Survival UK Forums

So in an effort to get people talking and debating with each other rather than arguing as we have been doing I want to raise the subject of
“How Far Do You Want To Develop Your Preps?”
Fortunately this topic is one with no wrong answers as everyone’s idea of preps is different and equally valid.
Can we discuss your long term objectives in relation to your preps, I would like to hear opinions from people about stuff as diverse as;
(Chaps, Chappeses and SD if there is any question you feel intrusive or an opsec issue please just ignore it, I’m just trying to push debate forward not intrude)
How much money you spend each year on prepping as a percentage of income or amount and do you consider it realistic.
How far you intend to go to be self- reliant and off grid
Do you want to live off grid full time permanently if you possibly can
Do you / are you developing substantial veg plots and life stock preps
How many PV panels do you own and how many to you actually want
Are you planning on laying a 12VDC circuit in your home
Do you have an auxiliary water storage treatment plan in place and how much water can it contain
How much time do you consider as being realistic each week for your preps
Are you planning for a whole family group or just yourself.
Are you adapting your normal lifestyle to integrate your preps or are they kept separate (are you trying to live the preppers lifestyle now)
Do you have auxiliary heating systems like wood stoves separate from grid supplied gas and electric if so may I enquire without damaging your opsec approximately how much wood / coal/ oil/ gas have you set aside ( probably easy for some to say “ I have XXX months supply of firewood)
Do you have a food stockpile or cache
Have you got or plan on getting a micro wind turbine (sub 1500 doofahs) if so is it erected and in use or cached for after TSHTF
Have you / are you planning on moving to a more sustainable location in the near future
And heres one that does not actually raise its head here very often

What event or incident are you prepping to survive??
Respects NR (now sitting under his desk waiting for the issue to get derailed or side tracked)

(7 June 2013, 09:22)NorthernRaider Wrote: [ -> ]So in an effort to get people talking and debating with each other rather than arguing as we have been doing I want to raise the subject of
“How Far Do You Want To Develop Your Preps?”
Fortunately this topic is one with no wrong answers as everyone’s idea of preps is different and equally valid.
Can we discuss your long term objectives in relation to your preps, I would like to hear opinions from people about stuff as diverse as;
(Chaps, Chappeses and SD if there is any question you feel intrusive or an opsec issue please just ignore it, I’m just trying to push debate forward not intrude)

I have been prepping for years and I have most of the basics. Food, water, Medical stuff, books, water filters for 1M L, etc.

(7 June 2013, 09:22)NorthernRaider Wrote: [ -> ]How much money you spend each year on prepping as a percentage of income or amount and do you consider it realistic.

I spend 20% of my salary on preps, every month. I also sometimes spend on special projects or something I found that I liked.

(7 June 2013, 09:22)NorthernRaider Wrote: [ -> ]How far you intend to go to be self- reliant and off grid

As far as I can go and keep off the radar.

(7 June 2013, 09:22)NorthernRaider Wrote: [ -> ]Do you want to live off grid full time permanently if you possibly can

Yes

(7 June 2013, 09:22)NorthernRaider Wrote: [ -> ]Do you / are you developing substantial veg plots and life stock preps

Building them up but hampered by lack of space

(7 June 2013, 09:22)NorthernRaider Wrote: [ -> ]How many PV panels do you own and how many to you actually want

About 6 atm. Aiming to have one for each service and a larger portable unit for general use.

(7 June 2013, 09:22)NorthernRaider Wrote: [ -> ]Are you planning on laying a 12VDC circuit in your home

Already there

(7 June 2013, 09:22)NorthernRaider Wrote: [ -> ]Do you have an auxiliary water storage treatment plan in place and how much water can it contain

Yes. II have several thousand litres of stored ater. I can treat through filters about 1M litres. I also have components for a sand filter. As a final resort I have bleach tablets.

(7 June 2013, 09:22)NorthernRaider Wrote: [ -> ]How much time do you consider as being realistic each week for your preps

I only get about 10 hours a week and most of that is looking after the sites.

(7 June 2013, 09:22)NorthernRaider Wrote: [ -> ]Are you planning for a whole family group or just yourself.

Family group plus extended family.

(7 June 2013, 09:22)NorthernRaider Wrote: [ -> ]Are you adapting your normal lifestyle to integrate your preps or are they kept separate (are you trying to live the preppers lifestyle now)

I have chickens and don't buy any eggs, I eat what I am storing, I'm looking at integrating the PV panels with my home. I'm growing food in the garden. I'll add more to that as I can.

