Nine meals from anarchy

[Rightslanted]

Hi,

Here is a very good article on how close we are and how important it is to be prepared.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1024833/Nine-meals-anarchy--Britain-facing-real-food-crisis.html

Maybe Britain but still impacts us in the U.S.

Regards,

Don

[lateaprildawn]

How right you are Dan,

That is an excerpt from my own daily paper.
(bit of a fib really as i read it online now rather than buying it
;D)

I live in a large city suburb, a few local small "ethnic" shops but only one smallish branch of a supermarket in walking distance from most of the houses.

When a bank holiday is due, the day before it occurs, ALL milk and bread is always sold out. I am always astounded at how people either panic buy or alternatively panic because for one single day they have to do without.

I reckon that I may be one of the last lucky generations, my parents experienced rationing during ww2 as children and as a result I was taught to use my brain and plan ahead.

One problem with that particular headline is it causes the usual reaction here. Either a "stampede" of panic or people totally ignoring it.

I admit that when seeing the headline, i looked a little closer at the local economic climate , double checked both my stores, my garden produce forecast for this year and my forward planning for next year.

At the moment I have about 9 months food storage, added to that this years produce and i think I rate "ok to good" for 18 months.

Big shame there arent more UK people on this site and i dont really know why they arent.

Sad but i reckon most think the govt will rescue/bail them out in emergencies.

Thanks for posting it, i will try to post a few more uk articles from now on. It seems that what issues we have soon will be experienced by you guys, eg fuel hikes .

I'm not proud

;D

I appreciate knowledge and skill sharing ,so much better than money in the Bank !!

Best wishes,
April

[kawalekm]

All it might take is for English lorry drivers to strike, the way American Truckers are threatening, and the government would find out very fast that they have feet of clay.

I'm sorry to say that the mentality of most Americans is no different. Ninety-nine % of them think that food comes from the grocery store and just can't figure it out.

April, you'd better invest in a good butcher knife before UK knife control legislation goes into effect.

[TheUnboundOne]

Dear Rightslanted,

As The Kinks put it: "There is no England now."

[stew]

Thanks Don,
for some reason I can't open that link. I am curious though.
BTW, Hello April, we are in the UK, for the summer at least. We are planning to settle in Mexico, (my wife is Mexican) so we cannot really start storing here. Though we do keep plenty of pulses & dried beans, canned food etc, we really are not safe to cope with a collapse.
We are preparing a small homestead in Mexico, but my health has slowed us down.

Yes, I was wondering why there are not more UK 'posts', though I suppose I wouldn't know if they were, obviously you make it clear with your posts which is helpful!
I feel the UK mentality is much more secretive & introverted than that of the USA, also, we have had most of our liberties taken from us & end up like beaten dogs.

We have much more freedom in Mexico, our own spring, timber, land, not to mention sunshine. We will be at 9000ft, & the area is quite safe.

stew

[pinetreefarm]

Thank you for the article. I do read the news in England and have not found any preparedness articles.

I live in a rural area between 2 small towns. The grocery shopping is just adequate. Most of the rural people have smallish gardens, although with more people choosing to live in their McMansions in rural areas, Their idea of gardening is a tomato plant on the patio. Nary a garden to be found among them.

In the event of an "event", my immediate family would come to us. That makes 12 mouths to feed. Each family has a list of things they must bring. I think we have enough food for 8 months. Must continue to prep. Unfortunately I am having difficulty getting enough wheat. Had to settle for hard white wheat through one supplier. That wiill do in a pinch.

Garden seeds are my June prep. Want to gather some more seeds for alternate planting. Continue to work with some more container gardening for winter solarium.

Pine

[MNMOM]

PTF, it looks even more glumy here in SE MN after last night, the fields are flooded, roads are closed, it's horrible. If it ever dries out I'm going to try and reseed the garden, my huge garden is gone.

Luckily, I have a full pantry and I have planned for our son and his family just in case.

Today, I just feel so defeated, it was a cloudburst all night, this has been happening again and again. Crying doesn't help.

April, I have relatives in England and I really worry about the circumstances over there also.

The forecast for the price of food is horrible also, when you think of all the corn that is under water in Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana etc. I don't think a lot of people realize just how much corn is utilized, it's in so many products, plus feed for all the animals that we eat.

