At my fiancee’s insistence I watched the show “Wife Swap” with her last night (the show was better than I expected and not like the name sounds), and actually I was intrigued when I heard that one of the families on tonight’s episode was obsessed with 2012. Unfortunately, that family IMO gives a bad name to those of us who are trying not to leave our common sense behind as we stock up and prepare for pretty rough times ahead. The parents made their kids come home immediately after school every day “just in case something happens.” They wouldn’t let the kids participate in sports because 2012-oriented tasks were much more important and made them participate in regular hazmat-suit drills in the backyard. They even had a dry-erase marker board in the kitchen counting down the number of days until 12-21-12!! These people really didn’t seem to have much of a connection to what was right in front of their faces. I mean, sure, they have their survival food stash (which looked like cases of MREs) under the stairs, but really, making your kids wear “survival packs” with them everywhere they go?
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got nearly a year’s worth of food on hand for both me and my fiancee (trying to add a month’s worth of food every two weeks), I’ve got a steadily growing ammo stash (need more range time, though) and I hang out online with really smart people at GIM and a couple other sites and read stories on a couple dozen news sites a day to try to read between the “official” news stories and see what’s really happening, but c’mon, what are the odds of a particular family in a particular neighborhood needing hazmat suits for the entire family on any given day? You’re more likely to encounter hungry, angry mobs ransacking houses for food in most SHTF situations that I can imagine, because most people like to eat every day.
Until this past year, there was a Cold War-era stash of VX nerve gas at a military depot about 40 miles away from where I live. In the event of a VX leak (not to worry, all the VX at that location has now been neutralized), residents in close proximity to the depot received an automated warning and were expected to have enough time to seal up the doors and windows in their residences with, I’m guessing, plastic sheeting or other such material. But being 40 miles downwind, there would either be a lot of dead people between my house and that depot by the time the VX reached me, or the gas would dissipate into a dilute-enough concentration that it wouldn’t be an issue outside of the immediate area of the depot. I can’t imagine what any one family imagines it might encounter that it needs hazmat suits and drills for their entire family…unless they all had bad bean burritos for dinner.
But seriously, that family on TV tonight really give a bad name for those of us who haven’t lost our common sense and are trying to prepare for the most likely SHTF scenarios based upon our life situations. Since my fiancee is disabled, I’m not in a position to bug-out except in the most extreme circumstances, so we’re going to keep prepping and keep stocking up right here while keeping our jobs and not losing our minds.
Click here to search for this episode of "Wife Swap," if for no other reason than to know what NOT to do.
EDIT: I almost forgot another very important detail–this family had bought everything on credit and didn’t plan to keep on paying after, of course, the world ends in 2012. WHAT KIND OF PREPPERS BUY EVERYTHING ON CREDIT????
Showing posts with label preparedness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label preparedness. Show all posts
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Saturday, May 22, 2010
How NOT to prepare for TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We Know It)
I cringed when I saw the story Doomsday safe-haven offered under Mojave Desert on the AP wire last week, partly because this sort of slick marketing ignores the fact that most disasters, including but not limited to nuclear war, probably won’t happen when we expect it — not that anyone among us usually sits around taking bets on when nuclear war will happen. But what dismayed me even more is the huge disservice that this slick marketing job is doing for those of us who are trying to take common-sense preparations for hard times (and encouraging others to do the same) while not acting like TEOTWAWKI is imminent — it MIGHT BE imminent, but most of us who are prepping are doing so while going on with LAWKI — life as we know it.
Under the slick slogan “You can’t predict, but you can prepare,” entrepreneur Robert Vicino promises that for a scant $50,000, people can ride out the Apocalypse in a fancified bunker under the Mojave Desert. Take a look at some of the over-the-top accommodations:
At first glance, I can’t help but think of the show “The Simple Life” — how the heck are the kind of people who have more money than common sense (assuming as I am that most people willing to drop $50K think they can just buy their way out of nuclear war or other such scenarios) going to do the grunt work needed to rebuild after TSHTF if they aren’t willing or equipped to deal with what’s going on above ground in the first place?
And you gotta love the rhetorical question “Where would you go with 3 days’ notice?”
