PowerSwitch

If our mainstream ?just in time? distribution systems collapsed tomorrow ? how long could you and yours survive at home? Assume water and electricity remain relatively available ? we?re just talking about no food in the supermarkets, petrol in the petrol stations etc.

Inspired from this post:

MacG wrote:

Vortex wrote:The risk of a sudden pre PO panic is what makes me want to stash away lots of goodies ... if I had the money ...

Spot on. It would take NOTHING in the form of disturbances to make all hell break loose with the JIT delivery systems. Supermarket supplies are timed within days, just as gasoline supplies. Just a tiny bit of hoarding or topping up the tank "just in case" could empty the shelves and cause "out of gas".

If just one customer in twenty decide to buy a couple of extra bags of rice, "just in case" the shop will run out of rice in hours, and empty shelves send VERY strong signals to shoppers. "Hmm.. no rice.. better stock up on some pasta and canned soup then.

Rachel and I have been adding 'extras' to our regular weekly shopping to gradually build up a store - I reckon for the 4 of us, it's a month's worth by now, hoping it'll grow to 6 months in due course, but that is a load of stuff to keep stored! We're not telling anyone either a) to avoid ridicule and b) so they don't come knocking on our door when the time comes. Crikey this stuff is scarey when you start thinking about it!

Don't laugh, but I've also had my air rfile serviced and I have a stock of ammo in the faintly ridiculous hope that I may be able to bag the odd rabbit! It'll make a pleasant change from sardines and Spam.

Something tells me that we're not far off deep doodoo.

I don't own a freezer, but there's usually about a week's worth of fresh stuff in the fridge. I have 3 months worth of tins, rice, pasta and dehydrated stuff on general rotation.

This is a tricky one! IF I had a lot of stuff in stock, I would NEVER reveal it. Not even in an online poll.

Just because you are paranoid doesn't mean people aren't out to get you...

MacG wrote:This is a tricky one! IF I had a lot of stuff in stock, I would NEVER reveal it. Not even in an online poll.

Just because you are paranoid doesn't mean people aren't out to get you...

Oops. Hadn't thought of that.

I've made a note Joules.

Do you think that being READY to zoom off to Tescos to stock up at the first sign of trouble would be enough?


After all, SOMEONE has to be the first in the queue!

Vortex wrote:Do you think that being READY to zoom off to Tescos to stock up at the first sign of trouble would be enough?


After all, SOMEONE has to be the first in the queue!

Do you think they'll be orderly queuing under such circumstances? Really Vortex, I would have expected better from you!

Vortex wrote:Do you think that being READY to zoom off to Tescos to stock up at the first sign of trouble would be enough?


After all, SOMEONE has to be the first in the queue!

I don't know about you but if I have fair warning of impending doom I'm going to max all the credit cards

Vortex wrote:Do you think that being READY to zoom off to Tescos to stock up at the first sign of trouble would be enough?


After all, SOMEONE has to be the first in the queue!

I think there's a lot to be said for this tactic - especially if you think you can recognise impending disaster a day before everyone else. I think the average powerswitcher can - with a few false positives along the way for fun.

Take Katrina - the Peak Oil crowd were talking about it seriously a clear two days before the mainstream were. If I lived there, I'd have evacuated before the rush for sure.

I didnt read the question properly and voted just 1 month, but I assumed living as we do now, BAU. The question actually asks how long you could survive. Presumably then you would ration, use all of your growing stuff now and not plan to store/freeze/pickle etc., eat all your long term stores having less food variance. Do without certain low shelf life items like fresh milk etc. In that case I suppose we could survive about 3 months.
Can I change my vote?

Vote early, vote often.

Vortex wrote:Do you think that being READY to zoom off to Tescos to stock up at the first sign of trouble would be enough?


After all, SOMEONE has to be the first in the queue!

Absolutely. Beating the crowd with just ah hour or two will make a world of difference. Always keeping the tank above 3/4 could also prove extremely convenient. And buying a locking cap before everyone else (you dont have to actually start locking it until you see the "out of gas" signs). I would guess that the stores in my little town of 300 000 could keep a couple of hundred locking caps all in all.

With rationing of what I usually have at home - probably one month at the most.

But I guess if you take into account the starving unprepared/uninformed masses, I would last about 5 minutes trying to fight them all off!!

If it all collapsed quickly and permanently as described - I seriously think no one would survive in the UK ! (are there any truely 100% self sufficients out there? - hell even the reapers would run of stuff eventually and wouldnt be able to acheive self sufficiency!)

Chris have you finally gone over the dark side? Are you now a fast crash doomer ? (if so - I'm getting very nervous!)

Totally_Baffled wrote:Chris have you finally gone over the dark side? Are you now a fast crash doomer ? (if so - I'm getting very nervous!)

My answer was "A Week" but I live virtually next door to a big Tesco and hope to be able to beat the crowd!