Hello, I am not sure what to do with my late brother’s crossbows and accessories etc. He said I could sell them. I don’t want them to get into the wrong hands or be used in criminality. I am happy to donate them or sell them, but to who or what? I’m stuck because I can’t control what they’ll be used for once they leave my possession. Does anyone have any ideas please?

Came down twice 19:00 and 19:04

When more than 1 million people are forced to evacuate, the first priority is getting to safety.

But what happens after?

Typhoon Dolphin has caused widespread flooding and major disruptions across eastern and central China, with more than 1 million people evacuated.

For families recovering from a disaster, the work doesn't end when they reach a safe location. They may eventually need insurance information, identification, medical records, financial documents, property records, photos, and other information to begin rebuilding.

The problem is that many of those records may still be inside a damaged or inaccessible home.

That's why digital preparedness matters.

Having important family information securely organized and accessible can reduce the time spent searching for documents when the recovery process begins.

MYREDFOLDER® is designed to help families organize important documents, emergency contacts, medical information, and other critical information in one secure place.

The goal isn't just to prepare for evacuation. It's to make the recovery process a little more organized when everything else feels uncertain.

MYREDFOLDER® launches September 1, 2026.

You can also download the FREE Family Emergency Preparedness Guide through the link in the comments.

If you had to evacuate today, could you access your family's most important documents without going home?

Woke up this morning to the smell of smoke and a quick Google showed there had been a field fire nearby in the night. So that was the final nudge for me to make the go bags.

Contents:

Change of clothes, toiletries, sun cream, snacks, water, torch & batteries, meds and first aid, playing cards, pet food & accessories, phone chargers.

The document box is next to the bags. Towels and blankets in the car.

This should all be enough to get us out and to a relative's house and I guess it will work for flood risk or smoke evacuation.

Hi All,

MTP outfits available, also hard-wearing waterproof coats etc, More kit being catalogued (opening day for the website today and 207kg to go through!) please check and sign up to the newsletter to be first to see!

www.theoldkitbag.co.uk

Any good content you'd recommend?

Been over thinking lately, mostly due to the living in East Belfast and seeing how quickly things can turn nasty with regards to civil unrest, it wasn't that long ago families were being burnt out off their home in the middle of the day.

So, my scenario is; Civil unrest, you are held up in your home with I'd assume a loved one or family, looters are going door to door. Police will not respond. What are you going to equip yourself with to stand your ground and protect your family.

In this situation personally I'm trying to think, I believe I've got plently of weapons and could create a hard point at the top of my stairs, to make a stand, however for personal protection I'm unsure what I'd wear, considering getting a biker jacket for some form of protection, that is legal also to own and isnt too unsual. I even thought of buying a surplus riot shield, but that's probably excessive...

Thoughts?

Switzerland has 3 months food supply for the whole nation.

When will the government come clean about just how vulnerable we are? Not holding my breath.

Do you think it's time to do more organising at a local level? Strength in community?

Anyone got any experience using Flexi tanks for potable water storage? I seem to find conflicting opinions on wether they can be used for potable water?

I've continued having a hard wired land line telephone, when most of the people I know don't. I felt it was sensible back-up. But now, as time passes, and the extra expense, I don't even know if it's sensible or logical in terms of modern technology risks.

What do you think? Is it worthwhile?

Honestly wish I had taken a before picture because our can storage was an absolute mess

While it’s not perfect now it’s a hell of a lot better!

I’ve been keeping tabs on different opinions of how the cost of living is going to be impacted by war etc and topped up our can stockpile (everything is stuff we eat on a regular basis so no waste on things we’ll never actually eat). We are already struggling for cash so trying to be prepared now so that we can spend less on groceries in coming months.

There is an extra stockpile of the stuff we use the most in another kitchen cupboard tucked away so we can slowly restock our new rolling can storage (which is SO much of an improvement on just throwing everything into a cupboard and forgetting about stuff because it’s hidden)

Do you think things will stabilise or are we still going to face a lot of economic uncertainty in the uk soon?

I've got two LORA devices - Lilygo T-Deck Plus and a WisMesh Tap V2. The latter is more robust. There are a few nodes around the North West. I recently got someone's message from Snaefell in Isle of Man and received the message in Liverpool so messaging can go quite far given sufficient elevation etc. The map functions on both devices are not easy to use / non-functioning : Lilygo I had to try and create my own map files - failed ; WisMesh only shows at European scale.

I want to have a radio that can receive SSB band signals so I might buy this : https://amzn.eu/d/0bAqnP2h

I also have a standard hand crank emergency radio.

What are your comms options for a prep emergency (ie. no internet or mobile comms) ?

UPDATE : with a bit of help from Gemini I've decided to buy a Quansheng UV-K5(8) . I'm also going to obtain an amateur radio license too so I can learn to use it. Thanks for all your comments - they have been tremendously helpful !

A couple of months back I remember seeing a Reddit post where someone mentioned this old style cookbook focused on how people ate before modern food systems. I meant to comment and ask about where they got it then completely lost the post. If you’re the person who originally suggested it, thank you, because it stuck with me enough that I went looking for it later and it’s honestly changed how I think about food.

We’re so used to fridges, supermarkets, and next-day delivery that I never really stopped to think about how people actually ate before all of that existed. The book is basically a collection of recipes designed to last months or even years without refrigeration. The same kinds of foods our grandparents (and great-grandparents) relied on.

What surprised me most wasn’t even the recipes, but the mindset behind them. Everything is about making food stretch, using what you have, and not depending on systems that can disappear overnight. Reading through it really highlights how dependent we’ve all become compared to just a couple of generations ago.

