Government announcement today that we should stock up on food etc

personally I am a bit "meh.." about all this TheCatWoman  but then i'm 1. probably already reasonably sorted for such events and 2. I really haven't got the energy to get stressed about it all TheCatWoman If something happens there'll probably be some sort of way that it gets sorted out or muddled thro' by digging and piling and burning and stuff.  Seems to me that whilst planning for the worst is important putting more effort into stopping the worst happening is the best investment (notwithstanding this is what the government want people to do because they are admitting there's no choice.  ie being in charge when things go wrong)

Don't worry, Orangegnome . The Government only meant for everyone to have some supplies for a few days, in case of delivery problems. Read profdanger 's post below - he's talking sense!!

B said:

Could we not lose the gas supply?

Camping gaz stove with a few extra cylinders. They last a long time and are great for a quick cup of tea. I also use my whilst gardening, so I don't have to traipse through the house in muddy shoes.

Specialanddifferent said:

I personally give the US preppers and bunker people a very very wide birth. Slightly unhinged and are in a perpetual state of “what ifs” and potential crisis creating fear. Not great for anxiety or keeping things in perspective.

I agree - people are getting far too wound up about this.

TheCatWoman said:

you ccan then leave them to go about thier tasks whilst you sit in a chair and "supervise" them.

You sound very organised! Were you a Girl Scouts leader?

Phased said:

I personally would recommend focus on steady, calm planning as many have commented rather than letting the news cycle spike anxiety.

I think this is so true - I'm sure the Government mean us to provide ourselves for about a week, in case the supply chain is interrupted or the weather is unsound. Not a vast stockpile of food and drink. To do otherwise leaves empty shelves for those who cannot afford extra supplies or rely on deliveries. Remember empty shelves in the pandemic? So unfair to everyone. My objective is to buy extras over a few weeks, plus simple sources of light, cooking and entertainment - that's enough. I have enough blankets and clothing to keep warm.

Don't forget water proof clothes and balaclavas,  never know when it might become useful.

Roy said:

tin of corned beef

Love corned beef sandwiches with pickle, but your ideas sounds delish. I'm also a fan of jarred hot dogs. Excellent standbys and they even appear on recommended pantry lists.

Phased said:

even if it's just gaffer tape and a screwdriver!... 

Plus a hammer and pair of mole grips.

You make a good point @Alexa - my tool collection began in childhood too - so yes I'm probably highlighting the unnecessary.

Please excuse me joining in good people - I built a pizza oven in our garden a few years ago - quite a lot of graft and I guess not expensive depends on how much DIY people are able to get into and how deep their finances are - reckon that mine cost maybe 3 or 4 hundred pounds to build all told - good fun and yes a handy fall back option ( and a great excuse to stand around drinking beer - that fire has to be watched you know!) - not sure it'll feed the 5000 but it'd probably keep a few households in warm grub if it came to it

B said:

Let's hope we never need to use them.

I found I collected the food at the beginning of the Covid lockdowns, before the supermarkets sorted out priority customers for delivery. I was then stuck with throwing some out after a couple of years because I couldn't face eating them. One lovely jar of bouillabaisse I would have liked to eat proved impossible to open, when I might have eaten it.

The worst thing (for me) about foods suitable for storing is that I dislike them, and have to remember to eat them before they expire, which means more reminders and deadlines to deal with. 

A large cardboard box and straw., You can use it as a slow cooker, get your meal ready using your camping stove or open fire, bring it up to the boil, prep your cardboard box by making a nest of straw in the bottong and around the sides, put your pot in the box, so its nestled in the straw, pack more straw around it and leave for several hours. The straw will keep the heat in and slowly cook the meal.

One of the ways our ancestors cooked was to use hot rocks to boil things. Cobbles are good for this, you can heat them in a small fire, they oik them out, being careful not to burn yourself, keep aloe vera gel handy, and pop them in a pan of stuff you want to boil or heat up. Use one at a time as they get very hot and hold heat for a fair old while. The rocks can be returned to the fire and will be clean from the fire, although you may get random bits of charcoal in your hot liquid.

Learn how to make flat breads, you can cook these on a flat pan over a fire, or turn a wok upside down and cook the bread on them. You have to have a traditional wok though.

For those with gardens, maybe think about building a pizza oven, they're not that expensive to build and can be used to bake pretty much anything and can be as large or small as you like.

hi Thpsguy 

Yes the models I build are mostly polystyrene plastic from injection moulding - and you're correct the glue melts and then rebonds the plastic - although different types of glue come in handy for different circumstances.

