The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

Effician

elaine241 said:

Well Russia has invaded Ukraine not unexpectedly given the troop movements and rhetoric coming from Putin! 
What are people feeling about this? 

Do I go out and look to buy more emergency supplies, top up my existing preps, buy anything specific or calm down have a cup of tea and wait for the whole thing to blow over? ( another quote from Shaun of the Dead :-) )

Doing a bigger shop today than planned , maybe 75%  for store cupboard,  will also fill the car up then it's off to the Winchester

daz378

I'm hoping  that it doesn't  spill over to any NATO countries....possible power cuts.. .further energy price rises...inflation....uncertain times

LadOnTheHill

I reckon energy supplies will be impacted. The CEO of Shell has said he'll step in if supplies are affected (hence no windfall tax...), but how quickly that could be done is another matter. Extra lights, more battery packs and a way to charge them are on the list.

I'm off to the cash machine to get some money out too, but how that will get changed from notes to coins is another matter. If the till in the shop is down, can they make change from a £20 note? If there's no electricity, the chip and pin machines won't work, nor will the cash machines.

Happy_Sloth

Hmmm .... 

Really don't know what to do now   

We've been trying to eat down our prep's because by husband is out of work and things are very tight, as such we haven't done any sort of big shop since beginning of December.  just occasionally grabbing bread/milk etc. 

We've still got plenty of food but not our normal range and this Russia thing has set off all my anxiety. 

I'm trying to resist the urge to run to the shop and spend tons of money i haven't got.  In good news though my husband was offered a job yesterday,  but that's no guarantee he'll take it,  or the job will still exist if world war 3 breaks out.  

I did slightly cave and ordered a veg box and some meat from the farm shop.  The veg boxes are flipping huge! so that's easily 8 weeks of veg but still.  

Do i .... 

1) Do nothing...  continue with the plan to eat down the freezers. 
2) Go out and spend a small amount of money on some of the essentials we are low on.  
3) say sod it, trust my husband has work and do a proper shop.  

Toonie

I'd say that a small amount of money on low stock essentials is perfectly reasonable @Happy_Sloth

I've been doing a check of stocks of all sorts today and noted that the only thing we're really low on is washing up liquid (our dishwasher broke, we have plenty of dishwasher tabs!) This will be rectified this weekend (earliest we can get out) and I'll also make sure I have some cash on hand just in case of power/cyber issues. We don't really have the ability to do much else by way of stocking up as we're on a very limited income at present, so will just ensure the things we do have are in good working order.

Otherwise it's a bit of a case of waiting to see what happens.

maryb

My personal view is you don't need to rush out today.  Down the line there may well be shortages and price rises but you will know better what your financial position is once you know about your husband's job.  It would be different if it was a Nato country.  The analogy is Czechoslovakia not Poland

LadOnTheHill

@HappySloth

This is what I would do, this isn't necessarily what I think you should do. I don't have to live with the consequences of your actions like you do. This is just my thoughts and opinions.

That said, debt is more of a danger (to my mind) than Russia invading Ukraine. You'll be feeling the consequences of it more than the war. Debt has a more insidious effect on things within your own home than something happening in another county. I would do what I could to avoid it.

That said, it does seem like you are able to spend some money on getting supplies in, so I would take a look at what is already onboard, and see what is necessary. I'd go for caloric staples like rice and pasta and beans and Lentils and such. They fill your belly and give you energy just as well as expensive cuts of meat*. Veg add variety and different nutrients, too. Even if your husband doesn't take the job, or get to keep it if he does, at least you'll have food on the table.

If DH gets the job,
you can have a big shop soon enough. If he doesn't get the job, you won't be able to repay the debt quickly enough. Some money coming in is better than no money coming in. We don't always have the luxury of our perfect job, sometimes we have to grit our teeth and bear it. 

If you go out and spend money you don't have, you'll have to pay it back soon enough, whether or not DH is in work. Are you prepared for the worry about not being able to pay it back, on top of the worry about war?

The worst case scenario to my mind is war happens,  being in debt, and no job. You would have more food on the table if this happens, though.

I would go with option 2. Stay out of debt, get in what supplies I could, even if they weren't my first favourites. Build up stocks as best I could. Take the job, even for just a few months, to get over the hump, and put some "credit in the cupboards".

*I eat meat, too. I am not getting at you for doing so. In lean times, though, it's the first thing I cut from my diet. It's one of the most expensive cost - per - calorie foods.

euronorris

In your case Happy_Sloth, I would probably allow myself £15-£20 to source some non perishable stock cupboard essentials - pasta, rice, tinned tomatoes, powdered onion, minced garlic, tinned potatoes, veggies and fruit. Trolley.co.uk is an app that compares prices of items at various different supermarkets, so that you can try to maximise what you are getting for your budget.

LadOnTheHill

euronorris said:

Trolley.co.uk is an app that compares prices of items at various different supermarkets, so that you can try to maximise what you are getting for your budget.

Thanks for this, I hadn't heard of it.

Happy_Sloth

thanks for the advice,  

I did go out and get some bits of essentials,  still trying to eat to the bottom of our freezers so i didn't get any frozen,  but picked up some of the stables we where short of, beans, tins of toms, eggs, milk, flour etc.. 

I spent about £100 so not too much and it was money i had, so not more debt.  I've just not been spending so much because i didn't know how long my OH would be out of work and how long the money i had would need to last.   Until he's working we are running at abit of a negative, and it's been hard to calculate how long it would go on for.  

So it's a little bit more than i planned to spend this month but won't put us in a worse position overall.  

It has however made me feel a little better so that's a help and good news is OH has accepted to job, so just waiting on contracts etc.  so fingers crossed.