This week there’s been a lot in the news about the need to be prepared for a whole range of potential emergencies like total power failure, bad actors, foreign hackers, anarchy, riots and so on. We’re all supposed to be stashing enough tinned and long life food, water, medicines, hygiene products and pet food to get us through a fortnight of national disaster, along with copies of important documents, cash, wind up torches, batteries, radios and a list of helpful phone numbers. A go-bag for fires, floods, zombie attacks. Blankets, sleeping bags, things to keep the kids amused when their phones run out or TikTok goes dark. Board games are an option, though presumably not Monopoly as that’s guaranteed to cause societal breakdown in your house as well as outside.
I can see some issues with the list above, as getting your doctor to provide you with a prescription for prepper purposes is quite unlikely. Other problems that have been put forward have been lack of space for storing the stash (stashing the store?) and also – probably more of an issue given the economy – the number of people living in food insecurity who can’t afford to eat day to day let alone to stockpile. People mutter about food banks filling that gap but I have a feeling that people will be buying those extra tins for their own families now rather than donating,
It’s something I’m considering doing although my main problem would be stashing enough food somewhere in the house to supply a growing 15 year old Thing 3, and also enough of the right sort of food to keep Thing 1 fed as she is and always has been a picky eater. Thing 2 will just mix stuff together according to her mood.
Tinned vegetables are recommended, corned beef, tuna and sardines, beans, soups, tinned chilli and bolognese, UHT milk, dried fruit and nuts. Pasta, rice, instant mash and porridge, chocolate. Huge jugs of water. The list of food above is more of a ‘won’t eat’ list for Thing 1, and that’s before she even gets onto the need for oat milk. Wes Streeting clearly does not have teenagers to contend with, and definitely not teens who can sniff out a stash of chocolate biscuits through several layers of lead insulation.
So assuming I can find somewhere to stash my disaster store (other than the salad drawer, which none of them look in and which is so far safe) it will probably have to include the following:
- Approximately one million tins of Ravioli, which they all eat
- Sausages and beans, in a can (a nod to my small nephew there)
- Spaghetti and sausages (I don’t like beans)
- Heinz Cream of Tomato soup in large quantities
- Curry Pot Noodles (blame their father)
- Tuna in spring water (the cats get the water)
- Corned beef and tinned potatoes for hash, maybe with some dried onions
- Dried fruit (mostly for me) and a locked stash of biscuits
- A barista’s dream of oat, almond and semi skimmed milk
- Coffee. Otherwise I’m not going to make it through this let alone the kids.
- Wind up torches so my little wind up merchants can see to wind each other up
- A big pile of books, also handy for insulation and building a fort to hide in
- A large yarn stash and crochet hooks. For sanity and blankets, obviously. Crochet is a post apocalyptic life skill, you know.
- The other stuff on the list, though the government have stopped short of actually publishing a list in case of precipitating the food shortages.
So there we are. Apparently this is SOP in European countries who are all much better prepared than we are for national disasters and so on. I wonder what makes the UK different? Answers on a postcard…
Things making me happy this week
- Thing 2 turned 18!
- Miranda being murdered by the Traitors. I never took to her.
- Crocheting watching Widow’s Bay and Slow Horses while Storm Austen howls outside
- Ben and Jerry’s Minter Wonderland season again!
That’s it from me…back to work tomorrow after ten days off. Can’t wait to open my inbox…
Kirsty x
What I’ve been reading
Miss Wolcott’s Ghost – Louise Penny
The Charlie Method/The Graham Effect – Elle Kennedy
Cover photo from The Guardian
