Last year, the German Interior Ministry came out and made a strong suggestion across the country.....that people need to have a 10-day supply of food in the house, and have the ability to survive without electricity and heat for that period.
I questioned this, as my German wife brought up this topic. The accepted logic for this was that people used to have a stash of food, and were capable of surviving a week without power. In the last two decades....there's a belief that people aren't prepared for emergencies in Germany. At least, that's the storyline.
Me? I'm a bit suspicious why you need this stock of food, water, beer, etc.....in the basement to make it through the period. Is there some worry that jihadist thugs will hit the grid, and knock power out for a week or a month? Is there some meteor expected to hit? Is there a blizzard anticipated down the road?
This brings me to my part in this emergency planning episode. My wife finally dictated that I needed to get a Coleman-like grill or propane device for emergency cooking. I'd made it throughout life without ever having to buy or use one. I'm a charcoal guy.
So I went through the German camping choices and picked out a simple burner and bought enough fuel for two weeks.
My issue now is that I'll store this in the basement, and it'll remain there for forty-odd years, where my son will one day be cleaning out shelves and find the whole kit sitting there. He'll wonder about the necessity of it....toss it in the garbage, and a week later....some other idiot interior ministry chief will tell everyone to prepare for some emergency, then he'll rush out to buy another propane unit.
To add fuel this fire....I've kinda told the wife that 99-percent of the German soup or can selection is crap, and I'd rather just get ten days of canned peaches and beef jerky.
On beer and wine reserves, it's safe to say I'm not very worried.
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