Active New Top (30 days) Compact Card Water purification priorities Russell - May 10, 2022 There’s a few methods to purify water but I was wondering how they should be prioritized if you have all of them. Say you’ve been a good prepper and have the following… – Water filtration (HydroBlu inline + backup LifeStraw) – Water purification tablets (chlorine) – A clear bottle for solar disinfection (SODIS) – A hard canteen you can boil in, plus lighter/matches – Bandana The day is young, the sun is out, and you’re staring at a puddle. After you’ve scooped up as much as you can, what item or combo of items do you reach for first? And second, third, etc. Of course, you have no idea how long this emergency will last. I’m writing a short guide for myself / my partner on how to prioritize gear use for safety and longevity. For instance, boiling requires fuel, so it wouldn’t be my first pick. Read More 12 10 AdviceScenarios Makeover of a pre-assembled BOB in 1 week and $125 pnwsarahContributor - May 9, 2022 Last weekend I pulled my husband’s BOB out from its storage spot and did an inventory. He bought it pre-assembled when we first started dating (and I said, “You have an earthquake kit, right?”) and I remember going through it at one point, but I had forgotten how long ago that was and how crummy the kit was to begin with. (I don’t know what I thought about who was maintaining it during this period of time.) At first, I thought it would take a lot of time and money to rectify the situation, but then I found a ton of extras and replacements in the house, spent $125 on new stuff, and one week later, the bag is SO much better. It’s not “done”, but I’m really pleasantly surprised at what a difference I was able to make. I thought I’d share it with you all to celebrate this small prepping win, and also because it might prompt some interesting discussion about where these pre-assembled kits fall down. On that point, I feel like the biggest gaps between what we got in the pre-assembled kit and my husband’s actual needs were in the following areas: IFAK. I give the kit maker credit for including a triangle bandage and safety pins in the FAK, but the rest of it was basically bandaids, and I don’t see the point of including trauma shears if you include none of the other materials one would need in the scenarios in which one needs shears. The “improved” kit still needs a lot of work, but my husband doesn’t have a lot of first aid knowledge, so I think training should be the priority for him here. In the meantime, I was able to improve the kit a lot by adding a lot of basic OTC medicines in small Ziplock bags that I already had on-hand, as well as useful things like oral rehydration solution. Toiletries. His had a lot of cheap stuff that he didn’t actually need and wouldn’t make him comfortable. Power/charging. It makes sense that the pre-assembled kits don’t include charging cords, since that has to be customized to one’s own electronics, but this was a major hole in the kit, and a power bank, wall plug, and charging cable set me back $40. The “survive outdoors” stuff in the kit was also pretty bad, but given our particular circumstances, that doesn’t bother me too much: I’m against buying BOB duplicates of our better-quality backpacking and camping gear that we use regularly, so I’m fine with a cheap tube tent and mylar sleeping bag as lightweight, low-volume insurance in case we don’t have time to grab the better stuff on our way out the door. The thing that bugs me most about his BOB right now is the quantity of cotton clothing, but we have some pretty good used outdoor gear stores here that I plan to hit for synthetic replacements and a fleece. Here is a list of the CURRENT contents of his BOB, broken down by categories. Everything with an asterisk (*) is a new addition, (†) indicates new purchases. Aside from power, most of the $$$ were spent on a better food and water setup. FOOD & WATER Lifestraw* 27 oz. Klean Kanteen, single-walled, filled* 30-pack Katadyn Micropur Purification Tablets*† 2 Coast Guard-style ration blocks*† (1 replaced from home supplies, 1 ordered) 5 tea bags of his favorite tea* (Note: I have a stove to heat the water.) 1 collapsible mug*† SHELTER, WARMTH, & LIGHT plastic tube tent 1 mylar sleeping bag 2 single-use hand warmers (almost certain they are expired, but they’re light) 1 rechargeable headlamp 2 lighters* (had 1, added 1) an unknown, but volumetrically large quantity of very cheap cordage 1 “5-in-1” survival tool consisting of a whistle, a tiny compass, a tiny signal mirror, a very tiny and questionable “flint”, and a compartment for matches (came without matches) 12 stormproof matches* packet of dryer lint “tinder”* CLOTHING 1 cotton t-shirt 1 pair jeans 1 pair long underwear bottoms* 1 warm hat 2 pair of socks* (had 1, added 1) 2 pair of boxers* (had 1, added 1) 1 old down jacket 1 old rain jacket 1 plastic poncho 1 bandana* TOILETRIES 1 travel toothbrush 1 travel toothpaste 2 oz. Dr. Bronner’s*† 2 oz. hand sanitizer* 1 compact roll of toilet paper (i.e., no cardboard tube)*† 1 Paper Shower* 3 pair ear plugs* 1 eye cover*† 1 chapstick* 1 pair nail clippers* INFORMATION & COMMUNICATION 1 walkie talkie and charging cord 1 very crappy hand-crank radio evacuation list* (things to grab in addition to the bag if we have a few minutes) photos of us together and with our dog* names, addresses, and phone numbers for various friends and relatives emergency information specific to our city the “critical information sheet” I made with all of our insurance policy numbers, claims department phone numbers, the dog’s vaccine info and microchip numbers, regular and emergency vet contact info, our most recent vaccines and doctor and dentist numbers, etc. detailed street maps for 3 West Coast cities small Rite in the Rain notebook*† pen, mechanical pencil, sharpie TOOLS 1 off-brand Swiss Army Knife-style multitools (the big kind with a scissors) 1 credit card-size Fresnel lens* IFAK 8 cleansing wipes 5 Q-tips, sterile 4 gauze pads (2 sizes) 1 pair trauma sheers 6 pair nitrile gloves* (kit came with 1 pair, which I put in an exterior pocket for ease of access; other 5 are in the kit) 1 CPR mask 1 triangle bandage 4 safety pins 1 pair tweezers 1 teeny tiny roll of medical tape 65 bandaids in varying sizes Coban roll* 3 packets oral rehydration solution* 20 Benadryl* 11 Acetaminophen* 6 Naproxen sodium* 20 Ibuprofen* 6 Loperamide* 5 mini-Ziplock bags for storing medications (dosage info written on these)* POWER 1 Novoo Explorer power bank*† 1 USB wall plug*† 1 USB A to USB C charging cable*† MISC. 1 KN95 mask* 1 cloth mask* 1 reusable half-face respirator* 1 packet of respirator filters* swim goggles* 1 deck of cards heavy gloves cash extra Ziplock and trash bags, varying sizes* And here is what I removed from the pre-assembled kit: 12 packets of emergency drinking water, expired 2 Coast Guard-style ration blocks, expired 1 very flimsy “can opener” that looks far more likely to open one’s hand than one’s can 1 mylar sleeping bag 2 glow sticks 2 plastic ponchos 1 vinyl bag for toiletries, so stiff and sharp-edged that I nearly cut myself trying to open it 1 travel toothbrush 1 tiny hotel soap wrapped in paper 1 wash cloth 4 single-use shampoo packets (my husband shaves his head; it would take a long time for him to really need any shampoo, let alone three packets’ worth) 2 menstrual pads (my husband does not menstruate) 1 large plastic comb (as long as he has trauma shears, he won’t have hair long enough to need this 😀 ) 1 disposable plastic razor 1 travel-size shaving gel 1 roll of toilet paper (like a giant normal one from the bathroom, with the cardboard inside) 1 off-brand Swiss Army Knife-style multitool (there were two) 4 cleansing wipes 5 cotton balls, packaged to be sterile approximately 2 million-minus-65 bandaids Read More 18 18 Gear Review: Xtar 100W semi-portable solar panels and 678W battery pack Gideon ParkerStaff - May 9, 2022 The Prepared was sent over a sample power station and solar panel by the company Xtar Direct. After a few weeks of testing I have to say that it is a pretty good off-grid power solution for medium draw devices. The solar panel The 100W solar panel surprised me with its build quality and efficiency. In direct sunlight it produced a steady 110 watts and even when it was overcast and cloudy it could still ink out 20-25 watts. The panel is slightly flexible, is able to fold in half during transport, and is held together using strong magnets. It features a pouch on the back that houses the generous 10 foot cable with extra room to spare. The cable has a DC7909 (8mm) port, so you will need an adapter if your power station doesn’t use this type of connector. Two adjustable kickstands are attached to maximize the output from the sun. One of the downsides of having a lightweight panel is that it is easily blown in the wind. After two days of use, I noted that the wind was scooting it forward against the asphalt and was starting to wear down the points of contact. To protect it from wearing down further, I placed some binder clips where it comes in contact with the ground. I would have liked to have the edges dipped in rubber to be more durable and prevent sliding. To prevent the panel from blowing away, tipping over, or sliding and wearing against the ground, I took various measures to keep it stable. I laid out an old pair of jeans along the front edge of the panel to protect it from the asphalt. A smaller piece of denim was placed on the back kickstands as those are just made of fabric as well. I made two sand bags and tied the top edges to it with some scrap paracord. The sandbags prevent the panel from blowing forwards, and the power station nestled under the panel keeps it from blowing backwards. Another benefit to placing the power station under the panel when charging is that it keeps it cooler in the shade of the panel to prevent the batteries from overheating, and shelters it from any rain that might come down. Overall, I am very happy with this panel. I love how lightweight it is, easy to transport, the magnets holding it closed are nice, and it pumps out more electricity than advertised. My one recommendation to Xtar is to dip the edges in rubber to prevent slipping and wear. The power station This is a well built power station that will hold up to moderate use. I liked the very thick and grippy rubber bumpers on the bottom, easy to grab handle, and 11 pound lightweight build. It packs in 568Wh of lithium ion batteries that will retain 80% of their original charge after 800 discharge cycles. There is a 500W pure sine wave inverter which can handle a 1000W surge load. Packed with two full sized AC wall outlets, three USB-A ports, a DC cigarette lighter port, and two additional DC outlet ports you don’t need much more than this. The user manual was poorly translated and led to some confusion. And maybe it is just me, but I could not figure out what the giant ‘678W’ stood for on the front of the unit. It didn’t mention this number in the manual or on their website, so I had to contact their customer service team to find out and they said that the 678W is the output of all the ports combined. 678w= AC(500W)+ DC(140W)+ USB(10W+10W+18W). When testing the USB ports, I was only ever able to pull 6W out of any of them. When all three USB ports were loaded I was drawing 26W. I don’t have a USB multimeter, and was just going off the display of the unit of what it says it was drawing. The display tells all the info you need such as how many watts are coming into the unit when charging, how many are going out during use, the remaining percentage of battery capacity, and which outlets are being powered. The display is great indoors, but difficult to read outside in the bright sun. For many days I put this unit through some real world tests and it handled things excellently! I ran a giant old TV and video game console, Dremel rotary tool, lamp, computer, and monitor. Not all at once, but one or two together at the same time and it all worked well. When running my desk setup off of it (laptop, monitor, speakers, mouse, keyboard, USB hub) I was able to start with 98% at 10am and run till 6:40pm and still have 37% left over. This desk setup only drew between 40-50W, so not too draining. I did run into a weird quirk however when powering my work desk devices. If I was powering everything at the same time, just the monitor, or even just the laptop I would experience constant turning off and on randomly with my keyboard and mouse in the USB hub. So weird that the power station would influence that even if it was just my monitor being powered by it and the monitor is only connected to my laptop through an HDMI cable. The included 100W wall charging brick comes in a nice pouch and works flawlessly, but I did run into an issue when charging the power station with the solar panel. I would set everything up and leave it out to charge in the sun only to find out later that it wasn’t charging. Xtar had a very responsive and personalized customer support team, so A+ for that, and they informed me that there was a charge procedure issue with the power station and that I would not run into this issue if I depleted the unit below 40% and started charging from there. So I drained the unit to 5%, plugged it in and it charged the entire day without issue. But whenever I start the solar panel charging at say 55%, it will only charge like 6% and then stop. If I unplugged the charging cable, waited 30 seconds, and then plugged it back in, it would start charging at the full 110W again for a couple more minutes. Unfortunately, this power station seems to be a Chinese white label product from what I’ve seen. That means that a company in China makes a ton of these with no branding, sells them to various companies who just put their sticker on them and say that it is their product. This model can be bought in bulk on Alibaba.com for $252, then one sticker later they turn around and sell