Prepping: the new world...

weenancyinAmerica

I have been considering having a one-year supply of everything - but I don't know what to do about a year's supply of kitty litter and toilet paper. May have to take decluttering as far as possible to provide room to store everything. The cat food just for the next couple of weeks seems to be taking over - and we are only feeding four cats. But we have seven people to stock up items for - just the thought is a little overwhelming. Going to start with one month's supply if we can and work from there.

Cherryfudge

@weenancyinAmerica, I think the situation in America might be different from the UK - global catastophes aside, you are more likely to have extreme weather (though some British weather can be dangerous, but if you were unable to get food for a year, I think other systems would have broken down too, in which case the issues of disposal would also need to be tackled. If the kitty litter could be burned, you'd have a source of fuel, but if it's the non-combustible kind, you could have a massive problem. Similarly, how to deal with toilet paper if sanitation breaks down? Would washable cloths be an option?

I'm not an expert on alternatives so those are just thoughts.

Another question is how long a supply of a thing likely are you to need? Is this based on life experience so far, or a total breakdown of society? In my situation (personal to me, not a suggestion for you), life tells me it might be useful to have a few day's worth of food, fuel, medication and information/entertainment that doesn't require Internet. Anything more than that would be outside my experience - yet a family we knew from a town in the same region were without power for some weeks following a storm, so I can't say my experience is enough for all the things that might happen.

weenancyinAmerica

My local government recommends a two-week supply of everything from experience with earthquakes mainly. The government in New York City tried to tell people to have at least a week's supply for the hurricanes, but when Hurricane Sandy hit people were out on the streets begging for help after three days as they hadn't been prepared.
The LDS (Mormon) Church recommends a year's supply and does have instructions available on how to hide it in fake walls and things in some of the online sites that members have put up. The Church policy is that you may need to have in more than you think because you will want to share it with unprepared family and neighbors. When we had the Rodney King riots (yes we do tend to remember the riots after the place or the people involved and England will probably do that too), you needed at least a two-week supply if you lived in parts of Los Angeles. We had to bring in supplies for my great-aunt who still lived in one of the affected neighborhoods. And getting supplies in wasn't easy.  So I personally am trying for a two-week supply, moving up to four weeks when I can. One of my goals is still to get myself a Kelly Kettle. We have a gas stove but the pilot light is electric. I know I can light it with a match or lighter, but I wouldn't trust myself. As I declutter cupboards and drawers, I am figuring out what supplies should go in there and seeing if I can clear out items just taking up space. I find having a purpose for the cupboard or drawer helps me to organize it faster.

greenbee

I was surprised when the pandemic hit how long I managed to live on the food I had in the house (and there wasn't much fresh as I'd been travelling for work for the 2 weeks beforehand). I couldn't get out to shop as I was in isolation for 10 weeks having brought Covid home with me and being required to isolate until my temperature normalised. But the fridge/freezer/cupboards kept me going surprisingly well - with some erratic deliveries from the milkman, the odd veg box, and a few bits of fresh stuff thanks to neighbours. I could, if pushed, have managed without those.

The pandemic was what got me into hot composting - bin collections being disrupted in hot weather wasn't a pleasant idea. We didn't have food waste collection anyway - and I've carried on doing it after moving as we have no food waste collection where I've moved to either. 

I try to keep on top of the recycling in case of any disruption. Cardboard is currently used as the base for veg beds, but both that and paper generally get composted. Glass jars are reused. Plastic film is collected with the veg box or taken to the supermarket - it's one of the things I'm working to reduce, but so many products come packaged in it that it's really frustrating. So plastics, glass, and cans are the bulk of my waste - and most of the cans are down to the cats (ironically if I cook them chicken wings I end up with plastic to get rid of, although less of it). In the event of disrupted waste collection it becomes even more important to keep the recycling clean to minimise smells and vermin. 

I'm expanding my rainwater harvesting, but that's intended purely for watering the garden. I'm not sure I'd want to drink it, but it could be used for loo flushing. I have a septic tank with a pump, but I also have solar with a battery so should be able to keep that running (it's set up to work off grid as well as on grid). The solar also heats the water, and there's a multifuel burner and a LOT of wood. 

Hopefully none of it will be needed, and it'll end up just being a lifestyle choice. 

Cherryfudge

@weenancyinAmerica, this is so different from the UK! I suppose our earthquake and hurricane risk is much lower. The LDS thought, of having enough for others, is a whole new level, bless them. There will of course be people who never got round to preparing or were unable to. I had a quick look at the LDS website and I see one of the reasons given is to protect against loss of income or illness, which could obviously be longer term.