(7 June 2013, 09:22)NorthernRaider Wrote: [ -> ]Do you have auxiliary heating systems like wood stoves separate from grid supplied gas and electric if so may I enquire without damaging your opsec approximately how much wood / coal/ oil/ gas have you set aside ( probably easy for some to say “ I have XXX months supply of firewood)

Heating systems are gas and wood. I have a few months supply of gas but don't have a large store of wood but live within a few hundred yards of a large wood.

(7 June 2013, 09:22)NorthernRaider Wrote: [ -> ]Do you have a food stockpile or cache

Yes. Food stockpile but no remote caches.

(7 June 2013, 09:22)NorthernRaider Wrote: [ -> ]Have you got or plan on getting a micro wind turbine (sub 1500 doofahs) if so is it erected and in use or cached for after TSHTF

Looking at it as a futue project. There is a 1KW one I'm looking at but it is an OPSEC risk after TSHTF so may assemble now and make it deployable.

(7 June 2013, 09:22)NorthernRaider Wrote: [ -> ]Have you / are you planning on moving to a more sustainable location in the near future

Only if the lottery is good to me.

(7 June 2013, 09:22)NorthernRaider Wrote: [ -> ]And heres one that does not actually raise its head here very often

What event or incident are you prepping to survive??

All that are survivable. Limited capability for nuclear.

(7 June 2013, 09:22)NorthernRaider Wrote: [ -> ]Respects NR (now sitting under his desk waiting for the issue to get derailed or side tracked)

If it does we will delete them.

You have got me paranoid now SD, every time I see you reply straight after I post I think its been closed

Good balanced and moderately considered response BTW, are you intending of improving your security and reducing your exposure by harvest wood now in advance of TSHTF? You told me you have a plan to lay low in locationXXX and had suufficient water and supplies to sustain you for ages, but are you risking your opsec by not having enough firewood / coal set aside DRY and ready?

(7 June 2013, 10:46)NorthernRaider Wrote: [ -> ]You have got me paranoid now SD, every time I see you reply straight after I post I think its been closed

SNAP! Me too haha.

---

Oddly enough, I was going to make a very similar post to this one the other day, basically asking how far people wanted to take their preps. Great minds think alike ;-) haha

Well, considering the situation down here is not too urgent. There is not a huge problem pressing on the boarders of Wellington, I feel like we have time to continue upping our preps slowly and steadily.

Originally, I was earning a reasonable wage, but now that I'm doing this security work (leaving soon!!!) I'm only putting about £100 a month, at most. Some months I'll be busy relaxing and building the relationship with the wife. So we tend to go out. Those months the spend can be as little as £5 or £10 a month on tins, soap, and water. Other months it can be a hell of a lot more. I like the idea of scrumping, where you steal fruit from trees. You can adapt that and make it into urban-scrumping, where you steal other stuff haha (for legal reasons, please not all ridiculous comments, or any comment I make, is purely for entertainment purposes. Neither I nor anyone else on this forum recommends any illegal activities!!!). With that in mind, I'd say my preps increase in value, above that which I spend on them.

Off-Gridding!!! I had originally been a part of a group planning on building a 10 building Earthship Centre near Brighton. Funding fell through, and it went to crap. Did try to gather interest from other areas, to try and build funding for a similar project, but not enough of an interest to get it off the floor :-( With that in mind, I would love to be able to go 100% off grid, but thing I would actually opt for a 70% O-G lifestyle.

At the moment, our only electricity use is cooking, and charging laptops/phones. We could take the phones off grid, but I snapped the wiring for my mini-panel that was charging a car battery. Need to sort that out, when I have time. Our food is largely from supermarkets, but we are growing a lot of crops at the moment. So that's a nice thought. Got 6 chilli plants growing, 12 peppers, 8 courgettes, LOADS of basil, loads of rocket, 12 kale, and a hell of a lot of garlic. But a 'small' project is in the pipeline that could well change that.

I have a chinese friend sending over a load of solar sections so that I can build my own solar panel. It is costing me £40 in postage, but will make a fair whack of power!!!

Water is mostly off grid, but we are still happy using the taps for now. Knowing we could switch is more important than actually changing, at the moment.

When we have the ability and facilities, to go 100% off-grid, we'll still need stuff like fuel for our cars, unless ITM gets their systems up and running sooner! That would be awesome.

The wife and I are living a semi-normal lifestyle. She works, I work, she loves animals, I love plants. So, it's pretty good. She puts up with a lot of my prepping, complains about others, but then supports somewhere else. You'd be hard pressed to tell we're preppers. Tins hidden under the kitchen cupboard flooring. That false back wall under the stairs, freshly dug holes in the garden where trees were once located. We just look like an ordinary family, at the moment. Small project may change that though :-( But everyone knows I'm a bit odd as it is, so they'll probably just thing "It's just Scythe13 being eccentric again."