Think back to how most travel in general and all air traffic and commerce in particular ground to a halt on 9/11. If we have a major — REALLY major — SHTF situation like, oh, maybe nuclear war, it’s going to make 9/11 look like a Sunday School picnic. And I’m guessing that at that point, all bets are off that anyone will get anywhere on anything even remotely resembling a “normal” schedule.
But the REAL problem with putting all your eggs in one bunker is that it gives yet-unprepared or still-asleep sheeple a false idea or seven about what SHOULD be done to prepare for uncertain times. Most of us who are prepping aren’t digging elaborate bunkers in our backyards (for one thing, it might violate zoning regulations — see this article), but we are stocking up on food, water, medication and other necessities of life while preparing for uncertain times.
For those of you who are already prepping, keep on doing what you’re doing and don’t lose your common sense. For those of you who haven’t yet started prepping, start taking steps right where you’re at to prepare your people and your preps, and bug out only if and when TEOTWAWKI comes to your hometown. And don’t worry about the Mojave. People looking for safety in a bunker under the desert just have their heads in the sand.
Under the slick slogan “You can’t predict, but you can prepare,” entrepreneur Robert Vicino promises that for a scant $50,000, people can ride out the Apocalypse in a fancified bunker under the Mojave Desert. Take a look at some of the over-the-top accommodations:
At first glance, I can’t help but think of the show “The Simple Life” — how the heck are the kind of people who have more money than common sense (assuming as I am that most people willing to drop $50K think they can just buy their way out of nuclear war or other such scenarios) going to do the grunt work needed to rebuild after TSHTF if they aren’t willing or equipped to deal with what’s going on above ground in the first place?
And you gotta love the rhetorical question “Where would you go with 3 days’ notice?”
Think back to how most travel in general and all air traffic and commerce in particular ground to a halt on 9/11. If we have a major — REALLY major — SHTF situation like, oh, maybe nuclear war, it’s going to make 9/11 look like a Sunday School picnic. And I’m guessing that at that point, all bets are off that anyone will get anywhere on anything even remotely resembling a “normal” schedule.
But the REAL problem with putting all your eggs in one bunker is that it gives yet-unprepared or still-asleep sheeple a false idea or seven about what SHOULD be done to prepare for uncertain times. Most of us who are prepping aren’t digging elaborate bunkers in our backyards (for one thing, it might violate zoning regulations — see this article), but we are stocking up on food, water, medication and other necessities of life while preparing for uncertain times.
For those of you who are already prepping, keep on doing what you’re doing and don’t lose your common sense. For those of you who haven’t yet started prepping, start taking steps right where you’re at to prepare your people and your preps, and bug out only if and when TEOTWAWKI comes to your hometown. And don’t worry about the Mojave. People looking for safety in a bunker under the desert just have their heads in the sand.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Don't wipe out your toilet paper supply!
The idea of stocking up — REALLY stocking up — on toilet paper probably seems ridiculous past a certain level of inventory. After all, storage space is valuable, so how much do we need to stock of just one product? Well, that’s all fine and dandy when it comes to substituting one product for another nearly equal product, but the one thing you really can’t live without is toilet paper. And as anyone realizes when they sit down on the toilet only to find that there’s no paper, if you don’t have it, you-know-what can really hit the fan.
And the lack of toilet paper can, um, wipe out public health as we know it.
There are any number of jokes that could be made about toilet paper or the lack thereof, but suffice to say that not having it becomes an emergency to the person who doesn’t have it. Multiply that times, oh, 6.5 billion people and you have a public health emergency. Even if you have a working sewer system after TSHTF, pretty soon the lack of paper can be pretty dicey. Multiply that personal SHTF situation by millions of people and you have a public health emergency.
“But stores NEVER run out of toilet paper…do they??”
Many of you who are old enough probably remember the bogus toilet paper shortage that Johnny Carson joked about in 1973. The next day, according to reports, stores across the country were stripped clean of toilet paper amid worries of an impending shortage. A few nights later Carson retracted his statement, but it still took weeks for the supply of toilet paper to return to normal on store shelves.
