Posted on 11/13/2012 2:54:29 PM PST by bayliving
Ok, I come here looking for help and advice.
We are looking at getting an 80 day supply of food from "Foodinsurance.com" (if there is a better source for emergency food please let me know) and using the rest of our funds to purchase silver.
We already have the firearms and ammo thing covered.
I just want to know if there is a better use of our limited funds other than food and silver?
I would much rather use that money in other (fun) ways if I can.
I think that 14 days to 30 days of food, water and medicine is fine for disaster preparation. I think that more is a waste of time, and I think that purchasing silver (which is historically expensive at the moment), is unnecessary and a poor investment.
If you think we’re on the brink of some sort of Depression or economic reset, my advice would be to spend the money acquiring some sort of recession-proof skill. Go to night school to learn skilled machining, or get your EMT or Paramedic certification. Skills are the best trade goods, and once you have them, no one can take them away.
If I knew what was going to happen with certainty, I would be a gazillionaire.
Remember NO GAS, NO HEAT, NO PLUMPING!
Also try http://www.efoodsdirect.com/
They are similar to Food Insurance.
Do you have a reliable, independent source of water?
I've got that stuff from Costco, because I'm a cheap barstid, and I use it, not for SHTF, even though it would be handy to have.
Toilet paper is another bulk purchase I like. It's never going to get cheaper, and you are always going to need it.
/johnny
In terms of food, I like my local grocery store for emergency food. We store what we normally eat - just buy one or more months in advance. Spaghetti is good for a long time, as is rice, canned food, and a long list of other foods that you already eat. It's also cheaper than "emergency food", and you know how to cook it. A pound of starch (whether pasta or rice) has about 1600 calories, almost enough to feed one person for a day. Thus two 20 pound sacks of rice will feed a family for a month (not really, but it's a month's worth of food if it's paired with an equal number of calories from canned tuna/chicken/spam, canned tomato sauce, canned soup, canned fruit, etc. All I would do is freeze the rice and pasta for three days to kill any bugs or eggs, and then store it in a plastic container. Otherwise, the shelf food from your local grocery is ready for your emergency pantry.
If you have a month of emergency food (or three months, or a year) and rotate it with new purchases, eating 1/12 of the stored food every month or two, your stored food is always in date and fresh.
Nobody knows for sure, but I think the precious metals are due for another rise soon, and I think that silver is probably a better bet than gold at this juncture.
Also, if you’re talking about survival, then I’m not sure how much good a gold bar would be, especially if you’re talking about moderate funds. Most likely silver coins would be a better bet, and nothing fancy at that, but just something you could exchange with real people in the neighborhood.
You might also want to give some thought to useful stuff that will keep, like toothpaste, aspirin, bandaids, toilet paper, soap, razor blades. If the S doesn’t HTF, then you can always use that kind of stuff, and it will probably keep going up in price, so the money’s not wasted. FWIW, I find that beer will keep in a cool place out of the sun for at least a year.
Advise to title threads with something like ‘Thinking of purchasing emergency food’, or ‘preparedness food’ and silver’.
It’s always a personal decision based on what you are preparing for. You build a matrix of what might happen and the impact of what happens vs. the likelihood then direct your resources accordingly.
1. 10 mile diameter asteroid impact is not very likely but devastation would be complete, so you’d have to get off the planet. If you had $4000 Billion dollars you could build a compound on Mars. But since it isn’t likely and you can’t afford to mitigate it, look to see what you can do for another item in the matrix.
2. Bank failures leading to a month of financial chaos, food shortages and urban riots. Given where we are, odds might be 20% that could happen. So extra money (silver), food, and protection (guns and ammo)could help you weather that.
3. SHTF - EOTWAWKI - maybe less than 1% chance, but part of mitigating it overlaps with #2 on your list, so makes sense to start with that prep anyway. You’d have to add some self sustainability, like being able to grow you own food, etc. in this scenario.
