So lets keep this civil..right from the get go.

Do you prep?
Why?
How much?
How?

I believe that being prepared, to a certain extent, is a good and prudent thing.

My certain extent is: food "stuff", water, flashlight/batteries, radio, med kit.

I would like to hold a discussion for and against extensive prepping.

 TheMeanDM wrote:
So lets keep this civil..right from the get go.

Do you prep?
Why?
How much?
How?

I believe that being prepared, to a certain extent, is a good and prudent thing.

My certain extent is: food "stuff", water, flashlight/batteries, radio, med kit.

I would like to hold a discussion for and against extensive prepping.

I keep a small amount of supplies (food, batteries, spare roof tiles etc etc ) for power cuts and flooding, which is a real risk where I live, but nothing on the scale of surviving a zombie invasion, or fighting off giant cockroaches, after I emerge from my bunker to confront a nuclear wasteland.

I think most people would agree that having a first aid kit, spare batteries, candles, etc etc in your house and your car, is a sensible thing.

When I was in Japan we all had little earthquake survival kits containing some tins of bottled water, a torch, a radio, some food, a first aid kit and so on.

Bakc in the UK such elaborate preparation isn't necessary. The problem here is how to stay dry, not how to get water (I live 5 minutes walk from the Thames.) I have a couple of first aid kits and some basic camping supplies.

This isn't prepping in the normal sense, though. Prepping means filling your cellar with a five year supply of corned beef and things like that.

As a crazy old man I used to know said, "It's better to be looking at it, than looking for it."

I don't prep.

I keep a go bag, which is mostly a small duffle bag with some bottled water, canned food, first aid kit and a few other odds and ends.

The thing with prepping is that I think there's kind of a line between being prepared for a disaster, and living out a disaster fantasy.

 Kilkrazy wrote:
When I was in Japan we all had little earthquake survival kits containing some tins of bottled water, a torch, a radio, some food, a first aid kit and so on.

Bakc in the UK such elaborate preparation isn't necessary. The problem here is how to stay dry, not how to get water (I live 5 minutes walk from the Thames.) I have a couple of first aid kits and some basic camping supplies.

This isn't prepping in the normal sense, though. Prepping means filling your cellar with a five year supply of corned beef and things like that.

You count the Thames as a source of water? I thought it was runny toxic sludge.


I have a first aid kit, but the last bad event that happened here was the storm in 67. So I have no worries.

Thames water + boil = fine.

Got to have tea.

I personally spent a couple of million buying a doomsday shelter because of the Mayan calendar prophecy /s

No, but I should. I keep some stuff (blankets, motor oil, radiator fluid, etc.) in my car for break downs, but no Doomsday stuff.

I do some prepping, but not in the frankly bizarre "the world is going to end, society is going to collapse" scenarios that seem popular in some corners. My prepping is towards a natural disaster where normal services might not be available for a week or so. If it's longer than that I'd have to leave - my house has some quirks that make it a poor choice for an extended stay.

Anyway, I have canned food, water, candles, some lifestraws, wool blankets, regular flashlights and batteries, one of those emergency flashlights that you crank and it charges a phone, that kind of stuff.

Thanks for the reaponses so far.

We have a friend who's ex is starting to go off the deep end when it comes to prepping...like...he spouts that there is going to be another civil war, great depression, end of times...(his words to her). Her anxiety is quite high due to this talk from him.

I would like to reassure her that some basic stuff is all well and good (we do get floods and tornados here)...but to go over oard is just...overboard.

Ugh, yeah, that is someone taking their disaster survival fantasy and inflicting it on others. In my experience, it isn't about them being prepared, it's about their dominance, and the fact that he is bringing his ex down with it is just a clear sign of that.

The bottom line for disaster preparation is that you prepare for your region. Preparation for disaster is very different in Seattle than it would be in the middle of North Dakota. And in effectively all good disaster survival bags, a big gun and weapons are not there, just period.

 TheMeanDM wrote:

My certain extent is: food "stuff", water, flashlight/batteries, radio, med kit.

This. I've been on the south end of enough storms, outages, and natural disasters to know a week's supply of food/water and such are good things to have on hand.

Anything past that, though, really depends on your environment and what sort of disaster you're prepping for.

I figure in a gak Has Gone Sideways scenario I'll just loot what I need.

 TheEyeOfNight wrote:

 TheMeanDM wrote:

My certain extent is: food "stuff", water, flashlight/batteries, radio, med kit.

This. I've been on the south end of enough storms, outages, and natural disasters to know a week's supply of food/water and such are good things to have on hand.

Anything past that, though, really depends on your environment and what sort of disaster you're prepping for.

Indeed it would not be sane for anyone living on the US GUlf Coast to not have a week's worth of canned goods and potable water. When Ike hit there were areas that were out of power for two weeks. That included the gas stations.

I figure in a gak Has Gone Sideways scenario I'll just loot what I need.

Hey thats how we got Texas!

 curran12 wrote:
Ugh, yeah, that is someone taking their disaster survival fantasy and inflicting it on others. In my experience, it isn't about them being prepared, it's about their dominance, and the fact that he is bringing his ex down with it is just a clear sign of that..

Knowing the guy like I do (he had been a friend of mine until stuff happened) I would say that your arm-chair psychoanalysis is extremely spot on!

 Frazzled wrote:

 TheEyeOfNight wrote:

 TheMeanDM wrote:

My certain extent is: food "stuff", water, flashlight/batteries, radio, med kit.

This. I've been on the south end of enough storms, outages, and natural disasters to know a week's supply of food/water and such are good things to have on hand.

Anything past that, though, really depends on your environment and what sort of disaster you're prepping for.

Indeed it would not be sane for anyone living on the US GUlf Coast to not have a week's worth of canned goods and potable water. When Ike hit there were areas that were out of power for two weeks. That included the gas stations.

I figure in a gak Has Gone Sideways scenario I'll just loot what I need.

Hey thats how we got Texas!

True. Frazzled, although we are often on differing ends of opinions, we can both agree how awesome Tejas is.

As far as prepping goes, I live by a saying. It is better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it. Fantasies of doomsday can be harmless, as long as they do not lead to illegal activity or hurting loved ones. Personally I see no harm in it. No different than the numerous boxes my neighbor has of unopened models. If he never bought another model, it would take over a year, by my estimates, to assemble and paint everything. I know many here have the same issue.

Let them prep, let them live in the fantasy, because sometimes fantasies come true.

If you are sensible, you build up a six month stock of tinned corned beef, then you buy a new week's supply every week, put it at the back of the pile and eat a tin from the front.

You've wasted a bit of money by sticking it into corned beef instead of the stock market, but it's not that big a downside.

The main problem is the amount of storage space you need for a six month supply of lots of things.

I think the sweet spot for preparedness is about a week or two. It doesn't take much of a disaster to loss power and/or water for a week, and having something to fall back on is wise.

And part of prepping is being aware of how well your region handles common events, but also rare but possible ones. I lived in Cleveland, Ohio for 18 years, but the worst blizzard I've lived through was this winter in Baltimore. Between the severity of the storm, and the limited ability of the city/county to deal with that much snow, we were basically stuck indoors for five days. Luckily we kept power and water, but we were cooking from scratch and eating cans of soup to get through those five days.

Basic disaster kit for me and the family
not remotely close to doomsday shelter.

if i need anything else il just do the LA thing and loot it

Fantasies of doomsday can be harmless, as long as they do not lead to illegal activity or hurting loved ones.

That assumes you are not spending a substantial portion of your income on it, and gearing your life around prepping. There is of course the whole group of people who also wish to be off the grid-but I'll leave that as a separate discussion.

On the whole though I agree and support people doing what they want to do.