At this moment I have about 120 rolls of toilet paper on hand — probably more than a year’s worth for the average person under normal circumstances — and by “normal circumstances,” I mean a lack of extra toilet paper usage that comes about through, let’s say, intestinal distress. Or long-term guests. Or just plain forgetting to buy more. Or the cat learned how to paw open the cabinet where the toilet paper was stored and turned the paper into confetti. (All of these scenarios have happened to me; don’t think they can’t happen to you.) All it takes for things to hit the crapper is for the so-called “just in time” inventory supply lines to be interrupted to bring about problems keeping grocery items on the shelves. I can (maybe) do without coffee for a day or two if something catastrophic has occurred and there’s no chance of my being able to buy coffee. (But I’ve planned ahead and stocked up, just in case.) But I really can’t imagine what would happen if I run out of toilet paper. The health problems that can arise from contact with fecal matter are even worse than the contact with fecal matter itself.
(If you like being around fecal matter in the first place, you have much bigger problems than just a lack of toilet paper. And almost as much common sense as public-health expert and singer Sheryl Crow, who said people should be restricted in how much toilet paper they are allowed to use.)
To badly mangle a quote by the great patriot Thomas Jefferson, who had his share of SHTF situations, we hold these truths to be self-evident that not all toilet paper is created equal. Just because you have two equal-size packages of toilet paper doesn’t at all mean that you’ll get equal benefit from them. Let me illustrate:
Exhibit No. 1 is the POM 40-roll case of Quality Bath Tissue from Sam’s Club:
Exhibit No. 2 is the Member’s Mark 36-roll package (well, technically it’s 4 9-roll packages in a larger outer-wrapped package) of Ultra Premium Bath Tissue, also from Sam’s Club:
Can you tell which brand is which?
A case of POM as of this writing is 18.88 for 40 rolls, or 47.2 cents per roll; a multipack of the Member’s Mark TP is 14.98 for 36 rolls, or 41.6 cents per roll. So you should get the Member’s Mark TP, right?
Not so fast there, pilgrim. Look at the small print:
Each roll of POM has 450 2-ply 4-by-4.5-inch sheets:
But each roll of the Member’s Mark has less than half of that — a mere 200 sheets per roll!!
Technically, you’re saving 5.6 cents per roll when you buy the Member’s Mark TP. But your savings goes down the crapper because you get less than half of the TP surface area from the Member’s Mark than from the POM. But even more unsettling than the higher per-sheet cost of the Member’s Mark TP is that you use it up more quickly and can deplete your toilet paper supply much faster than you might expect.
And that would be a very, very bad thing.
Plan ahead. Stock up. Pronto. Because your life depends on it.
Three cases of POM toilet paper take up less space than that big-screen TV you made room for. And I don’t think you’ll care about the TV when nature calls and you’re out of paper. And as you sit there at some point looking at the last empty cardboard tube on the roll with no paper left in the house, I’m pretty sure nothing else will matter. Anyone who says you can have too much toilet paper is just full of crap.
A couple notable comments on this post from my old site:
One reader wrote:
If truly without toilet paper, one can wash instead, using a plastic bottle with a top that allows you to pop it up and expel the water by squeezing the plastic bottle. Many women will understand what I am talking about, as they are widely used in hospitals after childbirth for using comforting warm water on the perineal area as well as washing. You could then dry with the flannel cloths–at least then washing them wouldn’t be so gross. Kind of a simple version of the European bidet.
I replied:
Blogger Kellene Bishop posted a great article a couple months ago about the necessity of toilet paper and the inadequacy of anything else for the task. It’s excellent reading:
http://www.preparednesspro.com/blog/the-necessity-of-toilet-paper/
And from a purely practical standpoint, it's very, very foolish to think of using potable water for something such as a bidet if you're in a prolonged grid-down situation. I'd rather have hundreds of rolls of toilet paper that I'd have to burn as I used them than to use my only drinkable water for toilet-related cleansing and then suffer from chronic thirst. Prolonged dehydration poses its own set of problems. You don't want to make things any worse than they have to be.
And the lack of toilet paper can, um, wipe out public health as we know it.
There are any number of jokes that could be made about toilet paper or the lack thereof, but suffice to say that not having it becomes an emergency to the person who doesn’t have it. Multiply that times, oh, 6.5 billion people and you have a public health emergency. Even if you have a working sewer system after TSHTF, pretty soon the lack of paper can be pretty dicey. Multiply that personal SHTF situation by millions of people and you have a public health emergency.
