Any preps other than a thousand bullets and a case of canned tuna?

[Loshali]

I've been watching these boards for a few months now, and it seems that about half the talk is how many guns and bullets we have stored, how many more can I get before they stop selling them at Walmart, and did I get that extra case of tuna while it was on sale.
Unless there's a lot of preparation going on off-board, I think there's going to be a lot of supposedly 'prepared' people gonna be in a whole mess of hurt and panic should SHTF anytime soon. Self sustenance should be the biggest issue IMHO, should things really go bad. What happens if you do happen to get attacked, sideswiped, or somehow someone otherwise obsconds with your food? How do you plan on replenishing it? Somewhere, someone, no matter how many preps they make, maybe, just maybe, might get their provisions stolen, in the rare instance that they cant be all places on their homestead at the same time.

True survivalists are just as much sustainers as they are defenders of their homestead. If you cant renew it, then you havent really thought thru your provision plan.

A quick checklist to see if you've thought about:

PROPER long term storage of canned goods

Proper long term storage of home canned goods

REPLACING that food storage once its used up? (self sustenance)

Waste material: Compost toilet? Gonna go poo in the back yard?

Water supply: Rainwater cistern? Any Rainwater cache at all? (Hope you arent poo-ing in the back yard near your water supply). Bottled water for how long? Filters? What do you do when those filters are used up?

Lighting after the batteries and candles are used up? Renewable lighting (olive tree and compress for pressing oil for oil lamps?)? Cheap sources of lighting, like mineral oil in kerosene lamps, etc? Solar collectors?

Heating the house, the entire house or just one room for conservation? We are a wasteful society, is it necessary to heat the entire house every night in the winter? Have you made provisions for that, or can you make do with just one room?

What happens if the unthinkable happens, and your ammo stash is destroyed, stolen, or otherwise made 'useless'? Can you protect yourself with a bow and arrow, and do you know how to make those arrows? (yes thats far fetched, but it may come to that sometime, if you truly believe we are almost in a SHTF situation).

Just a few things to think about. Go ahead, laugh and ridicule the ideas. Seems some of you are invinsible just because you are you.

Lo~

[West Texas!]

I have several caches around this part of Texas...food, water, ammo, and firearms in them.
I have a BOL that is fixin' to get planted shortly.
I'm building my chicken coops.
I'm have enough heritage seeds to plant for years and years.
I have skills, my wife has complimentary skills, we have stuff.

I'm pretty GTG.

[Long_Hunter]

Good post and hopefully a wake-up call for some. Thanks.

[Lostinoz]

For me the back-up stash IS the stuff I am currently able to buy at the stores or home can. As for sustaining, we are working on that as well. Purchased a hand pump for the well, poultry, fish pond, gennie, alternative heat sources, a lot of hand tools and gardening equipment, etc.

Thankfully, gardening is not something new to us, nor is harvesting seed.

I, personally, do not believe that one man makes an army, so we have very close friends and family who are onboard and of the same mindset. We all have skills which compliment each other and we work together very well. :)

[TLM]

I'll have to check into a composting toilet.
I need more seeds, mine are pretty old and not sure what the germination rate would be.
I live in a neighborhood so long term sustainability is probably not too good.

I have a couple of friends with land but they are about 15 miles away.
They wouldn't care if I used some of their land to garden.
Riding back and forth on a bicycle would be tough if there wasn't any gas.
Gardening would be tough without gas for a tiller, the red clay is "hard".

I would be OK for 3+ months without buying anything, after that would be some serious hard times if I couldn't buy or barter for the stuff that I need.

If I could buy or barter some supplies and work for other things I'd be ok for a year at least if the first crop was good, failed crops would equal hard times.

People were going without food after only 7-10 days during the ice storm in Kentucky.
My 3 months of preps doesn't sound like a lot but I bet it's more than 90%
of the people in the U.S. have.

EDIT: As far as the lighting goes, people used to go to bed at dark and wake up near sunrise... candles and lamp oil can last a long time if you follow that schedule.

Peace
TLM

[Lostinoz]

I'll have to check into a composting toilet.
I need more seeds, mine are pretty old and not sure what the germination rate would be.
I live in a neighborhood so long term sustainability is probably not too good.

I have a couple of friends with land but they are about 15 miles away.
They wouldn't care if I used some of their land to garden.
Riding back and forth on a bicycle would be tough if there wasn't any gas.
Gardening would be tough without gas for a tiller, the red clay is "hard".

I would be OK for 3+ months without buying anything, after that would be some serious hard times if I couldn't buy or barter for the stuff that I need.

If I could buy or barter some supplies and work for other things I'd be ok for a year at least if the first crop was good, failed crops would equal hard times.

People were going without food after only 7-10 days during the ice storm in Kentucky.
My 3 months of preps doesn't sound like a lot but I bet it's more than 90%
of the people in the U.S. have.

EDIT: As far as the lighting goes, people used to go to bed at dark and wake up near sunrise... candles and lamp oil can last a long time if you follow that schedule.

Peace
TLM

I agree TLM! I admire those who at least TRY to do SOMETHING to the best of their ability. Anything is better than nothing at all.

