Preparations Update

[hiwall]

I live in a relatively sparsely populated place. Density is about 6 people per square mile. The land here is almost all public land. We live over 200 miles from any urban area. Yet twice a year this area gets over-run by people going in every spot even remotely accessible. In the fall it is hunters. In the spring it is antler drop gatherers. Both tramp all over.
Most things that a person would hide would be found (unless carefully buried).
There are just too many people in the USA with too much time on their hands.

 

[Sourdough]

This is Great news. Good to know that people will not even bother. If the odds of success are marginal, they will quickly surrender to their fate. Maybe people should just not make any effort at serious survival. Or maybe if they are serious, they will still see the wisdom of caching, but do a top shelf quality job of caching. Especially as they have "So much time on their hands".

Maybe it would be "FUN" to prepare a cache, and hide it, just for entertainment. Plus there is the physical exercise, fitness and health garnered from spending time in the wilderness.

Or........why bother, the government, or the church, or the community, or family, or friends, or someone will surely save everyone from any hardship......normalcy bias rules.

 

[kd4ulw]

I would recommend getting a roof bag as well if you can get them there in America.

Yup, got one and straps and bungees for various uses. Thanks for the reminder on the zipper placement!

 

[Tank-Girl]

If you've lost your key or don't have a universal lock picker (bolt cutter) a pair of wrenches will do the trick which you should have as part of a in car tool kit anyway.
This guy explains and shows why this method works better than most other techniques.

 

[WVDragonlady]

I don't know if everyone knows about this website but I've found it to have some good articles and information at the links they provide
https://preppersdailynews.com

 

[SheepDog]

The hasp is most often the weakest part of the locked door ot gate.
A big screwdriver or pry bar is inserted through the padlock and twisted to rip and tear the hasp off.
It usually take a half turn and you are in. This process does not break the lock but the hasp is usually totally destroyed.

 

[Spikedriver]

The hasp is most often the weakest part of the locked door ot gate.
A big screwdriver or pry bar is inserted through the padlock and twisted to rip and tear the hasp off.
It usually take a half turn and you are in. This process does not break the lock but the hasp is usually totally destroyed.

Great. Now I'm going to be worried about some clown with a screwdriver breaking into my stuff...

 

[Neb]

Great. Now I'm going to be worried about some clown with a screwdriver breaking into my stuff...

I used to be a security consultant to major banks.

There was a 10% rule that said;

Invest 10% of what you're trying to protect so that they would have to use 100% of the yield to get it.

Ben

 

[LadyLocust]

This is Great news. Good to know that people will not even bother. If the odds of success are marginal, they will quickly surrender to their fate. Maybe people should just not make any effort at serious survival. Or maybe if they are serious, they will still see the wisdom of caching, but do a top shelf quality job of caching. Especially as they have "So much time on their hands".

Maybe it would be "FUN" to prepare a cache, and hide it, just for entertainment. Plus there is the physical exercise, fitness and health garnered from spending time in the wilderness.

Or........why bother, the government, or the church, or the community, or family, or friends, or someone will surely save everyone from any hardship......normalcy bias rules.

I don't think caches are a bad idea and it sounds like you are in an exceptional place for them. TG seems to have come up with a valid plan for a more urban area. I didn't get that it was suggested that folks be lazy and dependent but that a safe cache is certainly more of challenge in some places than in others. Around here, stray people will walk right into your back yard (& it's evidently not okay to shoot them.) The only time I've stashed something is for a short time while I'm in the woods or on a certain task. Longer term, I have no experience with. I don't think there's any one way for all.

 

[SheepDog]

Drop a concrete vault over a good drainage system. put a lid on it that goes a few inches below the top of the vault. Put your goodies in the vault in PVC sealed tubes, put the lid on it and then put one of those white tubes with the sign that says; "buried gas line" beside the vault. Fill it over with 2 feet of dirt and compact it good.

 

[Spikedriver]

Drop a concrete vault over a good drainage system. put a lid on it that goes a few inches below the top of the vault. Put your goodies in the vault in PVC sealed tubes, put the lid on it and then put one of those white tubes with the sign that says; "buried gas line" beside the vault. Fill it over with 2 feet of dirt and compact it good.

Well, it would be secure. I'd probably never be able to get into it to get my stuff back out of it!

 

[SheepDog]

See! it's perfect... well except for the using it and access in a hurry.

 

[Terri9630]

I expect that few people can appreciate the remote sites available in Alaska. Either they don't fully comprehend them and/or they wouldn't want them.

Its far to cold up there.

 

[Terri9630]

I live in a relatively sparsely populated place. Density is about 6 people per square mile. The land here is almost all public land. We live over 200 miles from any urban area. Yet twice a year this area gets over-run by people going in every spot even remotely accessible. In the fall it is hunters. In the spring it is antler drop gatherers. Both tramp all over.
Most things that a person would hide would be found (unless carefully buried).
There are just too many people in the USA with too much time on their hands.

Same here. When hubby went hunting he saw more people out on the forest than he did in town. Our pop density is 1.9 per sq mile according to the county. Only 20% of the county is privately owned. People out here fond disturbed soil and they start digging to see what's there.

 

[Spikedriver]

Topped off a few things today to replace what I had been using up. TP and all other sanitary items/cleaning supplies were quite well stocked. Things appear to be settling down a bit.
I also found a couple things in the back of a cupboard that I must have stuffed back there when I moved in over four years ago, then forgot about. I won't need to buy dental floss or ibuprofen for a while now...

