tntgoodwin Posted October 30, 2011 Share Posted October 30, 2011 Does anyone here stock up on things and prepare for a SHTF scenario? I'm talking about guns, ammo, food, things like that. 1 Why? 2. What is the easiest way to get started? 3. How much money do you spend on it? 4. Where do you store everything? 5. What are the essential things to have or do? How much or many of each thing? 6. Any other tips, tricks, lessons learned, or advice for me? I am very interested in being prepared, but have no idea where to start... TIA! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blossom'sGirl Posted October 30, 2011 Share Posted October 30, 2011 We don't, but there is an active forum on the Homesteading Today Forum that is devoted to it. http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/index.php Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted October 30, 2011 Share Posted October 30, 2011 I don't even know what SFTH is let alone own a gun. What is it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted October 30, 2011 Share Posted October 30, 2011 Does anyone here stock up on things and prepare for a SHTF scenario? I'm talking about guns, ammo, food, things like that. 1 Why? 2. What is the easiest way to get started? 3. How much money do you spend on it? 4. Where do you store everything? 5. What are the essential things to have or do? How much or many of each thing? 6. Any other tips, tricks, lessons learned, or advice for me? I am very interested in being prepared, but have no idea where to start... TIA! here is the beginners guide to food storage from the chuch of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints. we excell at the food part of it. ;) the guide starts with a three -month supplyy of your regular food items, and then move to even more basic staples. You will need to consider number of people, age, physical acitivity level, what cooking resources you're likely to have in an emergency, etc. I live in windstorm/earthquake country so we have plans for those scenarios. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abbeyej Posted October 30, 2011 Share Posted October 30, 2011 No. I try to keep a few things on hand in case of expected natural disasters (flashlights, simple first aid kit, etc), but no, I do not think there is a benefit to assuming that there will be an apocalyptic event at any moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle My Bell Posted October 30, 2011 Share Posted October 30, 2011 What is SHTF? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abbeyej Posted October 30, 2011 Share Posted October 30, 2011 What is SHTF? My assumption was "s**t hits the fan"... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meggie Posted October 30, 2011 Share Posted October 30, 2011 Does anyone here stock up on things and prepare for a SHTF scenario? I'm talking about guns, ammo, food, things like that. 1 Why? We have a 72 hour kit that's not completely prepared yet and we have some food storage. The 72 hour kit is for a natural disaster of some sort or in case we need to evacuate in a hurry. The food storage is to live a more frugal lifestyle and to have a "store" during economic hardship. My church (LDS) encourages both. We don't have a garden (we rent), but I'm thinking next year I'll do a few potted plants and do tomato and zucchini plants. 2. What is the easiest way to get started? I would start with the 72 hour kit. You'll need a backpack, water, food, clothing, shelter to cover everyone in your family for 3 days. We got two of these backpacks because they are huge and the quality for the price is pretty good. Since water is heavy, you'll want some kind of filtration/purification system. For food so far all we have is emergency power bars, but I'm thinking we'll buy some of these next. We'll only need two or three for our entire family and that might be more than sufficient. For clothes, we just go to the thrift store and buy some stuff for all the kids. For shelter we got some of these cheap little tents and some foil blankets. We have one wool blanket and are searching for another for the other pack. We do have a four person tent, but it's not in the backpack, we'll only grab it if we have time and are taking the car. For food storage, we just buy extra canned goods, 5gal buckets of wheat, extra honey and oil, extra beans, stuff like that. Someday when I'm perfect, I'll have a vacuum sealer that can seal glass jars and I'll have a pressure canner so I can stock up on chicken and beef. 3. How much money do you spend on it? I think we spent about $200 so far. 4. Where do you store everything? The 72 hour kits are in the closet under our stairs, the food storage is on this can rack. We have the shelves that attach to the side. We also have our wheat buckets against the wall. 5. What are the essential things to have or do? How much or many of each thing? 6. Any other tips, tricks, lessons learned, or advice for me? I am very interested in being prepared, but have no idea where to start... TIA! I'll be back with more later. We have company coming over tonight and I need to get ready Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbkaren Posted October 30, 2011 Share Posted October 30, 2011 Never hurts to be prepared. And yes, compared to most, we are. With the declining dollar, there's no harm in buying tangibles that will increase in value, or put another way...be more expensive in the future. Preparing for the future is a wise move. Nobody knows what's coming; when I think of a major crisis taking place (of ANY sort), I think of looking into my son's eyes and telling him there's no food. At all. Again. Then I go out and buy some more canned goods. :) There's no harm in it; you're going to eat it anyway. Keeping only a couple weeks worth of food in the house is very unwise, in my opinion. Taking responsibility for the well-being of oneself and family is very empowering. Not expecting someone to come to our rescue has given us a great deal of independence. Keep in mind, though, that it's all well and good to prepare with stuff; but what will really count in times of trouble is skills. Starting a garden NOW and learning to raise food animals, hunt, fish, etc. Folks can mock me if they like; doesn't bother me one bit. