Bad feelings?

[AlohaMolly]

Please excuse me if this is clumsily worded! This prepped board saved me in 2020. I’d never been a prepper, but I happened across a thread on here with the likes of bellinisurge (I think?) in January/February talking about this mysterious virus and detailing how they were preparing for it. It prompted me to make my own preps and, despite literally being called neurotic by my then councillor, my family and I were in a good position going into the first month/six weeks of lockdown.

I’ve got a ‘bad feeling’ about 2024, but think it might just be me! Is there anyone else that feels like me? I’ve ventured back to this board for the first time in maybe three years and can’t see any inkling of people having those same feelings! But I’m trying to be more ordered in my preps this time.

we’ve got a tiny two up two down mid terrace with a small yard and even smaller front garden, but I’ve revamped one 5 foot flower box and made a herb garden, and have tried to make sure I’ve prioritised herbs that can be medicinal. I’ve made my own oregano oil, as I’ve been reading about its potent antibiotic(?) properties. We’ve got a second freezer in the shed that I’m going to use for storage but obviously won’t be any good in the event of long term power outage.

I listen to Radio 4 news and the world service. Last few weeks there has been a LOT about British farmers warning that there could be major food shortages because their land is too waterlogged to grow anything, that's anything at all, and the usual back-ups for food importation - Spain etc - are struggling with so much drought that those sources might dry up.
I'm by no means a dedicated prepper, very much a dabbler, but I have to say I'm very worried that food issues are quietly ramping up out of the spotlight OP. So knock yourself out, as far as I'm concerned. I don't make a big deal out of it because people have all of their own biases. But if my small efforts come in useful for me and mine I'll be happy. Or happy-ish anyway.

That’s the other thing I struggle with 😳 news sources. Where do people get their news? Now you’ve mentioned it, I have heard the same about food shortages, but I can’t remember where.

I think what I might do, as budget is also an issue for me, is factor in doubling up a few meals a week in to my meal plans. So make double the amount of chilli and freeze a portion for my ‘prep’ freezer.

I have been prepping for years. I have upped it in the last year. I stockpile everything. My husband wasn't onboard but he is now. I follow a lot of peppers on Facebook and Tik tok and am learning to can food. I have an awful feeling and cannot shake it.

Do you know any good accounts on IG? I don’t have Facebook or tiktok but I keep finding religious preppers in America and it’s not quite the route I’d like to go down…

I do not use IG. You Tube also has lots of peppers in the UK.

I’ll get investigating YouTube!

I think I’m also going to see if I can do a first aid course. I’d love to be able to fb d some sort of foraging course too.

These threads worry me.

Just clicked on and they do ne.Gaffer tape against a nuclear strike, I've heard it all now.

Ha ha. And once you've sealed your house, you breathe now?

Anyway, if you're worried about nukes then you need to get some iodine in to take.

Hopefully we will never need to use it. I'm pretty sure if anything did happen even the craziest of ideas would be tried.

I agree some of the ideas are bonkers. I didn't believe cloud seeding was a real thing until the rain in Dubai over the last few days.

I don't see any point in prepping to the extent of worrying about nuclear war and taping windows. If government has fallen apart and key infrastructures have broken, all the gaffer tape and tinned fruit in the world isn't going to help.

A reasonable approach is to have stocked up some basics that last your family a month or so, including basic medicines and toiletries. Keep them rotated. Learn to grow food on the patch of earth you have access to. Foraging is a fun, interesting hobby, so I fully encourage that as well.

And live your life in the moment. Enjoy what you have right now. A lot of preppers seem to live in a future that doesn't exist, full of fear. It's not healthy.

I do tend towards being an anxious person, but as long as I’m being sensible, having a few preps helps with the anxiety instead of feeding it if that makes sense?

to be honest, long term catastrophe like nuclear war or something equally as bad is not something I’m capable of prepping for realistically. We don’t have the space and we don’t have the isolation to be able to live long term hunkered down. I think I’m aiming for up to a month of supplies, similar to when we had the first lockdown, whereby the need to leave the house is drastically reduced, without a comparable drop in living standard if that makes sense?

technically I suppose we could go fully off grid as we live in a village at the bottom of a mountain range. We’ve got a decent tent, a solar panel thing, and my partner used to work in the outdoors so has cooking stuff etc. he can hunt and fish, so in theory we could load a car up and drive as far as possible upwards and then set up camp, but then we would run into food storage issues and, really, would we want to live like that?

Generally I think it is wise to have at least thought about what issues may realistically occur in your location and have a plan to respond to those.

Which may involve having a pair of wellies and some plastic tubs to put precious items in upstairs in a hurry if your house has a reasonable chance of flooding, for example.

