Hello I am new to doing anything like this. Although I am aware of the idea behind it. I feel a great push to making sure my family has at least a few days worth of something to keep us slightly comfortable if/when things go wrong.
A bit about me, I go by my nick name Jimmy, I'm 41, married and have 2 kids under 5. I'm not a huge fan of modern life and would much prefer to live much more basically, but the family don't have the same mind set.
I have been growing fruit and veg for 15 years as a hobby. I have an interest in preservation and hunting but also never done yet.
Can't wait to slowly build up something that will put my mind at ease.
Hello everyone.
Re: Hello everyone.
Hello and welcome to the Forum. 
I hate to break it to you, but....
If you've been growing your own produce for 15 years, you are not new to prepping
You are so far ahead of the curve with all your knowledge and experience.
I hate to break it to you, but....
If you've been growing your own produce for 15 years, you are not new to prepping
You are so far ahead of the curve with all your knowledge and experience.
Two is one and one is none, but three is even better.
Re: Hello everyone.
Welcome Jimmy! You've got lots of experience and skills, and it's obvious you want to stretch your wings, that's great. Makes the whole family a lot safer, even if they don't agree!
Re: Hello everyone.
Hi from Manc. Easiest way to get started is buy something that you can eat eventually, but store for a year or two, like a bag of pasta. Get something extra like that when you shop, and start accumulating a small stockpile at the back of a cupboard. Tins of tuna are good, as they take up little space. Second thing you want to do is buy some 5 or 10 litre food grade containers for water. You need to know what to do, ie clean first, store away from sunlight, and swap out periodically. Personally I re-sterilise when I do that, and also add Oasis tabs to the stored water.JimmyJoeseph wrote: ↑Sun Oct 18, 2026 9:29 am Hello I am new to doing anything like this. Although I am aware of the idea behind it. I feel a great push to making sure my family has at least a few days worth of something to keep us slightly comfortable if/when things go wrong.
A bit about me, I go by my nick name Jimmy, I'm 41, married and have 2 kids under 5. I'm not a huge fan of modern life and would much prefer to live much more basically, but the family don't have the same mind set.
I have been growing fruit and veg for 15 years as a hobby. I have an interest in preservation and hunting but also never done yet.
Can't wait to slowly build up something that will put my mind at ease.
After that you have things like first aid kits, fire precautions, ability to cook something if the gas or electricity is down, etcetera. Every little step is a bit more prepared.
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JimmyJoeseph
- Posts: 0
- Joined: Sun Oct 18, 2026 9:09 am
Re: Hello everyone.
Thank you all for your comments, makes me feels like I am actually more prepared than I was worried about.
Water storage has been a head scratcher, so thanks for the info.
As to first aid, I have always had a good stock of safety pins, plasters and lots of gauze etc, only because I used to be a first aider for many years haha.
I definitely need more candles and matches too for light and warmth. Do people use the terracotta pot trick? I use it to warm my greenhouse.
Water storage has been a head scratcher, so thanks for the info.
As to first aid, I have always had a good stock of safety pins, plasters and lots of gauze etc, only because I used to be a first aider for many years haha.
I definitely need more candles and matches too for light and warmth. Do people use the terracotta pot trick? I use it to warm my greenhouse.
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Yorkshire Andy
- Posts: 10013
- Joined: Thu Oct 03, 2013 4:06 pm
Re: Hello everyone.
Water storage is a tricky one for most of nothing else it's bloody heavy we are fortunate that the pantry has a concrete floor so excessive weight is no issue.......
Start with a few packs of bottled water farm foods have 20l worth of 500ml bottles for £6 2 slabs of that and your well on your way... Drink them for work / days out and rotate .
I've some 20l barrels with a matching tap which I slosh out and replenish 3 to 4 times a Year these are a bit heavy but stack well I've a couple of caravan style aqua rolls so if I've got to go collect water I can wheel it home (literally)
Start with a few packs of bottled water farm foods have 20l worth of 500ml bottles for £6 2 slabs of that and your well on your way... Drink them for work / days out and rotate .
I've some 20l barrels with a matching tap which I slosh out and replenish 3 to 4 times a Year these are a bit heavy but stack well I've a couple of caravan style aqua rolls so if I've got to go collect water I can wheel it home (literally)
If your roughing it, Your doing it wrong 
Lack of planning on your part doesn't make it an emergency on mine
Lack of planning on your part doesn't make it an emergency on mine
Re: Hello everyone.
I’ve found storing water jerrycans on a concrete floor ( our garage ) produced a lot of condensation so now
they’re now on pallets, it keeps other preps in there drier.
We have a 12V submersible pump that we can drop inside a jerrycan, bought from a camping shop years ago,
it saves us from heavy lifting, there is no way Mrs Peter could lift a full 20l container, for camping we use 10l.
they’re now on pallets, it keeps other preps in there drier.
We have a 12V submersible pump that we can drop inside a jerrycan, bought from a camping shop years ago,
it saves us from heavy lifting, there is no way Mrs Peter could lift a full 20l container, for camping we use 10l.
Re: Hello everyone.
Hi Jimmy
Welcome to the gang. You are clearly already thinking on the right track. If you are prepping for power problems and have smaller kids I would look at rechargeable LED camping lanterns rather than candles as they are much safer to have around youngsters. They can either be recharged as/when the power is OK, or can be recharged via the car or a small solar panel if you need to be completely off grid. You could also consider some USB-C rechargable motion sensitive night lights. We use them on our stairwell and hallway for those night time trips to the loo and they last months on one charge.
A wind up torch makes a good gift for a youngster to play with and never runs out of batteries.....
For heating you may want to consider some hot water bottles (with covers) if you have a camp stove that can warm up some water. Old fashioned but effective.
Welcome to the gang. You are clearly already thinking on the right track. If you are prepping for power problems and have smaller kids I would look at rechargeable LED camping lanterns rather than candles as they are much safer to have around youngsters. They can either be recharged as/when the power is OK, or can be recharged via the car or a small solar panel if you need to be completely off grid. You could also consider some USB-C rechargable motion sensitive night lights. We use them on our stairwell and hallway for those night time trips to the loo and they last months on one charge.
A wind up torch makes a good gift for a youngster to play with and never runs out of batteries.....
For heating you may want to consider some hot water bottles (with covers) if you have a camp stove that can warm up some water. Old fashioned but effective.