A lot of plans and threads came together for us this week. I now have to unpack, prepare, test, and find a place to store a lot of things that I really hope we won’t need, but strongly suspect we will, thanks to the fecklessness of the Biden administration, the supply chain crunch, and the coming winter.
- Enough of our preferred motor oil for four oil changes for both our vehicles, plus half a dozen oil and air filters to fit both of them. They’ve already been booked in for major services, to get them ready for the next year or more.
- Propane and kerosene indoor-safe heaters, plus enough fuel to run them for three to four weeks.
- An additional 30-45 days’ worth of canned food, to add to our three months’ worth of regular food supplies plus three months of dry emergency foods like beans, rice, etc.
- Enough Ivermectin to keep us going with prophylactic doses for the next year or more, plus sufficient to see us through another couple of bouts with COVID-19 (my wife and I have already had it twice, and I’m sure another “Delta variant” equivalent will pop up before too long). We’ve also laid in enough hydroxychloroquine to meet our needs for the foreseeable future.
On our limited budget, we can’t afford a lot, but we’ve built up our reserves over a considerable period, one can or box or packet at a time. It all adds up. We’ve squeezed our belt tight for several months to “splurge” on the above, and I’m glad we did. I’ve got an uncomfortable feeling that things are going to get rather tight this winter, and I want to be as ready as possible for them.
Given the current parlous state of the economy and the nation, and the supply chain crunch, how are your preparations going? Let us know in Comments, so we can learn from each other. It’s amazing how often someone will say, “I bought more of X”, only for my wife and I to realize that we need X too, but don’t have any in reserve. Let’s share our knowledge, and help each other.
Peter
I have to stick to a very low carb diet for health reasons, so the pasta.beans, and rice storage I have is for sharing not for consuming. But yesterday at Sam's Club I picked up 2 6 packs of 12oz canned chicken for just under 10.00 each. This stuff is very versatile.
I got a few 12oz cans of imitation Spam at Aldi for 1.89 each.
A place to look for staples and extras like dried fruit and nuts can be an online wholesale vendor like ifsbulk.com, whom I have used. All needs to be repacked for long term storage, and a small tank of nitrogen might be helpful, but it is cheaper than most, quality is good.
John
I bought a stand up freezer last year. Ever since, we have been filling it with meat. It is nearly full with beef, chicken, turkey, and seafood.
We're already packed the garage freezer full of meats, but the Daughter Unit and I bought a large quantity of canned tomatoes, Rotel tomatoes with peppers, canned chicken, and tuna on the last go-round. The Daughter Unit also has her eyes out for meats close to the 'sell by' date, which are marked down 25%.
I also picked up through Amazon Vine, a small water filtration system. It's designed more for camping, but in case of another outage like Snowmagedden, it will come in handy. Next month – the motor oil, and propane cannisters.
I live in a small apartment in Oklahoma City, but still manage to have: 20 gallons of fresh water; 30 days worth of food both canned and dried; medicines and vitamins for 6 months; toilet paper and paper towels for at least 6 months; thousands of handiwipes; several bottles of hand sanitizer; a Coleman stove with 20 fuel bottles; several down sleeping bags; several water purification methods; extra batteries; lots of portable lighting; pistols, an AK and thousands of rounds of ammo.
I hope folks that have freezers full of goodies have either a good sized solar setup or enough fuel to keep their generator and thus that freezer going until you eat all of it.
Some folks mention going on a canning spree when the power gets shaky BUT don't you think there might be OTHER things going on needing your attention at the time? Unprepared Folks act oddly at best when the power is out for more than 24 hours.
Having the outside propane burner going canning meat *MIGHT* be quite the Attractant to the suddenly hungry folks. When I can it's a nice smell of good food indeed. Just saying.
Let alone the sounds of a generator going for much the same reasons. I've added my generator an automotive style muffler which quieted it down quite a bit and have a firewood enclosure to dampen more of the sound BUT it's far from silent.
Less immediate but may be useful long term. A rancher friend sells a new calf for a fixed price and raises it. At the appropriate time, a local packing house slaughters, processes and freezes the meat. The cost may not be any cheaper but you are assured of a meat supply and know the quality of wht you are consuming.
Your local cattlemen or cattlewomen associations can direct you to sources in your area.
