# Any Preppers Here?



## BrewerGeorge (Sep 28, 2016)

Anybody prepping for that natural disaster, EMP, banking collapse, or zombiepocalypse?

I don't like to call myself a 'Prepper' because of the negative connotation of the crazy guys on TV, but I certainly believe in being prepared.  I'm realistically concerned about a long-term loss of power from natural disasters, ice storms, and the like; not so much the zombies. :mrgreen:

I like to keep a good portion of food on-hand, for instance, and fall is the time of year when I restock the supplies for those possible winter disasters after having "eaten down" the stockpile over the summer.  By the time I'm done, I should have somewhere around 3 months worth of food for four people - a bit longer if we've stretched it to the rice&beans only endpoint.  Of course I have water and water purification methods on hand for longer timeframes than that, as well.

Since the cold is our biggest potential enemy here, I also have a way to heat our house with kerosene and store a couple weeks of fuel for it.  Along those same lines, I have lanterns and fuel as well as more primitive methods to cook all that food above if we lose power and/or natural gas.

I build short-term kits for our cars with things like water/food, a heat source, warm clothes, an emergency alkaline cellphone charger, etc.

Anybody else do anything like this?


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## Arimara (Sep 28, 2016)

No. Besides having the essentials in case of more immediate emergencies (water, food, flashlight, batteries, etc), I'm not worried about a future that I can't clearly foresee.


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## crispysoap (Sep 28, 2016)

Can't say we do to that extent. We have two creeks and a spring in our property so water isn't an issue. As for food: if there's a disaster that takes more than a few weeks/ months to resolve we have enough land (and a stock pile of seeds) to grow our own.


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## dibbles (Sep 28, 2016)

Not so much. At any given time, we would have plenty of food for a few weeks. Not necessarily a balanced diet, but we wouldn't go hungry. We have about 10 acres and lots of deer so, even though I don't care much for venison and hubby isn't a deer hunter, he does hunt and I'm pretty sure we would be ok. We have a wood burning fireplace and easily enough wood cut to keep us warm through a winter. Water isn't a problem here either. What I would be missing is fresh produce. I don't keep much in the way of frozen or canned vegetables any time of year. 

In the car I always have a blanket. If the weather is horrible, there isn't anywhere I have to go that can't wait a few days. 

This is a good reminder to make sure we have batteries for the flashlights. And we have soap - so at least we'll be clean. After we heat our water on the fireplace hearth.


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## Susie (Sep 28, 2016)

I try to keep a couple of weeks worth of non-perishable food (besides beans and rice) in addition to what is in the freezer.  Nothing major.  We're in the city, and next to a nursing home, so our power will be on right behind the hospitals.


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## lsg (Sep 29, 2016)

After 9-11, I bought a supply of dried vegetables, flour, sugar, rice and other items that I keep in one of our freezers.  We have our own meat, fresh milk and eggs.  I don't think of myself as a prepper, but I wanted to have some supplies on hand.  Most of our great grandparents would be called preppers today, because they cured their own meat and canned their own fruit and veggies, enough to last the winter.


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## BrewerGeorge (Sep 29, 2016)

lsg said:


> After 9-11, I bought a supply of dried vegetables, flour, sugar, rice and other items that I keep in one of our freezers.  We have our own meat, fresh milk and eggs.  I don't think of myself as a prepper, but I wanted to have some supplies on hand.  *Most of our great grandparents would be called preppers today*, because they cured their own meat and canned their own fruit and veggies, enough to last the winter.



That's pretty much where I'm at, too.


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## dixiedragon (Sep 29, 2016)

I think that's a great idea. I've toyed with the idea of picking up those buckets of dried food from Costco.


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## The Efficacious Gentleman (Sep 29, 2016)

Does it count that I have enough soap to last 5 generations through any sort of disaster?


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## kchaystack (Sep 29, 2016)

See when I hear prepper I think of the loony people who build hidden bunkers in out of the way woods - with lethal traps all over the place.  They stockpile enough food and supplies for a decade - and plan to repel looters.  

What you are talking about is just being prepared.


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## DeeAnna (Sep 29, 2016)

The "prepper = looney and dangerous" is pretty much how I think too. Some of the folks who identify strongly with the prepper lifestyle are disturbing -- especially the Posse Comitatus types. We've got a few of those living around here in northeast Iowa, and I will do all I can to avoid being around them.

As far being able to grow, can, dry, and freeze my own food for the next year or two -- preppers don't have any corner on that knowledge; it's pretty normal for how people in my world live. I personally don't choose to hunt game, but I'm accurate with a rifle or shotgun and know I could hunt for food if I had to. My DH hunts, and I have no problems butchering and processing what he kills. 

Our house is heated with electricity and a big woodstove. Someday I'd like to install enough photovoltaic to run the well pump to cover in case a bad storm takes out the power -- we're in the boonies, so unlike Susie, I know we'd be on the bottom of the priority list for restoring power. A creek borders our property, but I can tell you from experience that it's no fun to chop ice to get water, especially since we have horses.


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## Scooter (Sep 29, 2016)

I think the Mormons have a good idea. (I am not Mormon, btw.) So because of their history of persecution in the USA they are sensitive about food security and being prepared for cataclysms in general. They are encouraged to put food by "just in case" and, until recently, they had dedicated commercial-scale canneries to help people do this (see: http://prepared-housewives.com/lds-cannery-locations-questions-answers/)....