That gallows scene is very dramatic!

Priming helps a lot I find.  I painted a lot of "dungeons and dragons" white metal figures using enamel paints when younger and you're right that a good primer helps with adhesion to the surface that is being painted.   I understand that if you don't want to prime to start with tho'.

For plastic ones, washing them in detergent with a gentle tooth-brushing before painting is a good idea as the moulds often have a "release agent" in them when they are made that stops paint adhering unless it is washed off.

My wife mentioned to me this morning that she is preparing a canvas for oil painting.  This requires 8 coats of white "gesso" before painting "proper" even begins!

Maybe a quick and careful LIGHT spray application of primer (careful not to breathe it in and make sure it doesn't go everywhere!) might be a way to explore it.  If you get too much off it'll wash off with a brush and likely water if you're using water based paints and one can always practice to get the result wanted.

Washes are great for adding depth and shadows - interestingly not just black...  and yes dry brushing is excellent for picking out highlights.

For the most recent figures I painted I airbrushed (a way of getting a very fine controlled spray) black primer from underneath the figure and then white primer from above to "preshade" before brush painting the colour.  (the preshading shows thro' the "thinner" colours painted on top

Sorry if I'm showing off - the picture attached is of a figure about 2cm tall - hehe shows what 55 years of practice can do maybe!

hehe I hope that if a temporary disaster strikes model building and painting will help get us thro' it!

Best Wishes

Phased said:

and naturally a basic selection of tools - even if it's just gaffer tape and a screwdriver!... 

People don't have tools??  

I learnt basic stuff watching my father construct things. I have my basic toolbox under the stairs and keep the electric stuff (drill, sander etc in the garage.) The one thing I won't do is drill into walls, as my perfectionism and catastrophising kicks in and I remember all the times that ended in disaster! 

Are these airtime models? If so I've always wondered why people use tubes of glue and ni plastic cerment I know airtime figures are like a rubery plastic so they need special paint primers and if you put them on plastic bases you need glue but I assume the planes are just made out of standard sprue plastic right? 

And I find plastic cement works better than glue as it melts it I not one piece rather than making a bond 

The next models I will be making is a plastic wild West gallow with a executioner two condemned men and a guy reading out the crimes

And a wooden wild West gallows to go with the same models nit made of metal (oh how I hate painting metal with it being non pourud as opposed titplastic 

I should really start priming bur right now in focusing on getting good at painting and priming is an extra step I'd rather learn later 

So far I can apply a decent base coat and later Coats and washes but I'm only just starting to get to grips with highlights and can only so them to w good level. If I decide the light worse is head on I. E from the exact left or front so it's 50% light 50% dark I should properly try shadows next too 

Oh I'm getting there with dry brushing too slowly and I'm tempted to only use games workshop. Paints for washes going forward as their base paints ect dry up too easy due to poor pot design and also are harder to water down due to not being a dropper bottle 

Not sure if this counts, and it adds on to Roy 's post about hoarding. At a conservative estimate i have maybe 300 unbuiilt scale aeroplane kits, glue/paints etc. stashed away.  If ever extreme conditions call upon me to be closeted away with glue and paint fumes, endless podcasts and the joy of tiny models I'm well sorted!  So what about the niche must have special interest stuff good people?  I would add that my more practical suggestion would relate to transport - I've bicycles and spares stashed for that (I live on top of a hill so I haven't factored in a canoe, hmmmm.... yet)  and naturally a basic selection of tools - even if it's just gaffer tape and a screwdriver!... 

When I’ve been camping without electricity I would cook a tin of corned beef with a jar of curry sauce and warm some Naan breads over the primus. I also keep an emergency stock of Pot noodle, 

Amazon sell several such devices, some of which have bad reviews and at least one is set up for the US market. Generally, I prompt my search engine with something like "best wind-up radio UK", read reviews and check out their top recommendations. It's a painstaking process but it did yield one good contender, which I found on a UK prepper site being sold for less than other sites (and around £40 cheaper than Amazon). Yes, it has a torch, radio and its own internal battery, which can be charged from the mains, wind-up or solar. Oh, and it charges phones. 

Amazon selll a device that has a battery that charges via wire solar power and wind up its a FM/am radio (very useful in s flood or something where power is out to hear any safety updates) a torch(good for if your normal touch is out of battery power) and a power bank to. Keep your phone charged.