Back to basics preps

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Lately I've got into a bad habit of letting my phone battery get very low before charging. Less than 5% low, so I need to get back into making sure that it's always got a good charge.

My hallway also needs a good sort out.

So I need to go back to basics with my prepping. Keeping things charged, keeping exits clear, up to date with the laundry etc.

Anyone else guilty of not keeping on top of the very basics?

Charging phone from power banks, not recharging power banks quickly.

I bought a replacement rucksack for my weekend/overnight bag , replacing a holdall. Not yet swapped it over or refilled sorted it from holiday. (6 months ago. )

Not repacked the hospital bag. Really need to label the contents so can pull out the stuff for anyone who is not going to hospital.

On the plus side: doing quite well with filling up with petrol at 3/4 tank.

Got jam jars of water. (Had an alert from the water company. ) They were the only clean containers. Need to sort out water storage.

Ive really ramped back up over the past couple of weeks. The world is very unstable and it looks like we are getting dragged into potential war against the US over Greenland.

Ive also cleared out the pantry and thrown out some old stuff to make space for things we will use. Ive stocked up on things we need and use regularly such as coffee, vitamins, chocolate, basics like rice/pasta/flour/cous cous and I've made sure we have a good store of water which I will rotate regularly. Freezers are holding a lot of meat butter and cheese too.

Consider 'rugged phones' (or tough phones), some of which have a huge battery. Mine is an Android that I charge fortnightly. It is in constant daily use. 5% gives me at least a full day. It is two years old. When new, it lasted over five weeks on one charge. I think it's 20,000mAh. They are heavy and bulky, and often run one OS version behind as they don't get the support the big brands attract.

I have cleared the hallway, and reset some of my handwarmers. However I know that I have more of them, that most likely need resetting too, so not a complete win.

I'm definitely in need of having a sort out. My weekly shop arrived today, and I have ordered 12 litres of bottles water. And replaced the instant coffee/hot chocolate sachets for the blackout box.

I also need to charge the battery banks and have a sort out. Think I will make room in the cupboards on the landing to keep my preps in. And have a stock list of everything that I have.

At the moment I am struggling financially, but hopefully in the next few months that will change. I will then look at some more expensive things I need to do- like an extra 1000L oil tank, a log burner and a 1000L water container to save rainwater for the garden.

What would be your top 10 items to have?

water
long life food (buy what you eat)
water purification tablets (we get a lot of rain so with these you can always have water)
essential medication to last a couple of months
first aid kit
vitamins
cash
portable solar generator
heat source - wood if you have a log burner
extra toiletries and loo roll etc

Not necessarily in that order

If you mean what ten food items then that depends on what you eat. If someone has 20 tins of salmon that is useless to me since it makes me ill. Things like flour, rice, pasta, cous cous, sugar, vegetable oil are good basics to start with. You can then build meals around these. Jars of pasta sauce etc are great. Bags of soya are really cheap and last for years and will make a perfectly edible bolognese with a jar of pasta sauce. I rotate it by adding a handful every time I make a normal bolognese. Nobody even notices.

I've put a couple of days aside for a review of our preps.

While we do have a food stock, I need to review it and reorganise so it's easier to see what we've got.

Ds1 now has a car and has been "borrowing" bits from my car kit so need to sort out his own.

Review and update the medical/first aid cupboard.

We stopped keeping a back up of loo roll. Might look into a Who Gives A Crap order.

Are due our mid-winter wood pile restock anyway.

Be better organised at keeping a month of dog food in hand.

At work we've ramped up preps for cyber attack so will also be doing a home digital audit of where our digital dependencies are and having a back up, including whether our household petty cash tin needs increasing.

Spent this week trying to get everything charged up, I've probably still missed something, but at least now I know that things are fully charged if I need them.

Ive just found this board (prepping) and i like to be organised, prepared ect... but what exactly are we preparing for? I dont want to sound rude, im genuinely curious if i want to start being a "prepper"! 😊

Personally I live in an all electric flat, so if the power goes out I have no heat or ability to cook, so I want to be able to get by until power is restored.

Which means having alternative light and heat sources, a stock of food that doesn't require cooking etc.

Went to Tesco earlier and the kidney and other cheaper beans were mainly wiped out. I think some people are prepping after the news this week.

I am all. Electric at home too.
I think I will get some push lights and batteries.

Havr you got a small gas stove? Is it safe to keep the small canisters?

I do have a little gas ring cooker, which has canisters, and probably not the safest, but they live under the sofa! Out of any sunlight and not getting knocked about, they've been there for a while now, so I should probably check if there's an expiry date for them.

I do have an allotment so if they do need using I'll take up there and make myself cups of tea while I dig.

What are we prepping for?
For me it is shortage of supplies, increased costs of supplies, short term power outage such as a day or two. Water restriction (couple of year back roadworks dug through the water main).

Having enough food, water, ways to heat up food (BBQ for example), for a few days. So if there is any disruption to supplies you are not needing to dash out and join the crowds trying to get the tin on the shelf.

