Hi from the Midlands

[Lemony]

Hi all!

I'm Lu, and live with my husband and two small boys in the West Midlands. I've been a member here for a few months, and thought it was about time I said hello! I started thinking about prepping about a year or so ago, and have been putting odd bits and pieces away when I can... I don't have a huge stockpile or anything yet, as my enthusiasm and motivation seems to come in spurts

My husband is kind-of on board, in that he's helpfully stuck a label on our food stocks which reads 'Zombie Apocalypse Kit', and he likes to offer sporadic criticisms about what I should and shouldn't buy next (I do like these smilies by the way!)

Looking forward to chatting with you all!

[preppingsu]

Hi and welcome Lemony.

Don't worry about your other half (OH). Mine humoured me to start with (about 5 yrs ago) but now he's on board and has been known to say 'perhaps you should get some more tins in'.

Just talk about general prepping reasons eg power cuts, strikes, bad weather etc. It's not all about the zombies!

[Jim Mac]

Hi and welcome !

[tigs]

welcome to the forum

[Lemony]

Thanks everyone!

OH is slowly becoming more like-minded about it; he watched a documentary last week about solar storms, which I think has made him take a step back and think, "Hmmm...what if....". I suppose I've been hamming it up ever-so-slightly though... I bought a crow-bar and told him, straight-faced, that it was in case of zombie attack.

We are moving to Central America in January/February, and I think we will be more likely to encounter power cuts and strikes out there. I read recently that there was a strike a little while ago which resulted in a country-wide loss of Internet, which I don't think is something that would happen here due to strike action. I would like to ultimately be prepared for all eventualities though!

[Arzosah]

Hi Lemony - I love the hamming up there are real issues, but losing your sense of humour would lower your quality of life significantly, and quality is what its all about (she said, with a straight face ).

And yep, I'm sure you'll face many more prepping challenges in Central America, depending what country and what part of that country - any particular preps you're making for that?

[Lemony]

Well, I'm concerned I'm going to have a tricky start out there, prep-wise. We're in the process of getting removals quotes, and they are coming back significantly higher than we were expecting. OH is now happy to sell everything we have here, and buy new there, but I'm reluctant to do that for a number of reasons. I think realistically we are going to ship a small amount of our things which have sentimental value, and then buy what we need out there.

The prep issue is that we are going to have to take a really small kit out with us, and wait for the couple of big boxes of the rest of it to be shipped (I will convince OH to have a small shipment!) We will also have to eat all our food we have saved, and bulk buy more as soon as we are there...

We aren't sure what part of the country we'd like to live in yet either, and are planning to rent short term in several locations before deciding. There are several different weather systems in th country which vary greatly - it's really hot at the coast, cooler in the mountains, wet in the forests... I'm also trying to get a decent collection of books on the wildlife and plants out there, so we can have a headsup on what's safe and what is likely to have me reaching for the crowbar

[Arzosah]

I've known of several long-time preppers who've moved countries, and they always talk about *decreasing* preps, because of transport costs, exactly as you say about a small kit with you.

Good luck! Prepping is also - primarily, maybe - about learning skills to become more self reliant, and you can do that even if you're eating your food stockpile

Let us know how its going.

[Lemony]

Thank you I'm really excited, but also frankly terrified! Will keep everyone updated on how we are getting on.

[preppingsu]

Can I be nosy...what made you decide to move to Central America?