How To Get a Family of Four Prepped–In The Quickest and Easiest Way Possible (Shortened)

The Survivalist Blog ^ | 9/10/14 | M.D. Creekmore

[Kartographer]

This morning as I was trying to catch up on my email (I get a massive amount of email each month, last month over 3,000), I opened a great one from John W. In a nutshell John, is new to prepping and hasn’t really done anything prep-wise yet, but he has been thinking and making plans.

John said that he has his home on two acres paid-off, and that he has a job and works to support his wife and two children (one 6 and the other 9 years old). He said that he knows from all of the news and the tell-tell signs that something big is coming, and that his main fear is a total economic collapse.

He said that he has $10,000 to spend on preps and that he wanted to be ready as quickly as possible, without all of the buying a can of food here and another can another day or a few extra cans each time he goes to the grocery store. He also insists on long-term storage foods, with a shelf-life of 25 years or more, because he doesn’t want to be bothered with all of the rotating and other stuff involved when stockpiling perishable foods.

[Black Agnes]

You’re very welcome.

I still remember the chili my grandmother would cook over her fireplace in the winter. My grandmother was VERY tight with a penny and if the fireplace was already lit she was loathe to crack up her electric stove. So lots of times she’d cook whatever was for supper over the fire in the afternoon. Chili, stew, you name it.

[samiam1972]

Sounds like a smart woman! We do love thick hearty chili at our house! I’ll bet it would taste even better cooked over a fire. :0)

[goosie]

I have bought quite a bit from walmart.com. They have Augason Farms and Mountain House for the cheapest prices I have found. Many of the things that I have seen mentioned are available there. What I really like is that it is free shipping for over $50.00 and delivered by Fed Ex to my front door.

[goosie]

I have bought from LDS online too. They also have free shipping and their prices are excellent. They have a nifty water bottle/filter for a great price. I think it sells for about $16.00. They don’t charge tax for out of their state.

[Mogger]

Big Green Egg.

Just search by: Big Green Egg.

[outofsalt]

RV and Boat supply places have stoves that can run on propane or nat-gas. Many options and can be found in swap meets or craigslist.
Out doors they are safer but, indoors nat-gas is lighter than air and less likely to collect into highly flammable pools.

[greeneyes]

Yes, I have some of the water bottles and extra filters. I noticed last time I checked they had expanded to include apples, and someone said they will soon have carrots.

I just order a couple of times per year, so it doesn’t look like I’m stocking up (op sec - kinda).

I always order an extra case of flour, because I use it instead of what the local store sells. Got tired of all the bugs in the flour and dumping it. So I grow some wheat, and grind my own and mix it with the all purpose flour when I bake bread.

[greeneyes]

Yes, Walmart online has been a good source of reasonable priced things. I tend to stock along the lines of long term basics, and then the stuff that we eat all the time. I do stock some convenience and processed food items for emergencies and busy times.

I do have some of the Auguson Farms stuff, but we tend to eat mostly whole foods, so I don’t have a lot of dehydrated entrees etc. I do dehydrate things like celery, carrots, peppers, potatoes, etc. and it’s cheaper than buying it from other sources, and we use it, so it doesn’t just sit on the shelf.

I like to have some long term stuff like the LDS and Auguson Farms stuff, because we don’t have to rotate it every year or two or three.

[Ellendra]

(Apologies ahead of time, I'm typing in the dark while my sleeping pills kick in. The combination is not good for typing.)

John said that he has his home on two acres paid-off,

Pick about 1/4 acre for garden, pick some for play area for the kids, cover the rest in fruit and nut trees. If the budget is tight (I know the budget was given, but speaking in general) do a search on "fruit tree seeds". You can get a packet of seeds for a few bucks and plant them in the fall. The exact varieties will be a little random, but they'll still be food.

In that 1/4 acre, plant most of it in perrenials. Strawberries, rhubarb, jerusalem artichokes, etc. With the rest, start testing vegeatble varieties to find out what grows best in your area.

I'm putting the plants first because of the learning curve involved, not because they're the most urgent. Urgent would be water and shelter. Make sure you have a source for water that doesn't depend on electricity, and a way to purify it. Get a woodstove for back-up heat. In some places, you might want to finish the basement or dig a cellar so you have a place to escape the summer heat. Heat can be deadly, too.

Then look at food and firearms. There are lots of online calculators to help you determine how much food you'll need and what kind. I think the mormoms have a pretty good website for that. Learn to can and dehydtrate and stuff. For firearms, you'll need something small that you can wear while working outside, something powerfull to drive the hoards of looters away, and something to hunt small game and varmints with. For that last one I suggest a pellet gun.

Oh, and look into getting some chickens or rabbits or something. Vegetables can''t provide everything you need, eggs and meat will help a lot.

After all that, then I'd see what was left and put it into power generation.

[Black Agnes]

How do you dehydrate your potatoes?

Inquiring minds/etc.

I made rice tonight and added a bit of extra water and dehydrated pepper dices, dehydrated mushrooms and dehydrated vidalia onions. If I’d had a clue and more sleep last night I’d have added a clove or two of crushed garlic as well.

I’d LOVE LOVE LOVE to do that with potatoes sometimes rather than rice and if I could do it with potato dices I’d be in heaven!

[greeneyes]

I have instructions that call for steaming them first and then putting the slices on the dehydrator.

However, I had bought a plastic kit to make micro wave potato chips a few months ago. It included a mandolin that slices the potatoes paper thin, and the plate to cook them on.

So Hubby experimented and used that mandolin and then put the slices on the dehydrator, and it worked. I was skeptical and thought they would probably be discolored, but they weren’t.

So that’s how we do it. Lots less effort.

[TEXOKIE]

OH WOW! Hope you didn’t singe your eyebrows! You definitely have proved it out that it can be flammable! LOL!

[Kartographer]

A small two burner propane camping stove would do the trick.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Interesting stuff.

[ExSES]

Bump...

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Woundn’t you need something like chlorine tablets or very small amounts of bleach to preserve the water for a long time?

[Kartographer]

Better than Bleach: Use Calcium Hypochlorite to Disinfect Water

http://survivaltopics.com/better-than-bleach-use-calcium-hypochlorite-to-disinfect-water/

There are also several excellent water filter systems Katadyn, Berkey and I have heard good things about Sawyer especially price wise.

I have a small portable Katadyn as well as a Berkey filters which I installed in a DIY bucket filter system.

http://www.survivalistdaily.com/how-to-make-a-berkey-water-filter/

[samiam1972]

Thank you, both. I may run into a couple of local stores and see if I can pick up something like that. Might still be better off with a used apartment stove for the amount of mouths I need to feed.

I signed up for a 7 day emergency prep challenge this month. Wouldn’t you know, it started today and I’m supposed to pretend we’ve had an ice storm and there is no electricity. Freezer food is still good but the fridge is off limits. We’d just have to eat peanut butter and honey sandwiches and cold cereal all week. I’m glad I’m doing this challenge because it is truly helping me focus on the more immediate needs and less on the whole zombie apocalypse type prepping. By starting with the more probable situation, I’ll get more and more ready for the unexpected, too.

Time to get the chimneys swept (new house) to make sure everything is working well. I was ready for the challenge of keeping the house lit up and keeping everyone warm. Hooray! But the food. Really need to get that problem solved soon!

Thank you all for the suggestions! My goal is to have this settled by the end of next week, if not sooner!