Prepping in Suburbia

[ClarityJane]

Hello everyone,
I have only become interested in prepping within the last couple of months. Prepping is something I would very much like to do but my circumstances make really effective prepping almost impossible. I look after two elderly parents in our small bungalow in suburban England. I have no room for storage except, for a few kitchen cupboards, so please can anyone give advice to would-be preppers who live in suburbia with limited options. By the way, I know we wouldn’t survive a Doomsday scenario but I’d like to be prepared for a flu pandemic/widespread strikes/temporary food shortages, that sort of thing…
Many thanks.

[PJ]

Jane

By exploring the realm of preparedness you are light years ahead of your peers who will simply wait on some govt agency to do something if things go badly. In essence you are preparing for a scenario where you would have limited access to resupply of food and water, maybe having to stay indoors for a few weeks or a month?

Here is what I would recommend:

– Have you considered using space under a bed or even a closet for storage?

– Look into foods that are high on calories and easily prepared, preferably with no cooking involved. MREs come to mind as well as canned foods (but those are bulky). Try to store enough food to last your family for 3 to 4 weeks, this should accomplish what you are looking for.

– Next is water, WATER, WAAAAAAAATER. Water takes up quite a bit of space but if things go bad it will rise to the top of the list as everyone will want it. Store as much as you can on site and if you have a bath tub consider a water bob which will allow you to fill up around 60 gallons. It rains quite a bit in England so maybe consider a device to catch rain water, and then a way to filter or purify it.

– Medications are next, make sure to have ample supply on hand for your parents. I think that goes without saying.

– Finally: CASH. Have some bank notes on hand in case you need to barter or purchase outright and ATMs are out of money. Stash away some quid beneath your mattress and forget that it’s there.

Any other questions feel free to post them up!

[ClarityJane]

Thank you PJ

There are companies in the UK that stock emergency freeze dried food (Made in the USA of course!) and I have ordered some samples. Also, there are quite a few books available about the Home Front during World War Two over here. They are mainly published for education or bitter-sweet nostalgia purposes but contain quite a lot of useful information about making a little go a long way. My parents remember those days of rationing and uncertainty but most of the post-war generations give it no thought at all.

We already have 3 large rain receptacles in the garden that are usually pretty full!

As for cash…Is there anyone left who fully trusts banks/governments? Surely not…

[PJ]

You bring up a great point! Books are key, if things get bad there might not be an internet to refer to…

[J]

Clarity,

Greetings, if a bit late, I just happened to see this thread. It sounds as if you would not really be planning to go anywhere if something were to happen, so you are more interested in “bugging in” as we call it. Water is always going to be a concern and PJ brought up an excellent idea as far as catching rainwater.

Freeze dried foods will require water, as well; this is somehting that tends to be overlooked, I think. If you are not planning on going to another location, then you might consider some other food alternatives, as well. Granola bars, small tins of food, things of this nature can get you by and wont take up a lot of space and will generally keep well past any expiration date they have printed on them.

As far as space, if you have any attic space at all, this is an excellent place for storing such things.

If you have any other questions or thoughts, I encourage you to ask them, any and all of us are more than willing to answer any questions you might have.

[ClarityJane]

Thanks J

Right now I’m still at the ‘preparing-to-prepare’ stage. For me this means getting lots of info to avoid too many costly mistakes; saving some money for future purchases, and keeping a close eye on the news.( It would sound silly to most of the people I know but when I heard of a possible case of Ebola in Canada last week and the trouble in Ukraine…well, these days I put myself on Amber Alert.)

You and PJ have made me far more conscious of water storage/purification and this will mean purchasing items online from specialist retailers so I think I’ll get those things first.

My parents are aware of my interest in Prepping but aren’t quite so enthusiastic so I shan’t be able to put stores in the attic (it’s their house!)

As you know, over here Prepping is seen as an hilarious ‘Redneck-American’ thing we are encouraged to laugh at. Yet the founder of the Boy Scout/Girl Guide movement, Lord Baden-Powell, started encouraging youngsters to “Be Prepared” over a century ago! I suppose people think that sort of attitude belongs in the past…I disagree.

[PJ]

I suppose those who think prepping is hilarious also believe the government will always be there to save them should something go wrong. 🙂

[J]

It doesnt take a bundle of money or a lot of space to greatly increase your chances of making it through a bad situation, or of passing it in relative comfort. A few candles (my daughter and I make them as a winter project to pass the time), maybe an oil lamp or 2 will cover your lighting needs for several days to several weeks. There are portable water filters that will clean even the canal water and make it drinkable and usable for you.

Here, we have had a number of bad storms over the last few years to remind us of the hazards that can be faced. The Southern UK was pounded with a lot of flooding from what I recall, also.

As a suggestion, PJ has a list on the site as far as recommendations for several budgets. Not sure if you have found these lists, but they are very common sense. I would also recommend the “prepper pyramid” he put together; it is one of the most common sense diagrams on the subject i have seen. It was what got me interested in this site, to be honest.

