UK 4 meals away from anarchy in a disaster?

[Mortblanc]

We play this "who should I help/what do I have/where should I hide it" game about once each year. It is usually triggered by some report that there is only enough on the shelves to last 3 days, just as it has been since Shakespeare was a lad.

It is always a hoot to read the replies. Some think they are living in a vacuum in the middle of suburbia, some feel they can turn away a mob with "I don't have anything" and others want to feed the world.

No, I do not have the "proper answer", no one has the proper answer because the prospect is one of dealing with the impossible.

No, "I will deal with me and my own" is not the correct answer because no one can gather unlimited supplies and eventually you will run out too. Perhaps not on day three, like the idiot next door, but eventually.

And you can not think of or even obtain everything you need. Some of it is illegal, some is too expensive, some is too complicated and some is made from unobtanium.

It will not matter much. At the end of a month, about what one can go without food, the bad water/bad sanitation/no heat/reduced immunity levels/increased violence levels will have taken care of most of the problems in a post SHTF world.

But we can not even define the parameters of that term either. When does SHTF start? What does it look like? Does it start when the shelves are empty? Three days after the shelves empty? When the police all go home? When the radio announces that the bomb has been launched? When Russia starts the blockade? When the EU begins economic sanctions.

Or does it start when one gets the repair bill for the automobile and it is more than a months' wages? You have a year of food in mylar and plastic, but not two coins to rub together at the end of each week.

Personally, I have a use by date when TEOTWAWKI does arrive and can be properly identified. Life sustaining meds keep me alive. Nope, there are no herbs or potions that will replace them. I have a 6 month supply and then about 3 more months of progressive debility after they are gone.

I just hope the nice kids next door and the young man down the lane live longer than I do, bury me properly with a few kind words, and make good use of my gear.