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrothead Posted October 30, 2011 Share Posted October 30, 2011 I love this website for food. I have not purchased anything (yet), but I do enjoy looking around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted October 30, 2011 Share Posted October 30, 2011 I'll add, we don't do everything at once, but spread it out over months of purchases. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tntgoodwin Posted October 30, 2011 Author Share Posted October 30, 2011 My assumption was "s**t hits the fan"... Correct! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beaners Posted October 30, 2011 Share Posted October 30, 2011 No. I try to keep a few things on hand in case of expected natural disasters (flashlights, simple first aid kit, etc), but no, I do not think there is a benefit to assuming that there will be an apocalyptic event at any moment. I think this is the more socially acceptable position, and I personally wish that more people were prepared for likely scenarios. Just a few threads down is discussion about being without power for a week. We talk about unlikely scenarios in our house because it's a hobby. We don't have a bunker or an armory. If you (OP) check out the HT forum, I expect you will find a huge wealth of information and experience. It's a good place to start without becoming overwhelmed with doom or hysteria. If you look in other places you can find some good people with good advice and information, but you have to sift out people who would recommend preparing for unlikely events at the expense of current necessities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tntgoodwin Posted October 30, 2011 Author Share Posted October 30, 2011 My thinking is, you never know when another Katrina, or Rodney King riots, or terror attack will happen. But yeah, the total collapse of our economy and the rise of a one world government where Christians are hunted down for extermination is also a possibility lingering in the back of my mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleIzumi Posted October 30, 2011 Share Posted October 30, 2011 We are working on a 3-month supply of food we would actually eat and know how to prepare. If the electricity is out, I won't be able to Google how to make something with a 50-lb bag of hard winter wheat, lol. (I do have some of that, but that's a much longer-term project, not my current focus. I eventually plan to have a printed binder with instructions/recipes for the long-term foods, to be kept with these imaginary long-term food items, LOL. For now, I have things like canned beans of many varieties, canned tomatoes, rice, dried pinto beans, some dehydrated veggies (peas, potatoes, carrots), and water purification chemicals. We want to store water and get a filter. We live near a lake so if we needed to gather & purify water, we could. Having a food supply helps when the money is super tight and we need to eat it, and when there is a shortage, and when the weather is bad or the car is broken & we can't get to the store, as well as for the disaster scenarios. We used to have a motion-powered light but that disappeared. I need a couple more. I also need some way to cook these beans if the power is out.... We have fun plans for serious apocalyptic scenarios, but right now we're just stocking up for normal issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mimmy Posted October 30, 2011 Share Posted October 30, 2011 Never hurts to be prepared. And yes, compared to most, we are. With the declining dollar, there's no harm in buying tangibles that will increase in value, or put another way...be more expensive in the future. Preparing for the future is a wise move. Nobody knows what's coming; when I think of a major crisis taking place (of ANY sort), I think of looking into my son's eyes and telling him there's no food. At all. Again. Then I go out and buy some more canned goods. :) There's no harm in it; you're going to eat it anyway. Keeping only a couple weeks worth of food in the house is very unwise, in my opinion. Taking responsibility for the well-being of oneself and family is very empowering. Not expecting someone to come to our rescue has given us a great deal of independence. Keep in mind, though, that it's all well and good to prepare with stuff; but what will really count in times of trouble is skills. Starting a garden NOW and learning to raise food animals, hunt, fish, etc. Folks can mock me if they like; doesn't bother me one bit. :) I completely agree with this post. To me, it's just plain common sense to be prepared for disasters. Power outages, blizzards, flu season, job loss, there are so many reasons to keep some extra food and supplies in the house. I figure that since I am planning ahead that leaves more of everything for those who aren't prepared. You won't find me waiting in line at WalMart when a hurricane or blizzard is on the way. I keep a lot of stuff in my van too. Getting stuck in a ditch with two babies in a blizzard taught me that lesson! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lolosoli Posted October 30, 2011 Share Posted October 30, 2011 1 Why? The reason we decided this year to start stocking up is because I am finding far to often that when a problem arises (natural disaster or whatever) the government isn't always prepared AND people do not seem interested in helping each other out....at least not in the beginning. When the weather calls for emergency weather in a couple of months time I know the rich will clear the shelves of bread and food! I live paycheck to paycheck...if there is a disaster tomorrow I cannot count on funds being in the bank...I CAN count on a pantry full of food though. 