Prepping: the new world...

daz378

So sorry to hear about Fuddle..thoughts to friends and family 

preppingfortuesday

Hi all,

I'm new to this forum so I hope you don't mind that I jump in here  

I was raised with a strong focus on being prepared, and over time I’ve become the go-to person among friends and family for questions about prepping or general “what-if” planning.

I recently started a website aimed specifically at women who want to feel more prepared — without panic, pressure, or a four-hour TED talk from me. It’s meant to be calming, not alarming — a kind of low-key guide for those who want to start somewhere but don’t know how.

This isn’t a resource for seasoned preppers. It’s for the women who feel like they should probably get their act together, but are overwhelmed by where to start or don’t feel represented in typical prepper spaces.

So I’d love to ask:
What questions or concerns have the women around you shared about prepping or preparedness?
Are there gaps you wish someone had filled when you were starting out?

I'm not here to promote the site at all (that would be like preaching to the choir) but I've been reading through this thread and thought you might have insight or a perspective that is different from mine if that makes sense? 

I want this project to be as inclusive, useful, and human as possible — and I know my own perspective is limited. Any insight you can share would really help shape it.

Cherryfudge

Hello @preppingfortuesday, I don't think I've had people ask me much about prepping, apart from my gown up son who thinks it's silly and 'But if you were ill Mum, I'd get you some groceries'. That's not terribly realistic as he lives in another area.

A gap I still have is what not to prep! My 'emergency food' cupboard doubles as a home for useful non-essentials bought on offer. I don't really count meringues as a basic food group, but they are useful if we don't have much time to prepare for guests. However, tins of tuna and baked beans, which are probably high on the list of most preppers, get eaten so stocks run down. Tea lights and matches have been in there at least a couple of years and not been used.

An area of prepping I've not really seen discussed, is future-proofing your home. Will the time come when a handrail might save you from a fall, or do you need a fire extinguisher/smoke alarm etc? We can tend to think of prepping as a safety net against bad weather, illness or international disasters, but I know if I had a fall and broke a bone or hit my head, that could set me back a long way and undermine the healthy life I try to lead. 

weenancyinAmerica

1. How to get the family involved.
2. Where to store everything.
3. How to figure out how much to store; non-food items as well.

Nelliegrace

I went to Mountain Warehouse at the designer outlet village yesterday for some stainless steel mugs from their sale, to replace old melamine ones. (£14.99 reduced to £6.99.) We have replaced the old plastic lined water bottles and plastic tumblers with stainless steel ones. The cost will soon be recovered by taking drinks out with us.
At the till the assistant commented on how unusual it was for someone to be prepared enough to have a shopping bag with them. This in a shop which sold stuff for preppers!

fionaandphil

I'm always amazed at any supermarket how many people turn up without bags.  I can kind of understand if they are on foot, but all those people who have cars?! I put mine at the door once I've unpacked and they go in the next time I get in the car, there are always spares in there too otherwise they'd be cluttering up the house.

I do tend to think of prepping in terms of food, but have since I've followed this thread bought a small gas stoves and cartridges and have some matches too something I probably wouldn't have considered before.

DigForVictory

There's an amazing spectrum of preparedness, and different people are comfortable at different points.

Former Chief Scout Bear Grylls would expect you to be sound on shelter water & food in that order. Which given his propensity for landing in strange areas with a penknife & a camera crew makes sense. Other might focus on knowing where the stop c*ck for mains water is, or be really sound on what to do if someone does something epically stupid to the septic tank. Most of us here like setting things on fire for warmth & hot water, be that a log burner, gas cylinder, Kelly kettle or a whopping open fireplace. (A remarkable resource as you warm yourself & family several times over seeking fallen wood, lugging it back, chopping it, stacking it, bringing it in & finally burning it. Just it does wake up the appetite so you need additional foodstuffs to stoke those involved. And matches or some agreed fire starter.)

Plus we all have different priorities. I've currently an elderly mum who worries me more than my outgrown-teenage sons. In rotten weather they can hike off to the supermarket & lug back food. Mum really cannot. 

I'm on medication - I have a few nights spare but not a month - I may see if my GP is open to sorting me an extra chit just for collective peace of mind.

I don't have pets, (running teenagers was enough of a demand on my resources) so the worming mix and the special feed isn't on my prepping list, but I have a whopping box of fatballs sent to mum each month as she does love to feed the birds. 

I run a car - this one, I do not have spare wheels with winter tyres for. It has a small in-case kit which with a bit of thought I could update into a modest bugout kit, and also a brew kit which my husband set up for me & I keep relatively up to date. It's always nice to have the doings for a coffee or a hot chocolate when cars go wrong, not least as by the time you have the water near boiling, the AA or RAC or some benevolent genie arrive.

