Question of The Day. Saturday 29th of February.

[Norachan]

Good morning.



Everyone seems to be talking about prepping recently. Whether they're worried about the fall out from Brexit, trying to avoid getting sick or just holed up for the winter in an area where there's a lot of heavy snow.

If disaster struck how long could you survive on the things you have at home now? For the sake of argument we'll imagine the water and power stays on.

I have at least a month's supply of cat food. We get some pretty harsh winters here and I wouldn't want to run out of that.
I have about two week's worth of groceries, but I could probably stretch that a bit if I just ate pasta with tomato sauce.
I have at least two month's worth of shampoo and condition, plenty of toothpaste, soap and moisturisers and about two months worth of tissue and toilet paper. For some reason when things go wrong in Japan toilet paper is the first item to sell out, so I bought some extra rolls last time I went shopping.

I think I'll be alright for a while. How about you?

 

[Krienze]

Absolutely not.

We had to sort of make things stretch this week already. Putting our dog down was a 250 dollar expense that we were NOT expecting. My aunt was kind enough to cover his cremation fee for us though, which was wonderful and generous of her. But the 250 really kind of hurt our plans. THANKFULLY we always make sure to buy more dog and cat food than we 'need' for that pay week and it really came in handy, as our furrbabies were absolutely fine, but we've basically been tight this week so if we had to go a month, I'd say the animals would be fine, but we probably would lose some weight for sure lol

Normally though I'd say we typically try to take precaution as best we can, because where we live, we HAVE been stuck in our house before due to flooding or storms and while it usually doesn't last long, we have had it last a week once where we couldn't get out and so we sort of try to avoid that now and make sure to stock up on a lot of easy to make foods that can easily be made on the grill just in case power goes out

 

[Mia6]

I need a lot things, Cal's food is ok for another two weeks. Pay day is Tuesday so I will buy things
I need then. On Friday I will receive my month's worth of meds. I do need toilet paper!!

 

[jcat]

Mowgli is covered: We've got around 6 weeks' worth of cat food and enough litter for about 8 weeks. We've probably got enough groceries and toiletries for 2 to 3 weeks, not counting bread. I have to get some prescriptions filled within the next 10 days.

 

[di and bob]

I'd be OK, we'd run out of fresh items like milk and bread, but I have enough home canned and regular canned food to last quite a while. I always try to have at least two weeks worth of cat food, I would just hope a week would be the longest!

 

[NY cat man]

We would probably do all right. Neither of us takes meds, we buy cat food in bulk, we have a stock of both canned and dry goods on hand, plus other necessities. It comes from growing up out in the sticks, where you never knew when or if you might be snowed in. I guess old habits die hard.

 

[verna davies]

I'll be fine for a month or so. Plenty of cat food for Kiwi and Buzz and a freezer full of food for myself although there might be a few odd combinations by week 3. Cauliflower and chocolate ice cream anyone?

 

[maggiedemi]

We have enough food for at least a year or two with my mom's hoarding. I might run out of vitamins and toiletries though, which would be torture.

 

[EmersonandEvie]

The cats are good for at least another month, way more if we had to feed them the hard food we keep on hand as a treat. They have plenty of pine pellet litter.

I think we would be good for one to two months, food-wise. We tend to keep a lot of non-perishables on hand (canned items, etc). We do need some toilet paper and paper towels in the next few weeks, though....

 

[donutte]

Cats and dogs, yes. Me and mom, no. Well, we have food, mom is super picky though and her pickiness changes from day to day. I should stock up on toilet paper though (hey, priorities).

 

[Jem]

We have a good month of wet cat food and maybe 2-3 weeks of the regular dry, but I do have a huge bag of dry cat food that I was planning to donate to the shelter so in essence we would have at least an added month (or more) of dry cat food.
As for everything else, I'm a sale shopper so I have enough of everything to last me several months...except for perishables like milk and bread. A few moths in, we would have some weird makeshift meals, but we would be well fed.
I have enough toilet paper, tissue, and other "big and bulky" toiletries to last a couple of months, and enough soap, toothpaste, and other hygiene products to last....a long time.
The only thing I would need to get to be well prepared would be some cat litter, an extra bottle of ibuprofen (both of which are on this weeks shopping list) and water. I've stopped buying bottled water, in the name of saving money and the environment, but if the water was ever turned off for whatever reason, I no longer have a good stockpile of water bottles anymore. Considering the amount of snow we have though, I could just collect some and melt/boil, filter and bleach it for consumption. I'm actually having a hard time not having bottled water in the house, even if it's just there for emergencies...I'll still try to use my reusable water bottle, but next time the water goes on sale, I'm getting some...