Today, I look out the window at all our field's and they are all standing in water. :'(

[lateaprildawn]

My heart goes out to you folks that are having to deal with these disasters.
Our little panics are nothing compared to the floods and tornados that you have been suffering.

I think the biggest problem we face here in the UK is plain and simple stupidity.

Heres a story about a happening in my town that makes me cringe with embarassment . It was shown on the main evening tv news.
There was a big push to make school meals healthier for the kids, more veggies and less fried stuff etc.
At one local school the mothers of these kids were actually going to the school and pushing bags of french fries and fish and chips through the school fence to their kids and they were worried their little darlings would go hungry !!!

The school gave in and started serving fries again.
:-/

2 or 3 days with no food on the shelves wont kill them. To be honest , bread and milk will disappear but i bet it wouldnt dawn on them to buy the "makings".

The last food panic we had here was limited to people panic buying milk ,bread, chocolate cookies and potato chips. Plenty of flour, butter eggs and quite a few veggies still on the shelf.

Biggest danger here is people going mad due to carbohydrate withdrawal

Best wishes,
April ;D ;D ;D

[lateaprildawn]

Hi pinetree farm,

I agrre with you , i cant understand why there arent many preparedness articles in the uk.

I am proud to be british, BUT and this is a big but, a great deal is still said and quoted about the "stiff upper lip" that we had in wwII, dig for victory , surviving on rations etc. and its absolute history here. I am in my 40's and have learnt good lessons from my parents who were children in the war. If i was ten years younger and my parents werre, they wouldnt have had the knowledge and experience to pass on to me.
I am sorry to say that in my experience my generation doesnt have the "excuse the expression, balls, anymore" People are living on history not on real experiences)

I have been too soft in the past and given away far too much to family, friends and lets face it leeches. I would always provide for my mum and dad (check out the ten commandments (grin), but i will make my brothers and sisters contribute in provisions , skills or physical work if they want to create a family survival scenario.

I found a great link to a US govt site all about generating awareness of preparedness. Here in the UK, i have found nothing. Absolutely nothing from govt sources.

I dont mean that we are facing any really serious problems, its just that there is no info about being prepared, no information sharing, simply a really nasty selfish society to be living in.

The government publication today has been. The petrol strike is on from 6am on friday the thirnteenth until tuesday the 17th, Please dont panic.

Guess what, people dont trust the govt so they panic far in excess of the threat .

Ho hum, I think i may sell up and move to the USA ;D

MMmmm just where could i move to ;D

(answers please only from gorgeous guys, who want a top notch, wonderful yorkshire gal ;D

Best wishes,
April

[Duchesse]

Thank you for the article. *I do read the news in England *and have not found any preparedness articles.

I live in a rural area between 2 small towns. *The grocery shopping is just adequate. *Most of the rural people have smallish gardens, although with more people choosing to live in their McMansions in rural areas, Their idea of gardening is a tomato plant on the patio. Nary a garden to be found among them.

In the event of an "event", my immediate family would come to us. *That makes 12 mouths to feed. *Each family has a list of things they must bring. *I think we have enough *food for 8 months. *Must continue to prep. *Unfortunately I am having difficulty getting enough wheat. *Had to settle for hard white wheat through one supplier. *That wiill do in a pinch.

Garden seeds are my June prep. *Want to gather some more seeds for alternate planting. *Continue to work with some more container gardening for winter solarium. *

Pine



I agree with and identify with you on many levels even though I live in NYC. * *When there was a blackout a few years ago. *Ice ,water, and candles were depleted from local stores in a few hours. *New casts of bad weather can deplete supermarkets of food and staples just as quickly. *Many of my neighbors are carribbean and Indian immigrants, some have small gardens.

