Being prepared for emergency

As someone who used to have a job as a crisis management coordinator for a big global firm. I realised this weekend while talking to my uncle about oil prices and how heavily our island society depends on oil to transport food that my young family is currently woefully ill-equiped to cope with any kind of disruption to everyday services.

Yes we do have a few potato,tomato and courgette plants growing but we certainly do not have enough basic supplies to keep our family healthy if there was ever an emergency which meant supermarket shelves ran empty (eg. no haulage firms willing to transport food if oil costs soared to unprofitable levels).

I’ve decided to invest in a contingency stock which will include enough food,water,basic medicines,washing equipment and enterntainment for us five if something untoward creates chaos in the supply chain to supermarkets and shops. I’ll need to store it all in the cellar in lidded crates so no errant rodents get to it before me.

My uncle’s stock consists of the following:

• Dried beans,mixed lentils,tinned foods,etc,and plenty of the basics such as tea,coffee,soap,toilet rolls,washing powder etc

and he assumes he would use water from a nearby rive or rainbutt. I would have to add children’s items such as kids’painkillers. Our wind up radio and wind up torch may also come in handy.

Apparently it is key to check your stock every 6 months and use/replace items which are near their sell-by date.

It won’t take much effort or cash to put together these rations but may well be a real life saver if the unexpected occurs to our delicately balanced society which depends so heavily on various factors.

In the long term we’re putting plans in place to equip ourselves with skills which would be useful in leaner times (eg. rearing chickens and other animals for food,carpentry or plumbing,fishing,shooting),brushing up on first aid knowledge and also looking out for mechinal machinery which doesn’t require electricity (eg. carpet sweeper,hand operated drill,a rotary lawn mower,scythe).

If at the end of our lives we haven’t needed any of the things then we can pass them on to our children and they can do the same but at least we will have been prepared (one of the campaigns I ran when I worked in crisis management was “Expect the unexpected!”).

[NB:My crate of Tesco Value contingency food stuffs was delivered yesterday. Here's what we now have in a dedicated crate to enable us to stay healthy for approximately 1 month. The sum total was £50 but would have been £37 without the 2 x Value Vodka!]

5 x Tesco Value Tinned Sweetcorn
10 x Tesco Value Instant Mash
10 x Tesco Value Baked Beans in Tomato Sauce
5 x Tesco Value Spaghetti in Tomato Sauce
10 x Tesco Value Tuna Flakes in Brine
4 x Tesco Value Long Grain Rice
20 x Tesco Value Bacon Flavour Instant Noodles
3 x Tesco Value Dried Skimmed Milk
4 x Tesco Value Eveporated Milk
5 x Tesco Value Clear Honey
3 x Tesco Value Jam
5 x Tesco Value Still Water (2 Litres)
2 x Tesco Still Water (5 litres)
5 pack of child resistant lighters
4 x Boxes matches
4 x toilet paper
2 x Paracetamol packs
2 x Ibuprofen packs
2 x Calpol packs
2 x Tesco Value Vodka
1 x Tesco value toothpaste
1 x jar instant coffee
1 x  bag tea bags

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