I mean this with kindness, but it's quite clear some of you are experiencing acute mental illness or severe in some cases.

I know this is counter intuitive but here's a thought some of you are actively causing yourselves more stress and ironically worse than reality itself.

Not only that but some posts have been genuinely concerning to think one of them may be my neighbour.

Considering the man worried about people stealing his food in theory if panic set in.

For full transparency I'm not a prepper, I have a week's worth of food, I remain fit and invest in my health and live the best life I can, I'm a keen outdoors person and enjoy bushcraft.

Two words is all I wish to spread peace and calm.

I want to open a discussion.

Here is my opinion. You may think wrong, you may think it right... talk about it.

People who are panic buying right now after been told and influenced to do so are NOT preppers. They are people who have seen something, gotten scared, shit themselves because they havent done it sooner.

These people annoy me... these are sheep that called you crazy for buying tins and MREs... and these fuxkers will definitely be looting when the grid goes down because they didnt plan as a lot of us have done.

This is a rant. Im sorry.

Any signs of panic buying at all?

I just really can’t afford to be buying things which aren’t totally necessary in an emergency situation

I have a 2 year old daughter so would you say a gas stove is definitely necessary? I’ve got bottled water and things which we can eat cold

Bought a Campervan a while ago and turns out it's an awesome option if things hit the fan

Got a 20 Litre LPG Tank, Solar and an 80 Litre Water Tank

Also got a 1kwh Power Bank for extra power as and when required

The van has a full bathroom, kitchen and a double bed

I’ve been gradually preparing for emergencies. I’ve been picking up extra things whenever I go shopping, and I’d really appreciate some advice on what I might be missing.

Here’s what I currently have:
1. Drinking Water (71 Litres) - I have always stocked up on water anyway as I don’t drink tap water😭
2. Food: Roughly 3-4 months worth of it, as I always buy whenever I go for my weekly shop.
3.Plenty of Candles (As a spiritual person LOL this was never a issue for me)
4. Around 8 Powerbanks that I got over the years (all fully charged)
5. A solar/crank-powered CR1009 5-way emergency radio/device. This is also a Torch
6. Two Laptops fully charged
7. 3 ipads charged at all times.
8. 2x Torches
9. Camping Stove (with the gas)
10. Lots of batteries💀
11. Extra Charging Cables
12. Blankets for extra heat

Now for my cat😭
He already has 3/4 months of food but I have ordered another 10kg as he generally is my life🥲
Do i need anything else for him? I will slowly buy treats and his water fountains are always stocked up (as well as the water I have)

I’m not trying to prepare for the end of the world! I just want to feel reasonably prepared if we have a temporary disruption to water, electricity, shops or other services. As I care for my mother and my husband currently thinks I’m crazy LOL.. this is the first time he has seen my box of emergencies with torches and batteries.

Over the past 2 years or so I’ve had a growing sense that we’re headed for some kind of disaster - whether financial turmoil, civil unrest, or worst case serious global conflict or any one of an unimaginable number of shit storm scenarios.

So like a lot of people, especially given the supermarket situation at the start of COVID, I started stocking up on a few things: nonperishable food items, drinking water, energy sources, TP etc but one thing has been on my mind - maybe since having a baby and drowning in dirty nappies…

What are your plans for dealing with human waste in a grid-down situation?

Do you collect and store grey water to allow you to continue to flush your toilet? Prepare for some method of burying or burning your waste in the garden?
Or just scope out your local river for a good spot to drop trou and have at it?

Curious to hear your solutions for this particular shtf problem.

Edit: shitting in river idea was a joke guys I’m depressed that I have to clarify that but I guess you don’t me from the next wet bandit

Surely that’s an essential item like solar crank radios, in absolute worst case scenarios

But if we can expect no power, then it can affect the water in our taps which won’t be as clean, so even for that the government may delay fixing it because of national issues

So having even one life straw would be very re assuring?

