Posted on 01/18/2025 9:03:35 AM PST by Mean Daddy
Buy some old fashion, rat-proof, galvanized garbage containers to store food products like bulk wheat and rice as well as other foods that you have sealed in mylar bags.
At least the mice, rats, and deer were fed. Do you wonder if their form of prepping is to wait for the humans to amass a quantity of food?
Thanks for that link!
“Step 1: Move as far away from urban areas as you can.
If you don’t get that correct first you might as well save your money.”
Agreed 100%.
Pick your neighborhood carefully.
You need neighbors that work together not fight each other.
Then concentrate on shelter, water, food and supplies.
My solution; nearly completely off grid in very rural
Hawaii. You can only get here by air, or by sea.
All my external communications are via satellite.
One of my neighbors is USA’s second largest cattle ranch.
Services are a short drive away either by car or horse.
No worries about roving raping robbing gangs from the big cities.
Despite Honolulu’s best efforts, anecdotally I know we are armed to the teeth and have lots of guns and ammo that the government doesn’t know about. We have very little crime.
because we lack one particular minority.
That culture doesn’t do well here.
We have all sorts of other cultures. Years ago I gave up trying to figure it all out.
I’m a prepper in Hawaii. Main reason for prepping is we are so prone to most all natural disasters. Here at just above sea level only one disaster missing is a snow blizzard, we have to drive to experience those ( Mauna kea summit).
In Summary, first rule of prepping is location, location, location.
Do you always live in a house or apartments/condos?
I think the basics of prepping is learning about food date labels so that you can buy and store more of your canned foods and foods like rice, beans, and dry pasta and bottled water, stuff you already buy and use, and also to learn about basic camping, because campers and backpackers are way ahead of the game.
The basics above are about adopting prepping as part of your family’s normal everyday life and then adding onto that foundation with water filtration and #10 cans of food, how to survive winter in an unheated home, surviving desert heat at home, long term lighting ideas, toilet and sanitation and so on.
If you listen to nothing else, listen to this.
If you don’t live in a completely 1st world area that is insulated from the 3rd worlders, you are just prepping for the benefit of the toughest thug.
1. Have several means to purify water. And have sufficient water for at least 30 days for every person and pet in your house. Example: I have a Pro One, Sawyer, and a Red Cross water filter bottle plus stored non-potable water for cleaning.
2. Medications, look into Jase Medical.
3. Food. Two types of food. One for a 72 hour go bag for each member of the family. This is where the pre-package comes in handy.
4. City Prepper recommends NO MORE than a 90 day supply in a city environment. 2 things will be true in 90 days, things will have gotten so bad...you bug out. Things will have improved enough to stay and acquiring basics will be getting back to regularity.
If homestead (rural) your guideline would be different with up to a years worth of canned food and ways to grow fresh.
5. Heat, heat, heat.
6. It should go without saying, but protection of the lethal kind and systems to warn of impending danger. (Trail cams, driveway alarms, etc.)
7. Best tip I ever received was from Appalachia Homestead, start with buying 5 extra cans of food every week. Buy only what you and your family will eat. Rotate stock on a monthly basis. Store canned goods properly(cool dark). Understand what ‘expired’ and ‘best by’ dates really mean. Acidic foods will go bad even in cans, dispose and replace as needed. Canned food, properly stored will last years past the ‘best by’ date. Canned meat will taste different than fresh/freezer meats it doesn’t mean it is bad.(kids). I like Keystone others like Augeson.
Realize prepping a pantry is a journey, not a destination. For many people today having a pantry is as foreign as speaking Mandarin.
You can order basic bulk items from the LDS. This is what I did to bring up some of my dry goods quickly and reasonably priced. https://providentliving.churchofjesuschrist.org/food-storage/home-storage-center-locations-map?lang=eng
To make sure the foods you put up for long term storage are bug free put them through a freezer cycle to kill any critters that may be in them.
Google the subject to learn how long to freeze, etc.
MP 5 might be better
“Reading an article about how prepper packages are a waste of money.”
My Dad was a little NUTTY about prepping but a LOT of that stemmed from being a Depression Baby and knowing what it felt like to be hungry. :(
He had an entire bedroom of his apartment filled from top to bottom with all kinds of pre-packaged prepper meals, grains, dried veggies, etc. I know he spent THOUSANDS on that stuff. And guess who inherited it all? Yep. Little Old Me.
It’s been a good 10 YEARS and we are still sitting on some of it. BUT - no mouse or insect damage, so the stuff was carefully canned/preserved in buckets and cans, sealed packages, etc. I’ve used up all the rice, oatmeal, dried fruit and misc soup mixes, etc. I have a lot of dried veggies, but those go in soups and stews or I can always re-constitute them for feeding the chickens if need be.
I, myself, would never buy all that. But, if that’s your bent, it IS useful. The company he used was: eFoodsdirect
https://buyersguide.org/emergency-food-supply-reviews/t/best
It looks like you can pick and choose from various suppliers at that site. And knowing my Dad, I’m sure it was something that was ‘pimped’ as an advertiser on Rush years ago. He was glued to Rush every day; I hope Dad gets to hang out with Rush through Eternity, now. ;)
Things I have on hand are all of my canned goods from the previous season(s) and shelf-stable milk, canned coffee (Costco - and a stove/camp fire perk!) and lots of canned goods: soups, potted meats, SPAM, etc.
I don’t put as much effort into it (aside from canning what I grow) as I used to. I’ve kind of come to the realization that you can’t plant for EVERY possible scenario. And you must PRAY without ceasing. :)
We also raise a beef steer on an 18-month cycle and buy pork raised by the neighbor. I’ll also side with the FReepers who say to live as far from civilization as you are comfortable with; we are 10 miles from the nearest large population hub of 4K. As we’ve seen, when there’s trouble, it’s usually in the larger cities...first, anyways. ;)
You can also check out survival blog.com. Lots of good info there.
Know your Mormon neighbors lol. They’ve almost always got a years worth of goods.
Rural Area.
Garden.
Own weapons.
Live as local as possible.
Become a part of the local community.
Have backup communication equipment. Ham Radio or at minimum GMRS radios.
(My family came to this county in 1889, from Coryell County, TX, in 3 wagons and teams of mules. People then knew how to can food, kept planting seed, and were hearty. We have owned/operated farms here ever since, and long before that from a couple of places.)
IF things go that far south, you won't have time to be bored. You'll be too busy continuing to try to survive.
Not necessarily so.
Some did survive and not get burned out because of prepping.
But the fatalistic attitude of giving up without even trying will guarantee a bad outcome.
MOST canned goods last a long time.
Highly acidic ones can destroy the can in a few years. Those are better kept in glass. And yes, glass can break, but NO method of food storage is without it’s downside.
If you look at the date on boxes of pasta, for example, the best buy or expiration date is YEARS out. Those I out in 2 qt canning jars and vacuum seal for protection against infestation.
Great reference material.
We are lucky to have ample storage space, so we can avail ourselves of the use of mylar bags in the Costco 45 liter plastic tubs for rodent protection, and then, as you say, limit acid foods in cans.
We too have pastas stored in various ways, from full vacuum to oxygen absorbers. Both ways mitigate the problem of insect pests in purchased goods.
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