Active New Top (30 days) Compact Card How would an EMP affect a solar electricity set-up? John Chamberlain - 1 month ago Can solar electricity survive a EMP? Read More 13 24 Advice Essential medical reference books for the prepper library Scott P - July 26, 2024 I wanted to start compiling a list of great medical references at different levels that are useful for austere medicine and hopefully longer term survival. Also curious what books others have found useful to study or have on hand as reference. Quick reference Wilderness & Travel Medicine – fairly good first step and comes with larger AMK kits, which I like for the packaging. Written in an accessible and easily referenced way. NOLS WFA reference card – Good for rapid reference for those in your group who are less trained or practiced First aid Wilderness Medicine (Forgey) – Well written and it has a good focus on being more remove from definitive care Fix Your Feet – A good reference on foot care. It is targeted more at runners and hikers, but if you suddenly increase time on your feet it will be valuable to know how to care for them Hypothermia, frostbite and other cold injuries – a good deep dive into cold injuries for those of us who live in climates with extreme cold. First responder Outdoor Emergency Care – This is the textbook use for national ski patrols certification. I don’t love it, but it is a reasonable textbook at the FR/EMT level that also includes some more environmental emergencies and dealing with more austere situations such as backcountry rescue. Advanced Auerbachs Wilderness Medicine – THE textbook for wilderness medicine. It is a 2 volume medical textbook, which is very comprehensive. Depending on your science background this could be a hard read. What have others found? Read More 22 15 Advice AR15 stock weight grntrkguy1964 - July 23, 2024 I am considering getting a stock weight for a target match AR 15 rifle. Has anyone used/tried one? Is there any preceived difference in performance? Thanks!! Read More 7 5 Advice When and where to not carry concealed firearms My name is Megan - June 24, 2024 I sometimes see signs like this on the entrances of businesses and restaurants. Banks, hospitals, schools, and even The Cheesecake Factory prohibit firearms on their premises. Is it outright illegal to carry a gun in these places or just their company policy? Will disobeying these signs result in a felony, a misdemeanor, or just being asked to leave? The bad guys who are going to shoot up a place are not going to care if there is a sign on the window or not and might even target these locations knowing that all the good people inside are going to be disarmed. Weighing the pros and cons, I am leaning more to conceal carrying in my purse and worst case scenario being asked to leave rather than be left vulnerable against an active shooter like what happened in the Brooklyn subway the other day. It probably will depend on the state or city you are in, so there might not be one overall right answer, but if you have any thoughts I’d like to hear. Read More 11 24 Advice Is a portable solar-powered generator practical for powering my home? Kristin Vogel - May 27, 2024 I don’t have solar panels on my house and I don’t have the money to invest in a rooftop array. I want something to power my home…the refrigerator as much as needed, lights at night, our on-demand water heater. Is a portable system with panels I can set up in my backyard practical for this purpose? I like the idea that we can take it with us if we need to. I would love your thoughts and thanks in advance. Read More 4 10 Advice Chickens for preppers: Important considerations chicksnhens - April 18, 2024 I wanted to put out a guide for preppers who are interested in keeping chickens or other poultry for long term food security reasons. This is a discussion of important concepts for improving self sufficiency in flock management, not a guide for basic animal care. Please add your thoughts/comments/additions! 1. Select the right breeds and flock mixFor preppers, I recommend going with a mixed flock of hardy, dual purpose breeds that are bred for egg production levels of about 200+ eggs/yr. These birds are big enough to make a good soup/stew bird when their laying days wind down and produce higher amounts of larger eggs than fancy and bantam breeds. You want a bird that can forage well, and safely manage all season conditions without heaters or other special care requirements. Popular breeds in the dual purpose category include barred rocks, Rhode Island reds, New Hampshires, orpingtons and australorps, among others. Hybrid production/efficiency birds like ISA browns/red stars can be added to amp up egg production. I also recommend keeping a couple hens of dual purpose breeds that tend to go broody, like brahmas, in the event you want/need to produce chicks without the aid of electric incubators and brooders. 2. Size your flock for your anticipated long term needsEgg production varies by breed, age of hen, the animal’s health, and environmental/seasonal conditions. Birds under 2 produce more eggs than older hens past their prime, and the dark days of winter can dramatically reduce egg production on a cyclical basis. Even very high temperatures in summer can throw a bird’s laying schedule out of whack. This means that a very small flock of only 3-4 birds is unlikely to produce enough eggs for a family over time, even if they produce enough when they are at their peak. So if you want 3-4 eggs a day from your birds, you will probably need about 6 hens to consistently achieve that. 3. Buy vaccinated chicks from reputable hatcheries/breedersMany backyard keepers buy, sell, and trade the chicks they produce at costs that are much lower than big hatcheries. The trouble is that most small keepers and breeders dont manage their lineages for health and performance (they just breed whatever rooster they have to whatever hens they have) and more importantly, they ususally don’t vaccinate their chicks for Mareks (https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/neoplasms/marek-disease-in-poultry). Every year, I see backyard keepers on chicken forums looking for help with sick and dying birds infected with Mareks. Many times they lose multiple birds, and the surviving birds become permanent carriers (which means they will infect any unvaxxed new birds the keepers try to get to replace the dead ones). In my opinion, for preppers, it is especially important to maintain a vaxxed flock if at all possible because you don’t want to be losing your birds in a time of food/chick shortages. A 100% vaxxed flock also means that if you want or need to breed your own birds without access to the vaccine, those new birds will be safe. You also don’t want to be contributing to the spread of Mareks in backyard flocks in your region if you sell your birds to others, as that can destabilize the local food supply when you need it most. 4. Use a multi-flock/purpose 20% protein feed in anticipation of changing flock needsThere are a number of different bird feeds out there – chick, grower/raiser, maintenance, layer, etc – and it can be hard to know which one is best. I recommend going with a 20% protein all-flock grower/raiser as your standard feed for your birds once they are off chick crumble for two reasons. First, a 20% feed can be used at all stages of life and for a wide variety of birds – meat, layer, males and females, winter, birds in molt, birds without access to forage, turkeys, ducks, etc. Conversely, layer-specific or general adult maintenance pellets don’t have enough protein for the rapid growth required of young and meat birds, have too much calcium for male birds, and often don’t have enough niacin for waterfowl. This means that if you have your hens on layer pellets and then you get a rooster, now you need to switch feeds. Or if you get ducks, or turkeys, or broilers. You get the idea. Second, as preppers, you should be storing extra feed. If you don’t know how your flock might change over time, you want to make sure whatever feed you have stockpiled will work for everyone in the future, or else you could end up with hundreds of pounds of food that is poorly suited to your animals. 5. Plan on rotating in new layers to keep production consistentDue to the natural decline in egg production over a hen’s lifetime, your flock’s production will dramatically decrease after a few years if you don’t keep resupplying it with younger hens. Many keepers follow the 1/3 rule: replace/add 1/3 of your flock size every two years to keep egg production high. So if you have 6 hens in 2020, that means you should plan to add 2 new birds by 2022. Older hens do continue to lay, just at a reduced rate, so if you don’t plan on culling older birds to make way for the new additions, be sure to make your coop big enough for a larger flock than you start with. 6. Have a multi-faceted backup feeding plan in the event of feed shortagesThe obvious first line of defense for feed shortages is storing enough feed for your animals to get them through at least a couple of months without needing to resupply. Long term situations though, like a complete collapse in the supply chain, will require mutliple other backup food sources in case you can’t resupply when you run low. Fostering a healthy pasture environment for your animals to range is one important strategy. This means preferably offering your animals something more than the typical lawn, and adopting grass/property management strategies that maximize seed production and insect populations (basically the exact opposite of what most suburban lawn care seeks to do). But even with a good pasture available, poultry need supplemental feeds. You can make your own scratch feed by grinding/crushing a mix of dry corn and grains from your own food stores, and you can crush/powder cooked animal bones, eggshells, and crustacean shells for calcium supplementation. Kitchen scraps can help round out the diet. A mix of pasture, kitchen scraps, homemade scratch feed, and carefully rationed amounts of dwindling commercial feed is hardly ideal, but it should hopefully allow you to keep your birds alive longer in a true crisis scenario than if you don’t take advantage of all these methods. 