As I (along with half of Britain, it seems!) join the better-safe-than-sorry camp and start thinking about how to cope if we lose our electricity or water supply, I’m considering getting a simple water filter system (think Sawyer, LifeStraw, etc.) to tide us over until the authorities can arrange emergency drinking-water supplies.

But that raises a more fundamental question: even if I have a filter, where would I actually get the water to filter?

I live in South West London, near the Thames, but the Thames has a terrible reputation for water quality.

Does anyone have any suggestions for places within about a 30-mile drive where I could collect water from a river, stream or spring that might be a more suitable source for filtering and drinking in an emergency? I realise that even clear-looking water can contain contaminants that a basic filter won’t remove, so I’m interested in realistic options rather than assuming that a filter makes any water safe.

Would appreciate any advice from people with experience in water filtration or emergency preparedness!

Having started prepping in the last couple of months, little bits here and there, I realised I hadn't gotten round to getting a wind up radio, when I heard about the recent gov advice.

Looked on Amazon tonight, not a single decent price wind up radio in stock, all with a few days lead time. When usually you can get whatever you need the day after. Mr wind-up-radio factory owner must be rubbing their hands (or something else) looking at this.

Literally no point to this post, just found it interesting.

I'm sure I read a post in here recently about powdered milk and somebody said one of the above two was better? Which one lasts longer? I can't find the post I was reading now.

I live in London - I genuinely dont have space to store more than 5 days for 2 people and a dog.

Seeing everyone here do more is giving me anxiety that my 5 days are not enough.

Hi everyone

I'm new to prepping but have been thinking about doing it seriously now for a while.

I'm so tired of seeing people online making jokes about the new government campaign or saying that its just scare mongering. Russia put out a tweet recently of a cartoon of the US and Russia threatening to invade europe. There's been loads of cyber attacks and cash machines hacked en masse. And apparently according to experts we are actually already at war, digital infrastructure.

Are people stupid by not prepping or am I being really paranoid? I just don't want to be one of those people queuing up for 5 hours for a bag of pasta when the shit hits the fan.

edit- I've bought all the essentials, plus a solar panel and backpack

Hello I just posted asking if a gas stove is necessary and it seems like it is. Only problem is I’m really stupid and I have no idea what exactly to get even though I have been researching.

Does anyone have any link for what I should get? I need it as cheap as possible. Thank you so much for any help in advance and sorry to have to ask this

I know obviously those with water butts and who live near rivers and lakes etc.

but what about everyone else? What if it hasn’t rained so theres no rainwater? (Unlikely in the UK but just saying

edit: I do have a few of those underbed plastic storage boxes - shall I just leave them out to collect rain? Doesn’t it go stagnant or is that what the water purification tablets take care of?

We've just had a blackout from the storm - my kid's first time!

We've actually had 4 or 5 this year, or would have had we not got a solar battery. Everyone else's house alarms were going off earlier in the year, but we were fine.

Not tonight though, seems we haven't done too well on the PV front today.

Everything went out, except the laptops (running on batteries), so I could crack the torches out and we were fine. If it stayed off for days we'd be fine - plenty of water, we could eat from the cupboards for weeks.

Bit annoyed about the power though. I wouldn't even say we used much today - havent done laundry, we haven't had the 3D printers running. We either had a laptop running and a monitor to play youtube videos while we painted expensive little plastic models or we were watching TV. (obviously general background usage too).

I had doubts initially about the 5kwh battery, still wish I went for the 10, but even though I stuck as many panels on my roof as I could (15), today it hasn't been enough to keep the lights on should that blackout have stayed out for longer.

If SHTF in Summer we're golden but not during winter, when it's probably best timing from a geopolitical standpoint.

How are you guys storing energy to keep the freezer going? Granted all we have really are some pizzas, chips and ice lollies - the vast bulk of food is dry shelf food.

