I just dont understand people...

[Sewingcreations15]

@phideaux better to be a crazy old so and so and have all the things you need than not in my opinion . Even a lot of our LDS friends think we are crackers as well and we are told to "Store every needful thing" but I have to say again we will have TP and lots of other things while others will not have them at all.

 

[Weedygarden]

@phideaux better to be a crazy old so and so and have all the things you need than not in my opinion . Even a lot of our LDS friends think we are crackers as well and we are told to "Store every needful thing" but I have to say again we will have TP and lots of other things while others will not have them at all.

Sadly, the people who don't have but know you do will be on your door step expecting you to share. One person who has seen my preps is my LDS friend who lives two states away and is the preparedness person for her ward. She has much more stored than I do. She told me that she would get up in church and announce about ordering and no one would respond. She also told me about a conference where the church leader got up to speak and asked for hands of people who had x amount of food storage. Then he said he had nothing to say, because people weren't listening to what had already had been told to them, to get x amount of food storage.
I read that one young LDS wife said she would never do food storage because she didn't want to deal with all that wheat. I also knew another LDS woman who didn't cook, except to make sandwiches from cold cuts. I think many people are going down that road, not even cooking anymore, so what in the world would they do with food storage?

 

[Sewingcreations15]

@Weedygarden you make a good point with the food storage as well because we do have a lot of LDS members who don't cook. The recommended food storage guidelines have changed somewhat over the years to stock what you and your family eat. Years ago it used to be you have to stock X and then they realised the most members took the advice and ended up throwing most of it out. From the latest figures I saw only around 4% of members actually have 12 months food storage which is pretty bad when you think about it and to most when you mention it they just huff at you so I learnt a long time ago never to mention food storage to anyone unless they asked for my advice.

Coming up to OPSEC here is that we don't tell members what we store and the only ones we do tell are those who stock more than us and we compare notes. For those who are more casual acquaintances they don't get past the lounge room or even into the kitchen let alone see our stock room which has more in there again. We have one family who won't do anything themselves to prepare who said we will come to your home if anything happens and we said "not unless you have a 12 months supply for all of you you won't". On that note we do stock for a couple extra people and we already have that worked out who would be coming to our home if the SHTF ever happened and that would be the "useful people" not the bludgers.

 

[chickenqueen]

One August a big storm came through and the electric was off for a week and temps were in the 90's.We lost all of the food in the freezers.Neighbors had a generator but they ran out of gas and couldn't get more.I got a good taste of what life would be like if SHTF.I stock up on canned goods,am learning to can my own from the garden and trying to learn how I would feed the animals and store water.I use to encourage others to stock up and they tell me I'm crazy or they will come to my house instead.I tell them not to come to my house,they won't get nothing but hurt,unless they have valuable skills,which they don't.They're skilled in spending money on stupid things and being blind to reality.I don't talk about it anymore,not even hubby,cause he thinks like they do.That's ok,I'll still be preparing and he will pay for it.

 

[lonewolf]

I came across a survey a couple of years ago, it was American but could easily apply to any Western country.
in it people were asked how long they would survive in a major disaster, some of the replies were:
55% of people who replied said they had less than 3 DAYS worth of food in the house.
21% said they would survive for less than 1 WEEK.
28% said they would survive then than 2 WEEKS.
75% said they would be DEAD within 2 MONTHS.
people eh??

 

[Sewingcreations15]

Yes most people are not optimists @lonewolf and I think the urge to survive independently has been bred out of most.

 

[lonewolf]

self reliance is now a dirty world, most people rely on our "just in time" delivery systems and think "nothing bad will happen" but when it does they expect someone else to pick up the pieces, might just be doable in a short term event but in a serious and catastrophic national long term event these people will fail and fail big time- if you know what I mean!!

 

[Sewingcreations15]

The way I look at it @lonewolf is people like us in this forum will be better off as we know how to look after ourselves. I have many acquaintances who think we are weird that DH and I are so independent and self reliant but come here to learn self reliance and we are happy to teach them because they want to know how to do it. When and if the SHTF there will be more for us that have prepared.

 

[lonewolf]

wife and I once put an open invite on a forum for people to come here and we would take them on one of our daily country walks and show them what was growing around here(foraging) and show what animals were here (either by sight or animal tracks), how many takers did we get? NONE.

 

[Sewingcreations15]

Apathy is the main cause and most people just don't want to know. If people ask us to show them something we are glad to help otherwise we don't bother. Just stick with the ones who want to know and invite people if they refuse then be it on their own heads later on.