7. Have a backup bird resupply plan in the event of chick shortages/shipping issuesWhen the pandemic hit, there was a run on chicks and hatcheries were overrun with a surge of orders (https://blog.cacklehatchery.com/the-pandemic-triggers-a-run-on-chickens/). But eggs hatch on their own time frame regardless of how many humans want birds and why. So the orders got backed up, important production breeds sold out, and many people had to wait far longer than usual to get the animals they did manage to order. Issues struck again just recently when problems with the USPS resulted in serious shipping delays, causing thousands of chicks to die enroute to their destinations (https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/20/farmers-chicks-arrive-dead-usps-399372). USPS is the only shipper of live birds in the US. If they can’t get the chicks to farmers and keepers, then only people/businesses local to the hatcheries can get birds from them (and there aren’t many hatcheries). These problems highlight the importance of having a backup plan to restock your birds as needed. Keeping a rooster in a laying flock can be a major PITA but it has the major advantage of allowing you to make your own chickens without relying on the agricultural supply chain. If you live in an area where you can’t have a rooster, or if you really don’t want to deal with their general ridiculousness, you can still plan on hatching your own eggs by connecting with other local keepers who are willing to sell/trade fertilized hatching eggs or chicks to you (the pro of hatching eggs vs chicks is that they are cheaper and you don’t have to worry about disease introduction, the con is that hatch rates can be dodgy). Read More 26 17 Advice Ham Radio Protocol Willy Bender-Höver - February 19, 2024 Hello. I’ve got a decent ham radio plan/protocol for my family. (My wife and I have our Tech licenses). Just curious if anyone out there has a clever idea or resource as to developing a frequency rotation? Thank you Read More 1 0 AdviceSkills What is the best place to buy mylar bags? ChickenPrepper - January 14, 2024 What’s a good place to get Mylar bags from? Just off Amazon, or do you all have a go to place for these things? Amazon reveals hundreds of possible vendors, most made overseas. If I’m to commit to some bags o’ rice for long term, I’d like to ensure I get decent stuff. Thanks! Read More 9 9 AdviceGear Food preservation – it makes sense from a survival standpoint Alisa Felix - January 1, 2024 While watching old episodes of Little House on the Prairie (great series if you haven’t seen it before!), something caught my eye that I never had really put too much thought into before. I saw that their sod house out back had baskets of apples and potatoes that just sit there and look to be fine all winter long, yet I struggle to keep apples and potatoes in my house for more than 2-3 weeks without them going bad. Granted this is a TV show, and those apples are probably fake, but it got me thinking about food preservation lately. Correct me if I’m wrong here, but our ancestors would plant in the spring, grow all summer, harvest in the fall, and then preserve the food in the winter. From a survival perspective, this makes sense. You work hardest during the spring and fall when temperatures are moderate, when it is hot you mostly just let your plants sit there, and then when it is too cold to even go outside you sit inside and work on food preservation. This formula is set up for maximum calorie preservation. You can even go so far of thinking about the fire and heat produced from the canning and other preservation methods blends well with the need to keep the house warm during the winter. I just thought it was a beautiful balance that we may not realize today with tropical fruit shipped in from all over the world every month of the year. I feel like food preservation is kind of a lost art for many, and most (myself included) were just taught that putting things in the fridge will make them last longer, and putting them in the freezer will make them last even longer. I no longer want to be apart of that crowd though. Call me a rebel, a food preservation rebel! I want to learn how to preserve food without refrigeration like millions before us knew how to do before the invention of the refrigerator. And sure, even on Little House on the Prairie it shows Ma putting some milk in a cold box, and they have the town ice house, but still they knew how to preserve things. So, smart people of these forums, teach me about food preservation. What kinds are out there? I’m aware of dehydrating and canning, but please teach me about it. What can I preserve using different methods, what gear is involved, how long do things last with each method, etc… I wanted to get my feet wet in this field, and so I went out and bought a dehydrator. In the comments below, I am going to tell my story of making some homemade beef jerky and some dried blueberries. I want this thread to be mostly teaching me about food preservation, but still wanted to share one of my successes! Read More 21 61 AdviceSkills Personal first aid kits for families Bma - December 13, 2023 Hi, new here. Trying to put together go bags for my family. Thoughts on specific items to put into first aid kits for kids bags. Would prefer to do this so everyone has one in the event we were to get sperated. Kids are 10-14. Also, ideas on how not to spend a fortune doing this. Read More 9 15 Advice Recommendation for bugging in or out in Taiwan Patrick - November 25, 2023 I live in Taiwan and prepping for bugging in, I also have bug out options but with two kids I am limited. What do you think I should prioritize? Trying to figure out if I forgot anything obvious… Read More 10 19 Advice Game that we don’t usually hunt and eat, but could and would……. Winston Smith - October 22, 2023 Hunters/trappers usually eat pigs, deer, moose, squirrels, rabbits, turkeys, ducks, doves, quail, geese, and various game animals in different regions. But there are some animals that are not traditionally consumed, but in an emergency, would be gladly eaten and enjoyed for nourishment and taste. A quick rule of thumb is that you can eat just about anything with fur, feathers, or scales as long as it is properly prepared and cooked thoroughly to kill bacteria and other pathogens that would make us sick. That means most mammals, birds, and reptiles are fine to eat, although palatability is never guaranteed. But the hungrier you are, the better all foods will taste. The wrong plants we eat can harm us more than animals. Alligators: Alligator meat has been described as having a mild flavor and a firm texture. It tastes like quail, with a mildly fishy flavor, and is often chewy, depending on the preparation. Alligator meat is lean meat that has high protein and low fat content. It is regarded as a healthy food. Alligator tail meat is white in color and tender. Bobcats (cats): Bobcat (cat) meat is very similar to that of lean pork. It holds many of the same textures and flavors that pork holds. It’s mild, lean, and tender when cooked correctly. At first, the meat is chewy, but then surprisingly light and soft. There’s a certain delicacy to it, almost like fish. It’s not particularly heavy, rich, or strong like dog meat, and the addition of the herbs can give the meat a menthol, licorice quality that makes it taste clean and warm. Birds: We normally don’t eat songbirds or endangered species, but in a SHTF disaster, they’d end up on the menu. Sparrows and Starlings are small but edible and plentiful. It’s been said that crow tastes like wild duck and Mockingbirds have an earthy aroma, and the dark meat is rich, slightly sweet, and flavorful. Raccoons: Despite what you might think, raccoon tastes pretty good when cleaned and cooked properly. Like dark meat chicken or turkey, though it is greasier and more tender. Snakes: You can eat just about any snake, but the most popular snake that people most often choose to eat in the wild is the rattlesnake. Its diet is mostly rodents, plus insects, and smaller reptiles. The meat has an earthy or gamey taste similar to alligator meat, with flesh that’s white and a little rubbery to the touch. Turtles: Almost all turtle is edible except the lungs, gall bladder, skeleton, skull, and nails. The legs and tail are particularly esteemed, but remove the skin before eating. Snapping Turtles are good eating, but they can be a bit of a chore to clean. Turtle meat has a firm texture and tastes a bit like chicken. Opossums: Native Americans enjoyed eating opossums before Europeans or Africans arrived, and they introduced the animal to early colonists. Possum meat tends to have taste similarities to that of squirrel and rabbit meat. The taste is a gamey meat and greasy. Horses: Horse meat is healthier than beef: it’s lower in fat, higher in protein and has a greater proportion of omega-3 fatty