I have prepped about as much as anyone should who is living in areas prone to Tornadoes, blizzards, and ice storms:

- Food for a week for all of us
- Water for a week for all of us
- Kerosene heater with enough fuel for a week
- various light sources (glow sticks, flashlights, and a Coleman lantern). The lantern runs on coleman fuel. I need to upgrade to one that runs on kerosene, I didn't have the heater when I purchased the lantern many years ago.
- Enough tarp to cover windows and the roof if needed.
- All important papers in a flame resistant lock box.

Stuff I have anyway, that might count towards prepping even though that's not the reason I have it:

- guns to keep the evil looters away.
- some silver, just because I like having shiny silver.

I've got a couple flashlights, some spare batteries, a palette of water and some canned food and a first aid kit in case I get stuck for a couple days or go on an ersatz camping trip, but nothing more extensive than that. Where I am there's not much in the way of natural disasters I have to worry about thankfully.

It doesn't take a lot to prep. Around here, people buy a few extra cans, or an extra case of canned goods, or other types of long term storage foods, bi weekly or monthly when they go to the store and just rotate it in with the regular food. The same is true with buying iodine, aspirin, and other such items.
Over time a pretty good supply can be built up that I have seen get families through times of unemployment.

 Frazzled wrote:

Fantasies of doomsday can be harmless, as long as they do not lead to illegal activity or hurting loved ones.

That assumes you are not spending a substantial portion of your income on it, and gearing your life around prepping. There is of course the whole group of people who also wish to be off the grid-but I'll leave that as a separate discussion.

On the whole though I agree and support people doing what they want to do.

Go ahead and start that conversation, that is something I can definitely identify with.

I don't know enough about it to really discuss it in detail.

Me neither, I just identify with the desire.

And its a continuum thing. Some are just into more self reliance and better food with less pesticides etc to full on "you'll never find me G MAN!" living in the deep woods with no plastic 'cause thats what the aliens can detect level off the grid living.

On the one hand you have almost a new age hippy lets get back to nature, and on the other end you have...the unabomber.

I think there comes a point where many feel inbetween. I myself was pretty disheartened with people in general for a few years. I was very inward, lived in the world of Azeroth and only came out to go to work. Once I got myself unfethed I still had the same feelings, just dealt with it better. I can definitely empathize with someone who feels the need to just say, screw you im outta here. But you need to come in to town at some point, gotta get provisions, it is very difficult to be 100% reliant on yourself and nature for a long period of time.

there are extremes in everything, and we are all guilty of hitting one extreme or another at some point. The reasons for each person who chooses this are, im sure, varying.

If I hadn't married a big city girl from WA and raised 3 beautiful princesses who can't be away from wifi and AC I would even consider it.

Even if you don’t go totally off the grid, you can be less reliant on it.

Passive-solar house design. Solar/geo for electricity/heat. Plant a vegetable garden a/o some fruit trees or berry bushes.

You still are going to spend some cash on the electric bill and at the grocery store. But not as much as someone relying entirely on the grid. One problem is the up-front costs are often higher then the potential returns. For example, if you over insulate your house, you will save on your energy costs. But it might take 50 years to reach the break even point.

When I started dating again, I stocked up on condoms, fancy soap, and wine.

Bitches love fancy soap and wine.

Kronk, truly the world's greatest romantic.

Mine likes guns and silver. I think she's a reincarnated Spanish conquistador.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
OK. Making a new topic.

 Frazzled wrote:



Automatically Appended Next Post:
OK. Making a new topic.

What b!+@#€$ like?

Thats easy. A little Sinatra on the old turntable, and some good old fashioned tapioca pudding.

I don't prep, and I don't think French people prep.
However, I've always been interested in survival, this kind of things.
Do a lot of Americans prep ?

 godardc wrote:
I don't prep, and I don't think French people prep.
However, I've always been interested in survival, this kind of things.
Do a lot of Americans prep ?

I would not say a lot of people, but the popularity is rising thanks to reality TV. I myself find it interesting, but I would have to quit buying 40k models to afford to prep, so Ill just buy my food week to week.

 godardc wrote:

Do a lot of Americans prep ?

A lot of Americans don't live in/near big cities and the corresponding gov't services associated with urban areas. Those folks tend to know what they need to get by for a few days of no power or whatever and 'prep' to make sure they are okay when that happens.

Some folks in urban areas live where things like hurricanes or snow storms can limit gov't services and/or cut power for a few days at a time. Many of those folks, especially those who have been through a big storm/outage will make sure they have a few days worth of food/water on hand (even if they are going out to get it based on a storm front moving in).

So from that perspective, a lot of Americans are 'prepped' to get by for a few days.

Some folks like to be prepared for longer periods of time or for the gak Has Gone Sideways scenarios and tend to 'prep' more extensively.

And then there are the folks with bunkers and years worth of supplies cached around the hills. Those are pretty rare.

 godardc wrote:
I don't prep, and I don't think French people prep.
However, I've always been interested in survival, this kind of things.
Do a lot of Americans prep ?

Well, it kinda depends on how you define 'prep'. On the one hand, if you consider 'I have some bottled water and a first aid kit just in case' as prepping, then I'd say a good number do. But if you mean 'I have a bunker, canned rations and 5000 rounds of ammuniton', then probably less so.

Redleger is also correct in that the more bunker-focused kind of prep got a spike in attention with some reality TV, and so that business has been thriving a bit. But I may be wrong (I certainly don't keep tabs on reality TV), but that show has been off the air for a few years as well.

In a lot of ways, the bigger scale of prep is something like a hobby, if you think about it.

Honestly, one of the biggest 'prep' things many folks disregard is knowledge (and even better, experience). It is all well and good to have 45 pounds of Super Duper survival gear loaded up in your Oh gak bag, but if you've never humped that bag a couple of days, never used and relied on the gear, never performed some of the critical tasks, you are still not prepared.

For example, had a buddy with a VERY extensive first aid kit. Had no clue how to properly use half the items in it, and didn't know basic first aid. Useless. Having 12 weeks worth of chow, and then finding out in an emergency it is all 'Must Add Water' and not having thought through your water requirements for that chow is bad. Not knowing how to set up that light portable tent and attempting to do so for the first time in the dark and under stress may be a bad thing. Having that fancy solar recharging thingy but not knowing how to set it up and never having tried to use to see how long it takes to charge up your WhatEverNeedsPower could be bad.

Use your gear. Make sure you understand it. Think of what skills you may need (first aid a MAJOR one) and get some training on those skills, then practice them once in a while.

I have read that it is estimated 22% of the population preps in some fashion (so range from basic to basically crazy).

 godardc wrote:
I don't prep, and I don't think French people prep.
However, I've always been interested in survival, this kind of things.
Do a lot of Americans prep ?

I think its far more importantly of know which of my neighbors prep.

"we need to get guns to protect ourselves from the bad guy!"
"I AM the BAD GUY."

 curran12 wrote:
I keep a go bag, which is mostly a small duffle bag with some bottled water, canned food, first aid kit and a few other odds and ends.

The thing with prepping is that I think there's kind of a line between being prepared for a disaster, and living out a disaster fantasy.

I watched a few eps of those 'prepper' shows. The pattern seemed to be that the family starts out normal enough..."it's about being prudent, that's all...we just think it's important to be prepared just in case"...etc. Then you finally heard the specific reason they're 'prepping', and suddenly the crazy comes out. Frankly, those folks just oughta refer to themselves by the old-school, baggage-heavy term 'survivalists' and call it a day.

I put a kit together for our family just in case we need to be evacuated for a few days, as our government recommended. That's it.

Where's my missile silo house!?

EDIT: here!
http://survivalcondo.com/?page_id=27

Frazzled, you are all over the place, its so hard to get a bead on you. It makes me laugh.

There is a pretty huge market for stuff that allows middle aged men to think they can become action heroes, and doomsday prepping really taps into that.

Standard disaster prep is just good sense.

