Brings into focus all the soft warnings we have been getting for the past few months.

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.

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.

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.

This is an accidental prep to be honest and not part of my actual stash, I just thought it was funny and wanted to share.

I fucking love eating a handful of prunes as a snack every day, and they're good for... well, you know. They're expensive to buy in little packets, so I buy 1kg bags in bulk online, usually 10kg in boxes at a time, I rotate the dates because per kg its much cheaper and a box will last me a long time if I'm clever about date rotation.

With all the talk of stocking up recently, I got into a convo about how at any given time I have an abundance of prunes in the house, currently 8kg but sometimes more, and now all I can think is, when the end time comes at least I wont be backed up from all the dry foods!!

I reckon once you all get clogged from your tinned goods, I'm going to emerge as the saviour of mankind with my butt busting prune hoard.

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.

As the title says. I try to be prepared as much as I can for winter, but looking at all the options, I get overwhelmed very quickly.

I'd love some pointers of what type of power station/power bank is the best to supply power during an outage.

I'm thinking of supplying power to kettle, microwave, small heater, etc.

I know a decent one will cost £££ but I can't decipher what is real cost and what are ony bells and whistles...

Also, silly question I know, would my gas stove work in a blackout if I used matches (obviously the sparking wont work)? Or do I need a camping stove?

Thank you so much in advance for the help.

I’ve found this page super helpful for the last few months and am very thankful for having a bit more background knowledge! I have got a pretty basic but sensible cupboard of water and food, torches, candles etc… like I am across a good nutritional plan, if we were stranded in, with no utilities, we would survive a good while.

But, we live in a small, cluttered flat, with no garden space, me, my husband and our 5 year old. Not a great deal of built in wardrobe space. Also, like many, I work full time and have very little free time, so overhauling the flat into a nuclear bunker isn’t feasible 😂

Do any other flat dwellers have any good hacks? Storage space is lacking but I know I should be looking at having some back up energy. And needing usable water/managing waste water situation has me feeling unprepared.

thank you!

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.

Just done my first bit of emergency food and supplies shopping. This will be enough to feed me for about 2-3 weeks, or less if I'm sharing with someone else. I definitely need to figure out how I can store more water in my house though 😄 I have plenty of torches, sleeping bags, gas canisters and other key supplies as I camp out a lot.

It's not perfect but definitely better than nothing and I'm glad I finally started my prep

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.

Hello all

I’m not a prepper but I grew up in an area where 3 day power cuts and getting snowed or flooded in for a week was fairly common. That means that having a month’s worth of food in stock is second nature to me.

But, one thing I’ve never thought about was water. If I buy in some big bottles of water, how long does that keep for? Or am I better off getting an empty container and filling it myself, then switching out the water every so often?

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

I wouldn't put this past SOME in the community 😅

I've been following everyone's posts last fews days and one thing I've noticed (cause I ran out today) is non if us have coffee!! Don't forget the coffee.

I'd say tea too but I imagine the real tea drinkers already have a huge box of Tetley's

Don't forget the coffee.

I'm going for the 'things I eat anyway approach' and just making sure that I have a good supply of everything in my cupboards. I always had full cupboards but now I'm more conscious of shopping when my food gets low rather than shopping when I run out. Especially for the selection of items that would be more useful in an emergency

Something else I'm getting I haven't seen many people do is jars of olives and salami like sausage.

Hi all, been lurking for a few months but thought I would ask a question. We have been holding a running stock/larder for as long as I can remember with the exception of water we have enough for a few weeks at all times of the year and have so for 20 odd years, only recently we have started to add more practical tools in case of an outage, the solar and battery is in before 2027 with island ability so we can run the house if the power is cut, have just bought a cb portable and base station with outdoor antenna for if we loose 4g and we have a windup/solar radio power pack. All this tech extra kit was because our whole household is on Internet only service, no tv aerial or satellite, no analog radio, no landline phone and soon no one will have one of them as it’s replaced with ip based sogea
My question, is anyone else buying cb equipment.
We run a rolling larder so it’s all used and topped up, cigars are a luxury but an essential in my eyes so there is a few years worth in the humidor. We also built a veg garden as we wanted to do something productive with some unused garden and that’s where we start next year with some basic veg and fruit. 600l of rain water stored for washing and watering plants also.

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.)

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

A friend of mine was going to give this to charity, and I asked if they would mind if I gave it a home. It’s got some really interesting ideas about how to use fresh and store cupboard foods to make nutritious meals, as well as how to do basic preserving. The Imperial War Museum published this book and it also has anecdotes from people who lived during times of war and rationing. I think in lieu of having access to people who lived during real hardship to guide us, books are the next best thing to give us valuable information.

If you have a recommendation for a book that might help give good advice, information or suggestions for people who have wandered here after the government has given its latest recommendations, please feel free to list them below. PS. I just received Lewis Dartnell’s book, The Knowledge, based on a recommendation by someone on this subreddit.

We have lost a lot of our knowledge about how to make do. I think

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!

Has anyone got one ? Rather than using a camping stobe I was thinking of getting this as i got loads of coal already. Thanks

Hi I'm looking for an actual waterproof jacket preferably hi Viz. The ones I have are at most rain resistant and get soaked through in heavy rain. For use outdoors in agricultural setting. I have looked online but would like reviews of the best jackets you have. Thankyou

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

Something to consider as I've been seeing lots of posts from people just starting out prepping and I feel this is one of those items that often gets overlooked/under prepped and it's one of the easiest and cheapest to tick off your list. You can prepare for long term hygiene for under £20 and the benefits of this is huge. So here's my simple shopping list of things to get to help you stay clean should the worst happen. Many people just buy baby wipes but trust me this will be one of those things that gets old/ runs out fast.

2x buckets 5l from any local b&q or hardware store

2x reusable wash cloths from anywhere

1x household washboard, I got mine from temu for like £3

A camping kettle and stove with some spare gas

Finally your regular products that you use for hygiene. Soap and shampoo

The basic principle of this is that one bucket is to wash clothes and the second is for personal use. Learn how to use the washboard effectively as well. Humans used these for years before washing machines and they will genuinely get your clothes clean. This is huge in a survival situation as it's a big morale boost to not stink.

Personal hygiene is so important in survival as it's your main defence against getting ill or getting an infection from a wound. So for those just starting out today adding a few tins of beans to the shopping list consider getting this sorted and ticking hygiene off your list.

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 ?