Posted on 10/12/2014 6:20:37 AM PDT by BobL
Now that it's proven that Ebola transmission doesn't necessarily respect international borders and confine itself to "those countries", perhaps it's time that paranoid types (me included) update our supplies and get ready for what may come. I'll state what I see as worst-case, and others are welcome to chime-in and comment (or contradict) what I say.
First, if the virus spreads out of control (which I consider possible, as long as it is being given civil rights), there is only one way to stop it, and that is a near-complete lock-down of the country, with only essential workers allowed out of home confinement. The country will basically look like a giant ghost town with a small number of people in space suits trying to keep order and hand out supplies to the 98% of the people that are totally unprepared. They will also try to keep operating utilities such as power, natural gas, clean water, and sewage treatment. Not much need for gasoline though as our consumption rate will drop to next to nothing (so stockpiles will last a long time for those allowed to use it).
The next question is how long will the confinement be. I suspect that the confinement will be at least 30 days (longer for people having some contact with victims), and it will take some time to clear the streets.
So, as far as disasters go, this is actually one of the easier scenarios (try thinking about a landscape covered with radioactive fallout, for example, or even no water/power and a badly damaged house after a hurricane). In this case, you may lose water/power, but not right away. As far as being prepped to go out in public (i.e., clothing, masks, etc.) or taking care of Ebola patients, that's way out of my league. Others can discuss it, but I won't try.
So, my recommendations are as follows:
WATER
1) Storing Fresh Water: Ideally, you go on stored water. It can be bottled, although my first-line method is to take a large trash can, line it with 2 heavy duty trash bags, and then fill it up about 2/3s with tap water, that's good for about 20 gallons, which or about 20 man-days if used for drinking. There are also devices that fit in bathtubs for storing water, although these are getting hard to find.
2) Purifying Other Water: As a minimum have always fresh bleach, and be sure it's really fresh, as its shelf life is only 6 months. Even if you hate Wal-Mart, that's a great place to buy it, since they have huge turnover so your bleach will be fresh. Only buy PLAIN bleach, not scented or otherwise cute, and visit the Clorox site to get instructions on using it. When used properly it will kill off the vast majority of bugs that can get you, if your water supply is not clean. Lots more can be done beyond that, but it will cost some money.
3) Rain Water Collection: If your house has gutters, then try to come up with a way to collect that water. It is usually doable, and the water may be quite yucky (especially at the beginning of a storm), but it certainly beats not having water. If you have decent purification capability, you can live on it (even bleach is probably sufficient for most rain water).
FOOD
1) I think having 60 days tucked away is a good start, with half of that being starches (rice, noodles, etc.), which cost next to nothing, and the other half being yummy stuff, being not requiring refrigeration. So canned/dried food is good, with canned food being very cheap on a per calorie basis and lasting for years. I've been eating my 5 year old cans of food that were stored without any regard to temperature, reaching well over 80F in the house for 2 summers in a row. They are well beyond their expiration date, but taste great, with only slight changes from the newer stuff.
2) Beyond the above, you can then buy perishables, frozen/refrigerated food, since you'll likely have power for much of the time. At worst the power goes out and food ends up in trash bags at the curb. And BE SURE to have a lot of heavy trash bags.
3) For cooking, if you plan to rely on starches, you really need to have a way to cook them without relying on power or natural gas. I've about lost count of my ways to do that - starting with a propane stove, propane grill, gasoline (camping) stove, second gasoline stove, butane stoves and probably some other options. Don't try to get cute with a "solar stove" or "wood stove" only - you want something easy to use, and powerful. Just be sure whatever you have can boil water efficiently and that you have enough fuel to keep going (and that can be a lot of fuel if you boil). I like gasoline because I can pull it out of my cars, if I need to.
HEATING
Heating can certainly be a challenge. Here in Houston, it actually can get (relatively) cold, dipping well into the 20s for a few days each winter and not getting much above 40 during those spells. But every region and every home is different so I won't try to give a single set of recommendations. But a few things to consider: Electric blankets can make a boatload of difference for someone trying to stretch out a tank of propane (of course you need power), likewise thermal underwear. There are actually propane heaters that operate indoors although you need to have some air ventilation to prevent Oxygen depletion (and with the depletion Carbon Monoxide will be given off - otherwise, no Carbon Monoxide). Butane is similar, but I don't know where to find a space heater rated for indoor use. Never burn gasoline/wood indoors for heating without direct venting, because Carbon Monoxide will always be given off as a product of combustion. (burning gasoline indoors for cooking - I'm not really sure there, but I'd be very careful to have lots of fresh air, at a minimum). Needless to say, a battery powered Carbon Monoxide detector is a must if you have any indoor combustion.
OTHER STUFF
Lots of other items - just think of what you normally use, and have a decent supply. Also think of what might get used more, especially things like plastic bags and have a large supply of them. Paper items are another good thing to have - if water/soap is tight, you may want to use paper plates, for example. Batteries, of course. And also consider what happens if the power goes out. Do you have a manual can opener?