If you are depending on frozen food to see you through, better make certain
that dependable electrical power needed by your freezing units is available all the time. Electricity is one of the first things to go.
If you are stocking up on the freeze-dried foods, remember they need water and heat to cook them. Safe drinking water is also one of the first things to go also.
Canned goods are already cooked, have lots of water in them, and can be eaten right out the the can. Canned goods have been known outlast the "use by" date by many years. If your water and electricity supplies are in doubt, plenty of canned goods are a good answer.
Don't buy "canned " goods that are in containers make of paper, cardboard or plastics, if not identified as safe for food storage. Plastics that are safe to use as food storage containers include: Plastic #1: PET or PETE – (Polyethylene Terephthalate) Plastic #2: HDPE – (High Density Polyethylene) Plastic #4: LDPE (Low Density Polyethylene) Plastic #5: PP – (Polypropylene).
Just my thoughts on the subject.
A gallon of disinfecting bleach will go along way. Get a dropper style squeeze bottle & fill it. Couple drops of bleach to a gallon of water kills pretty much everything. I keep an old Visine bottle of bleach in my EDC kit. Water purification tabs. Get the ones in individual packaging, usually 50 to a box, instead of the glass jar. They’re good for 5 years or so and if you drop the envelope you dont shatter it and lose all your p-tabs. Easier to carry too. Various size ziploc bags. Once you crack a mylar or vac seal bag you have to use it. Zippies give you options and they’re light, compact and versatile. Big azz contractor trash bags, usually 50 to a box at the Homeless Despot or equivalent. They make great rain gear, shelters, gear bags, patches….and on & on, along with a goodly number of mylar thermal blankets. They’re small, cheap, effective and, on the inside of a contractor bag shelter, non-reflective. Chem lights, oil lamps & oil, headlamps & extra batts, preferably rechargables with a solar powered charger. Be careful of headlamps tho…. you’ll forget you have it turned on and it’s a flippin’ beacon. If you can find one with a red light it’ll really save the night vision. The ‘zon has a bazillion versions of compressed towels. They’re coin sized cloth wipes that you dampen to unroll, Super compact, reusable, flushable, soak them in water/bleach solution and you’ve got an infinitely cheaper version of disinfecting wipes. (See bleach above) They’ll work as wound packing when all else fails. Packaged in bulk, 500 or so to a pack about the size of a rotisserie chicken. I’ve got them stashed everywhere and carry an old cigar tube in my EDC kit with 15 or so in it. Canned/dried meats over frozen. Cans are heavy, noisy and you have to get rid of them at some point. Wonder why C-rats aren’t around anymore? Dehydrated meats can be reconstitued easily and are actually edible…years of me living on first generation MRE’s in the 80’s is proof… Find a way to carry stuff that doesn’t scream prepper. The less tacticool the better. Remember, if you bolt, you gotta carry anything you take along. When your rig dies or gets stuck or stolen, you’re humping your gear. When was the last time you walked anywhere with 80 lbs of gear on your back? Lighter is better when able. Think one handed operation for anything essential; expect to lose the use of your dominant hand. For the love of all that’s holy, practice using the stuff you’re gonna rely on. In the dark, while it’s raining and with your dominant hand duct taped in a mitten. Seriously.
White vinegar is inexpensive and is good for disinfecting small wounds and cleaning fresh fruit and berries… they don't rot as quickly.
Canned beef stew and corned beef hash is one of my go to staples. Two cases of that in my larder.
Ground coffee, even if the electricity is out I can cold brew it.
Don't forget ammo. It's getting a little easier to find but there is no such thing as "too much ammo."
Good idea on the windshield washer fluid in your prior post. Even if you are further south get the winter mix, just to ensure you don't freeze the hose line if you have to drive North to help relatives. Fixing that's a PITA on an F150.
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I guess I've been a prepper since the mighty Kenyan was in office. Just started really ramping it up in the last few years, though.
I've got a crapload of Augason Farms buckets of all kinds and some Wise Company selections. Been buying #10 cans of Augason stuff like vegetable stew, dried fruits, vegetables, butter, eggs.
Lately began buying the food grade buckets from Walmart and packing them with mylar bags/O2 absorbers stuffed with rice, bean varieties, pasta, lentils, etc. Also tubs of sugar and various spices.
