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Are you Stocking Up or Preparing for an Emergency? Support Thread

16K views 258 replies 57 participants last post by  weliveintheforest 
#1 ·
HI!
I was hoping that we can get together and talk about building stockpiles and general emergency preparedness as well as survival skills etc

We are stocking up right now because with the financial markets tanking we are concerned that we will either be in a situation where we can't afford food or that food will not be available (banking holiday)

I would like this thread to be for support only
:

Anyone Else???


Helpful LINKS

How to Make An OVEN from a Cardboard Box!
http://safelygatheredin.blogspot.com...-box-oven.html

As for foraging, if you live in the Pacific Northwest this is a great book
http://www.amazon.com/Discovering-Wi.../dp/0882403699

Basic food storage guide lines
http://www.trackmyfoodstorage.com/ar...eid=4&zoneid=1

Link to a serious prepper's EXCELLENT prepping guide. "I know him from a survivalist and emergency prepping forum and he is level-headed and smart about prepping. I've gotten tons of great advice from him. He's not a tin-foil donning weirdo. His guide is worth printing out."
http://athagan.members.atlantic.net/Index.html

This page has instructions to make a whole bunch of different solar ovens, most of them very cheaply
http://solarcooking.org/plans/

Quote:

Originally Posted by JTA Mom View Post

Just for reference sake:
Here's the one that started it all

Second Old thread here

Third thread that's now debating

Here's a link from a guy who lived through the Argentinian collapse and how it has affected society and his family's habits. Btw, I have a 20+ page essay that goes into more detail about the changes society went through. If anyone's interested, please pm me with your email addy.

Blog about Argentina's collapse and its effects up to today

And this link is from a couple of LDS women, I think. They make food storage much more simple to figure out (look at their baby steps). The one thing I like is that they offer an excel spreadsheet that you enter your meals into, which then calculates what & how much you need to buy of each ingredient used in the meals. lol, I hope what I just said makes sense.
Food Storage made easy

Canned Butter
http://www.mredepot.com/servlet/the-...-butter/Detail

Canned Coffee
http://www.mredepot.com/servlet/the-...d-Costa/Detail

But somehow canned cottage cheese sounds really gross!
http://www.mredepot.com/servlet/the-...Cheeses/Detail

How to Make Lye Soap
(Thanks Velochic!!)

6lbs. of lard
1 can of Red Devil Lye (I get this at my hardware store, but it's a country general store and I've heard getting pure lye in cities is hard because it's a meth ingredient)
2.5 pints of cold water

-Add the lye to the cold water (do not add the water to the lye!)
-The water will heat up through a chemical process, when it is warm, not hot, add it to the lard and stir it to melt the fat.
-When it's cool, pour it into a wooden box.
-This soap get hard, so make sure you don't let it cool too much before you cut it. Let it cool overnight and viola!

There are some gotchas. The first step... mind that one. Make sure your utensils and pot are safe for lye (Dad has an enamel pot he uses). They cannot be used for cooking afterward. Lye is dangerous, so use gloves. If you want to add a scent, like rose water or scented oil, do it after the lard is melted, but before the soap gets too stiff.
 
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#254 ·
I like this thread, It's motivating. I'm not fearful but it is good to be prepared. I think I would just have rice, beans, flour, yeast, and powdered milk on hand.

and of course water.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Krisis View Post
I hadn't even thought about having cash on hand - mostly because if there is cash, DH will spend it.

I'm working for my mom right now so the earnings I make from that I think I will keep in hand. We do have a spare change jar with about $50 in it but who wants to lug that sucker around?

money won't be any good in a depression. It might help just before the huge crash if there is even time for that. The best thing would probably be to keep the car full with gas and have 2 gas cans with some money to fill them taped to them.

What will be of value and trade able during a depression would be jewelry/gold. If you have money I would suggest using some of it to buy gold.
 
#255 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by janasmama View Post

money won't be any good in a depression.
This isn't necessarily true. In the Depression of the 30s, cash was still king. Most people just didn't have any.
 
#256 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by A&A View Post
This isn't necessarily true. In the Depression of the 30s, cash was still king. Most people just didn't have any.
You are right. I guess I'm thinking this would be a different type of depression since the American dollar is already not valued at much. I'm not sure how money was so different back then but I'm guessing it was...I think that coin was still made with silver and not just plated like ours is today.

Here is a video that a friend sent to me that is suppose to be really good and educational. I haven't watched it yet but it might be helpful in educating some of us about what we really need to do/don't need to do to prepare.
 
#257 ·
Wasn't the dollar still tied to gold back then? So every dollar was 'worth' a certain amount of gold.

Honestly, either way, I don't think I'd be investing in gold right now - its WAY up in price, which makes it just not worth it for the vast majority of the population, you know? Now, if you invested in gold 10, 15 years ago, when it was cheap, your probably pretty happy. But I just really don't see hte logic in buying into gold when its up SOO high!!
 
#259 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by JTA Mom View Post
Also, what do you guys think of joining a gym? ...
... I want to work out but I don't want to lose $200 either, kwim?
What would you guys do?
I know this is old, but I don't think it's a bad idea even if the gm went under in 6 months. the fitter you are the better off you will be in case of emergency.

I'm wondering if anyone has seen http://www.efoodsdirect.com . My dh heard about them and wanted to order, but shipping is so much and I don't like the food options so we want to just find things locally. I'd be interested to hear what you thought.
 
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