Different viewpoints...

[jloneill17]

I try to prepare for almost anything. I have BOB's for if i HAD to leave. I have stuff at the house for sheltering up with no electricity or water. I practice on camping/hiking trips building different shelters, fire, cooking, but there is always things I need to improve and work on. I'd love to be taught how to make some good snares and traps. I think you should try to do what you can, like the olmetlfan said, unless your a multi millionaire, your going to have to start small. That's what I did. I built my GHB for my car, built my BOB's, then focused on food and water storage. For instance, everytime I go to walmart (about 3 times a month), i buy 4-5 gallons of water and 3-4 7day Jesus candles. The water is 79cents a gallon and the candles are 1.25 per. I've got about 40 gallons of water in my spare bedroom, and candles out the wazoo. If you read the thread I posted on the Bosnian survival during the war, he said that lighters were a HOT commodity. I've been looking at buying a whole case to keep on hand for trading or using if the lights went out. Everyone has there own way of doing things, and no one is wrong. Prepping however you do it is better than doing nothing.

 

[rharris27]

Prepping however you do it is better than doing nothing.

The more I read the more I realize how right you are. And starting small, frankly, is a necessity. I look around the area where I live and common sense dictates a lot about what my priorities should be. Water, I'm afraid, is at the top of the list. While your idea to stock up on gallons of water is great, I wonder if there is any sense in learning to procure it as needed?

If I start small and prepare only for, say, a natural disaster (hurricanes are most likely in my area), then rainwater collection and filtration might be a good thing for me to consider.

I'm learning more and more that my guns and ammo are only a small part of what the main idea is. To be honest, I'm sorry I ever listened to comments others made about prepping and thought them "foolish".

 

[StringBeans03]

With all the varying questions and comments on this site, it seems as if many people have wide views encompassing the whole idea of survival and the "collapse".

I'd like to hear opinions on what people think is the most likely scenario and why? I mean, do most people prep for situations like the one covered in "The Patriots", where society literally experiences a global collapse? Or, are most people preparinig simply to wait out severe natural disasters? Is it both?

Personally, I don't try to pigeon-hole myself into a scenario or set of scenarios because I don't think it's possible to be prepared for every possible situation that could take place. Because this world is so crazy now days, I also don't think it's possible to predict what might happen, even though some people think they have "the great collapse" all plotted out.

A person can develop an idea of what might happen by staying current on world events coupled with some good instinct and prayer, but let's face it, in this day and time, anything could happen.

My goal is to break free of the 'microwave mentality" we have developed in our country.

Because of our general wealth and abundance in America, we tend to live with a microwave mentality where we only go buy food and other consumer items on an as-needed basis.

Because our world is so uncertain, I think it's important to change my thinking and not depend on the grocery store or the gas station or Home Depot to be open whenever I need a particular item.

People who live in remote parts of Alaska or Canada or even in parts of the Northwest don't run to Walmart every time they need toilet paper. They plan ahead and buy accordingly. They also learn to adapt or improvise on normal methods of doing things and "make do" like our parents/grandparents did during the Depression. I believe a wise person in today's world should take the time to learn to think the way they did back then.

I think it's important to change our mind-set and learn to live "on purpose". Which, to me, means living more simply with some aforethought about how to make do if the normal cycle we've developed were to get interrupted. (Which could happen at any time.) I think if an upset comes to our country, most people will be caught off guard and will panic. My goal is to be prepared enough to HOPEFULLY be able to side-step some of the panic and keep me and my family safe.

I don't envision myself shooting it out with zombies on my front lawn and I don't own an NBC suit or an underground bunker. Nothing against anyone who does. I just prefer to put my energy into other areas of preparing. Learning to grow and preserve food, learning to fix things, learning to build things, etc...

It's up to each individual to decide to what degree they want to take prepping. But whatever happens (or doesn't happen), I think ALL Americans would be wise to wean themselves from propping up on the flimsy walking stick of abundance and ready availability of goods and services that we've become so accustomed to...

 

[jloneill17]

I view the guns and ammo as a way to defend the family and secure the preps I have made. If a couple of family members or close friends showed up to my house, I could lend them a firearm to help in the protection. I would never view guns and ammo as a trade comdity for me. If planning for a hurricane, all you need is a BOB, b/c if a hurricane is going to hit, your not staying home, you take your bob and family heirlooms and drive to another city to stay with family or get a hotel room. If it's a total financial meltdown, I would want to stay home b/c you have a roof over your head and i would try to grind it out at the house. I do have a couple places I can go if being at home is not going to work. Last thing I would try to do is draw attention to me or get into it with any passerby's. I keep the water stock for drinking and cooking only. I can go a long time without a shower or having to flush my toilet. I'll dig a hole in the back for a toilet. my fireplace would become the new family oven and grill. I was lucky to work for electricians, plumbers, welders and have some pretty wide skill sets when it comes to fabricating and building things. I think using common sense, applying your skills, and keeping a vigile eye out at all times will get you a long way with preps that have been made.

