Store cupboard - in case of emergency

parsonswife8

We have a gas oven and hob, but an electric microwave and an electric halogen oven. Then we have a camping stove that runs on petrol.
In times of real desperation, we have a barbecue.
And we have loads of canned food, powdered milk, flour, teabags, sugar etc, as well as growing our own veg and herbs.
We could survive for quite a while, I think.

jcr16

i've got gas cooker so cooking meals and heating up water wouldn't be a prob . don't keep as much food in at the mo as have done in past as been clearing out all the cupboards and not stocked back up yet, due to various reason's. heating i think would be our biggest prob. we do however have lots and lots of blankets and hot water bottles. mil has a portable gas fire we could use which runs on gas bottles. and we do have a gas bbq we could cook on it our gas cooker failed for any reason.

lucylucky

Takes me back to the 3 day week.....

cheerfulness4

My windup torch in the shape of a pig that Focus sells comes in very handy for the frequent power cuts we get. The windup radio not so much good. 4 mins and I'm winding like billeeoh again!

spike7451

Sarsie wrote: »

Spike if you can eat ration packs hot then mate you are a hero! :eek: If you can eat 'em cold you deserve to survive the appocolypse! :rotfl:

(Ex army-wife)

Thanks,I've got the constitution of an Ox,which helps.

The new ration packs are not too bad now,you get mixed menus so gone are the days of the RQMS giving you three weeks supply of Menu 'A'!:rotfl:
You now get little bottles of Tabasco & tubes of Marmite,Lucozade power drink's instead of the old Screetch.

But the puddings are still aweful tho!!

mandi

You dont need anything fancy to cook on , just a good stock of BBQ coals

RAS

I am shortly going away where there is no leccie and water is tight but there is (hopefully) bottled gas.

Having been used to wild camping for a week at a time, having to carry in stuff for the duration, the situation should be relatively comfy - not least because there will be a bed rather than a sleeping mat.

When I am trying to economise of gas, there are a number of options, depending what i can get my mitts on.

This is the best manufactured option IMO http://www.eydonkettle.com/ Boils a couple of pints of water in no time and with very little fuel.

Here are a couple of links for rocket stoves, which work onthe same principle but can be made community sized for refugee camps etc: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSMR2ANIZ7E

and here http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to-build-barrel-rocket-stove-267942/

They use a lot less timber than an open fire and work better. Even the most basic made from a couple of tin cans with mass provided by ash will cook up; it is what a lot of the festival/camp mass food providers use.

For outdoor only however.

Or try this http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to-tin-can-survival-cook-stove-169431/

The other thing I would love to have enough space for is a pizza oven, which would need a roof in out climate.

Alternatively I have seen mass stoves (space heaters) made from pavement slabs then tiled which incorporate an oven.

geordie_joe

jcr16 wrote: »

i've got gas cooker so cooking meals and heating up water wouldn't be a prob .

It would be if we had real power cuts, you need electricity to run the compressors that force the liquid gas down the pipes. We could get gas from Russia, as they use their own leccy to send it to us, but once it is at the gas terminal we wouldn't be able to pipe it any further.

geordie_joe

mandi wrote: »

You dont need anything fancy to cook on , just a good stock of BBQ coals

Might be difficult to get hold of if we have real power cuts. I've been in lots of shops over the years when they have had temporary power cuts and they always throw every one out. If they knew they would not have electricity the shops would not even open.

Add to that the facts that their computers won't work, so they can't order any more stock, their suppliers have no electricity so they can't work either, and the result is a shortage.

Not just BBQ coals either, it would be everything.

It wouldn't just be shops, most companies could not operate without electricity. I've worked in many places where the lights are on permanently, and we would get sent home if they went off for any length of time because the building was just to dark to work without them.

lilac_lady

My mother cooked on the fire and we had candles when she couldn't afford a shilling for the meter (cue violins). True though, so no electricity doesn't real scare me.

No water would scare me so that's why I keep a supply of bottled water, much to my family's amusement.