Who doesn't have a stock cupboard

GreyQueen

HariboJunkie, I live in a city centre in a tower block. Our water supply is off the 4" main about 15 metres from my flat.

It's highly temperamental. This January, it ruptured catastropically after several days of seepage. We were without water for most of a day, from 8 am until 4pm. Luckily for me, I had performed the morning ablutions and breakfasted and was out at work nearly all that time. Not a bunch of laughs for the neighbours who couldn't even have a cuppa.:(

For the whole of the weekend, that same main has been seeping again. The water company have been informed. I didn't know if I'd have water this morning so I took the precaution of filling a 2 litre bottle before I went to bed. Water's on at the mo but that main will probably rupture yet again and it'll be off for several hours.

There are very few places which have a gravity-fed water supply so for the rest of us, any interruption to the leccy will result in the water not coming out of the taps and the WC not flushing.This will cause a public health crisis within a few hours. It's not very long ago that Ulster was off water for about a week, wasn't it? I bet those people with a prepper's mentality who had some water by them, and water carriers, counted their blessings and were the envy of their neighbours. After all, the presence of stand-taps requires that the householders have both the means to carry water and the strength to do so.

Relying on "Them" to take care of your basic needs in a crisis is a dangerous habit to get into. For the first 24/48 hours, you may be thrown entirely onto your own resources and food stores will be stripped of supplies within a few hours.

I know people who don't even own a bucket or a washing up bowl. Water is the key resource; you can last 3 minutes without air, 3 weeks (and more) without food but only 3 days without water. And the stuff in the water butts and rivers and streams isn't potable, so unless you've trained yourself how and have the means to purify it, all you're going to achieve by using it is give yourself diseases, some of which are fatal.

I wonder if some of the RBS etc bank customers had no food and no cash in the house these past several days and had a bit of a miserable time because of it?

January20

This is great thread. I used to have a generous store cupboard but let it run very low but after reading this, I will fill it up again, and I will add some bottled water to it - where I'm going to store that is another story!

ETA: GreyQueen, I think the Natwest/ RBS incident of the last week should also teach us to keep some cash on us and not to rely on plastic all the time.

ETA (2): If we are keeping a store cupboard for financial emergencies, we can pretty much have whatever we want in it, but if we are planning for an emergency such as utilities being cut off, we should remember that food that don't need to be heated/ cooked are probably better ie tinned meats and fish, tinned fruit and rice puddings for instance, shouldn't we?

tattycath

January20 wrote: »

This is great thread. I used to have a generous store cupboard but let it run very low but after reading this, I will fill it up again, and I will add some bottled water to it - where I'm going to store that is another story!

ETA: GreyQueen, I think the Natwest/ RBS incident of the last week should also teach us to keep some cash on us and not to rely on plastic all the time.

ETA (2): If we are keeping a store cupboard for financial emergencies, we can pretty much have whatever we want in it, but if we are planning for an emergency such as utilities being cut off, we should remember that food that don't need to be heated/ cooked are probably better ie tinned meats and fish, tinned fruit and rice puddings for instance, shouldn't we?[/QUOTE]

We have a gas camping stove-handy should the emergency arise

sonastin

GreyQueen wrote: »

There are very few places which have a gravity-fed water supply so for the rest of us, any interruption to the leccy will result in the water not coming out of the taps and the WC not flushing.This will cause a public health crisis within a few hours.

I feel like I have to pick up on this as its not strictly true. A lot of places have gravity fed water anyway, and there are even more which are gravity fed from storage towers - the water is pumped into the storage tower but it will take several hours for that to empty completely. Chances are that the electric will be back on before the tower runs out completely. Very few areas are supplied off a totally pumped main. On top of that every water treatment plant is built with the capability to be run by generator. Those with critical supply zones (i.e. those on the completely pumped supply) will have generators permanently available. Others will be able to have a generator on site within a few hours which should be enough to get the site up and running again before the storage reservoirs run dry. So no leccy does not mean no water.

And no water for a few hours doesn't amount to a public health crisis. The ulster incident didn't result in a public health problem - major inconvenience yes but certainly not a health crisis.

