What would we run out of first?

[Darious44]

Think we could run out of certain food stuffs the things we take for granted, really like what is mentioned in the post stuff what is imported, a point I have noticed is the shortage of fresh food items, in the gap between Christmas and new year, when I am, assuming lorries aren't running.

Last Christmas my local supermarket had no fresh meat, and little fresh fruit and veg, between Christmas and New Year, and the tinned food was less than normal but still some present, look how quick bottled water ran out, in the North West of England in a recent tainted water scare, also when petrol tankers go on strike things soon turn "interesting".

I would stock up on the things I use the most as a starting point, for stocking up, also if I damage or break or run out of something, I tend to double up on things, especially tea coffee, milk and sugar, and the amount of can openers and scissors I manage to break is scary !!!

[diamond lil]

That's an interesting one - I bet supermarkets don't have local suppliers now. Maybe one of the things to come come out of a war or shortage, would be the appearance of farm shops again? We used to buy milk and eggs from the farm when I was wee, maybe that would start up again.
Good point re tea- that's one thing we def would run out of, as well as coffee. God - I need to fill the spare room with teabags NOW
And soap, detergent. Where does that come from?

[gadgetguy]

If there was a war, given the state of things now as compared to WW2, what kind of things would we run out of first? I've read many books about the second world war, and know all about the rationing and shortages - but life is very very different now.. what do you think would run happen ?

Well if such a thing were to happen i guess we would expect a lot of panic as people realised that there might be shortages ahead and there would be panic buying.

A lot depends on what type of war,can we still use the tunnel and the channel to import,whats happening in other countries are they willing to export or feed their own.

In todays society i see ration as difficult to implement. We may just have to "dig for Victory" and go back to basics and seasonal produce!!

Lets face it as an island we get cut off from imports we couldn't sustain the population it would be a grim place to be i think

[poppypiesdad]

Bread , milk , fuel . And for the more adventurous ammunition.

[Arzosah]

Nobody really knows where the soap comes from Lil

Soap research
https://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/i ... 437AAbeMP0

This one goes on a bit, but its interesting historically:
http://www.mnwelldir.org/docs/misc/soap.htm

Making lye from woodash:
http://www.countryfarm-lifestyles.com/make-lye.html
We could do that!

Glycerin:
http://millersoap.com/glycerin.html

There's a lot of "how to make soap" blogs out there it definitely sounds possible to make it from resources in this country, but its the classic thing: if there was an embargo, let alone a war, there are too many people here for self sufficiency. Stock up while you can



ETA - as far as supermarkets having local suppliers, they often do, of *one* thing - a local egg producer etc, but they make a real song and dance about it and charge double (W8tross and Tatco both do it, at least).

[diamond lil]

I know how to make soap, I used to have a soap making business. But I don't know how to make it without lye, or where detergents come from. I suppose we'd be forced to grow soapwort lol. Also I was thinking clothes would be hard to get apart from wool..

[MissAnpassad]

I know how to make soap, I used to have a soap making business. But I don't know how to make it without lye, or where detergents come from. I suppose we'd be forced to grow soapwort lol. Also I was thinking clothes would be hard to get apart from wool..

One way to clean without soap is to use the leaves of the birch in springtime, just run them in the blender with some water and sift away the leaves afterwards. Another way is to use whipped eggs, I actually always wash my hair with eggs and never use shampoo.
You can make lye by boiling ashes from birchwood (or some other broad-leaved tree, but birch is the best) in some water. And if you can make soap, then you don't need detergents at all.

The recipe for ash lye is 4 kg birchwood ash, boil with 10 liters of water for 30 minutes, wait until the next day, thes sift it carefully through some muslin so you don't stir up the sediment.

[grenfell]

Fuel or energy in general would in my own opinion be the first thing to be effected . I come to that conclusion by looking at what has happened in the past. Long time ago I know but petrol was quickly rationed in the Second World War . Nowadays we use far more and we refine much less than we were doing a short time ago and as far as I understand it diesel isn't now refined in Britain . Lack of fuel then of course has a knock on effect with everything else. There may be an abundance of bread but if you can't transport it it'll just rot in the warehouse. Again a problem of centralisation and JIT economics .
Electricity supply will also be effected. Imported fuels like gas could be disrupted , some biomass is also imported and the inter connector with Europe could fail leaving quite a shortfall.

[Arzosah]

I know how to make soap, I used to have a soap making business. But I don't know how to make it without lye, or where detergents come from. I suppose we'd be forced to grow soapwort lol. Also I was thinking clothes would be hard to get apart from wool..

Sorry Lil I got carried away.

[diamond lil]

No no - it was me who wasn't clear.
So making lye is a bit of a faff then anpassad eh.
And you definitely all seem to agree on fuel and power going first.. Maybe a good time to start learning old ways - or new ways! -to do things..