Feeling overwhelmed... Can you please help me?

[fuds]

Hi

I should explain that I'm a bit of a flake, suffer from anxiety and panic attacks and I'm taking medication to calm my nerves. My anxiety surrounds the issue of my family's safety. I act in ways that other people see as irrational, sometimes I see it myself, sometimes I don't.

I have to be careful with the issue of prepping because it can very quickly turn into an uncontrollable obsession. Sometimes I'm ok and can come here to browse, sometimes I stay well clear when it scares me.

That being said I am trying very hard to get better and under all of this I am wanting to not rely on the infrastructure we have in this country. The rug can be pulled out from under us at any time and for whatever reason. I want to stand a half decent chance.

My store cupboard consists of everything I need for a 30 day meal plan. It's healthy and I feel in control of my monthly budget but I'm now understanding that however organised I am with my family meals etc, I'm no where geared up for an eventuality.

I have already worked out I need to get some water in my stores, but what else? I'm feeling overwhelmed and confused - do I add to the stocks of food, get different stocks in, buy essential equipment?

If you were starting out all over again, what would the main priorities be for you?

Thank you for your help

[preppingsu]

First of all take a deep breath.
You are far more prepared that many people so well done, you should be very proud of what you've achieved so far.

Water is very, very, very important. Easy to do without spending too much. You could either buy some bottled water ( supermarket basics not your fancy evian) or do I what I do and fill empty pop bottles (after cleaning). If you don't drink pop put a request out to friends and family, on freecycle or frequent the recycling area at your local supermarket
Just keep adding as and when you get some empty bottle. For me some weeks are more productive than others.

If you can afford to just keep adding a little extra to your food stocks every time you shop. But remember to rotate, rotate, rotate!

And when you feel overwhelmed, put the kettle on and have a piece of cake!

[itsybitsy]

If you were starting out all over again, what would the main priorities be for you?

A month's worth of food for myself and my family. Tick!

Water. Lots of water. As Su said, you can fill empty, clean pop bottles and store those. I prefer to buy bottled water from the supermarket in 5 litre bottles - 99p for 5 litres in Tesco. And get a water butt to put in the garden - you may be able to pick one up from Freecycle for nothing - bonus!

A camping stove and back up fuel supplies.

A good first aid kit, as well as any prescription medication you or your family need (a month's worth at least, just to be on the safe side).

Pet food (if you've got any pets, of course!) and cat litter if you've got a cat. Enough for a month.

Wind up lanterns, a couple of head torches (invaluable, because you can see in the dark while still having both hands free), candles. Matches.

For me, that would be enough to start off with. Once you've got your basics sorted and are happy with them, then you can start to broaden your horizons. One step at a time. My mantra when it comes to prepping is, 'Doing ANYTHING is better than doing nothing'.

And take a good look around the house - chances are you've got loads of stuff already that you just haven't thought about. Things like walking boots, waterproof jackets, rucksacks - they can all be added to your prepper inventory and ticked off.

[jansman]

Itsybitsy has it bang on! That is what I would say is a VERY good start. OP however anxious you are about prepping,rember this; You are streets ahead of most folks. Well done.

[fuds]

Wow, I'm feeling so much better having read all your posts... look

If you were starting out all over again, what would the main priorities be for you?

A month's worth of food for myself and my family. Tick! Was thinking to get tins of staples that can be eaten cold if need be and a decent tin opener - I have 2 but both naff

Water. Lots of water. As Su said, you can fill empty, clean pop bottles and store those. I prefer to buy bottled water from the supermarket in 5 litre bottles - 99p for 5 litres in Tesco. onto it, next shop I will start getting waterAnd get a water butt to put in the garden - you may be able to pick one up from Freecycle for nothing - bonus!

A camping stove got and back up fuel supplies.I havee one, will get more

A good first aid kit, I was a childminder for a while so mine is excellent plus we have a walking first aid kit with foil blanket etcas well as any prescription medication you or your family need (a month's worth at least, just to be on the safe side). I have stocks of paracetamol/calpol and cough mixture, could do with ibroproferen and flu powders/throat lozenges

Pet food (if you've got any pets, of course!) and cat litter if you've got a cat. Enough for a month. a dog, buy food by 15kg but running low and didn't really give him a second thought to be honest

Wind up lanterns, need a couple of head torches DH has one for fishing, will ask where it is and what batteries it uses(invaluable, because you can see in the dark while still having both hands free), candles. got 200 tea lights Matches. just bought more in shopping at the beginning of the month, will keep adding to it

For me, that would be enough to start off with. Once you've got your basics sorted and are happy with them, then you can start to broaden your horizons. One step at a time. My mantra when it comes to prepping is, 'Doing ANYTHING is better than doing nothing'.

