Preparing and government advice.

[happyhacker]

I was looking at this site http://www.ready.gov/food earlier and wondered if others had considered some of these points.

[Devonian]

What is it you want to consider?

Its all pretty basic information isn't it?

[Plymtom]

That is American based information isn't it?
We do have advice for British citizens somewhere and we do have both local and national groups set up for disaster management, what would be useful is indeed some general knowledge on the basics everyone should have we are the ones who take the possibility of TSHTF granted mainly in short term and very localized ways from ill health and job loss more seriously, often because we have had experiences which have shown us that being unprepared is stupid, the 3 day thing is sensible, most perishables and essential items are going to warrant a trip out of the door a couple of times a week even if you do a "big shop" monthly, but I would say that everyone should be able to bunker down as if snowed in for a week to two weeks, and I'd be happy to see that as government advice.

The trouble is, it is not well known advice and even more ignored by most folk, people are ill informed, too used to ignoring advice and bleating for help, and for decades now poorly educated in life skills and self help.

[lonewolf]

3 days worth isn't going to last long is it? 3 WEEKS would be more logical.

[Plymtom]

To get the average person to stash 3 days worth is a start, a weeks worth is ambitious 3 weeks bearing in mind the sort of space that could entail ( I struggle for a family of 5 to find prep space) could be great expectations, honestly to make folk aware that this sort of preparedness is sensible is a good goal, after these storms it would be a good time to de-loonify the idea

[lonewolf]

are you kidding me? 3 weeks? we've got enough we reckon to last 6 months!!

[Devonian]

To get the average person to stash 3 days worth is a start, a weeks worth is ambitious 3 weeks bearing in mind the sort of space that could entail ( I struggle for a family of 5 to find prep space) could be great expectations, honestly to make folk aware that this sort of preparedness is sensible is a good goal, after these storms it would be a good time to de-loonify the idea

Surely 'anyone' (prepper or not) could scrape together enough food from their own kitchen to "survive" for 3 days?? Or am I really that out of touch with how others live???

[lonewolf]

Surely 'anyone' (prepper or not) could scrape together enough food from their own kitchen to "survive" for 3 days?? Or am I really that out of touch with how others live???

your out of touch Devonian! the "average" person these days only has 3 days worth of food and that's when they "stocked" up not when the emergency happens!

[mallie99]

To get the average person to stash 3 days worth is a start, a weeks worth is ambitious 3 weeks bearing in mind the sort of space that could entail ( I struggle for a family of 5 to find prep space) could be great expectations, honestly to make folk aware that this sort of preparedness is sensible is a good goal, after these storms it would be a good time to de-loonify the idea

Surely 'anyone' (prepper or not) could scrape together enough food from their own kitchen to "survive" for 3 days?? Or am I really that out of touch with how others live???

Maybe, maybe not. The McDonalds generation might have enough 'stocks' but either no knowledge of how to make anything interesting from it or all of it requires a grill or oven... If your leccy has just gone pop you're gonna go hungry.

I see stashing as slightly more than just compiling large towers of gubbins, but knowing what you've got, how to use it, how each item compares to the item next to it etc. It's more of a state of mind, a thought process attached to the 3 days / weeks / months supply of whatever you're stashing.

On top of that, if you have stockpiles of rice to last a month, but no water, you're gonna find it hard. So the McDonalds generation needs to know that the tap will not always flow, the lights will not always glow. I've come into this debate late, but it makes sense that that is the important bit which needs learning... "Start with 3 days, how self-sufficient are you REALLY?"

[Devonian]

So that explains why kitchens in modern houses are so small because no-one has any food, so they do not need more than a couple of kitchen units