This month I'm going hard at it with preps. I have cleared out my pantry over the weekend and reorganised it which is a great improvement. 

We have laid out a new section of vege garden, adding another 280 sq m to our area under cultivation. Not all of it is growing space as some of it will be fixed paths. We are not using wooden edging, just mounded beds with woodchip paths in between. The more I read in the papers, the more worried I am about food security so the more we will grow. 

I'm also thinking about radio comms. If anyone has any experience about communications during an emergency, I would like advice please on what kind of set up is best.

  The best if you have time to get the license is Ham radio

Hand held communication only can transmit with line of sight 3 miles at most

For about 50 dollars you can get a nice set on amazon or Walmart. They are in the electronics section NOT toy section

https://www.hamtronics.com/best-handheld-vhf-radios/ - https://www.hamtronics.com/best-handheld-vhf-radios/

I have a friend who is a ham radio enthusiast. I think I'll go with CB for local comms. We are on elevated land by a range of mountains and I have a clear line of sight for about 70 kms. I'm thinking of running it from my house with a big vertical antenna, and then some hand held ones for anyone out and about to stay in touch with our home base. 

There are so many choices and options. It's a whole world I wasnt' really aware of. You need a licence to have a ham radio here.

Yes you do. In some areas you also need to have a registered cb handle. Mine is littlebear and my husband is atom smasher

https://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=AwrihAPLHuli8V4GOhBx.9w4;_ylu=Y29sbwNiZjEEcG9zAzIEdnRpZAMEc2VjA3Ny/RV=2/RE=1659473739/RO=10/RU=https%3a%2f%2fwww.thetruckersreport.com%2ftruckingindustryforum%2fthreads%2fnational-cb-handle-registry.139225%2fpage-4/RK=2/RS=9HPPEf0hWlZOZ55K7M5R..Pl980- - https://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=AwrihAPLHuli8V4GOhBx.9w4;_ylu=Y29sbwNiZjEEcG9zAzIEdnRpZAMEc2VjA3Ny/RV=2/RE=1659473739/RO=10/RU=https%3a%2f%2fwww.thetruckersreport.com%2ftruckingindustryforum%2fthreads%2fnational-cb-handle-registry.139225%2fpage-4/RK=2/RS=9HPPEf0hWlZOZ55K7M5R..Pl980-

I cleaned out my canned goods this week and thew away any expired then went to costco and spent $500 stocking up on stuff.  We have a family of 4 so about a 3 month food supply.  Of course that is stretching it very thin and rationing but happy to know we could make it that long.  I have some more things I would like to get so will finish my stocking up next month.  I also bought my yearly supply of vitamin C gummies which I always keep on hand in case anything were to happen!

I've noticed that some of the food I've canned is coming unstuck even though the lids sealed properly when they were canned. I've done some investigation into this because potentially it could ruin food that I thought was safely put away, and I've found quite a few people on line saying that the companies that are producing the flat disc lids are using less of the rubber sealing compound on the lids now and lots of people are having failures a few weeks after the food has been canned. 

Does anyone know of brand that hasn't cut back on the rubber compound? And I suggest that if you use this type of lid, that you go and check your jars. Mine looked fine until I picked them up and then the lightest touch to the lid caused it to pop off. Beware!