uk-preppers.co.uk

Hello all, I am a new member of this forum. I am interested to know if people have created "groups" in similar locations where-by if the SHTF they can get together to work together so to speak?

Welcome. What interests you about prepping?

Hello and welcome to the Forum.

Hi. I have been interested in short term prepping for about 10 years now, mainly how to survive up to 3 months without standard utilities. Although I have reached a certain level of residential preparedness, I do understand that if we are talking about "longer term" i.e. +6 months then groups of like minded people would be required to work together.

Welcome to the forum - absolutely understand your reference to groups being necessary for the longer term. The best advice I can give in relation to this forum is to contribute here, become a regular, show that you're someone that an existing or even newer member would want to link up with. There's no shortcut to it, I'm afraid - a lot of people come on here asking that exact question (uh, including me! I'm at the other end of the country from you, unfortunately, so in any case I wouldn't be in a group that's local to you. Good luck with it! Even without that, there's a *lot* of information on here.

Genesys0 wrote: ↑Mon Aug 16, 2021 5:43 pm Hi. I have been interested in short term prepping for about 10 years now, mainly how to survive up to 3 months without standard utilities. Although I have reached a certain level of residential preparedness, I do understand that if we are talking about "longer term" i.e. +6 months then groups of like minded people would be required to work together.

Hi and welcome to the forum,
We preppers tend to keep our preparedness discreet, partly because preppers can be misconstrued as panic buyers, hoarders or paranoid nutters, and partly because when TSHTF, we would need to defend our resources from all those who might feel entitled to take them. A friend in need is a PITA if she knows you have 'stuff to spare'. Why prepare herself if she knows where to come calling. And we cannot prep on behalf of the whole family/ street/ village.

That said, by keeping up to speed on this forum, one gets a sense of which of our friends or acquaintances might one day be a useful resource when it hits. I've shared with only two friends that I have a bit put aside that saw me through covid and brexit and I'm glad I did. When they opened up to similar, we each revealed more and it turns out they are not far behind me in my planning. But to everyone else, it's a secret. It was a secret from the OH for a while. Not recommended!

Looking forward to hearing your prepping adventures, thoughts and tips.

Stay safe
JJ

Thanks both for your replies. I totally agree and I did actually think twice about posting due to confidentiality reasons. I am at the stage now where-by I am thinking about escape routes to "secret locations" should I ever need to leave my home (hopefully not). Its terrible to have to think that way however I do not want to be in that situation without a plan!

Genesys0 wrote: ↑Tue Aug 17, 2021 8:00 am Thanks both for your replies. I totally agree and I did actually think twice about posting due to confidentiality reasons. I am at the stage now where-by I am thinking about escape routes to "secret locations" should I ever need to leave my home (hopefully not). Its terrible to have to think that way however I do not want to be in that situation without a plan!

Just remember that the UK is tiny and your "secret" location is probably known about by 30 dog walkers the local farmer/ landowner and game keeper

Genesys0 wrote: ↑Tue Aug 17, 2021 8:00 am Thanks both for your replies. I totally agree and I did actually think twice about posting due to confidentiality reasons. I am at the stage now where-by I am thinking about escape routes to "secret locations" should I ever need to leave my home (hopefully not). Its terrible to have to think that way however I do not want to be in that situation without a plan!

Much depends on the sort of crisis that might arise and how practical it is to bug in. Nobody wants to be a refugee and living off the land is a heck of a transition, especially if others all have the same idea. Secret locations would not be secret for long, By the time you considered making a dash for that log cabin or whatever, 100 others will have already thought to have adopted it... And if you were there first, a 100 others would arrive to seek to take it from you.

Some scenarios to ponder... (TLDR. I say Bug-in for most situations.)

A pandemic strikes, worse than this one: Be prepared by having all you need to bug in medium term: Threat level light-medium
Your region is flooded but not your home: Ditto.
Your home is flooded or uninhabitable: This is a bug to hotel situation. Threat level light
Water/utilities major outage: Bug in, but somehow get more self sufficient ASAP
Food supply disaster: Ditto: Defend your food source.
Societal breakdown begins: Be a 'grey man' Bug in as long as possible but consider change of region: Is it a national issue?
Extended societal and infrastructure breakdown: Personally I'd tend to bug-in, relocate, bug in, relocate, bug in multiple locations, like a nomad.
Global war/asteroid/zombie apocalypse: Survive, but in every zombie film I've seen, you need a base. Bugging out only between bases.

Expect in many situations that roads would be completely clogged and petrol next to impossible to get. Dash too soon and you have surrendered your castle. Dash too late and you are sat in traffic with no place to actually go.

There's a difference between getting out of a town centre to suburbs or urban house and getting out to live in a caravan/tent. Caravan/winibago/transit van would be my favourite compared to tent. Gotta keep mobile.

Not all bug out locations are created equal. You could live in this hole in the ground But where's your long term resource supply? If, it's a really long term crisis, then as you say, you need community or commune of some sort. But I'd still tend to say, stay close to your castle.

Get to know your neighbours? Which farmer owns a shotgun? Who's handy with cooking or brewing? Who's got green fingers? Who's good at scavenging/looting/house breaking*? Make their acquaintance, or better still, be those people and have those skills.

* I'm not advocating a life of crime, but a skilled burglar would also make a skilled home security consultant.

We are already networking here and on social media: Virtual communities that could form real networks one day. But for now, anonymity is precious.

Now, I'm lucky to live in a rural suburb. I see a few streams and countryside food sources that might be handy, but if TSHTF, I can well envisage all those sheep and rabbits and blackberries soon disappearing from the fields. But I can also see how I MIGHT be able keep my home off the radar for rampaging looters. I MIGHT consider joining or forming a mini community, but I'd still want to keep my own resources low key and traded rather than shared. A townie would see a whole different situation, where the home might be totally unsafe and the only food being what's left to scavenge from the shops.

You might want to brush up on your zombie movies. Plus this one I recommend for it's realism ... Blackout

I hate to say it, but with the worst case scenarios, Our objective is to survive until starvation has thinned out the population, to match available resources. How can one plan for that and stay sane.

Now. As a bug-in prepper, I can tell you there is so much you can achieve on negligible budget. Sounds like you made a start, but read around this forum and you will soon up your game. Got food? Get cooking resourses - Get medications - Get organised - get... so many things thought through.

Enjoy the forum and Stay Safe.

Thanks, that was a really useful post. Lots to take in and think about. Can I ask, regarding water filtration - I have purchased a Berkey 5.5 galon carbon water filter, but what other recommendations do you have for water filtration? Do you think its useful to have some other "cruder" method of filtration prior to carbon filtration? Thanks.