Prepping: the new world...

nosuperwoman

Hi all
I'm a prepping lurker but I thought I would share this link
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/aug/28/collapse-critical-atlantic-current-amoc-no-longer-low-likelihood-study
The switching off of the gulf stream due to global warming is a similar possible crisis.
I've prepped by renewing and improving house insulation and  and double glazing, making sure we have alternative temporary sources of cooking and heating, fitting thermal blinds.
What other preps have people thought of, all ideas welcome! 

MrsCD

Today I played with my Trangia to see how I could cook on it. So far I've only boiled a kettle for hot drinks, but I need to make sure I can cook food too. I made scrambled eggs for my lunch then a nice cuppa. I know it's not much but small steps, etc.
Our house is all electric, so if it goes off, for whatever reason, I need alternative methods of cooking and heating. That's the next thing to work out. What type of heating should I look at. In the past we've made do with hot water bottles and blankets, but we found out just how  cold it gets in winter a few years ago when we were off for a  couple of days due to storm Arwen!

suzeesu2000

Went through all my kitchen cupboards today and made a list of what I need to restock. 

Thinking back to the 1987 hurricane when we had no electricity for the thick end of a week. Thankfully we had not long got a gas cooker so we ended up letting the neighbours us it too.
In this house we started off with an electric stove but I don’t cook well on electric so we changed it five years ago to gas. Hope that we don’t lose both at the same time! 

Just got to go through our toiletries/medical drawers and we should be fairly well organised. 

Have a good evening all xx

Floss

@MrsCD do you have anything under your sheets on top of the mattress? I have a thin double quilt (king size bed) and in winter a fleecy mattress cover.(double sided so smooth & cool in summer). Then if very cold (broken boiler a few years ago meant a week with no heating) I will put a thin fleece blanket between me & the duvet.

MrsCD

@Floss, yes, we put a thick teddy fleece blanket under the bottom flannelette sheet in Winter, and we have a wool duvet on top,  with extra blankets if needed. 
What I'm wondering about is how do we heat a room or space, without gas or electricity, if we have a power cut. We have a small heater run on gas cylinders but DH isn't keen on it in the house! We have the usual woollies etc to wear, but I'm conscious of DH feeling the cold so much more now he's on blood thinners. 

cuddlymarm

Hi 
When my auntie was in the cold part of the house, stone floors, the days before central heating she used to wear a hat and layers if it was really cold. I wear fingerless gloves at work when it’s really cold and tuck a short scarf round my neck to keep out the droughts. 

Might sound a bit drastic but if it’s really cold you do what’s needed.

DigForVictory

When sat in my working-from-home office, I sit in a sleeping bag, It looks pretty daft & it makes leaping up to answer the door or the house landline slightly more hazardous but ye gods it stops the draughts.
Cold toes at night are met with a checked-before-each-use hot water bottle. (I do have wheat bags, somewhere, the hot water bottle I know where it is.) 

Floss

MrsCD said:

 We have a small heater run on gas cylinders but DH isn't keen on it in the house! We have the usual woollies etc to wear, but I'm conscious of DH feeling the cold so much more now he's on blood thinners. 

Maybe look at picking up some ski thermals, thin thermal gloves, neck warmers & hats for him (and you). Primark do very good thermals at good prices, and Aldi / Lidl do ski wear too.  

Encourage him to wear layers, and wear full length nightwear with socks too.

Mee

Just a word of warning, while layering up is helpful, I recall hearing a doctor on BBC Radio 4 possibly on Inside Health, saying harm comes from breathing in 'cold air'. I am now more circumspect about my energy use as a result.
PS I feel the cold a great deal, but have found Decathlon's silk liner gloves helpful.

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/adults'-trekking-silk-liner-gloves-mt500-black/_/R-p-14734

mandco

Has anyone tried a solar power power bank?  I’m guessing they aren’t particularly good at charging just by using the solar power option but wondering if it might be worth it as a back up in an emergency type situation if there was no access to electricity. What made me wonder is dd went camping recently and the power bank they took ran out as they ended up using it for multiple things as they had no access to electricity to charge/power anything.