Prepper mum reveals £50 ‘doomsday box’ with wind-up radio, Dairy Milk and tea bags
Costing just £50 and including treats such as Dairy Milk and tea bags in addition to what the government is calling essential items like a wind-up radio, Claire Helen, 53, has collected items she says will help in case of an emergency, reports SWNS.
Living eight miles from any nearby town in an area prone to flooding, Helen, from Abergavenny, has collected the contents since 2024 along with her son, George, 21.
Although she has taken action ahead of the government’s recent ‘Be Ready’ campaign, she said people would benefit from following the advice on how to prepare for cyber-attacks, flooding and other emergencies ‘with how the world is’.
The campaign, which launched in October, asked the public to store three days’ worth of food, water, medicines and other essential items.
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Claire’s preparedness journey began with the purchase of a £20 wind-up radio and torch, some batteries, a packet of matches and candles – although government advice recommends using torches instead.
After adding to her box over time, she has since added chocolate, biscuits and tea bags.
How do preppers get started?
Content creator Claire explained how she was inspired by her own mother doing this in 2024 and thought, “you know what, we joke and make fun of her but actually she's got a point.”
She cautioned against people with ‘negative comments’ saying 'you're a sheep' or 'this is all the government trying to scaremonger us'.
She continued: "The government have actually had this advice out since 2004.
“It's been out there for more than 20 years, they've just chosen to renew it and added a couple of new things.
“As times change we're going to need new things like cash because cash machines could go down due to the increased cyber threat.”
She added, “Now with how the world is I've actually started to think beyond the threat and risk of flooding and power cuts."
Is prepping a family tradition?
Claire said she was from ‘a family of preppers’, with her mum, Joyce, 83, stockpiling prior to the millennium and her grandmother, Helen, growing fruit and vegetables at home and making these into jams and pickles.
“She'd grow her own fruit and vegetables in her garden and preserve it,” said Claire.
“She had her own greenhouse, would make her own wine, all sorts. It was kind of a thing of, 'we'll be alright if we get snowed in.'”
Claire explained how she has four grown-up children and a grandson, plus a dog, three cats, and four guinea pigs.
“I think 'how would I feed them if they ran out of food?’” she said.
“I wanted to make sure they're OK and I want to make sure we've got enough in so we could go at least a week.
“And then if we had no power for a week if we had a flood and people really need rescuing the emergency services can get to the people that really need it first.
"The more people are prepared it frees up the emergency services to get to those vulnerable people first."
Thinking outside the box
In addition to her doomsday box, Claire has a cupboard stocked with tinned food and two outside water butts, which collect rainwater.
"I have a food cupboard but I rotate that - that was probably another £20 or £30 of your canned food you can buy very cheaply in Aldi or Lidl.
“We're not going to be having things like smoked salmon or caviar in a power cut, we'll be eating beans.
"As long as you can cobble together a meal people would be surprised once they started looking at what you can get.
“I'd just say think of prepping in the same way as, for example, getting a flu vaccine to prevent the flu, that's prepping.
“The way I see it you're protecting yourself and your family in the same way."
Claire's doomsday box:
-Torch and spare batteries
-Battery/wind-up radio
-Power banks and cables
-First aid kit
-Essential medication
-Bottled water
-Biscuits
-Chocolate
-Tea bags
-Matches
-Candles
Topics: Cost of Living, UK News
Michael D. Carroll