it for $370. How does it compare to other power stations? At $370 for the power station, $270 for the solar panel, or $600 for the combination when bought using that link for the power station, this is a very economical way to get into powering medium sized devices. Quick comparison to more “name brand” power stations: Xtar power station – $370 – 568Wh battery capacity – 2 AC ports Jackery explorer 500 – $500 – 518Wh battery capacity – 1 AC port Goal Zero Yeti 500X – $700 – 505Wh battery capacity – 2 AC ports Summary With the issue of the unit charging for only a few minutes while powered by a solar panel, it is a major irritation to constantly be sitting by it and unplugging and plugging it back in. But if you are just going to buy the power station and use the AC charger, then I highly recommend the Xtar power station as a cheap source of emergency power or as a unit you could bring camping. Read More 17 1 Gear Faucet for 55 gallon water drum jaybee - May 7, 2022 I’m thinking about laying my barrels on the side and installing a faucet in the bung hole. I’m looking at this on Amazon: I know that the threaded bungholes in the top of the drum are National Pipe Thread. The big one is 2″ NPT. The small one is 3/4″ NPT. This faucet could go in the 2″, but will I need to vent also (went I want to use the water?) I’ve been looking online and I’m stuck – help? Read More 8 3 Advice Straw bale gardening – Turn last fall’s decorations into this spring’s raised garden bed Olly Wright - May 6, 2022 Has anyone tried straw bale gardening? I have to say it is a creative and resourceful way to have raised garden beds. The idea is that you take a straw bale, sprinkle a bit of potting soil on the top to start out the seeds, and the plants will then grow into and live off of the decomposing straw bales. This technique is nice because it doesn’t grow weeds, easy to care for, is raised up, and can even be placed down on concrete. Some tips I read about: Hay contains seeds, you need to use straw which is just the leftover stalks. You can wrap the straw bales in black plastic and have the sun cook and kill any remaining seeds that were left behind in the straw. Shorter plants work better than tall plants like corn which may tip over Read More 8 2 Skills Let’s say there is recession Q3/Q4 ’22? John Grayman - May 4, 2022 We have seen two inverted bond yield-indexes since the pandemic began; the first one was alleviated /avoided statistically (and perhaps part of why we have inflation). When the the GR hit around ’08, I was penniless and single. Now, as a middle of the road ‘Merican with a mortgage and some kiddos, I am very intrigued as to what I can do to prepare if a recession does come, beyond common sense/general family financial planning (hat tip ethics/advice from The Prepared)… To a sharper point-what businesses and incomes did well during the Great Recession? Handymen and self-repair auto parts/service seems to survive when there isn’t enough money for something ‘new’ but rather needing a fix. Is lumber and building materials something viable/smart to stockpile? Thank you all in advance for your experience and/or feedback shared! Read More 8 5 Advice Preps for people with physical disabilities and limitations or who aren’t in great physical shape Jonnie PekelnyContributor - May 4, 2022 I’d like to start a thread where we can discuss how to best get prepared if you or a loved one is dealing with physical disabilities or limitations or isn’t in the best physical shape. I’m particularly interested in discussing scenarios where we have to bug out. I know it’s desirable that person be in good shape for physically strenuous activity in case of the need to evacuate, but let’s get real. Some people just aren’t. Life happens; age happens; disability happens. We all do our best. I see physical fitness as an important goal to have in mind for health and safety reasons, but not something we should feel bad about falling short of. I have very personal reasons for starting this thread. I am in my 50s, not in great fitness shape, although not horrible. I have some repetitive usage disabilities and long standing foot problems and now some knee problems. Nothing extreme, but I’m pretty keenly aware that hiking out of Dodge with 25 or 30 lbs on my back would wear me out pretty darned fast. Honestly, I don’t know if I’d even make it a mile on foot. I also have a mother who is much MORE disabled, living part time alone after having a stroke two years ago. I want to be practical so am looking for ideas of what I can do at my current size and shape and fitness level to prepare. Read More 19 61 AdviceMetaScenariosSkills Ham radio for local communication Greg Ustaszewski - May 4, 2022 Hi all. New here. Just found this site today. I’m hoping some of the more experienced preppers might be able to help me out. I earned my Ham Radio Tech license last August. My hope was that I would be able to communicate with my brother in law (25 miles east of me) and my nephew (20 miles southeast of me). We all purchased HTs. Unfortunately, I live on the wrong side of the hills and we can’t find a repeater that all three of us can reach reliably. We tried new HT antennas, mag mounts for our cars and even roof mounted antennas. No luck. My next thought was to get a mobile HF radio. Maybe one that works on six or ten meters, which our tech licenses allow us to use. I did try contacting our local ham club, but that was a dead end. They suggested I use Echolink (which worked) but it defeats the purpose of having an emergency backup when the internet/cell communications are down. Any suggestions? Read More 10 12 AdviceGear Need advice about BOB organization Horror Coder - April 30, 2022 Hi, I’m fairly new to prepping excuse me in advance if maybe is a trivial topic I’m gradually making my 72hr BOB, it’s a general purpose one but with some gears userful in a countryside/wilderness settings. I’ve some trouble to organize all the stuff in a way that is easy to identify, retrieve and put away At the moment I’m working with what I have and small budget but open to spend some bucks if I find a decent solution. I prefer to use tech backpacks since I already have a couple of them (30 and 65lt) and the single big storage compartment make me wonder what could be the best approach to keep all your gears well separated in their specific categories (first aid, food, water, electronics, tools, warmth, hygiene, ect, ect) To organize my stuff I’ve used what I already had: a cheap roll bag a and some molle pouch (from my old softair playtimes), and at first I thought to build a sort of taylor made insert ( I don’t mind go into diy and do a bit of sewing) that fold like a book and fit into the backpack (something similar to the commercial Seventy2 pro system) but now I realize that probably all this contraption is adding too much weight (all molle pouches + a heavy fabric that keep them together) and probably is not so practical. A photo of what I was doing so it’s easier to understand So I’m a bit of stuck…should I ditch this idea and maybe simply use a collection of small and lightweight drysack with different colors (for identify the content) and put them inside the backpack in the most logical way based on weight and needs? Read More 17 14 AdviceGear The sun ☀️ is our greatest survival ally Molly N. 😆 - April 29, 2022 During some morning meditation and reflecting, I thought about what an incredible resource the sun is to the survivalist. Here are some of my thoughts on how the sun helps us and if we study each method and learn how to capitalize on it’s ability, then we can become better prepared to survive. Feel free to add to the list if you have any thoughts. Generating electricity through the use of a solar panel Cooking food with a solar oven Heating up a house by opening the blinds Disinfecting water that is placed in a clear bottle Providing vitamin D through our skin to keep us healthy Telling time by using a sun dial or just looking up in the sky for a general sense according to it’s position Helping us navigate. Rises in the East and sets in the West Brings life to our gardens Thank you sun! Read More 13 2 Skills Solar blanket (panels) by Off Grid Trek JBinAZ - April 29, 2022 Do any of you own or tried the “28.5W Solar Panel, 23.8% Efficiency Rating, 1.1lbs” by Off Grid Trek? I own two Ryno Tuff 21W Foldable Solar Panels, based on The Prepared’s extensive testing and recommendation. I am wanting to get one more, and want to diversify, as I believe in redundancy that is partially diversified in the scenario that one brand decides to crap out. At $280, it is considerably more expensive than Ryno Tuff’s $50 offering. I am willing to pay more for a better product that will last longer (years). It also has a DC port. As I’ve mentioned before, I live in the Arizona desert with temps upwards of 120F in the height of summer. We also have dust, wind and monsoon rains (oh, joy). Your thoughts and input are appreciated 🙂 https://www.offgridtrek.com/collections/solar-blanket/products/28-5w-solar-panel Read More 10 3 Gear It can’t be said too many times…do your estate planning July LewisContributor - April 27, 2022 I’ve posted this before but it really can’t be said enough. Get your affairs in order. EMPs are a possibility, but death is a certainty and unlikely, sudden, too young, too healthy, “But he worked out every day!”, “But I always thought I would go first!” deaths happen all the time. We just had one in our family. Lots of good articles out there, I’m linking to one below. I would say the very FIRST thing everyone should do is check the beneficiaries on your accounts. Any bank account, retirement account, HSA, anything should have the person you intend listed as a death beneficiary and then have alternates. That way the assets go directly to your beneficiary on your death instead of going through probate – they have access to the funds right away. This is easy to do and doesn’t cost anything. After that you can get into your will, power of attorney, medical power of attorney, life insurance etc. Finally, talk to your family. Make sure someone trusted knows what accounts you have, where to find your will, what your intentions are. possibly even share passwords with them if you trust them. If not, consider subscribing to a password manager service that can allow someone to have emergency access in the event of your death (e.g. LastPass). Honestly, don’t spend another dime on ammo or #10 cans until you have dealt with this. It causes so much pain, stress, and heartbreak on top of an already heartbreaking situation when someone dies unprepared. Sample article here – and there are lots more out there. https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/investing/estate-planning Read More 20 9 Advice Tips for pets? – Pet Preparedness Scott P - April 26, 2022 What are peoples plans and more importantly tips to dealing with pets in a situation where bugging out is prudent? We have two cats, both are leash trained and very easy to get into their crates. Travel by car is a non issue for them. We also have a gallon bag of food for them in my bag. I am worried about having to ditch the car though. Any hints on supplies we should have, training we should do, or any other things? Read More 34 93 Advice Changes for/life in a world with reduced oil accessibility? RS - April 26, 2022 I’ve been trying to find (or create?) a big list of approaches/technologies/products/ideas that someone could consider to a) reduce their oil dependence in the present, or b) live life in a future with reduced/nonexistent oil/fossil fuel accessibility. I want to look at these ideas to consider adopting some now or supporting my community to develop some of the ideas. Below, I’ve given examples. Also, to be frank, I want a list of ideas to look at when I find myself doomscrolling through peak oil and oil dependence articles. Those articles describe the stakes and the scale of the problem, but at the end of them, I’m usually left thinking “what could I do to address the issue?” That uncertainty about what to do (for me at least) often results in more doomscrolling about the general topic. I want to break a spiral by pulling up a nice big list of concrete ideas for myself and/or my community. (Then once I’ve broken the spiral, I can actually evaluate which ideas are truly useful for me personally. But first, the list to break the spiral.) So if you’ve got a recommendation for what to learn about or where to go to learn how to be less oil-dependent (whether through traditional approaches, or modern ones, or a mix) I’d be very happy to hear your ideas and resources. Here’s some of my examples… Food preservation: Create a root cellar (attached or detached to the home) to help preserve food without spending energy on active cooling/refrigeration. Food preservation: learn about fermenting (sauerkraut, kimchi, sourdough…) Food supply/production: Look up local farmers and figure out what products I could potentially purchase without relying on long distance trucking to bring it to my area (and identify what I can’t acquire locally) Food supply/production: Learn about household-level gardening techniques that don’t rely heavily on synthetic fertilizers, and make efficient use of hand tools vs power tools (like a scythe) Transportation: Live within an e-bike’s range for commuting to most places, and combine that with setting a back-yard solar system for charging the bike (these ideas don’t have to work for everyone, just pass along the ideas that might work for someone) Housing: Assess a home’s structure for retrofitting (insulation, passive solar) to reduce the energy inputs needed for heating/cooling. Housing: Learn about rocket mass heaters, modern/traditional woodstoves/wood boilers to supply heating energy via a resource that can be grown locally. (learn what it takes to grow a healthy “wood lot”) Clothing: Identify local resources and expertise for making and maintaining clothing (knitting