Over the last 12 months our city water has gone down 4+ times. It’s off again today, due to yet another water main breaking. We live in an area that does not have great infrastructure, our utilities are outdated and to put this into perspective the water company only THIS YEAR started allowing folks to use cards & even pay online. For several years I had to physically go to the office and pay by cash.

That said, We keep multiple 5gal jugs filled, I have 8-10 1gal jugs for flushing, 3+ cases of bottled water and have several life straws & water bottles that have the filter straw inside. I also have a 5 gal shower jug with a rechargeable motor and a spray head. We use that for washing up and dishes when need be. We even have a little fold up square basin to wash up in so we can then reuse that water to flush with. Oh and I also got one of those wand water heaters that you just plug in & put under water in your bucket or jug, so we don’t have to take cold showers. We do have a generator but typically have to prioritize the fridges & deep freeze to preserve our food supply.

Is there anything else I could/should be doing, something I should have on hand? Anything I’m overlooking? At this point we’re looking into moving but selling and buying takes time & I don’t want to be caught off guard

We are: 2 adults, 1 large-medium dog, 2 cats and a gecko.

Would building a shelving unit and surrounding it with mylar be efficient for keeping water and canned/bottled food at safe temps in my garage or is there a better method? For context my garage sits below our condo followed by main level then 2nd story, the only heat hitting the garage is from the main garage door. (The walls are made from brick of some sort and on the outside to the left and behind I assume is dirt and to the right would be the neighbors garage.

I know people are storing rice and beans for the long term, but what rice are you storing and what's the plan if you need it?

What I mean is that normal rice takes 45 min to an hour on the stovetop (boiling water) and almost an hour in a rice cooker (lots of AC watts). Do you plan on running your camping stove for 45 minutes to eat a cup of rice?

Or, are you guys saving Minute Rice?

Thoughts?

Hi All: I have a daughter in college about 3-4 hours away from both home and our cabin. In most situations, she would stay put and shelter in place. In the event she needs to drive home in an emergency situation (school shut down, pandemic, incoming very dangerous weather) or for a real SHTF scenario, our cabin as it’s better equipped for that situation. I’m putting together a backpack go-bag so she can at least have some essentials if she needs to leave quickly. This is for a scenario she will be able to drive home, but could experience delays, diversions, weather etc. Let me also preface this by saying she is your typical suburban Gen Z 20 year-old (no offense to any Gen Z folks here, I love ya’ll.) She’s smart as hell, but lacking in street smarts sometimes, so I need to be realistic here.

I have so far:

Small first aid kit
Charged backup brick for phone
Solar phone charger
$200 cash in small bills
Headlamp/flashlight
Lifestraw
Mylar bivy bag
Printed directions to cabin
Printed phone numbers of family/friends
Paper maps of states she’s be driving through
Snacks - jerky, nuts, bars etc
Feminine hygiene products
Change of clothes/extra socks
Sunscreen (she’s a redhead, this is a must have)
Anti-bac wipes
Knife
Pepper spray

She has a good kit in her car with gloves, shovel, jumper cables, duct tape..general road safety/emergency items and a blanket.

Anything else I should add? Her roommates family lives out of state, so she’d going with her in a real emergency, so she wouldn’t be traveling alone at least.

Thanks!

Are you prepping to Bug Out or are you prepping to stay put? Or both?

Do any of you do dry runs using your equipment and/or supplies?

I highly recommend it. all your preps will be for nought if you don't know what you are doing.

I’m bored at work and had an idea, let’s discuss.

So let’s say you want to put together a serious team of preppers, not a full on militia and not just your average group of neighbors, something in between. I imagine this being a fairly realistic scenario where you want to build a group that is on board with prepping and takes it seriously but being associated with them doesn’t necessarily put you on a government watchlist. A team like this would perhaps help you secure your neighborhood during civil unrest, maybe help clear debris after a natural disaster, or even just help share resources during a troubling time.

What “minimum qualifications” would you expect somebody to hold before they join this team of yours?

Here is my list so far, let me know what you think.

CCW License: Depending on your state this could mean a lot or a little. In my state, a person interested in joining my team who has a CCW license would prove that they aren’t a criminal, can pass a basic background check, and likely share similar values in regards to self defense as me and the rest of my hypothetical team. I’m not looking for absolute weapon mastery or proficiency at this stage, because in theory that is something a good prepper team would practice together.

First Aid/CPR Certification: Very low bar, if they haven’t or aren’t willing to take an 8 hour AHA or Red Cross training that has a good chance of being used in the real world regardless of doomsday they they probably aren’t willing to pursue more advanced training that I would want my team to have.

Radio License: If my team were to have a comms plan using either HAM or GMRS radios I would want the person applying to already have that type of license. It isn’t hard to get either and having it before joining the team proves that they are willing to play ball with the team policies and procedures. Also shows that they are investing time in the training, which is in my opinion more important than simply just having the gear.

