How prepared are you right now?

[Kiwichick]

Longer than most people but nowhere near long enough... it'll never be enough for a true shtf situation

 

[Nam-hunt]

It depend how things happen...social unrest, world war or natural disaster. From a microscopic view to a birds eye view is required for true evaluations to prepare or be ready.

 

[BillMasen]

I think I'm down to 3 months supplies for four of us. I need to git shoppin.

 

[lonewolf]

minimum 6 months always in hand.

 

[realistic dude]

3 of us , after 6 months things would start getting tight , plenty of water supply esp. in rainy months....... want to add a couple months to your prep ? ........................... PEANUT BUTTER

 

[user 6493]

is anyone ever really ready,,,,, food wise right now 6 months maybe, add in small game and fish a couple years,,,, as for ammo,unless the demon hoard shows up I could go a lifetime, I am getting ready to add a 22lr and 2000 to 3000 rds of ammo that will increase the ammo to 5k+

 

[Proud Prepper]

We are 6 days into IDA disaster, our power company says Sept 17 until utilities are restored.

 

[user 6493]

We are 6 days into IDA disaster, our power company says Sept 17 until utilities are restored.

a number of years ago we had a bad ice storm,,,, I was lucky power and phones within a week,but the power comes in from 2 different directions anyone a 1/4 north of me was out for 6 weeks,,,,,not a soul left,the middle of winter I don't know how they did it

 

[DrJenner]

Just closed escrow on our 48 acres yesterday. Need to get the road in before winter hits.
Also need to figure out long term storage for our preps up there. No well or septic yet and it may not be until spring as everyone so backed up.
Working on solar power.

 

[Mountain trapper]

Beef, chickens, eggs, pork we're good for years or longer. Ammo and reloading components a lifetime. Firewood and building materials a lifetime. We're good on tools and equipment. Got an excellent well, as long as we can get power to it. Have about 3 years worth of propane and 2-3 years of diesel and non-ethanol gasoline. Two wood stoves that we can cook on, we get our electric from solar. We have a pond for emergency water and fish.
The areas where I feel where we're short on is first aid stuff and training. I had been trained in advanced first aid, cpr and the defibrillator, but that was so long ago that I don't remember much.

 

[DrJenner]

Beef, chickens, eggs, pork we're good for years or longer. Ammo and reloading components a lifetime. Firewood and building materials a lifetime. We're good on tools and equipment. Got an excellent well, as long as we can get power to it. Have about 3 years worth of propane and 2-3 years of diesel and non-ethanol gasoline. Two wood stoves that we can cook on, we get our electric from solar. We have a pond for emergency water and fish.
The areas where I feel where we're short on is first aid stuff and training. I had been trained in advanced first aid, cpr and the defibrillator, but that was so long ago that I don't remember much.

Defibrillator is pretty self explanatory if it’s an AED
I’m headed to bed now but will see if I can find you some good videos to watch on this

 

[Dostoyevsky]

a number of years ago we had a bad ice storm,,,, I was lucky power and phones within a week,but the power comes in from 2 different directions anyone a 1/4 north of me was out for 6 weeks,,,,,not a soul left,the middle of winter I don't know how they did it

Wouldn't they have managed the same way people managed before electricity? We're far too reliant on it and need to learn how to be off off grid (ie. live without electricity) IMHO. I used to live in Darwin in the Northern Territory (of Australia) and after cyclone Tracy hit in 1974 they lost all utilities for six months. Most were evacuated but the rest managed.

 

[Dostoyevsky]

How prepared am I? Nowhere near prepared enough, but there's food for about 6 months, a productive garden, green/shade house, chickens and reasonable water stores. I can do everything without electricity and running water if need be, and regularly practice. Medical supplies are good too. This is a region with hot, dry summers, and water is the major issue, plus protecting plants from the summer heat/sun. One thing that is useful is great relationships with neighbours and a thriving, unofficial local bartering/swap system, so we deliberately make sure we grow different things so we can swap. Many here grow their own food, and some won't grow anything they can't eat. The main focus for me at the moment is learning how to forage and use the 'weeds' around here.

 

[lonewolf]

Wouldn't they have managed the same way people managed before electricity? We're far too reliant on it and need to learn how to be off off grid (ie. live without electricity) IMHO. I used to live in Darwin in the Northern Territory (of Australia) and after cyclone Tracy hit in 1974 they lost all utilities for six months. Most were evacuated but the rest managed.

I lived off grid on a small plot of land (under 2 acres) for 12 years, no power, no mains of any kind, no utilities, and I loved every minute of it.
one thing I can definitely live without is other people. I cannot stand other peoples attitude and behavior.

