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re: General preparedness

Posted on 6/23/25 at 8:42 am to
Posted by terriblegreen
Souf Badden Rewage
Member since Aug 2011
11844 posts
Posted on 6/23/25 at 8:42 am to
quote:

Lots of guns and bullets and castnets. I can catch and killl enough to eat for a while.


My wife (no pics) doesn't eat fish. I always remind her she will get to like it once the SHTF.
Posted by Cracker
in a box
Member since Nov 2009
19080 posts
Posted on 6/23/25 at 11:06 pm to
and small bottles of alcohol, great read
Posted by Ranger Call
Lonesome Dove / Montana
Member since Apr 2023
674 posts
Posted on 6/25/25 at 9:16 am to
Is it a book he wrote? Name?
Posted by notiger1997
Metairie
Member since May 2009
61265 posts
Posted on 6/25/25 at 11:18 am to
quote:

Turnblad85


Your are so stupid that you will probably accidentally shoot tourself.
Posted by Turnblad85
Member since Sep 2022
4373 posts
Posted on 6/25/25 at 12:14 pm to
quote:

Your are so stupid



nice
Posted by eatpie
Kentucky
Member since Aug 2018
1554 posts
Posted on 6/25/25 at 1:29 pm to
Your best bet is to befriend a liberal prepper (or 2 if you can). They'll likely have little to no defensive weaponry. Effectively, they'll be prepping for you.

You might even suggest they add certain food items you like to their cache.
Posted by SCwTiger
armpit of 'merica
Member since Aug 2014
6865 posts
Posted on 6/25/25 at 3:44 pm to
quote:

My wife (no pics) doesn't eat fish. I always remind her she will get to like it once the SHTF.

Mine is very picky too. No fish, crawfish, or vegetables of any kind. Told her the same thing. "You'll like it when you get hungry enough"
Posted by Reubaltaich
A nation under duress
Member since Jun 2006
5341 posts
Posted on 6/25/25 at 8:03 pm to
Water is your number uno resource.

Use the PACE system:

P - Primary: Stuff you are going to eat immediately, like bread, milk, eggs, fresh fruit/vegetables
A - Alternate: This is your frozen food like TV dinners, meats, and canned foods that are close to expiration date
C - Contigent: This is your mid to long-term canned and jarred (Mason jar) foods that have a 2-5 year shelf life
E - Emergency: These are your MREs, freeze-dried food that last for up to 25 years

Water is your number one prep.

A case of bottled water per adult should last about a week. Have enough on hand to last 4-6 weeks, this is a good short to mid term supply.

Get a few in-door storage containers for water like an Aqua-tainer. They are the big blue containers you can find at most camping sections. They are cleverly designed.

Keep a FRESH gallon of un-scented liquid bleach on hand to keep water safe to drink. Just remember, liquid bleach starts to break-down after about 6 months.

Pool shock. Get calcium hypochlorite granules. This stuff will last a long time BUT its very reactive and hard to store long-term.

Best stuff to use to make water safe to drink is NaDCC water purification tablets.

EfChlor and Oasis are very good name brands.

Get a good gravity fed water filter system from DoultonUSA or Justwater.me(Monolithic)

Avoid the Big Berkey's, they have had quality issues from their filters.

Also, stay away from the big-box filter systems. They are decent but don't bet your families well-being on it.

Some good portable water filtration systems are from Katadyn and Sawyer.

Big Berkey was one of the top-notch water filtration systems until they went the 'made in China' route to cut cost.

The issue with them was their ceramic filters(candles) coming apart way too soon. IDK if they have resolved their quality issues yet.

The real thing to look at is the filters.

You can make a simple water filtration system with a couple of 5 gallon buckets, a spigot, a few o-rings and some good ceramic water filters.

The main thing to look for in a filter(candle) is its micron(micrometer = .00004 of an inch in diameter) filtration ratings.

You need a good quality filter to remove all the nasties like bacteria, giardia, cysts, viruses, and protozoa.

Millions die every year because of bad drinking water.

A lot of this stuff can hospitalize a person for weeks, or death, if not treated quickly.