Be Able to Pass a Basic Fitness Test: Something realistic and relevant, perhaps being able to hike three miles in an hour while carrying a load or something similar. I’m not looking for Navy SEALs but I do want people who take their health seriously and won’t have a heart attack during civil unrest.

What do you think? What would you add or take away?

Watching the latest evacuation alerts on the news got me a bit stressed, so I spent 20 minutes running around the house to see what I’d actually grab if we got a sudden notice to clear out.

Packed the bin and loaded everything into the trunk.

Right now my instant grab-and-go stack is basically:

1. Bluetti Elite 100 V2 (mostly to run the CPAP and phone charging)

2. Heavy-duty power strip (so neighbors can plug in their phones)

3. Waterproof folder with docs & cash

4. First aid kit + essential meds

Curious what else you guys usually toss in the car. Hoping I don't actually have to use any of this.

Howdy y’all, I just wanted to touch base with you on a few issues, but also I wanted to update you on me.

Me first, I guess. I’ve recently put my money where my mouth was and have taken steps to turbocharge my prep situation. My ultimate goal is to be 75%-80% decoupled from the supply chain and grid. This required a move, to a remote location, which is always a little tricky. Immediately got hit with a hurricane (40”+ rain), and the next week a tropical storm. I am 100% off the grid for utilities, the food situation will take 3-5 years. Happy to share more if there is interest.

On to the subreddit stuff.

We’ve been getting a lot of news links posted. My impulse is to take them down, for several reasons:

1. We’ve rarely allowed news in the past
2. There is an assload of other places for the news
3. No national news sources are trustworthy
4. We are an education subreddit not a news subreddit

So what’s up, keep it news free or let some in? If you pick the latter you need to explain why, what the limits would be, and how we determine which sources are okay.

Next issue, crossposts. We’re getting many more extremely low effort crossposts. I hate that shit and want to disable that feature so that if someone has a question, or a thought, they have to use their brain long enough to type something out. Am I being unreasonable, or should we have “high standards”?

Finally, businesses. They come knocking on our doors quite a bit. Most are stupid and just try to spam us (instant ban), some try some slick shit (they too end up unhappy), but a few do actually do it the right way. Currently, I’ve had several conversations going on with multiple well known brands who want to do promotional stuff: like giveaways, pimp their products, offer discount codes, etc etc etc. I’m generally receptive to this of they are transparent and actually offer value to the community. But I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject.

Not related to anything above, just a reminder: do not bring your political opinions to this subreddit. Fuck Trump, Fuck Biden, and Fuck every other lying sack of shit who’s been elected or confirmed. I don’t care how much “engagement” a post has, it’s getting nuked and you are getting banned.

v/r your friendly mod

Could I see some photos of how did you managed to store in tight spaces? I live in a 2 room department.

Gradually been working on an emergency cabinet in the garage for my wife daughter and I. Kind of a shitty picture but I’ll comment a list of what alls in it

Quick question. I wear contacts. I have glasses as well. But how do you prepare if you can’t get those anymore? Contacts don’t last forever. Glasses break. So what is the plan for nerds like me that weren’t lucky enough to see 20/20?

I have several good size ponds around my neighborhood. One is 100ft behind my house, very large. Maybe 10 houses around it. There are several others in the area also. I have a ton of water filter systems from small sawyers all the way to a lifestraw community. I also have a ton of water in gallon size containers, water bottles as well but I keep getting paranoid that I'll never have enough. Also have a rain catching barrel tied to the gutter system.

I want to run a small hose from the pond up to my house with a small pump. I'd put the hose 4-6" under the dirt so it's not visible so I have a constant supply of water that I can filter, boil, etc. Is this something I should do or being so close to the pond not worry about it and fill containers as needed?

I have a ton of food prepped, rice(100+lbs), beans(50+ lbs), canned goods, 100 MRE's, lots of food that was near expiration vac sealed in 5 gallon buckets but water always seems to be a big worry for me.

Would you run a pumped fed hose to the house or just worry about containers/storage walking to the pond instead?

I'm looking at the El Niño predictions for this winter and the comparisons to winter of '98. I remember the ice storm of 1998 - we were out of power for a number of days. It is my first extended multi day memory.

I'm thinking about this because we had a wood burning fireplace. We holed up in the room with the fireplace and stayed there for the whole time. But we managed okay. However in my current home I do not have a functional fireplace.

I'm looking for advice on how I can prep to prepare for a multiday power outage with very cold temperatures, in my specific situation.

I have a large Anker Solix power bank and a heat dish heater. Last power outage with freezing temps was 8 hours and almost drained the battery using the heat dish. We may or may not have access to weather that allows recharging the bank. Don't suggest relocating please - we have livestock so we will need to stay on the property to care for them. I have access to a gas generator but would rather not depend on having enough gas, either.