 

[lonewolf]

this was on a prepping forum but most British preppers are city dwellers and short term preppers at that.

 

[Sewingcreations15]

By the way good to see you back here @lonewolf . Most people are wanna be preppers but don't actually do anything substantial unfortunately. We are in a church that teaches self reliance and encourages it and yes we are LDS. It is a way of life for us and always has been.

It is very common for most people not to have more than 3 days supply of food in the home and personally I don't understand it and also not to have any savings or any contingency planning for emergencies either.

 

[lonewolf]

By the way good to see you back here @lonewolf . Most people are wanna be preppers but don't actually do anything substantial unfortunately. We are in a church that teaches self reliance and encourages it and yes we are LDS. It is a way of life for us and always has been.

It is very common for most people not to have more than 3 days supply of food in the home and personally I don't understand it and also not to have any savings or any contingency planning for emergencies either.

most people in the UK don't prepare and like you say 3 days worth of food is as much as they have, a lot of people shop daily just for that days evening meal, most of it is "ready meals" or takeaways, people like my BIL eat out every day and he only has a lump of cheese and some crisps in the house.

 

[Caribou]

You guys have a much different experience than I. I go into Costco and it is packed. People have their carts heaped. The folks don't have a Costco so Mom has placed her order, it is in the garage waiting to be loaded. I know grocery stores that have case lots sales every spring when the barges start coming in. There is no shortage of the unprepared out there, the hand to mouth people, but neither is there a shortage of those with significant resources.

Perhaps we are a bit closer to the land. Annual hunting trips to provide the meat. Annual shopping trips with some items picked up when you get a chance. Personally, we shop the sales and get more than we need to to last till the next sale. I don't feel at all unique with my stock.

 

[Swing]

@lonewolf I love hearing how these topics are lived in other countries. Good to see you back.

And eating out is becoming the normal instead of the special treat as it was when I grew up.

 

[Weedygarden]

@lonewolf I love hearing how these topics are lived in other countries. Good to see you back.

And eating out is becoming the normal instead of the special treat as it was when I grew up.

There are few people that I know who cook. Most of them are older, but not all. If you go out, you don't have to clean your kitchen afterwards. Working mothers are challenged to work all day, deal with the family in the evening and cook on top of that. I have usually cooked foods that gave us more than one meal, such as pots of soup, lasagna, casseroles. I often divvied it up into containers and put meals in the freezer for later.

There are many foods from the grocery store that require little or no cooking and don't leave your kitchen a mess, but they don't store well for long term, without a freezer. The freezer sections and the delicatessen sections of grocery stores have grown over the years.

 

[Sourdough]

A "CULLING" is rapidly approaching,
you know it,
you can feel it,
you observed it developing,
NOW.....it is ready.

 

[hiwall]

Looking at history, the only long term event that caused food shortages for many people was the Great Depression. Even then there was food but many people could not afford it. There were also many soup kitchens.
So if you just look at the last 75 years in the USA then you could say that if you had 3 days worth of food you would likely be fine for most disasters that were likely to occur.
Just because all you crazy people keep stockpiles of food doesn't mean other should!

 

[angie_nrs]

There are few people that I know who cook. Most of them are older, but not all. If you go out, you don't have to clean your kitchen afterwards. Working mothers are challenged to work all day, deal with the family in the evening and cook on top of that. I have usually cooked foods that gave us more than one meal, such as pots of soup, lasagna, casseroles. I often divvied it up into containers and put meals in the freezer for later.

There are many foods from the grocery store that require little or no cooking and don't leave your kitchen a mess, but they don't store well for long term, without a freezer. The freezer sections and the delicatessen sections of grocery stores have grown over the years.

I think a lot of it is lack of planning. I'm guilty of that sometimes too, so I keep some "quickie" frozen tenders, pizzas, pot pies, etc. in the freezer for those times. I don't use them very often, but even those "quickie" things beat running to the tavern or ordering out. I usually have a lasagna in there too, but those take 45 min to an hour to heat through. I make them on the hearty side. We don't like the store bought or restaurant lasagna's........yuck!

We eat at home most of the time b/c it just tastes better! Many times DH and I will be enjoying a meal and say "there's nowhere you're gonna get a meal like that in any restaurant"....and even if you could, it would cost you an arm and a leg. Last week we had venison tenderloin, morell mushrooms, and nice salad. Yummy! Nope - not gonna find that anywhere else! Today I have a roast in the crock pot for dinner tonight and tomorrow I will shred some of the leftover meat and make pulled beef sliders with some left over rolls we have to use up. There's at least 4 meals with just one roast since DH loves to eat that roast as leftovers right from the frig. I'll even make my own cakes and rice krispie treats b/c even those pre-packaged treats have a weird taste to them.