“But stores NEVER run out of toilet paper…do they??”
Many of you who are old enough probably remember the bogus toilet paper shortage that Johnny Carson joked about in 1973. The next day, according to reports, stores across the country were stripped clean of toilet paper amid worries of an impending shortage. A few nights later Carson retracted his statement, but it still took weeks for the supply of toilet paper to return to normal on store shelves.
At this moment I have about 120 rolls of toilet paper on hand — probably more than a year’s worth for the average person under normal circumstances — and by “normal circumstances,” I mean a lack of extra toilet paper usage that comes about through, let’s say, intestinal distress. Or long-term guests. Or just plain forgetting to buy more. Or the cat learned how to paw open the cabinet where the toilet paper was stored and turned the paper into confetti. (All of these scenarios have happened to me; don’t think they can’t happen to you.) All it takes for things to hit the crapper is for the so-called “just in time” inventory supply lines to be interrupted to bring about problems keeping grocery items on the shelves. I can (maybe) do without coffee for a day or two if something catastrophic has occurred and there’s no chance of my being able to buy coffee. (But I’ve planned ahead and stocked up, just in case.) But I really can’t imagine what would happen if I run out of toilet paper. The health problems that can arise from contact with fecal matter are even worse than the contact with fecal matter itself.
(If you like being around fecal matter in the first place, you have much bigger problems than just a lack of toilet paper. And almost as much common sense as public-health expert and singer Sheryl Crow, who said people should be restricted in how much toilet paper they are allowed to use.)
To badly mangle a quote by the great patriot Thomas Jefferson, who had his share of SHTF situations, we hold these truths to be self-evident that not all toilet paper is created equal. Just because you have two equal-size packages of toilet paper doesn’t at all mean that you’ll get equal benefit from them. Let me illustrate:
Exhibit No. 1 is the POM 40-roll case of Quality Bath Tissue from Sam’s Club:
Exhibit No. 2 is the Member’s Mark 36-roll package (well, technically it’s 4 9-roll packages in a larger outer-wrapped package) of Ultra Premium Bath Tissue, also from Sam’s Club:
Can you tell which brand is which?
A case of POM as of this writing is 18.88 for 40 rolls, or 47.2 cents per roll; a multipack of the Member’s Mark TP is 14.98 for 36 rolls, or 41.6 cents per roll. So you should get the Member’s Mark TP, right?
Not so fast there, pilgrim. Look at the small print:
Each roll of POM has 450 2-ply 4-by-4.5-inch sheets:
But each roll of the Member’s Mark has less than half of that — a mere 200 sheets per roll!!
Technically, you’re saving 5.6 cents per roll when you buy the Member’s Mark TP. But your savings goes down the crapper because you get less than half of the TP surface area from the Member’s Mark than from the POM. But even more unsettling than the higher per-sheet cost of the Member’s Mark TP is that you use it up more quickly and can deplete your toilet paper supply much faster than you might expect.
And that would be a very, very bad thing.
Plan ahead. Stock up. Pronto. Because your life depends on it.
Three cases of POM toilet paper take up less space than that big-screen TV you made room for. And I don’t think you’ll care about the TV when nature calls and you’re out of paper. And as you sit there at some point looking at the last empty cardboard tube on the roll with no paper left in the house, I’m pretty sure nothing else will matter. Anyone who says you can have too much toilet paper is just full of crap.
A couple notable comments on this post from my old site:
One reader wrote:
If truly without toilet paper, one can wash instead, using a plastic bottle with a top that allows you to pop it up and expel the water by squeezing the plastic bottle. Many women will understand what I am talking about, as they are widely used in hospitals after childbirth for using comforting warm water on the perineal area as well as washing. You could then dry with the flannel cloths–at least then washing them wouldn’t be so gross. Kind of a simple version of the European bidet.
