You don’t have to be a prepper to be prepared to defend your family at home or to survive a power outage/flood. There are a lot of tips and tricks we can learn from preppers.
4 Likes
I thought this said Pepper Stash at first!
I was excited for the new USCCA series “Cooking with @Dawn”!
Prep stuff is a wide variety based on level.
- ACT med kit
- Water jugs (we rotate these)
- Computer/electronics bag (batts, cable, charges, etc)
- Energy bars
- Survival knive
- Small .22 break down rifle with a brick of ammo and G19. 50 rounds 9mm
3 Likes
Water—four days supply per person
Camping gear–including a Coleman stove & lantern with white gas
First aid kit
Food with a long shelf life (onions, potatoes, pasta, canned stuff)
A transistor radio
Flashlight and extra batteries
Plenty of wine
Handgun ammo
00 Buck
A jerry can of motor fuel
A bicycle
A chain saw with spare chain and sharpening file
Hand tools, including a wrench for turning off the Natural Gas supply
1 Like
“Cooking with Dawn” I am down with that!!!
We can work on what to do with an MRE for at least 12 segments, then move on to SPAM 
My best tip/trick is for water
When everyone else is buying gallons of water for $2.00 each, go buy a box of plastic lawn and leaf bags and a couple 55 gal plastic trash cans with lids. Double bag the trash cans add a cap full of the purest unscented, unflavored bleach you can find and fill them full with the garden hose (or whatever source comes off city water). A half dozen trash cans nets you better than 300 gallons of potable water.
DO NOT DO THIS IF YOU LIVE ON THE SECOND FLOOR. Water weighs 8lbs /gallon. 8 X 300 = 2400 lbs of water.
At the end of the “emergency” you can drain them via siphon with the same garden hose until they are manageable then dump them. Then dry them off and stack them up to take up exactly as much space as one garbage can.
Cheers,
Craig6
I went with two 55 gallon roto-molded drums when I first moved in with a family of five. Thank goodness the house has a " boat garage" as well as one for the cars. Stash for Prep in Place can occupy a lot of cubic feet. Water/Food/Medicals/Heat/AlternateFuels Cook gear/etc.
(of course, now that it’s me and three cats… I may outlive the cockroaches: cat ‘wings’, cat thighs and drumsticks, cat ribs… you know, the staples!)
You remind me though, temporary storage of “working water” for drains, sewer, and cleaning, makes wonderful sense and can be stored in short order with the storage system you suggest.
A lot.
The water seen is stacked back 2 rows of 4 cases of 40 plus a few extra in the garage plus four 5gal bottles extra on top of my normal supply of 3 5gal jugs for 2 people for a month.
Combine that with a 10/22 with a couple thousand vacuum sealed rounds, four 10rd mags and two 110rd mags, 9mm carbine, and whatever AR plus 10x12 ar500 hard body armor class 3.
I think the question should be “What have you done Today to further your prepps”?
This week I have been working on my hand tools that were used this past summer. All shovels, axes, pick axes, saws and Pulaski tools that were used this past year. I clean and sharpen every thing, repair as needed and give all wood and metal a coat of Linseed Oil.
All your prepps need maintenance, please don’t just throw a stuff in the closet and not check at least every 6 months.
I keep a list week by week, month by month on my wall to form a maintenance schedule and try to keep up with it.
1 Like
Very good points about the yard gear. Without it, any dreams of having fresh veggies are going to be on the good will of a neighbor who can’t deal with all the zucchini! I’ll add oh, it shouldn’t need be said, keep all your wood working and bench tools up to snuff too. I had no idea how fast humidity and mold take a room if given a chance. A lot of stuff sitting on said benches got really bad when I was laid out in bed with a broken back.
1 Like
Good points about hand tools. You can repair and rebuild with good armstrong powered hand tools when the electric power is out. I find it amazing how few people own a set of real hand tools these days, much less know how to use/maintain them. Even more amazing is how cheap you can pick up some really good USA built stuff at swap meets, garage sales and junk shops.
2 Likes
I learned a trick from an old SeaBee years ago with tools that were exposed to or stored outdoors or put into long term storage.
PAINT IT. It doesn’t matter if it’s a shovel or an axe or a wheel barrow. If bright steel is showing . PAINT IT. Cheap spray cans work, brushes work, rollers whatever. I have a wheel barrow bucket that is 20 years old and has sat in my back yard for years between uses that I religiously painted after use sometimes not even knocking off the dirt. It has never rusted and if I were inclined to pressure wash it I’m positive the steel is just as thick as when it started. I’ve replaced the handles 3 or 4 times.
For hand tools that you use semi regularly, used motor oil works great. A bit messy but after a day of wrenching in the rain or mud, thrashing them around in a 5 gal bucket of used motor oil will keep them in tip top shape.
Cheers,
Craig6
2 Likes