and sewing hobbyists, local seamstresses/tailors, sources of fiber to make fabric, potential trade options if there’s no enough ) General energy: learn about household-level power generation like photovoltaic solar panels and evacuated tube-based solar hot water systems General energy: learn about community microgrids to generate (electric) power locally/in a distributed manner Societal structure: discuss my concerns with family, friends, community members, and elected representatives (And if you have website/book recommendations instead of individual ideas, happy to hear that, too!) Read More 13 12 What shortages/price hikes are you all anticipating? CamilleContributor - April 26, 2022 I feel like I’ve seen a lot of news about higher fuel prices and an expectation that wheat will be in short supply and higher in price, but I was reading this article and found that Russia is one of the leading exporters of fertilizer. Fertilizer shortages could ultimately really impact agricultural yields globally. What shortages/price hikes are you all anticipating and prepping for? Read More 19 23 NewsScenarios Disaster Burnout – How to recognize it and what to do about it if it happens to you or the people in your group UbiqueContributor - April 26, 2022 Life in a state of global pandemic has taught us all a thing or two about stress, boredom, frustration, fear, anger, and grief. In the early stages of the pandemic, people mounted shopping campaigns to secure as much toilet paper as possible. Frenzied shoppers scrambled to buy the last 20 pounds of flour and hoped there was still yeast left at the end of the grocery aisle. Job hours were cut back or entire days trimmed from schedules until finally people were laid off for lack of work. As the year wore on, people used credit to pay for expenses. Savings accounts were raided and left empty. Some countries offered financial assistance, but that assistance was finite. Those at the end of the pandemic financial programs stood on the precipice of a big, black void. What next? When would this pandemic finally end and life would go back to normal? Stress set in as the financial pressures mounted. Domestic relationships imploded under the weight of pandemic stress. Was it financial? Was it from spending just a little too much time together? Or, were relationships failing because the pandemic had changed people? Partnerships are hard to maintain when the people in them turn inward and away from the other. People had lost loved ones and were unable to even visit in the hospital as their family member lay dying. Proper funerals weren’t allowed and the associated community support for grief that comes with the ritual of a funeral. The preppers who were better prepared at the onset of the pandemic still had to cope with many of the issues non-preppers faced, like job loss and grief. I was prepared for pandemic and increased my preps before it was declared. It was nice to have PPE’s and a very well stocked pantry including non food items and I am grateful for that preparation. But, today I am as weary of the pandemic as everyone else. When the pandemic was declared, we were all given a new set of rules about how to live. Masks and social distancing became the equivalent of little bubbles around us, invisible boundaries never to be crossed. We lost the ability to connect with each other in a spontaneous and joyful way. When was the last time you were truly, spontaneously happy and carefree? Even a visit with a generous supply of preps doesn’t perk me up. I feel like the kid in the back of the car: “Are we there yet?” Burnout is present when you go to sleep knowing that the next morning will probably not be much different. Burnout is knowing that other people feel the same way and they are as powerless to change the pandemic as you are. If the pandemic were a bus, I want to get off now, please. One definition of burnout is physical and mental collapse. Whenever I peer over the edge into these dark corners of prepping that are easier to ignore, I learn something that makes me a stronger, wiser prepper. I don’t hide from the mental and emotional aspects of disaster because if I did, then how could I recognize burnout and the need to address it? I feel my emotions and ride through the difficult ones so I can learn to manage them better when unpleasant situations provoke them. So, here’s what I’ve figured out about burnout during this journey through a pandemic. Any prolonged disaster is going to eventually provoke burnout. We are human and there is no point pretending that it won’t happen to us. Everyone will arrive at burnout sooner or later and want off the bus, too. Remember the footage of the end of World War II from various countries? People were hugging and kissing and jumping into each other’s arms. Some were dancing in the streets. People were ecstatic because the war was over. If all those people hadn’t been burned out, then their reactions would have been much different. “Oh, really, it’s over. *Yawn* How nice.” We need to plan for burn out in ourselves or in our group. Burnout looks like depression, hopelessness, and fatigue. A person who is burned out is a jaded person who has had enough of the circus and just wants to go home. Burnout can cause us or members of our group to make mistakes and errors in judgement that can have dire consequences. Burnout if not addressed can affect the morale of the person’s group. It adds to their stress. Every person has a different way of coping with burnout. If it happened to me in a high stress job, I changed jobs, fields and went off in an entirely different direction in order to challenge my brain and skills. It became a way to learn new things in a new environment and shake off the heaviness of burnout. If the burnout wasn’t from a job, I took up new hobbies and taught myself new things from college level books that I put aside in my library. If it was a relationship, it got better or I got out. Life is too short to live in a state of burnout, disaster or no disaster. Burnout comes from working our brains the same way day in and day out. The remedy is to do something different. Change one big thing or a bunch of little things. Get creative. Take the negative things that happen during a disaster and turn them into opportunities for learning. Don’t ever completely grow up. Reserve a part of yourself that is free to be a child. This will help you remember how to play and not take yourself too seriously. It is invaluable in a disaster to be able to build a fort in your living room or dissolve into hysterics over a silly joke. Laughter displaces burnout and drives it away. My Mom, who survived the long occupation of The Netherlands in WWII, told me how they would laugh and make silly jokes, even during the really bad times. Sometimes, they sang or played games or talked about “some day” when it was over, what would be the first thing that they would like to do. But mostly, they laughed because when they laughed they felt stronger, in their spirits, an intangible untouchable part of them that no one could steal from them. Until she died at 86, my Mom was often mistaken for a woman much younger than her years. She still sang and her giggle was infectious. Her spirit was as strong as ever and no one could ever steal it from her. When the going gets really tough in a long term disaster, I will deal with burnout by remembering her example. Read More 16 28 Advice What’s worth canning? Watermelon Samurai - April 22, 2022 I’d like to ask a question (ok, 2 questions) to the folks who are experienced with canning fruits and veggies:1) What fruits & vegetables do you prefer to can and what do you prefer to freeze? (Set aside the issue of the power going out and the freezer defrosting…)2) What fruits & vegetables have you canned that you won’t can again – because of the effort involved, change in color/texture, shift in taste, equipment needed, etc. Thanks in advance! -WS (a canning newbie) Read More 14 20 AdviceSkills Digital preparedness Rich DCContributor - April 21, 2022 Full disclosure: some of the staff here know more about this than I do (I’ll likely link shamelessly to their past affiliated sites…) I realize this is a niche topic but wanted to contribute where I could. If you think of Preparation along the lines of Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, digital preparedness might be a bit closer to the top in terms or rarity rather than urgency/importance (The base of the pyramid is *more* important than the top, remember) but in situations that fall short of a full grid-down disaster, information can be critical (you are [probably] reading this on a website, after-all!). You can also think of Digital preparedness as a meta-prep, along the lines of financial-preparedness (of the mutual fund/savings/retirement account variety, rather than the gold/silver investing kind) – something that might help you along the way in anything short of a full-blown apocalypse. Nothing will ever take the place of learned skills or reference material on printed paper (some digital media you can print out!), but in situations where you’ve prepared for power outages and have your food/water, shelter, and safety taken care of – information certainly can’t hurt. Even if digital preparedness isn’t essential to your survival scenarios, it can also be helpful for simple organization and maintenance until you have more important things to worry about (similar to financial preparation, where ideally you’ve got savings and retirement accounts in order – and use them as a base to build on your other preps in the event that your savings and retirement accounts don’t exist anymore for exigent reasons). Password managers If you buy things online, do online banking/investing, pay bills online – You should really seriously consider a password manager. They can be a small pain to set up at first but it also forces you to organize and take stock of things. The better ones will be able to export to standard formats for backup and portability. Good ones integrate with your phone and computer. See more here: https://www.wired.com/story/best-password-managers/ Two Factor Authentication By now it’s common enough that you probably have the option for two factor authetication (gmail, your bank, etc). Enable it. If you enable it you need to also consider redundancy. Some sites that offer two factor also provide one time use reset codes – you have to save these and get a limited number. You can sometimes designate alternate cell phones for two-factor like a trusted family member or friend (or a second backup phone if that’s your thing). There are different types of two-factor such as cell phone, email, software, or hard token. Personally I’m OK with cell phone based but your risk-convenience trade offs may differ (and i use a combination of them). Facebook and Google both have options as well (how much do you trust them though – not saying you shouldn’t just that you should think about it first). For more information: https://www.wired.com/story/two-factor-authentication-apps-authy-google-authenticator/ Identity Protection Credit Freezes I’ve had my personal information breached at least 4 times that I know of (no true identity theft, but it’s out there for the taking). Most identity monitoring services tell you when it’s already happened, to [help] prevent it from happening in the first place consider a credit freeze (in the US). A credit freeze is different from a credit fraud alert – credit fraud alerts are temporary but a credit freeze you control and can turn off/on at your discretion. Want a new credit card? Ask the provider which bureau they use and then unfreeze the relevant one – you can even set them to be temporarily unlocked and re-enabled after a set period of time. It’s not perfect but it may be a deterrent. You will need to record some private pins/codes – make copies and put them someplace safe you will remember, you might only use them a couple times a decade so plan accordingly. For more info (I always look for the ftc.gov in the link): https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0279-extended-fraud-alerts-and-credit-freezes Credit monitoring You can pay for credit monitoring if you want (be warned, Equifax had a breach, this is about deterrence, nothing is 100%) but many banks and credit cards offer less-formal credit monitoring options. I have two separate options and I check them each 1-2 times a month, they’re easy to get to and the next best thing to formal paid services. Consider multiple credit cards For the longest time I had one credit card. I also paid for everything by credit card (paid it off in full each month). Once every year or three someone would steal my credit card info and I’d be without a credit card for the 5-10 days it took to replace. I was not prepared. Now I have two, one stays in my wallet and one at home locked up. Also a check card but i avoid using that for my own reasons. Be aware of the impact on your credit score – opening new accounts/cards can cause a hit at first. You want to balance your credit usage and consider not having a completely inactive card – less of a guide more of an FYI/proceed with awareness (FYI – my at-home card is used for car insurance so it gets some mild usage). For your second+ credit card, consider a different bank (you might get different free services, like that free credit reporting). Also if one bank gets breached, all your eggs aren’t in one basket (good for money management too I’m told, but thats another topic) You need to consider not just yourself but also anyone you have a joint account with (you may want to reassess your joint accounts – which may have credit score implications if you close older joint cards). If you are married or have kids, you might want to consider having those chats with anyone you are financially entangled with. Know your public information – If you own property, your name is probably in (multiple) databases linked to your