Preparedness for when

ScarletRaven

Forgot to mention, Lidl has a few great things on offer this week that may come in handy for prepping:

For store cupboards:
- 20 toilet rolls for £4.99 (these are great quality, thick rolls, we get them whenever we can now)
- 1 litre of extra virgin olive oil for £2.99 or 5 litres of frying oil for £6.99
- 5kg sack of onions for £1.29

Plus this weekend they are selling 1 litre cartons of skimmed UHT milk for just 24p!

Also this week they are selling sturdy walking boots/shoes for both men and women for £19.99 a pair (great for long distance, snow, uneven surfaces etc) - considering getting a pair myself to go with my grab bag as I don't have many shoes that are good for walking (mostly heels!).

Also, B&M stores still have packs of 2 fleece blankets for £3.99, and these mini hot water bottles in cute covers for just 50p! http://www.bmstores.co.uk/products/mini-hotties-handwarmer-260076

mardatha

People here just use chainsaws or axes Cattie and we only burn coal, so I not a lot of help

sophlowe45

Haven't read all the thread but poundland has emergency silver blankets, water containers that fold up, light sticks that last for upto 6 hours and the instore announcement even said get your camping stuff at Poundland, this was only a small Poundland too so the bigger ones will probably have more camping stock.

Great thread.

Does this relate to this thread? Over a year ago i watched a documentary on Cuba and with all the sanctions they had in place they used every bit of land they possibly could to grow food, it made me think of landscaped communal gardens for flats and i ended up thinking what a potential waste of land. The documentary also said Cuba had a problem with obesity and with the sanctions people had to use bicycles so started getting more exercise and people started eating far more vegetables. (I'm sure other illnesses increased as a result of sanctions too but they were not mentioned) . The recent BBC programme on fasting also touched briefly on such issues, can't remember what country it was but they were comparing poorer kids diets with middle class kids diets and the poorer kids came out healthier.

Fruball

mardatha wrote: »

OK try this one - and please try to stay on topic -This is shamelessly pinched from UKP.


There is going to be some kind of announcement in a few hours time which, knowing the population of the UK, will cause mass panic buying of food and fuel. There is no determination when food and fuel deliveries will start again could be a week, could be three, could be three months.

You have a couple of hours head start on most 'normal' people.

You decide to top off your preps (food, fuel, general supplies) What is your immediate plan of action? What do you do, what is on your list? Do you even have a list?

2 hours forewarning is great but would pass quickly.

Firstly I would call DS and give him the heads up and then head off to MrT! I would mostly be buying sacks of rice and extra large bags of pasta and dried beans in case it went on for 3 months. If it were 3 weeks I wouldn't need to use them but it's peace of mind to have them there.

Now is not the time to save money with an impending disaster so I would be filling my trolleys with as much as I could fit in the car, even tho we have a fair bit at home anyway! I would be packing my shopping in Next and M&S bags so it looked like clothes and not food to the neighbours

Next I would rush to town to grab more camping stove gas cannisters and a large BBQ gas one - the biggest I could get!

I think that would take me up to the 2 hours so I would be heading home quick, pop the TV and watch it all unfold.

Course, the chances of me getting an early warning before the rest of the country is slim to non-existent, esp as area 2 doesn't have a co-ordinator :rotfl:

VJsmum

Mad-Frog wrote: »

Here we have a reservoir above us and if there is no money to maintain it how long before the walls collapse and it comes down on our houses?

This is exactly the scenario in Johnstown, Pennsylvania a hundred or more years ago. Thousands were killed. Look up Johnstown Flood to see the devastation caused.

I always feel fortunate that we have a caravan which usually has 2 gas canisters and it is stored at our house. I think if we didn't use the fridge we could make the gas last many weeks. We also could use the cheapy barbecue with wood and twigs from the garden for some cooking if necessary.

It is funny how people say they will fill up the car before buying food in the "2 hour till doom" scenario. If you live in the sticks I can understand that but we live in a town so wouldn't really need the car in that scenario as I guess going to work, taking kids to football and drama and trips out would be out of the question. I have feet and a bike so would use them if I had to.

D&DD

mardatha wrote: »

Helpless in giggles here picturing the RV and I racing through the front door of Costco with a list each, covering in guns n ammo like Burt and Heather in Tremors :rotfl::rotfl:

LOLOL I have the boxed set of these I lurve Bert :D

Just shows though how best laid plans and all that...what was it he says food and ammo for twenty years and what do we get underground maneating worms :rotfl:

greenbee

mardatha wrote: »

People here just use chainsaws or axes Cattie and we only burn coal, so I not a lot of help

I have an axe, and a hatchet for kindling (I'm not accurate enough with an axe!), and I also have one of these

Fruit tree prunings make good kindling, and I stuff loo roll middles with shredded paper for firelighting. It takes a minute longer than taking the shredder out to the bin, so I might as well! TD fluff is also used...

valk_scot

mardatha wrote: »

People in the prepping sites always want to head for the hills in Scotland - I keep telling them people already live in them (ie moi) -and they cant expect just to walk in and be welcomed. But that's veering onto more serious zombie/EOTW stuff and I don't do that, got enough probs already ta.
We did have some people who wanted to do this, until I posted pics on Flickr of the terrain around here. Then they decided to try for the Scilly isles instead :rotfl:

I've got family up north and strictly speaking their house is mine, they have a life interest and then I get to share it with my sister and a cousin. My uncle is 76 and his wife not much younger so they'll just have to budge over a bit earlier than expected tbh.

Anyway if we ended up having to go self sufficient it would be better to have to have a small group of people rather than try to go it alone with just a 2 + 2 family, or an elderly couple. The real laugh would be though if my sister turned up with her OH and two daughters...none of them can even cook properly, let alone have a clue as to how to grow their own food or look after animals. My cousin would be a real asset though, she's a nurse.

valk_scot

mummyroysof3 wrote: »

thing is though we are lucky we could afford to go and get lots of food in..what about people who can only afford what they can eat in a week, tbh its even more important for them to preb and buy a bit at a time to put away isnt it?

THat thought has been rolling around in my head too. Some folk can barely afford to buy food for that day or week, let alone build a stockpile for emergencies. Who is going to feed them? How fast can the goverment get the soup kitchens running after all? There would be looting and riots within a very few days.

Generally however it's possible to build up a decentish emergency supply over a few months by using offers and discounts. BOGOF offers are the obvious ones to look for but you don't get offers on everything after all. What I've done in the past is when I get one of thse coditional spend coupons like the £6 off a £40 shop that Tesco is giving atm, I make a point of spending that £6 on extras of various things to put in the emergency cupboard. £6 worth of UHT milk is hardly an exciting buy but it's good to have it there when you need it.

grandma247

valk_scot wrote: »

What I've done in the past is when I get one of thse coditional spend coupons like the £6 off a £40 shop that Tesco is giving atm, I make a point of spending that £6 on extras of various things to put in the emergency cupboard. £6 worth of UHT milk is hardly an exciting buy but it's good to have it there when you need it.

I do that too. I got a £4.50 one off a £30 shop from Mr S last week so will be spending that tonight.

Vjs mum that disaster was awful. They were still finding bodies 22 years later:eek:

Soup kitchens are more likely to be started and run by charities. I just found this link from 2009.

I always think of hurricane Katrina and what a useless lot the Authorities were in getting help there. I would not want to rely on them at all.