I would offer them a gym membership and marksmanship lessons if they really wanted to be an action hero. lol

 CptJake wrote:
Honestly, one of the biggest 'prep' things many folks disregard is knowledge (and even better, experience). It is all well and good to have 45 pounds of Super Duper survival gear loaded up in your Oh gak bag, but if you've never humped that bag a couple of days, never used and relied on the gear, never performed some of the critical tasks, you are still not prepared.

For example, had a buddy with a VERY extensive first aid kit. Had no clue how to properly use half the items in it, and didn't know basic first aid. Useless. Having 12 weeks worth of chow, and then finding out in an emergency it is all 'Must Add Water' and not having thought through your water requirements for that chow is bad. Not knowing how to set up that light portable tent and attempting to do so for the first time in the dark and under stress may be a bad thing. Having that fancy solar recharging thingy but not knowing how to set it up and never having tried to use to see how long it takes to charge up your WhatEverNeedsPower could be bad.

Use your gear. Make sure you understand it. Think of what skills you may need (first aid a MAJOR one) and get some training on those skills, then practice them once in a while.

At the very least, keep a few books on survival, first aid, etc on hand. You might not be able to memorize everything you need to know, but at least be able to look it up.

In all honesty, I'm glad American dakka members are prepping, because you're going to need it.

If I ever find myself in a position of having 250,000 highly trained soldiers at my command, 3 or 4 armoured divisions, a modern air force, and a carrier group, plus a few North Vietnamese

I'm invading America. Why?

Because you guys invented root beer and gave us Jar Jar Binks, and that's enough to condemn you in my eyes

 redleger wrote:
Frazzled, you are all over the place, its so hard to get a bead on you. It makes me laugh.

Thats because I am the son of "rubber legs" Frazzled, dancing machine. I am a Hawaiian shirt wearing hep cat in spectator shoes baby. *


*Frazzled does not consider the 45,000 rounds he has of .22lr to be prepping, just having a plan B.

Because you guys invented root beer and gave us Jar Jar Binks, and that's enough to condemn you in my eyes

Dude you put beans on your eggs. Thats a war crime under the Hague conventions!

I live on a major fault line, in tornado alley, in the Mississippi flood plains. I just assume that no matter how much I prepare, it will not be enough.

Also, why the Root Beer hate? That stuff is magnificent.

Careful about noting how much ammo you have here, tends to get people heated for some reason.

And yes root beer is magnificent, but I prefer real beer.

I own a short sword. In urban Britain, this makes me a prospective raider chief in any post-apocalyptic/disaster scenario.


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 Frazzled wrote:

Dude you put beans on your eggs. Thats a war crime under the Hague conventions!

What? Nobody does that. A sausage gets used as a breakwater.

i'm a mild prepper, I have 3 month supply for 4 people of food and water, spare clothes (still in package socks, T-shirts, shoes, underwear, shorts, sweats and such) an emergency medical kit, candles, lighters, toilet paper (telling you man toilet paper will be worth more then gold after the apocalypse) and such, will I need it? hope not, will I be happy I have it, if I do need it? hell yes. worst situation i've seen happen, power going out around a lot of California for several hours to a few days. its better to be prepared if even a little then to be without.

We keep a food supply that could realistically feed my family of 4 for at least a month if we were to go just off that.

I don't really prep and I really should. Los Angeles is due to be hit by an Earthquake any day now and water is likely to get real scarce real quick. Our water supply is almost entirely piped in from the north and from the Colorado.

 TheCustomLime wrote:
I don't really prep and I really should. Los Angeles is due to be hit by an Earthquake any day now and water is likely to get real scarce real quick. Our water supply is almost entirely piped in from the north and from the Colorado.

if the San Andreas fault goes off LA is screwed as far as water goes and Scientists say we are over due for a big one too.

I think the LA version of 'prepping' is probably becoming VERY good friends with a Korean shop keeper and his family.

I don't prep, and I don't think anyone around here does. Prepping (especially stockpiling food) makes a lot of sense if you are in a remote area, but in densely populated areas it is not much use as aid is likely to arrive quickly if not immediately.
Here in the part of the Netherlands where I live, the only disaster that could realistically ever happen is that the dikes break and a huge part of the country gets flooded by the sea. Luckily, the town I live in just so happens to be on the edge of the "high ground" and therefore unlikely to be flooded in all but the worst-case scenarios. Even then, I have a boat so I am safe anyway
The only things I do have are a flashlight (might be useful if electricity falls out or a fire breaks out) and a longsword for when the zombie apocalypse hits

 CptJake wrote:
Honestly, one of the biggest 'prep' things many folks disregard is knowledge (and even better, experience). It is all well and good to have 45 pounds of Super Duper survival gear loaded up in your Oh gak bag, but if you've never humped that bag a couple of days, never used and relied on the gear, never performed some of the critical tasks, you are still not prepared.

For example, had a buddy with a VERY extensive first aid kit. Had no clue how to properly use half the items in it, and didn't know basic first aid. Useless. Having 12 weeks worth of chow, and then finding out in an emergency it is all 'Must Add Water' and not having thought through your water requirements for that chow is bad. Not knowing how to set up that light portable tent and attempting to do so for the first time in the dark and under stress may be a bad thing. Having that fancy solar recharging thingy but not knowing how to set it up and never having tried to use to see how long it takes to charge up your WhatEverNeedsPower could be bad.

Use your gear. Make sure you understand it. Think of what skills you may need (first aid a MAJOR one) and get some training on those skills, then practice them once in a while.

That's right on the money. Where I live, people rotate their food and medicines and do a lot of camping. This ensures they don't have nasty surprises like outdated items or suddenly discovering they don't have basic skills needed to use their kits.

 TheCustomLime wrote:
I don't really prep and I really should. Los Angeles is due to be hit by an Earthquake any day now and water is likely to get real scarce real quick. Our water supply is almost entirely piped in from the north and from the Colorado.

That's a very good point. Your local geography and sociology is crucial to working out what preparations you should make.

I hang out on http://www.survivalistboards.com

And while yeah, there are doomsday peppers who think Obama is coming to declare marshal law and take over the world, just as many want to be prepared for any sort of SHTF situation. My favorite one is this guy: http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=230112

To cut to the chase, dude lost his job, and got a part time job to pay the major bills, and his family lived off their stocked food for 10 months in order to not sell their house. It isn't always going to be the commies, or the sky falling. Sometimes it's life, and people who prep tend to have more options.

My current house is too small to stock food or supplies, but I get water out of a spring box, and it has run dry for days in the past. So I built a water collection and purifying system to hold an additional 250 gallons of drinkable water.

At the very least I think EVERYONE should have enough supplies to be able to stay inside their home for one week without needing to go outside. In addition you need to have a bug-out bag with some cash, clothes, etc. You never know when a flood, tornado, fire, or power outage might ruin your life.

If you are adding prepping to your normal activities, it's really not that weird. Ideal prepping should simply be adding a little bit to something you'd be using anyway.

I've toyed with this idea a bit. I live in rural Iowa not too far from Omaha, Nebraska. While I own a rather large home in a decent sized (for the area) town, I have been tempted to build a rustic cabin somewhere between Omaha and Sioux City.

I've found a couple places for sale over the years, including a disused quarry. Imagine a place that is within 50 miles of two major cities, a stones throw from a major Interstate highway, and still far enough away from any of the major travel areas that you MIGHT see a car pass once per day.

This area has some completely undeveloped land, but still sits on literally the richest farming soil in the world (Loess Hills dirt, only found here and in a remote part of China). It's still far away from any kind of flood plain.

I'd have a smallish cabin built over a reinforced bunker, with about 18 months of food and water, water filtration, a water-filled quarry stocked with fish, decent hunting/trapping area, a giant propane tank with a year's supply of propane, solar panels, and a generator. Yet this place is still close enough to some kind of civilization that I could be on the grid for as long as I could, still get some broadcast TV, have municipal water/sewer, and still be 45 minutes away from some place to get supplies.

I'm viewing this as a weekend retreat man cave. I can use it for family bonding, wife-free friend time, or as an emergency relocation area in case of a natural disaster (or Red Dawn style Russian takeover).

