What Preparations To Make For Power Cuts

[The Mad Monk]

The Government has told us to be prepared. We gave food a plenty in the cupboards, fridge and freezers - only thing is - if the power goes off, how do we cook it?

[21TonyK]

BBQ, wine, candles

[magpie215]

[Ridgemont]

Strange. Why are we having to prepare for power cuts when the grid is secure?

Either they’ve fked is the power supply or there is foreign intervention.

Both of which are absolutely on them.
I protest. I think the gov deserves us an explanation.

[Pupp]

Power goes off, the food in your fridges and freezers will not be much use for long. Old farts like me will remember Terry Nation’s ‘Survivors’ series in the 70’s… worth a revisit

[swisstoni]

The Mad Monk said:

The Government has told us to be prepared. We gave food a plenty in the cupboards, fridge and freezers - only thing is - if the power goes off, how do we cook it?

Why, get it Deliveroo'd from somewhere with power of course!

[Phunk]

Ridgemont said:

Strange. Why are we having to prepare for power cuts when the grid is secure?

Either they ve fked is the power supply or there is foreign intervention.

Both of which are absolutely on them.
I protest. I think the gov deserves us an explanation.

Do you understand how the grid works?

What do you think happens when 100mph winds blow trees onto power lines?

[g4ry13]

There better be internet.

[FiF]

Sensibly sized generator to provide power for relatively low powered electrical items when you really need it eg run freezer a few hours every day to keep stuff frozen, charging phones etc.

Small camping stove to heat stuff up, boil a kettle etc.

Any more than this and you are starting into serious prepping.

Supply of fresh water could be an issue.

Actually Ridgemont has a fair point.

[Terminator X]

Labour wanted to take us back to the golden years, the 70's. Almost there!

TX.

[Evanivitch]

We've had quite frequent power cuts due to the vulnerability of our power supply.

I have rechargeable torches and lanterns, a DJI Power 1000 (at 2200W it can power the air frye), an adapter to recharge it off the car, a mini DC UPS for the router, gas camping stoves, and a small supply of tinned food and bottled water set aside. The food and water is largely irrelevant tbh.

We get a lot of tree falling on the motorway so I've chucked a power saw and manual saw in the back.

Ridgemont said:

Strange. Why are we having to prepare for power cuts when the grid is secure?

Either they ve fked is the power supply or there is foreign intervention.

Both of which are absolutely on them.
I protest. I think the gov deserves us an explanation.

When was the last time you had a power cut because of loss of generation?

[moorx]

Phunk said:

Ridgemont said:

Strange. Why are we having to prepare for power cuts when the grid is secure?

Either they ve fked is the power supply or there is foreign intervention.

Both of which are absolutely on them.
I protest. I think the gov deserves us an explanation.

Do you understand how the grid works?

What do you think happens when 100mph winds blow trees onto power lines?

Quite.

We've received an email just this afternoon from National Grid giving advice about power cuts as a result of Storm Austen. We live in west Wales, so perhaps it is locality-based?

Power cuts are not an unusual occurrence for us, so we prepare as best we can. We have a generator and a gas camp stove and plenty of rechargeable torches/lamps. In the autumn/winter we tend to spend evenings in the 'snug' where the woodburner is anyway, so no change there. It's a bit of a pain, but we manage.

[gruffalo]

I have 12 solar panels and 13Kwh battery pack that will run the house quite happily for most of the year but if the power cuts could hold off till early April that would help.

[dingg]

g4ry13 said:

There better be internet.

Got hit by storm Kristin in January

Lost power for a few days ,same with water as its pumped up to us, NO internet for a couple of weeks , good job we have a gas hob as well as electric, bleak I tell thee ,bleak...

Not to mention my fences blown down, shutters ripped off ,solar array gone, along with half my roof including concrete beams....

I've seen bad weather often offshore with 20ft containers blown about like cardboard boxes but not experienced it on land until this event, living on top of a hill has its drawbacks ,nice view though :-)

[The Mad Monk]

Do the gas camping stoves las very long with those little butane gas canisters?

Or is there a more practical way of cooking?

[CubanPete]

The Mad Monk said:

Do the gas camping stoves las very long with those little butane gas canisters?

Or is there a more practical way of cooking?

They last and cook pretty well.

[Getragdogleg]

CubanPete said:

The Mad Monk said:

Do the gas camping stoves las very long with those little butane gas canisters?

Or is there a more practical way of cooking?

They last and cook pretty well.

Ive got a couple of them and a gas BBQ

[darreni]

Getragdogleg said:

CubanPete said:

The Mad Monk said:

Do the gas camping stoves las very long with those little butane gas canisters?

Or is there a more practical way of cooking?

They last and cook pretty well.

Ive got a couple of them and a gas BBQ

They do work well, I have a couple of msr camping stoves and a few gas canisters in the garage. If you have an iPad, you can tether it to your iPhone and use the phone signal for browsing.

[LunarOne]

My power was out two days ago from 4.20am to just before 4pm due to an "underground transmission fault". Half of the village was out. That had a serious impact on my ability to work that day. I do have an electric stove thing in case the gas goes out, and I also have a portable gas stove as pictured above. I also keep an old gas heater which takes the same large gas bottles as my barbecue. So I should be able to cook for a while. I don't have a generator, but I do have a 250W inverter that will power the fridge and allow me to charge phones and computers. I can power that from a car or bike idling. And the freezer in combination with tinned and dry food has enough to keep me going for a month or two. I think the only things I really need to do are buy a bigger inverter, store some bottled water as I normally rely on mains water for drinking and cooking. And maybe a couple of 50 litre containers of petrol...

[MCBrowncoat]

LunarOne said:

My power was out two days ago from 4.20am to just before 4pm due to an "underground transmission fault". Half of the village was out. That had a serious impact on my ability to work that day. I do have an electric stove thing in case the gas goes out, and I also have a portable gas stove as pictured above. I also keep an old gas heater which takes the same large gas bottles as my barbecue. So I should be able to cook for a while. I don't have a generator, but I do have a 250W inverter that will power the fridge and allow me to charge phones and computers. I can power that from a car or bike idling. And the freezer in combination with tinned and dry food has enough to keep me going for a month or two. I think the only things I really need to do are buy a bigger inverter, store some bottled water as I normally rely on mains water for drinking and cooking. And maybe a couple of 50 litre containers of petrol...

• Insert gif of Lister on the exercise bike trying to charge Cats hairdryer