acids. Mexico, Switzerland, Kazakhstan, Belgium, Japan, Germany, Indonesia, Poland, and China are nations where many people eat horse meat without a second thought. While meat from younger horses tends to be a bit pinkish in color, older horses have darker, reddish-colored meat. Coyotes (dogs): Coyotes and dogs are not known for being edible in the U.S., but when properly handled and prepared, it can taste just as good as lean beef. Dog meat is consumed in South Korea, China, Indonesia, Nigeria, Switzerland, and Vietnam. Each year, around 4 million cats and 10 million dogs are believed to be slaughtered in China. Rats/Mice: In many places around the globe, rat provides much-needed sustenance. As long as it isn’t diseased, it could provide needed nutrition. While rats seem gross to eat in the US there are many countries that include rat meat in their regular diets: Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, parts of the Philippines and Indonesia, Thailand, Ghana, China and Vietnam. As long as the rodent has been sufficiently cooked through at a high temperature to kill off the many pathogens it may contain, it is safe to eat. Wild Boars: Wild boar is very lean and low in cholesterol. Wild boar is an excellent alternative to beef and pork for those who want food that is good for them without sacrificing taste and quality. Wild Boar is high in protein. They are a good source of monounsaturated fats and zinc. My trapping boxes contain 20 Conibear body grip traps, 20 wire snare traps, 10 rat traps, wire, a pack of clothes pins, and misc. items: all for trapping small game. Read More 1 0 Advice What are my fellow urban Canadians doing different about prepping? Here’s some of what I have done and worked. Frozen22 - October 11, 2023 I hope I’m not duplicating an existing thread, but I thought it would be useful to have some discussion specific to Canadian members, given differences in laws, available products, climate, infrastructure, etc. I’m a newish prepper and am interested in how others are setting themselves up. I live a in a city in Western Canada, in a condo, so I don’t have land, a garage, or tons of storage space. Given those limitations I’m still better set up than most people in my city. First, my perspective. I really only focus on a two-week scenario. I’m assuming my plan would involved (1) bugging in, (2) assisting three elderly family members, (3) contending with overloaded public services, and (4) no “societal breakdown,” partly because that is such a vague concept. I have no problems with guns but don’t own any and don’t plan to (though I might get armor). There are very different laws here regarding weapons, self-defense, etc., and it would be good for Canadians to be aware of those. My main scenarios are (1) loss of power during extreme cold or heat, (2) water system breakdown, (3) air contamination largely from fires. I’ve developed my plan by asking, what would I need to get by, and what shortfalls/losses would I find demoralizing. So I’ve planned on the high end for maintaining hygiene and related items. If the water system went down, the prospect of 00s of 000s or millions of people pooping in their yards or plastic bags (ineptly and in a panic) raises concerns about air and water contamination, and obvious panics about supplies. I have food and water preps, medical, and air filtration, so far. I’m investigating solar generators and am debating which one I should get (affordable but also useable over 14 days), as well as a panel. I’d prefer to get a large unit and two smaller ones for elderly family members. For the elderly family I’ll be assisting, the first question is whether they’re safe to remain at home, or join me. In general, I’ll want to stay away from hospitals and any emergency public service centers as they’ll be chaotic and unpredictable, so psychological and medical aid on site is preferable. Because I have limited space and am not planning for a very extreme scenario, I’m not going into my preps in detail because they’re pretty standard. But I’m curious what other Canadians, especially urban dwellers, are doing. Read More 9 3 AdviceScenarios Prepping books Winston Smith - September 28, 2023 I enjoy reading and collecting prepping books (nonfiction). I’m also making a prepping journal (supplies, gardening, what to do kind of stuff). I have collection of magazines (Mother Earth News, Grit, Country Side). Hardcopies are beneficial for me and my grandkids in case we ever loose power for an extended period of time, i.e., SHTF. The below pic is most of my books. Please recommend books you find useful. Thanks very much. Read More 18 15 Advice Navigating the healthcare system in the USA EzlyAmuzzed - September 6, 2023 Looking for any advice or learned lessons on navigating our healthcare system when you have something more than a minor illness. I know many of us have gone through this and would like to hear some of the things you have learned. Any trustworthy apps to keep track of your medical records so you have it on hand for each doctor? How to deal with the insurance company when the code given is ineligible or incurs extra cost? How to not eat through your savings? When to recognize a test is necessary or unnecessary? How and when to get second opinions? How do you research doctors you are referred to so that you get one of the best for your case? Anything I haven’t mentioned please feel free to offer ideas. Read More 11 19 Advice Preparing for home fires Bill N - August 27, 2023 Hi all! With the recent wildfires in Maui, I realized that I never made any plans to help preserve the originals of important documents at home from a fire. While they are backed up to the cloud, I think it’s still important to save the originals if possible. I purchased a small fireproof safe (the recommended choice from the NY Times Wirecutter site; the review link is below), but I’ve noticed this doesn’t seem to be a topic covered by many prepper sites. Anyone else have suggestions or recommendations for this issue? https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-fireproof-document-safe/ Read More 1 4 Advice Best home or neighborhood security system 2023 Eric - July 21, 2023 What are the best options to detect, deter, and prevent breakins in your home or neighborhood? My neighborhood had a nighttime burglary recently (involving a car, not the house) which has raised the issue of security in my neighborhood. I’m interested in recommendations for my own home’s security, especially detection/alerting, as well as neighborhood-wide options that I could present to the HOA. Here are some relevant previous security articles and discussions, but I suspect some of the technology has advanced in the years since these were written. https://preparedpro.xyz/homestead/guides/home-hardening-basics/ https://preparedpro.xyz/gear/reviews/alarm-systems/ Please share both ideas and experiences about how to setup home or neighborhood security systems. Read More 3 3 AdviceGearScenarios For UK members: April 23rd 3pm (1500 local) Alert Test, What do you think??? LadyKaos - May 14, 2023 I checked in here to see what you all thought of this alert thing? is it useful? does it have the potential to help anyone in a real situation? etc… because I went to a busy motorway service station near me to see what would be like in a crowd, how people would respond and how easily heard it would be so that I would get the most from the test, and I know that other country use similar systems so I guess it must work What I experienced:– there was a loud noise because there was enough people with compatible phones for everyone in the crowd to hear it– my phone was too old (you need android 11 or later), I did expect to receive a text at the very least but I got nothing– I think it was about one in ten people with a version of android new enough to receive it– This 1/10 included a group of Indian tourists (so where your SIM is registered doesn’t matter) you can still receive the alert, but it came through on there phones in English so the children had no idea what it was until there farther translated it for them– There is no alert through FM or DAB radio, just phones If I was on my own I would have had no way to receive this, but it is still better than nothing, so should I upgrade my phone? What are you thoughts on the UK Alert System? Read More 2 4 AdviceNews Is using natural gas a realistic option in most grid-down scenarios? Colorado Jones - May 12, 2023 Given the number of electrical grid-down scenarios over the past year or so, I’ve been thinking about how to heat my home should that happen in the dead of winter. My question is this: Does natural gas ever get disrupted, specifically in locations like the Rocky Mountain West? Power outages exceeding more than a few hours in my area are rare, perhaps once a year at most. I don’t recall ever–in my lifetime–having a natural gas outage, period. Though, obviously, anything is possible given the right bad circumstances. It occurred to me that in a simple extended power outage (ranging from a few hours to a few days) due to, say, downed power lines in a snowstorm, I could simply plug the fan for my gas fireplace (or, possibly, the fan for the main house heater, which uses forced air) into a Jackery or DIY power station and keep heat circulating through the house. While I haven’t yet taken a look at the setup in the basement furnace room, my initial thought is that that electric fan on my fireplace would require significantly less electricity and would be sufficient to keep our small two-bedroom ranch style home “warm enough” in an