The only thing I prep is minis. For everything else there is always Waitrose!

 Iron_Captain wrote:
I don't prep, and I don't think anyone around here does. Prepping (especially stockpiling food) makes a lot of sense if you are in a remote area, but in densely populated areas it is not much use as aid is likely to arrive quickly if not immediately.
Here in the part of the Netherlands where I live, the only disaster that could realistically ever happen is that the dikes break and a huge part of the country gets flooded by the sea. Luckily, the town I live in just so happens to be on the edge of the "high ground" and therefore unlikely to be flooded in all but the worst-case scenarios. Even then, I have a boat so I am safe anyway
The only things I do have are a flashlight (might be useful if electricity falls out or a fire breaks out) and a longsword for when the zombie apocalypse hits

Thats cool. I think everyone should be prepared for their local weather or political conditions.

 Frazzled wrote:

 Iron_Captain wrote:
I don't prep, and I don't think anyone around here does. Prepping (especially stockpiling food) makes a lot of sense if you are in a remote area, but in densely populated areas it is not much use as aid is likely to arrive quickly if not immediately.
Here in the part of the Netherlands where I live, the only disaster that could realistically ever happen is that the dikes break and a huge part of the country gets flooded by the sea. Luckily, the town I live in just so happens to be on the edge of the "high ground" and therefore unlikely to be flooded in all but the worst-case scenarios. Even then, I have a boat so I am safe anyway
The only things I do have are a flashlight (might be useful if electricity falls out or a fire breaks out) and a longsword for when the zombie apocalypse hits

Thats cool. I think everyone should be prepared for their local weather or political conditions.

Id like to point out Florida and how long people were stranded during the floods.

 Frazzled wrote:

 Iron_Captain wrote:
I don't prep, and I don't think anyone around here does. Prepping (especially stockpiling food) makes a lot of sense if you are in a remote area, but in densely populated areas it is not much use as aid is likely to arrive quickly if not immediately.
Here in the part of the Netherlands where I live, the only disaster that could realistically ever happen is that the dikes break and a huge part of the country gets flooded by the sea. Luckily, the town I live in just so happens to be on the edge of the "high ground" and therefore unlikely to be flooded in all but the worst-case scenarios. Even then, I have a boat so I am safe anyway
The only things I do have are a flashlight (might be useful if electricity falls out or a fire breaks out) and a longsword for when the zombie apocalypse hits

Thats cool. I think everyone should be prepared for their local weather or political conditions.

So is the wiener dog uprising considered weather or political?

I have a bbq on the roof and a couple of months worth of dog biscuits at any one time.
The designated order of things to cook on it is currently, girlfriend, dog, cat.

 cuda1179 wrote:

This area has some completely undeveloped land, but still sits on literally the richest farming soil in the world (Loess Hills dirt, only found here and in a remote part of China). It's still far away from any kind of flood plain.

Löss soil is not that rare. It is also common in Hungary, Germany and Belgium has got a huge lot of it. The southern Netherlands also has some. Löss is indeed very fertile, but despite that it does not always make good farming ground because it is extremely susceptible to erosion and the layers underneath the thin top layer (aka the A-horizont) tend to be infertile. The best farming soil in the world is probably the black earth or chernozem found in a belt stretching from Ukraine into central Asia, along the Danube and in a small part of the northern US.

Does anyone find it strange that kids here have to learn this kind of specialist knowledge in basic geography class? I mean, what is the use for this knowledge for the average person? I just hate school, I wish it would teach something useful (like survival and first-aid skills, to keep this on topic).

 Alex Kolodotschko wrote:
I have a bbq on the roof and a couple of months worth of dog biscuits at any one time.
The designated order of things to cook on it is currently, girlfriend, dog, cat.

You may want to reconsider that order if you think you may ever be pining for some companionship.....

Remember..cats are donkey-caves by their very nature.

 TheMeanDM wrote:

 Alex Kolodotschko wrote:
I have a bbq on the roof and a couple of months worth of dog biscuits at any one time.
The designated order of things to cook on it is currently, girlfriend, dog, cat.

You may want to reconsider that order if you think you may ever be pining for some companionship.....

Remember..cats are donkey-caves by their very nature.

Yeah Cats first.

 curran12 wrote:

 Frazzled wrote:

 Iron_Captain wrote:
I don't prep, and I don't think anyone around here does. Prepping (especially stockpiling food) makes a lot of sense if you are in a remote area, but in densely populated areas it is not much use as aid is likely to arrive quickly if not immediately.
Here in the part of the Netherlands where I live, the only disaster that could realistically ever happen is that the dikes break and a huge part of the country gets flooded by the sea. Luckily, the town I live in just so happens to be on the edge of the "high ground" and therefore unlikely to be flooded in all but the worst-case scenarios. Even then, I have a boat so I am safe anyway
The only things I do have are a flashlight (might be useful if electricity falls out or a fire breaks out) and a longsword for when the zombie apocalypse hits

Thats cool. I think everyone should be prepared for their local weather or political conditions.

So is the wiener dog uprising considered weather or political?

I am playing through The Last of Us (fething amazing game, get the remastered version for PS4/XBone if you can).

It's really making me worry about my lack of preparedness if we do reach a total SHTF scenario.

 Desubot wrote:

 TheMeanDM wrote:

 Alex Kolodotschko wrote:
I have a bbq on the roof and a couple of months worth of dog biscuits at any one time.
The designated order of things to cook on it is currently, girlfriend, dog, cat.

You may want to reconsider that order if you think you may ever be pining for some companionship.....

Remember..cats are donkey-caves by their very nature.

Yeah Cats first.

Now, now. There's far more meat on a dog, they eat more, and cats are tidier in general. I know which one I'd rather be stuck on a roof with.

I live in a place that occasionally gets hurricaned (if it's not a word, it should be), so I should *probably* have more supplies on hand than I do. This thread's inspired me to think about that, at the very least!

 Spinner wrote:

 Desubot wrote:

 TheMeanDM wrote:

 Alex Kolodotschko wrote:
I have a bbq on the roof and a couple of months worth of dog biscuits at any one time.
The designated order of things to cook on it is currently, girlfriend, dog, cat.

You may want to reconsider that order if you think you may ever be pining for some companionship.....

Remember..cats are donkey-caves by their very nature.

Yeah Cats first.

Now, now. There's far more meat on a dog, they eat more, and cats are tidier in general. I know which one I'd rather be stuck on a roof with.

I live in a place that occasionally gets hurricaned (if it's not a word, it should be), so I should *probably* have more supplies on hand than I do. This thread's inspired me to think about that, at the very least!

But would a dog kick you off the roof into the water while you sleep?

i think not.

 curran12 wrote:

 Frazzled wrote:

 Iron_Captain wrote:
I don't prep, and I don't think anyone around here does. Prepping (especially stockpiling food) makes a lot of sense if you are in a remote area, but in densely populated areas it is not much use as aid is likely to arrive quickly if not immediately.
Here in the part of the Netherlands where I live, the only disaster that could realistically ever happen is that the dikes break and a huge part of the country gets flooded by the sea. Luckily, the town I live in just so happens to be on the edge of the "high ground" and therefore unlikely to be flooded in all but the worst-case scenarios. Even then, I have a boat so I am safe anyway
The only things I do have are a flashlight (might be useful if electricity falls out or a fire breaks out) and a longsword for when the zombie apocalypse hits

Thats cool. I think everyone should be prepared for their local weather or political conditions.

So is the wiener dog uprising considered weather or political?

Strictly force of nature.

 Desubot wrote:

 Spinner wrote:

 Desubot wrote:

 TheMeanDM wrote:

 Alex Kolodotschko wrote:
I have a bbq on the roof and a couple of months worth of dog biscuits at any one time.
The designated order of things to cook on it is currently, girlfriend, dog, cat.

You may want to reconsider that order if you think you may ever be pining for some companionship.....