In the US, the biggest threat to waterborne infections is CRYTOSPORIDIUM(a protozoa).

Crypto is a spore with a shell that protects it.
*Straight bleach or Iodine will not kill Crypto.
It has to be filtered out or killed via boiling the water.

You need a good filter that will filter at least .03 microns, and its better to go with a filter that has a .02 micron rating.

Also consider chemical contamination. Gazillions of tons of that stuff is used every day and is in our water systems everywhere.

To safely remove chemical contamination, a filter needs activated charcoal, the stuff you use in your fish tank filter.

The best brands are from either DoultonUSA, Justwater.me, Sawyer or a Katadyn.

Here are a few others:

DoultonUSA

Justwater

Sawyer water filtration products are geared more toward hikers and campers but are very light weight, portable and easily carried anywhere.
Sawyer offers a good range of different water filtration products.

Sawyer-Water

Katadyn water filtration are some of the best in the world.

The Katadyn Pocket filter is a great product that is issued to many in the military.

The Katadyn Hiker Pro is great and offers a budget conscious person.

Posted by 98eagle
Member since Sep 2020
3076 posts
Posted on 6/26/25 at 9:14 pm to
Since you mentioned a lot of water filters, in my opinion, out of all the portable water filters, the very best to provide water for a lot of people is the Sawyer Products SP191 Point Zero Water Bucket System (released initially in 2011) if you live near a lake, river, creek, pond or other dirty fresh water source. Up front, the bad news is this filter is now hard to find unless you live or travel to a 3rd world country.

This system produces incredibly clean water with its 0.02 micron filter. You can also connect the included faucet adapter and drink tap water directly from your sink during boil alerts or other emergencies when your drinking water is compromised.

Using this filter you can provide fresh drinking water for a lot of people every day. The filter life is over 3 million liters total at a rate of 170 liters per hour with 0.02 micron filtration. This provides bacteria, protozoa and even virus protection. Pretty much everything except chemical filtration. You can use another charcoal filter if you have concern about chemical contamination.

This is the exact same bucket system they use in plenty of poor countries.

I believe the SP191 system is no longer sold publicly in the US (per Sawyer Products website Sawyer.com) and only sold to 3rd World Countries. I bought mine approximately 2015 when it was still available in the US.

If you find one of these available to purchase, it's a nice prep for drinking water. They should cost around $125 if you do find one. In addition to the filter system you will need two 5 gallon buckets (one needs to be food grade rated for drinking water). The other bucket requires that you purchase a hole saw drill bit to drill a hole near the bottom to install the water filter and tap.

Technically, you can just use the filter 5 gallon bucket. Sit it on a table, stretch a TShirt on top and pour dirty water through it into the filter bucket. Then drink from the tap or pour into bottles, etc. The reason for the additional food grade bucket is to take advantage of the filter's high flow rate. It would allow quick filling and transporting clean drinking water to other large containers, tubs, or to neighbors, etc.
This post was edited on 6/26/25 at 10:32 pm
Posted by Scoobs
Member since Jul 2010
255 posts
Posted on 6/26/25 at 9:51 pm to
Life straw makes a community water filter that is similar, I believe.
Posted by LRB1967
Tennessee
Member since Dec 2020
22877 posts
Posted on 6/27/25 at 7:51 am to
For a hurricane, batteries were one of the things I made sure to have. Bottled water and nonperishable food were also on the list
Posted by Mstate
Birmingham
Member since Nov 2009
10386 posts
Posted on 6/27/25 at 8:04 am to
quote:

A vehicle


Good thread idea. What’s your vehicle of choice when SHTF?

I’d go with an older 90/2000 Suburban 2500 or an Excursion. Throw a winch and brush guard on there, couple exterior lights, off road tires. shite I’d need access to a lot of gas though

Posted by Raging Tiger
Teedy Town
Member since Jun 2023
1125 posts
Posted on 6/27/25 at 9:30 am to
Older Land Cruiser. Dream vehicle too.
Posted by Scoobs
Member since Jul 2010
255 posts
Posted on 6/27/25 at 10:34 am to
12 valve 6BT swapped F250. The guy I bought my current truck from, had one that also ran on vegetable oil.

