Preparedness for when

[Deleted User]

GQ have you read 'The Kraken Wakes' by John Wyndham? because in a world where the water levels were rising that is exactly what some people did, build false walls and stash enough food to ensure thier future, so not as daft as it sounds eh? I would use up all and anything fresh or frozen first, and not touch the long term stored stuff until everything else was either consumed or spoiled and had to be disposed of. I would then work out a minimum calorfiic need for an adult confined to a limited space i.e stuck in the house and make use of what we had in store with that in mind. If you aren't getting the exercise you usually do you'll need less calories and your stocks will last longer. I'd not use the woodstove unless I absolutely had to to conserve fuel which would be brought indoors (2 tons of it!!!) to make sure it wasn't taken. Most useful bit of kit would probably be the wind up radio, should there be any information updates from TPTB. I'd certainly live and sleep etc in one room and be as low profile to the outside world as I possibly could.

The great power debate and the possibility for power outages is going to be around for a long while I think but, nowhere, on TV in the paper, in any media publication or political speech by any political party or green/eco group have I heard the suggestion that using less might be the way forward. Yes the Beeb were at Hockerton this morning and that is one of the few alternative lifestyles that actually seems to work, but why hasn't it been suggested that if you use less gas and electricity you'll pay less in bills? I walk the lurcha round our patch in ALL weathers from the baking hot to the perishing nippy and I see people answering their front door in the snow just wearing shorts and strappy tops, my lovely neighbours son has a full to the brim bath twice a day in which he apparently remains for less than 3 minutes, so many people I see in several different outfits in one day, then I see them all out on the clothes line the next day

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When is the human race going to start using a smidgeon of the common sense that we have access to and stop and think??? and MAYBE if we all used a little less power, there might be enough to go round in the short term until someone decides that new power stations will be built, just a thought, Cheers Lyn xxx.

metherer

Common sense isn't half as common as it once was!

GreyQueen

Hi Lyn.

No, I've never read The Kraken Wakes, I'd thought of that all on my ownsome. There's nothing truly original under the sun, is there?

With variations, it might be possible to create almost undetectable discrepancies between the inside and outside of rooms, garages, outbuildings etc, and to use the sliver of space thus gained for storage. Or even some hidden modifications to various kinds of furniture......

There's the level of searching done by hurried people like burglars and looters, then there's the level of search done by a CSI outfit inc having the floorboards up etc. You wouldn't expect to get much past the latter but you might be able to get quite a bit past the former. All, of course, allied with most excellent OPSEC and a visible stash to be looted.

This three-outfits-a-day and washing everything after one wear is pretty shocking to me. I wear clean undies but I wouldn't change outer garments daily unless I had been getting very hot, sweaty and grungy or had thrown food down them. I'd want to get a couple of days out of them.

So shoot me as a durdy mare.

ETA metherer, never was a truer phrase spoken.

nuatha

GreyQueen wrote: »

:question: I'd like to canvas opinions on how people would choose to proceed in the event of a SHTF situation of severe impacts but unknown duration.

Would you immediately hunker down and use your stores, however plentiful, in a lean and rationed sort of way? Or would you say to yourself that it'd all be over in a week/ fortnight/ month and I have plenty, so use as normal and hope TPTB resolve the issue before the stores run low?

I'm imagining that news might be scarce and propaganda-laden and a sensible person might be of the belief that TPTB have no idea of what they are doing and just telling the people something to stop them panicking.

I think I'd assume that the outage might be indefinate and my supplies finite, so would be careful not to overeat, waste stored water or too much cooking fuel or battery power.

Over to you, troops.

Initially I'd continue as we generally do. I'd also be looking to acquire additional supplies - since that's how we generally operate - hunkering down would be a change in behaviour that may lead someone to suspect that we had substantial stocks. I wouldn't resort to rationing supplies for the first two or three weeks at the minimum, what I would do would be to run down the freezer stocks. I attempt to minimise waste as it is.
Partly it depends on what is actually affected, water being the key, given that is what we have the lowest stock of in terms of number of weeks necessities. We would establish contact with our close family/friends and decide who had the better location regarding the ongoing situation, (by foot if need be - 15 miles each way is doable either day or night) and plan accordingly.
By the end of week 2 I suspect meal planning would become far more rigid, but there are generally substantial supplies on hand - though the menu would get rather boring long before supplies ran out.

RAS

Hiding things behind expected places is a good idea.

How many modern fitted kitchen cupboards have a false back? Now instead of fitting that into the pre-gouged slots, add a timber trim behind the slot. Use magnetic tape round the three fixed sides and put in place.

If you then attach a narrow shelf unit directly to the wall and make sure nothing is visible above and below the false back, you have a neat, invisible store for stuff that has a long life (just because you only want to empty that cupboard occasionally to rotate the stock).

jk0

GreyQueen wrote: »

I've often thought that it would be a very fine thing indeed, should one have an attached garage which was longer than it needed to be for the car, to construct a false wall across the back, with a concealed entrance, to make a skinny storage room. Deep prepping............:rotfl:

I just received this (American) book from Amazon. I think it's worth the £30 I paid for it:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0967113903/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

alfsmum

GQ, I am liking the idea of false walls. Just happened to come across a shelf of my fave chocolate half price in Mr T today and some of it fell Into my basket. Reckon that deserves a sneaky hiding place all to itself.

Didn't the Colditz prisoners build a false wall across one of the attics and hide the glider that they were constructing? Think they were liberated before they had the chance to use it.

alfsmum

mardatha wrote: »

I seem to be prepping for SHTF and zombie invasion by eating a lot of peanut butter oatcakes and drinking a lot of tea. I am sure this will help.

I think oatcakes and tea are good prep for any situation, SHTF or otherwise.

[Deleted User]

nuatha wrote: »

water being the key, given that is what we have the lowest stock of in terms of number of weeks necessities.

Bear in mind though, here in the UK, outside of a blistering summer, we generally have rain on a regular basis so, unless the atmosphere has been contaminated (nuclear attack/accident, or similar), you won't have to wait too long, for the opportunity to gather rainwater.

nuatha

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

Bear in mind though, here in the UK, outside of a blistering summer, we generally have rain on a regular basis so, unless the atmosphere has been contaminated (nuclear attack/accident, or similar), you won't have to wait too long, for the opportunity to gather rainwater.

We have 80 gallons in an attic tank, 72 litres in bottles and another 8 litres in the cars. So not too desparate.
I'd rather not be collecting water from the local river, though we do have some purification kit and if we decide to bug out, have a natural spring to fall back on.

You're right that there's generally a good chance of collecting rain water and if it came to that I'd be using tarps over part of the garden to increase the catch area.