We will do the sun-up, sun-down for lighting as well. In the summer that won't be much of a difficulty due to being worn out from hard work, however during the winter will be more difficult for us. I am looking into that.

[RossA]

Yep, some good points. Unless there is a truly long term war in the streets, most of us won't use up our ammo supply for a long time. But food and water? Even if you have a year's worth, sooner or later you will see it getting low and realize that it's time to figure out how to replace it. For those in the country with a well, space for a large garden, etc., that shouldn't be too much of a problem. For those of us in the city, it's gonna hit hard. We garden in the back yard, but it's not enough to be self sufficient.

[lazer128]

Great post Lo~

You give private lessons? :D

Still need to get the wifey to call you discuss a few things.........

[oly]

One of the first thing I wont is my poncho. It has a lot of purposes such as expedient shelter from the elements, keep dry, capturing water, smoking meat, staying warm.

[Zombie Axe]

Great Post Lo :)

Even a 10 year supply of GOODS/SUPPLIES/GEAR don't mean a thing at the start of the 11th of year :confused:

One must become self sufficient as possible. Raise and grow your own food from day one...

Your preps are not for you live on X number of days, they are to provide you a backup in case the food you grow fails...

So learn how to 'roll your own' :)

[Loshali]

For me the back-up stash IS the stuff I am currently able to buy at the stores or home can. As for sustaining, we are working on that as well. Purchased a hand pump for the well, poultry, fish pond, gennie, alternative heat sources, a lot of hand tools and gardening equipment, etc.

A generator, huh? Unless you live in an extremely remote location, you will have to stand guard over that generator AND your fuel source day and night, once you turn it on the first time. Otherwise you wont have it for long.
You'll be the only house on the street with lights in the evening, and generators arent exactly whisper quiet. Be prepared to defend it at gunpoint, or turn away dozens of neighbors coming over your fence with extension cords 'for just a little bit of electricity'.

Is your fuel renewable? What you gonna do after that 50 or 100 gallons of fuel is gone? Have you looked into solar generators? Solar converters for the generator?

Same goes true for any propane needs. How you gonna renew it?

[Loshali]

I have several caches around this part of Texas...food, water, ammo, and firearms in them.
I have a BOL that is fixin' to get planted shortly.
I'm building my chicken coops.
I'm have enough heritage seeds to plant for years and years.
I have skills, my wife has complimentary skills, we have stuff.

I'm pretty GTG.

Sounds like youre set. Just one question. How far away are those caches, and how do you plan on getting to them, and more importantly, how are you planning on getting the supplies back to your homestead without someone taking them from you, should you encounter a hungry band determined to find something to feed THEIR kids....

[Loshali]

I agree TLM! I admire those who at least TRY to do SOMETHING to the best of their ability. Anything is better than nothing at all.

We will do the sun-up, sun-down for lighting as well. In the summer that won't be much of a difficulty due to being worn out from hard work, however during the winter will be more difficult for us. I am looking into that.

Oz, I very much admire anyone preparing for their family and any type of disaster. I'm just trying to prove a point on how to think the plan thru and find out where you/I need to work on said plan. A thousand bullets wont do us any good if we dont have a good plan or the right stuff to protect. Most people who do start planning, forget that every convenience we have now will NOT be there should disaster strike. During Katrina, raw sewage was running in the streets because people couldnt use their toilets. No clean water, no way to cook food, (although canned goods can be eaten cold). No fuel for generators, no way to get to any fuel even if there was fuel available somewhere. People were attacking the ones with the foresight to buy generators and fuel, mostly because THEY didnt have one and wanted it.

Again, I'm just trying to help find the holes in our contingency plans. It wont be much comfort when the 90% who didnt prepare for three months worth of hardships, come banging down your door or sneaking over your fence at night to take what you have and you dont have a way to replenish what was lost.

[Lostinoz]

A generator, huh? Unless you live in an extremely remote location, you will have to stand guard over that generator AND your fuel source day and night, once you turn it on the first time. Otherwise you wont have it for long.
You'll be the only house on the street with lights in the evening, and generators arent exactly whisper quiet. Be prepared to defend it at gunpoint, or turn away dozens of neighbors coming over your fence with extension cords 'for just a little bit of electricity'.

Is your fuel renewable? What you gonna do after that 50 or 100 gallons of fuel is gone? Have you looked into solar generators? Solar converters for the generator?

Same goes true for any propane needs. How you gonna renew it?

The generator is not to be used for shtf situations, it is for normal winter/summer disruptions caused by ice storms, loss of power. We attempt to prepare for ALL disruptions.

We have looked at solar and it would only be effective here a couple of months out of the year.

We have been preppers since about '98 and are pretty set, as much as can be anyway, and have run through scenarios with our group of likeminded friends.

I was not judging your post when I stated that something is better than nothing. I was encouraging those who otherwise would give up because of the enormity of the project and seeming hopelessness of the situation. I think your post is excellent and gives a lot of food for thought.

But yes, we are rather remote. :)

[TLM]

When gas runs out for the generator, time to hook up a generator
to the exercise bike...
No such thing as a free meal.. people that haven't eaten for a few days
might be inclined to do 30 minutes on the power generating exercise bike
for some food.

Maybe that sounds mean, but I had to work to buy the food, why should they get it for free?