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Reply to: What OTC medications should we have on hand? Posted 2 weeks ago

Absolutely we buy ‘working hands’ cream in bulk 😅! Teen 1 just started first job as a dishwasher – he is first learning the importance of skin care!

Reply to: What OTC medications should we have on hand? Posted 2 weeks ago

I agree mostly with what Pops says. I keep a first aid kit with dressings but my medicine cabinet contains the following – this is everyday use rather than end of the world supplies! Paracetamol (acetaminophen) I keep lots of this as it can be used for fever and pain. Ibuprofen to take down swelling. It’s not suitable for everyone though I keep Chlorphenamine, an antihistamine, we don’t really have allergies in my family but this can be used to quickly treat allergic reactions. However it can make you sleepy so you need to be aware of that! I agree with Pops that cold medicines are not worth bothering with but I do keep menthol crystals with can be dissolved in hot water for steam inhalation. This is great to help with congestion but steam alone will also help. It can help when you get to the productive cough stage of a cold as well – for me this is much more cost effective than buying anti-mucolytics. Magnesium Sulphate paste which is used as a drawing ointment. A small packet of Imodium but plenty of rehydration sachets. I know you can make your own rehydration solution but tbh when I’m sick or I’m dealing with other people being sick a commercial product is easier to use. In my mind, diarrhoea is similar to coughing, the body’s way of trying to get rid of bad things but in case of upset stomachs I tend to resort to the BRAT diet! Antibiotic resistance is something that worries me and access to antibiotic creams here tends to be prescription only so I don’t keep them although I have been known to keep the tubes if they’ve been prescribed and not completely finished! I do keep anti-septics and sudocrem. Other than that I keep sterile saline pods for eye and wound washing, tick removers, I don’t keep low dose aspirin but perhaps I should as I’m now heading into that age category! Skincare is also really important, healthy skin will heal much quicker than dry skin. It is also less prone to damaged in the first place – So time to get moisturising!! I’m a great believer that keeping active, especially outside, limiting processed foods and keeping healthy are the best ways to avoid problems but that’s just my opinion.

Reply to: Minor prepping victory: Perennial Fruit! Posted 1 month ago

Honest answer not yet! Some people use fruit cages locally others use net curtains not sure how effective that is!

Reply to: Minor prepping victory: Perennial Fruit! Posted 1 month ago

Congratulations brown fox! I have a couple of Juneberries as well, I think they have fruited every year since I planted them – a word of warning though beware of the finches (if you have them in your area)! They like to eat the early buds in spring which will reduce the yield – they got to mine last year and we had far less fruit – what was more irritating was that they then went over the blueberries and stripped them too 😠

Reply to: How long, really, is refrigerated food safe after a power outage? Posted 2 months ago

I have a similar idea to Jay with a plastic fruit cup full of frozen water. I have a penny sitting on the top, if the power goes off while I’m away the penny will be at the bottom or part way down.

Reply to: I’m planting potatoes! Posted 3 months ago

I’ve grown potatoes in a couple of raised beds for years. Redneck, hats off to him, probably planted way more than me but I’ve found the best way to harvest them in to spend an afternoon getting in about them with my hands! Be warned though July, if you don’t get them all out you’ll have an extra crop next year 😉

Reply to: The Gottman Island Survival Game Posted 3 months ago

Types of maritime flares: https://www.rya.org.uk/knowledge/safety/look-after-yourself/equipment-for-uk-pleasure-vessels/distress-flares

Reply to: Prepping victories: When has prepping paid off for you? Posted 3 months ago

I always keep spare cash in the car; a bag of mixed coins for parking and about £50 in notes for emergencies (this was the equivalent of filling the tank before fuel prices shot up). One evening I stopped at the shop for a few items on the way home from work. I completely walked past the sign on the entry that said the electronic payment system was down and only found out when I got to the checkout! Luckily it wasn’t a full weekly shop and there weren’t many customers! I was able to run back to the car and grab my emergency cash to pay. Also, just yesterday I had taken an elderly relative out for the day. At some point they caught their hand and started bleeding. Car FAK to the rescue! We weren’t near any useful shops so just as well we had everything on hand.

Reply to: The Gottman Island Survival Game Posted 3 months ago

We’re back to the question of what exactly we have; I’m understand the idea of having the flares but you’d want to be fairly certain that someone is going to see them when you set them off. Handheld flares require gloves and a line of sight. Equally if you only have 1 rocket flare you want to be certain it’s going to be seen. I’m happy to swap the flares for the rope!

