Preparedness for when

Butterfly_Brain

siegemode wrote: »

Hi, havn't caught up for a day or so but just seen some multi tool things at Aldi which might appeal

http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/offers/25057.htm?WT.z_src=main

Thanks for that DH already has the hammer one, so I will get him the axe

meme30

oldtractor wrote: »

for when TSHTF in no particular order.
money
loo roll
candles
wind up radio
tinned foods
tin opener
pet foods and bedding
wood for a fire
a kettle
water.

:eek: You forgot the chocolate!:D

sb44

unixgirluk wrote: »

Hazelnut coffee sounds yummy

You can get Dou Egberts Hazelnut coffee in major supermarkets, it is normally £2.99 for 50g but only £1.50 in Asda at the minute.

2tonsils

http://www.markvoganweather.com/2012/12/12/wed-12-dec-uk-ireland-regional-forecast/?fb_source=pubv1

ragz_2

pineapple wrote: »

I think we have to be careful about distinguishing between short and long term/permanent absence of electricity. We've had brief power cuts here and it was indeed nice to sit in candle glow and listen to the wind up/battery/solar radio.
Plus I worked in Uganda when we had something called 'load shedding' - where the power went off on a scheduled basis for several hours each day - alternating between day time and evening. I ate a lot of tinned pilchards during that time! :eek:
If you didn't have a generator, you learned to build your life round it. It was a minor inconvenience. And I've visited remote places with no power at all - so oil lamps and cooking on fire or bought in gas. It was quite do-able and even romantic.
But the absence of electricity was either just periodic or localized. And in all cases we had access to goods, medicines, canned food etc manufactured with electricity and there was plenty of fuel for individuals or institutions with generators.
However, the ramifications of the failure of power across a large part (or even all) of the globe are unthinkable
Of course it wasn't that long ago, in historical terms, that people lived with no electricity at all. But they had the skills - learned over time - that we've lost over time. Plus these days the world and it's population is a very different place.
They also died a lot younger.

Thanks for that post. I always blithely assume that because I grew up a lot of my childhood without electricity (in caravans in wales 15 years ago) that it wouldn't bother me at all but I hadn't really considered the wider implications.
If ours was off for a week I would definitely suffer now!

GreyQueen

Yeah, the wider ramifications of power-down don't bear thinking about.

It's stuff like your wouldn't think; all manufactiring, the hospitals, the ATMs to dispense your cash, the big servers moving your wages from your employers' accounts to your bank account (or benefits or pensions from DWP/HMRC to your bank account). It's the poorly babies in the special care unit, the people on life support, the lights in the operating theatre.

It's the chilled storage facility where my indy greengrocer keeps stock before bringing it to his shop. It's the tills in the supermarket being able to handle card transactions as well as cash. It's the telephony, the ambulance dispatchers, it's the lifeblood of a modern civilisation.

The petrol pumps, the phones, the trains and the planes. It's so hideously-complicated that it gives you chills just thinking about it.

I've come to realise that a lot of the information I have about some aspects of prepping is bookmarked on my computer. Power down and I don't have access to that. So, the coming plan is to get some plans for things which I may need in the future, such as rocket stoves, into hardcopy so I can access them even in a power cut. Or, heaven help us all, an EMP outage which takes everything out for a while.

My ultimate goal would be to have all my skills in my head and so practised that I would barely need to think about them but for some rarely-used things, that won't be feasible for my set of circumstances, so I'm looking at compiling a tailored-to-me manual, as well as aquiring books.

Hokay, time to breakfast and face the day. Prep on, preppers and observers, prep on.;)

sb44

Just found this which may be of interest .

http://andrewskurka.com/how-to/how-to-make-a-fancy-feast-alcohol-stove/







Just make sure you check with Tiddles first if you can use his can!






:eek:

Bit more info regarding the tins here:

http://beforeitsnews.com/outdoors/2011/10/diy-alcohol-stove-the-super-cat-stove-1294386.html

You wouldn't be able to do much with something this size but at least you could boil a couple of cups of water or heat a tin of beans/soup.

sb44

Now if the S*!t really does hit the fan you could make some survival bread in an Altoids (mints available at some chemists/supermarkets) tin.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Altoids-Tin-Bread-Bake-Survival-Bread/





Then do your egg to dip your bread in:





Hope I am not boring you folks, sod the housework, it is too cold, sitting here at the pc with my feet on a hot water bottle, not putting the heating on later until the family come home.

VJsmum

Light 2 candles sb44 - i am sat marking (ahem!! kinda ) at my kitchen table with a fleece blanket over the knees and 2 candles lit. I couldn't get over how much warmer the kitchen was compared with the rest of the (unheated) house.

I was thinking about wood and a post on another thread from someone who was delivered soggy wood. I think I may buy a small supply of kindling and put in the shed and some carcoal so that we could boil water on the barbecue or make the 16 brick stove - which is so simple as to be ludicrous. Our supply of batteries is low too, so a visit to the pound shop is in order I think.

Your post about electricity outtage and especially planes made me think, GQ. I know at the time of the "millennium bug" it was said that there was not enough "plane suitable" space on the ground for every plane to be on the ground at the same time and there must be even more planes now. i wonder where they'd all go? Hospitals in the short term have back-up generators.

sb44

Don't forget that the Shtf for birds too in weather like this, it is -4 here in North Staffs, lots of water frozen over.

Make sure you add some hot water to any water bowls you have in the garden for them.

I just tried getting the ice out of the bowls I put out but is frozen solid (water about 5" deep!

They need some stodgy stuff to eat too so I have just baked some chocolate oat bran muffins which they seem to like.