Bottom line, you have to eat, you don’t want to end up in the middle of a food riot to do that, or a FEMA camp, so I’d go with as much food as you can store if you are in a safe area, and as much as you can carry with the balance in silver if you are not in a safe area. Even if you have weapons and know how to use them, if you end up having to it will be a bad day.
In a serious collapse, silver would be hard to barter with. Generally, silver has value due to manufacturing needs (among others), and in a bad downturn, that would obviously be lacking.
Now gold, in small allotments such as coins, not bars, would have some value in bartering. But, generally you should think of it as a hedge against the devaluing of the currency, not necessarily a SHTF type situation.
But funny you post this, as I’m currently looking into buying gold finally, along with the assorted costs (safe deposit bank rental, insurance on same) which all have a price. But, I finally pulled everything out of the stock market (except for one stock that involves the WAMU bankruptcy, remember that?). Buying of gold is just a hedge, not a alternative to a total meltdown. In that case, yeah, food, water, ammo, medical supplies, although not necessarily in the order...
“...freeze the rice and pasta for three days to kill any bugs or eggs, and then store it in a plastic container.”
I’m with you on everything else - but have never heard of putting the starches in my deep freezer for 3 days - makes sense though.
I do think a small amount of silver coins would be a good thing - not an investment; just as recognizable currency (well) after SHTF.
Food is food. By more of what you already eat. If you want to really cover you butt, buy some filler in bulk. 40 lb. bags of rice are relatively cheap.
Make sure you have several firearms and plenty of ammunition. Silver is an iffy proposition. Supposing a real SHTF situation, I don’t care much about precious metals.
Google search: “About 2,060,000 results (0.37 seconds)”
It’s not supposed to be perfect, but it helps a whole lot, depending on how cold and how long you freeze it for. I have had bugs on rare occasions in rice/flour/pasta that had not been frozen, but never in something I froze, even when stored for over a year.
No. We have "city" water. However, I do live close to the bay and have a very low water table so I guess I could dig a hole and dip water out of it to sterilize.
Probably not a good idea though...
Good luck and God Speed!
Before you go blow a bunch of money, read through some online lists/advice like http://www.survivalblog.com/
You’re not the first, so borrow other people’s knowledge.
For my own 2 cents, I’d avoid buying “survival foods” and having them shipped to me. Those companies are good outfits and decent people, but you can do much better economically stocking up in local big stores/discount stores. Just think about it, why would you pay a premium and shipping charges to have a #10 can of rice mailed to you? For MRE’s and the like online it’s fine, but for survival basics just go to the dang store and load up on staples that last. Your study of survival blogs will tell you what to get and how to store it. And as always, integrate basics into your diet before the crunch, so you don’t go directly from McDonald’s to beans and rice with the not too fun digestive consequences. And start gardening!
As for metals, again just my 2 cents, instead of buying some online outfits silver bars or micro mint pieces, just start a silver coin collection if you have that hankering. Pre 1964, let’s say. It’s recognized and likely to be honored everywhere. If the SHTF scenario doesn’t come, you have a nice little investment. If it does, US coins with recognized silver content will be easier to trade than some dubious hunks of metal from Joe’s Website.
JMHO, best of luck to ya!
Don't allow yourself to get overwhelmed by all of the essentials. I, myself, have spent ten years prepping. If I had tries to acquire all that I have now instantaneously back then, I would have sat down and cried and just given up. Plan your purchases, do it briskly but within your means and keep your eye on the objective.
Food Insurance is a decent line, but you can save quite a bit of money by purchasing individual essentials from Emergency Essentials. They are now my ONLY source.
I went to LDS purchased cans lids and oxygen absorbers.
they lent me the canner.
i then bought 50 pound bags of milk flour sugar rice beans and oatmwal. canned them up in a few hours. costs 400.
i have several months of food. most cans last up to 20-30 years..
do not use ox absorbers in sugar.
bought 275 gallon water cistern for 100.00.
bought rain diversion kits for 80 at amazon.
invested in 10 bags of calcium hypoclorite(pool shock 78%) for water treatment. Cost 40.00 . does 100,000 gallons.
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