address(es), unless you have an LLC/trust/shell company obscuring your identity. If you sign up for a grocery store “bonus” card they’re probably selling/sharing your data with someone who is aggregating it. Not trying to stoke your paranoia or encourage you to change your legal name – just be aware of what you “give out” for free. Google yourself and see how exposed you really are (sometimes, having a common name comes in real handy, hard to distinguish from all the others!) Data backup/archival Do you have files, photos, reference materials, or personal memoirs on your computer that you want to keep forever? Do you have a backup plan? There is a lot to consider but sometimes a simple external hard drive and a monthly backup is enough. Off-site and cloud storage are other options. Dry acid-free archival quality paper is one of the longest lasting information storage media invented (short of stone tablets?) – but it’s not as portable or convenient. For smaller scale storage, or prep-related storage, you might consider a USB key (think home owners insurance, backup codes for finances, medical records, etc). There are different types with different features, some claim to be quite impressive. I *HAVE NOT* vetted this myself, but if you want an upgrade from a basic USB stick for a go bag – something with encryption and security features might appeal to you (seriously do your homework, I’m interested in this but haven’t researched it yet): https://www.ironkey.com/en-US/ If you care – many social media and communications platforms allow you to export your data en mass for local use and backup (I *think* you can thank EU data laws for that?) – so there are ways to backup all your facebook photos or emails if that kind of thing is important to you (i’d argue a high quality usb stick with a digital family album stored on it weighs less than the real thing if your house burns down). Webpage archival Have you found an article or web page you’ve found helpful and might want to reference in the future? Maybe you’ve saved it in your bookmarks – what happens when the internet goes down or the website is taken down? Saving web content offline can be both easy and frustrating. Dynamic content can be generated on the fly so even if you “save as” to your PC, you might get a blank template when you open it. Luckily there are solutions: A simple but slower solution is to “print to a PDF.” It might take 2-3 steps and can be annoying to organize but it will work offline and you can save to your USB/backup storage of choice if you choose to. Sometimes it messes up formatting but is usually readable. A solution I like (which I *think* can be configured for both offline and cloud based storage) is Apple/Safari Reading lists. Once set up this (in theory) offers me one-click offline storage that (can potentially?) be synchronized across devices. It’s very much an apple ecosystem tool though. Bonus – from what I’ve read safari is better for battery life on Macs! There are a number of built in and third party options for this, some with cloud synchronization options. Too many to research right now, but you have options depending on what works for you. Prep logistics Google “My Maps” (https://www.google.com/maps/about/mymaps/) is basically user-friendly digital cartography for the masses – now if you’re a high profile public figure with a secret underground bunker (a general category not a specific reference) you might want to not share that info with Google. But if you want a list of your friends, family, and locations to consider on the way to a secondary location that are all public knowledge anyway this can be useful. I mostly use this for planning/brainstorming and personal organization (i would not suggest for an emergency but i would suggest to help you make a hard copy map for emergencies). I’m unsure if their printed maps are any good but you might be able to make it work. I believe you can also save these “off line” on your mobile device, even when the internet goes out. Google Docs and Sheets – OK, I’m lazy, there are alternatives for the security conscious but for everyone else, it’s useful to organize. Contact lists with phone numbers for emergencies (to print out!) and put in your bags – and update as needed. Scenario planning if you like to write to help you think, even renovations for your primary or secondary residence (if you have a location to “bug out” to). Supply lists for future purchases. It’s just an organizational tool Accounting – part of the financial meta-prep again. Since most of my purchases are off amazon it’s easy to see what I’ve spent and what it got me. I literally have a spreadsheet tallying my prep expenses over time (useful for reassuring the spouse you aren’t “going overboard”) Surveillance Wireless cameras – I need to do more research here. Arlo cameras look appealing to me but I think they require an internet connection to be useful. Ideally I’d like a wireless-radio camera system, battery powered if possible (even if it uses wifi as the radio mechanism but *does not* require an active internet for monitoring – for scenarios where safety is a concern but you still have power but maybe not internet) Car dash-cams – This was a suggestion off a random prepper site before I settled on The Prepared. There are versions of these that are set up to record while you’re parked using a battery backup if disturbed or simply record while actively driving your car under power. After one too many close calls with bad traffic I invested in this more for proof in case anyone tries to sue me but it might have other applications – I like my BlackVue 1 channel with wifi, but I’ve yet to be in an accident with it, so a little hard to test. Radio/Communications ThePrepared has an article on ham radios that you should read (https://preparedpro.xyz/survival-skills/guides/beginners-guide-amateur-ham-radio-preppers/) – because my particular breed of “preparation scenarios” gears towards government censorship and net neutrality I’m prone to imagining how ad-hoc mesh networks work or trying to figure out what you can do with a HackRF One software defined radio… but hey, we all need our hobbies. Cell Phones Backups – both backup your data and consider having a second phone as a backup. Backing up your phone is fairly easy, you might do it already but you can go to 7-11 and buy a pay-as-you-go cell phone with a prepaid plan in case your cell phone breaks (is stolen, lost) when you *really* need it. Be sure to set it up with relevant numbers. You’ll need to consider battery charge and storage if you don’t use it frequently. While you’re at it, consider memorizing a couple of important numbers – in case you’re ever arrested (or your battery dies) and don’t have your cell phone to look up the number you need for you one phone call you really need to make. Privacy Consider what kind of encryption your cell phone supports. For example, Apple has something of a reputation for privacy of mobile devices (i think?) but other vendors may also. Consider what privacy laws apply to forcing you to unlock your phone. Consider if you trust police or a third party aggressor to honor your rights with regards to fingerprint or face based phone unlock features. Sometimes an old school strong pass-code is better. Warning: politically adjacent link, but it has valid politically agnostic (and up to date) advice regarding technology usage. Please don’t ding me for linking to this! https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-protest-safely-surveillance-digital-privacy/ Devices If you have the means and interest: laptops, tablets, and smartphones are various form factors that are portable. If it is important to you – you might consider having an old one in a tiered go-bag system (again, consider battery charge issues), or at least having one you can grab on your way out the door. ThePrepared has reviewed solar chargers that are appropriate for cell phones (and tablets?) https://preparedpro.xyz/gear/reviews/portable-solar-chargers/ There are other semi-portable (certainly in a car) solar panel and battery options that might recharge a laptop. Again, take care of the base of maslow’s needs first (food, water, shelter, protection) but *if you want* there are options available to you. Read More 28 24 Advice What would a non-nuclear world war look like? Kira - April 21, 2022 Hi all, I’ve seen a lot of us talking about nuclear war and MAD (which has been on my mind as well), but I’m also curious what you think would happen if we had a non-nuclear world war. WWII could serve as some template, but we now have stronger international communities and weaker local communities. It looks like higher food and gas prices are already happening. People are pulling together more, but hate crimes are also spiking. Globally, alliances are strengthening and being made for the first time. Several countries are also talking about localizing their supply chains more. Do you have any predictions for what it could look like both in terms of everyday life and in terms of global relations? (Edit: does anyone know if you capitalize “in” in a title? It looked wrong both ways…) Read More 15 21 Scenarios What can we learn from the war in Ukraine? Conrad B - April 21, 2022 One of the main lessons I’ve seen so far is the need to reassess my bug out plan. There was a 6 mile (10km) long traffic jam of refugees fleeing to Poland. At what point do you abandon your vehicle and trek it on foot? Is going on foot any better? Another thought I had was having enough water, food, and fuel on hand. You don’t want to run out of food during the middle of an invasion and try to go through a war zone to buy groceries. My heart goes out to all those affected. Even to the Russian soldiers who may not like what they are doing but have to. Let’s learn from what is going on and prepare for the future. Read More 15 32 Meta Community portable water filtration systems Robert Clements - April 21, 2022 Hello, I am a member of my local Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and we are looking to replace our portable emergency water filters. Does anyone have any recommendations for a company that produces portable, self-contained emergency water filter systems? Our CERT currently has an Emergency Potable Water Program where, if our local water supplier was unable to provide potable water to the community, we would step in and supply potable water through several distribution sites. The manufacturer of our current units (Global Pure Water) has gone out of business. Thank you for any thoughts. Bob Clements Milwaukie, Oregon Read More 9 6 Gear How to communicate with out of town family during a grid down situation? TheFuries - April 20, 2022 I need to resolve how my family will communicate with my parents and teenage sister who live three hours away should the grid go down. I’m not technical, so it’s not something I know where to start researching. But, my husband is technical enough to set systems up since it’s not my strength. If cell towers and land lines go down during hurricane season (common where we live in North FL), a possible Russian cyber attack (increasing likelihood given the current global situation), or EMP, how do you communicate with others from a distance? Having done humanitarian work with refugees in Italy and Ukraine, I know how to use blue tooth technology to communicate when cell towers aren’t available. We don’t have HAM radios and I imagine walkie talkies have a short range. But, if the electric is out entirely? For months? Are satellite phones dependable during an EMP situation (if stored in a faraday)? What are other options? I’d like to invest in this for all family households, totaling three families (my husband’s parents as well in Kentucky), so I’d like to not break the bank, but if I have to… This is one of those things that keeps me up at night as we have a toddler and are very close to our families. I’ve only found vague or shallow information on this issue. Nothing that breaks things down with clear directions. Many thanks in advance for your time! Read More 18 21 Advice A list of places where you can find TP other than the forum Gideon ParkerStaff - April 20, 2022 Hey folks, here are other places where you can follow or interact with us: /preparedpro.xyz/: Interesting, educational, and entertaining prepping related Reddit posts. Facebook and Twitter: Top articles and forum posts are shared throughout the week. If you want to have more real time conversations you can join our Slack group (leave a comment down below if you would like a private invitation to join), or Discord server. Thank you for being part of this community! Read More 8 2 Meta Creating a prepping team Unobtrusive - April 20, 2022 No man is an island and no one can succeed in a disaster alone. Mad Max, The Omega Man, I Am Legend, even The Road had guys going it alone against the post-apocalyptic hordes. But that’s not realistic. A truly prepared individual will surround themselves with like-minded others who have diverse skill sets. The question I have is how? How do we find these people? I’ve been looking. I’ve joined groups, I’ve been on other forums. I want to enlist the people in my community, but do so without coming on like a desperate weirdo or paranoid gun nut. Where do y’all go to find others? Read More 28 40 AdviceScenariosSkills < Prev 1 2 3 … 23 24 25 … 59 60 61 Next > Recently Active News for the Week 2025-2-24 - 6 days agoNews for the Week 2025-2-17 - 2 weeks agoNews for the Week 2025-02-10 - 3 weeks agoA quick workout to warm you up - 3 weeks agoNews of the Week 2024-12-30 - 3 weeks ago RULES This forum is heavily moderated to keep things valuable to as many people as possible. Full community policies are here. The basics: 1. Be nice to each other. 2. Stay focused on prepping. 3. Avoid politics, religion, and other arguments. 4. No unfounded conspiracies, fake news, etc. 5. Debate ideas, not people. FILTER Show all Advice Gear Meta News Scenarios Skills