emergency situation. Obviously, as well all things prepping, I wouldn’t want to put all my eggs in the same prepping basket. So being prepared to function without natural gas ultimately needs to be part of my plan. But, it seems, that many if not most grid-down situations would be no electric BUT natural gas still available, allowing me to battery power the fans to circulate the heat. And, obviously, for an extended outage, natural gas–if available–is in much greater supply than the amount of propane I can realistically (and safely) store onsite. Read More 4 10 AdviceScenarios Pooping in a pail and other prepper pastimes M. E.Contributor - May 10, 2023 I am in the middle of a plumbing problem and thought I’d share what I’m learning AS I’m learning it, since I learn a lot from the “what went well/what didn’t” threads elsewhere in this Forum. To the extent possible I’ll try not to repeat what is in the “Toilets when there’s no water” thread. It seems our outbound sewer line is blocked. We are lucky that we have an unfinished basement so the disgusting backup is mostly in our non-living areas. But though we have plenty of clean incoming water, if any of it goes down the drains it just makes the backup WORSE and more disgusting. My preps are coming in handy, but I’ve learned some things! Warning, this thread is – kinda gross. You need more trash bags than you think. I’m peeing in the toilet as usual but not flushing, and throwing the wet TP in the trash. Despite my husband’s objections, I am also Pooping in a pail, using my “luggable loo” for “#2”, with two trash bags inside and a big scoop of kitty litter. It still smells, though, so I take it out to the trash afterward and thus the need for lots of trash bags. I wasn’t thinking clearly when this first happened and at first I was trying to practice “hygiene” outside – hand washing, etc. using the outdoor faucets. This sucked since it is freezing here. I quickly realized that all I really have is a drainage problem, so I put big bowls under each house faucet to catch the hand washing water and then I throw it outside. From this I learned a few other things: Pails are REALLY handy. LOTS of pails. In addition to the “luggable loo” pail, which is serving its purpose, I have a pail in the bathroom to dump the hand wash water into, and a pail in the kitchen for dishwater. To the extent possible I’m using biodegradable soap and as the pail fills up I’m dumping it on the edge of the woods. I also had to use a pail for cleaning up the backup in the basement. It was disgusting. Thank goodness I had dish gloves and plenty of hand sanitizer. At first I was cleaning up with the ol’ wringing out a wet rag method, but this took forever. I finally figured out that using a squeegee to push the water into a large dustpan worked much faster. I probably made thirty trips to the woods with buckets of gross water. My next prepping purchase will be a water vacuum. Would love a review of those for a future guide. The stuff I bought for hurricanes – shampoo caps, GoodWipes, wet toilet paper, etc. (plus the hand sanitizer that has basically become a staple in pandemic times) have been absolute gifts when I need to use as little water as possible. Here are some other tiny things I’ve noticed: Habits are VERY hard to break. My husband kept running the faucets etc. without thinking, thus making our backup worse. I made signs with a big red magic marker and post-its saying “STOP! Minimize water use!” and posted at each sink and toilet, and that helped. My preps were not as – prepped – as I thought. It took me a while to find the Luggable Loo, the trash bags, and the solar shower (which I ended up not needing). I thought I was SO organized! I wasn’t. We always say we should practice but does anybody really? These “mini emergencies” – only a drainage problem, instead of a full on emergency – are the ideal scenarios in which to work out the tiny details (which is why I am writing about it). We should have a list of hotels with in-room laundry and kitchen facilities. This problem has been going on for three days now (a plumber came on day one and SAID the problem was fixed – it wasn’t!) and we are considering moving to a hotel. However, with Omicron raging I really, really don’t want to be around other people, so finding a place with in-room laundry and kitchen facilities would be ideal. Good to learn this now as in the future I might need to find one quickly, and WHEN you’re dealing with a literal “poopy situation” is not the time to figure stuff out like that. I found myself remarkably reluctant to use my preps. Example: The kitty litter with the Luggable Loo. I thought, Well maybe I should save this for a “real” emergency. I decided the situation definitely warranted the use of my supplies and that I can buy more kitty litter later! Very grateful for my “not quite BOB”. In addition to my full-on BOB, I keep a fully packed suitcase with three days’ worth of clothes, toiletries, and medications in case of a family emergency. I haven’t needed to use it yet but knowing that it is there is a stress reducer. Given that we can’t do laundry just now, having three days of clean clothes set aside is a blessing. Well, the plumber just called and is on his way. Stay tuned. My next post might be about my hotel room kitchen kit, that allows us to have hot healthy meals even in a hotel without a kitchen. I put it together last summer in case we had to travel in the pandemic but haven’t tested it out yet. Read More 21 35 AdviceScenarios What do you keep in your BOB for menstruation? Liz Klein - May 7, 2023 This came up in a different thread about prepping resources for single women, https://preparedpro.xyz/forum/thread/single-female-prepper-resources/ Wanted to start a separate thread to dig deeper into period prepping! 🙂 Everyone was so generous with suggestions on the other thread, thought we could continue and consolidate here. These were the main ideas that came up so far Menstrual cups are a good idea because they’re washable and reusable, though the learning curve can be steep and there might be hygiene issues Diva Cup seems popular but not all brands work for all people https://divacup.com/ Period underwear such as Thinx may be better for bags since they can be worn regularly and won’t add more weight https://www.shethinx.com/ Disposable paper products are cheap and can be used as a fire starter too, but you are limited to what you already carry One person mentioned getting a UTI from her cup, so obviously everyone’s experience will be different. Whatever you choose, you should be sure to practice with it in real life. Don’t switch to a new method the same time you’re dealing with an emergency. So… what do you keep in your bag? How do you think about prepping for periods when you’re not at home in an emergency? Has anyone gone through this, like at a shelter? Read More 27 14 AdviceScenarios Military surplus: Favorite online sources and items Hans - April 20, 2023 Question for the group: While I recognize that there are limitations to military surplus items (tend to be heavier, can attract unwanted attention, govt purchases from the lowest bidder, etc.), I’ve been considering them for longer-term preparedness. In other words, I have my premium/lightweight items for bugging out and my heavier more durable items for bugging-in/homestead cache, etc.. Military surplus seems to be a good mix of durable, inexpensive, and quality enough for the military to use them. Any particular favorite online surplus stores and/or items that you all have added to your stash (or milsurp items that you AVOID)? Read More 9 12 Advice Test your gear and run scenarios in advance of a real emergency Steve Martin - April 7, 2023 I used the recent power outages as a dress rehearsal of sorts and it was a good thing. I have not yet had the proper electrical corrections installed for a direct hookup for the generator. Cost and time just hasn’t been there until now. So….I had to run extension cords to power the basic necessities. Ran into a couple of minor issues I’ll have to sort out but we had lights & refrigeration while most of my neighbors didn’t. For the new-to-prepping, don’t just assume that the stash of stuff in your basement/garage/shelter will do the trick when the time comes. PLAY WITH IT! Do those dry runs in advance. You may be surprised what you run into that hadn’t been considered during planning. Read More 4 2 Advice How often do you run your portable generator? Bigwig - April 3, 2023 For those who have portable generators, how often do you run them? I have 2 generators that I run for 30 minutes once a month that coincides with the monthly siren test on the first Saturday of the month. I also run one of the generators to power the whole house for 30 minutes twice a year. I have an interlock setup versus a transfer switch so I can select which circuits I want to power. Read More 2 2 AdviceGear What dry dog and cat food would you recommend? Paul - March 30, 2023 What dry dog and cat food have a decent shelf life, and good quality that you would recommend? Not too concerned about canned food, which can last a few years. Thanks in advance. Read More 2 8 Advice 1 2 3 … 13 14 15 Next > Recently Active Essential medical reference books for the prepper library - July 26, 2024AR15 stock weight - July 23, 2024When and where to not carry concealed firearms - June 24, 2024Is a portable solar-powered generator practical for powering my home? - May 27, 2024Chickens for preppers: Important considerations - April 18, 2024 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

