Are my fellow NJ'ers Prepared for Emergencies? (taxes, living)
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unless I'm living in Zimbabwe, I can't imagine anything happening in NJ which would cause a loss of power for more than 3 days
Are you serious? Do you remember that NYC had a blackout of at least 10 days in 2006? And that wasn't even due to an outside event, it was just a Con Edison problem.
Why would you treat the unlikely as impossible? Do you have insurance policies?
In the New England area they get storms that may cut electricity for sometimes 2 weeks, That happened just this past year up there.
On one of my groups people were discussing the the Guv't was testing what they call PSYOPS which is psychological operations out in California on various frequencies in the air. There was a formal request to the FCC for permission to use certain channels.
In particular I mean like having supplies on hand like food, water, medicine, which is imo something everyone should be doing. I try to store food that I actually use so I don't wind up having to throw away stuff. I'm trying to keep it simply and here's what I have on hand after reading on Ready.gov - Prepare. Plan. Stay Informed. + Welcome to preparedsociety.org and using my own common sense.
20 gallons of water per person in household
powdered milk
Cereals
cans of tuna
packets of mayo in box
crakers to substitute as bread chunky soups chef-boy-r-d cans kraft mac+cheese microwave single servs
canned fruit
peanut butter
toilet paper
paper towels
wet towlets
plastic utensils + paper plates/bowls
Well that's a partial list and I'm not a survivalist or doomsday scenarialist but it's common sense that in any type of emergency those items tend to fly off the shelfs in no time AND if you're buying things you already use there's very little waste and for example only a couple items I have like the powdered
milk MIGHT get thrown out after it expires in a couple yrs.
The way I look at it is if everyone could hold their own for at least a week or even a few weeks following any type of crises, whether man made or natural, it would take that much pressure off of local and/or federal entities trying to provide perhaps what might be basic necessities to households that could've and should've had the foresight to do for themselves. Not trying to start a debate or lecture anyone here but was just working on buying a few things this weekend and happened to be thinking about it.
Catatrophic means no electricity unless you have a generator and the gas to run it so those items bolded would be useless except maybe if you didn't mind cold soup or chef boy r dee
Here is what I would like to do better.
1) Stick 5 gallon container of diesel in my shed (our car is diesel, and diesel lasts a fairly long time)
2) Have some fresh water available in the house - most important thing probably ???. If I HAD to,I'd drink the water out of the hot water tank.
3) Keep BBQ propane tanks full - know how to switch out nozzles on my Gas direct vent heater for propane. Could heat my house for 24 hours on 2 tanks easily. Of course I'd need the electricity too.
4) Some source of electricity??? Not very interested in buying a generator...
For a while I had gallons of water sitting around. One time one leaked into the food in the basement in a bin and you could not imagine the site when I opened it. Thankfully that was at the rental house.
What have now:
50# bin of flour - coincidence only because the flour I use you cannot buy in stores . Not meant for being prepared in emergencies.
I have a little solar setup, that powers a 12 V native radio from a remote car battery.
I am a radio geek and can talk to my wife just about from anywhere within 50 miles with no reliance on cell phones.
I have stocked up on the most necessary items and keep rotating them. Check the expiration date! Just an old habit I guess. And my garden is full of Veggies, some almost ready to eat. A 50 gal watertank is collecting rain water. A lot of split wood is stored in the basement, so we could cook food and huddle around the fireplace if it got too cold.
No guns in the house, but plenty of dangerous power- and handtools, plus 2 ferrocious minipoodles, that will attack anything that moves (as long as it does not give them treats!)
Catatrophic means no electricity unless you have a generator and the gas to run it so those items bolded would be useless except maybe if you didn't mind cold soup or chef boy r dee
I have a generator and gas can be siphoned from my car if I needed extra. I wouldn't mind cold canned foods in an emergency and the point is I'd have food + water.
I'm not gonna rush to the supermarket like a crazy person everytime there's a winter storm, bin-ladan tape, or itty pity flu that killed 5 old people. If it comes down to that I'd just break in and take what I want.
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