I replied:
http://www.preparednesspro.com/blog/the-necessity-of-toilet-paper/
And from a purely practical standpoint, it's very, very foolish to think of using potable water for something such as a bidet if you're in a prolonged grid-down situation. I'd rather have hundreds of rolls of toilet paper that I'd have to burn as I used them than to use my only drinkable water for toilet-related cleansing and then suffer from chronic thirst. Prolonged dehydration poses its own set of problems. You don't want to make things any worse than they have to be.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Two million people in Boston without water is why you need to be prepared
I'm about a day late in posting this, but I think the message will remain long after this particular news story is gone:
Water main break leaves 2 million thirsty in Boston
Water main break leaves 2 million thirsty in Boston
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Stocking up on medications before TSHTF
In the event of personal, local or national emergencies or other natural or manmade disasters, if you’re like millions of people who must take various medications on a regular basis, you might be out of luck if something happens and keeps your medicines from getting to the store shelves. Many people’s quality of life would be severely diminished if they couldn’t get their medicine, so having an ample stockpile of drugs that aren’t controlled substances is just common sense.
I realize that a lot of people either don’t have insurance and have trouble paying out-of-pocket for more than a month’s supply of any particular medication at one time, or whatever medications they take might be subject to DEA restrictions on how much of the drug they can be prescribed within a particular time frame. So for what it’s worth, I’ll share my approach to stocking up on the meds I need every day and hope it might help you as well.
Rule #1 should be obvious: Talk to your doctor. Depending on the medication you’re on and your drug plan, your doctor may be able to increase the authorized dosage and/or number of pills for certain medications that aren’t controlled substances to allow you to build up a surplus.
I’m on an old-school antidepressant (nortriptylene) as a migraine preventive, which works rather well — I’ve been on it for about two years. I take 50 mg. at bedtime. My neurologist had originally written the prescription for up to 100 mg. Once I realized that 50 mg. was keeping my migraines in check, I kept getting refills on the same day each month and just put the new refills behind the older ones — first in, first out. At my six-month followup appointment, I told my doctor that 50 mg. was doing the trick but asked her if she could keep my prescription written for 100 mg. so that I could build up a surplus just in case of job loss or anything else, I told her. Since nortriptylene isn’t a controlled substance, she said she’d be willing to do that. I have 13 months worth of nortriptylene in my medicine cabinet at the moment.
The only other meds I take on a regular basis are Claritin for allergies (I’m allergic to cats but have two cats anyway — they adopted me) and I take 800 mg. of generic Aleve every night at bedtime for my fibromyalgia. I got four 60-tablet bottles of generic Claritin at Walmart for about $25, enough to last about eight months, and I don’t remember exactly how much the generic Aleve was at Sam’s Club, but I got three 400-count bottles for less than $50, and that’ll last me about 10 months. I also take 1000 mg. of Vitamin C every night at bedtime and got a big bottle of that as well at Sam’s Club (gotta keep my immune system in good shape).
I’d be interested in hearing from any of you who’ve also talked to your doctor about stocking up on medications. And be sure to ask your doctor or pharmacist about the shelf life of your medications, to make sure they will be safe if stored for an extended period.
For those of who who are medical practitioners, I’d be interested in hearing your ideas and perspectives as well.
I realize that a lot of people either don’t have insurance and have trouble paying out-of-pocket for more than a month’s supply of any particular medication at one time, or whatever medications they take might be subject to DEA restrictions on how much of the drug they can be prescribed within a particular time frame. So for what it’s worth, I’ll share my approach to stocking up on the meds I need every day and hope it might help you as well.
Rule #1 should be obvious: Talk to your doctor. Depending on the medication you’re on and your drug plan, your doctor may be able to increase the authorized dosage and/or number of pills for certain medications that aren’t controlled substances to allow you to build up a surplus.
I’m on an old-school antidepressant (nortriptylene) as a migraine preventive, which works rather well — I’ve been on it for about two years. I take 50 mg. at bedtime. My neurologist had originally written the prescription for up to 100 mg. Once I realized that 50 mg. was keeping my migraines in check, I kept getting refills on the same day each month and just put the new refills behind the older ones — first in, first out. At my six-month followup appointment, I told my doctor that 50 mg. was doing the trick but asked her if she could keep my prescription written for 100 mg. so that I could build up a surplus just in case of job loss or anything else, I told her. Since nortriptylene isn’t a controlled substance, she said she’d be willing to do that. I have 13 months worth of nortriptylene in my medicine cabinet at the moment.
