Store cupboard - in case of emergency

ceridwen

One of my first thoughts tends to be having enough water....

I love trugs - and have a collection of them now (as they are so handy for loadsa purposes). So - as I have read peoples reservations about collecting rainwater from the roof for personal consumption (think = birds for instance...) then I figure I could use my trugs to collect that rainwater for personal purposes if I needed it. It would have pollution from my urban air in it - but I'm obviously surviving getting that pollution in my lungs anyway <coughs...takes swig of water...coughs again...> then I presume I could survive that air pollution in the water I drink (and at least it wouldnt contain chlorine, pesticides, etc.....).

I've got a camping gaz hotplate and camping gaz fire - as well as that KellyKettle of mine (not yet used....:o), loads of throws for keeping warm, wind-up lantern and wind-up radio (unless the powers-that-be stop it receiving programmes at some point - as its not digital).

The_Thrilla

There are still people who laugh about this; but, if you study the history of, say, Argentina; you will find that a breakdown in life's essentials can become a real possibility. Not only can supplies of gas and water become cut off for technical reasons; but, if wages are not keeping up with the cost of living, workers in essential services can be out on strike. I am old enough to remember the days of the Heath government, where power workers and coal miners were striking, and the power went off for hours at a time.

As I have said elsewhere, I keep bottles of water in the fridge to reduce the electricity it uses. This is just as well, because there is no water source for miles around here unless it rains. Otherwise I am OK. I have a garden with wood to burn, so cooking is no problem. I have my victory garden. There is woodland around here with free food. I have knives, a crossbow, bolts, candles, half a dozen boxes of Swan Vestas, a wind-up radio/torch, and a cut-throat razor for my head!

Breakdown in Society? Bring it on.

What I would say is that while you may have back-up equipment, practice using it now. Don't wait for something to happen, and then start fumbling around in the dark...

RAS

The_Thrilla wrote: »

What I would say is that while you may have back-up equipment, practice using it now. Don't wait for something to happen, and then start fumbling around in the dark...

Yep. and keep stuff somewhere sensible.

I recall getting home one cold winter's night to find my house mates struggling in an all electric house during a power cut.

I knew where the torch was kept (near the kitchen door), climbed up to my room and extracted the candles and matches and the gas cooker and pots from my camping box.

Minutes later we were all lit up, kettle boiling and someone was trying to light the wood fire.

ceridwen

RAS wrote: »

Yep. and keep stuff somewhere sensible.

I recall getting home one cold winter's night to find my house mates struggling in an all electric house during a power cut.

I knew where the torch was kept (near the kitchen door), climbed up to my room and extracted the candles and matches and the gas cooker and pots from my camping box.

Minutes later we were all lit up, kettle boiling and someone was trying to light the wood fire.

yep....someone after my own heart.

I know exactly where I have a torch to find my way round the house and could then find my supplies of candles/matches/candleholders (my name is a bit of a clue that I have RATHER a lot of them....:rotfl:) and I know where my other "survival" stuff is stored. Plan B is "ready to roll" if needed.

I wouldnt like to think how to manage if problems lasted for a while:eek: - but I could be quite comfortable for hours if I had to...:D

Winged_one

We collect rainwater for plants, but if needed, we can easily divert it to a clean recepticle for drinking (would boil what's in the tank at present, but then I'm sure it would be fine to drink too). And we still have the 8l we bought when the water was looking like being out in the bad weather earlier this year (we had plenty kept in a few pots to not need to open the bottles, so we just keep them in a cold, unused corner now as they should last indefinitely). And the rainbutt water is perfectly fine for flushing etc - just fill a bucket and away you go!

Gas cyclinder for the BBQ, means we'd be ok for cooking for a while (and the gas hob, electric oven means we could handle whichever is out). And we have set up a metal garden sieve on a terracotta pot before to burn papers, so I think we could cook on that with some small willow logs if need be.

The torch currently needs batteries, but I can get candles lighting very easily in the sitting room (and easy to get to), with plenty of nightlights and long candles within easy access too.

There are always 2 rugs in the sitting room, where there's an open fire, so we wouldn't freeze (until we run out of coal and logs).

And if it was going to go on for a while, we'd decamp to thhe IL's as they have lots of trees for wood, a wood stove (for heat, but a kettle is on it always and it was used in the bad weather to cook stews and soups) and loads of water (stream along the side of the house, and plenty of downpipes from roof for harvesting rain). I'd probably bring a good stock of my stores to help her's though - she has loads of meat frozen, whereas I tend to have loads of dry stores.

zarazara

With the present economic situation and the forecasts of food price hikes ,is it a good time to start collecting a few extra things? pasta,tea,coffee,sugar tinned goods? And do more home cooking and jam making?

geri1965_2

Why, do you think the shops will run out?

midnightraven3

i cant do any more home cooking and jam making than i do already as i make everything myself
always have

and i always keep full stocks in
(even in places it shouldnt be)
and have an outside freezer as well
i couldnt keep in anymore than i do

patchwork_cat

I assume the OP means to avoid price rises. The thing is I think it is a long term projection, but definatley it is a reminder to all not to be profligate.

Trying2save

I tend to stock up on things only when I see they are on offer or an end of the line product and if i know im actually going to use it. I remember buying 2 jars of lemon curd because they were 9p each. I dont even like lemon curd!