 

[user 6493]

Wouldn't they have managed the same way people managed before electricity? We're far too reliant on it and need to learn how to be off off grid (ie. live without electricity) IMHO. I used to live in Darwin in the Northern Territory (of Australia) and after cyclone Tracy hit in 1974 they lost all utilities for six months. Most were evacuated but the rest managed.

to be clear,, the storm was a surprise it was supposed to be snow but we got ice instead and there are a lot of older people in this area,I doubt they had much in the way of food on hand but the biggest problem was no heat or a way to cook a meal

 

[Mountain trapper]

Just closed escrow on our 48 acres yesterday. Need to get the road in before winter hits.
Also need to figure out long term storage for our preps up there. No well or septic yet and it may not be until spring as everyone so backed up.
Working on solar power.

Congratulations on the purchase of your new property Doc.
Good luck in getting a contractor out. It took us 2 years to get the house built. Fortunately our well was already in and about 2 miles of our driveway was in too. I only needed to add a quarter mile of road and I cut that in myself. Many of our out buildings I built myself but had a crew build the barn and fur shed. Both of which I added on since. I installed the solar system myself, other than the excavation, crane and concrete for the panel mount. We're 100% on solar, with diesel backup.

 

[Dracos]

One thing about a wood stove is that you can cook on it. You can also melt snow on it. The fire generally is burning from October to April. Most of that time I would do very well without a refrigerator, just set your beer on the porch. Keep in mind that beer will freeze. I know. If electricity is vital get a generator. Propane has many advantages. Diesel will freeze. I know. Small scale solar is cheap and will power small things, phones, DVD players, computers. It would be hardest during the Summer, beer needs to be ice cold. At least American beer does. Refrigeration can also run on propane. Canned food will last a long time. Dried beans and rice will last a very long time.

 

[Oddcaliber]

Being prepared has its advantages. Using my Berkey for water, Coleman stove for cooking. Hardly put a dent in my food stores. Hopefully power will be back on soon. Been seeing progress. A lot of areas have power restored. We should be next. Overall I faired very well through Ida. No major damage to my building. Other than a cranky GF with no AC we did good.

 

[Mountain trapper]

One thing about a wood stove is that you can cook on it. You can also melt snow on it. The fire generally is burning from October to April. Most of that time I would do very well without a refrigerator, just set your beer on the porch. Keep in mind that beer will freeze. I know. If electricity is vital get a generator. Propane has many advantages. Diesel will freeze. I know. Small scale solar is cheap and will power small things, phones, DVD players, computers. It would be hardest during the Summer, beer needs to be ice cold. At least American beer does. Refrigeration can also run on propane. Canned food will last a long time. Dried beans and rice will last a very long time.

Usually around October I treat my diesel to prevent the paraffin from gelling. We cook and or reheat food on our wood stove from late September through to about mid May.
The house, fur shed and shop all run off solar. The backup furnace, water heater, stove/oven and clothes dryer run on propane, everything else is electric. Our new well pump generator is propane as well as the pump house heater. The new 250 gallon propane tank should be delivered next week. All total we'll have about 1,000 gallons of propane.
We run 2 refrigerators and up to 3 freezers all on solar. Cold beer is not a problem here.
When I designed our house and solar system, I didn't want my wife to do without any modern convenience. She's been very pleased.

 

[Oddcaliber]

Had the most pleasant task today, I cleaned out the fridge ! LOL. All that money wasted we spent on food. Still things could have been a lot worse.

 

[LindaSue]

Beef, chickens, eggs, pork we're good for years or longer. Ammo and reloading components a lifetime. Firewood and building materials a lifetime. We're good on tools and equipment. Got an excellent well, as long as we can get power to it. Have about 3 years worth of propane and 2-3 years of diesel and non-ethanol gasoline. Two wood stoves that we can cook on, we get our electric from solar. We have a pond for emergency water and fish.
The areas where I feel where we're short on is first aid stuff and training. I had been trained in advanced first aid, cpr and the defibrillator, but that was so long ago that I don't remember much.

That’s amazing! I know some medical procedures and could do small things like stitches and IV’s no problem. It’s all the other prepper things that, because of the size of our family, is a little overwhelming. I’m working on it though! YouTube, actually, has great videos on basic first aid and you can take free refresher courses online. I’ll see if I can find a link for you. In college they use to give us fake dummy arms to practice stitches on. I wonder if those are still around?

 

[EastenerWesterner]

Had the most pleasant task today, I cleaned out the fridge ! LOL. All that money wasted we spent on food. Still things could have been a lot worse.

Been there, done that with having Evac from a fire with no power. I was sick.