I've a hand cranked radio that the lads don't know is also a powerbank & LED lanterns which stay topped up with a small solar panel. This household is a bit odd in that when the lights go off we can illuminate our darkness by 'Roman' oil light lamps, rushlights, candles, pressure lanterns, LED lights or a mixture. (The pressure lanterns are a bit tetchy, I may pass them on to people who recall the light, warmth & hiss as an immediate nostalgic throwback to camping. The lads can't be doing with the counting strokes & fun with mantles.)

The bug out bag is a open to debate for Hours (the more thorough, the more risk if stolen for identity theft) but frankly if you or anyone in your household might need to go to hospital at short notice, having a hospital bag packed is peace of mind. Also the mother who knows her sons NI numbers, NHS numbers & has photos of all their GCSE & A level certificates stashed is one who will be crooned to should the going get tough. (Any Kendal Mint Cake will probably have evaporated long before.) Just if you hear there's a gas leak and you are requested to get the heck out NOW, having a 'grab that rucksack' will put you in a much better position than the neighbour in their pyjamas & raincoat, clutching their cat.

Some people have a formidable Every Day Carry kit just in a handbag or pocket - prepping can be just knowing which pocket your car key is in, or carrying a ferro rod & scraper in a belt pouch, let alone cash, keys, meds, etc in a handbag.

What we are at risk of underestimating though, is Knowledge. A well-loaded head can get the fire going, decide whose sock to sacrifice to make a water filter, coax the young into cranking that radio in exchange for 5 minutes charging whatever device they choose (but a sensible person's phone first), persuade whomever brought that monster tarp to make a shelter for a group not engulf & overburden one person, be savvy with the knots to position it & hold it in place, get the fragile & vulnerable stashed together (one telling the rest stories ideally, & I wouldn't presume it was Granny G telling the under 5s immediately either - I heard three elderly folk bundled listening bewildered-but-game to the gist of Star Wars recounted with vim by a six year old), use gaffer tape to patch knackered plastic bags into useful waterproofing etc.

preppingfortuesday

I feel terribly rude for asking a question and then disappearing entirely! I've been travelling so wifi has been unreliable to say the least. 

Thank you all for your very thoughtful answers! You've given me a lot to take into consideration and to think about  

DigForVictory

Good grief. On behalf of my various bushcrafting pals may I say a robust "Hoy!" to this <hm, amusing> article on prepping which does at least have the wit to appreciate we don't really like being talked about ‘People were buying crossbows faster than I’d like’ – how prepping went mainstream in Britain | Life and style | The Guardian (and worry not, the crossbow is only mentioned 5 times on the entire page) Still, Guardian. <Blasted pay or deal with adverts>
" “A bushcrafter is sat inside and wishes they were outside,” says David, a bushcraft expert. “A prepper is outside and wishes they were inside. It’s an attitude difference.” David isn’t his real name " Just as well, the bushcrafters I know have the same determination to get outside as their happy place as the Princess of Wales. They also tend to have a few sharp metal things in exactly the same way as I gave my son a tin opener - it's a tool. Life is better with it. If David (not his real name) were to decloak at the Moot he'd be invited under the parachute [gods we have such weird outdoors habits] to learn making cordage, debate the best angle of grind of a whittling knife, be whistled over to help cook & brew & try living alongside Nature in her abundant generosity as a form of relaxation & enjoyment let alone nutrition, camaraderie & well, preparedness. Many of whom also have a sensible pantry back home & share recipes to cope with gluts, and various preservation & propagation techniques.

goldfinches

Afternoon all, I thought I'd drop in to this thread again to tell you all about what happened overnight at Goldfinches Mansions.
I was woken just after 4am this morning by a furious banging on my door and shouts of "Police you need to wake up", when I opened the door an officer told me that a car had crashed into the building and that I needed to be evacuated immediately as they weren't sure that it was structurally safe. I grabbed my phone, stick and keys and stepped out onto the landing. A firefighter escorted me downstairs and I was taken outside and then walked along the road to the garden of the pub at the bridge. 
All I was wearing was pyjamas, dressing gown and slippers and it was surprisingly chilly at that time even though it was already quite light. 
I was eventually allowed to return home and went, thankfully, back to bed whereupon I overslept and missed all the things I'd planned to do this morning.

My main advice, based on my experience, is to always insist upon being allowed to get dressed. If it sounds like you won't be given the time to do so, scramble into your clothes before answering the door. My neighbours all arrived in the pub garden quite a while after me and wearing clothes and I felt at a suprising disadvantage when dealing with all the officials from the police and fire service who came to speak to us at various times. 
My other piece of hard won experience is to practice grabbing all the things you've prepared when you're fuddled with sleep, I foolishly stepped out of my front door without any of the things I could have snatched up which would all have been helpful and I spent quite a lot of time sitting outdoors regretting not giving myself a few minutes to think.

It all turned out alright in the end for which I'm thankful but from now on my emergency bag or bags will live in the bedroom ready to be grabbed and I will always dress before answering a similar summons.