Water purification priorities

Russell - May 10, 2022

There’s a few methods to purify water but I was wondering how they should be prioritized if you have all of them. Say you’ve been a good prepper and have the following…

– Water filtration (HydroBlu inline + backup LifeStraw)

– Water purification tablets (chlorine)

– A clear bottle for solar disinfection (SODIS)

– A hard canteen you can boil in, plus lighter/matches

– Bandana

The day is young, the sun is out, and you’re staring at a puddle. After you’ve scooped up as much as you can, what item or combo of items do you reach for first? And second, third, etc. Of course, you have no idea how long this emergency will last.

I’m writing a short guide for myself / my partner on how to prioritize gear use for safety and longevity. For instance, boiling requires fuel, so it wouldn’t be my first pick.

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AdviceScenarios

Makeover of a pre-assembled BOB in 1 week and $125

pnwsarahContributor - May 9, 2022

Last weekend I pulled my husband’s BOB out from its storage spot and did an inventory. He bought it pre-assembled when we first started dating (and I said, “You have an earthquake kit, right?”) and I remember going through it at one point, but I had forgotten how long ago that was and how crummy the kit was to begin with. (I don’t know what I thought about who was maintaining it during this period of time.)

At first, I thought it would take a lot of time and money to rectify the situation, but then I found a ton of extras and replacements in the house, spent $125 on new stuff, and one week later, the bag is SO much better. It’s not “done”, but I’m really pleasantly surprised at what a difference I was able to make. I thought I’d share it with you all to celebrate this small prepping win, and also because it might prompt some interesting discussion about where these pre-assembled kits fall down.

On that point, I feel like the biggest gaps between what we got in the pre-assembled kit and my husband’s actual needs were in the following areas:

IFAK. I give the kit maker credit for including a triangle bandage and safety pins in the FAK, but the rest of it was basically bandaids, and I don’t see the point of including trauma shears if you include none of the other materials one would need in the scenarios in which one needs shears. The “improved” kit still needs a lot of work, but my husband doesn’t have a lot of first aid knowledge, so I think training should be the priority for him here. In the meantime, I was able to improve the kit a lot by adding a lot of basic OTC medicines in small Ziplock bags that I already had on-hand, as well as useful things like oral rehydration solution. Toiletries. His had a lot of cheap stuff that he didn’t actually need and wouldn’t make him comfortable. Power/charging. It makes sense that the pre-assembled kits don’t include charging cords, since that has to be customized to one’s own electronics, but this was a major hole in the kit, and a power bank, wall plug, and charging cable set me back $40.

The “survive outdoors” stuff in the kit was also pretty bad, but given our particular circumstances, that doesn’t bother me too much: I’m against buying BOB duplicates of our better-quality backpacking and camping gear that we use regularly, so I’m fine with a cheap tube tent and mylar sleeping bag as lightweight, low-volume insurance in case we don’t have time to grab the better stuff on our way out the door.

The thing that bugs me most about his BOB right now is the quantity of cotton clothing, but we have some pretty good used outdoor gear stores here that I plan to hit for synthetic replacements and a fleece.

Here is a list of the CURRENT contents of his BOB, broken down by categories. Everything with an asterisk (*) is a new addition, (†) indicates new purchases. Aside from power, most of the $$$ were spent on a better food and water setup.

FOOD & WATER

Lifestraw* 27 oz. Klean Kanteen, single-walled, filled* 30-pack Katadyn Micropur Purification Tablets*† 2 Coast Guard-style ration blocks*† (1 replaced from home supplies, 1 ordered) 5 tea bags of his favorite tea* (Note: I have a stove to heat the water.) 1 collapsible mug*†

SHELTER, WARMTH, & LIGHT

plastic tube tent 1 mylar sleeping bag 2 single-use hand warmers (almost certain they are expired, but they’re light) 1 rechargeable headlamp 2 lighters* (had 1, added 1) an unknown, but volumetrically large quantity of very cheap cordage 1 “5-in-1” survival tool consisting of a whistle, a tiny compass, a tiny signal mirror, a very tiny and questionable “flint”, and a compartment for matches (came without matches) 12 stormproof matches* packet of dryer lint “tinder”*

CLOTHING

1 cotton t-shirt 1 pair jeans 1 pair long underwear bottoms* 1 warm hat 2 pair of socks* (had 1, added 1) 2 pair of boxers* (had 1, added 1) 1 old down jacket 1 old rain jacket 1 plastic poncho 1 bandana*

TOILETRIES

1 travel toothbrush 1 travel toothpaste 2 oz. Dr. Bronner’s*† 2 oz. hand sanitizer* 1 compact roll of toilet paper (i.e., no cardboard tube)*† 1 Paper Shower* 3 pair ear plugs* 1 eye cover*† 1 chapstick* 1 pair nail clippers*

INFORMATION & COMMUNICATION

1 walkie talkie and charging cord 1 very crappy hand-crank radio evacuation list* (things to grab in addition to the bag if we have a few minutes) photos of us together and with our dog* names, addresses, and phone numbers for various friends and relatives emergency information specific to our city the “critical information sheet” I made with all of our insurance policy numbers, claims department phone numbers, the dog’s vaccine info and microchip numbers, regular and emergency vet contact info, our most recent vaccines and doctor and dentist numbers, etc. detailed street maps for 3 West Coast cities small Rite in the Rain notebook*† pen, mechanical pencil, sharpie

TOOLS

1 off-brand Swiss Army Knife-style multitools (the big kind with a scissors) 1 credit card-size Fresnel lens*

IFAK

8 cleansing wipes 5 Q-tips, sterile 4 gauze pads (2 sizes) 1 pair trauma sheers 6 pair nitrile gloves* (kit came with 1 pair, which I put in an exterior pocket for ease of access; other 5 are in the kit) 1 CPR mask 1 triangle bandage 4 safety pins 1 pair tweezers 1 teeny tiny roll of medical tape 65 bandaids in varying sizes Coban roll* 3 packets oral rehydration solution* 20 Benadryl* 11 Acetaminophen* 6 Naproxen sodium* 20 Ibuprofen* 6 Loperamide* 5 mini-Ziplock bags for storing medications (dosage info written on these)*

POWER

1 Novoo Explorer power bank*† 1 USB wall plug*† 1 USB A to USB C charging cable*†

MISC.

1 KN95 mask* 1 cloth mask* 1 reusable half-face respirator* 1 packet of respirator filters* swim goggles* 1 deck of cards heavy gloves cash extra Ziplock and trash bags, varying sizes*

And here is what I removed from the pre-assembled kit:

12 packets of emergency drinking water, expired 2 Coast Guard-style ration blocks, expired 1 very flimsy “can opener” that looks far more likely to open one’s hand than one’s can 1 mylar sleeping bag 2 glow sticks 2 plastic ponchos 1 vinyl bag for toiletries, so stiff and sharp-edged that I nearly cut myself trying to open it 1 travel toothbrush 1 tiny hotel soap wrapped in paper 1 wash cloth 4 single-use shampoo packets (my husband shaves his head; it would take a long time for him to really need any shampoo, let alone three packets’ worth) 2 menstrual pads (my husband does not menstruate) 1 large plastic comb (as long as he has trauma shears, he won’t have hair long enough to need this 😀 ) 1 disposable plastic razor 1 travel-size shaving gel 1 roll of toilet paper (like a giant normal one from the bathroom, with the cardboard inside) 1 off-brand Swiss Army Knife-style multitool (there were two) 4 cleansing wipes 5 cotton balls, packaged to be sterile approximately 2 million-minus-65 bandaids Read More

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Gear

Review: Xtar 100W semi-portable solar panels and 678W battery pack

Gideon ParkerStaff - May 9, 2022

The Prepared was sent over a sample power station and solar panel by the company Xtar Direct. After a few weeks of testing I have to say that it is a pretty good off-grid power solution for medium draw devices.

The solar panel

The 100W solar panel surprised me with its build quality and efficiency. In direct sunlight it produced a steady 110 watts and even when it was overcast and cloudy it could still ink out 20-25 watts. The panel is slightly flexible, is able to fold in half during transport, and is held together using strong magnets. It features a pouch on the back that houses the generous 10 foot cable with extra room to spare. The cable has a DC7909 (8mm) port, so you will need an adapter if your power station doesn’t use this type of connector. Two adjustable kickstands are attached to maximize the output from the sun.

One of the downsides of having a lightweight panel is that it is easily blown in the wind. After two days of use, I noted that the wind was scooting it forward against the asphalt and was starting to wear down the points of contact. To protect it from wearing down further, I placed some binder clips where it comes in contact with the ground. I would have liked to have the edges dipped in rubber to be more durable and prevent sliding.

To prevent the panel from blowing away, tipping over, or sliding and wearing against the ground, I took various measures to keep it stable. I laid out an old pair of jeans along the front edge of the panel to protect it from the asphalt. A smaller piece of denim was placed on the back kickstands as those are just made of fabric as well. I made two sand bags and tied the top edges to it with some scrap paracord. The sandbags prevent the panel from blowing forwards, and the power station nestled under the panel keeps it from blowing backwards. Another benefit to placing the power station under the panel when charging is that it keeps it cooler in the shade of the panel to prevent the batteries from overheating, and shelters it from any rain that might come down.

Overall, I am very happy with this panel. I love how lightweight it is, easy to transport, the magnets holding it closed are nice, and it pumps out more electricity than advertised. My one recommendation to Xtar is to dip the edges in rubber to prevent slipping and wear.

The power station

This is a well built power station that will hold up to moderate use. I liked the very thick and grippy rubber bumpers on the bottom, easy to grab handle, and 11 pound lightweight build. It packs in 568Wh of lithium ion batteries that will retain 80% of their original charge after 800 discharge cycles. There is a 500W pure sine wave inverter which can handle a 1000W surge load. Packed with two full sized AC wall outlets, three USB-A ports, a DC cigarette lighter port, and two additional DC outlet ports you don’t need much more than this.

The user manual was poorly translated and led to some confusion. And maybe it is just me, but I could not figure out what the giant ‘678W’ stood for on the front of the unit. It didn’t mention this number in the manual or on their website, so I had to contact their customer service team to find out and they said that the 678W is the output of all the ports combined. 678w= AC(500W)+ DC(140W)+ USB(10W+10W+18W).

When testing the USB ports, I was only ever able to pull 6W out of any of them. When all three USB ports were loaded I was drawing 26W. I don’t have a USB multimeter, and was just going off the display of the unit of what it says it was drawing.

The display tells all the info you need such as how many watts are coming into the unit when charging, how many are going out during use, the remaining percentage of battery capacity, and which outlets are being powered. The display is great indoors, but difficult to read outside in the bright sun.

For many days I put this unit through some real world tests and it handled things excellently! I ran a giant old TV and video game console, Dremel rotary tool, lamp, computer, and monitor. Not all at once, but one or two together at the same time and it all worked well.

