What have you done recently to prepare? Please include How-To's also

Picked up a big jug of marine grade Stabil off Amazon that just arrive... winter blend should be in most stations now so time to rotate the gasoline storage.
 
Generator, 7 tons of pellets for the pellet stove, 8 months worth of food for the fam, tools to defend ourselves, lights, candles, two water purifiers, 110 gallons of water in food grade barrels, doubled the size of the garden, check, check and check
 
In God We Trust said:
I went through some of my old canned goods and pulled the expired stuff that was over a year old. I know they say its pretty much good forever, but I don't want to go that route unless I was starving. We tried a can of pasta sauce that was over a year expired last night and it tasted like crap. Very metallic tasting
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In my experience eating canned goods past their "best by" date, how it tastes varies by what's in it. The stuff that's acidic like tomato soup or pasta sauce usually takes on a distinct metallic taste, while other things like beans or chicken soup are just a bit bland.
 
Commerically processed canned foods have two or more years before the "Best by" dates. This gives you plenty ot time to rotate out your stock. If the S ever HTF so hard you need more than two years of supplies, we're all skee-rooed no matter how you look at things.


Store what you eat, eat what you store.
 
MrsStrangeNH said:
In my experience eating canned goods past their "best by" date, how it tastes varies by what's in it. The stuff that's acidic like tomato soup or pasta sauce usually takes on a distinct metallic taste, while other things like beans or chicken soup are just a bit bland.
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beans... woof.. tried some bush's boston recipe a year past date... tasted like dog food smells. Couldn't believe it.
 
Twigg said:
Store what you eat, eat what you store.
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That's hard for me because I don't eat many canned good because of the salt content. I have high BP and try to steer clear if it when I can. I usually donate my old canned stuff when the Boy Scouts do their food drive.

If the S ever HTF, I will take my chances with the sodium rather than starve.
 
There are low or no sodium options for very many canned goods if you look for them.

I myself do not eat only canned foods, they are a small portion of my preps and what does not get eaten gets donated to the local food bank BEFORE the expiration / best by dates.

Food banks will not accept "expired" goods and yes they check.
They won't shove it back at you but it will get thrown out.

Hiltonizer said:
beans... woof.. tried some bush's boston recipe a year past date... tasted like dog food smells. Couldn't believe it.
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Think dried beans. Vacuume can in quart or pint mason jars with O2 absorbers.
 
Twigg said:
Think dried beans. Vacuume can in quart or pint mason jars with O2 absorbers.
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Agreed... after that discovery the wife made short work of perfecting a recipe for use with dried beans. Not hard to make, and was a solid reminder that we weren't stocking molasses.
 
Another shipment of MREs came in yesterday. Should be enough to last 4 people for a month. Hopefully, my MRE stash will last 4 people for 4 months now. I have a bunch of freeze dried stuff, and some pails full of rice, sealed in mylar with oxygen absorbers.

As for water, I'm lucky to live near a large river and another body of water that I can use. I have iodine tablets and water containers, but not nearly enough to sanitize enough water. I really need to work on that some more.

One thing I am stocking up on is salt. If I ever have to hunt/fish for anything and want to save it, salt is probably the best option in the warmer months.
 
Put new tires on my truck - not cheap ones either, Michelin M/S 2's. It would be a shame if the balloon went up and I had a flat because I thought I could push it just a little longer.
 
gscott said:
I pick up small bags of bird seed when we are grocery shopping. Amazing the small edibles that fly or hop to a bird feeder after its been up a couple days
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Absolutely true - I also have built brush piles in the woods (along the quad trails I cleared for my son) in the hopes rabbits will take up residence. You can also do a food plot - a $30 bag will plant 1/2 acre, at mine this AM I had 2 dozen turkeys.
 
cleared some space up on the ridge for a food plot next spring. put the brush in a pile for rabbit warrens, seeded the cleared area with rye, cut the wood to length and stacked it to season near the house.

Harassed the shit out of the kitchen contractor to get the damn thing in

bought a zero clearance chimney for the wood stove going in.
 
Biggy for my wife today, she thinks this prepping stuff is nuts, but I got a get home bag into her car trunk today - and she didn't complain.

Life Boat Rations, some MRE left overs, water, water filter bottle, tent, space blanket, TP, lighters, knife, compass, maps, SHTF instructions, light sticks, poncho, first aid kit, trauma kit, heavy gloves, flashlight, $100 cash - maybe some other stuff I can't remember.

This is in addition to the standard kit, blanket, snacks, tools, air pump, etc....
 
Been having recurring SHTF nightmares for weeks. Now that I am alone I am so worried. We had our own orbits of prepping, I handle the gardens and animals and canning but he had the knowledge in everything else. I know that I should be researching but don't really have much time to be on the computer. Can someone lead me in the direction of what I should be doing water wise, generator wise, stove wise?
 
