People Who Prepare

Hello Friends! I can say I want to be protected from the power going out for a long time. Weather it be disasters, or weather, or emp

I am glad to find this interesting group. Being called names like compusive, nuts or fanatic have never stopped people from being happy that there was at least one fool in the family when disaster strikes. Nawlins and the gulf coastshould be a lesson to us all. We must be prepared. Without imported food stocks -the USA would quickly find its people starving.

What a Brilliant site, I am new to this but I think its great. We all need to take notes from this board. Go Go Alice.I will be stocking my shelves tomorrow.....
My mother from Ireland is the same way, its rubbing off on me. Keep up the good work
everyone and have blessed Weekend.

we live by a nuke plant and are working on creating a survivalist bin now to take with if there is a warning at all . most ppl by us never pay attention to the pamphlets that the nuke plant sends out, but we do . i am in the right group.

Just said a little bit ago on the SC forum that I'm learning to appreciate my parent's good qualities. On our small farm in rural NE Ga we always had plenty of food. I live eight miles from town and am without a car. My pantry and freezer are full. My boyfriend buys his food from day to day so he can socialize where he use to work. I think he's foolish. Twice a month I jampack his trunk and backseat with my shopping. My next goal is that when my lease is up in September, I rent a house with a wood heater. When we lost power for a day due to a freak snowstorm I was huddled under blankets with a stack of books, my laptop and a big container of raisins. I don't let people in my house because I save useful stuff. My boyfriend said what I have isn't junk, because it's stuff waiting to be needed. I did a plumbing repair with a flashlight's rubber seal, a milk cap and a too small open end cap. It's still sealed. The plumbing guy at Ace told me to saw off three pipes to replace a connector that had a broken off fourth pipe that was there for accessing the other three. Please, I went home and dumped out boxes until I saw a few things that would work. If there's trouble and I can't get to town, the worst that will happen to me is I'll be lonesome. That gives me comfort, being prepared, not having to rely on someone for food or water or even toilet paper.

Hi all! I am looking to learn how to prepare. AliceT - is it necessity to have all that food? Doesn't it go bad eventually?? How do you store it??

Since I heard ConeyIsBabe was over here, I thought I'd tag along!

I live in the middle of the redwoods, and it is quite rural. And my parents went through the depression, too, although both had parents who were farmers and that is what got them through! However, I still hoard food! I am not comfortable unless I have loads of food! I keep lots of dried goods, rice, beans, canned goods, dried fruits, etc.

For winter, I have already gotten my two cords of wood, my kindling, matches, batteries, and my flashlights. I've gotten water, but will get more. I've got lots of candles. And I have my big dog for protection!

My parents always had loads of food in the pantry, and being the oldest child, I adopted the same philosophy, although I don't think my siblings do it.

I also have lots of blankets, a mobile phone that gets reception where I live. I don't have a generator, but for the freezer I use big plastic bottles and fill them with water and freeze them -- instant blocks of ice! They do well for a few days of no electricity. I use various sizes of plastic bottles with ice, and then if the electric goes off, I grab one big one and put it into the refrigeration section.

I have little battery-powered book lights for reading. I also have a battery-powered computer hand-held game just for fun.

I have my cast-iron skillet to cook over the wood stove, if necessary, and even have the dreaded Spam in my cupboard!!

I cook most of my food from scratch (but not bread). I hope to get something rigged up next summer to grow veggies where the deer won't eat them (maybe some chicken wire or something) -- any ideas on that? ConeyIsBabe, how did you rig yours up??

I, too, carry a blanket, food and water in my car at all times. I don't have flares, so I probably should get some. I really should stock up more on first-aid, though.

Good ideas! Survivalists are we!

I've always considered myself a responsible person, but after reading these posts I feel kinda pathetic

I live out in the country, one mile from town (and all services) on 4 parklike acres - in the valley - in southern Oregon! I have a 100'x50' deer-fenced garden on a very steep incline and I'm unable to use it myself because of bad knees & bad back. I have a working greenhouse which I use as a shed and to store a cord of madrone. I have adequate space for a well-stocked pantry but I still shop daily and have about a couple of weeks worth of staples and bottled water! I don't own a gun but I guess I'll buy one soon, with lots of ammo!

THANKS FOR ALL THE TIPS, SO FAR !

I have to get organized and get going

Another group where I fit in! More details on my life later.

Alice,
I copied your list and am comparing it to mine. I am amazed that we are about the same in quantities, accept I am feeding a family of 5! I am now wondering if I need to 'bulk' up on my bulk food quantities. I do buy 10 dozen eggs at a time though as I do all our baking. I put together Purchase Order lists for the stores I shop at: Costco, WalMart, Natural Grocers and some other super markets that have good prices or sales on the items I buy. If I see that something I buy for my pantry is on sale, I will buy 10 or 20 of them.
We actually bought our first 'side of beef' last March and it is going fast. My kids are young, but they sure can chow down on meat.