 

[Chris Mac]

Starting off small is great advice. We've been at it for a couple of years now and will continue to stock away materials and food. Our food storage has really come in handy once I was laid off, but even then we use it very carefully as we are not 100% dependent on it.

One of the things I've found that helps is buying things in used but "like new" condition. You will find that prepping (done correctly) should not be an endeavor that results in lost dollars. Try to look at it as if you are buying hard assets that can be used in an emergency, traded or sold off. If you bought items used but like new, you can generally sell it for the same price down the road, and in some cases more than you bought it for. Knives are a really good example of this. My wife and I have learned to look at those hard assets as a savings account.

Food storage is not a waste of money if you are rotating your food suppies correctly. At most, it is an upfront hit to your budget to build your initial stockpile, but you are also working certain items back into your daily use pantry to avoid expired canned goods, etc. Plus, you don't always need the latest $40 #10 cans of freeze dried foods in your long term storage (although they do have their place). If you are budget challenged, you can buy canned goods from Walmart with a 2015 expiration date and get more product for your money. Hint - sometimes it's best to go after 10 p.m. as that's when you can take cases of items off the carts before they are put on the shelves. Sam's Club prices seem to be better for larger quantities. In looking at our current food storage, we actually SAVED money by stocking up over the past two years, as many of those same items now contain up to 25% less product in the boxes and/or have gone up in price 5%-20%.

As for what iems to stock up on - make a list and categorize it. Put in everything you can think of, and leave extra space for items you'll add later. My list literally fills pages in a notebook. Our goal is to live self sustained for at least two years. I'm about half way through my list of supplies to make that happen. But I also have lists of materials I'd need to set up an alternate business, etc. Still working on those.

 

[Billrube]

Prepping for a specific scenario is TV poodoo in my opinion. Well poodoo for regular people anyway. If I were rich i'd have a nuke proof shelter in the mountains with stockpiles of food for a party of 30 for 100 years.
Alas, back to the world of wal mart and coupons.

Simple scenario (for me) is a temporary interruption of power and conveniences; during the 94 floods we were without power for 3 or 4 days and without drinking water (out of the tap) for over a month. (in Macon). Another one was the Macon mother's day tornadoes. Power was out for several days, food places were closed as well as grocery stores. Emergency declared, Mayor telling everyone except emergency personnel to stay at home until further notice. We have in years passed, had ice storms that knocked down power lines...the worst one was 3 days with no power and below freezing temps.
It's a good idea to have the basics stocked in for at least 30 days...that's not an "unreal" scenario as Tropical storms/hurricanes can do this type of damage in a weekend. Increased solar activity through the next year could result in power and communication interruption on a pretty large scale. Look what happened India in the last 2 weeks with their power grid.

 

[Patronus]

To me prepping is just that PREPARING. For what? Whatever happens. Natural disaster, UN-natural disaster, collapse of government, power failure, breakdown of society...etc. Heck, it occurred to me recently that just having the food stocks would serve me well if either my wife or I got laid off or lost our job. We could save quite a chunk of change just avoiding the grovcery store.

To that end, I'm trying to prepare food, water, fuels(not gasoline, propane for cooking) Flashlights and batteries...hmmm.

My home has a semi-finished basement that is 3/4 underground so is semi-hardened already. I'm looking at making improvements to that.

My water stores are in Aquatainer 7 gallon containers that were about $12 each at Wal Mart. City water is already chlorinated so storage really requires no added chlorine, but I am testing my first 6 month rotation in a week or two. I also keep several cases of 16-20 oz bottles on hand. I have a ceramic drip filtration setup: http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/product/CAMP-352 with several additional candle filters: http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/product/CAMP-354

For food, I have slowly built up about 4-5 months worth of can goods for the wife and I, put them in the rolling, self-rotating racks with the dates marked boldly visible. Backing that I have freeze dried foods. I started out with Wise but found out that 60 servings for $99 was really not that great. I've since found the Chef's Banquet ARK(330 serving bucket) for $102. http://www.overstock.com/Emergency-...rage-Supply-330-Servings/5701015/product.html
I'm up to 8 of those as well as the 3 buckets of Wise.

I've been laying in the camp size propane tanks and have 2 small propane heaters, a lanter and a stove that also use propane. Recently bought my first propane grill and am slowly stocking extra grill size propane tanks. Also just got an adaptor to use the large tanks with the coleman stove/etc.

Lighters are tre obvious choice for fire and they are cheap and plentiful. Backing that is matches and then magnesium fire starters. Two first aid kits, LOTS of toilet paper and paper towels, backup can openers both old style crank openers and even older style military P38/P51s, Instant drink mix to help if water treated or stored has a less than perfect taste, and lately, silver and whiskey for barter/currency. I am sure there are a lot of items I need to add to my list but I feel that I have FINALLY made a decent START.

 

[Stevebob]

Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst