Prepping for global economic crash

[Hillytentty]

It is looking very real now. A nice easy write up of the state of play is here
https://www.ft.com/content/a8223f80-b8ee-4a5f-b49a-99343aacb572?syn-25a6b1a6=1

I've never been a pepper but seriously thinking about what I can do. Neither dh or I have long commutes and I can take the train but we do rely on mains gas and electricity.

If you read the various threads on the board there is a lot of advice to get you started. On MN we are generally very sensible preppers rather than build a bunker types.

Best thing to start with is food stability. Start picking up a few extras where you can (many start by bulk buying offers on things they buy regularly). Think about things that come from overseas in particular like coffee/chocolate etc. Only ever prep things you are prepared to eat since rotating your supplies is essential. A stock of a good multivitamin is useful to have.

If you can add a water butt to your house that is helpful. If you can grow your own fruit and veg that is very helpful as a supplement - particularly things which come from overseas. If you have space for chickens which can then recycle food scraps and turn them into eggs, you have an excellent supply of protein.

Buying a few large bottles of water gives you some stability.

If you can gradually store up some essential medicines by ordering a few days early each time that can also give some peace of mind.

Having solar chargers for phones and laptops is helpful. Keeping topped up with petrol is helpful if you don't have an EV. Walking as much as possible and having a bike is very helpful.

Having a woodburner is helpful if you live somewhere where they are permitted. Solar panels and a battery are game changers.

Thanks that's all great advice. Yes my plan is to start with food. We just run out of coffee and I have a grinder so going to bulk bug beans. All the local petrol stran dry this weekend so keeping the car topped up is good advice that I don't do at the moment - I'm normally run it to vapours kind of person!

Sorry for all the typos - you get my drift.

I think people just need to be sensible. I don’t think scaremongering or panicking is helpful. It would be beneficial to everyone if everybody voted at every opportunity, educated themselves politically and generally remained somewhat balanced!

It isn't about scaremongering or panicking. The is the preppers board. Its about having a degree of resilience so that if there are any difficulties we are in a slightly better position than we otherwise would be.

It also saves money. Win, win.

We are in the crisis now, so bulk buying food is not appropriate. Stick to your usual amounts and just a little bit more and build gradually. A good time for chocolate and Easter offers though. Do get your coffee. If you can afford it, donate to food bank.

Get eat straight from packet food, (crackers, dried fruits, cereals, chutneys , jarred veg, tinned fish and meat ) just add water food ( cup soup, cous cous, noodles, mug shots, custard, gravy, milk powder) just heat through foods (soups, custard, rice pudding, tinned veg, tinned meals, microwave rice, tinned beans) spices and flavourings. Alcohol if you drink it.

Fill up at no lower than half a tank. Loads of people have now got full tanks so the next tanker delivery will sort the problem.

Do get your torches, lanterns, power banks, solar charges, prescription meds, OTC meds, batteries, water, gardening equipment, as all that is coming into the shops as scheduled. All the stuff that is normally on sale at this time of year. Look at the Easter food offers, Aldi/Lidl middle aisles, etc as this is planned for by shops. Get a good rucksack and sturdy shoes.

(For future reference Ramadan is a good time to pick up bargains, sadly just finished)

Be intentional with what you buy. Build up reserve gradually. Consider shelf life and can it be eaten without heating it up (sure some things are nicer warmed but you don’t have to cook it).

Think about what other forms of cooking you have available. Gas hob may still work in a powercut if you have a way to light it. A kettle that goes on the gas hob can be useful, or at least have a pan with good fitting lid.

Consider safety, check smoke alarms work, carbon monoxide alarm. Have batteries suitable for devices which have replaceable batteries. Have torches, lanterns, USB lights.
Lanterns for candles - but have lots of battery lights if possible so you avoid using candles indoors.

Completely disagree that bulk buying is not appropriate.

If something is on offer it is the time to buy it. That offer might not be as good if and when it next comes around. The product might not even be available.

I guess the difference is.

Buying a large pack of toilet roll, and a couple of packs of beans because they are on offer when you go shopping

Compared to going out and buying several large packs of toilet roll and buying the whole shelf oh beans

I often buy larger quantities because I'm a pepper and I like to know our cupboard is well stocked.

This is different to reactive buying when someone sees the news and suddenly radically changes their buying habit and panic buys

It's the panic buying that non preppers do that has an impact. The shelves get emptied and this causes other non preppers to panic and buy extra. The shops can't keep up with demand.

Scare mongering or being realistic?
Fuel shortages are now happening and global supply chains are going to be impacted. If you take a look at your weekly shop and think about how much of that is imported, and then consider if those products are not available or suddenly much more expensive or scarce, how would you cope? (Because no fuel, no international shipping or air freight).
And it does not stop there. Locally, any rise in fuel prices or fuel shortages will affect food supply, increased prices and shortages of local produce. And then agriculture itself needs a lot of fuel. Industrialization replaced farm workers with machines, and machines need fuel. Fuel becomes more expensive or limited, food becomes more expensive or limited.
If the war continues and fuel supplies are disrupted more, any country that imports food is going to be seriously impacted, and any country without fuel stockpiles that can be released to farmers is going to be seriously impacted.
So, as citizens and human beings that need to eat pretty regularly we need to look at the food security of our country, and to be frank our own community.

Agreed. I have an extremely well stocked pantry. It could feed us all for a number of months. I have built it up by bulk buying when certain things are on offer. DS2 for example loves a particular type of instant mash (idahoan). He will happily eat it with every meal. It lasts for months. I therefore have 20+ packs in the pantry at the moment but I bought them weeks ago when an offer was on rather than reactively buying because there is turmoil in the world. I bulk bought vitamins a couple of months ago when they were on offer. They have a shelf life of a couple of years. I bought 30 tins of decent quality tinned tomatoes in last week's big shop because they were on a very good offer. Again they will last for a very long time. 10 jars of DH's favourite honey and 10 jars of marmite are also in the cupboard waiting etc.

The key with a well stocked pantry is stock rotation (and not buying stuff you don't eat purely because it would last a long time). As long as you do that then it can save you a fortune.

Offers, yes as the supermarkets are expecting that and have planned for that. (Perhaps it wasn't clear in my post?)

But clearing shelves of pasta is only going to lead to covid style shortages. Also much better to have a variety of food. (One bag of couscous goes a long way and only needs hot water and spices adding) Pasta keeps ages past best before by date so don't chuck it out if over date. Brown rice not so much, white rice keeps longer and cooks quicker.

The general idea is prep before the crisis though. We are in it right now.

How did voting ever change anything? Governments across the world are still bombing the shit out of countries despite our best efforts! Nothing changes. I really think it's gotten worse.

I am prepping.

Nobody was advocating clearing shelves in any way.

It's silly to say it's too late now we are in it already. Things are likely to get worse before they get better and we should be encouraging people to do what they can..

We have a place in rural France so I tend to prep a bit there anyway as there are sometimes power cuts.
I have two Jackery 1000W power banks with solar panels that keep their charge over six months so they are always ready to go if needed. They power the fridge and anything else that needs charging. They are often on sale on Amazon and well worth having one in the house for free electricity.
I buy boxes of batteries from Amazon and have battery powered led candles all over the house which are surprisingly effective when the power goes out.
I have a two ring electric hob which plugs in to the Jackery and we can cook, heat water with that.
We have a Berkefeld water filter with special 'candles' which filter out all nasties from water, you can use rainwater if you have to and it turns it into drinking water.