How would an EMP affect a solar electricity set-up?

John Chamberlain - 1 month ago

Can solar electricity survive a EMP?

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Essential medical reference books for the prepper library

Scott P - July 26, 2024

I wanted to start compiling a list of great medical references at different levels that are useful for austere medicine and hopefully longer term survival.  Also curious what books others have found useful to study or have on hand as reference. 

Quick reference

Wilderness & Travel Medicine – fairly good first step and comes with larger AMK kits, which I like for the packaging.  Written in an accessible and easily referenced way. NOLS WFA reference card – Good for rapid reference for those in your group who are less trained or practiced

First aid

Wilderness Medicine (Forgey) – Well written and it has a good focus on being more remove from definitive care Fix Your Feet – A good reference on foot care.  It is targeted more at runners and hikers, but if you suddenly increase time on your feet it will be valuable to know how to care for them Hypothermia, frostbite and other cold injuries – a good deep dive into cold injuries for those of us who live in climates with extreme cold.

First responder

Outdoor Emergency Care – This is the textbook use for national ski patrols certification.  I don’t love it, but it is a reasonable textbook at the FR/EMT level that also includes some more environmental emergencies and dealing with more austere situations such as backcountry rescue.  

Advanced

Auerbachs Wilderness Medicine –  THE textbook for wilderness medicine.  It is a 2 volume medical textbook, which is very comprehensive.  Depending on your science background this could be a hard read.  

What have others found?  

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Advice

AR15 stock weight

grntrkguy1964 - July 23, 2024

I am considering getting a stock weight for a target match AR 15 rifle. Has anyone used/tried one?  Is there any preceived difference in performance? Thanks!!

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When and where to not carry concealed firearms

My name is Megan - June 24, 2024

I sometimes see signs like this on the entrances of businesses and restaurants. Banks, hospitals, schools, and even The Cheesecake Factory prohibit firearms on their premises. Is it outright illegal to carry a gun in these places or just their company policy? Will disobeying these signs result in a felony, a misdemeanor, or just being asked to leave? 

The bad guys who are going to shoot up a place are not going to care if there is a sign on the window or not and might even target these locations knowing that all the good people inside are going to be disarmed. Weighing the pros and cons, I am leaning more to conceal carrying in my purse and worst case scenario being asked to leave rather than be left vulnerable against an active shooter like what happened in the Brooklyn subway the other day.

It probably will depend on the state or city you are in, so there might not be one overall right answer, but if you have any thoughts I’d like to hear. 

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Advice

Is a portable solar-powered generator practical for powering my home?

Kristin Vogel - May 27, 2024

I don’t have solar panels on my house and I don’t have the money to invest in a rooftop array. I want something to power my home…the refrigerator as much as needed, lights at night, our on-demand water heater. Is a portable system with panels I can set up in my backyard practical for this purpose? I like the idea that we can take it with us if we need to. I would love your thoughts and thanks in advance.

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Advice

Chickens for preppers: Important considerations

chicksnhens - April 18, 2024

I wanted to put out a guide for preppers who are interested in keeping chickens or other poultry for long term food security reasons. This is a discussion of important concepts for improving self sufficiency in flock management, not a guide for basic animal care. Please add your thoughts/comments/additions!

1. Select the right breeds and flock mix
For preppers, I recommend going with a mixed flock of hardy, dual purpose breeds that are bred for egg production levels of about 200+ eggs/yr. These birds are big enough to make a good soup/stew bird when their laying days wind down and produce higher amounts of larger eggs than fancy and bantam breeds. You want a bird that can forage well, and safely manage all season conditions without heaters or other special care requirements. Popular breeds in the dual purpose category include barred rocks, Rhode Island reds, New Hampshires, orpingtons and australorps, among others. Hybrid production/efficiency birds like ISA browns/red stars can be added to amp up egg production. I also recommend keeping a couple hens of dual purpose breeds that tend to go broody, like brahmas, in the event you want/need to produce chicks without the aid of electric incubators and brooders.

2. Size your flock for your anticipated long term needs
Egg production varies by breed, age of hen, the animal’s health, and environmental/seasonal conditions. Birds under 2 produce more eggs than older hens past their prime, and the dark days of winter can dramatically reduce egg production on a cyclical basis. Even very high temperatures in summer can throw a bird’s laying schedule out of whack. This means that a very small flock of only 3-4 birds is unlikely to produce enough eggs for a family over time, even if they produce enough when they are at their peak. So if you want 3-4 eggs a day from your birds, you will probably need about 6 hens to consistently achieve that.

3. Buy vaccinated chicks from reputable hatcheries/breeders
Many backyard keepers buy, sell, and trade the chicks they produce at costs that are much lower than big hatcheries. The trouble is that most small keepers and breeders dont manage their lineages for health and performance (they just breed whatever rooster they have to whatever hens they have) and more importantly, they ususally don’t vaccinate their chicks for Mareks (https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/neoplasms/marek-disease-in-poultry). Every year, I see backyard keepers on chicken forums looking for help with sick and dying birds infected with Mareks. Many times they lose multiple birds, and the surviving birds become permanent carriers (which means they will infect any unvaxxed new birds the keepers try to get to replace the dead ones). In my opinion, for preppers, it is especially important to maintain a vaxxed flock if at all possible because you don’t want to be losing your birds in a time of food/chick shortages. A 100% vaxxed flock also means that if you want or need to breed your own birds without access to the vaccine, those new birds will be safe. You also don’t want to be contributing to the spread of Mareks in backyard flocks in your region if you sell your birds to others, as that can destabilize the local food supply when you need it most.

4. Use a multi-flock/purpose 20% protein feed in anticipation of changing flock needs
There are a number of different bird feeds out there – chick, grower/raiser, maintenance, layer, etc – and it can be hard to know which one is best. I recommend going with a 20% protein all-flock grower/raiser as your standard feed for your birds once they are off chick crumble for two reasons. First, a 20% feed can be used at all stages of life and for a wide variety of birds – meat, layer, males and females, winter, birds in molt, birds without access to forage, turkeys, ducks, etc. Conversely, layer-specific or general adult maintenance pellets don’t have enough protein for the rapid growth required of young and meat birds, have too much calcium for male birds, and often don’t have enough niacin for waterfowl. This means that if you have your hens on layer pellets and then you get a rooster, now you need to switch feeds. Or if you get ducks, or turkeys, or broilers. You get the idea. Second, as preppers, you should be storing extra feed. If you don’t know how your flock might change over time, you want to make sure whatever feed you have stockpiled will work for everyone in the future, or else you could end up with hundreds of pounds of food that is poorly suited to your animals.

5. Plan on rotating in new layers to keep production consistent
Due to the natural decline in egg production over a hen’s lifetime, your flock’s production will dramatically decrease after a few years if you don’t keep resupplying it with younger hens. Many keepers follow the 1/3 rule: replace/add 1/3 of your flock size every two years to keep egg production high. So if you have 6 hens in 2020, that means you should plan to add 2 new birds by 2022. Older hens do continue to lay, just at a reduced rate, so if you don’t plan on culling older birds to make way for the new additions, be sure to make your coop big enough for a larger flock than you start with.