So that's it for now, I'm in pretty shape with the above (actually really good shape). Even if you're not a prepper you can still do a lot of the above on a temporary basis and then slowly consume the items (like food, paper towels, etc.) and your net cost is nothing, you simply bought the stuff a bit earlier than you otherwise would have. Even with food, you don't need to buy food that requires cooking (you may not be used to it, but most canned food doesn't require any heating/cooking to be safe, and yummy)...but it will certainly cost more than starches.
Good Luck!!
I really like Susan’s Imstillworking because she works through the kinks and explains the why and why not.
Never to late to start! Each prep gives you time to endure whatever the scenario is. Buys you time to come up with solutions to future and current problems. A day is better than nothing. A week is better than a day. A month is better than a week .... No one is going to hide for a lifetime. That’s insane. We trade preps for time to come up with both short/long term solutions.
NEVER TOO LATE.
Linda's pantry does the same thing, although she takes a bit longer to get through it all.
have you tried Imstillworking's meatless sausage patties? I made some and my guys could not tell that it wasn;t meat and thought they were pretty good.
quote—However, most fail to realize that bleach+water is good only for one day. It still smells ‘bleachy’ after a day, but is not an effective sanitizer. It must be remade every day.—end quote
I didn’t know this,loungitude, about the bleach and water—thank you!! Will file for future reference!!!
Yeah, I remember Twilight Zone, I assume you are referring to the Bomb Shelter episode.
Everyone in the neighborhood knew the MD was building one in his basement, and they all laughed at him-until it looked like they were gonna be bombed, then everyone insisted he admit them. Great episode, and even though I was only 8 or 9 at the time, I remember the episode well...and I guess, I learned something from it!!!
Dunno. It’s interesting, and thanks for the link.Further reading is necessary!!!!
When I suggested keeping some aspirin around, I wasn’t even thinking about using it to help with Ebola, just that it’s something that would be good to have around in case the SHTF..it’d be a bummer to get a rotten, garden-variety headache and need to leave home to get aspirin, and possibly expose oneself to who-knows-what!!! :)
Thanks for that info.
I bought some Steramine Quaternary Sanitizing Tablets from Amazon. One pill in a gallon sanitizes. It is used in restaurants and many other places.
Interesting. Every bottle of “Clorox”-brand bleach I’ve seen on the west coast has the date code indicated. If I were you, I’d contact Clorox via that site and inquire.
The non-Clorox brand bleach has a date code I haven t been able to decipher
Thanks. I just looked her up. I like her videos.
Bookmark
“I think that water storage in the trash cans/bags would still come in handy for washing dishes/clothes/hands, flushing toilets, etc. You wouldn’t have to worry about contamination for those jobs.”
I guess we think differently here. I come from the pesticide world. Companies in that business know certain products are perfectly safe for humans, but now they have to also PROVE that they’re safe, no different than drug makers. So they simply stopped marketing them, rather than go through the expense, and now we have an explosion of bed bugs.
I have serious doubts as to whether short-term storage in bags that come out of the factory in sterile condition are a threat. I realize that, over time, and especially given warmer temperatures, chemicals can (and probably will) leach out. But I suspect those chemicals are unknowns (rather than toxins), especially in the microscopic quantities that we’re talking, and also because short of ingesting dioxin, we really don’t know much about what causes cancer and what does not (in other words, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of today’s “safe plastics” get proven otherwise in the next couple of decades).
But even so, you guys have made me think a bit and one thing I will not do is fill up bags and then store them for months (or years) expecting to have perfect water. So I’ll fill them when the time comes and then either use them in short order, or empty and refill again. But I will still use them, since I have about 100 gallons of capacity and I’m not about to let that capability go unused.
In the end, hopefully, we can keep clean water flowing and this will all go away, but in the meantime...
“Yeah, I remember Twilight Zone, I assume you are referring to the Bomb Shelter episode.”
Yep, and here it is!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIJMXXbh54A
It was an INCREDIBLE PLOT and anyone who laughs at preppers should see it.
You are assuming that there will a sufficient number of troops/leo’s to contain the roving bands of criminals, aka zombies.
Here in Texas most people won’t need their help.
Here in Texas most people won’t need their help.
Same here in Oklahoma,but you said that there would not be that many zombies walking around due to being contained by the authorities. I anticipate that the authorities will be spread too thin.
That’s fair...my only point is that it’s different from post-hurricane zombies (which I saw here after Rita - one tried to muscle into our motel room, based on being the same [non-white] ethnicity as my wife). They were all over San Antonio that night.
Stumbled on this story too. Seems that virtually no prepping was done here, even though it would have cost next to nothing to do so.
Don’t get me wrong! I don’t think I’d have a problem using the water stored this way at all. Actually, I think it is very smart. I mentioned it to my husband right away since we have a couple of containers that aren’t being used. I was just considering other uses for the water for those that might worry about stuff like that. Thank you for the suggestion!
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