Preppers, Cranks or on to something ?

[CptDanjou]

I came across this site and think preppers seem to be a bunch of nut jobs , is Doomsday possible? I dont think so in the UK , I dont see anything wrong with learning outdoor survival skills , can be good healthy fun in fact , but stock piling for disaster , building nuclear shelters and having an S10 and big knife in every cupboard in the house?

UK Preppers Guide

 

[franktwinkletoes]

The UK based ones do seem to be mad, waltish and generally unstable folks. I saw a guy in youtube doing an all round defense of his campsite using air rifles. THe sort of chaps that wear their trousers tucked into their boots when out and about doign the weekly shop.

In the US, they havd their share of madmen too but a lot of sensible, well thought out types too.

Obviously easier in the US with ready access to wepaons, ammo and large areas of open land.

IN all seriousness, it is a very wise idea to store enough food and water at your house to last 2-4 weeks - Think , fuel crisis affecting shop deliveries for example.

 

[mudbutton]

Preppers seem to be nutters and random sex pests. But, there is merit in preparing for various contingencies such as major power losses,etc. preparing for this means retaining skills that anyone under 30 would struggle with, like using a street directory or paying with cash,etc.

 

[Grouchy]

I think it's a good idea for the average house to have abit more than a couple if days food in at a time. And if you live super rural it's a good idea to have a lot more stuff. Maybe a generator, gas cylinders, diesel etc. But if your living that rural you will do that anyway without having to make a big song and dance about it.

American prepping smacks to me of the fact a hell if a lot of them are thick and fear the world outside there county, never mind country.

 

[HappyNomad]

All round defence with air rifles?

Who did they expect to be fighting off. There are not that many attacks on Camping and Caravanning Club sites these days.

In all seriousness, why the **** would anyone in the U.K. feel the need to store enough food for more than a day or two? Easier to just steal it from your hoarding neighbour's if things get really desperate.

Nobody starved in the last fuel unpleasantness and if your water is cut off, the local authority delivers it in bottles.

Squirrelling is for Squirrells and stoopid people.

 

[gloworm]

It makes sense to stock up, just in case, I try to keep the cabinets full

 

[oldsoak]

I remember once coming down with the mumps. "Two weeks off" said the quack "@#£& off" said my muckers who were all stuck in the doorway trying to get away simultaneously.
Wrapped myself up in a scarf to hide the swelling and went down the local post office which doubled as a mini market for tins of food. Next store neighbour was there with kiddy. "Stay away," she screeched to kid " he's got the mumps" . Instantly "you shouldn't be out if it's mumps, " etc from the daft bat behind the counter " I don't want to catch it".
I didn't quite get to eating nettles or foraging for food, but it came pretty close !
I now keep well stocked on tins of mince,veggies, rice and pasta.

 

[gloworm]

I keep a good stock of kit to see me through power cuts, general problems such as kit breaking down overnight or bank holidays. I don't see the need to dig a bunker or wear a tin foil hat (well, not yet)
I shoot for the pot and grow a few staples...that does not make me a prepper, just someone being prepared for day to day eventualities.
Some of the Internet 'prepper' types are fully fledged, card carrying, moon howlers, certifiable candidates for the Darwin Awards thread

 

[franktwinkletoes]

All round defence with air rifles?

Who did they expect to be fighting off. There are not that many attacks on Camping and Caravanning Club sites these days.

In all seriousness, why the **** would anyone in the U.K. feel the need to store enough food for more than a day or two? Easier to just steal it from your hoarding neighbour's if things get really desperate.

Nobody starved in the last fuel unpleasantness and if your water is cut off, the local authority delivers it in bottles.

Squirrelling is for Squirrells and stoopid people.

This is the guy, he is something of a celebrity in the prepper scene and I am certain that he has autism to some degree and is living in a fantasy. Its not that I dont think that retaining a level of self sufficiency is daft, far from it, itś that he is a total bell end who knows nothing about what he is doing and is likely compensating for not having joined the army or being rejected in earlier life.

funkyprepper

I lived in North Wales for a time and there was some heavy snow that lasted for over 2 weeks, the whole town became a post apocalyptic scene, shop shelves were bare, people were stealing fuel from parked cars, it was all very exciting until word got out that the main road a few miles away was totally clear and outside the valley things were normal.

 

[Victorian_Major]

It's a revenue stream. Milk the twats.

 

[DeltaDog]

In the UK, they're all fantasist nutters. I guarantee we have a bunch on here.

In the US, it makes a lot more sense. A natural disaster could conceivably see you cut off from power, food, water and law enforcement for weeks. Look at Hurricaine Katrina.

 

[Grouchy]

Yes. No need here apart from some sensible measures based on your geographic location. If you live in the sticks its all part and parcel.

 

[_scranbag]

Yeah....well he ended up as a trucker in Vegas.

 

[jarrod248]

Sensible to keep an amount of tinned food, alternative means of cooking, flour, lighting, heating.
Last power cut I forgot where my candles were, was glad of the coal fire. People who recall the 70's I expect would be sensible enough to keep plenty of things just in case, good shovel for example to bury elderly relatives.

 

[DeltaDog]

People who recall the 70's I expect would be sensible enough to keep plenty of things just in case, good shovel for example to bury elderly relatives.

People who recall the 70s are the elderly relatives.

 

[jarrod248]

People who recall the 70s are the elderly relatives.

I'll inform my brothers.

 

[Troy]

[snip]
Squirrelling is for Squirrells and stoopid people.

Some people are like squirrels and some people are like dogs.

Leave a dog for a week with a week's food and it will all be gone by Tuesday.
Leave a squirrel with a week's food and they'll make it last.

My sort of prepping is financial. When something that I use frequently is on special offer then I stock up on them. Usually I get enough to last at least until the next time the special offer comes around. Obviously, not for things with a short shelf life.

It makes sense to me. If a pack of soaps are on BOGOF, then the saving on that quid or two is a far better return than what the banks would give me on a few quid.

I've never understood people who can be so disorganised that they run out of something, particularly when they only find out when their need arises. To run out of toothpaste or bog roll at home, how clumsy is that?

Every time I used to go to the post office there would be someone who would queue for a while just to buy one stamp. Why not just buy ten and save themselves nine time queueing? Particularly if they've paid bus fare to get there! Besides when the price of postage goes up, they can save the few pence...

It could be said that everyone with a freezer is a bit of a prepper...

 

[Bacongrills]

I doubt kebabalon in the high street will close under any emergency situation. Lack of any safe meat won't stop them.

 

[CptDanjou]

Being in shape would play a big part on surviving , if you were a fat cnut you'd never catch the next meal such as a cat or a dog never mind rabbits and deer.

 

[Falling Plate]

I have a camper van with at tin of spaghetti hoops in it.