buy fire retardant beans and make a bag for around a tenner.

@Tootels Try not to be anxious, you'll have 24 hours notice of any planned power cuts, so you'll have time to figure out whats best for you to do, to help you cope in a way that won't make you feel nervous or uncomfortable.

Here's some ideas of what you could do:

Buy a food flask (Argos have some reduced to £6 currently) - you can use it for soup/stew or hot dogs, and they'll keep warm for 6 hours

Cook in a slow cooker - as long as you don't remove the lid, it should stay warm for up to an hour, so if power goes off at 4, you just eat by 5pm

Buy just add water meals, like pot noodles and cuppa soup, that you can just add hot water out of a flask to

If your nervous about cooking in advance, try eating your hot meal at lunchtime, and just having sandwiches at tea. If you have a flask of coffee/hot chocolate to go with it that'll help you warm up

And if you really feel like you can't cope with any of these suggestions, then just have a few ready meals on standby that you can microwave when the power comes back on - its highly unlikely to be off for more than 3 hours at a time, so you could just eat a little bit later once the power is back on.

I just bought some battery operated motion sensor LED lights to put down the stairs which I fancied buying anyway and I know I bought in a whim at some point a light that goes in the loo and lights up when you lift the lid.

Other than that we can manage for 3 hours without power surely. I do have freeze packs in the freezer at all times because DS is diabetic and his insulin needs to be kept refrigerated.

I’m trying to prep a bit, but without wasting lots of money

Big overlap with general money saving on heat so things hot water bottles/ blankets/fleece bedding & an oodie will be generally useful

I have candles & torches already, plus a ‘camping light’ (which I usually use for rooting around the under stairs cupboard), have ordered an extra motion detector/power cut light as I think they are good for general safety

Have also ordered a second phone charger pack and will download a few films

I will be filling up flasks (already have 1, may but may buya second)

I like the idea of a slow cooked meal while waiting for power to come back on:) Maybe putting the (unplugged) slow cooker in the oven (obviously not turned on) would help it stay warmer for longer? Or covering with a blanket/tea cosy

My challenge is fuel - no idea what to get/how much I need. I have a ‘multi fuel’ stove: I have used it to burn wood before but I’ve just bought 1 bag of smokeless coal & 2 small bags of briquettes (different kinds) : this is just a back up but will experiment with the the different kinds of fuel to see what gives off more heat

Lived through this in the 70s. We put in a log burner in the spring seeing which way the wind was blowing. Have a gas BBQ. Candles oil lamps. .

Keep kindle, tablet, phone charged up. Download programs. And chill