Who doesn't have a stock cupboard

Katy43

Thank you to all of you who have requested a copy of my stock sheet, hope you've found it useful. I didn't think it would be so popular!

I don't store water at the moment but I'm thinking that perhaps I should. Does anyone know how long it lasts for?

vanoonoo

i read that water is ok for 6 months if its one you've filled yourself, bought (sealed) ones probably have longer. and once the 6 months is up it would still be ok for washing /flushing loos just not drinking unless boiled I guess.

Popperwell

vanoonoo wrote: »

i read that water is ok for 6 months if its one you've filled yourself, bought (sealed) ones probably have longer. and once the 6 months is up it would still be ok for washing /flushing loos just not drinking unless boiled I guess.

That's probably true and a good guide..:)

prepareathome

You can ask your water company how long they think it will last - for me they say up to 6 months if stored in dark and cool to be still drinkable......I actually found out via local mormons as they of course have to stock up as part of their religion, they are very helpful on tips like this and no am not one myself but I gave their local centre a call and asked.

Pennywise2012

I started reading this thread because I'm moving into my own flat in a couple of weeks, so I need to build a SC. Living in the centre of a large town, I was planning it purely for financial reasons - so it's been a real eye opener! I've never really given a thought to food/water shortages before. I think I'm going to plan it a bit differently now, so thanks to everyone who's contributed!

Interestingly, I went from being absolutely fine at the start of the thread to having raging thirst by the end of it - the thought of no water!

greent

We have a freezer full of meat bought at reduced prices and home grown fruit and veg. A large stock of pasta, rice, couscous, noodles in teh kitchen and garage. A good supply of cleaning stuff. A good supply of tins (tomatoes, beans, some chickpeas (although also have them dried), syrup), tea, coffee and the like. I don;t store water - we always have a few litres (max) but that is all.

In July 2007 much of Gloucestershire was without water for some time due to flooding (my home was without water for 16 days, and electricity for 24 hours during that time) When the water was officially turned off on The Sunday we filled pots, pans, buckets, jugs, a bath, two large toy tubs - and still didn't run out of running water from the tap for more than 24 hours (and you can bet your bottom dollar that everyone else was also filling theor baths, pots, pans etc) The local supermarkets had a run on water, yes - but within 24 hours the Water company had deliveries of bottled water out to the affected areas, with bowsers following. Bottled water deliveries (lorry loads at a time) were made several times a day and bowsers refilled seperately. The vulnerable (elderly/ disabled etc) could have water and 'care packs' (some basic foods and some hygiene packs) delivered to their homes)

Lavandula

My garden is also a stock cupboard. I try and grow as many fruit and veg as possible, especially ones that can stay in the ground over winter e.g. cabbages, sprouts, leeks and parsnips.

prepareathome

It should be ok if water is turned off - the water company should deliver water but last year not far from me the water was off due to a burst main and yes the water company brought bottled water - problem was they stopped in a street and stayed there and gave out the bottles to anyone and every one who wandered up until it was gone, no checking if they were ones without water There were elderly and housebound who had no water and no way of getting any. Yes hit local papers but as they found out its not first time our water company have acted so dumb and they found the about 90% of the supplied water ended up in the hands of those that didn't need it, when asked they said well they were giving it away I was not going to say no. The thing is this went on for a couple of weeks and they did the same thing every day even after it was in the papers - their excuse was they didn't have the manpower to deliver water to the houses and they could only take it to the area and leave people to help themselves as they used to in past - yes that worked ok when it was a browser, no-one who has water in their taps will bother to fill up from that, but free bottled water is to much of a temptation, and our water company is one of the most profitable in the country...........so nothing our local water company says about how they will ensure everyone gets water will make me trust them. There were a few people who ended up in hospital as they had been without water a few days and had not liked to ask their neighbours, only found as people in the area organised themselves when they saw what a mess water company making and going and checking out everyone in area to see if they had water. This is same company that about 10 years ago told us tap water was safe although brown for weeks till people started getting ill - that was when I bought a filter as would not let the family drink the water and rarely drink water straight from tap as we just cannot trust them, they still denied it was the water making people ill even when testing proved other wise and as far as I know still fighting this on and off in the courts....so to me having bottled in is very important - I do keep tap for 6 months in dark for washing toilets etc. I only have enough sadly for a few days to drink as just do not have the space for more and it bothers me then to know I would be at mercy of the water company after that but not much I can do.

euronorris

I don't have a storecupboard as such. We don't have the space. But I do always have a supply of tinned tomatoes, tomato puree, beans, pasta, rice, flour, yeast, raisins, various nuts, veg that was chopped up and frozen when fresh, and always keep a supply of potatoes in. I think there is still even some frozen puff pastry in the freezer. Oh yeah, and lentils.

I tend to make a mental note of when I've used one of those items, and then pick up some more on my way home from work the next day.

Despite small storage facilities, we are fortunate enough to be within about 200 metres of a local greengrocers. So, even when I was ill last week, I still managed to get my butt over there (it was on the way back from the doc's after all) to pick up some fresh fruit and veg & salad bits (they also do all kinds of storecupboard fillers, lentils, flour etc and fresh meat and veg, milk, eggs etc). They've also introduced a loyalty type scheme. Fill up a card with stamps (you get one for every €5 spent) and you get €7.50 off your next shop with them. OH had shingles in Feb, and I came down with flu at the same time. I was the least infectious (believe it or not), so had to drag myself to the chemist to collect his prescription. The grocers was only another 50 metres from there, so I managed to drag myself that little bit further to get fresh milk, eggs etc before coming home and collapsing in bed until I felt better! lol

Come to think of it, we are very lucky to have so amenities so close to us.

euronorris

I also have a glut of cleaning products. Including way too much washing up liquid - it remained on the internet shopping order for a couple of month's more than it needed to! lol Same thing happened with veg oil. And we have a two litre bottle of olive oil. Various dried herbs and spices too, and sugar (both white and brown - we rarely use it now, so it just sits in the cupboard), and jams. ANd there's honey too. And porridge oats. Not so much cereal though.

We also have a gas cooking stove thingy. It's officially for OH's camping and fishing, but came in handy when the electric went out for a day a while back. Our stove is electric. We let the neighbours borrow it too on that day. It was whilst the electric company fixed something...somewhere. If it had been any longer, we might not have been so generous. Sounds mean, but those gas cannisters aren't very big, but they are quite pricey.

I tend to keep a stock of water in at winter, but not at other times. I'm not sure if it's worth it for us. There are so many shops nearby, as well as the high street. I think we have 5, no 6, supermarkets within a mile radius. So, if the water was even disconnected to our neighbourhood, I think we could get a good supply in pretty quickly. Theoretically, there should be more than enough shops around us selling water, to serve the neighbourhood.