New Bedfordshire prepper

[Massive War monkey]

Hi all ! New prepper here just getting my act together given the escalating tensions across Europe and the East. Based just outside Bedford town looking to link up with any locals interested ..get a lil network together, been round here my whole life and know the area v.well. Be interesting to hear from anyone out there trade some ideas etc

[Deeps]

Welcome to the forum, what aspects of prepping are you concentrating on, it covers quite a range. I hope you get plenty inspiration, there's loads of stuff on here that I hadn't considered but had a light bulb moment.

[Massive War monkey]

As I'm just starting I'm just getting our food stocks up to basics for the 3 of us..and I'm quite keen on networking in the local area..big believer in strength in numbers.
Also had some thoughts about a bit of guerrilla gardening
We're surrounding by fields here. Quite intrigued by the prospects of planting lots of veg in hard to find area's for a contingency

[Deeps]

Good stuff mate, there's no 'one size fits all' to this so what works for me might not work for you, the best advice I can give you is don't rush things, a lot of us have made the mistake of trying to get everything in asap and wasted money. For me you're going about it the right way, start with the basics, food water etc, something to cook food on, lighting and first aid. I'm assuming you're planning on staying put as your first choice. Don't get too bogged down with what other people are doing on Youtube, its great for inspiration, same as here but it might not fit your situation.

I know what you mean about strength in numbers but remember that you have numbers already, your neighbours, getting a prepper group might be useful for skill swapping and weekends away but its not certain that you'll be able to muster if things do go pear shaped. While your neighbours might not be who you'd chose to be stuck with, it might be who you are stuck with. Just something to bear in mind if the unlikely happens.

[Massive War monkey]

Yea Im going on the theory we're better off staying put,nice small town minimal crime..River 500m from property,have a large garden/lots of fertile farmland close by. Think I need to play to our strengths..surprised the Mrs isn't that perturbed by it all either!
Any recommendations regards first aid kit? Going to need something substantial.. Put a good few quid aside for it given the importance

[Deeps]

You're fortunate that the missus is onside, after a couple of years mine is more tolerant than onboard, she's still a work in progress though.

As for the FAK stuff, there are some good threads on here about first aid, I've got a couple of smallish ones that I've put together plus a larger one that doubles up as part of my main medical stores, I'm out of date by a few years on a first aid course so had a rummage through the stuff on here and Youtube and ended up buying a sports injury type one for about 20 odd quid, apart from cuts etc I reckon the other likely issues will be sprains etc, once you get past the basics I'm out of my depth so I've no 'serious' medical gear although I've got some field dressings for quickly covering any serious injuries, I've broken one out to familiarise myself with it if its required quickly and about another half dozen. I'm ok with the 'sports injury' stuff, I've had a few over the years so have a reasonable understanding of the heat/cold approach but yeah, that's about my limit.

Its something else to research though, I bought the sports bag knowing I was going to be 'pimping' it, I've just had a rummage, here's the bag I bought.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00 ... UTF8&psc=1

I don't take this with me when I'm away, its too big for a basic FAK but its in the house, it did give me a bit of inspiration for the 2 smaller packs which I knocked together, there are plenty on here who know waaaaaayyyyyy more than me, including some professionals, again, don't dive in and buy stuff that you'll end up regretting, get your research done then buy the right gear. Good luck mate.

[Lanky Yankee]

Welcome from down the road

[sethorly]

Any recommendations regards first aid kit? Going to need something substantial.. Put a good few quid aside for it given the importance

Hi. I'm not an expert at all, but this is the one I've got https://www.amazon.co.uk/St-John-Ambula ... t+aid+kits, which is good because it has the tuff cut scissors that can cut through any clothing. It's very cheap and easy to replace the contents once used.

I've topped it up with a tourniquet https://www.amazon.co.uk/C-A-T-Combat-A ... tourniquet (read up on how to use it), some celox https://www.amazon.co.uk/Celox-35g-Sach ... ords=celox, and a couple of israeli dressings https://www.amazon.co.uk/Reliance-Medic ... i+dressing. Oh, also some saline solution for eyes https://www.amazon.co.uk/Emergency-Ster ... 6AXZ23MAZN.

You'll also need a sharp pair of tweezers for when your #3 gets splinters

[Lanky Yankee]

viewtopic.php?f=19&t=10181&start=40

This was a good post on first aid and kit. Some good ideas to get started. You don't need a shed load of kit that you don't know how to use yet. Just start basic and then grow it. If your in the village near shefford/chicksands, contact East of England Ambulance Service and look into community first responders. You get decent training and free kit.

[tigs]

Welcome to the forum