Reply to: What are your 2022 prepping goals and plans? Posted May 8, 2022

My progress has slowed mainly to stop me from doom spiralling 🌀! But I now have my car pretty much prepped – just need a jump cables. I have some in the garage but was also considering a jump starter. I’ve been working on my fitness and have improved my strength to a level that I’m happy with. But now I want to work on my cardio fitness and stamina. My third goal for this year was to work on my food storage but with teen locusts eating pretty much everything in sight it’s not going too well – upside is stock rotation!

Reply to: The Gottman Island Survival Game Posted May 8, 2022

I had considered the pots and pans and again it’s a situation thing; I could use the pans to collect rain water during the storm and possibly for cooking but I have food for 7 days and 10 days of potable water if I’m not rescued by then I may regret not having the pans😅but necessity is the mother of invention! The rope could be improvised with the right vegetation. I’ve made nettle rope before at a living history museum. Equally I could probably improvise a bag but I’m thinking I may be hiking through difficult territory and a decent backpack is going to reduce strain! But maybe it’s not an osprey 60 – maybe is rainbow shimmer fashion backpack used to carry someone’s chihuahua for instagram purposes 😱 (in which case I’m taking the pans😂) I will be keeping the compass though! Yes the sun rises in the east and sets in the west but how dense is the vegetation? How about when the sky is overcast? Or you get caught in the half light? I generally have a good sense of direction but I’m not prepared to rely on it in this situation. I know how easy it is to become disoriented if you’re hungry or dehydrated so the compass stays! If natural navigation interests you, Eric, you may enjoy Tristan Goodley’s books. I’m not sure the maps are going to be much help unless you’re close enough to make a successful crossing to safety. Given that my only transport option is a liferaft with a sail, I’m going to be at the mercy of both wind and current and my presumably much better equipped boat/ship failed I’m not sure if I’m risking that? They may be able to tell you which direction help is likely to come from? The only other reason I would keep the maps would be to use the paper for drawing my own resources map of the island!

Reply to: The Gottman Island Survival Game Posted May 8, 2022

Here’s my list: 1 Tents – there’s a storm coming so I want shelter and I probably don’t have time to build one from scratch! 2 Matches – I need some way to keep warm, boil water and cook any wild food I find. 3 Knife – I’m hoping this is a decent bush craft knife that I can use for multiple purposes and not just from the silverware drawer😉 4 Water – while I know water is essential I’m on the fence a little with this as it would depend on the circumstances of the time. Is this a single 10 gallon container in which case, how am I going to move it? Do I need to move it? Is it far enough up the beach that it may survive the storm? Is it obvious there is a fresh water source nearby? 5 Compass – so I can navigate my way around the island and find my way back to base! 6 Food rations for 7 days – my plan would be to try and supplement this so they would last longer but who knows what’s on the island? 7 the sleeping bags – this was a toss up with the changes of clothes but I decided if I had the sleeping bags I could dry clothes while I slept 8 Backpack – because it’s useful for foraging or carrying things over distance but it was nearly the rope! 9 FAK – because it makes sense 10 Liferaft – Liferafts are designed to be easily seen, they should also contain additional rations, water, first aid and flares 😉 maybe this one’s are strewn over the beach but maybe they aren’t! In my mind this is shelter, supplies and an SOS flag all in one! In reality though I would probably empty the backpack (if it had stuff in it) put as many useful items as possible in it and grab a tent in each hand and get up above the high water line. I’d probably use the long rope to tie up the liferaft so it didn’t float away, then make shuttle runs above the HWL with as much of the rest as possible! The last things I’d try and move would be the oxygen tanks and radio receiver. Not sure the receiver has a power source and while I’m sure Hollywood would have you connect it the 2 way radio to summon help that’s not in my skill set! I also don’t hold with the ‘not knowing where you are’, unless you’re not interested in where you travel! You’d know where you departed from, how many days you’ve been afloat and what direction you were going.Yes you’re off course but If you left Gran Canaria 2 days ago you aren’t going to be in Indonesia. You may not know EXACTLY where you are but you’ll have a rough idea and the aerial maps may help if you the island has any distinguishing features although whether that is a help or comfort is probably debatable!