 

[WVDragonlady]

Just a video from Iceage Farmer on the soybean shortage and what it means. I appreciate what Christian does and how he researches things and breaks it down so we can understand it better.
This video should give you another good reason to prepare and maybe up your preps. I knew soy was in a lot of things but not to the amount he shows.

run time 24 mins

 

[UrbanHunter]

Just a video from Iceage Farmer on the soybean shortage and what it means. I appreciate what Christian does and how he researches things and breaks it down so we can understand it better.
This video should give you another good reason to prepare and maybe up your preps. I knew soy was in a lot of things but not to the amount he shows.

run time 24 mins

Thanks for posting this, I have been reading the world crop reports for decades and the data always makes me nervous, the last couple of years I have been noticing that although the report was showing carryover stores increasing, if you removed China’s data (Which I believe is suspect) the reserves were actually decreasing rapidly, this has been one of my private worries. I think things like flour, bread, and many “boxed” foods may start running into supply issues over the next year. Just something to consider if your preps include food storage....

 

[UrbanHunter]

Hi guys,
I know I am fairly new to most here, but I wanted to share something that I have been using for decades to calculate food storage needs. It is a simple spreadsheet and you put in your family size and the number of days of food storage you want, it calculates "targets" for different food groups. Here is a screen shot of the spreadsheet family size and targets calculation results. I would have posted the excel spreadsheed but I don't know how to embed it, if any of the modorators would like it they can contact me and I will send it to them, no strings. If you don't have excel or would want a scenario run for you, let me know and I will be happy to do it for you.

All the best,
Urban

 

[Tank-Girl]

Just checked the tyres on the Buzz Box and I still have plenty of tread.
I need to get it a full service while I can afford to because I want the car to be ship shape before the economy tanks.
While I'm at it I should get a couple of sets of consumables like fan belts, spark plugs, leads, fuses and oil and fuel filters.
I've been bailed up on the side of the road before because the fuse to the starter motor died and I didn't have a replacement. Luckly a gentlemen came along and he swapped out the fuse for the horn into the slot for the starter motor. It started first go.
Lessons learned. Check.

 

[Amish Heart]

The salvage store had a special on Quaker Grits. 2 good size boxes for a buck. I bought a bunch and repackaged them for storage. Also had a good price on dehydrated potato slices and powdered cheese, so I bought a bunch and started another tub of those for storage. Husband ordered prunes on line, because he is a dried fruit fanatic, and ordered a humungous bag of them, so I jarred a number of qt jars and food savered the lids. Picked up more pintos and lentils that were discounted.

 

[UrbanHunter]

Today is day 4 of a liquid diet... As I got my lunch off the shelf it occurred to me that if medical conditions entered the picture it could throw off your whole prepping plan...

For example, if you developed gluten intolerance and you have 1000 pounds of wheat, now what do you do? It seems that having a variety of foods available might be an important part of your planning process.

Just food for thought.

 

[Amish Heart]

I guess just trade it for something else!

 

[CalicoKatie]

... For example, if you developed gluten intolerance and you have 1000 pounds of wheat, now what do you do? ...

What if you sprout and/or juice it? Would using it in a "raw" state help prevent the intolerance?

 

[WVDragonlady]

Today is day 4 of a liquid diet... As I got my lunch off the shelf it occurred to me that if medical conditions entered the picture it could throw off your whole prepping plan...

For example, if you developed gluten intolerance and you have 1000 pounds of wheat, now what do you do? It seems that having a variety of foods available might be an important part of your planning process.

Just food for thought.

I've always wonder that if someone has a gluten problem then can they eat the protein you can extract from wheat?
But then again its called "vital wheat gluten" so I suppose they can't because they're allergic to gluten.
I would do like Amish said: Trade it for other things like rice or corn to make flour from those instead of the wheat. I would go pound for pound.

 

[WVDragonlady]

What if you sprout and/or juice it? Would using it in a "raw" state help prevent the intolerance?

Interesting. Changing the structure of foods does sometimes change the tolerance for people. I can't eat raw onions but cooked and I can. I can't eat an actual chocolate bar but I can have a cookie with chips in it or sometimes a cup of hot chocolate. Have no idea why.

 

[Amish Heart]

Two of our grandkids can have the equivalent of one cup of milk a day. More than that in milk products and they can a stomach ache and the runs. Granddaughter can't eat a banana, makes her mouth itch. But she can have it baked in banana bread with no problem.

 

[CalicoKatie]

We're lucky enough not to have those issues so I don't know anything about gluten intolerance. I have noticed that sometimes when you change the way you eat something, it changes how you tolerate it. Like you and onions. It likely wouldn't make a difference but you never know. I lived in Salt Lake City in the 70s and that's when I first learned about food storage. A girl I knew had just bought a couple of bags of wheat to start her food storage and was telling me all the things you could do with it besides grinding it into flour.

 

[hiwall]

I have to eat gluten-free but wife can eat anything. So we stock regular flour along with GF flour. It is always good to have options.

 

[CalicoKatie]

Okay, a little quick research gave me an answer. Wheat grass still has gluten in it but if the grass is less than 10 days old, you can juice it. That's according to this article.
Gluten Intolerant? Are Sprouted Grain Breads OK? - (rootcausemedicalclinics.com)

 

[UrbanHunter]

We have had friends that had restricted diets and to make them a treat took real planning. At our house SALT is of the devil, if my wife has just a little too much; it can put her in the hospital for weeks, so we just don't use it. What we learned is that we taste the food more and we don't miss the salt. I am really glad that my post got people to thinking and sharing.

We store a variety of dry items like rice, beans, wheat, and oats, it gives us options (we had some corn go bad, so it is off my long term storage list).

We don't usually store a lot of store bought soups and stuff because of the salt, but I keep a few for my lunch when I can't get away from the computer. I have been eating chicken soup and I noticed how quickly the stack goes down when you change your eating habbits. That's what prompted my post.