Prepping for 2 week isolation

[CrunchyCarrot]

I got a letter today informing us that our road will be closed for various works - for 10 days. I am going to assume that could be 10 working days so basically 2 weeks. During that time we will not be able to park on the road and there will be only pedestrian access. I am disabled and rely on home deliveries, yet I am weirdly excited by what feels like my prepper's exam!

So right now I am working through lists of what I will need for myself, DP and cat during those 2 weeks (although DP will be away for some of that time). I have 10 days to get ready. I do have tinned and dried foods in stock, but with the 'excitement' of Brexit and Covid over, have slacked off and reduced these to some extent. Realistically I know prepping for a nuclear event or something extreme is probably pointless, so I tend to just think of covering short illness or weather extremes.

If this were your situation, what would you make sure you have in stock in advance? It will likely help to focus my mind and not miss something out, so thanks in advance for any replies!

Plenty of butter, sugar and flour because I have a sweet tooth so, if I couldn’t get to the shop for chocolate, I could at least make biscuits & cake.

Yes, thank you for that - also flour because I can make bread. I don't eat wheat flour products most of the time but DP does!

Chocolate! Arrgh. Must get a good supply in. If there's anything I am addicted to, it's chocolate!

Sorry you're going to be trapped, but I 'know' you from around the boards and I think doing a prepper's exam is an excellent idea!
I would have water in case of burst pipes.
And now i must go out but i will return to the thread later 😊

Yes, I have frequented these boards a lot in the dim distant past! I sort of don't feel 'trapped' as I am already pretty much housebound and have been for years, but see it as a challenge after all those conversations about what would you need if you had to survive for 2 weeks away from any resources. Sadly I don't have a veg garden, or at least the few raspberries I will harvest won't do much (but I do have a good supply of jam and frozen berries!).

That reminds me, I do rely a lot on yoghurt. I have a yoghurt maker and think this is probably a good time to dust it off and see if I can make some again. I haven't done so for many years, as I gave up dairy as a health experiment and pretty much regretted it.

Yes, water. I do have some bottled water but again like most things, my stocks have been shrinking.

I always have frozen berries in. Warm them and have on top of homemade waffles/ pancakes and Greek yogurt, or just with Greek yogurt and granola for breakfast.

Yes frozen berries (all home grown!) are the one thing we do have plenty of. Got muesli (check) and as I reminded myself earlier, need to buy some flour. I can't eat wheat flour but I can use millet/corn/chickpea flours to make scones or drop scones.

I keep dried milk in, even if you don't like it in tea its fine for baking.
Have you got some spare light bulbs?

Make sure that you have enough medication, either prescribed or OTC. If they are doing road stuff it is possible that they could disrupt a gas main, an electric cable or water mains so make sure that you are covered for those eventualities. Charge up your mobile phone and try and keep it charged, have batteries and torches etc. If you have any hobbies make sure that you have enough supplies for that, make sure you have enough cat food, litter and cat treats. Good luck with your experiment, please do come back after the two weeks and let us know how it goes😊

Yes I too keep dried milk.

I will check the light bulb situation, thanks for mentioning it!

How long is your road? Delivery people are usually willing to put the stuff on their trolley and walk a fair way if necessary. Don't let that stop you having fun prepping but if you have an emergency run out of toothpaste error I would hope Sainsbury's would pull through for you. Particularly if you put a note on the order explaining the situation.

Was going through my meds earlier, it's amazing how many OTC meds can be out of date when you start checking, even though when I first checked they had 2 yrs left on them!

Yes you're right about the utilities, one never knows. I have got a small power bank and torches handy, plus a wind-up radio.

My cat would never forgive me if I run out of his food and treats! 😂He is a lucky cat because he also gets cooked chicken (he has a dodgy gut) but if the power were to go out that would get knocked on the head. Still, I will make sure I have enough in the freezer. The freezer will be packed, I really hope we don't have any long outages! I guess tinned tuna is the best fall back option!

Entertainment - books, adult colouring books and pencils/pens, magazines, jigsaws, etc

Tell the company working on the road that you are there
While the road will be closed 8-6 or what ever but they normally will leave one side that they themselves use for acccess.

So if you need an emergancy delivery they can give the driver "local access"

Water/drinks (juice/milk squash/gin)
OTC meds:
Paracetamol/ibuprofen, aspirin, cough mixture, decongestant, anbesol for teeth and gums, haemorrhoid cream, canestan, diarrhoea tablets, constipation tablets, fluid /salt replacement sachets, antacids, strepsils, sudocreme, plasters, first aid kit,
(Trying to think of things that you don't want to suffer from for a few days til you can get out, nor have to ask someone to fetch )

I tend to buy Longlife milk and never have less than six litres in the house. I've found the (own) brand which I like the taste of and often drink it ice cold as part of a snack. 🌹

Luckily I am into Bible journaling at the moment so that's a pretty easy thing to do if all the power went off, it doesn't require the internet! Plus I recently discovered Reverse Colouring - wow, it's super fun. I have 3 books and a bunch of black microliners of different widths so can do plenty of that.

Might be difficult as it's basically a single lane road, but they say there will be 'pedestrian access'. No use to me but I can send DP on an expedition! 😅

Yes, all good recommendations too. You've reminded me to get some extra rehydration tablets - they're effervescent so easy to dissolve in water.

Honestly I hope no-one in the street needs an ambulance, they'd have to stretcher the person down the street I suppose.

Toilet rolls, 100, just incase 😁
Spare batteries for the remotes, smoke detectors, toys etc.

D'you know I still have some left over from Covid!

Matches /lighter for gas hob/fire. A large bottle of water incase the roadworks go through your mains water pipe and you all get cut off. Then you can smugly enjoy a brew!

😂

Do you have any form of emergency cooking? A 1 ring camping gas stove, a Kelly kettle, a gas or charcoal bbq, even a couple of disposable bbq'd would be useful in a pinch. (All need to be used out of doors for carbon monoxide reasons).

But if your mains supplies are cut, it does make a difference to be able to cook or heat some things (tea, soup, beans, couscous etc) to keep a positive outlook even if whole meals are not terribly easy (depending on your options and other tools and suitable foods and general ability to cook and manage outdoors). A flask to store any hot water not used can be useful too for later on - especially if it's a solid fuel option, put a pot or 2 of water on top once finished cooking to make best use of the heat, for washing up, washing you, making tea, filling hot water bottle etc either immediately after you eat or later from a flask.

And I know it's not cold yet but it is cooling. So do you have an alternative source of heating or spare blankets? Or the hot water bottle I've just mentioned?

No we don't, however many neighbours who are friends have log burners so if desperate we could heat something that way. I do know what you mean about having at least some food hot - psychologically makes one feel better!

I have two thermos flasks, hot water bottles, spare blankets. I will never forget when our boiler had a fan failure and we were without any heating or hot water for 5 days in February whilst waiting to get it repaired! Absolutely ghastly. Should not be that bad at this time of year, if it happens.

Thank you for your suggestions. 😊

@CrunchyCarrot How's it going?