6. Have a multi-faceted backup feeding plan in the event of feed shortages
The obvious first line of defense for feed shortages is storing enough feed for your animals to get them through at least a couple of months without needing to resupply. Long term situations though, like a complete collapse in the supply chain, will require mutliple other backup food sources in case you can’t resupply when you run low. Fostering a healthy pasture environment for your animals to range is one important strategy. This means preferably offering your animals something more than the typical lawn, and adopting grass/property management strategies that maximize seed production and insect populations (basically the exact opposite of what most suburban lawn care seeks to do). But even with a good pasture available, poultry need supplemental feeds. You can make your own scratch feed by grinding/crushing a mix of dry corn and grains from your own food stores, and you can crush/powder cooked animal bones, eggshells, and crustacean shells for calcium supplementation. Kitchen scraps can help round out the diet. A mix of pasture, kitchen scraps, homemade scratch feed, and carefully rationed amounts of dwindling commercial feed is hardly ideal, but it should hopefully allow you to keep your birds alive longer in a true crisis scenario than if you don’t take advantage of all these methods.

7. Have a backup bird resupply plan in the event of chick shortages/shipping issues
When the pandemic hit, there was a run on chicks and hatcheries were overrun with a surge of orders (https://blog.cacklehatchery.com/the-pandemic-triggers-a-run-on-chickens/). But eggs hatch on their own time frame regardless of how many humans want birds and why. So the orders got backed up, important production breeds sold out, and many people had to wait far longer than usual to get the animals they did manage to order. Issues struck again just recently when problems with the USPS resulted in serious shipping delays, causing thousands of chicks to die enroute to their destinations (https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/20/farmers-chicks-arrive-dead-usps-399372). USPS is the only shipper of live birds in the US. If they can’t get the chicks to farmers and keepers, then only people/businesses local to the hatcheries can get birds from them (and there aren’t many hatcheries). These problems highlight the importance of having a backup plan to restock your birds as needed. Keeping a rooster in a laying flock can be a major PITA but it has the major advantage of allowing you to make your own chickens without relying on the agricultural supply chain. If you live in an area where you can’t have a rooster, or if you really don’t want to deal with their general ridiculousness, you can still plan on hatching your own eggs by connecting with other local keepers who are willing to sell/trade fertilized hatching eggs or chicks to you (the pro of hatching eggs vs chicks is that they are cheaper and you don’t have to worry about disease introduction, the con is that hatch rates can be dodgy).

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Ham Radio Protocol

Willy Bender-Höver - February 19, 2024

Hello. I’ve got a decent ham radio plan/protocol for my family. (My wife and I have our Tech licenses). Just curious if anyone out there has a clever idea or resource as to developing a frequency rotation? Thank you

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AdviceSkills

What is the best place to buy mylar bags?

ChickenPrepper - January 14, 2024

What’s a good place to get Mylar bags from? Just off Amazon, or do you all have a go to place for these things? Amazon reveals hundreds of possible vendors, most made overseas. If I’m to commit to some bags o’ rice for long term, I’d like to ensure I get decent stuff. Thanks!

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AdviceGear

Food preservation – it makes sense from a survival standpoint

Alisa Felix - January 1, 2024

While watching old episodes of Little House on the Prairie (great series if you haven’t seen it before!), something caught my eye that I never had really put too much thought into before. I saw that their sod house out back had baskets of apples and potatoes that just sit there and look to be fine all winter long, yet I struggle to keep apples and potatoes in my house for more than 2-3 weeks without them going bad. Granted this is a TV show, and those apples are probably fake, but it got me thinking about food preservation lately.

Correct me if I’m wrong here, but our ancestors would plant in the spring, grow all summer, harvest in the fall, and then preserve the food in the winter. From a survival perspective, this makes sense. You work hardest during the spring and fall when temperatures are moderate, when it is hot you mostly just let your plants sit there, and then when it is too cold to even go outside you sit inside and work on food preservation. This formula is set up for maximum calorie preservation. You can even go so far of thinking about the fire and heat produced from the canning and other preservation methods blends well with the need to keep the house warm during the winter. I just thought it was a beautiful balance that we may not realize today with tropical fruit shipped in from all over the world every month of the year.

I feel like food preservation is kind of a lost art for many, and most (myself included) were just taught that putting things in the fridge will make them last longer, and putting them in the freezer will make them last even longer. I no longer want to be apart of that crowd though. Call me a rebel, a food preservation rebel! I want to learn how to preserve food without refrigeration like millions before us knew how to do before the invention of the refrigerator. And sure, even on Little House on the Prairie it shows Ma putting some milk in a cold box, and they have the town ice house, but still they knew how to preserve things.

So, smart people of these forums, teach me about food preservation. What kinds are out there? I’m aware of dehydrating and canning, but please teach me about it. What can I preserve using different methods, what gear is involved, how long do things last with each method, etc…

I wanted to get my feet wet in this field, and so I went out and bought a dehydrator. In the comments below, I am going to tell my story of making some homemade beef jerky and some dried blueberries. I want this thread to be mostly teaching me about food preservation, but still wanted to share one of my successes! 

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AdviceSkills

Personal first aid kits for families

Bma - December 13, 2023

Hi, new here. Trying to put together go bags for my family. Thoughts on specific items to put into first aid kits for kids bags. Would prefer to do this so everyone has one in the event we were to get sperated. Kids are 10-14. Also, ideas on how not to spend a fortune doing this.

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Advice

Recommendation for bugging in or out in Taiwan

Patrick - November 25, 2023

I live in Taiwan and prepping for bugging in, I also have bug out options  but with two kids I am limited. What do you think I should prioritize? Trying to figure out if I forgot anything obvious…

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Game that we don’t usually hunt and eat, but could and would…….

Winston Smith - October 22, 2023

Hunters/trappers usually eat pigs, deer, moose, squirrels, rabbits, turkeys, ducks, doves, quail, geese, and various game animals in different regions.   

But there are some animals that are not traditionally consumed, but in an emergency, would be gladly eaten and enjoyed for nourishment and taste.  A quick rule of thumb is that you can eat just about anything with fur, feathers, or scales as long as it is properly prepared and cooked thoroughly to kill bacteria and other pathogens that would make us sick. That means most mammals, birds, and reptiles are fine to eat, although palatability is never guaranteed.  But the hungrier you are, the better all foods will taste. The wrong plants we eat can harm us more than animals.

Alligators: Alligator meat has been described as having a mild flavor and a firm texture. It tastes like quail, with a mildly fishy flavor, and is often chewy, depending on the preparation. Alligator meat is lean meat that has high protein and low fat content. It is regarded as a healthy food. Alligator tail meat is white in color and tender.

Bobcats (cats):  Bobcat (cat) meat is very similar to that of lean pork. It holds many of the same textures and flavors that pork holds. It’s mild, lean, and tender when cooked correctly.  At first, the meat is chewy, but then surprisingly light and soft. There’s a certain delicacy to it, almost like fish. It’s not particularly heavy, rich, or strong like dog meat, and the addition of the herbs can give the meat a menthol, licorice quality that makes it taste clean and warm.

Birds: We normally don’t eat songbirds or endangered species, but in a SHTF disaster, they’d end up on the menu. Sparrows and Starlings are small but edible and plentiful. It’s been said that crow tastes like wild duck and Mockingbirds have an earthy aroma, and the dark meat is rich, slightly sweet, and flavorful.  

Raccoons:  Despite what you might think, raccoon tastes pretty good when cleaned and cooked properly. Like dark meat chicken or turkey, though it is greasier and more tender.  

Snakes:  You can eat just about any snake, but the most popular snake that people most often choose to eat in the wild is the rattlesnake. Its diet is mostly rodents, plus insects, and smaller reptiles. The meat has an earthy or gamey taste similar to alligator meat, with flesh that’s white and a little rubbery to the touch.

Turtles: Almost all turtle is edible except the lungs, gall bladder, skeleton, skull, and nails. The legs and tail are particularly esteemed, but remove the skin before eating. Snapping Turtles are good eating, but they can be a bit of a chore to clean.  Turtle meat has a firm texture and tastes a bit like chicken.