Remember..cats are donkey-caves by their very nature.

Yeah Cats first.

Now, now. There's far more meat on a dog, they eat more, and cats are tidier in general. I know which one I'd rather be stuck on a roof with.

I live in a place that occasionally gets hurricaned (if it's not a word, it should be), so I should *probably* have more supplies on hand than I do. This thread's inspired me to think about that, at the very least!

But would a dog kick you off the roof into the water while you sleep?

i think not.

Anyone sharing a house with a cat for any length of time already knows to sleep lightly, or you're going to wake up with your head at an awkward angle, no pillow, and something purring smugly in your ear!

 cuda1179 wrote:
At the very least I think EVERYONE should have enough supplies to be able to stay inside their home for one week without needing to go outside.

That's not really saying anything... I haven't done any prep, but I had a quick look around my house, and I currently have about 9 litres of drinkable fluids (which doesn't include raiding the toilet cistern). I could easily hold out for a week on half that.

I've also got a jar of mayonnaise, which isn't a very exciting dinner prospect... but even if I had nothing else, it would probably be sufficient to keep me well fed for the week.

EDIT: (Found more water: there is half a glass by my bed, a fair amount in the kettle, some in the spray bottle for the iron, a few beers in liqueur cabinet... There is also my paint water, and some water in my plant bowls, which isn't very tempting, but I'd probably consider it before drinking my own urine...)

 Smacks wrote:

 cuda1179 wrote:
At the very least I think EVERYONE should have enough supplies to be able to stay inside their home for one week without needing to go outside.

That's not really saying anything... I haven't done any prep, but I had a quick look around my house, and I currently have about 9 litres of drinkable fluids (which doesn't include raiding the toilet cistern). I could easily hold out for a week on half that.

I've also got a jar of mayonnaise, which isn't a very exciting dinner prospect... but even if I had nothing else, it would probably be sufficient to keep me well fed for the week.

The assumption is that you may need to ditch the house. due to some unforeseen event.

be it the neighborhood burnt down or flood or earthquake. however it goes. you may not have enough food or water to go around between the survivors and you may not be able to leave the immediate area or get help quick.

chances are you really wont but thats the point of prepping. (not to the crazy extreme but at least having extra food, water, clothing, shelter, fire, defense and other things for your local meta)

 Smacks wrote:

 cuda1179 wrote:
At the very least I think EVERYONE should have enough supplies to be able to stay inside their home for one week without needing to go outside.

That's not really saying anything... I haven't done any prep, but I had a quick look around my house, and I currently have about 9 litres of drinkable fluids (which doesn't include raiding the toilet cistern). I could easily hold out for a week on half that.

I've also got a jar of mayonnaise, which isn't a very exciting dinner prospect... but even if I had nothing else, it would probably be sufficient to keep me well fed for the week.

EDIT: (Found more water: there is half a glass by my bed, a fair amount in the kettle, some in the spray bottle for the iron, a few beers in liqueur cabinet... There is also my paint water, and some water in my plant bowls, which isn't very tempting, but I'd probably consider it before drinking my own urine...)

If you live in the UK you almost certainly are within an hour's walk of some source of fresh water like a river or lake.

If all else fails, stick some buckets outside and start a game of cricket.

 Kilkrazy wrote:

 Smacks wrote:

 cuda1179 wrote:
At the very least I think EVERYONE should have enough supplies to be able to stay inside their home for one week without needing to go outside.

That's not really saying anything... I haven't done any prep, but I had a quick look around my house, and I currently have about 9 litres of drinkable fluids (which doesn't include raiding the toilet cistern). I could easily hold out for a week on half that.

I've also got a jar of mayonnaise, which isn't a very exciting dinner prospect... but even if I had nothing else, it would probably be sufficient to keep me well fed for the week.

EDIT: (Found more water: there is half a glass by my bed, a fair amount in the kettle, some in the spray bottle for the iron, a few beers in liqueur cabinet... There is also my paint water, and some water in my plant bowls, which isn't very tempting, but I'd probably consider it before drinking my own urine...)

If you live in the UK you almost certainly are within an hour's walk of some source of fresh water like a river or lake.

If all else fails, stick some buckets outside and start a game of cricket.

That or look at the sky with a bright smile and loudly announce 'What a beautiful day! We should all go to the seaside!'

 Iron_Captain wrote:

 cuda1179 wrote:

This area has some completely undeveloped land, but still sits on literally the richest farming soil in the world (Loess Hills dirt, only found here and in a remote part of China). It's still far away from any kind of flood plain.

Löss soil is not that rare. It is also common in Hungary, Germany and Belgium has got a huge lot of it. The southern Netherlands also has some. Löss is indeed very fertile, but despite that it does not always make good farming ground because it is extremely susceptible to erosion and the layers underneath the thin top layer (aka the A-horizont) tend to be infertile. The best farming soil in the world is probably the black earth or chernozem found in a belt stretching from Ukraine into central Asia, along the Danube and in a small part of the northern US.

Does anyone find it strange that kids here have to learn this kind of specialist knowledge in basic geography class? I mean, what is the use for this knowledge for the average person? I just hate school, I wish it would teach something useful (like survival and first-aid skills, to keep this on topic).

I was a little inaccurate in my description. The area I described doesn't just have Loess soil, it has mountains of it, almost literally. We have mounds of Loess soil 200 feet deep forming tall hills, or bluffs, running 150 miles long. It is this Loess hills (not quite mountains) that is the rare geological oddity. It's a bit weird really. To the east and to the west you have nearly perfectly flat land that stretches into the horizon, but this strip of tall hills seems to run perfectly north-south right in the middle of it.

I do to some degree.
I have a few bug-out bags here and there, I have one in my car in case of breakdowns in the desert (I work in Saudi Arabia) and I have boxes of bottled water and food in a store room.
I also have copies of all my important documents copied in a waterproof folder, with scanned copies in a hardened flash drive.
If a flood or fire destroys your house, you're going to need thos insurance documents and deeds.....

We don't really have space for any meaningful prepping. Once the garage is reorganised I might keep some more tinned stuff out there (veg, soda) just so I can take advantage of cash & carry deals.

I prep for natural disasters but not the nuclear war/zombie land ect stuff. But I've lived in very remote places, through fires and storms and floods, including being landlocked in the middle of Australia for 9 months, after 3 months they flew some food in by helicopter though.
Currently i keep about 1month food, water, heating/cooking gas and first aid boxes/cleaning products/toilet paper/spare batteries ect, am renovating kitchen and laundry/storage room at moment so that will increase after new cupboards are done.
I would love to build a basement for better fire protection but there really not done round here and getting approval is really hard.

 TheMeanDM wrote:

 Alex Kolodotschko wrote:
I have a bbq on the roof and a couple of months worth of dog biscuits at any one time.
The designated order of things to cook on it is currently, girlfriend, dog, cat.

You may want to reconsider that order if you think you may ever be pining for some companionship.....

Remember..cats are donkey-caves by their very nature.

But on the other hand, he is keeping the pussy around for as long as possible.


Sorry, I'll see myself out...

 Inquisitor Lord Bane wrote:
I hang out on http://www.survivalistboards.com

And while yeah, there are doomsday peppers who think Obama is coming to declare marshal law and take over the world, just as many want to be prepared for any sort of SHTF situation. My favorite one is this guy: http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=230112

To cut to the chase, dude lost his job, and got a part time job to pay the major bills, and his family lived off their stocked food for 10 months in order to not sell their house. It isn't always going to be the commies, or the sky falling. Sometimes it's life, and people who prep tend to have more options.

My current house is too small to stock food or supplies, but I get water out of a spring box, and it has run dry for days in the past. So I built a water collection and purifying system to hold an additional 250 gallons of drinkable water.

How much space, realistically do you need to have a reasonable supply? It looks from a quick skim that there's at well over 1000lbs of food there. That's at least 500 litres / ~100 gallons of storage volume, before any water.