Cheapest way to store water - use Hi-C or similar clear juice containers (I use the 1 gallon size), clean, rinse, fill with hot water, 2 drops of bleach, solar sterilize (full sunny day, at least 6 hrs)

Generator - depends on what you want to run. Count up the wattage ratings and note what each is for and post/pm and I'll do my best to point you in the right direction,

Stove - get a real cast iron stove, use a stove grate, get green, split hardwood delivered in the spring, burn it in the fall.

Also get some books, Amazon has good reviews before you buy and check out survivalblog.com



ON EDIT:

Just got a Cast Iron Dutch Oven, 12" from Cabelas. It has the heavy lid with lip for hot embers, is a tri-leg design to not snuff out the fire underneath and has a heavy handle that you can hang it over a fire. Worse comes to worse - I can cook in the fireplace.

Fri 10/4 - I got my barrel stove burning today - need the rain to hide the smoke. DSC05636.jpg
 
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Did a practice " Bug Out " this weekend . taught my son how to build a Lean to shelter , tried starting a fire with a Magnesium fire starter . Its harder than it looks . Have to find a way to get more shavings than a knife . And finally tested out the Katadin water filter . Worked awsome water tasted fine but it didn't remove the Tanin staining . No big deal .
 
Tundra02 said:
...tried starting a fire with a Magnesium fire starter . Its harder than it looks . Have to find a way to get more shavings than a knife...
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My suggestion with the magnesium fire starters is to "pre-shave" the magnesium and store it in a container ready for use.

Take a rasp file or a hacksaw blade and scrape off tiny / fine shavings onto a sheet of paper and then funnel it into a suitable container.

(35mm film canisters are getting harder and harder to find - maybe a small prescription medicine bottle would work.)

I have one of those small key-chain pill containers that holds about 2-3 portions of fire starting magnesium shavings.

This technique also works well when your mag block gets shaved down to a really small size. A size when it is too small to work as intended.

Even a thumb size mag block can be shaved down (in the comfort of your own home) and put int a container.

I've seen people in cold, wet and windy conditions really struggle with trying to shave magnesium off a block with cold, shivering hands. Getting the shavings to land in a leaf or on a piece of bark in windy conditions only added to their grief.

Dumping a bit of shaved magnesium into a pile and hitting it with sparks from a ferro rod seemed to be a much better solution.!
 
Spent this afternoon inventorying the first aid kits from the three vehicles and replacing any expired items. After that I finished loading up our two BOBs, mine weighs in at 30 lbs and hers at 25 lbs. Each is pretty much identical to the other with the exception of mine having a crank radio and several other items that we only have one of at this time.

We have a GHB in her primary vehicle and I still need to finish mine.
 
I make fire starters out of a used egg carton, dryer lint and melted candle wax (save your candle stumps). Just pour each cup with lint, pour molten wax over it and let it cool. You now have 12 fire starters that each burn for 5-10 minutes. The wax and cardboard is very easy to light.

I've also made some in a used toilet paper tube. You can just cut off a thin disk when you need one. These don't burn as long but they're much lighter and less bulky. To be honest, I haven't tried this style yet but on the Interwebs they work great.

I plan to cut up a bunch of disks and toss them in a ZipLoc with a lighter. The wax makes them pretty much water proof so they should keep very well.

This is a fun project for a lazy Sunday in front of the fireplace.
 
Joe&Grace2A said:
Been having recurring SHTF nightmares for weeks. Now that I am alone I am so worried. We had our own orbits of prepping, I handle the gardens and animals and canning but he had the knowledge in everything else. I know that I should be researching but don't really have much time to be on the computer. Can someone lead me in the direction of what I should be doing water wise, generator wise, stove wise?
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There is a lot of good info here. The index for the 52 weeks is down the right side of the page. I saw this yesterday and skipped the areas I felt. I had under control. They are a little light on firearms but you've got that covered on NES. :)

I'd say make a list of what you need to get up to speed on and then start working on it. Otherwise you'll be trying to do everything at once and it will be overwhelming.
 
Also started collecting 2 liter soda bottles and filling them with water. Storing them in a cabinet in my basement. I will change these out next year.
 
Bought more wood. Have about 5 cords total; 4 of which can be burned now - 1 cord that's semi-seasoned and can either be burned in early spring or can be used during the 2014-2015 heating season.
 
Went to the range with a new rifle I have yet to fire... discovered the ****ers broken. Apparently its a common problem with the model (ioi AK).... piece of shit fails to battery about every 3rd shot. Need to get that fixed in a hurry... I got it in an effort to standardize on 7.62

That being the case, I'm selling a 2160rd crate of 5.45x39 in the classifieds to buy me some smithing. (also have a Saiga I want converted)
 
Dumped my gas storage into the vehicles today, this weekend its time to refill the tanks. Also have two out of my four propane tanks need filling this weekend (been slacking due to a wonky disc). House tank is getting a service call for top off too tomorrow, so I don't need to worry about it with 3ft of snow in the back yard.
 

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