Opossums: Native Americans enjoyed eating opossums before Europeans or Africans arrived, and they introduced the animal to early colonists. Possum meat tends to have taste similarities to that of squirrel and rabbit meat. The taste is a gamey meat and greasy.  

Horses:  Horse meat is healthier than beef: it’s lower in fat, higher in protein and has a greater proportion of omega-3 fatty acids.  Mexico, Switzerland, Kazakhstan, Belgium, Japan, Germany, Indonesia, Poland, and China are nations where many people eat horse meat without a second thought. While meat from younger horses tends to be a bit pinkish in color, older horses have darker, reddish-colored meat.  

Coyotes (dogs):  Coyotes and dogs are not known for being edible in the U.S., but when properly handled and prepared, it can taste just as good as lean beef.  Dog meat is consumed in South Korea, China, Indonesia, Nigeria, Switzerland, and Vietnam.  Each year, around 4 million cats and 10 million dogs are believed to be slaughtered in China. 

Rats/Mice: In many places around the globe, rat provides much-needed sustenance. As long as it isn’t diseased, it could provide needed nutrition.  While rats seem gross to eat in the US there are many countries that include rat meat in their regular diets: Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, parts of the Philippines and Indonesia, Thailand, Ghana, China and Vietnam. As long as the rodent has been sufficiently cooked through at a high temperature to kill off the many pathogens it may contain, it is safe to eat.

Wild Boars:  Wild boar is very lean and low in cholesterol. Wild boar is an excellent alternative to beef and pork for those who want food that is good for them without sacrificing taste and quality. Wild Boar is high in protein. They are a good source of monounsaturated fats and zinc.  

My trapping boxes contain 20 Conibear body grip traps, 20 wire snare traps, 10 rat traps, wire,    a pack of clothes pins, and misc. items: all for trapping small game. 

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What are my fellow urban Canadians doing different about prepping? Here’s some of what I have done and worked.

Frozen22 - October 11, 2023

I hope I’m not duplicating an existing thread, but I thought it would be useful to have some discussion specific to Canadian members, given differences in laws, available products, climate, infrastructure, etc. I’m a newish prepper and am interested in how others are setting themselves up. I live a in a city in Western Canada, in a condo, so I don’t have land, a garage, or tons of storage space. Given those limitations I’m still better set up than most people in my city.

First, my perspective. I really only focus on a two-week scenario. I’m assuming my plan would involved (1) bugging in, (2) assisting three elderly family members, (3) contending with overloaded public services, and (4) no “societal breakdown,” partly because that is such a vague concept. I have no problems with guns but don’t own any and don’t plan to (though I might get armor). There are very different laws here regarding weapons, self-defense, etc., and it would be good for Canadians to be aware of those.

My main scenarios are (1) loss of power during extreme cold or heat, (2) water system breakdown, (3) air contamination largely from fires.

I’ve developed my plan by asking, what would I need to get by, and what shortfalls/losses would I find demoralizing. So I’ve planned on the high end for maintaining hygiene and related items. If the water system went down, the prospect of 00s of 000s or millions of people pooping in their yards or plastic bags (ineptly and in a panic) raises concerns about air and water contamination, and obvious panics about supplies. 

I have food and water preps, medical, and air filtration, so far. I’m investigating solar generators and am debating which one I should get (affordable but also useable over 14 days), as well as a panel. I’d prefer to get a large unit and two smaller ones for elderly family members.

For the elderly family I’ll be assisting, the first question is whether they’re safe to remain at home, or join me. In general, I’ll want to stay away from hospitals and any emergency public service centers as they’ll be chaotic and unpredictable, so psychological and medical aid on site is preferable.

Because I have limited space and am not planning for a very extreme scenario, I’m not going into my preps in detail because they’re pretty standard. But I’m curious what other Canadians, especially urban dwellers, are doing.

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AdviceScenarios

Prepping books

Winston Smith - September 28, 2023

I enjoy reading and collecting prepping books (nonfiction).  I’m also making a prepping journal (supplies, gardening, what to do kind of stuff).  I have collection of magazines (Mother Earth News, Grit, Country Side).  Hardcopies are beneficial for me and my grandkids in case we ever loose power for an extended period of time, i.e., SHTF.  The below pic is most of my books.  Please recommend books you find useful. Thanks very much. 

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Navigating the healthcare system in the USA

EzlyAmuzzed - September 6, 2023

Looking for any advice or learned lessons on navigating our healthcare system when you have something more than a minor illness. I know many of us have gone through this and would like to hear some of the things you have learned.

Any trustworthy apps to keep track of your medical records so you have it on hand for each doctor?

How to deal with the insurance company when the code given is ineligible or incurs extra cost?

How to not eat through your savings?

When to recognize a test is necessary or unnecessary?

How and when to get second opinions?

How do you research doctors you are referred to so that you get one of the best for your case?

Anything I haven’t mentioned please feel free to offer ideas.

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Preparing for home fires

Bill N - August 27, 2023

Hi all! With the recent wildfires in Maui, I realized that I never made any plans to help preserve the originals of important documents at home from a fire. While they are backed up to the cloud, I think it’s still important to save the originals if possible. I purchased a small fireproof safe (the recommended choice from the NY Times Wirecutter site; the review link is below), but I’ve noticed this doesn’t seem to be a topic covered by many prepper sites.

Anyone else have suggestions or recommendations for this issue?

https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-fireproof-document-safe/

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Advice

Best home or neighborhood security system 2023

Eric - July 21, 2023

What are the best options to detect, deter, and prevent breakins in your home or neighborhood? My neighborhood had a nighttime burglary recently (involving a car, not the house) which has raised the issue of security in my neighborhood. I’m interested in recommendations for my own home’s security, especially detection/alerting, as well as neighborhood-wide options that I could present to the HOA.

Here are some relevant previous security articles and discussions, but I suspect some of the technology has advanced in the years since these were written.

https://preparedpro.xyz/homestead/guides/home-hardening-basics/

https://preparedpro.xyz/gear/reviews/alarm-systems/

Please share both ideas and experiences about how to setup home or neighborhood security systems.

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AdviceGearScenarios

For UK members: April 23rd 3pm (1500 local) Alert Test, What do you think???

LadyKaos - May 14, 2023

I checked in here to see what you all thought of this alert thing? is it useful? does it have the potential to help anyone in a real situation? etc…

because I went to a busy motorway service station near me to see what would be like in a crowd, how people would respond and how easily heard it would be so that I would get the most from the test, and I know that other country use similar systems so I guess it must work

What I experienced:
– there was a loud noise because there was enough people with compatible phones for everyone in the crowd to hear it
– my phone was too old (you need android 11 or later), I did expect to receive a text at the very least but I got nothing
– I think it was about one in ten people with a version of android new enough to receive it
– This 1/10 included a group of Indian tourists (so where your SIM is registered doesn’t matter) you can still receive the alert, but it came through on there phones in English so the children had no idea what it was until there farther translated it for them
– There is no alert through FM or DAB radio, just phones

If I was on my own I would have had no way to receive this, but it is still better than nothing, so should I upgrade my phone?

What are you thoughts on the UK Alert System?

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AdviceNews

Is using natural gas a realistic option in most grid-down scenarios?

Colorado Jones - May 12, 2023

Given the number of electrical grid-down scenarios over the past year or so, I’ve been thinking about how to heat my home should that happen in the dead of winter.

My question is this:  Does natural gas ever get disrupted, specifically in locations like the Rocky Mountain West?  Power outages exceeding more than a few hours in my area are rare, perhaps once a year at most.  I don’t recall ever–in my lifetime–having a natural gas outage, period.  Though, obviously, anything is possible given the right bad circumstances.