2. What is the easiest way to get started? Just do it! Start buying an extra box of this or an extra can of that and set it off to the side...don't use it if you can! We could not afford to just go out and stock up on sale items. So, that is how I have been doing it. It has taken a year...but, we have a nice stock-pile now. 3. How much money do you spend on it? It depends on the week/month. I try to buy one or two sale items each week to add to the pile. It's hard sometimes though...sometimes we have to eat from the stockpile..which simply shows how much it is needed!! LOL 4. Where do you store everything? I have a small storage shelf in our upstairs closet and some also goes downstairs. Don't let the big, beautiful storage shelves and rooms you see so many people having stop you. I started the pile in a laundry basket because that was all I had! When shelves came on sale I then switched to the shelves. They are ugly..but, durable shelves. A laundry basket tucked away anywhere is as good of a start as any! :) 5. What are the essential things to have or do? How much or many of each thing? I try to make sure the food I stock-pile is something that EVERYONE in the house likes. So, the soups EVERYONE likes is stock-piled..whereas the soups only a few like aren't a priority. I stockpile water, soup, kraft dinner, granola bars, oatmeal, crackers, pancake mix (water mix kind only), and other canned goods. Cereal, rice and noodles. Frozen pizza and fish too. 6. Any other tips, tricks, lessons learned, or advice for me? I am very interested in being prepared, but have no idea where to start... I fill empty two litre bottles of water and put them in the large freezer. If the hydro goes out it will keep the food colder longer and the water that thaws in the bottles can be used to drink. Flashlights and batteries are in my stockpile. Also, I purchased from the dollar store coloring books and crayons and craft items AND glow sticks! If there is ever some sort of emergency I think glow sticks will help save the day and make my kids feel a whole lot better if there isn't any hydro and it is dark. Candles and matches/lighters. Pet food! I put pet food off to the side too so that if there is an emergency my pets have extra food and water! I purchased two water jugs for camping...when we were done with them, instead of recycling them...I filled them with water and put the dog and cats name on them! My dog drinks from puddles..I'm sure that water will do just fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiguirre Posted October 30, 2011 Share Posted October 30, 2011 I've been in a few SHTF :D situations. Coup d'etat, national strike, rioting, hurricanes, weeks long power outages, BTDT. We were fine. They were character building experiences that I'd rather not relive, but no one was injured and there was no damage that wasn't fixable. My dad lived through WW2 and hyperinflation and communism and an uprising and being a refugee, but he came through it all no worse for the wear. I thing the fear of possible crises can be worse than actually reacting to the real crisis in front of you. First, I'd say you should try to live in a place that's not prone to flooding or storm surge. If you live in tornado territory, make sure you have at least an interior room with no windows. Of course, you may be stuck where you are. If you are advised to evacuate, I'd do it. I've always kept a good stockpile of food on hand, partly to take advantage of sales and partly because I grew up in blizzard prone territory and my mom always kept a good stash just in case. Now I live in hurricane territory and the same principle applies. We don't have guns. In my experience in a very dangerous country, you were better off not having a gun because criminals like to steal them and they are more likely to kill you rather than dump you off in an abandoned field if you're armed. Your best defense against crime is not having anything worth stealing and not having anything that would make you look like a promising target for kidnapping. No jewelry, no expensive watch, no expensive car, no real designer items, etc. If you have a food stash, and the world falls apart, you should probably not mention it to anyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Nyssa Posted October 30, 2011 Share Posted October 30, 2011 By the way, pancake mix is not a good thing to store long-term because it goes bad and you can have a severe reaction to it. DH is from earthquake country so we have lots of bottled water, crank-powered radio, and a food barrel-thing from Costco. Flashlights. Candles & matches. We learned how to turn off the gas and water in case of emergency. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maria from IN Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 Does anyone here stock up on things and prepare for a SHTF scenario? I'm talking about guns, ammo, food, things like that. 1 Why? 2. What is the easiest way to get started? 3. How much money do you spend on it? 4. Where do you store everything? 5. What are the essential things to have or do? How much or many of each thing? 