Also had a 4BT swapped Jeep. The guy was a prepper.
Posted by Meauxjeaux
102836 posts including my alters
Member since Jun 2005
45780 posts
Posted on 6/27/25 at 10:47 am to
Hurricanes: post Katrina we had enough gas, a couple window units and a generator. I isolated the kitchen, living room and guest bathroom together, putting up big quilts to block out heat from the ret of the house and upstairs.

Ran the generator for 3-4 hours at a time keeping the fridges cold and AC's going. Could have lasted like that for months on end.

War: 100% different scenario and we have some moderate plans and the guy who mentioned the Sarajevo dude online is spot on. That's great stuff to read.

FWIW, you can't do hurricane prep for war prep... just on the noise factor alone.
Posted by lsufan1971
Zachary
Member since Nov 2003
23647 posts
Posted on 6/27/25 at 11:18 am to
I have a ton of ammo.
Bluetti 700 watt power station with solar panel
Medical kit
Bag with your typical bugout items


Will be upgrading to at least 2400 watt battery power station in the near future with dual solar panels.
This post was edited on 6/27/25 at 11:20 am
Posted by 98eagle
Member since Sep 2020
3076 posts
Posted on 6/27/25 at 12:55 pm to
For all of you that are using power stations like Jackery, Bluetti, etc. the following additional types of prepping will make your SHTF life more tolerable by maximizing your use of power stations.

1. If you don't already have solar panels, buy a portable foldable solar panel (or panels) that are appropriate for your power stations.

2. Buy the appropriate cables that connect your power stations to your solar panels and diagnostic tools.

3. Buy diagnostic tools (a good multi meter and a watt meter at a minimum) and learn how to use them before SHTF to do things like test the open circuit voltage of your solar panel to make sure it is working properly and to optimize it's placement to the sun. A good watt meter should be used to test the power requirements of everything you want to power when SHTF so that you can appropriately size your solar panels and power stations.

4. Buy plenty of AA, AAA, C, & D rechargeable batteries like Eneloop batteries and chargers. Solar panels will charge your power stations. Your power stations will charge your AA, AAA, C & D chargers.

5. Buy small appliances and tools that run on AA, AAA, C or D rechargeable batteries that would make your life better and safer when SHTF (battery operated toothbrushes, motion detectors, flashlights, night vision/thermal scopes, temperature meters, etc.)

6. Buy power tools (Ryobi, Kobalt, etc.) that are battery operated (drills, saws, etc.). Their AC chargers can be powered from your power station.

7. Buy USB powered appliances and tools to make your life better. In addition to keeping your smartphones charged, other appliances like lights, fans, razors, etc might be USB powered, or they might use rechargeable batteries or your power tool batteries.

A whole shite ton of valuable battery or USB charged tools and appliances can be used when SHTF that can be charged from a portable solar panel and power station. Other valuable devices that can be kept charged from a single foldable solar panel and power station system when SHTF include portable ham radios, CB radios, walkie talkies, drones, rifle scope optics, soldering tools, Dremel tools and much more. The list is almost endless.

But you need to purchase the solar panel, power station, cables, diagnostic tools, small battery chargers, power tools, appliances etc ahead of time and actually test everything out by using these things from power originating from your solar panel ahead of SHTF.

I know when SHTF, and there is no AC power, I will continue to use all of my Ryobi and Kobalt tools, my battery and USB operated appliances and tools, and even my jon boat. I have three lithium batteries on my boat (two 12V and one 48V with AC chargers), my trolling motor and electric outboard motor. I can keep those batteries charged from one of my three power stations. I basically have everything power related covered except HVAC, heating and cooking, but I have quite a few battery operated fans and other SHTF means for heating and cooking. I do have a couple of solar powered shower bags, lol.
This post was edited on 6/27/25 at 1:25 pm
Posted by Scoobs
Member since Jul 2010
255 posts
Posted on 6/28/25 at 9:01 am to
Do you have a good old school style multimeter recommendation? Not the new digital type, the analog ones.
Posted by 98eagle
Member since Sep 2020
3076 posts
Posted on 6/28/25 at 9:32 pm to
quote:

you have a good old school style multimeter recommendation? Not the new digital type, the analog ones.
No I don't. I use the AstroAI DM6000AR Digital Multimeter which has since been replaced by the TRMS 6000 and still costs approximately $25. I definitely can recommend it for testing solar panels and power station connections.