It occurred to me that in a simple extended power outage (ranging from a few hours to a few days) due to, say, downed power lines in a snowstorm, I could simply plug the fan for my gas fireplace (or, possibly, the fan for the main house heater, which uses forced air) into a Jackery or DIY power station and keep heat circulating through the house.  While I haven’t yet taken a look at the setup in the basement furnace room, my initial thought is that that electric fan on my fireplace would require significantly less electricity and would be sufficient to keep our small two-bedroom ranch style home “warm enough” in an emergency situation.

Obviously, as well all things prepping, I wouldn’t want to put all my eggs in the same prepping basket.  So being prepared to function without natural gas ultimately needs to be part of my plan.  But, it seems, that many if not most grid-down situations would be no electric BUT natural gas still available, allowing me to battery power the fans to circulate the heat.  And, obviously, for an extended outage, natural gas–if available–is in much greater supply than the amount of propane I can realistically (and safely) store onsite.

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Pooping in a pail and other prepper pastimes

M. E.Contributor - May 10, 2023

I am in the middle of a plumbing problem and thought I’d share what I’m learning AS I’m learning it, since I learn a lot from the “what went well/what didn’t” threads elsewhere in this Forum. To the extent possible I’ll try not to repeat what is in the “Toilets when there’s no water” thread. 

It seems our outbound sewer line is blocked. We are lucky that we have an unfinished basement so the disgusting backup is mostly in our non-living areas. But though we have plenty of clean incoming water, if any of it goes down the drains it just makes the backup WORSE and more disgusting. My preps are coming in handy, but I’ve learned some things!  Warning, this thread is – kinda gross. 

You need more trash bags than you think. I’m peeing in the toilet as usual but not flushing, and throwing the wet TP in the trash. Despite my husband’s objections, I am also Pooping in a pail, using my “luggable loo” for “#2”, with two trash bags inside and a big scoop of kitty litter. It still smells, though, so I take it out to the trash afterward and thus the need for lots of trash bags. 

I wasn’t thinking clearly when this first happened and at first I was trying to practice “hygiene” outside – hand washing, etc. using the outdoor faucets. This sucked since it is freezing here. I quickly realized that all I really have is a drainage problem, so I put big bowls under each house faucet to catch the hand washing water and then I throw it outside.  From this I learned a few other things:

Pails are REALLY handy.  LOTS of pails.  In addition to the “luggable loo” pail, which is serving its purpose, I have a pail in the bathroom to dump the hand wash water into, and a pail in the kitchen for dishwater. To the extent possible I’m using biodegradable soap and as the pail fills up I’m dumping it on the edge of the woods.  I also had to use a pail for cleaning up the backup in the basement. It was disgusting. Thank goodness I had dish gloves and plenty of hand sanitizer.  At first I was cleaning up with the ol’ wringing out a wet rag method, but this took forever. I finally figured out that using a squeegee to push the water into a large dustpan worked much faster. I probably made thirty trips to the woods with buckets of gross water. My next prepping purchase will be a water vacuum. Would love a review of those for a  future guide. 

The stuff I bought for hurricanes – shampoo caps, GoodWipes, wet toilet paper, etc. (plus the hand sanitizer that has basically become a staple in pandemic times) have been absolute gifts when I need to use as little water as possible. Here are some other tiny things I’ve noticed:

Habits are VERY hard to break. My husband kept running the faucets etc. without thinking, thus making our backup worse. I made signs with a big red magic marker and post-its saying “STOP! Minimize water use!” and posted at each sink and toilet, and that helped.  My preps were not as – prepped – as I thought. It took me a while to find the Luggable Loo, the trash bags, and the solar shower (which I ended up not needing).  I thought I was SO organized! I wasn’t.  We always say we should practice but does anybody really? These “mini emergencies” – only a drainage problem, instead of a full on emergency – are the ideal scenarios in which to work out the tiny details (which is why I am writing about it).   We should have a list of hotels with in-room laundry and kitchen facilities.  This problem has been going on for three days now (a plumber came on day one and SAID the problem was fixed – it wasn’t!) and we are considering moving to a hotel. However, with Omicron raging I really, really don’t want to be around other people, so finding a place with in-room laundry and kitchen facilities would be ideal.  Good to learn this now as in the future I might need to find one quickly, and WHEN you’re dealing with a literal “poopy situation” is not the time to figure stuff out like that. I found myself remarkably reluctant to use my preps. Example: The kitty litter with the Luggable Loo. I thought, Well maybe I should save this for a “real” emergency. I decided the situation definitely warranted the use of my supplies and that I can buy more kitty litter later! Very grateful for my “not quite BOB”. In addition to my full-on BOB, I keep a fully packed suitcase with three days’ worth of clothes, toiletries, and medications in case of a family emergency. I haven’t needed to use it yet but knowing that it is there is a stress reducer.  Given that we can’t do laundry just now, having three days of clean clothes set aside is a blessing.

Well, the plumber just called and is on his way.  Stay tuned. My next post might be about my hotel room kitchen kit, that allows us to have hot healthy meals even in a hotel without a kitchen. I put it together last summer in case we had to travel in the pandemic but haven’t tested it out yet. 

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What do you keep in your BOB for menstruation?

Liz Klein - May 7, 2023

This came up in a different thread about prepping resources for single women, https://preparedpro.xyz/forum/thread/single-female-prepper-resources/

Wanted to start a separate thread to dig deeper into period prepping! 🙂 Everyone was so generous with suggestions on the other thread, thought we could continue and consolidate here.

These were the main ideas that came up so far

Menstrual cups are a good idea because they’re washable and reusable, though the learning curve can be steep and there might be hygiene issues Diva Cup seems popular but not all brands work for all people https://divacup.com/ Period underwear such as Thinx may be better for bags since they can be worn regularly and won’t add more weight https://www.shethinx.com/ Disposable paper products are cheap and can be used as a fire starter too, but you are limited to what you already carry

One person mentioned getting a UTI from her cup, so obviously everyone’s experience will be different. Whatever you choose, you should be sure to practice with it in real life. Don’t switch to a new method the same time you’re dealing with an emergency.

So… what do you keep in your bag? How do you think about prepping for periods when you’re not at home in an emergency? Has anyone gone through this, like at a shelter?

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Military surplus: Favorite online sources and items

Hans - April 20, 2023

Question for the group:

While I recognize that there are limitations to military surplus items (tend to be heavier, can attract unwanted attention, govt purchases from the lowest bidder, etc.), I’ve been considering them for longer-term preparedness. In other words, I have my premium/lightweight items for bugging out and my heavier more durable items for bugging-in/homestead cache, etc.. Military surplus seems to be a good mix of durable, inexpensive, and quality enough for the military to use them. 

Any particular favorite online surplus stores and/or items that you all have added to your stash (or milsurp items that you AVOID)? 

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Test your gear and run scenarios in advance of a real emergency

Steve Martin - April 7, 2023

I used the recent power outages as a dress rehearsal of sorts and it was a good thing. I have not yet had the proper electrical corrections installed for a direct hookup for the generator. Cost and time just hasn’t been there until now. So….I had to run extension cords to power the basic necessities. Ran into a couple of minor issues I’ll have to sort out but we had lights & refrigeration while most of my neighbors didn’t. For the new-to-prepping, don’t just assume that the stash of stuff in your basement/garage/shelter will do the trick when the time comes. PLAY WITH IT! Do those dry runs in advance. You may be surprised what you run into that hadn’t been considered during planning.  

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How often do you run your portable generator?

Bigwig - April 3, 2023

For those who have portable generators, how often do you run them?  

I have 2 generators that I run for 30 minutes once a month that coincides with the monthly siren test on the first Saturday of the month.  I also run one of the generators to power the whole house for 30 minutes twice a year.  I have an interlock setup versus a transfer switch so I can select which circuits I want to power.

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What dry dog and cat food would you recommend?

Paul - March 30, 2023

What dry dog and cat food have a decent shelf life, and good quality that you would recommend? Not too concerned about canned food, which can last a few years. 

Thanks in advance.

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