Preparedness for when

Karmacat

Aww ... suits us both, then. That's great. Practice, research, research, practice. And yep, this isn't *really* hogging, hopefully others will find it useful too.

I'll have a look at those links in your last post tomorrow - my brain is fading a bit, I confess ...

In the meantime, I walked round the publicly accessible parts of my local community college, which has a big agricultural section - usually, I can see cows, sheep and even a few pigs, but today there's just a life size plastic cow by a manure heap twice as big as the cow :eek: I think they must be prepping for the new term!

Have a brilliant evening. Not too many business plans!

greenbee

I use a powerock for charging my various devices when I'm out and about. I'm not prepping for long periods without power, but realistically when I'm away for work I can go from 7am till midnight (allowing for changing timezones) without access to mains power - or even the 'maintenance' feed you get on some flights). It will happily charge my phone(s) and ipad for me - I usually get 3-5 charges out of it depending what I'm using it for. It will also (very slowly) recharge itself on a plane/train as there is no output.

I have a small handbag-size cheap and cheerful charger as an emergency backup (which I can actually recharge from the powerrock. Both are charged up whenever the opportunity arises.

What I frequently manage to to is take the wrong adapters with me... mostly this happens in the UK, as my work kit has the US/EU ones in

[Deleted User]

Found this at £land, and thought it'd be ideal for use with my Sawyer Squeeze Filter.

http://www.poundland.co.uk/summer/camping-and-festivals/expanding-water-bottle

No such luck, as the neck is the wrong size

For when a travel to Europe, I have one of these.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/81Luz-AGx-L._SL1500_.jpg

Saves carrying mains to USB adapters, as well as not trying up a mains socket, charging a phone.

sb44

Frugalsod wrote: »

Yes it is pricey but it does cover all possible requirements and is suitable for bugging out with if necessary. For me it its the overall combination of parts that is most useful. I am planning some long camping trips and the ability to carry a filter rather than gallons of water is what is its main purpose and the carbon filter to remove bad tastes is the other main unit that I will be using.

So in a crisis situation where there is no mains water this offers a good solution for what is a reasonable amount when you consider the costs of boiling lots of water.

Wouldn't one of these be ok for you re safe drinking water when out and about (or for anyone in the North West at the minute!).

http://www.amazon.co.uk/SAWYER-MINI-WATER-FILTRATION-SYSTEM/dp/B00FA2RLX2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1440362844&sr=8-1&keywords=sawyer+MINI+FILTER

[Deleted User]

Yes, it would be suitable for people ion the affected area of the North West.

Removes pathogen from water including E-coli, cryptosporidium, cholera, giardia etc. and sediment

I own that self same filter kit.

thriftwizard

Completely bemused by all the options available for recharging stuff! But side-stepping; I'm buying a van & having it adapted to our needs for trading at the shows that we do, and I'm having a 100W solar panel fitted to the roof, to keep the leisure battery topped up & the fridge running when we're camped in a field for a week with no access to mains 'leccy at all. That should make it possible to recharge any gadgets we really, really can't do without. I do have some small solar chargers that will keep phones & tablets charged up - bought when DS3 was trotting off up the Andes in Peru - and some of the IKEA solar lights, which have been very handy, but am hoping that the panel on the van roof will make most of them redundant! Or at least available for more frivolous uses, like lighting the garden paths. Phones are a mixed blessing at this kind of event - we hardly ever have a signal!

In other ways it's not going to be at all a luxury motorhome, but very much a working van with an option to sleep & cook in it. But there's nothing luxurious about being able to keep your perishables properly cool...

sb44

1Tonsil wrote: »

Before I go back and read to catch up I thought some of you might like this site http://www.backdoorsurvival.com/slow-cooking-with-the-amazing-wonder-oven/

My daughter has a couple of old 'Cushtie' cushions (remember those ) that have lost a lot of their shape but not their foam beads.

Mmmm. I think I may have to experiment by wrapping a plastic tub of something hot in the middle of one of them .

sb44

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

Yes, it would be suitable for people ion the affected area of the North West.



I own that self same filter kit.

I bought one which arrived yesterday, just to put in my SHTF cupboard, so haven't tried it yet.

It may be a bit far fetched but if anything major happened to affect our electricity, then it would also affect our water, as it couldn't be pumped to our homes without the power.

We have lots of bottled water but I just thought this would be a kind of inurance policy for such situations.

sb44

nuatha wrote: »

You're very welcome.
My solar panel (4.8AH) was about £20 delivered and the powerbank was even less (I think £12). The Nook charges in 2-3 hours (depending how just how much reading I've done that week) and my phone takes a similar time, thankfully I have an older smartphone that generally manages about 5 days between charges.

I was looking at the red and white one for about £13 on Amazon, but I don't need one to use as a battery charger as we already have 3 chargers.

I just want one to use to charge my nook using batteries and found this one on ebay from the PortaPow company and it is a lot cheaper.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PortaPow-4x-AA-Battery-Emergency-Travel-USB-Charger-iPhone-Galaxy-SatNav-TomTom-/321357685142?hash=item4ad2692196

I may go for that one instead.

jk0

sb44 wrote: »

I was looking at the red and white one for about £13 on Amazon, but I don't need one to use as a battery charger as we already have 3 chargers.

I just want one to use to charge my nook using batteries and found this one on ebay from the PortaPow company and it is a lot cheaper.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PortaPow-4x-AA-Battery-Emergency-Travel-USB-Charger-iPhone-Galaxy-SatNav-TomTom-/321357685142?hash=item4ad2692196

I may go for that one instead.

Bear in mind though you've still got to buy rechargeable batteries and a charger for them.