I DO have a gas fireplace but can't build a wood fire in it. The gas portion does not function.

I'm open to suggestions for weather survival that don't include a heat source, if that exists.

Any thoughts?

Thanks y'all!

I'm going to get stuff to prepare for a blackout. While I will get electric lanterns, flashlights, etc I also want to get something simple that doesn't require electricity, so basically candles or lamps. Here is my criteria:

• Safe, this doesn't mean it is harmless, more that is won't start a fire if I knock it over.
• Simple mechanism, basically something that is simple and because of that won't break easily (This is a given for candles).
• Fuel adaptable; doesn't require a super specific type of fuel that is hard to procure, and maybe I could use something I found lying around in a pinch (This doesn't apply to candles).
• Bright enough to light up a 12X12 ft room. When I say light up I don't mean like a normal light would, about enough that you could read a book on the other side.

If you have suggestions other than lamps or candles that fit what I am looking for, please feel free to suggest them.

I'm looking at obtaining supplies that would last me about a year. Im assuming no-to-moderate physical activity. Based on some lists I have found online, I'm wondering if this would be enough? Have I forgotten something that I ought to obtain?

Rice + Pasta + Oats: 160 kg
Beans + lentils: 30 kg
Vegetable oil (or some other inexpensive oil): 12 kg
Sugar: 27 kg
Salt: 4 kg

Multivitamin - 1 to 2 year supply
Ascorbic acid powder - multi year supply for vitamin C
Calcium supplement - 1 year supply
Magnesium supplement - 1 year supply
Vitamin D supplement - Unsure about this one, but relatively cheap so might as well throw in a years worth

Mylar bags + oxygen absorbers- enough to store most things
Food grade buckets - enough
Desiccant packs for supplement storage

Am I missing something? This would be a relatively inexpensive, barebones, "survival" emergency plan.

Hi, i bet some of yall know about the US and the power outages across the nation that are starting to pop up and how theres a potential for us to be out of power for at least 18 months. It may just be anxiety but I want to be as prepared as possible. I am new to things though and dont know what to prep or how to storage it. Im a college student with a student budget but i can make things work if I need. I have a lot of containers, a tub, and i know how to cook (if that helps). If i can be pointed in the right direction to start gradually prepping for at least a month or more I'd ve grateful. Thanks so much!! If my area matters Im from Louisiana but in a more urban place.

Articles like this are becoming common these days. I see Germany also put out some informational leaflets in the last few days from Canadian Pepper's channel.

If you've got loved ones you're trying to persuade to take this a little more seriously seeing it on one of the UK's biggest news channels probably makes the point pretty well.

My inlaws have recently purchased an estate (manor with woodland). Me and my family (wife and kids) are moving into one of the wings.

I've been tasked with working out the medical side of things. As an HCA, I have to complete resus and first aid training every year. I've also been signed off on the monitoring of vital signs.

Currently, I'm thinking a decent first aid kit in the house, the UTV (off-road golf cart thing) and in all outbuildings (there are about 3). My inlaws will also be buying a defibrillator pack.

Can you guys recommend any first aid packs and maybe suggest their placement, things to include and anything else I should be thinking about.

For further context my inlaws are in their mid-60s and in reasonably good health. My kids are 10 and 3. None of us have serious allergies.

We will also be using chainsaws, so tourniquet/Israeli bandage will be a must in each kit.

We are also thinking of putting up small notices that display their WhatThreeWords locations so people can direct emergency workers even without the app.

Look forward to your replies peeps :)

I live alone just with my dog. In a metro style city.

I've tried different powdered milks, but I haven't found one that I trust for long term storage. I'm looking for folks that have actual experience with the product, not suggestions from an internet search.

I've tried Nestle Nido and its got the best flavor by far, but it is whole cream milk and my understanding is it will eventually go rancid. I want to put up at least 50 pounds.

I've been given about a year to live following my cancer diagnosis. Like many people here, I've spent years putting things aside "just in case": food, water, cooking equipment, tools and all the other bits and pieces that make life easier when something goes wrong.

Well, my "just in case" has changed rather dramatically.

I'm not going to need most of this stuff in the long term, but that doesn't mean it should go to waste. So I've started thinking about one final bit of prepping: passing it on.

Some will stay with my family. Some can go to friends and neighbours. Some can go to food banks, charities or people who are only just starting to prepare.

A tin of food doesn't care who eventually eats it. A camping stove doesn't care who lights it. The point of having useful things available when they're needed remains the same.

Perhaps that's something worth adding to our prepping plans: not merely what happens if I need this?, but what happens to it when I don't?

Use what you need. Look after the people around you. And when your turn is over, pass it on.