Containerisation

[NorthernRaider]

Just watching Doomsday Preppers last night for a giggle and for lessons on how not prepare, and one point caught my attention from the lady who was planning to bug out from Virginia by van and huge box trailer and then to a raft with nearly all of her massive stockpile of supplies in tow. She assumes she has about 4 hours to react if the Gran Canaria volcano lets rip in the Azores and intends to load her big van and trailer, load her kids and hubby, drive ten miles to the river hauling a sodding great trailer, then inflate four rafts by foot pump, then tranship all her supplies and paddle away upstream at 1.5 MPH away from the tsunami.

Anyway it become obvious to even her that she and her family would be dead from the tsunami long before they got to anywhere safe (if she is that scared about a tsunami instead of spending at least $100K of prep supplies why didn't she just move inland and onto a hilltop?? ). If the water did not get her chances are one of the other panic stricken Virginians would have shot them or they would be stuck in the mother of all traffic jams on a freeway until the water came.

Equally she gets her news feed about the forthcoming disaster by text and updates to her laptop if the worst happens thus giving her about 4 or 5 hours notice, but what if the Volcano lets rip during the night whilst they are all in bed ?? she would drown before she got out of bed. But what the heck this is Murica so long as they have their guns they are safe and no gun massacres of innocent people will occur in the “Land of the fee” (pun intended), In Murica only the bad guys die and the rest survive to make a movie about it.

Anyway I digress the point I wanted to raise was that I noted this lady was loading her trailer basically one large tin of freeze dried food at a time (and bottled water to travel on a river!!!), apart from a couple of pre=packed tubs the lady was offloading her food supplies one tin at a time off the shelf in her house and stocking into the back of the van or trailer, then she loaded her four inflatable dinghy's separately and of course a bulk value pack of toilet paper !!!!!.

So when I stopped laughing I thought to myself ;;

“ Yes but if I was in a similar position and I DID have enough time to clear some household cupboards of extra supplies (which could be life savers months down the road) I would not want to prat about loading tins, packets and boxes into carrier bags and trying to stack them in the back of my vehicle”

So I’m thinking would it not be prudent and wise to keep a few EMPTY storage containers like Zag Roll n Stores or RUB’s totes ( Really Useful Box LTD) around Castle NR just in case I do have to bug out and I DO have time to clear out the pantry as well ??.

Food for thought?

[RoadWarrior]

I liked how they threw the dog in the dinghy!!lol....reakoned they were only capable of 2mph on the river too ....they shudda just stayed at home and strapped the bog roll and other "essentials" on a surfboard and waited till the huge wave hit them ...lmfao

[Highlander]

It would be a better idea to keep the trailer loaded instead of wasting time loading after the event has started,..if you use a trailer when bugging out, then I would think you would treat the trailer like you treat your BOB, and have it ready to go

[NorthernRaider]

(17 May 2013, 16:02)Highlander Wrote: It would be a better idea to keep the trailer loaded instead of wasting time loading after the event has started,..if you use a trailer when bugging out, then I would think you would treat the trailer like you treat your BOB, and have it ready to go

The problem in her case was she was first loading the truck and trailer, then driving only twn miles before offloading it into dinghys!!! aand trying to outpaddle a tsunami !!!!, Darwinism at work.

[Mortblanc]

Well fellows, if you were very bright you would not be on that show, now would you?

And each of you has made some very clear and valid points.

I don't know if you have heard or not, but some of the original victims of that particular "reality series" have ended up in jail, losing their jobs and in the custody of mental institutions, due to revealing their preps.

[Little Lou]

I agree about the need for containers - but it seems a terrible waste of space to store them empty. Maybe Castle NR is huge, but I struggle to find room for my preps as it is.

There are a few items I use regularly (like the water filter) which would need to be packed at the last minute, but most things I try to store in portable containers. Old suitcases are great for this, and unlikely to attract many scavengers' attention. Survival clothes I keep in vacuum sealed bags like these, which saves me space now as well as in the BOV, and means I can pick up a whole load in one go. A few things have overflowed into 'under bed' drawers, but if the worst came to the worst I could just yank out the whole drawer and carry it to a vehicle as it is.

