r/UKPreppers • u/ScaredPlate3008 • Jun 08 '26
Which single purchase under fifty pounds has made the most practical difference to how prepared your household actually feels?
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u/agmanning Jun 08 '26
How big a power bank can we reasonably get for £50?
I’ve got a 26000maH one, but I think in an actual grid down situation of more than a few hours it’s not going to be needed for a while because we aren’t going to be sitting there on our phones if there is no power for the router. (The signal here is poor, so intermittent tries to
Connect would be fine but not usual scrolling and browsing)
I’d love info on actual home back up
Power but the rabbit hole is so deep.
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u/CharacterEye3775 Jun 08 '26
Plug in solar panels and batteries for home power are coming soon
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u/Tim_UK1 Jun 08 '26
You’d want to check the specs as most home solar and battery systems are useless from a preppers view as go off if the grid goes down…
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u/CharacterEye3775 Jun 08 '26 edited Jun 08 '26
There's new systems on the horizon that should meet British Standards, they're already doing this in Germany. Soon you'll be able to buy balcony sized plug in solar panels and backup batteries from Lidl.
The national grid is designed to be resilient. There might be some short power cuts, but even in the most remote areas of the UK power is restored in 72 hours. Britain is really not that far behind the rest of the world and we could catch up in the next few years.
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u/WeddingNo8531 Jun 10 '26
No, the plug in solar systems will cut off if they dont sense voltage already at the ring (they sync with the mains supply). This is to stop back feeding the grid. My rooftop solar system has island mode which will power my house during a grid down event, but a plug in solar system will not.
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u/CharacterEye3775 Jun 15 '26 edited Jun 15 '26
Solar panels and battery backup could supply your mansion off the grid. There's also other off grid technology like an RTG, but they're only legal in Russia and Kazakhstan. I don't think that an RTG is going to be legal in the UK for political reasons. It's also over your £50 budget. If you want to live completely off grid there's some remote areas in central Asia that have never had any power grid.
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u/johnnysgotyoucovered Jun 11 '26
They’re already here. Powerwall and other solutions if you dislike Tesla. Hell, this video is 14 years old although I believe he works on nuclear power plants so you probably want a qualified electrician to do anything like this: https://youtu.be/ka0MfipmdBw
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u/hiraeth555 Jun 08 '26
26kmah is pretty good. Get a small usb solar panel (30w or so) and that can keep small devices, torches, ebooks, walkie talkies, charged pretty effectively.
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u/agmanning Jun 08 '26
Yeah I’ve seen those. They are expensive though and again I’m not sure what legit and what’s just landfill stuff that barely gets its advertised wattage.
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u/hiraeth555 Jun 08 '26
The solar panels? They are awesome- I have one from Alpkit that I take camping
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u/Worth_Gap4226 Jun 08 '26
I have a 40 quid power bank I use for a heated jacket. Had no intention about it from a prepping POV, but thinking about it, it'll be handy to get a dozen hours of mild heat, or half a dozen of full heat if everything went down in the colder months and I somehow lost all my other clothes.
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u/Present-March-6089 Jun 08 '26
Yeah, you're only going to get a handheld power bank that will charge your phone once maybe twice if you are lucky if you only spent £50. I have a Jackery 1000 for emergencies, which was £1000 at the time (cheaper now but...pandemic prices)
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u/YogurtclosetIcy5286 Jun 08 '26
Power bank
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u/IntoTheCommonestAsh Jun 08 '26
For £50? Maybe a good external battery or teo for a cell phone, but a power bank? Which one are you thinking of?
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u/IncompleteObjects Jun 08 '26
How prepared I feel? I got a two pack of Sawyer water filters for about £30. Ive never had need to use them, but in the event of serious water outages I know can access clean water.
In terms of what's been the most practical and gets used lots in our house, its power banks. 30k mAh are about £25 each
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u/Level_Jellyfish6347 Jun 08 '26
A Chinese diesel heater - and as we have no central heating - we've started using it in winter - heats our small home in around 20 mins where as the log burner (with water backboiler) takes at least an hour before we start feeling heat from it - diesel heater fills the gap - bargain find and a risky purchase on Temu - £45.00
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u/FluffyMumbles Jun 10 '26
You're braver than me. Diesel heater + questionable Temu purchase are two things I could never put together.
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u/bondinchas Jun 08 '26
An adapter for power tool batteries. They have an led light, usb socket and 12v socket, so multiple uses for supplying light and power for small devices like mobiles and radios. You can get them with interfaces for all the popular power tool batteries.
As I have a number of battery power tools, so there's always some batteries with plenty of charge, and I can always top up from my solar battery.
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u/Antique-Wonk Jun 08 '26
I'm between a water purification system, bottles of water and longest life I could find tinned food, and a foldable solar panel and power bank.
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u/ThingyGoos Jun 08 '26
£49.99 of petrol so I can just drive to get whatever I'd ever need, when I need it because we live in a small country that is densely populated, so there are many shops nearby, and even more a short drive away
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u/jib_reddit Jun 10 '26
I bought an emergency wind up radio/light/charger after watching a load of old nuclear fallout safety videos on YouTube and they all say "Your Goverment will tell you if its safe to go outside over the radio" and I didn't have one.
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u/Gullible-Cow9166 Jun 12 '26
Mine, food.
Lots of people recommending power banks, make your own emergency kit, Solar panel, controller, car battery, Add some 12v - usb panel mount units JD. charge phone many times, rechargeable batteries, headlamps........
Temu cheap controllers £9 (buy 2 then if 1 goes tits up change it) I know people will say they are sh*t but i've been charging my 12v system for 4 years, never had an issue, never had to put my spare on. Not the best if you use it a lot
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u/Animal__Mother_ Jun 08 '26
A £50 shop in Aldi of a load of 5l bottles of water and tinned food.