6. Any other tips, tricks, lessons learned, or advice for me? I am very interested in being prepared, but have no idea where to start... TIA! My husband and I have spent the past couple of months stocking up on food and supplies. This past summer we went about 3 days without electricity, and ended up scrambling a little...we didn't have much that wasn't refrigerated. These days we have a cabinet in our garage which has long-burning candles, flashlights, and battery-powered lanterns (bought during the aforementioned power outage), as well as food and water. Every time we go to the grocery store, we buy water--whether we need it or not--and put it in the cabinet (the guys sometimes take a couple of bottles to work and school). My husband also has a large closed container with a spigot that holds about 5 gallons of water. There's also supplies for purifying water, and extra batteries. My 70-year-old mom lives about a block away, and we've been including her in our supply calculations--we don't expect her to try to stock up--but she and I both have several different food allergies, and my husband wants me to find as many non-perishable items as possible that the two of us are able to eat. He reckons that he and my son will be able to eat whatever we can. We have assembled things like canned fruits, tuna, Minute Rice (takes less water to prepare), beans, vegetables, toilet paper, bottled water, canned chicken, etc. I also recently got an Excalibur and am learning to dry things for storage. My husband also wants me to learn to shoot...he wants to be sure that if we ever had to live someplace else and hunt for our food, I would be able to help out as well as protect myself. We currently live in a neighborhood that is 120 condos (mostly of retired couples and widows) and an assisted living facility that is connected to a nursing home. He is worried that if something ever happens and people are short on food, our neighbors will be easy marks, so to speak. He has also recently purchased what he calls "bug-out bags" from a military surplus store to pack a change of clothes, medicines, etc. in case we need to leave quickly--we live next to a river, and a flood would ruin everything we've stocked up. My bag is for my things as well as my mother's clothes, water, medicines, etc. He would like us to have these bags packed and ready in case of earthquake (New Madrid zone) or flood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Random Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 Does anyone here stock up on things and prepare for a SHTF scenario? I'm talking about guns, ammo, food, things like that. 1 Why? 2. What is the easiest way to get started? 3. How much money do you spend on it? 4. Where do you store everything? 5. What are the essential things to have or do? How much or many of each thing? 6. Any other tips, tricks, lessons learned, or advice for me? I am very interested in being prepared, but have no idea where to start... TIA! We don't have a pile of ammo and guns, but I know our neighbors do. We are all hunters in our neighborhood (literally all of us; it's a small neighborhood), and we have good relationships with each other. In a crisis, I would feel very safe with them around and I think they would with us, too. My husband is an excellent archer and could harvest wild game, if the situation demanded it, so I'm not worried about needing a gun to hunt for meat. We have 72 hr kits (in the process) for all 6 of us. We have a good supply of water, food and fuel wood. We also have a decent first aid kit, crank/solar NOAA/AM/FM radio and medicines. 1. Why? Because it's important to accept that the gov't won't come riding in to rescue us in the event of a natural or manmade disaster. I may never need to use our preparations, but, maybe I will. Additionally, since DH is the only wage-earner, if something happened to him, it's comforting to me (and him) to know the kids &I would have food and water and fire wood for a year. 2. The easiest way to get started, I think, is to visit some of the blogs devoted to this sort of thing. I like The Survival Mom (but it's good for dads, too). 3. We have spent whatever we can each month. Adding a little at a time. I've been working on it for a year. 4. Our 72 hr kits are in my closet. The main food storage area is under the house because our weather is cool all year long. The water storage is also under the house. Fuel wood is in the back yard. 5. Many of the food storage website sellers have calculators to help figure out how much food you might need. 6. I liked Just In Case, as well as The Backyard Homestead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SweetMissMagnolia Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 (edited) every now and then hubby will go on an amo buying binge LOL --we have a tall gun safe in the house and everything is kept in there--he's a target shooter/defense shooter.....in recent times the kind that he uses/likes has been hard to get so when he finds it he can go a little crazy LOL :glare: every now and then I'll try and stock up on bottled water....would like to have more np foods but haven't.... Edited October 31, 2011 by SweetMissMagnolia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trafal Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 Yes, I prepare. Not as much as I would like but I do what I can. Here is a great website to help you get started. http://www.foodstoragemadeeasy.net Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mycalling Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 We do and needed to live off of our food stores for 3mo last year because of lack of money. It was a life saver! What we're doing now is working on a 1 year supply that doesn't rely on the freezer. I planned 14 meals of foods we could store well, the amounts per meal we'd need, timed by 26 2-week rotations. Then started buying the ingredients, ie 26lbs of split peas, 78 cans of tuna, 39lbs of elbow mac, 78 cans of beef stew, etc. It would be smarted to buy it by 3-month amounts, but I can get better deals on bulk amounts. That's dinner. For breakfast, I planned 7 meals, mostly oatmeal, some biscuits and pancakes from mix, dry milk. We have chickens for eggs. We're pressure cooking jars of bacon and sausage, and the meats for dinners that didn't get bought in cans. We have syrup stocked and our own honey from hives. For supper, we are planning to make bread so have been learning various bread recipes and are stocking up on supplies for that and have jarred butter, stocked up on peanut butter and jams. We're not worried about things going bad because we are actually eating our supplies, at about half the rate. I have yet to buy a solar oven, but that's the next thing on the list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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