This is a really good quality multimeter with many nice features at a very low price. With it, you can troubleshoot electrical problems and do a wide range of tests for Voltage, Current, Resistance, Continuity, Capacitance, Frequency, Diodes, Transistors and Temperature.

This particular multi meter has a nice big display and is a True RMS multimeter, so it is extremely accurate. I also like how easy it is to use with auto ranging settings. It uses a 9V battery and comes with all of the probes that you will need, a kickstand and a magnetic attachment to hang it on electrical panels and metal cabinets.

Multimeters are a must have diagnostic tool to test the DC open circuit voltage and short circuit DC current from the solar panel before it is connected to any solar generators / power stations. Also once you do have your solar panel correctly cabled to your power station, you can test the open circuit voltage and adjust the position of your solar panel in relation to the sun, watching the voltage change to maximize the voltage on the panel so that your power station charges faster.

In addition, with any multimeter you can and should test the polarity of any cables connected to a solar panel as well as the polarity of the DC Input connector on the power station. The last thing you want to do is accidentally reverse the polarity on any cables you buy or make yourself when you connect your solar panel to your power station.
Posted by Reubaltaich
A nation under duress
Member since Jun 2006
5341 posts
Posted on 7/6/25 at 9:38 pm to
Sawyer products are some of the best out there. I have some of their products in my bugout bags.

I have lots of coffee filters, paint filters, and tons of cheese cloth for filtering out the larger contaminates in water, if needed.
Wife thinks its a little over the top but they don't take up a lot room, so its cool.

I will throw some more things out there for the board.

Get a couple of Coleman stoves and some bottles of propane.
I have a couple of 5lb cylinders of propane on standby.

Learn how to make a simple rocket stove. They have been used for centuries and millions worldwide use them even today.

Our bodies need the big three to maintain healthy functions:

1. Carbs
2. Fats
3. Proteins

MREs work in a bind but they will stop you up, i.e. constipation.

Food buckets are decent.

Mountain House buckets are fair.

Augason Farms has lots of good food products and is your best bet for food buckets and emergency food supplies.

Most food buckets out on the market is crap. They are loaded down with salt, preservatives, fillers and who knows what else.

Look into LDS food lists. I won't get into them much, but they do believe in being prepared.

Canned foods will last a long, long time. Keep them in moderately cool storage and they will last for years.
But then again, constantly rotate them out and you want have a problem with spoilage.

Corned beef hash will provide the big three: fats, carbs, and proteins.
Tuna, sardines, mackerel, salmon, canned beef, chicken, peas, beans, corn...are the old standbys.

I love homemade canned foods, sometimes the local farmers market has lots of good foods that tastes fantastic that beats any store bought canned goods.
Sometimes there is a sweet old lady that sells canned foods in my area.

Basic medicines like triple antibiotic cream, aspirin, ibuprofen, bandages, band aids, rubbing alcohol, ant-acids, laxatives, anti-diarrhea(stool hardeners), Imodium AD, Pepto-Bismol,blood clotting powder...

Soap, shampoo, razors, toothpaste and tooth brushes, feminine care products for the ladies, of course toilet paper

Board games, decks of playing cards, drawing paper/notebooks with graphite and charcoal pencils and crayons and coloring books, books, magazines, puzzles, horse shoes, badminton, volley ball, baseballs/softballs...

Solar power chargers for cell phones and yes, even a basic old style AM/FM radio.

I know a lot of this sounds elementary and basic.

Lots of folks got caught with their pants down when Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005 and was not prepared.

Oh yes, keep your preps on the down low, i.e. OPSEC

Don't get on Facebook, Tik-tok, X, Instagram...talking/bragging about your preps.
Don't even talk about them to your 'friends', neighbors, even family.

Especially your co-workers.
Some of my co-markers are some the noisiest, blabber-mouths that will blurt out even the most mundane things about anyone anytime.
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