What would you do in the first hours of a nationwide power cut? A handy tips thread.

[BorgQueen]

1. Before ANYTHING else : Fill 3 x 120l lidded storage boxes with water. Plus every bottle, pan and vase.
2. Go and collect my Grandson from school if he was there. I could walk it in 30 mins if need be, DD would likely have to abandon her car and walk home, taking 3 hours+ . Her partner works 30 miles away in Manchester so god knows what he’d do, steal a bike if he had any sense and cycle home using the many canal paths.
3. Walk into my village and buy cat litter, bin bags, a garden incinerator, steel buckets, batteries, lighters and whatever else looked useful plus calorie dense food and whatever medical supplies I could find while they would still take cash.
4. Go to the garden centre down the road and buy a gas bbq/ gas and lots of solar lights, along with one of those camping trollies with cash before everyone realised what was coming.
5. Go to the caravan/camping sales place by the garden centre and buy a camping shower, lots of gas bottles and look to see which caravan would be easiest to steal if it came to having to leave/hide, one that could be wheeled out by cutting the chain link fence and taken to a well hidden place. Thankfully DH has a tow bar on his van.
6. Make sure we could black out all the windows at night to stop light escaping.
7. Get DH to make large wooden barriers with decking joists to prevent the front and back doors being battered in. His power tool batteries are always fully charged.
8. Park his van across the big front window and my car so it blocked access to the garage.
9. Scope out a local vending supplies warehouse, unless you knew what and where it was, people wouldn’t even think about it, they’d be too busy robbing cash converters.

Use the torch on my phone.
Find the power banks
Order some grog from the nearest off license that delivers
Turn on battery operated lights
Find fleece blanket
Sit on sofa
Get mildly pissed.

Seriously though, I would wait to hear if the power cut is for hours or days and work around it accordingly. I have a wind up torch/radio, plenty of water in bottles in the shed, and tinned food +crackers that will ensure I don't starve.

I've been through a few of these already. As long as I can see my way around the house, I'll cope.

Why would your DD and her DP not be able to get home using normal methods if there was a power cut? Why would DD have to abandon her car?

I have driven during power cuts. People are generally very sensible, even when traffic lights are out.

Flipping heck. I’d probably read a book and wait for it all to blow over.

Why would they need to abandon their car? Why do you need to get your grandson from school?

why is someone suddenly walking 3 hours home and abandoning their car?

If you’re walking into the village, how are you carrying all this gubbins?

As a prepper, shouldn't you have all that stuff to hand already?

For a power cut?
Do you mean for a targeted terrorist attack on the utilities?

How would you communicate to your daughter that you had collected her son? Surely she would still go to get him.

You'd be better off having a bbq and solar lights now as that is an awfully long shopping list you've got to get through (and the tills won't be working because of the power cut)

Do you mean power cut or zombie apocalypse? 🤔

Day or night?

Check the fuses if we don't know its a power cut, if it's dark put some torches lanterns out in the living area. If it's daylight nothing until it becomes a problem.

Why suddenly collect water in a power cut? Survivor of the 70s power cuts here. I did cook on the open fire sometimes when the power was off.

Do cars not run during a power cut? Why would you need to black out your windows? This is all bizarre!

How are you buying anything if all the power is down?

I think the op is assuming some huge disaster not a power cut.

Make sure we could black out all the windows at night to stop light escaping

I don’t understand this one.

I’d love to see son-in-law trying to defend himself in court for stealing a bike ten minutes into a power cut…

You're assuming that all these shops and places to buy things are going to be open if they have no power? Unlikely

Go into work. Because the parents of every child in our area whose life depends on the electricity supply to power their vital medical equipment will be legging it into hospital on battery power , so we’ll need pairs of hands.

What on earth?

If you’re this level of paranoid why don’t you already own all the crap you say you’d buy.

If people are abandoning their vehicles (WHY?) then how are you getting your gas BBQ home?

Why does a power cut mean you and your family will suddenly turn to crime? 🤣

Errmmmmm hate to point it out to you buy when there is massive power cuts nothing is open, shops shut and cash machines definitely don't work.

I say this as someone who lives in a part of the country which regularly gets winter power cuts for several days!

Actual tips - we always make sure powerbanks are charged when storm warnings issued, have plenty of batteries, torches etc.
Have wood stored for winter and food supply - tins, dried food we can cook on the wood burner.

A lot of your list seems to be planning on a zombie apocalypse rather then power cuts!

I think it’s to stop gangs of marauders breaking into the house to steal their light source…

Why would you leave buying all those things till the emergency happened? Numbers 3 and 4 should be done already. You shouldn't be planning on stealing a caravan!

Open the cupboard where we keep battery lanterns, power inverters, candles and matches, gas stoves and gas, and the whistling kettle. Make a cup of tea.

This and read a book till bedtime.

This is the kind of thing I read mumsnet for.

We have several power cuts a year for up to a day.

I prefer them to come at the weekend in the winter so we can have the log burner on and get pissed on red wine playing scrabble.

I live in a village within a farm so I suppose if push came to shove I could milk a cow.

So interesting that you think it would be sensible for your daughter's boyfriend to steal a bike to get home, yet you'd block up your entire house to stop anyone taking anything from you.