New Government guidance on prepping

[HasaDiga]

Just launched. Advises that everyone should have emergency supplies including a food stockpile. Seems we've finally caught up with other European countries in issuing guidance!

https://prepare.campaign.gov.uk/

I'm not normally on the pepper forum and hope it's ok to visit. The prepare website has some very common sense advice but it's so badly designed, so I wouldn't worry about the government knowing about any potential imminent threats. I did find it mildly eyebrow raising that the prepare website was launched days if not hours before the general election was announced.

On the note of ready to store non-perishable food that doesn’t need cooking, what kinds or meat and fish in tins tastes actually ok? Any recommendations? In fact, it would be so helpful to have a list of tinned food and food in jars that are palatable. I am a fan of tinned sardines in brine and of course tuna. In the long distant past, my mum used to make corned beef supper occasionally and I remember liking it. the thought of tinned rice pudding is a bit [green] but there may be some makes that are actually nice? I also stored tinned potatoes during lockdown and they were not that bad. I"d feel more comfortable buying all that extra food knowing that my family would eat it even in a non emergency.

*prepper

If you look through some of the early threads on the board there are various threads with lists. When we first set up it was during the Ebola scare and in times of the OFRS (oh fuck rucksack) and we asked MN if there could be a more general board. I think some of those early threads are way more useful to people than a lot of the later ones which can get a bit Hollywood disaster movie/nuclear annihilation.

Tinned meats and fishes tend to be most palatable mixed with fresh ingredients: Salmon mousse made from a tin of salmon, Greek yogurt, lemon juice, tomato puree and gelatine, all zapped with a stick blender and left to set. Corned beef hash with oniony mashed potato, crisped in the oven. Anchovies in many many things.

Recently I even opened my Covid emergency tin of Lidl's own brand chopped pork and ham - it was much nicer than I expected. I did 1960s style spam fritters with some of it, but in an emergency it could have been diced and used anywhere you'd use lardons.

There's about a week for us to find out is this latest guidance is softening the electorate up for a last-minute Zinoviev letter scare.

There's about a week for us to find out is this latest guidance is softening the electorate up for a last-minute Zinoviev letter scare

this website has been in the planning for ages just to get us to the same
position in terms of preparedness as the rest of Europe. Implying it is a political hoax is just silly

I know it's just the UK catching up with the rest of us, but the timing was odd.

Have you tried adding a spoon of jam or honey into rice pudding? I find it adds alot of flavour and no cooking needed!

I have a little camping stove that I've used before with no power and it's very economical on the gas. Of course I had to have a window open near it to use in my kitchen but it was well ventilated.

Single ring camping stoves are fairly cheap to pick up

Also if you have means to cook, think about meals that you could make in one pot. Cook and drain some pasta then add in a tin of soup and some tinned veggies or a veggie soup. It actually tastes better than it sounds

I think the most important thing that people who are not generally preppers can do is to think about what are the most likely things that may happen in their area (floods, power outtages, extreme heat, cut off by snow, terrorism or other physical attacks, strikes by public transport or other public services, etc) in the short term and how to respond, and also look at longer term trends and change how they do things slowly to be ready for those changes (moving away from diesel cars, changes to diets because of crop failures or reduced harvests of certain crops/animals, needing more renewable energy or being prepared for droughts etc).

Then think about what you need in your personal circumstances (3 days of water for everyone in the house, heat sources, light sources, first aid and medication, food for 3 days, etc) and start to make sure you have those things somewhere in the house - you can start to assemble a "kit" if you like, but even knowing you have things and where they are (and maybe putting that on a list in case others need to manage it if you're not there) is a big start. And also think about what you might need if you need to leave home in a hurry (whether for a hospital stay after an accident or a flood rushing at your house). I mean think initially - so you have a plan and know what you should get and where it is. Building an actual "bug-out-bag" (BOB) to grab and run is another step beyond that.

Lots of "emergency stores" are actually everyday things you already have, just making sure you have a baseline amount of certain things and not letting those go to empty before buying more. You might have candles and proper holders for dinner parties, or torches or solar lanterns for camping or garden events. You might already have a BBQ or camping stove that you can use as emergency cooking option. Sleeping bags can be good to snuggle under if the power is off or you need a BOB . Or you may have a hot water bottle for winter bedtimes to use under the sleeping bag reading a book in a power outage in winter, or flask for picnics to put hot water (once you've made the cup of tea or hot water for pasta) from the hot kettle to use later for more tea or washing up or washing yourself or the hot water bottle etc.

There's no need for panic. Just thinking about what could happen and how to be ready to look after yourself for a couple of days until public services can manage the situation and have dealt with those most in need.