The only other meds I take on a regular basis are Claritin for allergies (I’m allergic to cats but have two cats anyway — they adopted me) and I take 800 mg. of generic Aleve every night at bedtime for my fibromyalgia. I got four 60-tablet bottles of generic Claritin at Walmart for about $25, enough to last about eight months, and I don’t remember exactly how much the generic Aleve was at Sam’s Club, but I got three 400-count bottles for less than $50, and that’ll last me about 10 months. I also take 1000 mg. of Vitamin C every night at bedtime and got a big bottle of that as well at Sam’s Club (gotta keep my immune system in good shape).
I’d be interested in hearing from any of you who’ve also talked to your doctor about stocking up on medications. And be sure to ask your doctor or pharmacist about the shelf life of your medications, to make sure they will be safe if stored for an extended period.
For those of who who are medical practitioners, I’d be interested in hearing your ideas and perspectives as well.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Pay more for food later, if you can find any…or stock up now while you can
Maybe in some ways I might seem like a broken record when it comes to continually prodding people to stock up on food and other necessities before extended crises come for a visit, but quite frankly, I like to eat and hate being hungry, and figure most other people like to eat as well.
When people are hungry, they can do very destructive things that make a bad situation much, much worse. Given the unrest that usually follows an extended lack of food, and the breakdown of social order into very ugly scenarios none of us should want to see, I hope the article below will help compel you to at least start making a list of things you use now and will need later, starting with food.
And I’ll make a plug right here for some of the best money I’ve spent in my preparedness activities, the “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course by Jim Rawles of SurvivalBlog.com. It’s worth every penny. It’s worth being able to ensure your safety, security and lack of hunger when everyone else is rioting in the streets because food prices have skyrocketed and there’s none left on the store shelves. It’s happening right now:
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2010/03/15/business-as-india-inflation_7434569.html
It doesn’t matter how many meals away from anarchy we are or what particular event sparks unrest over a lack of food. Even the perception that a food shortage is coming could start a chain of events that would make it dangerous to go anywhere near where unprepared people are mobbing each other to get food or other supplies. Remember the Wal-Mart worker who was trampled to death on Black Friday 2008? The man was killed by people wanting to get marked-down TVs and computers at 5 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving. How much more will people be desperate and dangerous if and when food panics start?
You can’t eat the money in your wallet. And that money won’t help curb your hunger if no food is left on the shelves. Like I said above, I don’t want to keep harping on the same point over and over and over, but since most of us like to eat every day, and since more and more stories about the prospect of food shortages keep showing up in the news, I’d really hate to get caught up in mobs of hungry people who didn’t plan ahead. And I hope you don’t become one of them.
When people are hungry, they can do very destructive things that make a bad situation much, much worse. Given the unrest that usually follows an extended lack of food, and the breakdown of social order into very ugly scenarios none of us should want to see, I hope the article below will help compel you to at least start making a list of things you use now and will need later, starting with food.
And I’ll make a plug right here for some of the best money I’ve spent in my preparedness activities, the “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course by Jim Rawles of SurvivalBlog.com. It’s worth every penny. It’s worth being able to ensure your safety, security and lack of hunger when everyone else is rioting in the streets because food prices have skyrocketed and there’s none left on the store shelves. It’s happening right now:
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2010/03/15/business-as-india-inflation_7434569.html
It doesn’t matter how many meals away from anarchy we are or what particular event sparks unrest over a lack of food. Even the perception that a food shortage is coming could start a chain of events that would make it dangerous to go anywhere near where unprepared people are mobbing each other to get food or other supplies. Remember the Wal-Mart worker who was trampled to death on Black Friday 2008? The man was killed by people wanting to get marked-down TVs and computers at 5 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving. How much more will people be desperate and dangerous if and when food panics start?