Reply to: Food storage/self reliance Posted April 16, 2022

Wow Dave, your lucky that you are starting with 2 weeks on hand already. Have you talked this through with your wife? More is always better but only if you can rotate through it in time. I suggest you discuss it together and work out how much you are aiming to store what is a reasonable short term goal to aim for? 1 month? 3 months? You could always have a longer term goal that you can aim for without feeling you have to buy all at once! I would love to have 3-4 months but storage space is my issue! Also go through what you have on hand and think about what meals you could prepare with it. How about if your electricity is off? Does that change your plan? Do you have alternative ways to cook the food?

Reply to: Including Naloxone in EDC or IFAK Posted April 2, 2022

This is something that is now being issued in Scotland to try and reduce drug deaths, it is being issued to Police and members of the public can receive free training in its administration and be issued with a kit. There is a big push atm to re-frame language and attitudes around this issue. This is not something I personally carry or intend to carry in my current circumstances BUT if I had a family member or close friend who used opioids for any reason, legitimate or otherwise, then I would consider carrying it.

Reply to: “Reasonable” preparations for a nuclear conflict—picking a place to live… Posted March 26, 2022

The Fimbul Winter Not directly related to this but an interesting read on the effects of a sudden drop in crop yields and how the people of the time adjusted.

Reply to: What our BOBs have evolved into, and are now becoming through NEED. Posted March 21, 2022

Thank you Bradical for your comment, I would like to make some additional observations. I would like to point out that while men have their collective histories about fighting wars, women have collective histories about surviving them. Europe has been fighting wars with itself for the best part of 2000 years, this isn’t something new that started in the last month. Are there going to be victims? Always. Is that victim going to be you or your loved one? Not necessarily (and hopefully not). Women, on the whole, are aware of their surroundings. Threat of violence is something we grow up with, but that’s a whole other topic. You SHOULD be discussing your bug out plans with the women and girls in your life anyway! If you’re thinking of planning a ‘women & children’ only evacuation plan then there is no point YOU (a male) making the plan and saying ‘girls you need to do this and go here.’ because you will make a MALE plan. You need to sit down, plan and discuss it and LISTEN to what the women say, because women often problem solve in a different way based on skills and experience and they will see problems which you wouldn’t even think of! And, as with all plans, a trial run is never a bad thing!

Reply to: An observation on prepping in 2022 Posted March 20, 2022

Yes Robert Electricity/gas is now about £1900 per year. Up until March my annual bill was around £1200 now it is £1850! The kWh unit price is up but the daily ‘standing charge’ has nearly doubled, so even cutting back on usage, as many people are starting to do, only gets you so far. The domestic tariffs are ‘capped’ the government sets a maximum that can be charged per kWh, this maximum is based on a 6 month average of wholesale prices. These prices started to climb towards the end of 2021 and the current situation is pushing them even higher. The ‘fix’ option I was given at the beginning of March was £2700 p.a. so I’m expecting the October cap to rise to at least match this. We will know in September if they will climb to the £4500 Bill mentioned, if they do it is going to mean a lot of people facing fuel poverty (in the UK this is defined as having to spend more than 10% of income on total fuel use).

Reply to: Hospital go bag Posted March 13, 2022

While I understand things work differently in different countries, I would say it is a good idea to be aware of how ‘common’ your medicines are. Large hospitals which serve big populations will usually carry most medications, but the further out you go the more limited stocks are; the hospital may hold some drugs only in the most used strengths and if you’re on something specialist they may not hold it at all! Obviously as an emergency admission there’s not much you can do, I’ve known A&E nurses call relatives to bring in supplies if possible. But if you are going in for an elective feel free to check with the hospital before you’re admitted! It will save you worry and save your medical team time!

Reply to: European energy prices going through the roof Posted March 9, 2022

I have heard of people making bone meal from chicken carcasses! I’ve never tried this myself but the process seems to be Roast the chicken and eat it, boil the bones to make stock, then remove the bones and grind them in a blender for use in the garden.

Reply to: European energy prices going through the roof Posted March 7, 2022

Yup the most expensive fuel station today in town was 169.9 (£1.70 a litre) which would mean it will cost me £68 ($89) to fill my 40 litre car! I had already started to try and combine journey’s but now I’m thinking about really cutting back on the ‘unnecessary’. Turned my electric heating off at the weekend and will ride out the rest of ‘winter’ with blankets and the wood stove.Now I’m starting to think about what I can reasonably grow at home, potatoes, garlic and salad leaves come to mind – I’m not a good gardener but I’ve had some success with these in the past.