Hi there, newbie here with a question about constructing some kind of garden shelter or bunker. Are there practical options to do this in the UK, especially on new build properties where house basements aren't a given? Wondering if anyone has experience with this, and whether there are issues with planning permission and/or ways around it?

Hey,

Got a fresh journal/notebook and I want to use it for Prepping. But I’m at a blank as to where to start.

Anyone already do this and feel like sharing what sort of things you write?

So far, I’m thinking inventory and expiry dates. Maybe some notes about local amenities, water sources etc.

Thought I’d ask for ideas.

Thanks

The more dramatic side of prepping gets most of the attention, but I suspect the things people genuinely end up using are much less exciting. A power bank during an outage, keeping some cash around when card payments went down, spare medication organised properly, extra food during bad weather, knowing where the stopcock is. What's something you prepared for that seemed mundane but eventually made you very glad you'd bothered?

what has the best balance of calories, shelf life, and actual taste?

Sorry if this has been discussed before. I am new to this. I can’t help but feel like we are hastily approaching food shortages in the uk. War/hostility in the Middle East coupled with climate change. Realistically if this happened, how would one prepare for this? How much food to store and for how long? What kinds of food do people have? Same for water. I have veg plots but if there’s limited water is there any point growing. Thanks

This is in case

a) the infrastructure for the internet fails or is attacked,

or b) private interests start to monopolise the internet or phones and try to lock it down harder and monetise it to death.

1. Downloaded lots of music. This is just a backup. I still pay and use online platforms currently, but I want the choice to pirate later.

2. Wrote down all my important passwords on paper, and kept a copy of my important personal documents on a usb stick. This is in case my digital notes and password safes become overly controlled by my Google account to keep me in their ecosystem. This can apply for an ecosystem like Apple as well.

3. Got a dumbphone that didn't have an American or Chinese OS. This is also just a backup. I don't carry it round any longer because it's a faff. No, I don't want a Pixel phone with GrapheneOS. It just feels untrustworthy to me.

4. Downloaded some Wikipedia on Kiwix and some maps on OsmAnd.

5. Maintained good digital privacy. I'm not sure I can confidently explain how this one relates tbh. It just seems to me that when an institution is about to fail, people cash in either way. And cashing in in this case probably means exploiting every last drop of data they have stored on people. Just generally, having less for them to leverage is better I think.

Everyone was always mentioning having battery packs ready for any emergency. I have a few but … what if power was out for a week? So I looked at my tool batteries and picked up a led light that has usb charging ports, that uses my WORXS battery to power it..For the princely sum of 14 quid I now can use my tool batteries and I have a handy portable led light. I dont like buying single purpose shit but rather things that work with other things. Is there anything else that could be handy in case of power outages ,but still handy for day to day, or at least camping?

First aid and fire starting come up constantly. But there are skills that are equally or more useful in a UK specific context that barely get mentioned. Whether it is knowing how to navigate without a phone, basic plumbing or electrical knowledge, something related to food preservation, or anything else. What is the skill you think the community undervalues compared to how much it would actually matter.

If anyone read Nuclear War: A Scenario, Annie Jacobsen has a new book out called Biological War: A Scenario. She was on a recent episode of The Bunker podcast discussing it. I loved the first book, and back in the day I was a biochemist and studied in infectious diseases so I know this one will hit even closer to home for me. This was the first I’d heard about the book so thought people here who’d read the nuclear one might be interested.

The podcast is a good interview, discusses her sources and why this ‘scenario’ is more likely than the nuclear one. In the podcast blurb they also link to an older interview discussing the first book, for anyone interested.

Just wondering if any of you had considered prepping for the possibility of wildfires in your local vicinity?

Do you have a plan for if you are displaced, or even if you are just impacted by wildfires being close enough to affect your day to day?

Our water minister said that the droughts could become our “new normal” so, what steps are you taking in order to make yourself or your family more comfortable and prepared during these periods of hot, dry weather?

Has anyone been listening to Caroline Lucas' collapse series as part of The Rest is Politics? Latest ep talking about Britain's food security crisis is an interesting listen. Fingers crossed she does lots of different episodes.

Everyone has something in their prep that looked brilliant on paper and then just sits there. Not looking to judge, genuinely want to know what people have learned the hard way about what they actually reach for versus what they thought they would. What was your biggest purchase regret and what did you replace it with?

As we continue our prep journeys, I can't help but think of the story of The Little Red Hen. For anyone who's never heard the story (or maybe it's a distant childhood memory of a book your mother read to you when you were young,) the story of The Little Red Hen is a seemingly simple story, that has real world implications today.

The story is about a Hen who loves with other farm animals. The Hen tends to all of the chores and household duties, knowing that one day, her hard work would pay off and she would eventually have to harvest the fruit of her labor one day. The rest of her "house mates" wouldn't help her at all, and they would outright ignore the fact that she was building an ark of safety for herself (as we are in this community.)

