Prepared at home

[Tank]

Hi All,

I am not sure where to put this, so hope this is ok here.

I have recently had a situation where I have I ended up without a car for 3 days which caused a fair bit of hassle in my day to day life. It got me thinking about other situations in the home thought it best to be a bit prepared for unforeseen problems such as loss of water, gas or electric.

So as I am now a family man and have to look after some others I thought best to get some stuff in to make sure I can provided the basics for my family. So I will be getting some water, a small gas hob and some food to keep stored.

After a bit of Youtubing and Googling I have seen the idea of a 72hr kit for food and water etc, but most of the information I have found is based in the US where supplies and kit is a lot cheaper. Does anyone in the UK practice this sort of preparedness, if so what do you keep in the house for this sort of situation?


Cheers

 

[v-ness]

Hey there,

I started putting a kit together last winter when we had a longish powercut- about 12 hours- and I struggled to even find candles in the house. I have now got a a little gas stove, a decent supply of candles and matches, a few windup torches and a windup radio. Aswell as some packets of dried and canned food. I havent sorted the water supply, thats next on the list. I have a friend who belongs to the Mormon church and apparently they traditionally keep a years supply of food and water and general goods they might need in an emergency. I think thats a brilliant idea, however storing a years worth of stuff might be a problem. But a 3 month kit is my aim .

Cheers
Ness

 

[Tank]

a years worth seems a lot i would need to rent a new home just to store it.

I am think 72hr kit is doable and controllable then look at making a week kit.

 

[ex-member Raikey]

i think theres a thread on here (search "preparedness")

you'll be suprised at how many folk, do prepare for this kinda thing,..

if you already do lot of family camping like me than its pretty much done apart from a bit of dried food and some potted water...

i even prepared my pick up truck with the thinking that i can live out of it at the drop of a hat for at least 3 days,..solar power, 240v, inverter, gas, fuel, food, water,...

 

[John Fenna]

Living in the countryside, miles from shops and busses I take this kind of preparedness as a basic "need to do" - anyone not prepared for power cuts, floods, blocked roads etc around my way is a bit of a numpty!
My van also holds the basic needs for living a couple of days if I cannot get home.
Preparedness - a way of life!

 

[Bushwhacker]

I've just recently not had a car either. Living just a shade under nine miles from work makes for a long walk but a nice one, cutting across fields and through woods in the main.
According to most people I was some kind of nut job for walking everywhere. ???!!!????

 

[Tank]

i think we live in a world we where expect water to turn on when we turn the taps on or be able to get home from work when the day is done, but starting to think that is not always the way. I have a basic kit in the car as now i am driving from london every weekday and dont want to get caught if it snows again this year.

 

[Tadpole]

Unless you live on takeways, most people will have enough food to last three or more day. Be it rice, pasta, spuds, or tins and tings, the main thing is to be imaginative in cooking them. All foods can be done on a tranga/gas cooker, just as easy as on the home stove, given time and organisation. If you need to bug-out, that is the time to think about dried food and preparedness. I feel those Rat packs are the answer for that. Variety and portability, plus no need for additions other than a plate/mug/bowl to eat from if sharing.

Most home bakers/cooking people have stuff that can be stretched to make more meals if needed , so there is no need to buy into extra food, if you plan to stay put for a few days or a week.

 

[woof]

As tadpole says most have food in, i keep a few tins and dried stuff on one side & just rotate them with the regular cooking goods. As for water, its realy cheap to buy bottled, and last a fair time, again i just rotate a few litres, keep some in my van for the dogs use.

Rob

 

[Tank]

There is always food in the cupboard, however most of the food I cook is from scratch, I don’t buy any processed food, and the only tinned goods I have is chopped tomatoes, baked beans, UHT milk and a few other bits. Being prepared to me is being covered for a amount of time at any time of the year. at the end of a month I can not guarantee having food in the cuboards.

So a stock of food would be essential

 

[Shewie]

You should check these guys out Tank, a good bunch of folk with lots of good info and knowledge to share. You have to keep up with your posts though as you're account will get deactivated.

 

[Tank]

Hi Shewie,

Thanks i will take look.

Cheers

Tim

 

[johnnytheboy]

I have a few good recipes that are one pot stuff using pulses and bits and bobs that you need are either dried or in tined, i keep a wee back up stock of this sort of stuff that would tidy us over for a few days!!!

All i need is a generator to keep my freezer going and i'll be sorted!!!!

 

[rik_uk3]

72 hours is not enough really, you can go that long very easily without food so long as you have water; think in terms of a month to start with.

 

[rik_uk3]

Mormon manual here for food storage. Scribd is a great site for all sorts of downloads, take a look. Lots of survival and bushcraft stuff to read or download, I've put some uploads there myself.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/15102243/LDS-PreparednessManual

 

[bmartin1uk]

When i lived in New Zealand, they were running a TV and website campaign called Get Ready, Get Thru
Used to worry me every time it came on. Chatting to some of my Kiwi friends, i think if New Zealand gets hit with a big earthquake, they are pretty much resigned to losing Wellington and a number of other populated areas!!
Theres a house hold emergency checklist and a what to do in case of an Earthquake, Storm, Flood, Tsunami, Volcano, Landslide and Other.
Apart from rare occasions of bad storms and floods (and my heart goes out to anyone who is affected by this), i think most of the worries in the UK fall under 'Other'. Thats the section that worries most people i think.

 

[MSkiba]

I always thought about making a ready pack for home all ready to grab and go. Things like wind up radio, duck tape, first aid, batteries, tinned food. Problem is you would need to renew it every few years. I gues if you got outside storage area you could also include petrol etc..

 

[Petey]

BE careful to rotate any store of petrol every few months - it loses it's grunt after a while (how many petrol mowers/strimmers etc get regarded as u/s because of this - even when they're topped up with fuel from an old jerry can that has also been left neglected for 6months plus)

Don't forget that any extra supplies you store don't need to be used until after your main supplies are dwindling, so no harm in keeping those cupboards brim full whenever possible.

I'm of a mind to do two things:

1. get 10-20 quids worth of bottled water stashed away in the loft (spread out obviously)

2. find out where the nearest mormon church is and how well defended it is irate::BlueTeamE:viking:

(sorry! heh heh...)

 

[ged]

My biggest concern would be safe water. The sticky thread on the subject here on BCUK is a must read if you're serious about sitting out hard times. I have several ways of collecting and storing rain water, and also several ways of boiling it from a hobo stove to a Ghillie kettle to an Optimus or gas camping stove. I could make a serviceable filter with a length of drainpipe and some gravel. Normally I drink bottled carbonated water, and I usually buy it in two litre containers. When I've emptied one I often fill it with tap water and store it with the foodstuffs. I think I'm up to about sixty at the moment.

Also I store foods like pasta, dehydrated potatoes and lentils, dried fruits, canned foods of all kinds such as beans, corned beef, even a few curries. SWMBO puts it all in a database on the computer so we can keep track of the age and use-by dates. Every now and again we rotate the old stock out and replace it, so it doesn't really cost any extra to be prepared but it helps if you like canned beans.

A few months' food and water for a family takes up quite a bit of space.

 

[British Red]

By careful re-packaging, you can get the life of your, rice, beans and other dried food stuffs up to about 20 years.

A member here runs http://www.theselfsufficiencyshop.co.uk/

(No connection - just a happy customer). They sell all the stuff you need. Bung in long term storage and forget.

Red