Posted on 02/05/2016 1:13:13 PM PST by TMSuchman
Hello "Fellow" FReepers; Since I was asked to help out on this page, I have been figuring out how do we discuss Prepping with out going over board? So now let us gather 'round and discuss with calm cool head/s & level thoughts. What are we prepping for. [Just remember to use Operational Security Rules (OPSEC), keep your mouth shut on your specific gear] Not everyone here is friendly to our/your cause or self!
So now, what are we worried about, storms, economic collapse, civil unrest, grid down, earth quakes, pandemic, or what. I have several nightmare scenarios, that keep me awake at night. But they all boil down to a few minor items, food, water shelter, meds [for those who need them for special needs] There is NO 1 plan that will cover everything/ or everyone. Our plans need to be written in pencil & subject to change at any time. So if & when something does happen, how do you get a hold of everyone you need to [in the event of a major disaster there will be NO cell or land line service avail], where do you all meet up at, [a home or on the road]. Where or how will you gain shelter from the weather, got water, got food [you can last about 3 days with out water, 3 weeks without food, 3 hours without proper shelter] so when it comes to water to drink, can you purify it, a person needs [on the average] 1 gallon per day, to live. What about gathering food. And do not count on hunting for it [every dipstick who can pull a trigger will be out trying to gather meat, so do you have any other ideas for meat] [What has your state dept of conservation say about illnesses running through the wild game population/s] Who is going to raise your food crops, veggies, chickens, goats, cows, ducks, ect...? There are about 1 billion & 1 questions that need to be answered. and let me tell you that you are NOT going to have all of them [no matter how hard you try] Do you have a small community of "fellow" preppers to call upon for help? So let us sit down & figure this out together.
Failing to plan, is planning to fail!
The North American electric grid is what I worry about. whether from EMP or CME, no electricity means nothing works.
I look for tools or equipment that can be made from the refuse that will be laying around.
White or black?
Coarse or fine?
.....oh, sorry.
I thought it was weekly pepper thread.
My mistake.
Prepare for the worst. It's the cheapest/easiest preps you can make initially. Think about what you would need to live like native Americans did 500 years ago. Let that be your starting point and then add other items from there, as you can afford them.
“Not everyone here is friendly to our/your cause or self”
Good, let’s flush em out and ban em.
I *just* posted a big related post to another thread, this might be a better place for it:
Just a practical observation for you prepper-folk.
I am going through a SHTF situation in my personal life, and I am eating reserve food, and am almost out of that.
SAMPLE YOUR FOOD STASH. I have had to throw all kinds of food away because it didn’t last as long as I thought it would, or because I didn’t actively manage it for expiration dates.
Stuff that held up well: Mountain House freeze dried backpacker food. I’m sodium sensitive and it’s a bit much for me, but if that’s what you have, you eat it. Canned Campbell’s soups. Dried rice.
Stuff that held up OK enough to use, but tasted a bit funky: Kraft brand Mac and Cheese in a bulk pack, with individual plastic-wrapped servings, marketed as ‘Easy Mac’. Store brand canned peaches. Edible, but kind of mushy.
Stuff that polluted the whole kitchen trying to prepare it and got thrown away: Store brand instant mashed potatoes. Store brand Mac & cheese, some off-brand freeze dried soups. Some civvie-copy MREs. Never again. If you’re preparing something and it looks a bit more orange than it should, it’s probably bad.
When the smoke clears in my life and I am building a reserve again, no off-brand anything. Packaging is important. Rotate and manage. Common sense stuff to be sure, but sometimes life gets in your face and there are bigger things to deal with than fiddling around in the cabinet. Until you need it, that is.
That is cool! And if it can be done on that scale, it can be done on a larger scale, say 5 gallons, etc.
Doesn't matter which of the above happens, the result to how we live post-event is pretty much the same.
My oft-recounted tale of prepping:
As the year 2000 was approaching (gack, kids born after it are voting this year?), there was much fear of the “Y2K Bug”, there was much concern about computers thinking it was 1900, screw up, and send us back to that age (system crashes, etc). I described this impending problem to my retired engineer father. He listened attentively, understood the problem, and responded: “so I’ll throw another log on the fire and go back to my book.”
THAT is prepping: living a comfortable mostly-normal life where total grid failure is nothing more than a minor inconvenience for a prolonged period. Heat with wood. Get water from well or rain. Have a year’s worth of food stored. Etc. ...not that it’s sitting idly by waiting for SHTF, it _is_ your daily life, so normal and comfortable that nothing changes (at least until vast supplies run out).
The hardest part is that most of us have bought completely into the dependency lifestyle, and so look at “prepping” as a traumatic event frought with extremes. Worse, many of us are married to someone who just doesn’t view it with the same axiomatic urgency & dedication.
Yup, the grid is key. If the grid goes down, so does everything else—markets, financials, fuels, water distribution, food storage. It’s all about the grid. So for me, it is a cyber attack on the grid. Any person should have at least one months food and water, even if you have nothing else to defend with. We saw how fragile the grid was a few years ago. I also believe the software inroads to the system are many, and not likely securely protected at this time. Putting on my tin hat, I also believe that hackers (Russia, China) have already hacked the system and can bring the grid down, but why not wait to get other systems compromised as well before an all out attack.
I've found the same to be true to some extent. I usually catch those items expiring before they need to be thrown out and just give them away instead. Part of the issue is not consuming items like I thought I would (especially canned foods). I try to go through items every few months and box those expired or close to expiring to be given away.
Another thing I do is put the newly purchased items on the floor or bottom self, moving dated items to higher selves. I then put only higher shelved items into use. This helps some to prevent overlooking items that are getting close to expiration.
I've since graduated to buying #10 cans of dehydrated foods with self-lives of 25+ years (unopened). I actually use these daily in preparing food to eat now - especially vegetables during this winter. They come with plastic lids for resealing once they're opened.
Short term prep I do is for power outages due to storms such as heavy snow. I can hunker down for awhile if an epidemic would prevent contact with other people. I fear economic problems with grid down a close second. Medical/dental would be a big deal in any scenario.
I try to keep 2 months of supplies, and I completely forgot about the cyber-warfare angle.
Most people forget how much water is readily available inside their own hot water heater. A 30 gal water heater contains enough water for a family of 4 for a week.
Step 1 isolate the valve.
Step 2 secure and preserve that potable water.
After time it may still require boiling or purification depending on your storage medium, but some is better than none.
the real ones that we need to be on the lookout for, do not post, they operate under the radar....
Here’s an interesting photo collection/article about a tribe in West Sumatra. If/when the SHTF, these people will be way ahead in the game, living as primitive as they do. They must grow their own tobacco, because it seems like half the people in the photos were smoking cigarettes, but where do they get the rolling papers? Maybe they use the thin pages out of the books that missionaries drop off. A person could learn a lot about survival from people like this.
Which is easy in the short term, not so easy in the long term.
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