Posted on 04/05/2012 4:52:18 PM PDT by Kartographer
I keep hearing statements about how expensive it is to prep. Although it is not cheap it doesnt have to be that expensive either. You do not need to stock 20 years worth of food to be properly prepared. As a matter of fact I would advise against it. Stockpiling a large food and water supply means you have to stay put and defend it. That may not be your best option in a lot of scenarios which means you would lose that investment. Do you think you really have enough ammo to defend a 20 year food supply for 20 years? The cost of that alone would be staggering.
One big mistake in prepping that most people make including me is waste when you first start out. Either buying the wrong things (toys and gimmicks) or finding out later as you become more experienced that a lot of the things you bought in the beginning you really do not need.
(Excerpt) Read more at preparednessblogs.com ...
“Of course, unlike the movies, Id round up anything they mightuh left behind.”
Interesting point. In ‘The Patroit’ and a few other books they shoot looters. Now I can understand stealing stuff from occupied land as being looting.
What if the place is abandoned or everyone remaining dead? Do you take useful objects?
SHOOTING an unconscious or gravely wounded person is your FIRST mistake. You’re wasting ammo at that point. And if it’s truly a SHTF survival situation, you strip them first, before slitting throats. Clothing and equipment are valuable, attackers are not. . . It’s cold, but if things are that bad, a whole lot of the niceties of civilization will be put aside. . .
” What if the place is abandoned or everyone remaining dead? Do you take useful objects? “
That’s the difference between ‘looting’, which is beyond the pale, and ‘scavenging’ which is, however distasteful, an essential survival skill
Good point once they had all expired or been thoroughly interrogated as to the nature, location, and numbers of their kind then quickly terminated via the Garrote or the noose anything of use would be confiscated. The bodies would be feed to the pigs to be recycled into edible protein. To the victors go the spoils. Like I said before there will be those who will kill to survive and those who will be killed if a total collapse happens civility, morals, and petty legalities will mean less than nothing.
In the fall of 2010 I bought a case of sardines in tomato sauce. Stored that in my cellar. In August, TS Irene came and my cellar was flooded. It remained flooded for about 10 days. My canned food was under water that entire time, as well as wine bottles. When I was able to clean the cellar, all canned food seemed to have survived. Some cans rusted along the edges. The tomato sardine cans were a puzzle. They expanded. Looked like balls. I could not figure out why since they were well within the expiration date. Maybe it was the water temperature, or pressure? But now that you mention it, it could be the tomato acid which may have caused it.
Maybe tomato items should be removed from the metal cans and canned in glass jars.
Some wine bottles lost their labels. I had to taste test these to make sure they were still good. LOL. The bottles that were uncorked months later had mold between the cork and metal. One bottle tasted watery.
In post #13, your scenario stated they were "attackers" that were shot down. Attackers are the enemy. As you move across the objective, you cap each in the head so they aren't able to shoot you in the back as you continue to survey the area. It's not cold blood, it's survival. They attacked, they paid the price.
In the U.S. there are 9 firearms for every 10 people.
I would like to throw in props for “When All Hell Breaks Loose”, by Cody Lundin.
Unfortunatly a great deal of the first part of it is written is rather hippy-dippy psychobabble, but once one gets through that it is really based on old school common sense. Know your neighbors, have a plan, ‘dig your well before you are thirsty”, as he puts it “stuff your grandparents would have regarded as common sense”. Sort of aimed to the urban hipster but really overall well focused on rational and economical approaches to being ready for a disaster of days to weeks.
He had a statistic that ‘40 percent of all Americans will have to deal with a natural disaster at some point in their lives’....
Don’t let his long hair and bandana and new age aphorisms fool you, he listened to grandparents, and Indians and other folks who knew about survival in the worst that this country can throw at you.
The nexus is really deciding on time frame: days? weeks? years? once you know how LONG the most economical and effective strategies are easier to figure out. Me, I find it past the point of diminishing returns to do what I would need to do for complete societal breakdown for years or decades, but no extrinsic water, power or social order for a week or two is well within my means to prep for....
Yup, it’s the acid. Rotate your stock and use up your (metal)canned tomato annually. I try to buy wet canned tomato products in glass. Freeze dried should not be a problem in metal cans with O2 absorbers or nitrogen fill.
Hell yes you take everything of use from an abandoned or house of the dead if you do not someone else will. That is scavenging not looting as pointed out earlier which is a vital skill that no survivalist should ever consider themselves “above”. The real danger is people who have the skills to be tactically dangerous such as former Soldiers, Marines and mercenaries that may not hold the same moral grounding as the fine folks here on FR. The last time I was at the local gun store there was a couple of people buying only guns and ammo and blatantly mouthing off they have no plans on prepping food stores “if the shit does down they are going take from those who do have them” no quarter will be given to such men it is the noose if they are lucky.
One large cache of prep is a bad idea, multiple smaller spider holes scattered over an defensible area is better should one location be compromised alternatives are available. Remember clear fields of fire, Cover not just concealment, and a route of evac should there be a need for a tactical retreat.
Heck yeah. At that point the rules are tribal.
Sometimes you just have to ask... |
"What would Chong Li do?" |
I have used paraffin to seal jars of pickles and jelly/jam, but never dipped an entire can into paraffin.
Make your own tomato paste, sauce, or other tomato based products. Glass jars aren't that expensive, canning is easy, and you'll know exactly what goes into your food source.
I have some jars of tomato sauce that we canned 3 years ago. Lids are still tight. :)
Careful with those presumptions there......
I have 11 years service in 2 branches of our nations armed forces it was no presumption, those 2 guys who were mouthing off were not shy about letting it be known that they were former US Army, they claimed to be spec ops typical so typical of blowhards but more likely they were only former Rangers or Pathfinders. My point is that not everyone we train in our military is going to be on the morally correct side bad apples exist and those bad apples are very well trained and dangerous. Look at my tag line you can then deduce what I did for the military.
I’m with Johnny.... buy it when you can! It’s not getting any cheaper and your “appreciation” on food is better than a CD or bonds.
” Look at my tag line you can then deduce what I did for the military.”
Latin translator??
;)
If he was worth shootin once he’s worth shootin twice?
Stash a Bible and let God handle the rest.
Another smart plan for prepping is don’t post for the whole world to see just what you are doing.
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