*In NYC raising chickens is legal, roosters are not. *I know two people (both hispanic) raising chickens. *One guy has two roosters. *As things become more difficult many of these immigrants (caribbean, asian, mexican) will go back to their roots and begin keeping chickens as well. *

*I just recently (9 months) began raising pygmy goats (I have 4 does and a buck) for meat, milk, and cheese. I have plans for 2 hens and a rooster to supply eggs and meat. *

I'm sure there are others like me right here in the city but few and far between. *In the event of an event all of my family will look toward me. *

I can only imagine what would happen if there were a food/water emergency here. *

[MrsL]

As aid above, we get nothing here from the govt on preparedness, so we ahve to do it for ourselves. I belong to one UK survival forum, and have started a dedicated prepping thread on my own forum; one chapter int he book I am writing will be dedicated to prepping in teh UK.
So - we do exist, us UK preppers, but I feel it'sv ery much head-in-the-sand with a lot of folks, couldn't possibly happen, the govt wills ee us right etc. Well, sorry, but they won't, you have to get out and do your own preps. things have moved forward, though, with big price hikes in food prices recently, also teh fuel, so some folks are thinking about it, but it has to be much more than a few extra tins of soup in the store cupboard. There is a general feeling from a lot fo them that things will be OK because they have 1 acre, a few hens and a veg garden. Sorry, but that's ****, and not thinking ahead enough, something the British don't seem to be that good at!
I am a lot better placed than most, I think, with my experiences and skills, knowledge and resources to hand, and even I'm concerned about the future.
Thank heavens for some of the US prepping and suvival sites, I say.

btw, have jsut re-registered here - used to be caundler, but don't suppose anyone will remember me.......... ::) ;D

[Archangel]

JUST TO PIPE IN. Most homes have no more than a two week supply of food, less in the inter city. Many inter city do not have fook markets in the areas and have to take buses to buy food. How long do you think LA would last without food shipments? Michael

[walls0stone]

We have way more than that. Just off the phone with a friend who more stringbeans than she could process in a long weekend. If I shot my large bull I'd have more beef than I could eat in a year. been eating the last one since November...don't forget the two white tail in the freezer...

Screw LA..let them starve. I know we'll ship them a ton of flatlanders to eat. NY would go under in days...remember the power outage? they were all walking down the highways... WALKING! It's a 3 hour drive from here to the City...so walking they will get here....carry the one.. NEVER.

I highly dout they could would have anything left physicaly after a treck from city to country. Remember Bucky Phillips? he was on the road for a long time, and when they found him he'd lost tons of weaght.

ha wrote all this and then saw what duchesse wrote before Funny...no offence D... I have friends in Harlem:)

Another thing I see here in the sticks...is that the young people who come out here to the state college from Philly are scared to death of the local population. NOw and then you would hear rummors on campus that some person from Philly, in the story it was a minority or woman...was aparently beat up and left out in the woods or in a ditch. kids would bet very spooked and not go off campus. But everytime you tried to find out who the student was...they never existed. The point is that they are as spooked of us as we are of them most often.

[RangerRick]

Been prepping since 1979 after I read Howard Ruff's book "Ruff Times" so I consider myself very well established at "bugging in". *My advise to those that haven't started yet is to begin today laying in a rotating inventory of 3 months supply of canned goods, water and meds. *Then start on long term staples, hand tools, clothes and non-electric kitchen equipment. *Today is the day to start preparing for the probabilities of the future and be quite about it for if others know what you have, in their need they will take it!

Ranger Rick

[jott]

wall,

Another thing I see here in the sticks...is that the young people who come out here to the state college from Philly are scared to death of the local population.

Yea that is the truth. I want to school out that way not penn state, it was a Pitt campus. One fall weekend I decided I wanted apple cider so I just drove around on all the dirt roads till I saw a piece of plywood that said apples on it with spray paint. Followed it way back over a mountain into a valley, dirt road only as wide as my car finally came to a run down house, My friends in the back seat kept saying “lets get out of here.” They truly thought someone was going to start shooting at us. An old guy walked out with a cane, pointed at us and said “you want apples” they jumped right back in the car. I had a nice 5-10 min chat with the old guy then he took me up to his barn to show me around. I got lots of good apples and some very good cider. My friends described it as the scariest thing in their lives, they were sure when I want in the barn I was dead and they were trying to decide what to do since I had the keys.

City folk are just as scared of the country as country folk are of the city. If something happens there mite be a few bumps of people going out to their hunting cabins but for the most part once the gas runs out people are going to stay where they know.

