What Are You BEST Prepared For? (wheat, filter, river, property)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
You're just as dead whether you're killed in a minor incident or a supernova.
Heh, I wish I could rep you again. Herein lies the issue - a few people on this forum advocate all out preps, spending every waking moment prepping, stockpiling stuff for years, preparing for total breakdown of society, so on and so on. Then one day they wake up and go outside to ride their bike, they fall off and break their neck. Yes, prepare, reasonably. However, in life everything is about balance - I see some folks here are way out of balance - prepping takes over their lives and their attitudes, they start hating and mocking everyone who isn't of their mindset (or they see them as a threat). In essence are way out of balance just like the people who don't even have a gallon of water at home for emergencies are. Find the middle is my advice.
I live in the extreme northeast. I have lived in several other areas of the country (and world). Different geographical areas present different challenges. Here, the majority of my prepping is for cold weather and extreme snowfall with the accompanying power outages, freezing temps, etc.
When I lived on the Gulf Coast, I prepped for hurricanes and civil unrest.
In the midwest, tornados.
What is the most likely scenario in your area that you prep for?
Do you do "general prepping" for unnatural disasters like financial collapse, civil unrest, etc. in addition to prepping for natural disasters?
In order of likelihood:
1. Wildfire. The whole west coast is a fire climax ecology. It will burn eventually.The valley I live in burned in the '50s, and one firefighter died within a mile of my house.
2. Floods. They happen every 10 or 20 years.
3. Drought. I have been tinkering with my water system every year for the last 20 years. This year is the first time in a decade we have not had to call for water deliveries, and we are in the middle of a severe drought.
4. Winter. Mostly winters here are mild and pleasant, except when they are not. We haven't had a big ice storm in years, but they happen.
5. Earthquake. They say to prep for a magnitude 9+ subduction zone quake.
When it comes to natural disasters, my area got a bargain. We have floods, tornadoes, and, with hurricanes, we get a 3fer - wind, floods and tornadoes!
One thing I have never understood, why do people buy and store food they don't eat. Have a friend who has tons of food stored away that she never uses. I store foods that we normally eat and rotate them so they always stay fresh. I don't bulk buy unless I can break the food down into usable portions. With only 2, it just doesn't pay to buy big.
I have 2 principles I live by when it comes to food stores:
Eat what you store and Store what you eat.
Rotate, rotate, rotate.
anything else is wasting food.
It is important to rotate foods, especially because they all do stale in time, I just realized this about coffee and now my investments in coffee are the coffee bean and not ground coffee .
Once I have used up all my ground coffee, I will never buy ground coffee again, but grind it my self.
Oxygen absorbers have their place ,and especially when keeping rice or beans , but it is equally important to remember these are emergency supplies, that depending on the time you expect to need them may well be longer than one previously expected.
My store room is very crowded and limited space so rotation is very difficult , so when planning your storage keep that in mind ,it's harder to rotate if things are crowded together .
I did at least portion all my foods so that breaking into a 5 gallon bucket did not compromise the whole thing.
Portion bags are together in bags that hold 3-4 ,and those in larger bags and so on so adding the bucket of course that Should there be a failure in one, very little is lost. Oxygen absorber in each bag.
This also allows me to portion to others stealthily, if necessary, with out compromising what I have .
When it comes to natural disasters, my area got a bargain. We have floods, tornadoes, and, with hurricanes, we get a 3fer - wind, floods and tornadoes!
One thing I have never understood, why do people buy and store food they don't eat. Have a friend who has tons of food stored away that she never uses. I store foods that we normally eat and rotate them so they always stay fresh. I don't bulk buy unless I can break the food down into usable portions. With only 2, it just doesn't pay to buy big.
Eat what you store, store what you eat, produce what you eat.
It is important to rotate foods, especially because they all do stale in time, I just realized this about coffee and now my investments in coffee are the coffee bean and not ground coffee.
Once I have used up all my ground coffee, I will never buy ground coffee again, but grind it my self...
If you wish to store coffee long term you will need to roast it yourself as well. Roasted whole beans don't store for long periods whereas green beans can be stored for years in burlap bags in hot warehouses
There's a good bit of information on home roasting here as well as storage. There is an interesting alcohol-fired roaster shown.
Living in the middle of the USA in a rural area, we are prepared for medium term supply interruptions, power interruptions and the need to shelter in place and socially isolate in case of a pandemic or civil unrest. We also have Plan B for larger events that might reach us here within an hour (driving distance) of a million plus metro area. We also have barter items and a small bit of cash in place for "bank holidays" such as Greece experienced earlier this year.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