Only saving grace was a couple of steaks that had some frost on them. They were good.

 

[Mountain trapper]

That’s amazing! I know some medical procedures and could do small things like stitches and IV’s no problem. It’s all the other prepper things that, because of the size of our family, is a little overwhelming. I’m working on it though! YouTube, actually, has great videos on basic first aid and you can take free refresher courses online. I’ll see if I can find a link for you. In college they use to give us fake dummy arms to practice stitches on. I wonder if those are still around?

The problem at our location is we don't have internet. I just have a phone and yesterday I wasn't able to get any signal all day.

 

[Phornixx]

I’m not very
I did an inventory the other day and discovered I have more of some things than I thought, which of course is good, but less of others and my total supply for us is little more than 2 months comfortably.
I do have chickens and my garden produces well but winter is coming and there is no hiding from it here. I have no greenhouse but did keep a pepper plant and tomato plant and herbs alive indoors through last winter. I have maples that are big enough to tap this year.
we have a pool which is my main water supply although I do have a few gallons stored and several ways to filter water.
I have a great relationship with most of my neighbors and I have discussed the future seriously with at least one on a few occasions and loosely with a few more. we’ve discussed skills and where to go if we had to leave.
I have the sills to forage at least some things and a reasonable knowledge of medicinal plants
We have a couple ways to heat the house and cook.
I know I’m better off than many but still grossly unprepared and my other half is not on board. He just tolerate what I do.

 

[DrJenner]

Some good instructional videos
Zoll is the manufacturer of our in house system and I can tell you I’ve used it lots over the past 15 years and never failed once.
https://www.zoll.com/contact/elearning/videos/aed-plus
needle decompression


life support guideline videos and how to
(ACLS/BLS protocols)
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIUgweVBPUNYZlfxQG-Am8YEiLDSu-EfM

 

[DrJenner]

Congratulations on the purchase of your new property Doc.
Good luck in getting a contractor out. It took us 2 years to get the house built. Fortunately our well was already in and about 2 miles of our driveway was in too. I only needed to add a quarter mile of road and I cut that in myself. Many of our out buildings I built myself but had a crew build the barn and fur shed. Both of which I added on since. I installed the solar system myself, other than the excavation, crane and concrete for the panel mount. We're 100% on solar, with diesel backup.

Thank you!
My hubs used to be a logger so he’s going to cut the road in where the bad part is. We are about 1/2 mile or more away from the road.
Neighbor owns a well drilling company (4th gen) so hoping they will do soon for us.
Hubs is getting a saw mill built and lots of trees on the property for timber.
Just feel rushed to try and get it all done.
winter is coming….

 

[Mountain trapper]

Thank you!
My hubs used to be a logger so he’s going to cut the road in where the bad part is. We are about 1/2 mile or more away from the road.
Neighbor owns a well drilling company (4th gen) so hoping they will do soon for us.
Hubs is getting a saw mill built and lots of trees on the property for timber.
Just feel rushed to try and get it all done.
winter is coming….

Thats great. I was a logger years ago and used a couple teams of draft horses for moving the logs around. Had 2 sawmills too. I'd like to get another sawmill for this place someday.
When we lived in the northern part of the state I could just drive a pipe in the ground abour 20-30 feet and get all the water we needed. Now our well is 650' deep.
Winter can be a pain but I've always built throughout the winter. My favorite time for logging was during winter too.

 

[Mountain trapper]

Some good instructional videos
Zoll is the manufacturer of our in house system and I can tell you I’ve used it lots over the past 15 years and never failed once.
https://www.zoll.com/contact/elearning/videos/aed-plus
needle decompression


life support guideline videos and how to
(ACLS/BLS protocols)
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIUgweVBPUNYZlfxQG-Am8YEiLDSu-EfM

We're limited on internet up here, just have a phone. Someday we'll get satellite internet.

 

[DrJenner]

Thats great. I was a logger years ago and used a couple teams of draft horses for moving the logs around. Had 2 sawmills too. I'd like to get another sawmill for this place someday.
When we lived in the northern part of the state I could just drive a pipe in the ground abour 20-30 feet and get all the water we needed. Now our well is 650' deep.
Winter can be a pain but I've always built throughout the winter. My favorite time for logging was during winter too.

That’s how he feels about it too.
He is all about winter (MT born and bred). - said you can always warm up.
Surrounding wells are about 350 ft down but at that depth it’s anywhere from 50-80 gpm, unlike on the west side of the city you are lucky to get 10.

 

[DrJenner]

We're limited on internet up here, just have a phone. Someday we'll get satellite internet.

We have satellite internet- works pretty well and we can even stream netflix