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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.....