Archive: https://archive.is/2025.03.26-113538/https://www.ft.com/content/eeb1ee80-00b8-4f9f-b560-a6717a80d58d
EU households should stockpile essential supplies to survive at least 72 hours of crisis, Brussels has proposed, as Russia’s war in Ukraine and a darkening geopolitical landscape prompt the bloc to take new steps to increase its security.
The continuing conflict in Ukraine, the Covid-19 pandemic that brutally exposed a lack of crisis response capabilities and the Trump administration’s adversarial stance towards Europe have forced the continent to rethink its vulnerabilities and increase spending on defence and security.
The new initiative comes as European intelligence agencies warn that Russia could attack an EU member state within three to five years, adding to natural threats including floods and wildfires worsened by climate change and societal risks such as financial crises.
Europe faced increased threats “including the possibility of armed aggression against member states”, the European Commission warned on Wednesday as it published a 30-step plan for its 27 capitals to increase their preparedness for crisis and mitigation measures.
72 hours? No problem. Always have a big bag of rice on hand and you’re done.
Only if you have lots of water too. And preferably some way to heat it (though you can totally swell rice in cold water)
Canned food is a good alternative
I just have a stack of canned stuff I rotate through. I put new ones at the bottom, and make sure the stack in always 4 cans tall. Costs nothing, things are always in stock on the shelves, and in case of emergency, there’s food.
Of course, I also live about 5 meters below sea level, so if we have real, world war level problems and the pumps shut down and/someone blows up the dikes, I’m not going to shelter in place for months anyway.
This brings up an important point. You should have something like a camping stove running on propane or similar stored fuel.
If the water supply fails you need to be able to cook water for drinking purposes.
A coal bbq could work too and most people have one already, you can use it with wood as well.
Even better, you can use a barbecue chimney starter as a kind of rocket stove.
and water to cook it and drink, and power to heat it?