@greenbee - 10 weeks of isolation! I thought 10 days was long enough! Poor you.

ArbitraryRandom

It's always good advice to think about what you're preparing for. I've always aimed for 3 months of most things, but that's because my fear has always been a personal crisis rather than social breakdown.

I was made redundant three times in my first two years after uni, and I really struggled at times with delays on job seekers etc. I'm in a much better position now financially speaking (not rolling in it, but I do actually have a safety net which would keep me afloat while I find another job) and I'm trying to convince myself that the cash I have in savings is the equivalent of the stores in the cupboard. 

I'm thinking a month in hand is probably sensible for most things. That's about how long it took for things to settle in the local shops after the first lockdown, and I shop for staples monthly so it's easy enough for me to rotate stocks that way (shopping from the storecuboard and rolling replacements). The things I'll get more of are things like loo roll and cat food, mostly because I can get better deals online/delivered if I buy in bulk.

DigForVictory

I prefer food in my storage to cash in the bank. Tricky with hungry sons but strategic “mislabelling” (‘kale’, British greens etc) some things are left to sift gently to the bottom of the freezer until needed. 

I’m planning to build a small cash stash so I have ten & five pound notes awaiting cashpoint failures & I’ve heard some people even have gold coins, but how you buy those without leaving big red flags on your bank statement I haven’t yet figured. Besides, I doubt zombies take gold. (I’ve quite a few tools & a family sword - see what happens…)

basketcase

DigForVictory said:

. Besides, I doubt zombies take gold. (I’ve quite a few tools & a family sword - see what happens…)

Darn!  There's more to this prepping business than I thought...🤣

maryb

Back in 2000when the tanker drivers’ strike happened we were low on fuel.  We tried to fill up but despite queuing for ages we couldn’t  get any.  I wouldn’t let DH use the car in case either of the children got meningitis and we needed to get them to hospital and we couldn’t get an ambulance because they were struggling to get fuel.  It did us good to walk everywhere for a while

Then in 2008 I was working in the City and hearing rumours.  I drew out a lot of cash, not all at once but regularly.  DH mocked me gently.  But as we now know the mighty NatWest came within half an hour of going under.  The ramifications don’t bear thinking about.  I think my cash would have helped but how much I don’t know. The supermarkets wouldn't have been able to operate and it would have been foolhardy to go near one.  But the local corner shop would have taken cash for things while they were in stock.  I wasn’t so clued up on prepping back then so I focused on cash in case the cash machines stopped  working. I started prepping shortly after that.  I felt quite smug when we had the bad winter of 2010 and we had a couple of snow shovels to lend to neighbours who hadn’t been able to get hold of one. Of course this meant going out in the dark early mornings clearing the drive so we could get out

Fast forward to early 2020 and I’m a woman on a mission to fill the stores with everything I could think of.  I was well stocked up before lockdown and never had to worry about loo paper or flour.  But of course, the supermarkets did carry on even though there were shortages.  I had more cash than usual but didn’t go mad.  

Another time I felt strongly that I needed to do something was after the Maidan Square coup in Ukraine in 2014.  I persuaded DH to get a wood burner. (which I love love love).  He didn’t take much persuading but he smiled tolerantly when I said we would be warm even if Putin cut off the gas.  As we know, he didn’t actually cut it off in 2022 but European governments were very worried about gas supplies the following winter.  Now I’m happy we can ride out the increasingly likely power cuts

The fuel shortages a couple of years ago were inconvenient because of the traffic jams caused by cars queuing for fuel but we didn’t personally have any problems because we never let the car get low.  This is partly because the gauge doesn’t seem to be that accurate or at any rate not linear.  So it might show we’ve used half a tank but when it goes down another notch we know from experience that means it’s pretty low.

DH doesn’t mock me now when I feel the urge to prep.  But I think I am now a bit more realistic about what I can do.  We can ride out anything short term with little or no disruption because I keep a well stocked cupboard and we have plenty of logs and candles and hot water bottles .  And we always keep the car topped up with fuel plus we still have plenty of cold weather gear - snow boots etc.  But I assume that the banking system will stagger on and the shops will eventually get fresh stock in even if there are widespread shortages.  Longer term societal trouble is something I can’t do anything about so I don’t worry.

Matty246

Help! I've been inspired to sort out the remains of my lock down stores and decided to use a to of Chicken and Vegetable Big Soup. When I opened the tin there was a very thin film across the top. What can it be? It can't be anything nasty, surely? Tinned food lasts for years.