When running my desk setup off of it (laptop, monitor, speakers, mouse, keyboard, USB hub) I was able to start with 98% at 10am and run till 6:40pm and still have 37% left over. This desk setup only drew between 40-50W, so not too draining. I did run into a weird quirk however when powering my work desk devices. If I was powering everything at the same time, just the monitor, or even just the laptop I would experience constant turning off and on randomly with my keyboard and mouse in the USB hub. So weird that the power station would influence that even if it was just my monitor being powered by it and the monitor is only connected to my laptop through an HDMI cable.

The included 100W wall charging brick comes in a nice pouch and works flawlessly, but I did run into an issue when charging the power station with the solar panel. I would set everything up and leave it out to charge in the sun only to find out later that it wasn’t charging. Xtar had a very responsive and personalized customer support team, so A+ for that, and they informed me that there was a charge procedure issue with the power station and that I would not run into this issue if I depleted the unit below 40% and started charging from there. So I drained the unit to 5%, plugged it in and it charged the entire day without issue. But whenever I start the solar panel charging at say 55%, it will only charge like 6% and then stop. If I unplugged the charging cable, waited 30 seconds, and then plugged it back in, it would start charging at the full 110W again for a couple more minutes.

Unfortunately, this power station seems to be a Chinese white label product from what I’ve seen. That means that a company in China makes a ton of these with no branding, sells them to various companies who just put their sticker on them and say that it is their product. This model can be bought in bulk on Alibaba.com for $252, then one sticker later they turn around and sell it for $370.

How does it compare to other power stations?

At $370 for the power station, $270 for the solar panel, or $600 for the combination when bought using that link for the power station, this is a very economical way to get into powering medium sized devices.

Quick comparison to more “name brand” power stations:

Xtar power station – $370 – 568Wh battery capacity – 2 AC ports

Jackery explorer 500 – $500 – 518Wh battery capacity – 1 AC port

Goal Zero Yeti 500X – $700 – 505Wh battery capacity – 2 AC ports

Summary

With the issue of the unit charging for only a few minutes while powered by a solar panel, it is a major irritation to constantly be sitting by it and unplugging and plugging it back in. But if you are just going to buy the power station and use the AC charger, then I highly recommend the Xtar power station as a cheap source of emergency power or as a unit you could bring camping.

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Gear

Faucet for 55 gallon water drum

jaybee - May 7, 2022

I’m thinking about laying my barrels on the side and installing a faucet in the bung hole. I’m looking at this on Amazon:

I know that the threaded bungholes in the top of the drum are National Pipe Thread. The big one is 2″ NPT. The small one is 3/4″ NPT. This faucet could go in the 2″, but will I need to vent also (went I want to use the water?) I’ve been looking online and I’m stuck – help?

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Advice

Straw bale gardening – Turn last fall’s decorations into this spring’s raised garden bed

Olly Wright - May 6, 2022

Has anyone tried straw bale gardening? I have to say it is a creative and resourceful way to have raised garden beds.

The idea is that you take a straw bale, sprinkle a bit of potting soil on the top to start out the seeds, and the plants will then grow into and live off of the decomposing straw bales. This technique is nice because it doesn’t grow weeds, easy to care for, is raised up, and can even be placed down on concrete. 

Some tips I read about:

Hay contains seeds, you need to use straw which is just the leftover stalks. You can wrap the straw bales in black plastic and have the sun cook and kill any remaining seeds that were left behind in the straw. Shorter plants work better than tall plants like corn which may tip over

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Skills

Let’s say there is recession Q3/Q4 ’22?

John Grayman - May 4, 2022

We have seen two inverted bond yield-indexes since the pandemic began; the first one was alleviated /avoided statistically (and perhaps part of why we have inflation). When the the GR hit around ’08, I was penniless and single. Now, as a middle of the road ‘Merican with a mortgage and some kiddos, I am very intrigued as to what I can do to prepare if a recession does come, beyond common sense/general family financial planning (hat tip ethics/advice from The Prepared)…

To a sharper point-what businesses and incomes did well during the Great Recession? Handymen and self-repair auto parts/service seems to survive when there isn’t enough money for something ‘new’ but rather needing a fix. Is lumber and building materials something viable/smart to stockpile? 

Thank you all in advance for your experience and/or feedback shared! 

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Advice

Preps for people with physical disabilities and limitations or who aren’t in great physical shape

Jonnie PekelnyContributor - May 4, 2022

I’d like to start a thread where we can discuss how to best get prepared if you or a loved one is dealing with physical disabilities or limitations or isn’t in the best physical shape. I’m particularly interested in discussing scenarios where we have to bug out. I know it’s desirable that person be in good shape for physically strenuous activity in case of the need to evacuate, but let’s get real. Some people just aren’t. Life happens; age happens; disability happens. We all do our best. I see physical fitness as an important goal to have in mind for health and safety reasons, but not something we should feel bad about falling short of.

I have very personal reasons for starting this thread. I am in my 50s, not in great fitness shape, although not horrible. I have some repetitive usage disabilities and long standing foot problems and now some knee problems.  Nothing extreme, but I’m pretty keenly aware that hiking out of Dodge with 25 or 30 lbs on my back would wear me out pretty darned fast. Honestly, I don’t know if I’d even make it a mile on foot. I also have a mother who is much MORE disabled, living part time alone after having a stroke two years ago.

I want to be practical so am looking for ideas of what I can do at my current size and shape and fitness level to prepare.

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AdviceMetaScenariosSkills

Ham radio for local communication

Greg Ustaszewski - May 4, 2022

Hi all.  New here.  Just found this site today.  I’m hoping some of the more experienced preppers might be able to help me out.  I earned my Ham Radio Tech license last August.  My hope was that I would be able to communicate with my brother in law (25 miles east of me) and my nephew (20 miles southeast of me).  We all purchased HTs.  Unfortunately, I live on the wrong side of the hills and we can’t find a repeater that all three of us can reach reliably.  We tried new HT antennas, mag mounts for our cars and even roof mounted antennas.  No luck.  My next thought was to get a mobile HF radio.  Maybe one that works on six or ten meters, which our tech licenses allow us to use.  I did try contacting our local ham club, but that was a dead end.  They suggested I use Echolink (which worked) but it defeats the purpose of having an emergency backup when the internet/cell communications are down.    

Any suggestions?

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AdviceGear

Need advice about BOB organization

Horror Coder - April 30, 2022

Hi, I’m fairly new to prepping excuse me in advance if maybe is a trivial topic I’m gradually making my 72hr BOB, it’s a general purpose one but with some gears userful in a countryside/wilderness settings. I’ve some trouble to organize all the stuff in a way that is easy to identify, retrieve and put away At the moment I’m working with what I have and small budget but open to spend some bucks if I find a decent solution. I prefer to use tech backpacks since I already have a couple of them (30 and 65lt) and the single big storage compartment make me wonder what could be the best approach to keep all your gears well separated in their specific categories (first aid, food, water, electronics, tools, warmth, hygiene, ect, ect) To organize my stuff I’ve used what I already had: a cheap roll bag a and some molle pouch (from my old softair playtimes), and at first I thought to build a sort of taylor made insert ( I don’t mind go into diy and do a bit of sewing) that fold like a book and fit into the backpack (something similar to the commercial Seventy2 pro system) but now I realize that probably all this contraption is adding too much weight (all molle pouches + a heavy fabric that keep them together) and probably is not so practical.

A photo of what I was doing so it’s easier to understand

So I’m a bit of stuck…should I ditch this idea and maybe simply use a collection of small and lightweight drysack with different colors (for identify the content) and put them inside the backpack in the most logical way based on weight and needs?

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AdviceGear

The sun ☀️ is our greatest survival ally

Molly N. 😆 - April 29, 2022

During some morning meditation and reflecting, I thought about what an incredible resource the sun is to the survivalist. Here are some of my thoughts on how the sun helps us and if we study each method and learn how to capitalize on it’s ability, then we can become better prepared to survive. Feel free to add to the list if you have any thoughts.

Generating electricity through the use of a solar panel Cooking food with a solar oven Heating up a house by opening the blinds Disinfecting water that is placed in a clear bottle Providing vitamin D through our skin to keep us healthy Telling time by using a sun dial or just looking up in the sky for a general sense according to it’s position Helping us navigate. Rises in the East and sets in the West Brings life to our gardens

Thank you sun! 

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Skills

Solar blanket (panels) by Off Grid Trek

JBinAZ - April 29, 2022

Do any of you own or tried the “28.5W Solar Panel, 23.8% Efficiency Rating, 1.1lbs” by Off Grid Trek?

I own two Ryno Tuff 21W Foldable Solar Panels, based on The Prepared’s extensive testing and recommendation. I am wanting to get one more, and want to diversify, as I believe in redundancy that is partially diversified in the scenario that one brand decides to crap out.

At $280, it is considerably more expensive than Ryno Tuff’s $50 offering.  I am willing to pay more for a better product that will last longer (years). It also has a DC port.

As I’ve mentioned before, I live in the Arizona desert with temps upwards of 120F in the height of summer.  We also have dust, wind and monsoon rains (oh, joy).

Your thoughts and input are appreciated 🙂

https://www.offgridtrek.com/collections/solar-blanket/products/28-5w-solar-panel

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Gear

It can’t be said too many times…do your estate planning

July LewisContributor - April 27, 2022

I’ve posted this before but it really can’t be said enough. Get your affairs in order. EMPs are a possibility, but death is a certainty and unlikely, sudden, too young, too healthy, “But he worked out every day!”, “But I always thought I would go first!” deaths happen all the time. We just had one in our family.

Lots of good articles out there, I’m linking to one below. I would say the very FIRST thing everyone should do is check the beneficiaries on your accounts. Any bank account, retirement account, HSA, anything should have the person you intend listed as a death beneficiary and then have alternates. That way the assets go directly to your beneficiary on your death instead of going through probate – they have access to the funds right away. This is easy to do and doesn’t cost anything. After that you can get into your will, power of attorney, medical power of attorney, life insurance etc. 

Finally, talk to your family. Make sure someone trusted knows what accounts you have, where to find your will, what your intentions are. possibly even share passwords with them if you trust them. If not, consider subscribing to a password manager service that can allow someone to have emergency access in the event of your death (e.g. LastPass).

Honestly, don’t spend another dime on ammo or #10 cans until you have dealt with this. It causes so much pain, stress, and heartbreak on top of an already heartbreaking situation when someone dies unprepared.

Sample article here – and there are lots more out there. https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/investing/estate-planning 

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Advice

Tips for pets? – Pet Preparedness

Scott P - April 26, 2022

What are peoples plans and more importantly tips to dealing with pets in a situation where bugging out is prudent?  We have two cats, both are leash trained and very easy to get into their crates.  Travel by car is a non issue for them.  We also have a gallon bag of food for them in my bag.  I am worried about having to ditch the car though.  Any hints on supplies we should have, training we should do, or any other things?  

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Advice

Changes for/life in a world with reduced oil accessibility?

RS - April 26, 2022

I’ve been trying to find (or create?) a big list of approaches/technologies/products/ideas that someone could consider to a) reduce their oil dependence in the present, or b) live life in a future with reduced/nonexistent oil/fossil fuel accessibility.

I want to look at these ideas to consider adopting some now or supporting my community to develop some of the ideas. Below, I’ve given examples.

Also, to be frank, I want a list of ideas to look at when I find myself doomscrolling through peak oil and oil dependence articles. Those articles describe the stakes and the scale of the problem, but at the end of them, I’m usually left thinking “what could I do to address the issue?” That uncertainty about what to do (for me at least) often results in more doomscrolling about the general topic. I want to break a spiral by pulling up a nice big list of concrete ideas for myself and/or my community. (Then once I’ve broken the spiral, I can actually evaluate which ideas are truly useful for me personally. But first, the list to break the spiral.)