 

[The Lazy L]

I think a lot of it is lack of planning. ...

Or denial. In-laws go into denial mode. If folks would go into acceptance mode they nip the problem before it became a mountain.

 

[Terri9630]

You guys have a much different experience than I. I go into Costco and it is packed. People have their carts heaped. The folks don't have a Costco so Mom has placed her order, it is in the garage waiting to be loaded. I know grocery stores that have case lots sales every spring when the barges start coming in. There is no shortage of the unprepared out there, the hand to mouth people, but neither is there a shortage of those with significant resources.

Perhaps we are a bit closer to the land. Annual hunting trips to provide the meat. Annual shopping trips with some items picked up when you get a chance. Personally, we shop the sales and get more than we need to to last till the next sale. I don't feel at all unique with my stock.

Your in Alaska. Y'all have to wait for stuff to be shipped in where I could run to TX or Az if I can't find what I want in my area of NM. I'd rather buy lots during the not snowy months than have to drive on icy, snow packed roads y'all get later on.

 

[Caribou]

Your in Alaska. Y'all have to wait for stuff to be shipped in where I could run to TX or Az if I can't find what I want in my area of NM. I'd rather buy lots during the not snowy months than have to drive on icy, snow packed roads y'all get later on.

I'll be taking a three day drive, each way, through Canada in the next couple of weeks. I'd rather make the drive in the winter. The roads are well maintained, my Jeep has 4-wheel drive, I've got the best tire that I'm aware of, and I learned to drive in the snow. Now I'll have to deal with a road full of tourists. The snow is easier to predict and deal with. Oh yea, construction zones now too.

 

[Terri9630]

I'll be taking a three day drive, each way, through Canada in the next couple of weeks. I'd rather make the drive in the winter. The roads are well maintained, my Jeep has 4-wheel drive, I've got the best tire that I'm aware of, and I learned to drive in the snow. Now I'll have to deal with a road full of tourists. The snow is easier to predict and deal with. Oh yea, construction zones now too.

Its not really the snow that bothers me. Its the other drivers that "think" they know how to drive on it. When the road is slippery [or there's a sand storm], SLOW DOWN! I wish there was a common sense stick I could whack people with sometimes.....

 

[lonewolf]

the thing with most people in the UK is time, most say they have too busy lives to cook anything from fresh that's why its mostly ready meals, takeaways and eating out, and most people don't have a larder or pantry its just a few kitchen cupboards and they are stuffed with chocolate bars and crisps and stuff like that.
most people are unaware that in the west we have this "just in time" delivery system which over here is usually about 3 days of normal sales, in an emergency or if there is a "hiccup" in the supply chain that will all be gone in a matter of hours, I have seen it happen over here when we had a fuel "protest" some years ago.

 

[backlash]

The US also has a just it time system. The panic when the system is disrupted for any reason is eye opening. We had weather related problems for a week or so and essential items were in short supply. My wife and I just stayed home because we didn't need anything. There is a WalMart distribution center less that 10 miles from me and even they ran out of stuff.

 

[Sewingcreations15]

@lonewolf it is the same in every country I think and I am in Australia is that most people, and it is human nature, people will leave everything to the last moment. If we have shortages here and it happens often most people don't know what to do. I just go to my food storage room and pull out another tin or storage tub and when the shortage has ended top up then. I keep 12 months worth of supplies of most everything we need and use including food so we don't have to panic if something happens.

 

[lonewolf]

@lonewolf it is the same in every country I think and I am in Australia is that most people, and it is human nature, people will leave everything to the last moment. If we have shortages here and it happens often most people don't know what to do. I just go to my food storage room and pull out another tin or storage tub and when the shortage has ended top up then. I keep 12 months worth of supplies of most everything we need and use including food so we don't have to panic if something happens.

pretty much the same here with us, but most people aren't like that anymore. self reliance is almost unheard of and its always someone else's job to see they are fed, or at least that's what they seem to think, in the days of social security and food banks and baby banks. they have lost the ability to look after themselves. which is why when SHTF I think the mortality rate will be huge at least in the UK.

 

[Amish Heart]

Sounds like the UK needs to revisit the Wartime Farm series. It was a great one.

 

[The Innkeeper]

Sounds like the UK needs to revisit the Wartime Farm series. It was a great one.

It was a good series indeed

 

[lonewolf]

I prefer the "tales from the green valley" series, available on youtube, this is how I think we will be living in the UK in a post SHTF life.