Also in an all electric flat.

Prepping for:
Illness and disability (I'm disabled, kids are disabled sometimes we need easy to prep food and certain brands)
Power cuts.
House fires.
Snow days
Heatwaves. (Big problem in the flat)
Car prep
Hospital trips.
Need to leave the flat to stay elsewhere.
Water going off.
Blocked toilet.
The loo roll monster. (The last two points may be connected!)

I don't need to prep for flooding. We are all fucked if we are flooded.(Live almost on top of a hill in a higher floor flat, it has rained inside though from a tank overflow)

Organised, prepared etc- sounds like you already are a prepper!

I prep cos I grew up in a family where an unexpected trip to hospital could happen at any time and it was much nicer when you had a bag with drink, snack, book and shawl to use as a blanket. It became second nature to anticipate "what might I need if things didn't go to plan" and extend that out. As someone with Adhd, one of my coping techniques is to think of chores as a gift to future me so prepping is kind of an extension of that, especially when kids come along cos it made my life so much easier if I'd not just anticipated what we needed for normal running, but what might be needed if things went wrong. I ended up with a child who was a frequent flyer to hospital so it def helped.

Peak prepping has been when a storm knocked out our electric for 8 days- we are not rural and we're on the alleged priority register due to needing electric for medical equipment. We got NO help. DH had to go to a hotel to run his cpap and we were lucky we could afford it while I stayed back with the kids and newly rescued dog with heat, light and able to cook (with a broken arm) Preps then stepped up to include solar batteries after that- which have been used!

But it's also been little things- ds2 has a nasty accident when playing out- sliced his foot open and it was really deep. Preps helped as I got the call, grabbed a pre packed first aid kit and hospital grab bag, found him, stemmed the bleeding and got him to hospital where we were comfortable as he was treated. Or covid/flu where there were meds and food in the house when we could barely get out of bed Not letting my petrol tank drop too low so that I could take DD straight in to hospital when her asthma was bad or rush over to visit a family member when they had an accident. With a grab bag of "shit i'll need" to make life a bit easier. Or the really tiny wins- being able to go "fuck it, we're getting a takeaway delivered after a shit day at work" and having cash to hand to do that.

Zombie apocalypse planning is just an amusing way to pass the time . It can be quite a fun and intellectually stimulating thing to think how you'd respond if the zombies are the quick type... Actual prepping is 99% "what way can I make my life run more smoothly"

(Also makes me very good at business continuity and disaster recovery planning at work for which I get much praise)

Awsome, sounds right up my street.

Ive already made a "sickness kit" list on my amazon prime for basic medicines and things we need in event of a stomach bug (emetophobic and have 4 kids 😅) for my family, so when i see we are running low i can just order.

I want to make up a bag for the car incase we get stranded anywhere. I already keep a nappy one for the baby but would be good to add in bits for everyone else.

Oh fellow emotphobe here. Dh has always been in charge of vomit- worst 24 hours of my life was when vomiting bug hit and he was away for work.

My top tips for a vomiting prep:

Vicks for under the nose so you can't smell it
Ear plugs if retching sets you off.
Sick bucket lined with bin bags with a bit of sawdust in the bottom- no splashing and no hideous splashing sound. No need to wash out- bag it and bin it. I have had a small bag of hamster cage type sawdust that's seen me through 3 kids.
Spare towels/old duvet covers to spread round the bed of the vomitty one. Easy to scoop up into a bag for dh to deal with and put in the wash so you don't have to scrub carpets.
Bin bag and baby wipes in the car for the "I'm gonna be siiiiiick" situation halfway down the motorway.

Thank you! I will get prepared 😁

The worst one for me was when mine went away for work, the kids had already had it, i was pregnant with number 3, and i got it! I was ill in the middle of the night, he also did but wanted to come home so got a 3 hour train then a taaxi (asked me to pick him up i said fuck no 😆)

I’ve ordered chickpeas and black beans from Amazon. I prefer to buy in local shops but the nearest Tesco, large shop, had no eggs or yoghurt last week. I didn’t check other isles so not sure about tinned goods being low or full shelves.

I wanted to make a chilli this week and the kidney and other beans were very low in Tesco.

My local CoOp had lots of Kidney Beans, Chickpeas and other types of tinned beans. In own brand tins and some in branded (Napolina).

What does everyone do in regards to pet preps?

My to do list this week is sorting out the food cupboard, seeing what needs using up and what I'm low on.

DDog eats kibble and we have a month's supply in hand at all times. We have a well in the cellar that can provide water.

We also have a box that can hold up to a week of food that could be grabbed in an emergency evacuation situation. We take that on holiday and when we go visit my parents so it is regularly rotated.

His harness is like a mini rucksack with pockets- we keep emergency poo bags in there and when we go on long walks he carries his own water in folding bottles and a collapsible bowl. Does mean that if we have to leave in a hurry he can carry his own stuff.

First aid supplies also includes some dog related stuff. Tummy tamer for diarrhoea, his flea and tick treatment, eye drops and styptic powder.