Do you bug out? Or do you bug in? and so on an so forth. It's a gamble, but training, skill and the right preps give you options that someone who does not prep will not have. Prepping allows you much more freedom of choice and does not tether the fate of you and your family to the whims of bureaucratics and Politico's.
As I have said many times: "Its your choice you can prep or you can stand around on a bridge waiting for FEMA to bring you a bottle of water, a MRE, a warm blanket and a kiss for your boo-boo and maybe you can even get your picture as you stand there on the national news. How do you think that will workout for you?"
Preppers’ PING!!
Preppers’ PING!!
Canning, my friend, canning is the key. Almost everything in your freezer can be canned. You can can easily when power is unavailable, and the results of your efforts will be available years after the power is gone.
Yeah, just remember Sandy and Katrina! How’d that work for those poor SOBs?
A short but sad story my FRiend.
A week ago woke up to the power off. Happens here all the time so no big deal right?
Even though I have a hundred flashlights I couldn’t find a one. All the candles we have? They were hiding somewhere.
Went out to start the generator and found out I have left the gas turned on and had lost two gallons into the soil.
Finally got gas in generator but could not find an extension cord to run into the house. Finally found one, got the coffee going and—————the lights came back on.
Oh yeah. I’m real prepared.
(I won’t tell anyone about the time I shot my water hose thinking it was a snake)
Well, I have concentrated mostly on better preparations for tornadoes and electrical outages which are not unusual here in Missouri.
With the high price of gasoline and the crash of 2008, it was so reminiscent of the kick off to the great inflation era, that I doubled down on aquiring all the food we normally purchase, in addition to taking some cash and investing to create a hedge against the loss of purchasing power.
A concern over the safety of our food supply with infectious or poisonous things/pesticides, as well as concern over ability to be able to continue purchasing the food we need led me to gardening for real vs a hobby of just a few items.
I found some books that detail plans for several ways to provide complete nutrition based on less acreage than commercial methods need. I have begun exploring not only canning, but dehydration, root cellars, seed saving etc.
I have no doubts that we can do it. I was talking about a cistern we had at Granny’s when I was a child and wishing we had one. Hubby made fun. Last summer’s drought demonstrated that our current rain barrel catchement was not sufficient. Now he would like a cistern too.
Due to cost, we decided to buy a pool on sale at summer’s end to hold about 5000 gallons to use on the garden. Now that Obama is re-elected, I feel that we are more likely than not to experience a collapse similar to Argentina, so am more concerned about the #1 item potable water.
I really really want to have the well water available for drinking short, medium, and long term just in case. For most situations we just fill up additional buckets to drain the lines and consider the water heater as the next line of defense. In the 46 years, we have never even had to use the water from the hot water heater.
So I would like a simple switch that would allow the pump to run off a generator, or solar powered inverter or something. Hubby says he can rig something up easy if we need it long term, but what if he’s stranded somewhere and can’t get back?
Or maybe a way to install a manual pump, but again we need to go with the cheapest option, and simplest if I am to get Hubby to take action. I would be happy to live off grid and not have electric bills to pay.LOL.
I think in a financial crisis, our biggest threat is losing the house, since we are still paying on the mortgage. We both get small social security checks, but Hubby has a decent pension. So I am still thinking about the options there. So the first 2 items on my list can’t be crossed off and are not as prepped as I would like.
But when it comes to food, I am feeling pretty good so far.
Our backyard is full of Fruit and Nut Trees, berry bushes, grape vines, persimmon tree, and lots of wild edibles in addition to strawberry patch and other garden spaces.
Some of the neighbors are great others not great, but better than those in our other options. Plus our children and grand children are here, and house would not be too crowded if they all moved in.
So yeh, it does seem that one thing leads to another, and prepping always has just a few more items to explore. LOL.
You do what you can. But you don’t do nothing because you can’t do everything.
I’d like to build a compound off the grid. Not going to happen unless I win the lotto.
But, in the last 2 years I have gradually stocked up with at least 6 months of non perishable food that does not require refrigeration and the means to cook it without power. I am well prepared defensively and have come a long way in my competence with a variety of home defense “implements”.
I have stockpiled essential medications, prescription and non prescription.
IMO, with any disaster, man made or nature, every week you survive in the initial stages dramatically increases your odds of long term survival. The completely unprepared are going to get weeded out fairly quickly.
However, no matter how well prepared you are, you must look inside yourself and realize there will be very tough and painful decisions ahead. Particularly when the unprepared around you figure out that you are not unprepared.
Fortunately I live in a small town and we are not too close to a major city. More than likely, staying would be a better option than bugging out, especially with some defensive capabilities.
Prepping never ends. I started in 1998. One day, I got a pad and pen and wrote down, from the time I got out of bed, how it would be if I had no power. Bathroom was first, what wouldn’t work and what I had to do to make it work.
I went through the whole day doing that. Then, I stopped to wash some clothes and thought, damn, how am I going to wash clothes? That day was the beginning for me and I set about to find a solution for every problem I had for that day.
As the years went by, new products were developed that were much better than I had, so I would update and get those new, better products. If they weren’t better, just new, I didn’t get them.
We come to today and I’m still updating and storing. So, it never ends for me but with every new can of food or product, it’s a good feeling - it is not a chore, it’s a blessing I have another can of food or another small propane bottle for my outdoor oven or my “safe to use indoors” propane heater.
A very good site.
196 Neat Free Survival Downloads
http://ferfal.blogspot.com/2012/11/100-neat-free-survival-downloads.html
Yeah, I always know I can do a better job, but all I want to do is provide for the basics and gain some breathing room on the rest of the pack.