The survival box

groatie_queen

Inspired by thinking OS, my brother and I had a long chat about what we would need if there were no normal services available. Think floods, or other interruption to mains gas / water / electricity / food supplies etc etc..

We decided we need to put together a b*ggery box, for when things go to b*ggery at times of crisis

So far it would have in it:

wind-up torches and lantern
wind-up radio
candles
kelly (tornado) kettle plus pot adaptor
blankets, sleeping bags
warm clothes / thermals / waterproofs
water carrier and treatment tablets
axe, woodsman's knife
fire starter - flint / steel / other, as well as matches
first aid kit

Food supplies is a whole separate issue.

I've been given some good thermals for Christmas, plus the torch - so I'm on my way.

I'm thinking of using the kelly kettle just now, burning garden debris to keep the electricity bill down - with the hot water stored in a thermos.

What else would you put in the b*ggery box? All suggestions welcome!

GQ xxx

kunekune

Emergency food is important (I was in a 6.8 earthquake in 1987, and cannot emphasise enough the importance of being prepared). Make sure there is plenty of protein, as you may be on short rations and protein fills you up. Good things to have are:

tinned fish & meat if you are a meat eater, preferably things that can be eaten cold like tinned salmon, tuna, corned beef
tinned beans are another excellent protein source, chick peas and kidney beans are fine eaten cold
tinned soup and baked beans if you think it's likely you'll have the means of heating things
tinned fruit
long-life milk
carbohydrate sources that don't need much cooking and keep a long time, such as bulgar wheat, couscous, crispbreads
plenty of water
cereal is handy
muesli bars and biscuits [an emergency is not the time to worry about sugar!]

Depending on the kind of emergency you are envisaging, you can also have things like jam (jars not a good idea if the local risk is earthquakes, the mess is fabulous!).

kunekune

More thoughts: if you are going to be living off the stocks for a while, use it up in a sensible order. Start with what's in the fridge, cooking it if you can. I remember boiling lots of eggs when our power came back, because the shops weren't going to be open for a while yet, and we had heaps of tuna/bean/egg salad. The freezer will stay frozen for a bit, don't open it unless you have to. The tins are the last thing to touch, unless you cannot get into your kitchen (suggest you keep the emergency food in a different location, one that is easy to get to).

ceridwen

Thought I might be interested......

Okay - me and my website links again coming up:

www.thegreatchange.com/index.html

http://asthecrowflies.org/2007/10/25/

and I know the Mormons have something somewhere on one of their websites re a suitable stock of emergency food to keep in.

Lets hope we never have to deal with any emergency situation - but can understand why you want to "be prepared".

pandas66

kunekune wrote: »

Emergency food is important (I was in a 6.8 earthquake in 1987, and cannot emphasise enough the importance of being prepared). Make sure there is plenty of protein, as you may be on short rations and protein fills you up. Good things to have are:

tinned fish & meat if you are a meat eater, preferably things that can be eaten cold like tinned salmon, tuna, corned beef
tinned beans are another excellent protein source, chick peas and kidney beans are fine eaten cold
tinned soup and baked beans if you think it's likely you'll have the means of heating things
tinned fruit
long-life milk
carbohydrate sources that don't need much cooking and keep a long time, such as bulgar wheat, couscous, crispbreads
plenty of water
cereal is handy
muesli bars and biscuits [an emergency is not the time to worry about sugar!]

Depending on the kind of emergency you are envisaging, you can also have things like jam (jars not a good idea if the local risk is earthquakes, the mess is fabulous!).

tin opener? :eek:

:rotfl:

dlb

What a great idea.
Dh got a wind up torch as a present yesterday and its fantastic 1 mins widing gives 1 hour of very powerful light!.
We all ready have a gas powered (bottled gas about the size of a hairspray can) cooker, and have spare bottles of gas.
Packs of cards ect for entertainment by torch candle light may be a good idea for those with kids.
Definatly need to make one of these boxes!

angchris

after having gone through the summer floods and on top of that having no water for 2 weeks i think a box stashed in the garage with emergency stuff in is a very good idea! i now no longer keep my freezer rammed for fear of leccy cuts and i have stocked up on tins of food instead i also have a stash of bread flour and yeast. i have sand bags ready to throw at my front door (not that its gonna help much :rolleyes: ) i also have got several big water containers that came in very useful over the "summer" and we also keep jerry cans full of petrol for emergencies.
everything has now been put on shelving in my garage off the floor and my camping gear cooker etc is readily at hand with torches/candles and radio. we kind of have a plan of action if we get flooded again was very lucky last time as it justtttt missed us by inches (my neighbours still arent in their homes yet)
hopefully we will never have to use any of this ever again but you never can tell...who knows what the future holds

thriftlady_2

On the food front dried beans that can be sprouted will give you a fresh veg supply that is an excellent source of vitamins (and protein I think). Mung beans are easy to find and sprout. You need a jar and a bit of old tights or muslin. They need to be rinsed in water a few time a day for about 3 days. The water can be reused for drinking

kunekune

Tin opener? Now that would be a good idea, wouldn't it! OH, and of course, will need toilet paper and some basic washing equipment. Dishwashing stuff will do most of it, perhaps have some bleach on hand as well.

stefejb

A trangia cooker would be good - It's a camping stove really and can work on meths but I use greenheat which is an eco fuel - one can is pretty much all dd and I use for a weekend of camping

mrs_lds

Hope this is of use from the church Of Jesus Christ of latter day saints website on food storage. Great even just for peace of mind and in todays current climate.

http://www.providentliving.org/channel/1,11677,1706-1,00.html