Posted on 01/02/2012 7:55:29 PM PST by Kartographer
ow that we’ve done our cheery “Happy New Year” greetings, it’s time to get more serious.
I’m a boomer. In my lifetime, I can’t remember a new year beginning with such dire warnings and grim outlook.
This morning, the UK’s The Telegraph reports that Americans bought record numbers of guns last month amid an apparent surge in popularity for weapons as Christmas presents.
Another UK paper, Daily Mail, is grimmer still. Dominic Sandbrook writes that a “loss of faith in politicians and democracy could make 2012 the most frightening year in living memory.” Sandbrook goes as far as to compare our time with the Great Depression:
“For the most chilling parallel, though, we should look back exactly 80 years, to the cold wintry days when 1931 gave way to 1932…. It was in 1931 that the Great Depression really took hold in Europe, bringing governments to their knees and plunging tens of millions of people out of work. Then as now, the crisis had taken years to gather momentum. After the Wall Street Crash in 1929 — just as after the banking crisis of 2008 — some observers even thought that the worst was over. But in the summer of 1931, a wave of banking panics swept across central Europe.”
(Excerpt) Read more at fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com ...
boy-ar Dee keeps 2 years and peanut butter keeps 18 month or so.
I have somewhere between 2 and 3 hundred gallons stashed...
its NOT a good thing IMO that we the people don't trust our own govt....that includes the cops, the military both the officers and the troops, and the justice dept and of course all of our supposed elected officials...
its down right scary...
along with practical preparation, without going nuts about it, people should get in the right "place" in their hearts and souls....get right with God, pray, and gather your families together to support each other...
fellowship will be key...
Better to get a good water filter.
If you have water than you can filter, yes. Everyone should have a good filter and tablets in store. Some folks, say in a large city, aren’t going to necessarily have access to water for filtering, if the city water supply stops flowing. When it gets ugly, one might not be able to safely venture out looking for water. Got to cover your bases by having clean water stored.
whiskey. Call it “currency”
/johnny
Try www.waltonfeed.com
A pallet of food costs about $500 and will keep a family alive for 6 mo.
You can buy #10 cans of barley, popcorn, rolled oats, etc. that will keep 20 years or more.
Beans and rice are cheap from the restaurant supply house.
Buy mylar bags and oxygen absorbers to make beans and rice keep 20+ years.
I use Walton’s 8 grain mix to make flour with my grain mill. It makes AWESOME homemade bread at about $.50/loaf.
I come from a family that owns contruction companies specializing in water treatment and sewage treatment plants. I think I can safely use the water in the lake a half-mile away. ;)
/johnny
Such might be of value after SHTF, but of little use during. Read Selco’s blog on the subject
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2818133/posts
The two hundred gallons I got is just a starter... I’m in Seattle, depending on the season I could easily get 20 gallons of rainwater a day with a well-placed tarp...
White rice, whole wheat (You will need a mill), beans, sugar, honey and spam are some. Review my Preparedness Manual Post #3:
http://www.tomeaker.com/kart/preparedness1i.pdf
Gold tastes bad and is of little use in a SHTF situation.
Gold is an “investment” for tough economic times, NOT mayhem and disorder.
Develop a taste for those 1.00 a pack Yakisoba dry noodle boxes with the dried veggies in the box. I think those things can last forever and even if they are designed to be microwaveable they can be cooked in a pot also. It is sort of like undercover emergency supplies, get a case of them tell her you are going to have them at work. They need seasoning besides the wretched stuff that come with them.
Re: the list #68, d-con. Don’t use D-Con if you are planning to eat the rats:)
Also from previous discussions, Bic disposable lighters.
Look into Pocket Mega Torch. They will give you a much better flame and won’t burn your fingers. Refillable, about $5
101: Physical Fitness. Even if you have all the food, guns, ammo, and other supplies you need to last years....if you are 350 lbs. and break a sweat opening a beer, you aren’t prepared.
Before opening canned food make sure there is no evidence that it contains any built-up gasses (a sure sign of spoilage), and make sure it passes the "smell test" immediately after opening.
Throw peanut butter, raw unfiltered honey and some vitamins in with that beans and rice and you'll be in fairly decent shape. A Big Berkey water filter is another nice addition, along with a small supply of calcuium hypochlorite (to make bleach) and a bag or two of lime (to help with solid waste disposal).
Make sure the beans and rice is protected from rodents when stored (almost everyone used 5 gallon food-grade pastic buckets with sealed lids for this purpose).
My wife and I subscribe to the monthly freeze-dried food deliver from "Shelf Reliance". The food we have delievered is freeze-dried meet intended to throw in with the beans and rice to make it more palatable (beans and rice alone, however, are a tremendous source of both carbs and protein).
I highly recommend reading about the calcuium hypocholorite.
Also, lay in more commonly-used ammunition than you think you'll ever need. That has a shelf life of 50 years, and will be what you would use for money in a worst case situation.
Caveat: Those pounds will melt away in the weeks following SHTF, but one still should be prepared in advance, of course. Also, if you're not in good enough condition you may not last for weeks.
Bump for reference.
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