So if you’ve got a recommendation for what to learn about or where to go to learn how to be less oil-dependent (whether through traditional approaches, or modern ones, or a mix) I’d be very happy to hear your ideas and resources.

Here’s some of my examples…

Food preservation: Create a root cellar (attached or detached to the home) to help preserve food without spending energy on active cooling/refrigeration. Food preservation: learn about fermenting (sauerkraut, kimchi, sourdough…) Food supply/production: Look up local farmers and figure out what products I could potentially purchase without relying on long distance trucking to bring it to my area (and identify what I can’t acquire locally) Food supply/production: Learn about household-level gardening techniques that don’t rely heavily on synthetic fertilizers, and make efficient use of hand tools vs power tools (like a scythe) Transportation: Live within an e-bike’s range for commuting to most places, and combine that with setting a back-yard solar system for charging the bike (these ideas don’t have to work for everyone, just pass along the ideas that might work for someone) Housing: Assess a home’s structure for retrofitting (insulation, passive solar) to reduce the energy inputs needed for heating/cooling. Housing: Learn about rocket mass heaters, modern/traditional woodstoves/wood boilers to supply heating energy via a resource that can be grown locally. (learn what it takes to grow a healthy “wood lot”) Clothing: Identify local resources and expertise for making and maintaining clothing (knitting and sewing hobbyists, local seamstresses/tailors, sources of fiber to make fabric, potential trade options if there’s no enough ) General energy: learn about household-level power generation like photovoltaic solar panels and evacuated tube-based solar hot water systems General energy: learn about community microgrids to generate (electric) power locally/in a distributed manner Societal structure: discuss my concerns with family, friends, community members, and elected representatives

(And if you have website/book recommendations instead of individual ideas, happy to hear that, too!)

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What shortages/price hikes are you all anticipating?

CamilleContributor - April 26, 2022

I feel like I’ve seen a lot of news about higher fuel prices and an expectation that wheat will be in short supply and higher in price, but I was reading this article and found that Russia is one of the leading exporters of fertilizer. Fertilizer shortages could ultimately really impact agricultural yields globally. What shortages/price hikes are you all anticipating and prepping for?

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NewsScenarios

Disaster Burnout – How to recognize it and what to do about it if it happens to you or the people in your group

UbiqueContributor - April 26, 2022

Life in a state of global pandemic has taught us all a thing or two about stress, boredom, frustration, fear, anger, and grief.

In the early stages of the pandemic, people mounted shopping campaigns to secure as much toilet paper as possible. Frenzied shoppers scrambled to buy the last 20 pounds of flour and hoped there was still yeast left at the end of the grocery aisle.

Job hours were cut back or entire days trimmed from schedules until finally people were laid off for lack of work.

As the year wore on, people used credit to pay for expenses. Savings accounts were raided and left empty. Some countries offered financial assistance, but that assistance was finite. Those at the end of the pandemic financial programs stood on the precipice of a big, black void. What next?

When would this pandemic finally end and life would go back to normal?

Stress set in as the financial pressures mounted. Domestic relationships imploded under the weight of pandemic stress. Was it financial? Was it from spending just a little too much time together?

Or, were relationships failing because the pandemic had changed people? Partnerships are hard to maintain when the people in them turn inward and away from the other.

People had lost loved ones and were unable to even visit in the hospital as their family member lay dying. Proper funerals weren’t allowed and the associated community support for grief that comes with the ritual of a funeral.

The preppers who were better prepared at the onset of the pandemic still had to cope with many of the issues non-preppers faced, like job loss and grief.

I was prepared for pandemic and increased my preps before it was declared. It was nice to have PPE’s and a very well stocked pantry including non food items and I am grateful for that preparation. 

But, today I am as weary of the pandemic as everyone else. When the pandemic was declared, we were all given a new set of rules about how to live. Masks and social distancing became the equivalent of little bubbles around us, invisible boundaries never to be crossed. We lost the ability to connect with each other in a spontaneous and joyful way.

When was the last time you were truly, spontaneously happy and carefree?

Even a visit with a generous supply of preps doesn’t perk me up.

I feel like the kid in the back of the car: “Are we there yet?”

Burnout is present when you go to sleep knowing that the next morning will probably not be much different.

Burnout is knowing that other people feel the same way and they are as powerless to change the pandemic as you are.

If the pandemic were a bus, I want to get off now, please.

One definition of burnout is physical and mental collapse.

Whenever I peer over the edge into these dark corners of prepping that are easier to ignore, I learn something that makes me a stronger, wiser prepper.

I don’t hide from the mental and emotional aspects of disaster because if I did, then how could I recognize burnout and the need to address it? 

I feel my emotions and ride through the difficult ones so I can learn to manage them better when unpleasant situations provoke them.

So, here’s what I’ve figured out about burnout during this journey through a pandemic.

Any prolonged disaster is going to eventually provoke burnout. We are human and there is no point pretending that it won’t happen to us. Everyone will arrive at burnout sooner or later and want off the bus, too.

Remember the footage of the end of World War II from various countries? People were hugging and kissing and jumping into each other’s arms. Some were dancing in the streets. People were ecstatic because the war was over.

If all those people hadn’t been burned out, then their reactions would have been much different. “Oh, really, it’s over. *Yawn* How nice.” 

We need to plan for burn out in ourselves or in our group. Burnout looks like depression, hopelessness, and fatigue. A person who is burned out is a jaded person who has had enough of the circus and just wants to go home.

Burnout can cause us or members of our group to make mistakes and errors in judgement that can have dire consequences.

Burnout if not addressed can affect the morale of the person’s group. It adds to their stress.

Every person has a different way of coping with burnout. If it happened to me in a high stress job, I changed jobs, fields and went off in an entirely different direction in order to challenge my brain and skills. It became a way to learn new things in a new environment and shake off the heaviness of burnout.

If the burnout wasn’t from a job, I took up new hobbies and taught myself new things from college level books that I put aside in my library.

If it was a relationship, it got better or I got out. Life is too short to live in a state of burnout, disaster or no disaster.

Burnout comes from working our brains the same way day in and day out. The remedy is to do something different. Change one big thing or a bunch of little things. Get creative.

Take the negative things that happen during a disaster and turn them into opportunities for learning.

Don’t ever completely grow up. Reserve a part of yourself that is free to be a child. This will help you remember how to play and not take yourself too seriously. It is invaluable in a disaster to be able to build a fort in your living room or dissolve into hysterics over a silly joke.

Laughter displaces burnout and drives it away.

My Mom, who survived the long occupation of The Netherlands in WWII, told me how they would laugh and make silly jokes, even during the really bad times. Sometimes, they sang or played games or talked about “some day” when it was over, what would be the first thing that they would like to do. 

But mostly, they laughed because when they laughed they felt stronger, in their spirits, an intangible untouchable part of them that no one could steal from them.

Until she died at 86, my Mom was often mistaken for a woman much younger than her years. She still sang and her giggle was infectious. Her spirit was as strong as ever and no one could ever steal it from her.

When the going gets really tough in a long term disaster, I will deal with burnout by remembering her example.

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Advice

What’s worth canning?

Watermelon Samurai - April 22, 2022

I’d like to ask a question (ok, 2 questions) to the folks who are experienced with canning fruits and veggies:1) What fruits & vegetables do you prefer to can and what do you prefer to freeze? (Set aside the issue of the power going out and the freezer defrosting…)2) What fruits & vegetables have you canned that you won’t can again – because of the effort involved, change in color/texture, shift in taste, equipment needed, etc.

Thanks in advance!

-WS (a canning newbie)

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AdviceSkills

Digital preparedness

Rich DCContributor - April 21, 2022

Full disclosure: some of the staff here know more about this than I do (I’ll likely link shamelessly to their past affiliated sites…) I realize this is a niche topic but wanted to contribute where I could.

If you think of Preparation along the lines of Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, digital preparedness might be a bit closer to the top in terms or rarity rather than urgency/importance (The base of the pyramid is *more* important than the top, remember) but in situations that fall short of a full grid-down disaster, information can be critical (you are [probably] reading this on a website, after-all!).

You can also think of Digital preparedness as a meta-prep, along the lines of financial-preparedness (of the mutual fund/savings/retirement account variety, rather than the gold/silver investing kind) – something that might help you along the way in anything short of a full-blown apocalypse.

Nothing will ever take the place of learned skills or reference material on printed paper (some digital media you can print out!), but in situations where you’ve prepared for power outages and have your food/water, shelter, and safety taken care of – information certainly can’t hurt.  Even if digital preparedness isn’t essential to your survival scenarios, it can also be helpful for simple organization and maintenance until you have more important things to worry about (similar to financial preparation, where ideally you’ve got savings and retirement accounts in order – and use them as a base to build on your other preps in the event that your savings and retirement accounts don’t exist anymore for exigent reasons).

Password managers If you buy things online, do online banking/investing, pay bills online – You should really seriously consider a password manager.  They can be a small pain to set up at first but it also forces you to organize and take stock of things.  The better ones will be able to export to standard formats for backup and portability. Good ones integrate with your phone and computer.  See more here: https://www.wired.com/story/best-password-managers/ Two Factor Authentication By now it’s common enough that you probably have the option for two factor authetication (gmail, your bank, etc).  Enable it.  If you enable it you need to also consider redundancy.  Some sites that offer two factor also provide one time use reset codes – you have to save these and get a limited number.  You can sometimes designate alternate cell phones for two-factor like a trusted family member or friend (or a second backup phone if that’s your thing).  There are different types of two-factor such as cell phone, email, software, or hard token.  Personally I’m OK with cell phone based but your risk-convenience trade offs may differ (and i use a combination of them).  Facebook and Google both have options as well (how much do you trust them though – not saying you shouldn’t just that you should think about it first).  For more information: https://www.wired.com/story/two-factor-authentication-apps-authy-google-authenticator/ Identity Protection Credit Freezes
I’ve had my personal information breached at least 4 times that I know of (no true identity theft, but it’s out there for the taking).  Most identity monitoring services tell you when it’s already happened, to [help] prevent it from happening in the first place consider a credit freeze (in the US).  A credit freeze is different from a credit fraud alert – credit fraud alerts are temporary but a credit freeze you control and can turn off/on at your discretion.  Want a new credit card?  Ask the provider which bureau they use and then unfreeze the relevant one – you can even set them to be temporarily unlocked and re-enabled after a set period of time.  It’s not perfect but it may be a deterrent.  You will need to record some private pins/codes – make copies and put them someplace safe you will remember, you might only use them a couple times a decade so plan accordingly.  For more info (I always look for the ftc.gov in the link):