Or getting an extra bottle of milk and loaf of bread and a couple of comforting dinners if the weather forecast is for storms or snow that might prevent you getting out for a couple of days.

Or having a well stocked first aid kit and things to distract wailing children (ice pop, chewy jellies ...) while you patch them up if you have littles.

Or a torch that's charged, powerbank that's charged and a blanket or alternative heat source to keep warm if your area is prone to power cuts in winter.

When the pandemic was emerging, there were some who saw it and prepared, and it was helpful to have various unusual things at home (I got a couple of new board games for the family, and a chemistry set for teen dd for school science, and got her old desk out of storage to reassemble as an extra workspace at home) as well as normal food supplies and hygiene supplies being increased a bit over the previous weeks.

I have 2 specific concerns now - geopolitics and whether there are military actions likely in Europe; and weather impacting on food production generally.

Can't do much about the first except make sure I know my way out of my city and have figured out options to get back to my family of something happens.

But I am growing vegetables on my balcony and making sure I have a few extra tins and jars of veg in my stores (sun dried tomatoes and peppers, tinned bean sprouts etc.) just in case I need to get through a hungry gap. And have a plan to adjust my budget if prices rise because of a lack of supply - I already don't waste much anyway.

To some extent I'm a prepper, always got a massive supply of cat food in (manufacturer sometimes has problems with their operating lines and this has thrown deliveries out for six weeks sometimes). I keep freezer full, don't leave it until the last minute to get some fresh things we regularly use. We get through a lot of tinned tomatoes, pulses, pasta and rice, so again I always make sure I've got enough in hand for a while. Plenty of toilet rolls/basic first aid supplies in case of illness/injury.

Having said that, this is only so we have our preferences - we are not going to starve. Last year there were rumours about a toilet roll shortage, it didn't happen. Also, crops were affected abroad by floods/extreme heat, but supplies of things like tomatoes were still getting through to some extent - you just had to accept what was on offer. If not, you can chose something else which would be totally acceptable or a different fruit.

What I'm saying is not to get too wound up - even my cats would adapt to chicken on a regular basis if their cat food was running low.

A better question might be what have we seen in the news this year that makes us think prepping is no longer required?

Do I have Nuclear war as a main priority? No, because a well planned Cyber attack would do more damage for a lot less expense.

Weather related events are probably my major concern, closely followed by potential lose of earnings (I am a free lance first aid trainer, so no guaranteed income and it is getting more and more expensive to work in cities).

On the Brightside, with a little bit of tweaking, prepping will cover most "events".

So I would say so long as your not hiding under your bed, continue sensible prepping.

Yes I think that’s a good way of looking at it! I’m also self employed now, whereas I wasn’t last year, so I’ve sort of prepped in terms of taking out life insurance, critical illness cover and income protection. Having food preps would be another level if it was a personal circumstance style ‘disaster.’

I only prepare for things that seem credible, and where I can take reasonable action to mitigate them.
I don’t have an enormous power bank, but I do have a few battery packs for recharging mobile phones if we have power outages.
I have a plentiful supply of pasta and sauces, a bag of rice, and tins of tuna. We could live off tins for a month and be fine. We also have plenty of cat food (for the cats - not for us)
We have a log burner and plenty of logs, so we can cook and keep warm.
I keep a small amount of cash in the house in case the card systems have a blip.

I mainly prep around severe weather.

There's a re run of a lovely programme called the edible garden by alys fowler been on BBC2 this week at 2,30 each afternoon. (I got the book of it for Xmas years back). Shows how much food you can grow in a terrace garden and skills such as foraging, bottling fruit, making jam etc. Nice relaxing viewing as well as useful @AlohaMolly if you can get it on catch up or buy the book.

I was very glad of my Brexit stash in Lockdown. Since Brexit a lot of items have been hard to get hold of, prices have increased and climate change doesn't bode well...now suggestions of more wars starting... Yes I'm feeling it might be time to get the tins in and batch cooking freezer stocked up again!

I'm not so worried about being able to have food where I currently am, as the potential impact of an increase in global tensions impacting locally here compared to "home".

So I have plenty to keep me going at least 2-3 weeks if the power is still on. But I am in a high rise and with no alternative cooking source to the electric cooker. As I am not allowed to use my camping 1 ring gas stove. So I am in the middle of building a BOB for myself, in case there is some kind of SHTF situation. To get myself out of Dodge if it all kicks off, and make my way back home to DH and DD (I'm on a temp assignment overseas).

And I have a balcony garden started in the meantime to add greens to my food stocks. (More because I always grow veg and miss having green things around me).

But I am currently unfit so it would be a slow trek to the different options to get out of here...but slow and steady generally works once you avoid the start.

Mmmm actually yes. I am extremely unfit, so really should add exercise to my routine…