Do many of you have a spare waterproof storage room / garage / bunker that can take all of that stuff? In the UK, we'd really struggle to justify it - the weather here is never usually that bad, and it's possible to walk to several population centres*.

It also seems to be a very US thing - I'm assuming space is a factor, but is there some political bias as well? I get the impression that the US government doesn't treat the poor/sick/unemployed very well at all. Or is it just this sense of self-sufficiency you all seem to have, or just because wherever you are is prone to bad snow / flooding / quakes? Or just something mundane like distance to shops?


*We got snowed in about 6 years ago, so I got a hiking bag out and walked to the supermarket, stocked up for a couple of days and then sat it out. There was snow on the ground for a couple of weeks, and no trains to get to work, but the roads were usable after a few days and then everything got restocked. In terms of any apocalypse we'd be totally stuffed anyway.

Herzlos wrote:

 Inquisitor Lord Bane wrote:
I hang out on http://www.survivalistboards.com

And while yeah, there are doomsday peppers who think Obama is coming to declare marshal law and take over the world, just as many want to be prepared for any sort of SHTF situation. My favorite one is this guy: http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=230112

To cut to the chase, dude lost his job, and got a part time job to pay the major bills, and his family lived off their stocked food for 10 months in order to not sell their house. It isn't always going to be the commies, or the sky falling. Sometimes it's life, and people who prep tend to have more options.

My current house is too small to stock food or supplies, but I get water out of a spring box, and it has run dry for days in the past. So I built a water collection and purifying system to hold an additional 250 gallons of drinkable water.

How much space, realistically do you need to have a reasonable supply? It looks from a quick skim that there's at well over 1000lbs of food there. That's at least 500 litres / ~100 gallons of storage volume, before any water.

Do many of you have a spare waterproof storage room / garage / bunker that can take all of that stuff? In the UK, we'd really struggle to justify it - the weather here is never usually that bad, and it's possible to walk to several population centres*.

It also seems to be a very US thing - I'm assuming space is a factor, but is there some political bias as well? I get the impression that the US government doesn't treat the poor/sick/unemployed very well at all. Or is it just this sense of self-sufficiency you all seem to have, or just because wherever you are is prone to bad snow / flooding / quakes? Or just something mundane like distance to shops?


*We got snowed in about 6 years ago, so I got a hiking bag out and walked to the supermarket, stocked up for a couple of days and then sat it out. There was snow on the ground for a couple of weeks, and no trains to get to work, but the roads were usable after a few days and then everything got restocked. In terms of any apocalypse we'd be totally stuffed anyway.

Well to be fair i think the UK trusts there government wayyyyyy more to take care of them compared to the US.
There is also a lot of more isolated areas that wont get any sort of help besides their neighbors in the US.

Also our emergency response isnt always the best :/

so a lot of people get stranded no matter how much money is getting funneled into emergency systems.

How far was your hike to the supermarket?

It is about 10 miles from my house to the nearest one.

What would have done if they were closed, or out of what you needed (if they have no power or deliveries can't get to them it may effect your ability to buy stuff...)

Folks hit by Katrina may have been without power for weeks, and stores run out of stuff pretty damned quickly if they don't get their 2-3 times a week deliveries. Many sell out of critical items when there is warning of a bad storm.

There's a cluster of them about 1-1.5 miles away in one direction, about 5 in the other. To be fair, witih population density, I imagine most people in the UK are within a mile or 2 from a supermarket.

I get the impression that a lot of the US is a whole lot more isolated (I was in a large rural town in PA, where it was quite a hike to the local Walmart/K-Mart - maybe 4 miles, but with no pedestrian considerations at all).

I have some boxes of ammo and water, but that's it. I'd like to get more, but I don't want something that will go bad. I thought about MREs, but want something we'll also use before they go bad. We'll probably eventually stock up on canned beans and large containers of nuts. The Monkey is vegetarian, so other options are out. I've got the space in the basement. Just need to put some shelving up.

Herzlos wrote:
There's a cluster of them about 1-1.5 miles away in one direction, about 5 in the other. To be fair, witih population density, I imagine most people in the UK are within a mile or 2 from a supermarket.

I get the impression that a lot of the US is a whole lot more isolated (I was in a large rural town in PA, where it was quite a hike to the local Walmart/K-Mart - maybe 4 miles, but with no pedestrian considerations at all).

Yeah, I live in a small rural town in PA, and its 8 miles to Walmart (which being the only store in town, is out of stock on essentials a lot) and 12 miles to the nearest gas station. I can't drink my tap water, and as I've said before, running out is a legitimate concern. And last winter we were snowed in for 3 days. So it's good to have some stuff on hand, but I don't have space to go overboard.

Curious to know what kind of "food" you have chosen to stock up on.

 Monkey Tamer wrote:
I have some boxes of ammo and water, but that's it. I'd like to get more, but I don't want something that will go bad. I thought about MREs, but want something we'll also use before they go bad. We'll probably eventually stock up on canned beans and large containers of nuts. The Monkey is vegetarian, so other options are out. I've got the space in the basement. Just need to put some shelving up.

Thats a shame

i hear pemmican can last like 30 years if properly made and stored.

It doesn't taste that bad ether.

 TheMeanDM wrote:
Curious to know what kind of "food" you have chosen to stock up on.

Long pig. Tastes like chicken

 feeder wrote:

 TheMeanDM wrote:
Curious to know what kind of "food" you have chosen to stock up on.

Long pig. Tastes like chicken

My neighbor across the street is pretty fat. I have six bags of charcoal. Is that enough? Do I have to wait until SHTF or can I start the coals if its just a possibility? What if its just kind of dark outside with a chance of rain?

 Monkey Tamer wrote:
I have some boxes of ammo and water, but that's it. I'd like to get more, but I don't want something that will go bad. I thought about MREs, but want something we'll also use before they go bad. We'll probably eventually stock up on canned beans and large containers of nuts. The Monkey is vegetarian, so other options are out. I've got the space in the basement. Just need to put some shelving up.

Take a look at: http://www.mypatriotsupply.com/Emergency_Survival_Food_s/104.htm

They claim their stuff is good for 25 years. Don't have any but I have read decent reviews. They also sell a solar power set up I think looks pretty cool.

 Frazzled wrote:

 feeder wrote:

 TheMeanDM wrote:
Curious to know what kind of "food" you have chosen to stock up on.

Long pig. Tastes like chicken

My neighbor across the street is pretty fat. I have six bags of charcoal. Is that enough? Do I have to wait until SHTF or can I start the coals if its just a possibility? What if its just kind of dark outside with a chance of rain?

To quote Pancho Villa, "What happens in Texas, stays in Texas."

 Kilkrazy wrote:
The main problem is the amount of storage space you need for a six month supply of lots of things.

I'd have thought the main problem would be underestimating how quickly you'd become sick of eating corned beef.

 feeder wrote:

 Frazzled wrote:

 feeder wrote:

 TheMeanDM wrote:
Curious to know what kind of "food" you have chosen to stock up on.

Long pig. Tastes like chicken

My neighbor across the street is pretty fat. I have six bags of charcoal. Is that enough? Do I have to wait until SHTF or can I start the coals if its just a possibility? What if its just kind of dark outside with a chance of rain?

To quote Pancho Villa, "What happens in Texas, stays in Texas."

Alrighty. Barbecoa here we come!

 CptJake wrote:

 Monkey Tamer wrote:
I have some boxes of ammo and water, but that's it. I'd like to get more, but I don't want something that will go bad. I thought about MREs, but want something we'll also use before they go bad. We'll probably eventually stock up on canned beans and large containers of nuts. The Monkey is vegetarian, so other options are out. I've got the space in the basement. Just need to put some shelving up.

Take a look at: http://www.mypatriotsupply.com/Emergency_Survival_Food_s/104.htm

They claim their stuff is good for 25 years. Don't have any but I have read decent reviews. They also sell a solar power set up I think looks pretty cool.