Since I am basically the Alamo if the apocalypse happens, I'll be hosting my daughter's family, husband, two-year old twin daughters, and one due next April (she's already scheduled a Mennonite midwife as the local ob/gyns and pediatricians have proven, just like the rest of the medical establishment, to be untrustworthy fools). Because of the kids, I've put away several five-gallon buckets of powdered milk. Also morale food like lots of peanut butter powder, sweet drinks, instant coffee and cappuccino mix, creamer.
Add to that about 150 pounds of various canned meat (venison, beef, pork, chicken).
Got some "emergency" seed containers to start some sort of sustainable food supply while we rely on what I have stockpiled. I've got 20 acres on a rural road with very few neighbors. For water, besides a bunch of 5 gallon containers filled in the basement, I have one of those galvanized torpedo buckets (from http://www.lehmans.com) you lower down into a residential well for water. If it comes to it, I can pull the existing pipe and pump, and lower the torpedo bucket down the well pipe and get water that way. Besides that, there is a fresh water spring on the side of a hill a short walk from the house along with an endless supply of water from the lake (as long as the dam doesn't give…).
Two gas generators with a shed full of stabilized gasoline and kerosene for heating. Two dual-fuel coleman stoves.
One Rockpals 300W rechargeable power station, a folding 100W solar panel, a shitload of rechargeable batteries/chargers, led lights of all kinds, two-way radios, spare cell phones and a Bluetooth speaker – all stored in faraday boxes.
Then the arms room. Between me, my son in law, and my immediate neighbors with whom I've spent many a night sipping cocktails and discussing the future troubles, we have a comfortable armory.
I live on a dead-end road by a very large lake with only one real practical entry/exit point. There are some off-road vehicle accessible entry points but we'll deal with those.
Overall, my only real concern at this point would be a breakdown where my employer would be closed but the bank would still be kind of wanting a mortgage payment.
Why are you concerned with oil changes and other auto matters when there won't be anywhere to go or any gas to get there with? –ken
This is a slow motion collapse, so shortages are mostly temporary. Also, the US still produces much of the gasoline we use.
For me, I have picked up a small bag (25lb) of rye and a small bag of red wheat. My portable solar panel showed up, to be paired with a 12v deep cycle battery and a converter, so I can run the freezer if I lose power.
"[A]nd I'm sure another 'Delta variant' equivalent will pop up before too long."
Yeah, probably around election time.
Another consideration. Because this isn't an immediate apocalypse now situation, but more one of random, unplanned supply chain issues. Consider your pets and/or livestock. If this was the apocalypse, shooting the family cat might make sense. It is not. But, if your pet cannot live on anything other than grain free, soy free, corn free, bird meat….(yes, you Miss Kitty!, I am talking about you!). You need to stock up on that. The emotional trauma of putting an animal down because the supplies aren't there to feed it….? Far more than us internet warriors like to think about.
Another thing to keep in mind is the need for good personal hygiene. Having extra tubes of toothpaste and bottles of rubbing alcohol won't hurt.
Well . . . our main preps for the week were 12-ish gallons of tomato soup made and processed from our garden veggies, as well as green salsa, pear sauce, and 100 gallons of apple cider (30-ish gallons will be processed into apple juice; the rest is for sharing). But we keep a good supply of food, hygiene items, etc., and that was just the tail end of a very productive gardening/canning season.
Not only canning; I've been dehydrating and freeze drying and freezing all kinds of produce and prepared foods as much as possible. Also we've been taking advantage of the case lot sales at our local grocery store chain the last few weeks, so we're pretty well stocked for food.
The only problem being that we teach self-reliance to anyone in the neighborhood who's interested, so everyone knows that we're the ones to come to if trouble hits. Which I sincerely hope it doesn't. Nevertheless, we keep a little extra beyond what we would use in a year, to share in times of need . . . and a sharp weather eye and some practice at the gun range, though my brother's the one who mostly deals with that end of things.
Our main weakness is water storage, which I am advocating to change sooner rather than later, as we live in a drought-prone area, and the aforementioned visibility of our preps. But I'd rather teach more people about self-reliance and have them know about what we do, than have everyone in the area be totally unprepared for emergencies or hard times.