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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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#177 ·
I have my father's from the Korean War. It's one of the bags that I use for our vehicle BOBs. They really are useful, but you cannot carry them for a long time. If I had to hike with this for any length of time, it would soon become too cumbersome. A good backpack is best for serious hiking out.
 
#179 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by LeighB View Post
Seeing the other pics, I def have a long way to go. I am so not as stocked up as I should be!
I know what you mean-my stockpile has grown, but it's nothing compared to the ones I've seen here! I'm in great shape for soaps, shampoos/conditioners, toothbrushes and pastes, that sort of stuff, and now I'm focusing more on the food.
 
#180 ·
I've added a lot in the past month but I don't come close to Velochics (except the massive amount of wheat mom and dad left behind). I'll have in the next little bit 100lbs oats, 25lbs white beans, 25lbs dry milk, 25lbs rice and 50lbs of sugar to can or put into 5gallon buckets. I will be canning the powdered milk as it will keep a lot longer that way. I use food grade 5gallon buckets with food grade liners to store bulk items that I use to quickly to bother canning. Sometime this week I will also have about 80lbs of apples and probably over a 100lbs of potatoes to can and some to store. I also have fresh winter squash from my garden I need to take care of. My husband doesn't want to do anymore canning but he's out of luck.
 
#181 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by LeighB View Post
Velochic- I couldn't get yours to load up for some reason.

Seeing the other pics, I def have a long way to go. I am so not as stocked up as I should be!
I took them down. I'll put them back up for a while, but in general, I don't like leaving that info out on the internet.

OK... they're back up. And just a note... that lard you see in some of the pix are for soapmaking. We don't actually consume it. The lard we consume is the healthy
, non-hydrogenated rendered lard from the Amish that I keep in the fridge.
 
#183 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by LeighB View Post
Ah I understand. Thanks for sharing the pics.

So will things like toothpaste and soap last forever basically? I really need to restock those things.
I think soap will. Some toothpaste containers have expiration dates, but I don't know how important those are. We just used the last of a tube that had expired a couple months before, and I didn't notice any taste difference.
 
#186 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by shelbell View Post
I think soap will. Some toothpaste containers have expiration dates, but I don't know how important those are. We just used the last of a tube that had expired a couple months before, and I didn't notice any taste difference.

I'm not sure about this, but I wonder if it's the fluoride that goes "bad"? But yeah, ours has an expiry, too.

Which is why I keep lots of baking soda on hand! Even if the baking soda goes past its expiry for baking, you can still used it as a natural toothpaste. I have sensitive teeth, so I use baking soda regularly. It's very difficult for me to find toothpaste without whitening... which irritates my sensitive, already white enough, teeth.
 
#187 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by velochic View Post
I'm not sure about this, but I wonder if it's the fluoride that goes "bad"? But yeah, ours has an expiry, too.

Which is why I keep lots of baking soda on hand! Even if the baking soda goes past its expiry for baking, you can still used it as a natural toothpaste. I have sensitive teeth, so I use baking soda regularly. It's very difficult for me to find toothpaste without whitening... which irritates my sensitive, already white enough, teeth.
I looked on the net for info on this last night after I posted, and the consensus seems to be that after time the fluoride will lose its efficacy. It does not appear that it goes "bad" in the sense it will harm your teeth, however.

I've tried baking soda for teeth since I use it for so much else, but the taste just turns me off. Plus, I have very poor enamel on my teeth and don't want to cause any problems with the abrasiveness of the baking soda. I've actually found the thing that makes my teeth feel the cleanest is to just brush with a dry brush and no toothpaste every once in a while. It doesn't hurt that doing so requires no additional cost other than the brush.

ETA - We do stockpile toothbrushes.
 
#189 ·
baking soda for toothbrushing brings back horrible childhood memories. Note to self: add toothpaste to my list.


So, I shopped at the Sam's Club and I have to say I was really impressed. I only got a few things but was making mental notes for what to pick up later. We are literlly one week away from our big downsizing move and I am utterly stressed out. DD is also sick and also has some major teeth coming in. It's been a cray time.

But, after much researching, I feel like I have a pretty good idea of how to stock up in a small apartment flat. My plan is to keep and rotate about 2 months worth of food and supplies. I am using extra large canning jars and 5 gallon glass jars for bulk grains. In the laundry room, we are putting in industrial style shelving. (actually the whole space is very euro/industrial design and I am loving it!) and there we will stock bulk orders or tp, water, cleaners, etc. I have gotten a Frontier membership and have budgeted $250 every 10 weeks for supplies. This way I get free shipping and I have a large stock of the kinds of things we like to use. And I'll be utilizing Sam's club in the upcoming weeks and we should be set.
2 months feels perfect to me... I guess I am a moderate stockpiler
 
#190 ·
Don't know if you ladies are seeing the same thing, but I have noticed locally that food prices have been going down a little bit lately. The nerd in me loves these graphs on commodity prices, as well. I grabbed several cans of things at the grocery store yesterday to boost my stockpile. Black beans at .55/can; had been .65/can for the past few months, and most of my stockpile of them was bought at .50/can about 6-8 months ago. Also got a couple of cans of pineapple at $1.08/can - had been $1.18/can recently; we used up the last of my stash during Ike, which had been bought at $1/can last year.

Anyone else seeing food prices falling? It kind of makes me do a happy dance for my stockpile.
:
 
#194 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by shelbell View Post
Sharon Astyk's blog had a good post yesterday on frugal stockpiling. It's a very basic (and kind of long) article, but I do think it's valuable for any beginning stockpilers on here or to pass along to IRL stockpiling newbies.
I LOVE her -- her book is great, too.
 
#195 ·
I'm so excited! My mil said she still owed my husband for work he did so she bought me a bushel of apples from the local orchard. A friend brought me potatoes from her garden and my husband went and gleaned some. I have sooo many that I'm going to be canning for weeks! Our only expense was less than a gallon of gas. I love fall around here because produce is so abundant.
 
#196 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by veganjoy View Post
I've been following the other threads, and just caught up with this one.

We just bought a new house, and usually purchase purified water to drink. Do you think a whole-home water filtration system would be a good idea? I've been looking at this one:
http://www.purewaterexpress.com/wholehouse.htm#1
Expensive, but do you think it would be useful in these situations?
A home filtration system would be good in normal conditions, but it is of no use to you in an emergency situation. This means a LOSS of water - that's why you have to store water. And then you need a smaller water filter in case you have an extended period of city water loss and are forced to go get water from another source that may not be potable.
 
#198 ·
Article.

Quote:
The Vermont Department of Health is urging residents to prepare for a possible worldwide flu pandemic by stocking their pantries with enough food to stay home for two weeks.

People should buy things like dried foods that have a long shelf life, said Health Commissioner Wendy Davis.
...
Burlington is one of nine communities around the country taking part in a pilot project sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to get ready for what scientists believe is the coming pandemic.
...
Some of the foods the Health Department is recommending people stock up on are peanut butter, jelly, dried milk, raisins, nuts, cans of pumpkin, diced tomatoes, rice, pasta, flour and sugar.

The Health Department estimates it would cost about $200 for a family of four to have enough food for two weeks.
 
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