Thanks for the link. They do have some vegetarian friendly stuff. I'll pick a few up to throw in the basement should poo hit the fan.

In 2008/2009 when the global financial collapse happened lots of people, very sadly, fell for the Apocalyptic rhetoric, listened to the Chicken Littles who ran about crying "the sky is falling" and went off the grid, invested in canned food, bottled water, shelters, guns, etc., etc.
Others invested in absurdly cheap stocks, bought distressed real estate, started small businesses and otherwise maintained their heads.
So let's take an assessment. Tasteless, ever-decaying MRE's or more than a doubling in portfolio value? Who do you think is winning this debate?
Panic is never, let me repeat, never a strategy. Get informed, keep perspective or get left behind.
In the immortal words of FDR, "All we have to fear is, fear itself." Truer words have never been said.

 BigWaaagh wrote:
In 2008/2009 when the global financial collapse happened lots of people, very sadly, fell for the Apocalyptic rhetoric, listened to the Chicken Littles who ran about crying "the sky is falling" and went off the grid, invested in canned food, bottled water, shelters, guns, etc., etc.
Others invested in absurdly cheap stocks, bought distressed real estate, started small businesses and otherwise maintained their heads.
So let's take an assessment. Tasteless, ever-decaying MRE's or more than a doubling in portfolio value? Who do you think is winning this debate?
Panic is never, let me repeat, never a strategy. Get informed, keep perspective or get left behind.
In the immortal words of FDR, "All we have to fear is, fear itself." Truer words have never been said.

I agree. I want to be prepped for a couple months at most disruption in food distribution. I didn't have much money to invest during the crash, but what I did paid off well. If we ever have a full collapse scenario I'll probably die from looters, disease, lack of clean potable water, or the cold.

 Inquisitor Lord Bane wrote:

Herzlos wrote:
There's a cluster of them about 1-1.5 miles away in one direction, about 5 in the other. To be fair, witih population density, I imagine most people in the UK are within a mile or 2 from a supermarket.

I get the impression that a lot of the US is a whole lot more isolated (I was in a large rural town in PA, where it was quite a hike to the local Walmart/K-Mart - maybe 4 miles, but with no pedestrian considerations at all).

Yeah, I live in a small rural town in PA, and its 8 miles to Walmart (which being the only store in town, is out of stock on essentials a lot) and 12 miles to the nearest gas station. I can't drink my tap water, and as I've said before, running out is a legitimate concern. And last winter we were snowed in for 3 days. So it's good to have some stuff on hand, but I don't have space to go overboard.

Lol, where i used to live, 190miles (321kms) to closest food or fuel, only had bore water (smelled like rotten eggs due to sulfur in it). And that town only had one supermarket and one gas station so was easy to run out of things too. Live in town now though, but learnt a lot about the inability of a lot of people to deal if there local shops aren't open all the time since living in town.

 Inquisitor Lord Bane wrote:

Herzlos wrote:
There's a cluster of them about 1-1.5 miles away in one direction, about 5 in the other. To be fair, witih population density, I imagine most people in the UK are within a mile or 2 from a supermarket.

I get the impression that a lot of the US is a whole lot more isolated (I was in a large rural town in PA, where it was quite a hike to the local Walmart/K-Mart - maybe 4 miles, but with no pedestrian considerations at all).

Yeah, I live in a small rural town in PA, and its 8 miles to Walmart (which being the only store in town, is out of stock on essentials a lot) and 12 miles to the nearest gas station. I can't drink my tap water, and as I've said before, running out is a legitimate concern. And last winter we were snowed in for 3 days. So it's good to have some stuff on hand, but I don't have space to go overboard.

Why can't you drink your tap water? Have you considered adding a small emergency water filtration system for emergencies? A couple hundred dollars will let you basically filter raw sewage into 1,000 gallons of drinkable water.

I'd say that the US doesn't have total faith in the Government helping us. Remember, it took 3 weeks for FIMA just to get bottled water to major port city.


Another thing to consider when prepping of some kind of natural disaster: Are you prepping for yourself, or for your neighborhood? If you plan on staying low, having exactly what you need and not sharing, yeah you can survive on very little. Remember though that most people are stupid and don't plan for the future. It takes a lot of willpower to NOT share when people are in need. Even if you don't want to share, they might try to force the situation if they get desperate enough. You might need to donate to keep your conscience clean or your skull intact. Just look at New Orleans after Katrina hit. There were a lot of beatings and even killing for even minor goods.

Will those filters (like the life straws, etc) filter out pteroleum type stuff (oil, spilled gas, etc).

 cuda1179 wrote:


Another thing to consider when prepping of some kind of natural disaster: Are you prepping for yourself, or for your neighborhood? If you plan on staying low, having exactly what you need and not sharing, yeah you can survive on very little. Remember though that most people are stupid and don't plan for the future. It takes a lot of willpower to NOT share when people are in need. Even if you don't want to share, they might try to force the situation if they get desperate enough. You might need to donate to keep your conscience clean or your skull intact. Just look at New Orleans after Katrina hit. There were a lot of beatings and even killing for even minor goods.

I'm not worried about my skull, and you can only have problems with conscience while you're alive. And I'm pretty good in the will power department. I do help others, and would in a disaster scenario, up to the point it put my family at risk.

I was reading a survival guide once. It stated a weird, but interesting fact. In most large-scale survival situations (natural disaster, power grid failing for weeks, civil unrest, etc.) there are certain people to avoid if you want to manage your risk.

The most dangerous people out there in an emergency: 12-17 year-olds. They have this odd combination of physical ability, knowledge, and lack of experience that makes them EXTREMLY dangerous.

Basically, anyone younger doesn't pose a physical threat. Anyone older has enough life experience that they can solve problems in a non-violent manner. Teenagers know they need stuff, have limited life experience to obtain it, and thus fall back on what they do have, violence. Eventually most people can turn violent as well, but for teens it's basically one of the few tricks they have.

This was especially true during Katrina, after certain earthquakes, and in parts of Asia and Africa.

 BigWaaagh wrote:
Panic is never, let me repeat, never a strategy. Get informed, keep perspective or get left behind.

Very true. The other part to remember is that it isn't just fear and panic that cause this, but also fantasy. It's a very flattering fantasy to dream of the rest of the world going to hell, but because you stockpiled, planned and built up survival skills then you can look after your family.

Now, this doesn't mean everyone who has any kind of emergency store is in the wrong. Not by any means, having enough to outlast a natural disaster makes sense for a lot of people in a lot of places. And it's also perfectly okay to look to go off the grid just because that's something you prefer.

But there is a pretty large group of people for whom prepping is the product of a combination of fear and escapist fantasy, and the end result is lots of money and manhours poured in to nothing.

 sebster wrote:

 BigWaaagh wrote:
Panic is never, let me repeat, never a strategy. Get informed, keep perspective or get left behind.

But there is a pretty large group of people for whom prepping is the product of a combination of fear and escapist fantasy, and the end result is lots of money and manhours poured in to nothing.

I'm going to have to agree with this, in part. Are my plans fantasy? Well, in a sense, yes they are. That being said, even if I wasn't prepping I'd still like one day have a small cabin retreat with a basement. If I'm going to be making it anyway, the additional cost making that basement a "bunker" with extra reinforcements isn't really that much of an additional cost. When you are willing to drop $100,000 into property and structures for a fun get away, adding another $7,000 to double up for "just in case" isn't really crazy.

I also enjoy collecting firearms. The fact that I have a rather large ammo stockpile actually started well before I considered any kind of prepping. I just hate running out of ammo and not having the local store have my preferred brands.

In the end, it's really just a hobby. If it's looked at as such then it definitely has more utility than plastic miniatures, golf clubs, sports cars, stamp collections, etc.

