New member

[boomer]

Hello everyone,

I came across this site a couple of days ago - a quick look around it showed me there's a wealth of info here to help out a beginner. I live in a village in the beautiful Norfolk countryside and without realising it, began prepping last year when we experienced a power cut. Although power was only off for two or three hours, being totally unprepared it seemed much longer, and set off a train of though; what if...

[Yorkshire Andy]

Welcome to the mad house

Don't forget the beast from the east the other year mate of mine lives near Norwich and managed to get his ford ranger stuck

Just remember write a list of what you are prepping for and what you need before you buy half of Amazon on a whim

[boomer]

Hi Andy,

I remember it well, absolutely Baltic and seemed to go on forever!

Now you mention it, I do have quite a few items in my ever growing Amazon basket, lol. I'm trying to figure out from scratch what we really need as a family, aside from the obvious food and water, plus how long to plan for. I need to have a good look around on here, and elsewhere and apply what I think would really be of help, when needed. I'm a sparky by trade and pretty good hands on with other stuff.

[Arzosah]

Welcome, boomer! Exactly what Andy said - prep for the most common issues around you locally before you go for the minority stuff. Flooding? Power cut? Water out? Crime? It's all interesting stuff and so incredibly useful.

[Yorkshire Andy]

I'm a sparky by trade and pretty good hands on with other stuff.

Good start you'll be well versed with "van toilets" plasters bucket and some pipe lagging


Suppose a decent changeover switch and a generator input won't be a issue



You've probably noticed we don't care much for zombie invasion but it's the smaller everyday problems that catch people totally off guard

Joking aside

Powers / utilitys off

= Alternative cooking camping stoves if you've been on sites in winter you soon find buntane freezes

Safe lighting candles are good but you can't go wrong with battery lanterns especially with kids

Information... Power cut due to bad weather or The like you'll loose the internet... Dig out the Makita / DeWalt radio and have a rave to the local radio station

Warmth.. blankets / sleeping bags / thermals / alternative safe heating

Alternative power be it a noisy dirty generator to power banks to a pure sine wave inverter run off the van / car which had been "suitably immobilised" whilst it's ticking over on the drive ...

[pseudonym]

Hello and welcome to the Forum.

[boomer]

So, quite a lot of people seem to prepare for a bug out scenario; this isn't something I've really put much thought to. I'm starting out from scratch really, have a great deal to learn and am about to embark prepping my home for potential events, (mainly loss of all mains services, food and water shortages for a duration, security etc.). Is a bug out situation something that the majority contemplate and plan for early on, or is it a natural prep progression after securing a residence to relatively comfortably wait things out? Short of a large flood or foreign invasion force right now I can't think why I would leave my home and take my family somewhere remote to live in a tent. I live in a fairly rural area - maybe for people living in a city it makes more sense to have a plan to leave home quickly as a greater concentration of people means things would escalate far quicker?

[jansman]

So, quite a lot of people seem to prepare for a bug out scenario; this isn't something I've really put much thought to. I'm starting out from scratch really, have a great deal to learn and am about to embark prepping my home for potential events, (mainly loss of all mains services, food and water shortages for a duration, security etc.). Is a bug out situation something that the majority contemplate and plan for early on, or is it a natural prep progression after securing a residence to relatively comfortably wait things out? Short of a large flood or foreign invasion force right now I can't think why I would leave my home and take my family somewhere remote to live in a tent. I live in a fairly rural area - maybe for people living in a city it makes more sense to have a plan to leave home quickly as a greater concentration of people means things would escalate far quicker?

You are not alone in your thinking. We have ‘Hotel Bags’ in case of forced evacuation ( think gas leak, flood, etc) , but as for running to the woods ( which is a fantasy of many Preppers!), all I can say is, “stuff that for a game of soldiers.” The bug out bag is something of a preoccupation for many, when building resilience against something more mundane, like job loss, would be more productive. But that’s me, and we all have different thoughts and potential scenarios.

[boomer]

Thanks for the quick response and straight away I've learned something - I'd never have thought of forced evacuation, so a bit of thought on preparation for that makes absolute sense.

[PreppingPingu]

Hullo and welcome!

You are not alone in your thinking. We have ‘Hotel Bags’ in case of forced evacuation ( think gas leak, flood, etc) , but as for running to the woods ( which is a fantasy of many Preppers!), all I can say is, “stuff that for a game of soldiers.” The bug out bag is something of a preoccupation for many, when building resilience against something more mundane, like job loss, would be more productive. But that’s me, and we all have different thoughts and potential scenarios.

As above! I love learning other skills such as bushcraft skill and camping etc but if I am having to rely on purely those things, then the world really has gone belly up! A lot of UK folks are far more about self sufficiency and the lower end of prepping with more a personal angle:

Welcome, boomer! Exactly what Andy said - prep for the most common issues around you locally before you go for the minority stuff. Flooding? Power cut? Water out? Crime? It's all interesting stuff and so incredibly useful.

If you got the more mundane things covered then any bigger events will be easier to deal with if we are unlucky enough to witness them in our lifetime. Welcome to being prepared