https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0279-extended-fraud-alerts-and-credit-freezes Credit monitoring
You can pay for credit monitoring if you want (be warned, Equifax had a breach, this is about deterrence, nothing is 100%) but many banks and credit cards offer less-formal credit monitoring options.  I have two separate options and I check them each 1-2 times a month, they’re easy to get to and the next best thing to formal paid services. Consider multiple credit cards For the longest time I had one credit card.  I also paid for everything by credit card (paid it off in full each month).  Once every year or three someone would steal my credit card info and I’d be without a credit card for the 5-10 days it took to replace.  I was not prepared.  Now I have two, one stays in my wallet and one at home locked up.  Also a check card but i avoid using that for my own reasons. Be aware of the impact on your credit score – opening new accounts/cards can cause a hit at first.  You want to balance your credit usage and consider not having a completely inactive card – less of a guide more of an FYI/proceed with awareness (FYI – my at-home card is used for car insurance so it gets some mild usage). For your second+ credit card, consider a different bank (you might get different free services, like that free credit reporting).  Also if one bank gets breached, all your eggs aren’t in one basket (good for money management too I’m told, but thats another topic) You need to consider not just yourself but also anyone you have a joint account with (you may want to reassess your joint accounts – which may have credit score implications if you close older joint cards).  If you are married or have kids, you might want to consider having those chats with anyone you are financially entangled with. Know your public information – If you own property, your name is probably in (multiple) databases linked to your address(es), unless you have an LLC/trust/shell company obscuring your identity.  If you sign up for a grocery store “bonus” card they’re probably selling/sharing your data with someone who is aggregating it.  Not trying to stoke your paranoia or encourage you to change your legal name – just be aware of what you “give out” for free.  Google yourself and see how exposed you really are (sometimes, having a common name comes in real handy, hard to distinguish from all the others!) Data backup/archival Do you have files, photos, reference materials, or personal memoirs on your computer that you want to keep forever?  Do you have a backup plan?  There is a lot to consider but sometimes a simple external hard drive and a monthly backup is enough.  Off-site and cloud storage are other options.  Dry acid-free archival quality paper is one of the longest lasting information storage media invented (short of stone tablets?) – but it’s not as portable or convenient. For smaller scale storage, or prep-related storage, you might consider a USB key (think home owners insurance, backup codes for finances, medical records, etc).  There are different types with different features, some claim to be quite impressive.  I *HAVE NOT* vetted this myself, but if you want an upgrade from a basic USB stick for a go bag – something with encryption and security features might appeal to you (seriously do your homework, I’m interested in this but haven’t researched it yet): https://www.ironkey.com/en-US/ If you care – many social media and communications platforms allow you to export your data en mass for local use and backup (I *think* you can thank EU data laws for that?) – so there are ways to backup all your facebook photos or emails if that kind of thing is important to you (i’d argue a high quality usb stick with a digital family album stored on it weighs less than the real thing if your house burns down). Webpage archival Have you found an article or web page you’ve found helpful and might want to reference in the future?  Maybe you’ve saved it in your bookmarks – what happens when the internet goes down or the website is taken down?  Saving web content offline can be both easy and frustrating.  Dynamic content can be generated on the fly so even if you “save as” to your PC, you might get a blank template when you open it.  Luckily there are solutions: A simple but slower solution is to “print to a PDF.”  It might take 2-3 steps and can be annoying to organize but it will work offline and you can save to your USB/backup storage of choice if you choose to.  Sometimes it messes up formatting but is usually readable. A solution I like (which I *think* can be configured for both offline and cloud based storage) is Apple/Safari Reading lists. Once set up this (in theory) offers me one-click offline storage that (can potentially?) be synchronized across devices.  It’s very much an apple ecosystem tool though.  Bonus – from what I’ve read safari is better for battery life on Macs! There are a number of built in and third party options for this, some with cloud synchronization options.  Too many to research right now, but you have options depending on what works for you. Prep logistics Google “My Maps” (https://www.google.com/maps/about/mymaps/) is basically user-friendly digital cartography for the masses – now if you’re a high profile public figure with a secret underground bunker (a general category not a specific reference) you might want to not share that info with Google.  But if you want a list of your friends, family, and locations to consider on the way to a secondary location that are all public knowledge anyway this can be useful.  I mostly use this for planning/brainstorming and personal organization (i would not suggest for an emergency but i would suggest to help you make a hard copy map for emergencies).  I’m unsure if their printed maps are any good but you might be able to make it work.  I believe you can also save these “off line” on your mobile device, even when the internet goes out. Google Docs and Sheets – OK, I’m lazy, there are alternatives for the security conscious but for everyone else, it’s useful to organize.  Contact lists with phone numbers for emergencies (to print out!) and put in your bags – and update as needed.  Scenario planning if you like to write to help you think, even renovations for your primary or secondary residence (if you have a location to “bug out” to). Supply lists for future purchases.  It’s just an organizational tool Accounting – part of the financial meta-prep again.  Since most of my purchases are off amazon it’s easy to see what I’ve spent and what it got me.  I literally have a spreadsheet tallying my prep expenses over time (useful for reassuring the spouse you aren’t “going overboard”) Surveillance Wireless cameras – I need to do more research here.  Arlo cameras look appealing to me but I think they require an internet connection to be useful.  Ideally I’d like a wireless-radio camera system, battery powered if possible (even if it uses wifi as the radio mechanism but *does not* require an active internet for monitoring – for scenarios where safety is a concern but you still have power but maybe not internet) Car dash-cams – This was a suggestion off a random prepper site before I settled on The Prepared.  There are versions of these that are set up to record while you’re parked using a battery backup if disturbed or simply record while actively driving your car under power.  After one too many close calls with bad traffic I invested in this more for proof in case anyone tries to sue me but it might have other applications – I like my BlackVue 1 channel with wifi, but I’ve yet to be in an accident with it, so a little hard to test. Radio/Communications ThePrepared has an article on ham radios that you should read (https://preparedpro.xyz/survival-skills/guides/beginners-guide-amateur-ham-radio-preppers/) – because my particular breed of “preparation scenarios” gears towards government censorship and net neutrality I’m prone to imagining how ad-hoc mesh networks work or trying to figure out what you can do with a HackRF One software defined radio… but hey, we all need our hobbies. Cell Phones Backups – both backup your data and consider having a second phone as a backup.  Backing up your phone is fairly easy, you might do it already but you can go to 7-11 and buy a pay-as-you-go cell phone with a prepaid plan in case your cell phone breaks (is stolen, lost) when you *really* need it.  Be sure to set it up with relevant numbers.  You’ll need to consider battery charge and storage if you don’t use it frequently.  While you’re at it, consider memorizing a couple of important numbers – in case you’re ever arrested (or your battery dies) and don’t have your cell phone to look up the number you need for you one phone call you really need to make. Privacy Consider what kind of encryption your cell phone supports.  For example, Apple has something of a reputation for privacy of mobile devices (i think?) but other vendors may also. Consider what privacy laws apply to forcing you to unlock your phone.  Consider if you trust police or a third party aggressor to honor your rights with regards to fingerprint or face based phone unlock features.  Sometimes an old school strong pass-code is better. Warning: politically adjacent link, but it has valid politically agnostic (and up to date) advice regarding technology usage.  Please don’t ding me for linking to this! https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-protest-safely-surveillance-digital-privacy/ Devices If you have the means and interest: laptops, tablets, and smartphones are various form factors that are portable.  If it is important to you – you might consider having an old one in a tiered go-bag system (again, consider battery charge issues), or at least having one you can grab on your way out the door.  ThePrepared has reviewed solar chargers that are appropriate for cell phones (and tablets?) https://preparedpro.xyz/gear/reviews/portable-solar-chargers/ There are other semi-portable (certainly in a car) solar panel and battery options that might recharge a laptop.  Again, take care of the base of maslow’s needs first (food, water, shelter, protection) but *if you want* there are options available to you. Read More

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Advice

What would a non-nuclear world war look like?

Kira - April 21, 2022

Hi all, 

I’ve seen a lot of us talking about nuclear war and MAD (which has been on my mind as well), but I’m also curious what you think would happen if we had a non-nuclear world war. WWII could serve as some template, but we now have stronger international communities and weaker local communities. 

It looks like higher food and gas prices are already happening. People are pulling together more, but hate crimes are also spiking. Globally, alliances are strengthening and being made for the first time. Several countries are also talking about localizing their supply chains more. 

Do you have any predictions for what it could look like both in terms of everyday life and in terms of global relations?

(Edit: does anyone know if you capitalize “in” in a title? It looked wrong both ways…)

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Scenarios

What can we learn from the war in Ukraine?

Conrad B - April 21, 2022

One of the main lessons I’ve seen so far is the need to reassess my bug out plan. There was a 6 mile (10km) long traffic jam of refugees fleeing to Poland.

At what point do you abandon your vehicle and trek it on foot? Is going on foot any better?

Another thought I had was having enough water, food, and fuel on hand. You don’t want to run out of food during the middle of an invasion and try to go through a war zone to buy groceries. 

My heart goes out to all those affected. Even to the Russian soldiers who may not like what they are doing but have to.

Let’s learn from what is going on and prepare for the future.

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Meta

Community portable water filtration systems

Robert Clements - April 21, 2022

Hello,

I am a member of my local Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and we are looking to replace our portable emergency water filters.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a company that produces portable, self-contained emergency water filter systems?

Our CERT currently has an Emergency Potable Water Program where, if our local water supplier was unable to provide potable water to the community, we would step in and supply potable water through several distribution sites.

The manufacturer of our current units (Global Pure Water) has gone out of business.

Thank you for any thoughts.

Bob Clements

Milwaukie, Oregon

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Gear

How to communicate with out of town family during a grid down situation?

TheFuries - April 20, 2022

I need to resolve how my family will communicate with my parents and teenage sister who live three hours away should the grid go down. I’m not technical, so it’s not something I know where to start researching. But, my husband is technical enough to set systems up since it’s not my strength.

If cell towers and land lines go down during hurricane season (common where we live in North FL), a possible Russian cyber attack (increasing likelihood given the current global situation), or EMP, how do you communicate with others from a distance?

Having done humanitarian work with refugees in Italy and Ukraine, I know how to use blue tooth technology to communicate when cell towers aren’t available. We don’t have HAM radios and I imagine walkie talkies have a short range. But, if the electric is out entirely? For months?

Are satellite phones dependable during an EMP situation (if stored in a faraday)? What are other options? I’d like to invest in this for all family households, totaling three families (my husband’s parents as well in Kentucky), so I’d like to not break the bank, but if I have to…

This is one of those things that keeps me up at night as we have a toddler and are very close to our families. I’ve only found vague or shallow information on this issue. Nothing that breaks things down with clear directions.

Many thanks in advance for your time!

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Advice

A list of places where you can find TP other than the forum

Gideon ParkerStaff - April 20, 2022

Hey folks, here are other places where you can follow or interact with us:

/preparedpro.xyz/: Interesting, educational, and entertaining prepping related Reddit posts. Facebook and Twitter: Top articles and forum posts are shared throughout the week. If you want to have more real time conversations you can join our Slack group (leave a comment down below if you would like a private invitation to join), or Discord server.

Thank you for being part of this community!

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Meta

Creating a prepping team

Unobtrusive - April 20, 2022

No man is an island and no one can succeed in a disaster alone. Mad Max, The Omega Man, I Am Legend, even The Road had guys going it alone against the post-apocalyptic hordes. But that’s not realistic. A truly prepared individual will surround themselves with like-minded others who have diverse skill sets.

The question I have is how? How do we find these people? I’ve been looking. I’ve joined groups, I’ve been on other forums. I want to enlist the people in my community,  but do so without coming on like a desperate weirdo or paranoid gun nut.

Where do y’all go to find others?

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AdviceScenariosSkills