[walls0stone]

Go north east 3 hours...thats were I'm talking about...Mansfield U is no PITT, but it's a state school..4,000 students or less. All the way up the the upstate, NY Line.

[jott]

I know the area, the Pitt school I want to was in Johnstown so I spent a lot of time in the laurel highlands, but I got up that way because I had friends at Penn State and Mansfield. It is funny how most people think I80 goes on the north edge of the sate they forget about that area above it. It really is a nice place if you don’t mind the work and the winters. I hope to move back to PA someday just hope philly and pittsburgh don't grow togather and take it all by then.

[walls0stone]

Philly and pitts won't come this far south, it's rather clear to us that they want us to stay poor...to bad they didn't see the natural gas busienss comeing. ;D Finnaly locals get some income.

I know of some hunting camps that will not let anyone who lives south of 80 join them.

[mom]

9 meals from anarchy? I think not - not in this house. We just got home from doing our errands for the week and started to put things away. Had to totally empty the canned goods pantry and rearrange. Hubby likes rice a roni - I know - such a waste but I swear if I had some beer to go with it there is enough of that stuff here for us to last at least a month. I buy canned veggies, canned milk, sugar, meat and he buys rice a roni. He loves the stuff - what can I say - he is worth that small luxury.

[walls0stone]

Mom,
you made me think of somthing...what would one do if they realy were in a bum situation? *I recall a snow storm in 93 that had us pinned in up here for a week. That's a LONG TIME to spend with your parrents and teenage sister. So, let's say that happend again..I'd be fine food wise, but just like a man in combat needs simple pleaseure to make life easyer...cig's and coffee... I' think I'd realy want to keep some stuff on hand so I didn't go crazy...Like Black Jelly Beans, a few poke bags of redman Chewing tobaco (would last me months) and or a new pipe. *Man can not live on bread alone.

[bookwormom]

. when I was a kid we were snowed in regularly. everybody was prepared for winter and that was a way of life. when it stopped snowing the farmer hitched a horse to a piece of log and dragged it through the snow to make a track so the kids could walk to school. Potatoes, root crops in the root cellar, a couple of buckets of eggs in lime, dried pears and plums, dried mushrooms, herbtea, lots of apples , some canned stuff, like cherries, plums and lots of huckleberries, sloes. Currant and rosehip wine. crocks of fermented cabbage, turnips, beets, green beans. Fresh milk, firewood to last til spring. boardgames, storytelling, neighboors coming, sitting together, women knitting, reading books, then we got a radio and there were some programmes we loved, there also were cardgames, and we danced. I learned how to dance in the kitchen, mother taught us.
childhood memories. It was a good life, I was a happy kid. I never had desert and my grandmother never had icecream until I bought her some when she was in her late seventies and she did not like it, it was too cold. In winter the chickens roosted under the stairs to the upstairs next to the chimney. it was not fancy, but it worked. we had one sunday dress and a couple of school dresses. Clothing is one thing I do not have good memories of, now in retrospect. there was not enough, and we froze a lot. by the time i got to school my toes were tingling with cold.

[EarthMother]

"eggs in lime"

I've never known this type of storage . Does it keep them fresh? How long can they be kept ?

[mom]

DH is planning a small still. If for nothing else I can mix it with gas and burn it as fuel in my car. I'm a beer drinker myself but if times got bad I could probably force myself to drink home brew. As to smokes - we usually have several days supply on hand. Guess if tshtf for good I would have to quit smoking.

[walls0stone]

Home brew is an art. I'm thinking of making cider this year...it's all MadTrippers fault! :P

I do not smoke every day..or every week... Just one of the things that I do now and then. Same with chewing tobacco...it's not a habbit for mixed company. So I could live with out it...but it's a simple pleasure that would keep up my spirits if I were stuck here for a week.

Coffee would help also.

[bookwormom]

"eggs in lime"

I've never known this type of storage . Does it keep them fresh? How long can they be kept ?


Well I am sure there is a study exactly how long, but I do not know, but they lasted til they were all gone and mother used them in cooking and baking. I do not recall a rotten one. the first rotten egg I smelled was when I raised chickens myself and one did not hatch.

[Farmer]

Reality says that we're not nine meals away - we're three or less. TSHTF in less than 24 hours after Katrina.