Personally, I'm planning for as many people as we can shelter. Where we live, it's a close social group. Most people get along really well. Whether it's weapons, food, or whatever, we are planning to have enough for much more than just ourselves!

(7 June 2013, 10:46)NorthernRaider Wrote: [ -> ]are you intending of improving your security and reducing your exposure by harvest wood now in advance of TSHTF? You told me you have a plan to lay low in locationXXX and had suufficient water and supplies to sustain you for ages, but are you risking your opsec by not having enough firewood / coal set aside DRY and ready?

I have enough gas to keep me going for a while, I'm also looking at solar heaters, those tubes on the roof, to be used to keep my head down at first. Then eventually you have to come out and that will be when I pick up wood. I don't want to burn wood at first because even a bit of smoke gives the game away, So no ned to store any in the limited space I have.

Have you insulated the inside of the roof loft space to retain heat and make the PV water heaters more efficient? Light your dry wood fire at night or convert some of your wood to charcoal then you can have heat without smoke

(7 June 2013, 12:20)NorthernRaider Wrote: [ -> ]Have you insulated the inside of the roof loft space to retain heat and make the PV water heaters more efficient? Light your dry wood fire at night or convert some of your wood to charcoal then you can have heat without smoke

Loft insulated. Not ready to set fire inside the house when I keep my head down smoke or no smoke.

my preps don't develop...they evolve!!

NorthernRaider Wrote: How much money you spend each year on prepping as a percentage of income or amount and do you consider it realistic.

[/b][/i] A hell of a lot, probably about £20 a week, havent had the courage to add it up for a year


NorthernRaider Wrote: How far you intend to go to be self- reliant and off grid

I would like to go all the way, but in reality we have the solar now, that could be put to batterys, and we plan on a wind turbine


NorthernRaider Wrote: Do you want to live off grid full time permanently if you possibly can


Would love to, but there are so many down sides to it as well as bonuses


NorthernRaider Wrote: Do you / are you developing substantial veg plots and life stock preps

veg plots yes, lifestock no


NorthernRaider Wrote: How many PV panels do you own and how many to you actually want

We have an array of 16 panels


NorthernRaider Wrote: Are you planning on laying a 12VDC circuit in your home

Not at present


NorthernRaider Wrote: Do you have an auxiliary water storage treatment plan in place and how much water can it contain

We have two containers holding 1000 litres each, and two that hold a 100 litres each,.. we change them often and treat with small amounts of bleach


NorthernRaider Wrote: How much time do you consider as being realistic each week for your preps

,.. If we are really serious then prepping becomes almost a way of life, as in it is always on your mind,..so I guess the answer is probably a 12/7 thinking about it and at least two nights a week packing away stores or doing some sort of project


NorthernRaider Wrote: Are you planning for a whole family group or just yourself.

,..We will of course except family if they can make it this far north, we are also preping for one other couple who dont yet know it,.. its a friend who is very handy, owns his own guns ,... we are sure they will be glad of the invite if it comes.


NorthernRaider Wrote: Are you adapting your normal lifestyle to integrate your preps or are they kept separate (are you trying to live the preppers lifestyle now)

I think the two mingle quiet well


NorthernRaider Wrote: Do you have auxiliary heating systems like wood stoves separate from grid supplied gas and electric if so may I enquire without damaging your opsec approximately how much wood / coal/ oil/ gas have you set aside ( probably easy for some to say “ I have XXX months supply of firewood)

We have a multi fueled stove, linked to the central heating and hot water tank upstairs, and with a switch that will kick in the oil burner if required,... I always cut enough wood for the winter months, so usually have that much on hand,... we do also use some coal, but very little,.. we also have access to burning peat

NorthernRaider Wrote: Do you have a food stockpile or cache

Yes


NorthernRaider Wrote: Have you got or plan on getting a micro wind turbine (sub 1500 doofahs) if so is it erected and in use or cached for after TSHTF

,.. this is our next project, we will have at least a 1kw turbine up within the year


NorthernRaider Wrote: Have you / are you planning on moving to a more sustainable location in the near future

No

NorthernRaider Wrote: And heres one that does not actually raise its head here very often
What event or incident are you prepping to survive??

an emergency, is an emergency, so we would like to think we are prepareing for almost anything,.. in practical terms that not always going to be possible,... but the main ones would be social unrest from whatever reason,... terrorist attack that would effect any transport/food supplies,... or an EMP attack, be it from either a terrorist attack or from the sun

You know how to make a tightwad cheapskate like me look totally unprepared , I hate you