And take a good look around the house - chances are you've got loads of stuff already that you just haven't thought about. Things like walking boots, got walking boots/wellies for all of us waterproof jackets yip, all of us - goretex decent ones, rucksacks Yip - they can all be added to your prepper inventory and ticked off.[/quote]

Thank you so much. I can now go back through this post and I can write up my list of things to be getting on with.

[junmist]

Hi Fuds anxiety and panic attacks are a pain I can suffer them myself. Besides all the equipment that everyone has mention do you have any herb books or wild food books you can offten cross referance them, whenever you get an attack go on a wild food forage think of this as a back up store cupboard and medicine chest each month has something new in the store cupboard to learn about. Find someone local who knows about fungi (need to do this myself ). Even in towns its amazing what you can find to eat. And you learn about your area as you are looking for food and medical plants.
And the hardest bit of advice I can give you is that you can't prep for everything so when one of your attacks happens try to sit down with a cup of tea and remember that you have prepped as best as you can and you have given your family a good start.

[Ferricks]

I completely agree with all of the above and would recommend focusing on one area at a time.

I can relate to the cold, irrational panic that can sometimes set in (especially when I look at my very vulnerable and oblivious almost 5 year old) and my own mechanism for focussing is to break concentration into week long blocks. e.g. next week for you could be "water week" and your focus is to store water. While your doing this other things of course will come into your head and clutter it up and distract you, but simply keep a note pad nearby and write these things down to deal with when you get to them so that they don't bug you any more....

'it works for me - it may help you develop your preps even further (although I have to say that they're sounding pretty good to me!).

[Triple_sod]

It’s beginning to develop into a bit of a cliché, but step one is undoubtedly ‘don’t panic’, we live in uncertain times, things are bad and will probably get worse, but some overnight, nationwide breakdown of all infrastructure is still highly unlikely.

Personally I've taken a big step back from the 'doom porn', stopped scrutinizing the papers for possible 'trigger points' or reading every thread marked 'this is important news'......People may well disagree, but If anything I think it's only ever detrimental. When your convinced something is going to happen in the near future there's no incentive to make long term plans.

Instead, I look at it as a cheaper, healthier lifestyle that just makes sense.

It’s funny you mention starting all over again as a few months ago I did exactly that.
(Here’s where I’ll turn a few heads!..... )

Step one for me was building a war chest, rather than the old ‘sticking a few extra tins in the supermarket trolley’ I just set myself an amount to put away every week for a period of time. While in the meantime I sat down and put together a plan;

First thing was a two week supply of water and ‘emergency food’, which is exactly what the name would suggest. I needed something portable which required very little cooking to no cooking, army rations were the unmistakable candidate, they were designed for this role. Also they have great self-life although the ones from the internet/ army surplus shops are sadly often a few years old already.

Next on the agenda was to be a 2 months’ supply of freeze dried long term food canned stuff. To be honest though I’ve been putting that off as while across the pond they’ve a multitude of standard items packed in this way over here it seems to be mountain house or mountain house...

So I’ve kinda put that on the back burner and decided to concentrate on my long term grains ect, for which I’ve been using the system as mentioned here;
viewtopic.php?f=16&t=4153&p=46626#p46626
Over the next few months I’m going to try and build up a year’s supply consisting of rice, oats, peas/beans, Quinoa and wheat (still need a grinder). Also salt, Sugar and honey.

[fuds]

Such helpful posts. Thank you so much. I have enough to work on and have also started to think about if we have to leave home etc I hadn't thought too much about displacement. (I don't think I want to but there's a seed sown now and that is only a good thing)

I'm going to sit down and writ my list later, I'll let you know how I get on. Thanks again

[dizzydays]

Hi Fuds,

I joined about a year ago, rushed out and bought lots of pulses/beans/tins. Then realised I hadn't got water so stocked some of that. Watched all the threads avidly for signs of exploding super volcanoes, nuclear disaster, plague, zombie invasion etc. Then I hit a financial hiccup and started using the stores I had. To the point that today I am looking at my last tin of kidney beans and a few sorry teabags.
I've had a blinding glimpse of the obvious - my SHTF situation is my current day to day living.
So I've had a big rethink and moved my prepping ideas to deal with the finances/budgeting. Its better to get the debts down than buy a crate of tins. I'm getting the house decluttered and in order and slowly starting again. I've discovered a new Sainsburys nearby so I'm going to go later and stock up on their basics range as people seem to think they are good value.

I didnt waste my prepping - I'm glad I've covered power failure/heating failure, got the water etc. But what I'm saying is like Triple Sod I guess...you can worry over big things when really coping with the small stuff is probably the best plan. You're doing brilliantly to have a months food stocked. Maybe consider stuff like making a folder of useful info or emergency numbers. Making sure the finances are as sorted as you can. Small things you can deal with week to week.

DD