Well now we've voted to leave the EU, prepping seems like it might be a good idea after all. At the rate the pound is falling, canned food will probably be a more viable currency next week!

 cuda1179 wrote:
I'm going to have to agree with this, in part. Are my plans fantasy? Well, in a sense, yes they are. That being said, even if I wasn't prepping I'd still like one day have a small cabin retreat with a basement. If I'm going to be making it anyway, the additional cost making that basement a "bunker" with extra reinforcements isn't really that much of an additional cost. When you are willing to drop $100,000 into property and structures for a fun get away, adding another $7,000 to double up for "just in case" isn't really crazy.

I also enjoy collecting firearms. The fact that I have a rather large ammo stockpile actually started well before I considered any kind of prepping. I just hate running out of ammo and not having the local store have my preferred brands.

In the end, it's really just a hobby. If it's looked at as such then it definitely has more utility than plastic miniatures, golf clubs, sports cars, stamp collections, etc.

It really does come down to what it being given up. If the money you're spending is your fun money, then there's really no issue. But you've got the money, no issue. But if it means you're cutting back on stuff for your kids, or not putting enough in to your retirement, then it is a problem.

If you can afford a weekend retreat and that's where you want to spend your money, of course you should do it. I've got plans for a weekend place down the line as well. Of course, there's probably a difference in exactly how much of a get away we're talking - I get the impression you mean seriously isolated. I'm thinking more 10 minutes from the wineries


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Smacks wrote:
Well now we've voted to leave the EU, pepping seems like it might be a good idea after all. At the rate the pound is falling, canned food will probably be a more viable currency next week!

A lot of hedge funds ran their own polls and were pouring money in to the pound early on election day. It might not be a total collapse of society, but their might be some Mad Max times on Wall Street

 sebster wrote:

 cuda1179 wrote:
I'm going to have to agree with this, in part. Are my plans fantasy? Well, in a sense, yes they are. That being said, even if I wasn't prepping I'd still like one day have a small cabin retreat with a basement. If I'm going to be making it anyway, the additional cost making that basement a "bunker" with extra reinforcements isn't really that much of an additional cost. When you are willing to drop $100,000 into property and structures for a fun get away, adding another $7,000 to double up for "just in case" isn't really crazy.

I also enjoy collecting firearms. The fact that I have a rather large ammo stockpile actually started well before I considered any kind of prepping. I just hate running out of ammo and not having the local store have my preferred brands.

In the end, it's really just a hobby. If it's looked at as such then it definitely has more utility than plastic miniatures, golf clubs, sports cars, stamp collections, etc.

It really does come down to what it being given up. If the money you're spending is your fun money, then there's really no issue. But you've got the money, no issue. But if it means you're cutting back on stuff for your kids, or not putting enough in to your retirement, then it is a problem.

If you can afford a weekend retreat and that's where you want to spend your money, of course you should do it. I've got plans for a weekend place down the line as well. Of course, there's probably a difference in exactly how much of a get away we're talking - I get the impression you mean seriously isolated. I'm thinking more 10 minutes from the wineries

Street

No, not nearly as isolated as you think. The geography of my area is a little weird. My town has basically anything you'd want on a daily basis, but if you need something specialized, or want to have a night out, then you "go to the city" which is about 70 miles away. My perfect weekend retreat place is actually closer to two major cities (40 miles) than my actual home. It's just in a place where no one really goes, and is off the beaten path by a few miles. It's isolated by traffic flow and some small geological formations, but I could probably walk out of there to a major city in 24 hours if I needed to.

 cuda1179 wrote:
No, not nearly as isolated as you think. The geography of my area is a little weird. My town has basically anything you'd want on a daily basis, but if you need something specialized, or want to have a night out, then you "go to the city" which is about 70 miles away. My perfect weekend retreat place is actually closer to two major cities (40 miles) than my actual home. It's just in a place where no one really goes, and is off the beaten path by a few miles. It's isolated by traffic flow and some small geological formations, but I could probably walk out of there to a major city in 24 hours if I needed to.

Ah, fair enough. I know some people for whom 40km from a city would count as 'suburbia'

 sebster wrote:

 cuda1179 wrote:
No, not nearly as isolated as you think. The geography of my area is a little weird. My town has basically anything you'd want on a daily basis, but if you need something specialized, or want to have a night out, then you "go to the city" which is about 70 miles away. My perfect weekend retreat place is actually closer to two major cities (40 miles) than my actual home. It's just in a place where no one really goes, and is off the beaten path by a few miles. It's isolated by traffic flow and some small geological formations, but I could probably walk out of there to a major city in 24 hours if I needed to.

Ah, fair enough. I know some people for whom 40km from a city would count as 'suburbia'

Miles not kms. And Australia rather different to nearly anywhere else in regards to "isolation" lol.

 cuda1179 wrote:
I was reading a survival guide once. It stated a weird, but interesting fact. In most large-scale survival situations (natural disaster, power grid failing for weeks, civil unrest, etc.) there are certain people to avoid if you want to manage your risk.

The most dangerous people out there in an emergency: 12-17 year-olds. They have this odd combination of physical ability, knowledge, and lack of experience that makes them EXTREMLY dangerous.

Basically, anyone younger doesn't pose a physical threat. Anyone older has enough life experience that they can solve problems in a non-violent manner. Teenagers know they need stuff, have limited life experience to obtain it, and thus fall back on what they do have, violence. Eventually most people can turn violent as well, but for teens it's basically one of the few tricks they have.

This was especially true during Katrina, after certain earthquakes, and in parts of Asia and Africa.

You do realize that if the power goes off all those 12 to 17 year olds will lose their internetz and become zombies. Thats how it starts.

 sebster wrote:

 BigWaaagh wrote:
Panic is never, let me repeat, never a strategy. Get informed, keep perspective or get left behind.

Very true. The other part to remember is that it isn't just fear and panic that cause this, but also fantasy. It's a very flattering fantasy to dream of the rest of the world going to hell, but because you stockpiled, planned and built up survival skills then you can look after your family.

Now, this doesn't mean everyone who has any kind of emergency store is in the wrong. Not by any means, having enough to outlast a natural disaster makes sense for a lot of people in a lot of places. And it's also perfectly okay to look to go off the grid just because that's something you prefer.

But there is a pretty large group of people for whom prepping is the product of a combination of fear and escapist fantasy, and the end result is lots of money and manhours poured in to nothing.

The Japanese "prep" on a nationwide basis, because of their long experience of serious natural disasters.

Advanced volcano, earthquake and tsunami warning systems.
National alert communication system by TV, radio and mobile phone.
Automatic shutdown for high speed trains, reactors and power lines, etc.
Regular drills in schools and businesses for what to do in an emergency.
Planned refuges for the people to go to for help -- usually local community centres and schools.
Annual public drills for the emergency services and population.
Central government recommended stockpile of two weeks food and other emergency supplies to be held by local facilities. Evidence after the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011 was that 69% of feeding facilities had food stockpiles before the disaster. This was up from 34%

Don't forget semi annual Godzilla attacks. Any nation that has to plan for regular visits from Godzilla (could be good Godzilla, but you have to plan for bad Godzilla) and various aliens trying to take over the world, has to be prepared.

We have two go bags with long life food and basic first aid and survival supplies. Also got a generator this past black Friday. And have enough firearms for protecting the family but need more ammo.

I'm in Florida so storms are always a threat.

I would like more long shelf life food and some good water storage.

Generators and a power inverter were two things that I invested in long ago. I have an 8-foot deep freezer packed with meat and frozen pizzas that would cost a fortune to replace if the power went off for a few days. I also have tropical fish in 3 large aquariums that are dependent on air pumps, filtration, and heating. I'm not letting them die because the power goes out for a day.

In the short term, I plan to plug the inverter into my car and just run the pumps on the aquariums. In the case of a longer power outage, I have a large generator that I can run on either propane (tanks) or plug into my natural gas line. I also have a smaller gas-powered generator that is more portable. Black Friday sales can be so tempting.....