What would we do if the lights went out?

[Tez31]

View attachment 19374

Speaking of which I am having a little metho cooker test. A lot of my static night shifts have no amenities and I cant go long without coffee.

Pesto and chicken tonight.

Can you cook a pizza in a cardboard oven?

 

[drop bear106]

Can you cook a pizza in a cardboard oven?

Not at three in the morning.

 

[Tez31]

Not at three in the morning.

I can at any time, have done too.

 

[drop bear106]

I can at any time, have done too.

Nice.

Of course from memory you are on an army base so lights out scenario is probably handled as well.

 

[Transk53]

Looks good

View attachment 19374

Speaking of which I am having a little metho cooker test. A lot of my static night shifts have no amenities and I cant go long without coffee.

Pesto and chicken tonight.

Looks good. Personally I don't chicken and pasta, prefer sea food. Chicken separate from the pesto, or come with it?

 

[drop bear106]

Looks good


Looks good. Personally I don't chicken and pasta, prefer sea food. Chicken separate from the pesto, or come with it?

Just a little can of chicken separate. Wasn't that great. Needed parmesan.

That stove by the way is a little ripper. Made from some sort of soft drink can. Runs on methylated spirits or similar.

I bought that but you can make them apparently pretty easily. Which hopefully puts us back on topic a bit. If you did get caught in a black out.

 

[Transk53]

Most people are far better prepared than is commonly thought, it's always assumed that mass panic would break out but studies have shown that in most situations people don't panic. In the UK few people are so highly dependent on electronics and motorisation that having to go without these things would cause a massive decline. During the last war Girl Guides set up field kitchens, taught people how to make fires and cook with anything. People grew their own food and managed without power and travelling. People here still talk about the 'Blitz spirit' you can see that happening when bombs go off here or a disaster happens. Film and television companies love the doomsday scenarios but research has shown that people can adapt to anything and do.

Yeah, but the local allotment idea has gone the way of the dinosaur. At least down here anyway.

 

[drop bear106]

Soda Can Stove How to Build

The destructions on how to build. I am going to give it a go next time I am out camping. Apparently it can be jimmied up with a multitool.

 

[Transk53]

Soda Can Stove How to Build

The destructions on how to build. I am going to give it a go next time I am out camping. Apparently it can be jimmied up with a multitool.

Great post. Would never have thought a fizzy drink would be up to the job. A bean tin yeah, but not that.

 

[Tez31]

Yeah, but the local allotment idea has gone the way of the dinosaur. At least down here anyway.

You don't need allotments you can grow most veggies and fruit in any old pot or can. You don't even need a garden.

 

[Kong Soo Do]

Pub has a massive generator precisely to accommodate a power out.

Otherwise I am living off cans of stuff and rice. Mabye some damper. Muslie and powdered milk. Noodles. All gets real old real quick.

The big question to ask is how do you clean your house and clothes? Cant just go on like some sort of hermit. Especially if you are still trying to hold down a job.

A generator is dependent on fuel. If the grid were down, for any length of time you will be unable to resupply your fuel source because most folks don't know how to get it out of the pump without electricity. But then cash/credit is useless without electricity anyway. Unfortunately most people don't understand, or want to ignore what will actually happen. Even if the grid went down for say just 10 days...

• People will die in the first minute. People on life support, surgery, dialysis and traffic accidents.
• First responders will be unable to get to those in need because traffic lights are down.
• First responders will be unable to respond to crimes happening, and they will. See any 24 hour blackout that has happened in any city.
• The grocery store shelves are empty in the first 3 hours by looting since you can't pay anyway, see Katrina.
• Truckers, which still supply over 90% of goods will be unable to resupply stores...which aren't running anyway.
• Prisons and jails will mass release since their own generators will soon run dry which dumps criminals enmass on the public...which is already going through riots and looting anyway.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Do you have a supply of food and access to clean water (as it won't be coming out of the tap) for an extended period of time? Do you know how to make water safe?

Survival Emergency Preparedness Board - Water

Serious things to think about.

 

[Kong Soo Do]

Yeah I did, but was at work. I'll read it again when I have a moment. Pretty alarming though. Makes me wonder how many potential, or un reported threats have been made elsewhere.

Yeah see that's the thing...how much goes unreported because they either don't want to alarm people or fix the problem. Here's the deal, less that 10% of Americans are prepared for ANY sort of disaster....less than 10%! That's pretty dismal. When Sandy hit people were scalping a box of matches for $10. In a national event paper money is worthless so you won't even be able to do that.

