Not a prepper, but I just bought my first stash! What do you think?

[QueenGizzard]

Taking government advice on board, I bought some extra bits in my weekly shop yesterday.

One carton of long life full fat milk
Tin of pears
Tin of mandarins
2 x tins of curry
Tin of herring in tomato sauce

I've also ordered (before I needed to) extra bags of cat food as they are on special diets.

I'll buy a few more bits each time I go shopping.

What do you think so far? It's not much i know, but it's a start!

I suspect you're very wrong.

Its surprising what you can like if its all there is.

Do you have non gas/leccy means of heating food OP? I am trying not to think about cold tinned curry!!!

I am definitely not a pepper but I have bought a head torch, loads of water, eleventy billion candles, and two Floodsax to stop the loos backing up with sewage if the water goes off for too long/zombie attack via u bend.

I will add cereal bars, biscuits, crackers, crisps to online grocery orders and that’s me done I think.

Porridge is good because can be made with water. Dry goods don't go off. Add some tinned fruit for more interest.

How are you going to heat the curry?

Dry goods can absolutely go rancid (oils in the oats degrade), mouldy or attract pests like weevils.

I have a 5kw log burner and I've tried out reheating food, boiling water and cooking basics on it. It's not the quickest but I made a very satisfactory chilli & rice.

Out of interest, I've found a method of baking bread on a log burner too, so am going to try that next.😀

They won't go off in a couple of weeks, and hopefully people have the sense to store them in airtight jars.

I haven't really started getting stuff in so far. We do have food in our cupboards but not that much that would be no-cook.

We are vegetarian so I've been thinking about investing in the following:

Some extra cans of tinned beans and chick peas etc
Some packets of microwave rice which can be eaten cold out of the pack
Some extra nut butter
Oat cakes/crackers
Nuts and dried fruits
Some tinned fruit
Some jars of roast peppers/sun dried tomatoes/olives
Some small pots of pesto, harissa, sachets of mayonnaise etc
Some extra olive oil, extra salt and pepper etc.

And water, of course.

What else?

MrsBennetsPoorNervesAreBack, that's a good no-cook list. A few additions: a manual tin opener if yours is electric, tinned lentils and soup, long-life milk or plant milk, and oats or muesli that will soften in cold milk. Crackers and biscuits are easy wins too. A sealed pouch of vegetables is worth having, as that's what you'd miss after a few days, and tea or coffee is a real comfort if you have a safe way to boil water.

Oats are one of my prepping staples plus gram flour as it makes great pancakes. Also a lot of air fryers have a dehydrate function great for excess bananas tomatoes or even soft fruits in the bargain bin.

None of this is necessary. Just get a shotgun so you can take your pick of your neighbours stockpiles.

Yep water needs to be a priority.

torch & spare batteries.
radio & spare batteries.

then just keep adding bits of food as you can and rotating the stock so it doesn't go out of date. Buy things you'd normally eat anyway..

A good stock of medication you are prescribed and a first aid kit containing the basics. Definitely make sure you have got some painkillers, such as paracetamol.

Stuff you like to eat anyway. Such as cereal.

I prefer powdered milk (made up) to uht. You might like uht. Trial some. Oat milk is popular too on here for taste.

Dried fruit goes a long way. (30g per portion) Aldi have the usual raisins, sultanas, apricots, dates, but also other more unusual things such as dried cranberries.

I add tinned carrots and tinned peas to tinned curry and it makes it stretch further.