The other thing to remember is that bugs can grow in tap water which is stored for too long. These can be as harmful to your health as drinking untreated water supplies. Bottled water is sealed so as to prevent the bugs growing - the Best Before date reflects how long they have faith in the bottle to keep the water fresh. Note the "once opened consume within (usually) 3 days". We have a stream and a surface water reservoir near our village - if the tap water went off long-term, I'd prefer to take my chances with the flowing water than anything I'd stored in a bottle for 6 months.

spinningsheep

I have incredibly well stocked cupboards and 2.5 freezers stocked to the gills. I know that if I was to hit hard times, save for things like teabags or coffee, milk and bread, I would not need to go shopping for a couple of months as a minimum. I made some very bad life choices in my youth and as a result ended up effectively homeless and almost "fell out of the system" so to speak, whereas now I have built myself an amazing life and have vowed never to be cold, hungry and in despair ever again, so a stockpile of food and toiletries for me is my reminder no matter how bad things get, i will be okay. I live in a city centre and 50 yds from a co-op so no danger of being "snowed in" at any point, but I love my stockpile. I am in the process of creating a "haul" room in the back bedroom to store things like tinned goods, dried goods, toilet paper etc so I can take advantage of bargains when I am better off money wise one month.

bargainbetty

I've got enough in stock to feed the household for a full fortnight or longer, without any input from outside. It won't involve a lot of vegetables by the end of the second week, but pasta, tinned toms, rice, couscous, oils, stocks, herbs and spices plus a freezer full of meat will see us through.

I'm not comfortable unless there is at least a week in there. Loo rolls are also stockpiled.

tattycath

bargainbetty wrote: »

I've got enough in stock to feed the household for a full fortnight or longer, without any input from outside. It won't involve a lot of vegetables by the end of the second week, but pasta, tinned toms, rice, couscous, oils, stocks, herbs and spices plus a freezer full of meat will see us through.

I'm not comfortable unless there is at least a week in there. Loo rolls are also stockpiled.

We have some couscous and some quinoa-any idea how to cook and what to have them with pls? not tried quinoa before and the couscous seems bland to say the least. Any suggestions gratefully received. TY

joedenise

Couscous is just a carrier really, as you say, really bland with nothing in it. To start off you can just add stock to infuse a little flavour but that on its' own probably won't be enough. You need to add lots of chopped up veggies to it, either cooked or raw. It's really good to use up bits you have in the fridge which aren't really enough to use on their own but all together would be plenty.

Personally I like it with chopped up peppers, cucumber, red onions & tomatoes. You can also add chopped fruit like apples, pears, halved grapes etc to it. I often have it for lunch - either on its own or served with some cold meat.

You can also add chopped cooked onions, peppers, carrots, peas etc.

As for quinoa I'm not sure (haven't got any in the cupboard at the moment as I think it's quite expensive for what it is!) but I think it's quite similar to couscous although you may need to boil it on the hob for a short time.

HTH.

Denise

tattycath

joedenise wrote: »

Couscous is just a carrier really, as you say, really bland with nothing in it. To start off you can just add stock to infuse a little flavour but that on its' own probably won't be enough. You need to add lots of chopped up veggies to it, either cooked or raw. It's really good to use up bits you have in the fridge which aren't really enough to use on their own but all together would be plenty.

Personally I like it with chopped up peppers, cucumber, red onions & tomatoes. You can also add chopped fruit like apples, pears, halved grapes etc to it. I often have it for lunch - either on its own or served with some cold meat.

You can also add chopped cooked onions, peppers, carrots, peas etc.

As for quinoa I'm not sure (haven't got any in the cupboard at the moment as I think it's quite expensive for what it is!) but I think it's quite similar to couscous although you may need to boil it on the hob for a short time.

HTH.

Denise

Thank you for this I shall try your suggestions with my couscous-and possibly the quinoa too. I only bought the quinoa as it was red ticketed because the box was battered. So it was half the price it should have been.

jackyann

I keep a few small bottles of water in the freezer - take them on a day our in summer, or use as a joint ice pack / drink for lunches & picics + have once been used for water when the supply was cut off.
I always have some soup as a standby as it is easy if you are feeling unwell (standard advice for the frail & elderly) and I keep a loaf of sliced bread in the freezer to make quick toast.
Otherwise it depends on distance from shops, cash flow, taste etc.