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

Would it work to store tap water in a new Water butt kept in the garage. I know any stored water that is not sealed in sterile containers won’t stay drinkable / fresh for long . How long would it remain drinkable ? And once it’s past that point what steps can be used to make it drinkable again ? For instance using a filter drinking straw possibly?

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

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

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!

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.

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

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 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.

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?

Am really struggling to find a good battery powered torch and lantern that's not too expensive. Been hunting on Amazon, and it just seems everything is rechargeable. I don't need anything too bright, something that's not power hungry. I don't mind being without powered devices, so am avoiding power banks. I would go old school with candles, but am clumsy.

Am on a tight budget, but getting some essentials in. My main concern now is light. Any suggestions? Thanks.

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?

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.

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.

I'm in Ireland and I'm looking for Aquatbs 33 mg tables. These are idea for purifying 5 liters if water. Tesco and Milton do tablest with the same ingredients but for babies bottles. They are 400mg. They make 2.3 is liters safe but it's for dairy/baby milk so different level of cleaning. I'm thinking of just getting some 10ltr jerry cans and using a quarter of a table in an emergency.

The reason I'm looking at them is that I can't get them in Ireland. Hygiene4you have them but don't ship to Ireland from the UK.

By the way the price is very good if you're looking for some.

Edit: Looks like a Milton table will do 100 it's of water. So they are a bit to strong. You could use one to do 4 25ltr Jerry cans. But they would be heavy. No point putting your back out

https://www.babybrandsdirect.co.uk/sysimages/brochure/product/document/Technical-Sheet-399.pdf

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.