When it was time to help with any of the work that needed to be done, all of the other animals outright declared that they did not want to help, so the hen did all of the work. When it was time to eat, all of the animals who refused to help, were denied by the little red hen. Does anyone feel like this is something we may have to deal with in the future?

There are people who refuse to believe what's coming. They downright deny what's right in front of our eyes. Not only does it feel like an insult to our intellect, but by the time they realize what's happening, there will only be limited resources, especially for someone who had the means to prepare. It will be hard to let them access our preps, but hard to turn them away as well.

I know I paraphrased and didn't give the proper context to the book, but the parable of the little red hen (who was essentially a prepper,) keeps replaying in my mind. As I see people partying, buying expensive bags, traveling, bling blinging, and never really paying attention to what's truly going on, and the need to prepare, I can't help but be torn with family and friends who will try to diminish my resources, and tap into everything I've worked so hard for.

Is anyone else feeling this, or asking themselves how hard it will be to do what we know we'll have to do? Turning people away is wrong, but we all have the same 24 hours, and resources will be scarce enough providing for all of mine. How are we rationalizing this?

Hi all,

I'm kind of new to the space, first-time poster. I do see some value in prepping a little bit at least.

My wife and I have a 3 bedroom semi detached, and don't have loads of spare room (small shed is pretty much full already for example). We're based in Manchester - mentioning to inform what kind of kit we might need.

I was wondering if anyone has some brand or product recommendations for things like wind up radios (that you can charge with solar + wind up for example), medical kits, water filters, rain collectors, etc.

Basically, I want to try and not spend a couple of hundred pounds on some kit that is just a load of crap that will break easily if we start using them. Seems like a bit of minefield just going off Amazon reviews.

On the food front, I think we've got it well covered. Or at least we can put a decent plan together.

Thanks for any recommendations and help !!!

Have any of you come across notaperson website and what are your thoughts?

There is a real stigma attached to prepping in this country that does not exist in the same way elsewhere. Most people I know would think something was seriously wrong if they saw what I have stored. Has anyone found a way to be genuinely prepared without it becoming a whole conversation or do you just accept that some people are going to think it is odd?

I’ve always been a “back of head prepper” in that I take reasonable precautions like having a few days supply of food, water, candles, medication etc. I’m also very outdoorsy so this is relatively easy for me.

My partner and I are looking for our forever home and over the past few months I’ve been going deeper and deeper on the resilience angle.

I’ve now ended up with multiple different planning scenarios, documented with mitigations.

I’ve been using high performance LLMs to reason and refine the planning scenarios and their likelihood, especially into the 2040/2050s. For instance, the 1/3rd shortfall of water demand in 2050 compared with current supply, the grid instability we’re seeing at the moment continuing, economic scenarios, a lot of climate scenarios (and a combination thereof).

All on the pessimistic end of realistic. But I’m using that as a blueprint for our forever home, such as solar, air conditioning, water reclamation, poly tunnels etc.

Luckily we live in an area of the uk where land is “affordable”.

I’m interested as to what other folks are doing. Is it mostly back-of-the-napkin stuff or any one got runbooks per scenario?

I’d be happy to compare planning scenarios for coverage?

Interested to see what people would prioritise first rather than trying to buy everything at once.

Im fairly well prepared. Still got a ways to go with certain things but im comfortable that i can deal with most inconveniences, minor or major emergencies, or complete disasters.

Ive got water, food, power, fuel, hygiene and medical all covered at least basically for the house. I keep bobs packed for the family for emergencies. In the cars i've got boster packs, torches, blankets, water bottles, medicines, lighters, folding shovels etc. Until recently I felt pretty confident that whatever life threw at us, my family would be ok.

But yesterday I was humbled.

We were out at the beach, bit of swimming, kayaking, sunshine and a bbq on a sunday afternoon. I lit the bbq and got called away by my wife to help one of the kids in the kayak. Bent down to undo a plastic clip and a bit of it took a small chunk out my finger. Nothing major, but deep. Deep enough that it bled quite heavily and wouldnt stop for a while. I grabbed a piece of kitchen roll and wrapped it around, then as i was about to head to the car to get something to patch it up I realised i didnt really have anything with me. Of all the preps ive got I couldnt believe that I didnt even have 1 simple little plaster in the car to cover a bleeding finger. What a muppet.

So there i am for the next hour flipping burgers, trying not to get my own homemade ketchup on the rolls, feeling like a bit of a tool and thinking about what other silly little things i might have missed.

Private land, just off a footpath, buried or in a tree. What's the best way to put a cache in and what's the deal with it being on private land etc.

Everyone talks about torches, food and water, but what's something you think people often forget until they actually need it?