But you're right, and there'll always be extras it seems a shame to leave behind if you've got time and space to take them. For those I keep a stack of folding cardboard boxes in the shed - the kind of thing removal companies give you when you're moving house. Not great and I'd lose time whacking on the parcel tape to hold the base secure, but I don't have space to keep plastic ones empty.

Ideally I think we'd use containers that were useful preps in themselves eg I have a spare sleeping bag in the bedroom I'd stuff with extra clothes. Realistically, however, I think I'm going to be constrained by what we could take in the vehicle - and if the roads are blocked we'll be carrying no more than we can take on our backs...

[Franc]

You can get stackable boxes, very cheap from big shops, they stack into each other when empty, or stack on top of each other when full.
The cheap ones, are not all that well balanced when stacked more than 4 high, but for longish term storage, and ease of transport, there hard to beat.
Got a load in my shed, with camping. kitchen, and spare parts for bikes in.

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(17 May 2013, 21:12)Franc Wrote: You can get stackable boxes, very cheap from big shops, they stack into each other when empty, or stack on top of each other when full.
The cheap ones, are not all that well balanced when stacked more than 4 high, but for longish term storage, and ease of transport, there hard to beat.
Got a load in my shed, with camping. kitchen, and spare parts for bikes in.

i got this type, but larger (90 liters) without the lids. they dont sell the lidless ones anymore.
http://direct.asda.com/ASDA-Black-24L-St...lt,pd.html

dont get the collapsable ones, like this.
http://direct.asda.com/ASDA-Black-32L-Fo...lt,pd.html
they collapse at the wrong times. and are useless for storage, if your moving them about on a regular basis.

[NorthernRaider]

(17 May 2013, 19:44)Little Lou Wrote: I agree about the need for containers - but it seems a terrible waste of space to store them empty. Maybe Castle NR is huge, but I struggle to find room for my preps as it is.

There are a few items I use regularly (like the water filter) which would need to be packed at the last minute, but most things I try to store in portable containers. Old suitcases are great for this, and unlikely to attract many scavengers' attention. Survival clothes I keep in vacuum sealed bags like these, which saves me space now as well as in the BOV, and means I can pick up a whole load in one go. A few things have overflowed into 'under bed' drawers, but if the worst came to the worst I could just yank out the whole drawer and carry it to a vehicle as it is.

But you're right, and there'll always be extras it seems a shame to leave behind if you've got time and space to take them. For those I keep a stack of folding cardboard boxes in the shed - the kind of thing removal companies give you when you're moving house. Not great and I'd lose time whacking on the parcel tape to hold the base secure, but I don't have space to keep plastic ones empty.

Ideally I think we'd use containers that were useful preps in themselves eg I have a spare sleeping bag in the bedroom I'd stuff with extra clothes. Realistically, however, I think I'm going to be constrained by what we could take in the vehicle - and if the roads are blocked we'll be carrying no more than we can take on our backs...

Hi Castle NR is a small three bed semi , but I'm thinking of storing those collapsable crates of the type you can buy from B & Q or snaffle from the Coop or Boots, they are about 30 inches by 24 inches by about 10 inches high but fold flat. The Company owned versions are very tough indeed, and very useful.

[Highlander]

For much of my stores I use these, most farmer use them, they are salt lick boxes, they are very tough, have a very water tight snap on lid and are stack-able,.. if you use them for tins, then they take one level of tins standing, and the top layer laying down

[NorthernRaider]

(17 May 2013, 21:12)Franc Wrote: dont get the collapsable ones, like this.
http://direct.asda.com/ASDA-Black-32L-Fo...lt,pd.html
they collapse at the wrong times. and are useless for storage, if your moving them about on a regular basis.

I have some of these Franc and I've fastened em in the open position with cable ties, I keep some supplies in them, but the ones " obtained" from shops etc often have integral locking mechanisms to stop em folding unless you want them too.