Hello from a prepping nubie

[suit-and-tie-guy]

Hi Guys and girls,

I am pretty new to the idea of prepping, I live in a small suburban house in a small suburban street with a wife and 3 year old son. Do I want a serious event to happen .. no, do I think it is likely? not really (although now more than ever), do I want to be unprepared and unable to keep my family safe / alive if something did go wrong, absolutely not.

There seems to be very little advice out there on how to hope for the best and prepare for the worst. with the government advice sites basically being "know were your police and fire station are and ring 101 or 999 if there is an emergency"
and anything from the USA seems to be totally bonkers (how to open a can of beans with a shotgun)

I don't have lot of cash or space but just want to learn how to continue living if things were to become 'unplugged'

hope this makes some kind of sense

[pseudonym]

Hello and welcome to the Forum.

[fapplan]

Hi and welcome. I must admit I found the "how to open a can of beans with a shotgun" remark quite funny.

[Arzosah]

Me too its pretty near accurate as well

For something a teensy bit more relevant, check out this sort of website for your area https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/cms/cont ... resilience search county resilience, something like that. It might be completely useless, but police, transport, and utility companies are all legally required to have something like that.

In the meantime, go to work on your shopping - double up on storecupboard food that doesn't need refrigerating - get some of those 2 litre bottles of water in, and since you're in a house, do you have a garden? What could you grow that could help? Check out each area of the forum here, there's a huge amount of information to process

Good luck!

[featherstick]

Hello and welcome

Do a needs assessment.

What are the risks locally? What action would be required? What do we need as a family?

I'll give you a starter- housefire is a far bigger risk than zombie apocalypse, so useful preps might include hotel bags in a safe accessible place if you needed to get out quick, scans of all the documents you might need to rebuild your lives once the fire was out (the little fella's birth cert, for instance), and an up-to-date inventory, with photos, of all the stuff you might lose.

[tigs]

Welcome to the forum

[whenfires]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

[Decaff]

Hello and welcome

[junmist]

Hotel bag( better known as a bug out bag) in case you get the 2 o'clock knock on the door and get told to leave your home because of a gas leak. Fire plan if your three year old hears the fire alarm going off does he know what to do, can you or your wife get to him in the dark with smoke all around you and can you then all make it out by your planed A route do you have a plane B and C route in case.( make a game of it and blind fold every one a bit like pin the tail on the donkey. Make your way to the door and put a sticker on it)
Don't go out and buy tined food if you don't eat it don't buy it. Research recipes that you can try out to see what your will eat and what you won't, make it part of your life say have a Wednesday mishmash Spam fritters with dried potatoes and tined veg with tined fruit for afters.
If your wife is on board have a day indoor camping turn of the electric don't use the gas for heating or cooking and see how you go.
None of these take a lot of money to do and you can make this sort of thing fun for your 3 year old.