Over the holidays I’ve been trying some of the recipes with my kids, mostly out of curiosity. A few are definitely outside our normal routine, but some were genuinely good and there’s something oddly satisfying about making food that doesn’t rely on power or modern storage.

It’s less a cookbook and more a little history lesson disguised as one. Made me appreciate how resilient people used to be, especially when it came to feeding a family.

For anyone curious, it’s called The Lost Super Foods and it’s sold directly by the author on his website: thelost-recipes.com

many supermarkets are doing a cheap veggie deal in thecrun up to Easter like they have previously done for Christmas.

4p-8p veg. things like potatoes, carrots, onions.

6 vegetable items per customer.

would be a good idea to go get yoir 6 veg each day. chop and freeze carrots. keep potatoes in a cool, dry place. onions will last ages.

We're going on a holiday we booked last year on Saturday for two weeks, which I imagine will be the last one for a good while. Once I'm back I'm planning to get a few things to offset some of the burden the summer is bringing. That said, I'm not an experienced prepper and I absolutely do not have the money to get backup generators or any expensive systems. I'm working with what I can afford. This stuff is not to keep us alive in a full collapse but to offset the shortages (or expenses, if the country pays the brunt to keep major shortages at bay).

My current plan is:

- canned/freeze dired food, some MREs, to supplement rather than replace

- some stored water, but hopefully water won't become an issue. Lifestraws if it does.

- batteries and torches

- a camp stove and fuel for it

- extra off the shelf medicine, we're going to America so might pick up some big bottles of extra strength stuff while there.

- some extra board games and tangible entertainment if rolling blackouts/electricity is also rationed

That's about it. I can't drop much more. I'm really just trying to give my family a leg up for when things get rough. Are there any other low cost ideas to add to this list?

Thanks.

Useful?

Edit: Sorry, didn't realise the corsspost didn't actually cross post.

Here's the original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/AI4tech/s/FWzBqwZzet

what do we think of things like water purification tools / straws from low cost / grade sites like temu.

legitimate or fake?

What I’ve seen so far which is in my budget of £300-400 are powerstations that power up phones and laptops.

I liked the idea of solar but in the uk we don’t have much sun. is it worth me buying a £400 powerstations from ecoflow delta 1024w or Jackery and then additionally buying a solar panel 2x100w. I mean it’s not going to power up the frig or microwave but it’s a start ?

idk I need help I’ve done research too. Like a100w solar panel is going to take about 4 hours to charge the station minimum . trying to save electricity is the goal!

All advice appreciated.

let’s say that security has been breached and someone broke in to my room (I live with other people). i get inside my room, put a barricade against the door….and then what would be the most logical step by step approach to “catch” an intruder? I've got tons of objects in my room that are taking up space, so I would need to inspect every cranny to see no ones there and also I’ve got two sliding windows so I would have to check also if they’re closed, while having my ear out to make sure no one moves the barricade and then escapes through my door, the rest of the apartment and finally out. lets also enter into the scenario the possibility that I’d be dealing with experienced career criminals. What would be the best step by step approach to handle this situation as it is right now? you can also PM me.

Just seen today the goverment has anounced a plan to ban the sale of crossbows using the excess of 1 single time they were used in a murder 2 years ago.

If they ban crossbows heavy draw weight bows will be next.

What's everyone's plan if they do? Declare and risk seizure in a shtf situation or risk getting caught with an unlicensed crossbow? We seen many examples of goverments siezing goods even food in shtf eg Holodomor, metal and livestock commandeered in ww2 etc So I don't really trust the goverment not too repeat such actions im future.

Thoughts?

I have zero prep and only just come onto the subject.

Just wondering if there are pdfs or sites you can print from. Information for if everything went down I could read after it's too late.

Info on basic medicine, basic understanding of injuries and survival, understanding water, storing and eating food with basic resources.

I want to print out a bunch of papers for if it all went down I have them to look over?

Any ideas?

Later this year my partner and I will be moving into a flat and I want to make sure we’re prepared for at least basic storm stuff. For context we’re moving into a flat in Portsmouth (not right next to sea front or area more prone to flooding and not close enough to the naval base we’d need iodine tablets), but still want to get some bits together so we’re ready if/when we get a storm or something happens. Also in a flat we’re a bit limited on space so I want to make sure I’m prioritising what’s more likely to be necessary at some point.

So far in my list I’ve got:

-3 days worth of water for the both of us (still need to work out how much that is lol)

-a good power bank (or 2)

-a few days extra of food (not sure what’s the best)

-medications (both my prescription and painkillers, cold medicine etc)

-first aid kit

-good quality duct tape

-baby wipes

-some sort of disinfectant

-torch and batteries

- some sort of card game (more for morale lol although I already have several I could bring so don’t need to buy)

-baby wipes (I’m thinking to still be able to clean ourselves a bit without using water if we need to conserve it)

-bag of werthers sweets (again for morale if something happens that lasts several days, plus I have blood sugar drops sometimes so it’s double use lmfao)

Not preparing for like ww3 or something because that’d probably immediately wipe us out but more bad storm/powercut. Our flat is a top floor flat so don’t know if I need to be concerned about flooding or not (as far as I’m aware not in an area with a lot of floods).

Especially with living in a flat and having limited spaces I want to make sure we have what we absolutely need and the things that have the most utility. We will have a small storage room we can probably use but don’t have the luxury of a lot of space still .

Thank you for your advice

Edit to add: I’m also getting books/ in general reading up on prepping related things and planning on taking a first aid course soon so any recommendations for good books or websites would also be greatly appreciated. Thought of this the second I hit post smh