Government advises households to prepare national crisis ‘emergency kit’ Oliver Dowden says homes should be self-sufficient in case of events such as floods, power outages, cyber attacks or war.

I best get more wine and snacks in…

Oh well done the govt., more bloody shortages of things when people start to panic buy!

Water aside, we always have a well stocked larder with tinned and dried goods, batteries galore, two always charged portable phone chargers, plenty of loo roll, torches and blankets. Job done.

I don’t think we should be dismissive at all. Isn’t this just what we do anyway? I live in the sticks, and we have all the things on the list already in case it snows, as we often get power cuts. The only thing I don’t have is that much bottled water - but given the incident in Brixham last week I think I’ll get more in now.

Is there a list?? I'll definitely need chocolate on mine.
Floods-a boat?
Cyber attacks- Will that mean no Gransnet?????-
Maybe a helmet made out of baking foil???

I don’t live in the sticks. I live (pretty much) above Sainsbury’s. I don’t have the space or the inclination to buy in more than we need for a day or two. We call it our larder. Perhaps I need to change my ways. Or not. Be interesting to look at the supermarket shelves in the coming days! If there’s less availability perhaps I’ll join in - and make a bad situation worse!

I usually have enough in that I could made do for a week- though it’d be some interesting meals by the end of it.
Prior to some flooding in my house I would have had closer to two weeks. But my storage was used up. Hoping to slowly properly restock again over the summer.

Where on earth will I store it all!

I would think that most of us use our common sense and keep an eye on what we have in stock re food batteries etc. Having lived this long including living in an earthquake zone (only one small one happened ) and near a river that flooded, I have a reasonable idea of how I would cope with things. I am sure that those of us who have brought up families and worked are already used to being organised . It is sensible to be a bit organised but it does not give the government the excuse to avoid their own need to get organised!!

This is rather old news I think, but flooding and power outages are a reality. Whilst we are not in an area likely to flood, we are in the sticks, we could be snowed in and the power supply is overhead and subject to outages so I have a very well stocked pantry (including plenty of long life milk), freezer and medicine cabinet, a battery powered radio and plenty of candles, torches and batteries for everything. We have a couple of standby calor gas heaters and a small calor gas stove plus spare canisters. We also always have a month’s worth of prescription medicines for ourselves and the dog in hand, and the fuel tanks in the cars are kept topped up. I have always lived in the countryside and made sure that we could survive for a good while in an emergency.

When I went back to work, after I had children, I started doing a big shop once a month, so that in the intervening weeks all I had to buy was fresh food and specials.

This means that I am in the habit of keeping around +/- a months supply of food in the house, plus my freezer.

Over the years, in different places I have coped with frequent long power cuts, 2 weeks without gas (in November), being snowed in and COVID. I think I am both resilient and resourceful.

GrannyGravy13

I best get more wine and snacks in…

I stocked up on wine when Sainsbury's had their Buy 6 offer last week. Bought 12, think we might have some left.

kittylester they have extended their 25% offer I am going tomorrow 🥂

Maybe not so easy for people in small city flats with limited storage though. How about those on limited budgets too, who often can't take advantage of the buy in bulk special offers. I guess if people can get in a little bit extra each week (if they're able to), they could build up a small, extra store, in case of emergencies.

Cossy

Oh well done the govt., more bloody shortages of things when people start to panic buy!

Water aside, we always have a well stocked larder with tinned and dried goods, batteries galore, two always charged portable phone chargers, plenty of loo roll, torches and blankets. Job done.

... more bloody shortages of things when people start to panic buy!

Which is exactly what will happen.

But how do you prepare for a cyber-war? I mean, if systems are down, they're down, and there's precious little anyone can do about it.

With no alternative to gas and electricity I would soon be in trouble. Perhaps I need to revive my guiding skills of cooking over a campfire, assuming scrumping for firewood won’t incur armed resistance - lots of guns in the country. Or should we oldies just take the hint and fade away quietly?

We only have electricity. Hence the standby calor gas heaters and stove. I don’t think we can do anything in the event of a cyber attack other than to be well stocked up on anything we might buy from the shops and have plenty of reading matter to hand when we can’t waste our time onnGN!

It has to be food that doesn't need to be heated or cooked. so rice and pasta won't help. I always have a stash of baked beans, a few tins of tuna, breakfast cereal, crackers, oh and biscuits mainly for the grandchildren, well I don't eat them naturally! Better keep that lot topped up then.

Here’s the list:
Battery or wind-up torch
Portable power bank
Battery or wind-up radio - to get updates during a power cut
Spare batteries - for torches, radio and any medical equipment
First aid kit - waterproof plasters, bandages, thermometer, antiseptic, eyewash, sterile dressings and gloves, medical tape and tweezers
Hand sanitiser and wet wipes
Bottled water - minimum of 2.5-3 litres of drinking water per person per day. 10 litres per person per day to be comfortable, for cooking and hygiene. More may be needed for baby formula, medical devices and pets
Non-perishable food - tinned meat, fruit, vegetables (and a tin opener), pet food
Baby supplies - nappies and formula

Three days supply of food won’t take up a lot of room, the only bulky thing on the list is the bottled water, and I can see that being an issue for flat dwellers.
I’ve got one of the two ring camping gas cookers which take small gas bottles, just as a back up for water for my coffee, which is my only other stockpiled item, having been caught out in the early days of Covid, life without nice coffee is a no for me.

If it was flooding we would decamp to a friends very large boat.
If it was electricity or gas we would decamp to the motohome where the solar panels give us all the electric we need.
There is also a satellite tv system so I won’t go without that.

Could always fire up the BBQ for cooking and heating water.

Three days?? So, Christmas then.

I thought it was going to be three weeks at least!! 😳

Unless your garden’s under water, what’s wrong with a barbecue?

Hmm. We always have a decent larder and stocks of loo roll, full petrol tanks etc, but when I (and others) said we had done this for any expected Brexit shortages and then during lockdown, we were harshly criticised and accused of causing shortages.

Thanks for the heads-up. I've just been to the recycling bin and fished out all the old newspapers that I put in there yesterday. There's bound to be a loo paper shortage any time now.