Emergency Preparedness Thread

[old_gregg]

it's still not a bad deal. here's the non-jumbo edition for $19.99:

http://www.lapolicegear.com/tabaoutbag.html

[UtahDan]

I'm curious about something having never tried it myself. For those who store several months or even a year worth of food and other goods, are you able to effectively rotate through it? In other words, what percentage would you say eventually gets used and what percentage eventually gets thrown away?

[Surfah]

Anyone see the new show advertised on Nat Geo I think called Doomsday Preppers? It follows 4 "nutty" survivalist families.

Check out this clip:

[YOUTUBE]tUM0TOkNALg[/YOUTUBE]



I am not that tin foil hat but the self sufficiency is pretty cool.

[UtahDan]

I am not that tin foil hat but the self sufficiency is pretty cool.

I have read before about people who remove themselves completely from "the grid." Totally self sufficient, no electricity, no nothing. It is pretty impressive. I think it would be a neat intellectual challenge to accomplish it, but I would run out of will power way in advance of achieving it.

[Surfah]

I have read before about people who remove themselves completely from "the grid." Totally self sufficient, no electricity, no nothing. It is pretty impressive. I think it would be a neat intellectual challenge to accomplish it, but I would run out of will power way in advance of achieving it.

What is particularly interesting about that family in the video is they're right there in the middle of Phoenix. Now the fact that he believes the sun is going to fart and cause a doomsday scenario this year is nutty. But the ingenuity to do what he has to be self sufficient is pretty sweet.

[Gidget]

I'm curious about something having never tried it myself. For those who store several months or even a year worth of food and other goods, are you able to effectively rotate through it? In other words, what percentage would you say eventually gets used and what percentage eventually gets thrown away?

Surfah's mom has a good amount of food storage, and so far I have observed that we do effectively rotate through things . . . . that we use regularly. This may seem like an obvious observation but if you are going to spend a crap load of money on 20 pounds of dried shredded potatoes, or wheat you better make sure you have a plan or at least have a plan to buy it again after 20 years. Our family tends to use flour, sugar, chocolate chips, beans, and wheat quite a bit, but that is because my MIL bakes a lot. We rarely eat potatoes at all in this house (as most of you know Hawaiians = white rice) and she was saving this wheat for Armageddon that did eventually go bad about 20 years into its 25 year exp, same with some of the beans she had stored. We always have 2 back ups of almost everything int he kitchen: ketchup, mustard, peanut butter, toilet paper, paper plates, cake mixes, cereal, canned foods (we buy those in half flats), applesauce, tuna, ziplock bags, toothbrushes, shampoo, soap, brown sugar, etc.

Anyway, so basically we plan for at least 6 months regular goods, and for years with bulk items (beans, wheat, choc chips, sugar, flour). We also do have some food we have canned ourselves, sweet pickles, jam . . . . And I would say we rotate really well through over 90% regular items (every day use) and about 50% bulk items, but we are also a big family living in one house (with big eaters). I think it depends on how well you want to be prepared for Armageddon/Zombie/nuclear war type times, or if you are just looking to have a good 6 month to 12 month stock. We are not very good about making meals in advance either. We don't have the freezer space to store freezer meals (even with 3 freezers ), but I can see this being a great way to use more bulk items in bigger portions at a time.

Have no idea if this helped. This is just what happens in our house.

[old_gregg]

I have read before about people who remove themselves completely from "the grid." Totally self sufficient, no electricity, no nothing. It is pretty impressive. I think it would be a neat intellectual challenge to accomplish it, but I would run out of will power way in advance of achieving it.

right. the attractive part about emergency preparedness/survivalism has almost nothing to do with some imminent threat of societal collapse (at least for most people), and is way more about the game of having effective tools and skills for a lot of different scenarios.

[RobinFinderson]

Anyone see the new show advertised on Nat Geo I think called Doomsday Preppers? It follows 4 "nutty" survivalist families.

Check out this clip:

[YOUTUBE]tUM0TOkNALg[/YOUTUBE]



I am not that tin foil hat but the self sufficiency is pretty cool.

I started watching this posted video last night and didn't stop until it ended abruptly. I've been contemplating building a similar project at the South Central house for years, since we will probably move back there when Little Robin leaves for college. I think I would get sick of all of the eggs and tilapia.

The one thing the couple doesn't mention -- their setup is only good as long as they have access to fresh water. In Phoenix, I suspect the water is going to stop flowing pretty quick, come doomsday.

[Eddie]

I started watching this posted video last night and didn't stop until it ended abruptly. I've been contemplating building a similar project at the South Central house for years, since we will probably move back there when Little Robin leaves for college. I think I would get sick of all of the eggs and tilapia.

The one thing the couple doesn't mention -- their setup is only good as long as they have access to fresh water. In Phoenix, I suspect the water is going to stop flowing pretty quick, come doomsday.

I thought they indicated that they recycle the water. Now, I know that only goes so far - but they talked about using that green mossy crap to purify it, and it going through a cycle. I guess I'm saying that depending on how they do that they might not need a whole lot of incoming water to maintain their ecosystem. But I agree with you that they will need some.

[RobinFinderson]

I thought they indicated that they recycle the water. Now, I know that only goes so far - but they talked about using that green mossy crap to purify it, and it going through a cycle. I guess I'm saying that depending on how they do that they might not need a whole lot of incoming water to maintain their ecosystem. But I agree with you that they will need some.

True, but I imagine the rate of evaporation as a function of surface area, relative humidity, and air turbidity is not too forgiving in Phoenix.

[old_gregg]

good deal on a fenix light:

http://slickguns.com/product/fenix-2...-flashlight-60

[SCcoug]

Doomsday Preppers is awesome. By my count there have been four Mormons on so far. My favorite was the Utah woman prepping for a global pandemic. I wish I could find the video to post. They showed a drill she ran during an extended family dinner. It included making grandpa and grandma quickly dress in a bunny suit go outside and decontaminate on the way back in for dinner. A daughter-in law showed up late and had to wait in the living room isolation unit with her toddler.

[old_gregg]

so, we were going through some stuff of my grandparents' tonight and i came across this bad boy. it's a buck, and it's stamped:

"Buck
124
U.S.A."

based on a bit of research, i think that it's a post 1986 model (because of the stamp format) but i don't know anything about it other than that. any knife experts want to chime in? it looks like they go for >$150 online, which is nice to know even though i'm not interested in getting rid of it.

[DU Ute]

so, we were going through some stuff of my grandparents' tonight and i came across this bad boy. it's a buck, and it's stamped:

"Buck
124
U.S.A."

based on a bit of research, i think that it's a post 1986 model (because of the stamp format) but i don't know anything about it other than that. any knife experts want to chime in? it looks like they go for >$150 online, which is nice to know even though i'm not interested in getting rid of it.

That is a huge knife.

[FN Phat]

That is a huge knife.

Nope. Just small hands.