What Preps are you doing this week

[Le Mouse]

After a hell of a lot of swithering, I've ordered a pair of Doc Martens 1460 boots. They're smart enough for work, sturdy enough to last and most importantly FLAT and easy to walk in (after the initial agony of breaking them in). I've not worn Docs for a decade. I'm a bit scared of the impending pain, but I know that I'll have a decent pair of boots that'll last my woodland walk to work and daily stomps up and down stairs and see me safe on my feet during the winter. I was going to wait till payday, but the horrid wet weather has prompted the purchase because my only other shoes are semi-smart trainers that leak like hell or shoes that I thought were low heeled until I have to walk any distance in them and then they become instruments of torture

[Slazanger]

finally got moved back to the uk from oz, got myself a house, in the process of restarting my life back in the UK, currently renovating adding some much needed storage and planning out what to do with the garden (think i might have missed the season given the weather!

[TopSod]

This week I've made my first purposeful prepping purchases. I have lots of stuff in the house already that since joining this site I've looked at in a different light, so in that sense I've already started. But by purposeful I mean I've actually sat at the laptop and trawled through Amazon, Bushcraft etc buying items for the purpose of prepping and nothing else.

I've bought:

Water Purification tablets
Paracord
Solar powered dynamo LED torch
Dynamo lamp
Paracord bracelets
Steel flint
Waterproof matches
Emergency shelter (foil)
Emergency blankets (foil)

I'm aware the foil items aren't up to much but until I find better, they are better than nothing. Kind of a pre-prep-prep
I'm going to stock up on tinned foods etc at the weekend and I'm currently looking at various Bushcraft knives, just wondering which to buy. I have a few axes already from my days as a roofer.
Also at the weekend I'll be heading to my local Go Outdoors for some cooking gear and plates, water containers etc as well as looking at various rucksacks. I'm going to be buying a lot in the next few weeks excluding what I've already stated to give myself a really good start.

I'm really fancying some kind of BOV as well, but as we already have 3 cars between 2 of us and live in a terraced house, at the moment I don't think we'll get away with it!

[junmist]

went to a Friends of Borne Woods herb of the hedgerow and woodlands walk on Sunday learnt a lot and will be keeping an eye on there web site for anything else they put on next year as I missed the woodland foraging walk it only cost a £ plus my travel but it was well worth it.
Made some elderberry syrup to help with keeping flu at bay.

[ForgeCorvus]

TopSod: Stick to basic knives and buy several rather then blow a couple of weeks wages on one knife that you never take anywhere in case you loose it.
Mora or Hultafors are great for inexpensive fixed bushcrafting type blades

I like Hultafors as they seem to be R&R (Rugged & Reliable) and most of them are about a tenner (so, I'm not scared to use them hard) ... I bought from Here , the Heavy Duty is a tank and the Craftsman in Carbon is a match for just about every other knife I've used..... Even the ones with a decimal point further to the right

Buy three. One to loose, One to abuse and One to use

[TopSod]

Excellent thanks for that! I followed a link to that site the other day from here but then couldn't find it again

[Briggs]

Excellent thanks for that! I followed a link to that site the other day from here but then couldn't find it again

This is just my opinion but perhaps a trip to your local army surplus store is a better option than Go Outdoors. Go Outdoors can be a bit glamping and I think you'll find some more robust bits of kit in the surplus store.

A few things to check out perhaps...

58 pattern water bottles - I love 'em, can't get enough - also check out the Pure Hydration Survivor 4 58 Pattern Water Bottle as well.
Trangia cooksets - the ones with windbreak and meths stove - £8 to £15 on eBay.
20ltr ex-Army water containers - more robust than the clear plastic Go Outdoors ones and won't algae up in sunlight.
Crusader cooksets
Rope

Rucksacks and bushcraft knives are a personal choice. In my humble opinion, I think spending a bit more gets you more robust, reliable kit. My EDC and 72Hr packs are both from 5.11 (MOAB10 and RUSH72) and my knives are KA-Bar Becker BK2 and BK11.

[munchh]

Hey TOPSOD, here is the cheapest one on line at the minute(Hultifors heavy duty) about £7 delivered.
http://www.toollineuk.com/product.php/s ... KC/google/

[izzy_mack]

Upping my water supply. After spending several hours on sunday without water I'm getting a 250gall water tank and filling it immediately.
Also hoping to get time to go foring and see if brambles are ripe yet, they weren't last week and look for elderberries.
I've started making a crochet blanket out of odd bits of wool, any piece no matter how small will do, I made one before and they're really warm and saves wasting scraps left over. A good winter project for the winter while watching tv.

[2ndRateMind]

This week I've made my first purposeful prepping purchases.

Grats and welcome to the proper preppers club! I'm sure you won't regret anything you buy, because you'll find the tools and stuff handy to have in non-emergency situations as well as for just-in-case.

cheers, 2RM.