Is now the time to start putting together survival kits?

Winchester, I'm in the UK as well, but down south. I intend to head for either Snowdonia, Brecon Beacons or Dartmoor depending on the situation.

Originally posted by Naboo the Enigma
I reckon that if I have my small holding started within 14 days then I should be good for a couple of years until things have calmed down. My only problem will be comms, but I have a solar charger for my mobile 'phone so I can use WAP and the like to keep abreast of the situation.

I suspect that any situation that requires you to move location and try starting a small holding would be very serious and would likely include a loss of power. I understand that you have solar chargers for your mobile phone but how would that help as the local mobile phone receivers and transmitters could be powerless as well? And even if they are working with generators then the network would quickly become overwhelmed and fail even for data lines.

You mybe better with a solar or windup radio to receive the BBC world service and keep the phone to try to contact family etc.

You can buy converters that hold a charge from your car battery. Stock up on these and car batteries. You can also get a car battery charger. The idea is to rotate them and keep the car batteries charged.

reply to post by ukdweller


I agree that the grid may well go down, but if it doesn't then I will have the information I need! It doesn't take up much space so I might as well take it. I have a wind up radio, but I may not be able to use it if I don't want to give my position away. Mobile comms will also allow me to contact friends and family, tell them where I am and get them to join me. A few of my friends have a similar plan to me, intially we will go to different locations, but we may meet up if the situation stabilises and pool our resources.

There is a huge amount of info to be found on the internet on this subject. I recomend starting on the gov sites to decide what you might need to survive. Severe weather of all types are covered there along with some decent starter lists. Then branch out to the hard core sites.
I try to remember that lack of food will kill you slow, lack of water will kill you fast.
With that in mind water collection, filtration, and storage methods are good research topics. Results will run from expensive store bought systems to a bucket with holes in the bottom filled with sand and covered with blue jean material for dirty water, to a large piece of plastic used to collect the morning dew.
While researching water don't forget to consider reusing "waste" water. Save water from batheing to wash clothes in. A five gallon bucket and a toilet plunger can double for a washing machine.
Likewise food heating methods will vary from self heat MRE's to "hiking stoves" the size of a deck of cards to solar stoves made of cardboard and tin foil.
Just a few ideas to get you started. You are the only one who can prepare for your idea of relative comfort in a disaster.
One other thing I might add. "Feel out" your family and neighbors on the subject and start them thinking about it also. After all if something does happen and your the only one with supplies you will either have to share or defend. Better to know who has their own.
Happy surfing just remember not to let it overwhelm you. Some of those sites will give ya nightmares if you let it.

[edit on 22-2-2008 by Curiosityrising]

Originally posted by Naboo the Enigma
reply to post by ukdweller

 

I agree that the grid may well go down, but if it doesn't then I will have the information I need! It doesn't take up much space so I might as well take it. I have a wind up radio, but I may not be able to use it if I don't want to give my position away. Mobile comms will also allow me to contact friends and family, tell them where I am and get them to join me. A few of my friends have a similar plan to me, intially we will go to different locations, but we may meet up if the situation stabilises and pool our resources.

Don't get me wrong! take the phone like i said in my last post. but a windup radio to get the world service would be good for news and info and as a receiver would not give any position away like your phone would.

reply to post by ukdweller



A good point, but I was thinking more about noise than RF, which is something I hadn't considered up to this point, thank you!

Timing is certainly tricky when deciding to head for the hills. Unfortunately, just when it looks like society is going to collapse into chaos, it somehow manages to pull itself back together.

If you're going through all the trouble of putting together a real end of the world-type survival kit (and not just something to get you through a few days after a big earthquake), then now's the time to put up curtains in that old mine you have picked out. Why wait?

Nothing would be worse than waiting around until the real panic starts, only to find all of your escape routes blocked and scavengers targeting refugees.

No time like the present.

One can always stock the usual items...yet unless you know what kind of disaster is going to hit you, how can you really assess what you will need? Food ok, but what about things and supplies to cook the food? Better yet to invest in a survival book and learn how to distill water out of your own urine :duh

Let's say an asteroid hits the earth and our dear planet breaks in two parts or to a certain degree....I would just say sayonara....I wouldn't want to survive, if possible, just any kind of horrible catastrofe.

O yeah forgot this: I like the end of Deep Impact when she and her father just accept the situation and watch the meteor hit the ocean....waiting to be engulfed.... Sometimes you can't or simply wont be able to win.