lets discuss preps for disasters

[Soundguy]

coffee is a good one.

I forgot to mention in my post about the survival foods we tested, I bought a can of walmart coffee.. quart can like the old blue folgers.

metal can, metal top, plus a plastic top you put on after opening the metal one.

that can is dated as best by 2010.. meaning I likely got it in 08/09.

It is currently half full and setting by my coffee pot.

I found it pushed to the back of the cabinet a month ago, and decided to taste test that accidentally over-stored coffee. I'm happy to report that the now? 7y old coffee tastes just fine, and when i opened the sealed container it had the same robust smell as 'new' coffee. I half expected that though.

My FIL passed christmas of 2000 and when i was cleaning out his house, I found boxes of tins of coffee that were branded for airline use.. from an airline that had been out of business a couple decades. for the heck of it, I popped a few tins and the coffee was.... you guessed it.. smelling robust and fine at 20-30 ys old...

I have no idea how the man got the airline coffee.. couldn't ask at that point either....

 

[farmer2009]

Interesting and makes one think. As others it's not that I couldn't survive but I'd fall in the under prepared category. I don't store large amounts of canned foods or the likes but do keep enough on hand to make it a week or so. Winter is my big worry. I won't freeze to death in the summer.

In winter especially I keep at least a weeks supply of fuel for the generator. As all my heat requires electricity. Heat is my big concern during cold weather. I can live 3 weeks without food, 3 days without water, but will freeze to death in hours without heat. With heat I can purify water or melt snow.

I'm in the tornado zone. So summer time prepping is hard. As anything above ground can be blown away. Plans are for a root cellar or basement but it's not built. For this reason I had rather put my efforts into things that are portable. Knowledge mainly. Know how to read wildlife signs and set primitive traps. Snares, and dead falls. Even after a tornado one could still find cordage, rope or wire cable. And that 10,000 rounds of 22lr you had stashed may be in the next county or state.

This is something that each has to tailor to themselves and their families. Really there is no right or wrong way of disaster planning. Unless, your plan is to sit back and wait for big brother.

 

[Garandman]

At home in Boston we took heed from Hurricane Sandy, since we live right near the harbor and have an 11 foot tide normally. So the nightmare scenario is like the Blizzard of '78, very high winds, full moon high tides, and a lot of snow.

• Bought a family medical book because losing internet access is likely. And beefed up our medical supplies, especially things like splints and butterfly bandages. Took a three day "Wilderness Medicine" course because they assume you do not have access to medical facilities within 8-24 hours.
• For a week I paid for everything I bought with $20 bills, kept the change and put it in the safe. If power is down, so are registers and it would suck to pay $20 for a six pack....
• Had the house wired to run off the grid. We have two Honda EU2000i generators that can be daisy chained together or we can run one alone at night to keep the heat and fridge going (we have NG heat). They are very fuel efficient but we always keep enough fuel for 5-8 days of running.
• I buy staples that we use a lot of like pasta, canned meat, nuts etc and put them in the emergency pantry. We rotate them out every Fall and rotate the stock.
• We keep at least six quarts of motor oil on the shelf, as well as lube for the chain saw.
• The odds we could "bug out" from Boston are very low, except for some extreme weather event so we do keep lists of what we'd need so we could pack quickly.

 

[KiotiKowboy]

Don't forget, the water in your water heaters is available. You likely have 40 - 80 gallons of emergency water on hand.

 

[paulharvey]

Don't forget, the water in your water heaters is available. You likely have 40 - 80 gallons of emergency water on hand.

If you see it coming, you can fill all the bath tubs, for emergency water, that should last at least a week. Doesn't help much with tornados, terrorism, and only if your not caught by the First wave of zombies.

 

[Soundguy]

Great posts, lotsa good points, lets keep this rolling. I found a gem in every post I read!

 

[Jstpssng]

I keep about 6 weeks worth of canned goods and pasta on hand at all times, rotating them out once a year. I started doing it after working a winter for a client who seemed to have problems paying their bills: I don't ever want to be that hungry again. (I later found that it wasn't the company, it was the person who was supposed to sign them... he didn't feel that it was important.)
Propane for cooking for a week or so, when that runs out I'll be cooking with wood. Probably sooner, because if it looks like the power will be out for a while I would dig out the pressure cooker and start canning the frozen meat. Water shouldn't be a problem, I keep several gallons on hand and just go up to the dug well and fill a bucket for cleaning and washing.
(Although I should have a backpack style filter, for long term outages.)

Coffee is something I've overlooked, but it can be kept in the freezer if you worry about it spoiling. I don't.

I would also need more reading material, preferably something which is good enough to be read twice. Also a deck of cards, and maybe a book of crossword puzzles.

 

[Garandman]

We keep three seven gallon Reliance water jugs at each house. Handy for camping or just to always have a supply.

 

[MossRoad]

Lots of folks worry about the power going out and no well water. A pill bottle on a string can bring up enough water to survive. Just takes a lot of trips up and down the pipe.

Someone mentioned tornadoes and it is kind of hard to run from them. Always store some basic hand tools in the basement and another set in the garage. If you don't have a basement, you should have a tornado shelter. Anyhow. Bottled water, some bleach, some hand tools, some dried foods, a first aid kit!, an ax!, waterproof matches, some cotton balls soaked in vaseline, and it can't hurt to have a bottle of multi-vitamins. You never know what your diet might have to consist of, and there might be a chance you won't be getting enough vitamins from eating the weeds in your neighbor's yard, so it can't hurt.

 

[CalG]

Lots of folks worry about the power going out and no well water. A pill bottle on a string can bring up enough water to survive. Just takes a lot of trips up and down the pipe.

Someone mentioned tornadoes and it is kind of hard to run from them. Always store some basic hand tools in the basement and another set in the garage. If you don't have a basement, you should have a tornado shelter. Anyhow. Bottled water, some bleach, some hand tools, some dried foods, a first aid kit!, an ax!, waterproof matches, some cotton balls soaked in vaseline, and it can't hurt to have a bottle of multi-vitamins. You never know what your diet might have to consist of, and there might be a chance you won't be getting enough vitamins from eating the weeds in your neighbor's yard, so it can't hurt.

Don't be worried about vitamins. It's CALORIES that are needed. If you are getting those, the body can do amazing things.

Not many calories in weeds. But I bet there are lots and lots of vitamins, and minerals too!