While there is no one true way in what we do, I hope these suggestions will be helpful. That’s what we are here for!

[ClarityJane]

J,

Yes I’ve seen the prepper pyramid and I love its concise lesson. I must admit I don’t really understand the idea of buying gold for bartering as there’s not much one can do with it if TSHTF. I think people will be more likely to want a bar of soap than a bar of gold. It all depends on the situation I suppose. If it’s bank accounts that get wiped out at least one would have something to sell to a dealer. This has already become common in the UK. The main street of my home town is now dominated by pawn shops; gold buyers; betting shops; empty, boarded-up shops, oh and 4 coffee outlets.

I shall be visiting a nearby city soon and they have a large camping store there so I hope to buy some basics like a little stove, water purifying tablets etc.

I love that your daughter makes candles with you! I will need something like wind-up lanterns as my father has advanced Parkinson’s Disease and falls a lot so candles wouldn’t be safe for us. When I was a child in the 70s we had a lot of nationwide strikes and blackouts were quite common. We had candles then and I thought it was very exciting! Kids are very adaptable and that’s what prepping is largely about, I think. Nowhere is it written in stone that life will always be the same. I wonder why so many people don’t know that…?

[J]

I think most people simply put too mush faith into the system. Here, I see a lot of “too big to fail” mentality in people. A lot of folks here just seem to think that assistance can simply be on hand within hours of a catastrophe and that it will be never ending. Even with the severe storm catastrophes here, Katrina and Sandy to name two of the more famous, people seemed to wonder “what’s taking so long?”

Gold I personally dont even have on my list. The money it would take to buy gold I can use much more effectively in other areas. Yes, it is a good way to safeguard a fortune, given the assumption that the economy comes back to some semblance of itself. In a barter situation, though, I think you would lose a lot of the investment in it. That’s just my opinion on the subject.

In reference to your coffee shops remark, I have a stash of coffee beans, both for my use and for trade. little luxury items like that will go a long way. I remember back in my military days that packs of Kool Aid drink mix were huge in the field. They can also cut the taste from less than stellar water sources 🙂

[Lux]

Hello PJ,

Can I provide a link to an article that would be helpful? It covers the basics including food, water, sanitation, lighting, communication and the ability to put out a fire. It is very general but puts the reader in the proper mind set to start the daunting task of bugging in.

[Lux]

If you have ever been backpacking for a few days you probably know now what you really need to survive. If you never have been backpacking you might want to get together with people you know who have been and give it a try. It is very educational. Having said that, this article views prepping as planning for a camping trip at home. It really is the bare minimum but it is probably a good starting point for a non prepper:

http://beforeitsnews.com/2012/2012/12/camping-at-home-the-easy-way-to-prep-2441508.html

[Clarity Jane]

Good link, Lux.

Re cooking: On British tv recently there was a show called ‘Blackout’ which dramatised what would happen if the national grid was brought down, for just 5 days, by a cyber attack. The programme followed fictional characters coping (or not) with the emergency. The prepper was portrayed as an idiot. His wife and children did nothing but complain; their generator was heard running and promptly stolen: the theives returned at night, broke into his house and stole all the rest of the food.

All the prepper’s woes were started by the aroma of food being cooked on his barbeque which of course caught the attention of everyone within sniffing distance. This has put me off buying stoves/BBQs to cook outside with. I think I’d feel safer with boil-in-the-bag meals or just simply using a camping kettle to heat water for freeze dry meals/powdered soups etc. This way the food could be dished up inside, away from inquisitive noses!

By the way, ‘Blackout’ ended with the by now desperate prepper bludgeoning an old man to death over the meagre remains in a looted supermarket…just before the power came back on.

Scary but educational!

[PJ]

Clarity

Ref your food cooking techniques. In an environment like you describe where everyone lives in close proximity cooking out on the grill would be stupid. Like you mentioned dry food or boil in bag meals would be the best option. Boiling water creates no smell, just reconstitute the food and you are good to go. Just BE CAREFUL with how you dispose of the trash!

If you are looking for some legit survival food, check out some Datrex bars. One of our sponsors has them in stock, Blackriveroutpost.com. Each pack has 2400 calories, might be good to stockpile a few just in case.

[Lux]

Most of my cooking will be heating up food in cans. I will need to be able to boil water for noodles (cheap high calorie extender for just about everything). I have done quite a lot of testing cooking with candles, cooking oil, and oil lamps and shortening. Candles are my number one choice. Small amounts of food and water can be brought to a boil with a three wick candle. Since candles are totally safe to use indoors, the smell from cooking will be almost non existent. One candle flame can heat up a 15 oz can of spaghetti or ravioli no problem (not boiling). A candle single candle flame can be used to pre heat water before heating with propane (saves propane) I buy 3 wick candles when they go on clearance at walmart.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Cooking-With-Three-Candle-Flames/?ALLSTEPS

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