What have done towards your prep?

[Pete Grey]

......there’s more.....

Three hours without shelter.

Even in summer if caught in a sudden storm without appropriate clothing and shelter.....you could be dead.

If you are outdoors hiking, away from shelter for a couple of hours, even a simple plastic bivi bag can save your life.....for £2.95 one should be in day sac.

If you are on an expedition or a bug-out, you pack should have a tent or tarp to make a shelter with.

If you are in your car, great, windproof and waterproof, an engine for heat and light and a horn to summon help, (with a window cracked open for ventilation).....better than any emergency shelter you could build.....you should also be carrying enough food and water for a couple of days and blankets or a sleeping bag.

[Pete Grey]

I’m enjoying this......

Three days without water.

The need for water is obvious, but we often underestimate how much we should store.

One gallon a day for each person is the absolute minimum, and that would not be easy, but for how long do we need prep for ?.

How do you store it, how do you replenish it, collect and transport it, purify it ?.

We use plastic jerrycans, and waterbutts fed from the roof, 180 gallons.

When the time comes we’ll replenish from a local spring, transport it using our garden cart, purify with oasis tablets or thin bleach, or use the berkeley or a sand filter......

[Pete Grey]

Last post.......

Three weeks without food.

Well how long do you plan to prep for ?.

Are you prepping for a short term event, three or four weeks max, or a complete breakdown with no power, water, sewage disposal, empty shops and no sign of any improvement in the foreseeable future, yes when the excrement has really hit the fan.

So how old are you and what is your life expectancy ?, at our age we are NOT buying food with a 20+ year shelf life, If we were in our 40’s with a young family that would be different.

We keep 4-6 months food stocks which should outlast most events, stock rotation is important to keep control of use by dates, dry food, rice pasta flour cereal powdered milk etc no problem, tinned meats and vegetables dates checked every few months, given our circumstances we think it’s enough.

Then of course any food you can grow or forage is a bonus and if you can keep some chickens, eggs and meat.

It is up to each of us to decide what we think we need to do. But i’ve always thought if you take care of the basic needs, your covered for a range of events from financial with no money to food, hyper-inflation, super storms, social breakdown or isolation due to pandemic.

[Pete Grey]

......a range of events from financial with no money to BUY food........

[bigpaul]

never seen the point of prepping for short term events, we do a monthly food shop mostly tins and packeted stuff.
I've always prepped for when the lights go out and everything grinds to a halt, for good.

[Pete Grey]

We would have all liked to prep for TEOTWAWKI but stuff doesn’t grow on trees. It takes time and prioritised planning and lots of cash.

You need to plan for as many different events as best you can, planning for the basic survival needs may not cover them all but certainly helps, you have to start somewhere.

Someone 40 with a young family would have different plans to us two oldies, life expectancy has to be taken into account, at 80 you do not plan and prep for 20-30 years, your just glad to be still on this planet.

[bigpaul]

depends what kind of lifestyle one is prepping for Post TEOTWAWKI, me I'm prepping for a basic, simple lifestyle, one "closer to the earth".
prepping for TEOTW is basically the same as short term events it just needs multiples of stuff.
I dont plan for different events, I just plan for when there is no commercial stuff left, self sufficiency / self reliance is the name of the game, pretty much the same kind of lifestyle I had when I lived off grid.

[Pete Grey]

BP when you were living off grid it was your choice, Electricity, and mains water was available, sewage was being disposed of, supermarkets were open and well stocked.

TEOTW there will be nothing, you MAY (?) be OK but very few have your experience.

Which is why I say remember the basic needs of survival and then build up from that. Plan and test, and keep repeating.

[bigpaul]

Pete, where/when I was OFF GRID there was no electricity, no mains water and no sewer, not even a septic tank, it was simple living at its most basic, and I LOVED IT.
sure supermarkets were available and I had a vehicle but most of the time I used neither, I was growing my own food and getting water from the river that ran alongside the land.

[Pete Grey]

Yes BP, i’m sure you would be fine but as age catches up how would you be, could you grow all your food, collect your water, or even dig latrines ?.
So could you cut and split logs for heat and cooking, have you candles or paraffin for lamps, if you’re lucky enough to get through the first winter what then ?.

We are now both 80 and with all our preps life gets harder year by year, we know our limitations.

Any young family with no knowledge or preps world not stand a chance, which is why I posted “remember the basic needs of survival and build up from there”. I really hope some do.