20 Things You Will Need To Survive When The Economy Collapses And The Next Great Depression Begins

http://www.businessinsider.com/20-things-you-will-need-to-survive-when-the-economy-collapses-and-the-next-great-depression-begins-2010-5 ^ | 5-7-2010 | Michael Snyder

[blam]

20 Things You Will Need To Survive When The Economy Collapses And The Next Great Depression Begins

Michael Snyder
May. 7, 2010, 10:26 AM

(This is a guest post from The Economic Collapse Blog.)

Today, millions of Americans say that they believe that the United States is on the verge of a major economic collapse and will soon be entering another Great Depression. But only a small percentage of those same people are prepared for that to happen. The sad truth is that the vast majority of Americans would last little more than a month on what they have stored up in their homes.

Most of us are so used to running out to the supermarket or to Wal-Mart for whatever we need that we never even stop to consider what would happen if suddenly we were not able to do that. Already the U.S. economy is starting to stumble about like a drunken frat boy. All it would take for the entire U.S. to resemble New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina would be for a major war, a terror attack, a deadly pandemic or a massive natural disaster to strike at just the right time and push the teetering U.S. economy over the edge. So just how would you survive if you suddenly could not rely on the huge international corporate giants to feed, clothe and supply you and your family? Do you have a plan?

[snip]

Are you prepared?

[snip]

[Squantos]

Ever try a steam still on the stove or camp fire....?

A small copper tea kettle with a copper tubbing coil condenser .....for water of course !......:o)

That is what we kept at a remote cabin we had near a lake for decades of use when I was a pup. My Dad had a sample tested and it was cleaner than homes faucet.

I also have a few of these stashed in my gear. Uncle Sugar used to issue us a E&E kit and it had these in them. The Aquamira filters and 2 part drops.

http://aquamira.com/military/frontier-pro-filter-system

[little jeremiah]

The valley where I live actually gets too hot for me in the summer; I prefer coastal. But way too expensive, OR is mostly “public” land so no one can buy it. Most of the coast is off limits. Really bad. I’d like someplace a bit colder too but one can’t have everything.

Hops like the kind that grow?

[Squantos]

One of the neat cheap little rechargers for NiCads we use are the solar law light kits.......we made a bunch of “sun jars”....

http://www.instructables.com/id/Home-made-Sun-Jar/

Put em on the window shelf in day time or on the porch or deck etc and bring em in for night lighting. The sun jars or solar lawn lights that we have use two removable NiCad batteries in each one . I made a bunch of em as indoor emergency lighting and for recharging batteries I can use in a small portable SW/AM/FM radio or my favorite delphi boom box that is XM/Sirrus Sat FM as local stations may be down and out .

Also consider using a old or good (no electricity so use it) light bulb as an oil lamp. Some veggie or mineral oil and a piece of cotton or clothes line cord used as a wick and ya have a pretty good lamp. We made a coathanger frame for our experiment but a piece of clay or a flower pot w/ dirt in it etc will make a good safe base for one.

http://www.treehugger.com/lightbulblamp.jpg

Ball mason jar with a metal lid works just as well but the old light bulb had a neat factor we had to try...:o)

[Vendome]

Hops, like the kind that make beer. Even if I don’t care for beer, grid down, it’ll do.

[pyx]

Surely you can use the sense that God gave you to figure out something in between those two!

I surely can. I was fortunate enough in my childhood to be raised on a farm. As for the majority of Americans ? My guess would be that many/most Americans wouldn't be able to distinguish between the two.

That's where education should start or continue. :)

[pyx]

I had marked my next line wrong and I didn’t take a compass reading all day. Just kept walking to what the map looked like.

LOL ! Been there, done that, got the T-shirt !

[pyx]

A small copper tea kettle with a copper tubing coil condenser .....for water of course !

A meat thermometer to keep the temperature around 78 degrees C and running the coil through some ice-water condense is your/my friend. :)

[CPT Clay]

Good point. What is the shelf life of anti biotics? is it possible to stock up?

[CPT Clay]

LOL the Society of Topeka.

[CPT Clay]

Thanks

[wku man]

Choose carefully who you take in. They should have some kind of skill(s) to help contribute to your small community. If that young mother is a nurse or dental assistant, they would be very useful. If she's a gardener or sews for a hobby, even that's going to help your community.

One Second After addresses this issue in the scene where the wave of refugees are passing on the highway, and the PR lady is trying to talk her way into being let in. She eventually resorts to throwing herself at the Colonel, because she has nothing of worth to offer the town.

We'll all have to make some very tough decisions WTSHTF.

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

[redgolum]

Double barrled shotgun? Check
Mangy dog? Check.

I am short of spikes.

[little jeremiah]

I’d like to grow hops, too. Neighbors grew it once, a pretty vine. I don’t drink alchohol (although use it for making tinctures) but hops is a very good herb for calming and inducing sleep. Smells interesting - really sicky sweet strong.

[ajwharton]

Guns. Lots of guns.

[blam]

"Rice and milk have already gone up tremendously in the last couple of years. So even higher plus sugar, will be very high."

I was suprised to see on one prepping list that 60 pounds of sugar a year is recommended for each person. That seems way to much.

[Ted Grant]

This kind of talk looks sillier and sillier when it increasingly looks like we won’t even have a double dip recession, let alone a depression.

[little jeremiah]

I think the majority of Americans will never get it. Maybe 20% could if they educated themselves. Maybe a bit more even. Most are too mesmerized by TV, liquor/illegal/doctor prescribed drugs, immediate gratification, irresponsibility, and zombie like belief in Mouthpiece Media/gov, also those who are so concerned what neighbors or others think of them they can’t listen to their own brain. I think some people have a magical idea that if they even consider that hard times might come, it will hasten them. So the best course is to hide under the bedcovers and pretend that all the tomorrows will be just like the yesterdays (that they’ve seen...there are plenty of dangerous and hard yesterdays in history).

Reasonable preparations for whatever may come are only common sense.

[Vendome]

I don’t drink either....wink, wink

[blam]

"I used the Lifesaver in Mexico at the Coba ruins. I dropped the bottle into a pond of alligators, true story. They weren’t near me, they were by the tourists, who pay to feed them from a dock and I was on the other side of the pond."

Geez... I (my son and I) accidently found Coba once (years ago) while touring the Yucatan on dirt bikes. At the time (we were lost), I was shocked that the Club Med there had rooms for $6.00 a night. We stayed there two days, lol.

[little jeremiah]

The average American eats way more than 60# a year, even around WW1 it was something like 75# a year, IIRC. Also if anyone cans fruit or preserves you need sugar. I just did an experiment - DH has been gone for a month. I have done practically no cooking, no baking, sweets, nothing. I make everything from scratch, so there are no “boughten” sweets or antyhing. The only sugar or honey I used was for tea or occasionally other drinks like hot lemonade, and a few times for cooked cereal.

In 5 weeks I used about 1 1/2 quarts of honey and maybe a pound and a half of sugar, or maybe 2 pounds. I was realy surprised. I’ve actually given up tea now, I was drinking several mugs a day.