Preparedness for when

metherer

Evening all, am back from my trip down south. (Had a marvellous time).

Elaine, very sound points there. I try and be prepared because:
Hubby is disabled, and I sometimes need to take unpaid leave to care for him if he is badly.
In particularly bad winters, like those I grew up with in the Dales, it makes sense to not have to venture to the supermarket unless I absolutely have to. If I slip and break my leg while Hubby is badly, who looks after the poultry and pets?
I'm the sole breadwinner. If I lost my job for whatever reason, I want to know that we have the makings of a couple of months meagre meals. Breathing space while I get things sorted.
Finally, if I watch disaster movies, I tend to start over thinking things, and so I like to have stuff in already so that I don't go into a mad panic.

And yes, there is a little bit of me that likes to feel smug when I hear about someone being stuck somewhere without even a cheese sandwich or a plaster... Hey, I'm only Human..

[Deleted User]

You're not alone GQ I've spent most of my adult life watching the general population and TPTB getting more and more ridiculous and out of touch with each other. The summer riots didn't come as a shock it was on the cards for ages, when you have several generations being told constantly that they can all have a university degree including a very useful one in Klingon!, and they can have a much better lifestyle than any of thier forebears preferably white collar, and that they can have credit for anything that takes thier fancy, they should have the swanky abroad trips, the very expensive wedding, the jewellery, the clothes, the make up, the hairdoos, the designer brand £750 shoes etc.etc.etc because they're 'worth it', and the mortgage for thier much bigger than they need house several times thier ability to pay the repayments, the new car every year, the new furniture, decorations in the house, kitchen, bathroom to follow the dictates of fashion, well you just know somethings going to give. I've always known the way life is lived by most of us is unsustainable and like the children they are, when the glittery pretty things are tken away they are going to have an almighty tantrum, aren't they? So I really don't want to be involved when it happens and that's why I prep, if I have the wherewithall to stay inside, low profile, unseen in my home, out of the situation, I'm more likely to emerge with a whole skin than if I try to run to somewhere safer, that's only my personal view, if things got too antsy I'd have to chance it along with every other displaced person, but I sure would try it my way first, Cheers Lyn xxx.

nuatha

elaine241 wrote: »

On a totally different topic it occured to me that most of us on here are like minded. It got me thinking about why we are prepping be it power cut/snow or zombie apocalypse TEOTWAWKI.
I dont want to be nosey or pry into peoples private lives but I for one have suffered from anxiety/stress/depression in the past and currently have anxiety/ stress health issues. I still manage to work, run a house, look after my kids etc but it does get very difficult sometimes. What I am getting at is prepping/being organised/feeling secure with food & preps helps me cope as I react badly to unexpected events/anything out the ordinary often getting worked up before and getting stress headaches after.
...
Anyway not sure if any of the above is relevant or makes sense but it would be interesting to get you opinions!:o ELaine x

It makes sense to me.
Partly its family background, my folks kept a very well stocked pantry, a large part of my family worked on farms had small holdings, money is something that comes in with the various harvests rather than a regular pay packet.
Partly its personal history, health issues and working freelance makes for a very variable income pattern.
Investing in skills and preps not only gives me peace of mind, its proven very useful several times over, getting through lean times and poor health, but also using the skills for happier occasions - my batch cooking habit has catered a couple of weddings

westcoastscot

Interesting discussion - I was born into a family of "preppers" - we've always been a self-sufficient bunch, working class and at the end of the line for any good luck being handed out - we're all bloody minded, opinionated and generally considered "odd", but comfortable and happy with that.
Mrs LW you're spot on with your evaluation of the past 20 - 30 years. Interestingly a guy I met through work was astounded about where I lived - when asked why he said "people like me" usually move to other areas. When challenged he couldn't be more specific than that, so I suggested he engage his brain before opening his mouth in future and we left it at that. I do wonder sometimes what people see when they look at me?????
Anyway off to bed with my library book
WCS

[Deleted User]

I like 'odd' WCS, I've always been 'odd' and it's always kept the truly odd people well away from me. Being 'odd' is part of belonging to a fairly normal bunch of folks who actually know what reality really is! Don't we? Cheers Lyn xxx.

Cheapskate

GQ, thanks very much, , will do my best to follow orders,

I have started my coin jars again after raiding them during the holidays, refilling the pantry, hoping I have some spuds (see above!), salting away other cash, and lots of other squirrelly, slightly paranoid activities! Well, paranoid to those ostriches out there. I feel really at home here, even though I'd probably walk past any of you in the street and not "know" you, we are the normal ones, :rotfl:

A xo

craigywv

just love it!!! go away for a daycome back to......bankrupcy,blight,odd folk,dehydrating,farming,and money laundering and its all on 1 page. i think you lot would be fantastic in a debate or inparliament!!! i actually believe you all and hold you all more knoledgeable than my own MP. you could all run the country PROPERLY or should i say PREPPERLY! i am amazed at the depth you all know certain things,LYNN...food,plants dehydrating,GQ...knows EVERYTHING known to man ....human wikipedia!!!! i say with great admiration, NUATHA,PINEAPPLE,ALIBOBSY, WCS......i could mention many more regulars on here your all great!!! i i only hope when the shtf i can remember the stuff you have learnt me. so take abow all of you and keep on writing !!!xxx

Butterfly_Brain

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

Nuatha aaaa yes didn't think of people watching you at the cashpoint....

I think with everything these days including the banks everything is working on the 'Just in time' delivery/stock levels etc... and a tiny little blip/rush will show how week the system actually is..

You notice it when there is a flurry of snow, within half hour the supermarket carpark is full, and everyone is buying bread etc as though they will be stuck in for a month......

so any sort of murmur of a financial collapse and within minutes there would be mayhem, people clamouring to get their money out of banks etc, people buying food, fuel etc...

food storage made easy challenge?????? where will I find that??

Here you go

http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/7day/

I am giving it a go just to see how I would fare in a real SHTF scenario.
I prep as a hedge against rising prices and in case of redundancy, we have had to deal with redundancy too many times in our marriage but I think that it is a good idea to have a practice on using your stores.
It is an American site and as such they have a much bigger range of freeze dried foods available to them.
We bought a Bioethanol stove today for the dining room, just a small one but it should take the heat off, we will buy a bigger one if it works out economical.

Butterfly_Brain

westcoastscot wrote: »

looks like more fuel price increases are on the way again
http://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/sep/20/energy-firms-increase-prices

Thieving barstewards

COOLTRIKERCHICK

Sorry to hear about fingers being cut/chopped off:eek::eek::eek::eek:

I am no good with human blood and guts, or even little cuts:cool::cool:

We are going to invest in a set of good quality walkie talkie things... the boys had a set when they were younger, and used to talk to each other in their bedrooms etc

These will be handy up the smallholding, especially for security too, as if the mobile network does down, and there is a financial crash, its a good way of communicating around the smallholding if anything is going wrong..

I more or less rely on my freezer for majority of our food stuff etc, which if the electric goes down longer than a few hours then We are pooped...

Is there anyway of doing a back up plan for solar power etc to keep the freezer running without mains electricity??? we do have a genni, but the fuel would soon run out in that