You can’t eat the money in your wallet. And that money won’t help curb your hunger if no food is left on the shelves. Like I said above, I don’t want to keep harping on the same point over and over and over, but since most of us like to eat every day, and since more and more stories about the prospect of food shortages keep showing up in the news, I’d really hate to get caught up in mobs of hungry people who didn’t plan ahead. And I hope you don’t become one of them.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Nine meals away from anarchy
The headline above isn’t my own creation–I read the phrase online some time ago referring to the fact that most grocery stores turn over their inventory about every three days. If no deliveries occur during any three-day period, the odds are pretty good that at the end of three days, under normal circumstances, the grocery shelves will be pretty close to bare. But how many of us keep telling ourselves that deliveries will keep arriving like they always have, so if we need bread, milk or anything else, we’ll just head to the store, get in, get out and get home? That’s usually no problem, unless thousands of your closest friends also decide to go to the store at the same time for the same items, just like hundreds of thousands caught in blizzard conditions on the East Coast.
Much of the East Coast was slammed by record snow late last year and early this year, so it’s no surprise that grocery stores may have been much busier than usual in the days before and even during the storms. But what good is a store full of customers if there’s no food left on the shelves?
If people get hungry enough, they’ll do just about anything to get food. Stories of food riots around the world seem to be increasing. Yet people in developed countries such as the U.S. deceive themselves into thinking that a food shortage can’t happen here. Do the math: If grocery stores have a three-day supply of groceries under normal circumstances, what happens if people even THINK there’s going to be a shortage of something? Forecasters call for a possible chance of snow, and hundreds of people all head to the store at the same time to pick up whatever limited supply of grocery items are left. But if they get there too late and the shelves are bare…
We’re nine meals away from anarchy.
One relative of mine keeps talking about how they can’t afford to stock up on extra food, all the while buying small packages of gourmet organic delicacies that cost twice as much and last only half as long. Meanwhile I’m going through the checkout lane at Sam’s Club with a 50-lb. bag of rice and 5 10-lb. bags of great northern beans for less than $60. Stir in batches of vegetables I’ve dehydrated myself and sealed up in mason jars, add a pinch of spices from among the two dozen quart-sized mason jars of dried onion, tomato powder, cumin, celery, cayenne or other spices I’ve bought dirt-cheap in bulk quantities and I have enough soup mix in my grocery cart to last at least two months.
A man who’s $100 in debt is $200 poorer than a man who has $100, but all other things being equal, the man who’s $100 in debt can eventually dig himself out of his financial hole by spending less than he earns. It’s the same way with stocking up on food and other essentials. Do you eat five cans of vegetables a week? Buy 10 cans of vegetables every week and build up a stockpile of food. If it sounds ridiculous to think that after six months–26 weeks–you’ll have 130 extra cans of vegetables or anything else you’ve bought and haven’t used up, then ask yourself how dumb you’ll feel if weather, riots, strikes or anything else interrupt the supply chain to the grocery store and your family is left with empty cabinets and empty stomachs that didn’t have to end up that way.
Do you like to eat more than you like to have stuff you never use taking up space you could use for things you really need? Do you really need six boxes of Christmas decorations you only use once a year hogging space along the garage wall when you could use that same space to store several cases of canned food? Do you really need all that empty space under your workbench that you could use to store a couple 55-gallon drums of potable water in case your water service undergoes an unexpected, long-term interruption? Could you take those boxes that you’ve stacked three-high along one wall and stack them six-high and use the new-found space for cases of canned goods so your family can have food no matter what interruptions have left grocery shelves bare? Why not show your family that you’ve got their best interests in mind by preparing now to ensure their long-term well-being?
How many meals are you away from anarchy?
Much of the East Coast was slammed by record snow late last year and early this year, so it’s no surprise that grocery stores may have been much busier than usual in the days before and even during the storms. But what good is a store full of customers if there’s no food left on the shelves?
If people get hungry enough, they’ll do just about anything to get food. Stories of food riots around the world seem to be increasing. Yet people in developed countries such as the U.S. deceive themselves into thinking that a food shortage can’t happen here. Do the math: If grocery stores have a three-day supply of groceries under normal circumstances, what happens if people even THINK there’s going to be a shortage of something? Forecasters call for a possible chance of snow, and hundreds of people all head to the store at the same time to pick up whatever limited supply of grocery items are left. But if they get there too late and the shelves are bare…
We’re nine meals away from anarchy.