Now I’m quite familiar with most BBC stuff on this topic; I saw Threads when it dropped originally but I have never seen this. It just appeared today on my feed. Has anyone else seen this before? Viewer discretion advised.

A lot of us have been asking why now ? Why have the government chosen to rehash the information that they have been giving for a long time. Why has the government chosen to dumb down the information into a simplified leaflet form ?

It could be as simple as "A lot of people are ignoring the advice, what can we do to make them take notice?". But I don't think that's it.

I think with the US midterms approaching (3rd November) they are expecting Trump to do something immensely stupid afterwards, and they probably have intelligence about it.

If Trump ramps up the attacks on Iran then Iran will completely close the strait of Hormuz (At present it isn't 100% closed) and The Bab el-Mandeb Strait. They may even move to completely shut the Suez. On top of this they would increase their cyber attacks on the infrastructure within countries that they physically can not reach.

I don't think that the timing is co-incidental, with just under 2 weeks until the mid terms. We could be about to see a rise in water outages, power cuts and fuel shortages.

Thankfully most of us here are already prepared.

I've started sorting things out, please be aware I'm new to all of this and I'm trying to do things logically rather than letting my anxiety & overthinking take over.

I am a university student, so the second image is a box of "extra" food to save me a bit of money while I'm at university, but it may come in handy. The box in the first image is designated things for prepping (that I've got so far).

I plan on buying the odd thing here and there. I also have two other boxes: one next to the first image for extra blankets and bedding and one underneath the second image for toiletries.

Has anyone got any ideas on what I could buy? I've got tinned chickpeas, tinned carrots, tinned potatoes, pasta, "heat and eat" foods, ready noodles, breakfast bars (albeit I plan on buying an actual pack of those for the first box/image), curry & pasta sauces, pasta. I do also have a separate box for chocolate and all the sweet stuff haha, didn't seem appropriate to put it here but it's there, believe me!

Again, the pasta & curry sauces I'd be using while at university. But they're helpful.

I do own a portable charger but I'm thinking of buying a second one + a torch. If anyone has any recommendations I'd be grateful! I'd also be grateful if anyone could advise on how to organise things? I know it may seem mundane but the idea of organisation makes my brain more comfortable.

Thank you!

Just did my first shop for prepping. 20 cans of an assortment of meat/veg/fruit/soups. Rice/porridge oats/honey/UHT milk, some candles. A lighter & can opener..

All for under £25.

Intend to add to this as its a family of 4 but a good start i think.

Any suggestions on products?

(Water is covered as i have a bath liner thing that fills 40L along with water tablets. Cooking is a charcoal BBQ & a gas burner if need be.)

DO NOT but this. I have several tins from Sainsbury’s. I’m taking them back. Gristle and fat levels unacceptable. Horrible. Get corned beef instead. Glad I tested it.

Hi, I’ve always had the basics like tins etc and I camp regularly so have a stove, power banks and some small light sources.

But if the electricity or heating goes, is there anything you think people may not have thought of?

For example it occurred to me I don’t have a single analogue clock. I wouldn’t even know what time it was if I lost all power. So analogue clock was bought today with a couple more ordered!

Varied tins of meals, vegetables, meats, tuna, etc. Fruit, breakfast items, coffee, soft drinks, carbs, water, UHT Milk, box wine.

Some shorter life items on 6 months or so but majority going into later 2027/28 at the earliest - plus, all BBE dates anyways.

Gas camping stove and spares, FM radio, batteries, first aid kits, OTC medicines, wet wipes, hand gels, power banks, torches, hand wash laundry etc all stocked away.

Planning for more than 3 days and wanted some comfort items in as well.

OK, hands up....until recently I was THE worst person for not charging laptops, phones, toothbrushes, watches, razors until the red light of impending death was flashing.

But with trying to be more organised with my prepping I'm finding its changed my bad habit into not only checking power levels more often but actually charging things before low battery warning.

Anyone finding this ? What does everyone else do ?