The media portrays 'preppers' as a bunch of tinfoil-hat-wearing loonies that sit on a mountain of ammo and hunt zombies. In reality most are simply normal folks that have a plan, some stored food and water and the means to protect themselves for a longer period of time than the 'me' or 'entitlement' generation.

As with anything, there are a couple of options. The first is to ignore the problem with the 'it won't happen to me' line of thinking. The second is to realize the potential problem(s) and address means to prevent or mitigate the problem.

Here's a start:

What is a BOB GHB or EDC What goes in one And why the heck would I want one anyway

 

[Xue Sheng99]

What would we do if the lights went out?

Light candles, break out the camp stove, put as much ice and perishable food in the cooler if it went on to long... not go to work....so you see there is an upside to this

 

[Transk53]

Yeah see that's the thing...how much goes unreported because they either don't want to alarm people or fix the problem. Here's the deal, less that 10% of Americans are prepared for ANY sort of disaster....less than 10%! That's pretty dismal. When Sandy hit people were scalping a box of matches for $10. In a national event paper money is worthless so you won't even be able to do that.

The media portrays 'preppers' as a bunch of tinfoil-hat-wearing loonies that sit on a mountain of ammo and hunt zombies. In reality most are simply normal folks that have a plan, some stored food and water and the means to protect themselves for a longer period of time than the 'me' or 'entitlement' generation.

As with anything, there are a couple of options. The first is to ignore the problem with the 'it won't happen to me' line of thinking. The second is to realize the potential problem(s) and address means to prevent or mitigate the problem.

Here's a start:

What is a BOB GHB or EDC What goes in one And why the heck would I want one anyway

That would be GTA and now CoD Zombies lol. The lifestraw looks intriguing as a piece of kit. The blanket though I'm sure in certain circumstances is now recommended, but not sure where I heard that. Hopefully I can remember. Very good info BTW.

 

[drop bear106]

A generator is dependent on fuel. If the grid were down, for any length of time you will be unable to resupply your fuel source because most folks don't know how to get it out of the pump without electricity. But then cash/credit is useless without electricity anyway. Unfortunately most people don't understand, or want to ignore what will actually happen. Even if the grid went down for say just 10 days...

• People will die in the first minute. People on life support, surgery, dialysis and traffic accidents.
• First responders will be unable to get to those in need because traffic lights are down.
• First responders will be unable to respond to crimes happening, and they will. See any 24 hour blackout that has happened in any city.
• The grocery store shelves are empty in the first 3 hours by looting since you can't pay anyway, see Katrina.
• Truckers, which still supply over 90% of goods will be unable to resupply stores...which aren't running anyway.
• Prisons and jails will mass release since their own generators will soon run dry which dumps criminals enmass on the public...which is already going through riots and looting anyway.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Do you have a supply of food and access to clean water (as it won't be coming out of the tap) for an extended period of time? Do you know how to make water safe?

Survival Emergency Preparedness Board - Water

Serious things to think about.

Different country. We didn't get mass looting last disaster. We got mass cleaning.

Politicians are made or broken on their ability to handle a disaster. It is just one of the big things we seem to care about.

But otherwise yes you should store some food and water. Have some cash spare and drive with your fuel tank full.

 

[drop bear106]

That would be GTA and now CoD Zombies lol. The lifestraw looks intriguing as a piece of kit. The blanket though I'm sure in certain circumstances is now recommended, but not sure where I heard that. Hopefully I can remember. Very good info BTW.

I have a life straw. The issue is you cant filter water into a bottle and take it with you. Unless you suck and spit.

I believe the Sawyer filters are the in thing.

 

[Tez31]

Nice.

Of course from memory you are on an army base so lights out scenario is probably handled as well.

I'm not on an army base, I live near one, I live in a very rural area but my skills on survival come from good old fashioned Guiding.

 

[Tez31]

First responders will be unable to get to those in need because traffic lights are down.

That I find ridiculous, do you mean to say that people can't drive when there's no traffic lights?

 

[EddieCyrax]

Different country. We didn't get mass looting last disaster. We got mass cleaning.

Politicians are made or broken on their ability to handle a disaster. It is just one of the big things we seem to care about.

But otherwise yes you should store some food and water. Have some cash spare and drive with your fuel tank full.

And 3000 rounds of ammo.....HA HA HA (kidding.....ha ha ha)

 

[Xue Sheng99]

Can you cook a pizza in a cardboard oven?

Apparently you can but it takes about an hour

Pizza in a solar oven