 

[catapault]

Jem If your water taps are currently flowing why not simply get some large-ish bottles / jugs / containers and fill them up? Empty bleach bottles are excellent - what tiny residue of bleach helps plus they are opaque so that reduces the chance of algae growth even more. Otherwise just keep in a dark place.

I will be making my hopefully last prep run today - looking for the powdered milk I did not find yesterday, powdered buttermilk, 6 more cans of soup etc. I am /was concerned about fruit being an issue but a cousin I'm discussing prepping with mentioned dried fruit. I have a goodly supply of raisins and craisins as a matter of course, and a small amount of high quality dried apricots, peaches, pears, and apples in the freezer. Will think about getting more.

I have a website entry (when do I not!) which will be updated as time goes on. Any interest, should I post the link?

 

[susanm9006]

There are some things like bar soap, laundry detergent and liquid soap that I probably have a years worth because I buy in bulk when I find a good deal on my favorites. And the freezer is currently stocked with more than what is normally there, three months worth maybe, heavy on meats. Coffee is a four month supply just because a two months worth box was on sale so I picked up two. Other stuff I don’t know, a few weeks to a months worth.

 

[neely]

Let's just say Carleton would eat well for at least one month. As for us, we'd be lucky to last one week.

 

[Jem]

Jem Jem If your water taps are currently flowing why not simply get some large-ish bottles / jugs / containers and fill them up? Empty bleach bottles are excellent - what tiny residue of bleach helps plus they are opaque so that reduces the chance of algae growth even more. Otherwise just keep in a dark place.

Good idea, but I have heard that it's not healthy to REuse plastic containers for storing water due to leeching - at least for drinking purposes. Not only that, but we have very hard water here so storing our tap water would be an issue, mostly for drinking purposes, but our "standing" water gets sediment build up over time. I used to reuse bottles for our tap water and after it sits for more than a couple of days, it tastes terrible - I didn't know minerals had a strong taste until I drank stored tap water from my home. I never had an issue with it when I still lived at home, but we had well water there, where as here, it's city water. Still very good water, but not if it sits. Of course in an emergency, the taste of water is the least of our worries but it still sucks....first world problems eh?

 

[cassiopea]

Oh my, probably around a week or two overall? Maybe a pinch longer if I drag things out like some of the food. Same with the kitties. There is plenty of food for them at this moment - but you see how many there are in my signature and thus the amount of piggy tummies to fill I'd have to stock up a bit more ahead of time.


The best prepared is my horse and donkey. They have at least a half a years worth of hay stored and about two months worth of horse feed. And since spring is around the corner and being grazers plenty of grass will be available to them. More grazing goods for the donkey since they eat almost anything. They even have a fresh creek in the paddock field so if something does happen to the water they will easily have that too. The luckiest buggers can't complain, one thing to not worry about too much on behalf of their well being!

 

[Tik cat's mum]

We would last about a week then I would be raiding the freezer for choc ice and chips. The cat would last about a month, A lot longer if he eats us.

 

[kashmir64]

If it came to disaster or the zombie apocalypse, have gun, will hunt.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

I think we'd be alright for a good bit. My pantry is stocked and I keep things in the freezer too. We might not like every meal; but we'd all eat. Mooch has a decent stock of her foods too. Her meds just came for the next 2 months too.

 

[glittercat]

Cats and fish would be OK food wise, the cats for a month at least. but I do need litter (on list for tomorrow).

I'd be stuffed though. Toiletries would be OK but I'd run out of food quickly. Oddly enough we were talking about this at work yesterday... Perhaps I ought to think about getting a few bits in!