One relative of mine keeps talking about how they can’t afford to stock up on extra food, all the while buying small packages of gourmet organic delicacies that cost twice as much and last only half as long. Meanwhile I’m going through the checkout lane at Sam’s Club with a 50-lb. bag of rice and 5 10-lb. bags of great northern beans for less than $60. Stir in batches of vegetables I’ve dehydrated myself and sealed up in mason jars, add a pinch of spices from among the two dozen quart-sized mason jars of dried onion, tomato powder, cumin, celery, cayenne or other spices I’ve bought dirt-cheap in bulk quantities and I have enough soup mix in my grocery cart to last at least two months.
A man who’s $100 in debt is $200 poorer than a man who has $100, but all other things being equal, the man who’s $100 in debt can eventually dig himself out of his financial hole by spending less than he earns. It’s the same way with stocking up on food and other essentials. Do you eat five cans of vegetables a week? Buy 10 cans of vegetables every week and build up a stockpile of food. If it sounds ridiculous to think that after six months–26 weeks–you’ll have 130 extra cans of vegetables or anything else you’ve bought and haven’t used up, then ask yourself how dumb you’ll feel if weather, riots, strikes or anything else interrupt the supply chain to the grocery store and your family is left with empty cabinets and empty stomachs that didn’t have to end up that way.
“But I don’t have enough room to stock up on food!”
Do you like to eat more than you like to have stuff you never use taking up space you could use for things you really need? Do you really need six boxes of Christmas decorations you only use once a year hogging space along the garage wall when you could use that same space to store several cases of canned food? Do you really need all that empty space under your workbench that you could use to store a couple 55-gallon drums of potable water in case your water service undergoes an unexpected, long-term interruption? Could you take those boxes that you’ve stacked three-high along one wall and stack them six-high and use the new-found space for cases of canned goods so your family can have food no matter what interruptions have left grocery shelves bare? Why not show your family that you’ve got their best interests in mind by preparing now to ensure their long-term well-being?
How many meals are you away from anarchy?
Saturday, February 27, 2010
About this site
About this site
I don’t know about you, but as I read the headlines every day, I worry that things are going to hit the fan and that I won’t be prepared for whatever could happen. But at the same time, I know that all the worrying in the world won’t do me a bit of good if I don’t take common-sense steps to ensure that I’m acquiring what I need for my long-term well-being. Having said that, though, there comes a point at which we’ve done all we can do with the resources we have and the situation we’re in, and from that point forward, all we can do is trust God and ask for His wisdom as we proceed. I hope that this site will not only help you acquire skills and ideas to help you through these uncertain times, but also in some way point you to the One who promises that even in the midst of chaos, He will never leave you nor forsake you.“But bad stuff just doesn’t happen to me…”
As I write this, it’s been about 18 hours since a massive magnitude-8.8 earthquake struck the Pacific coast in Chile. We’re less than two months out from the magnitude-7.0 earthquake that devastated Haiti. And 4-1/2 years ago this weekend, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, leaving more than 1,800 dead in its aftermath.
Maybe you don’t live along an earthquake fault, near the ocean or in any other region where natural disasters tend to occur. But chances are good that you probably live near other people. And people are often the most unpredictable and most destructive force in this world. The aftermath of Katrina, the Haitian earthquake and myriad other disasters have been made so much worse by people doing stupid, destructive things. You might as well just head for the backwoods away from everyone, right? Well, getting away from everything and everyone isn’t an option right now for a lot of people, myself included. And And some of us, myself included, just don’t want to become hermits so focused on our own survival that we cut ourselves off from the rest of the world and hide in the Montana outback with our beans, bullets and Band-Aids. There’s something to be said about being a part of a larger community of like-minded people who can help you when your own resources are lacking, especially during challenging times.
And those challenging times will come. You might never go through an earthquake, hurricane, wildfire or other natural disaster. But you might lose your job, like about 10 percent of Americans at the moment. You might burn through your savings, lose your home to foreclosure and even find yourself on the street. It’s happening to a lot of people right now. But there are things you can do right now, “baby steps” you can take today, tomorrow, next week and next month to help you prepare for those emergencies. To paraphrase Yogi Berra, half of your approach to preparing for uncertain times is 90 percent mental. I hope this site will help you start thinking about what you can do now to be ready when those uncertainties hit.
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