But more importantly they encourage people to live in mutually-supportive communities. That is the kind of prep I believe in. I reside in a very culturally diverse, urban center that is walkable and where people really get to know each other. If I were in a neighborhood where I could not depend on my neighbors and they could not depend on me then I would be in real trouble...but also I try to keep some extra canned goods and containers of water around. Because, well, why not?


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## penelopejane (Sep 29, 2016)

The Efficacious Gentleman said:


> Does it count that I have enough soap to last 5 generations through any sort of disaster?



Great! does that make me a prepper too? (Along with a lot of people on this forum no doubt!). 

The US prepper show has just come on TV on Oz. 
I was amazed. I had no idea some people prepared for a cataclysmic event like that in the US. We live in a tiny village with one powerlines in which often fails so we have a tiny generator - enough for the fridge and a couple of lights. 
I truly hope no event ever happens that anyone in the US has to use their stores.


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## Scooter (Sep 29, 2016)

The Efficacious Gentleman said:


> Does it count that I have enough soap to last 5 generations through any sort of disaster?



You might could also turn that into currency at Burning Man.


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## BrewerGeorge (Sep 29, 2016)

There are still Mormon canneries around.  I've looked into them :blush: but have not gone that far with prep yet.

I do things like buy a 50lb bag of rice (for $17 from a restaurant supply store, I don't know why everybody doesn't have this...), a couple dozen cans of ravioli from Aldi, dried beans, oatmeal, summer sausage, etc.  

Along with just keeping a larger supply of the food we're actively eating.  That is, if we normally eat one can of corn a week I don't keep just one can.  I keep six cans, eating from the front and replacing to the rear - and I still only *buy* one can a week.  Multiply that by pasta, canned chicken/tuna, other vegetables and whathaveyou and I could probably feed us ten days just from the kitchen without going into long-term storage in the garage.

I have a small supply of freeze-dried stuff - about 3 days.  It's somewhat expensive but it's primary utility is that it can be prepared with nothing more than hot water.  And then I have some life boat rations, which are little vac-sealed packs that remind you of a no-bake cookie except lemon-flavored.  They manage to pack 3600 Calories into a 20ish oz block that is shelf-stable for 5 years.  I put these in the car kits, primarily, as they are quite expensive (about $8/each) and not that appetizing.


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## azgirl (Sep 29, 2016)

The Efficacious Gentleman said:


> Does it count that I have enough soap to last 5 generations through any sort of disaster?



Yes that counts :crazy: eventually everyone will need soap


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## Guspuppy (Sep 29, 2016)

I've got just about enough food for 4 days in my house. I have a wood burning fireplace but only enough wood for about  3 days of steady fires if the power went out in winter (electric furnace). On the upside I collect oil lamps so I'll have light, and I have a propane camp stove so I can cook my 4 days worth of food. And I keep a giant thing of water in the garage for toilet flushing, although now that they forced us to go on the public sewer and I had to get a grinder pump, that could be a problem with no electricity to run the pump. Still, it would be a few days before the grinder pump got too full, without showers and all. And I do have a Berkey water filter for my well water (which silted up after they installed the sewer - go figure) so I can get water anywhere in case of emergency.


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## nsmar4211 (Sep 29, 2016)

After going through three hurricanes in two years, I make sure to have a few weeks of food on hand and plenty of water for the household. I wouldn't bother with the fancy pre packaged SHTF stuff, you won't like most of it and it'll go bad anyway. One thing I did learn is to keep comfort (junk) food around because craving chocolate makes the day go wayyyyy slower .  Whatever you do, only keep food you'll actually eat. No sense in 12 cans of corn and you like peas better!

If I was able to grow anything in mass quantites I'd can and preserve, but it's not cost efficent to buy here. I do stock up on toilet paper (and we won't mention soap) because THAT does not have an easy substitute...so there's several months of that on hand!

To each his own I say....but only having a few days of food on hand just leaves you open to problems where I live!


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## mx5inpenn (Sep 29, 2016)

BrewerGeorge said:


> There are still Mormon canneries around.  I've looked into them :blush: but have not gone that far with prep yet.
> 
> I do things like buy a 50lb bag of rice (for $17 from a restaurant supply store, I don't know why everybody doesn't have this...), a couple dozen cans of ravioli from Aldi, dried beans, oatmeal, summer sausage, etc.
> 
> Along with just keeping a larger supply of the food we're actively eating.  That is, if we normally eat one can of corn a week I don't keep just one can.  I keep six cans, eating from the front and replacing to the rear - and I still only *buy* one can a week.  Multiply that by pasta, canned chicken/tuna, other vegetables and whathaveyou and I could probably feed us ten days just from the kitchen without going into long-term storage in the garage.



We keep quantities on hand in the kitchen the same way.  The garage has a freezer full as well as a 50 gallon drum of wheat, 5 gallon buckets of beans, rice, oats, honey, molasses. My parents are Mormon and they also have what is called a bishop's store. All of our supplies were bought there at a very low cost. We plant a large garden most years and can or freeze what we don't use. We planted a number of fruit trees this year so in a couple years I should be able to can pears, peaches and applesauce without having to buy the fruit. We also dehydrate some things. Venison jerky gets made most years and my kids love fruit leather.


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## DeeAnna (Sep 29, 2016)

Fresh mullein leaves are the best TP direct from nature. Buttonweed leaves are second best. 

Mullein didn't grow around the seed-corn fields I detasseled in the summers when I was high school and college age. We had to make do with buttonweed.

TMI, yeah, I know. :mrgreen:


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## DeeAnna (Sep 29, 2016)

Okay so this might be a good thread to ask -- does anyone use Tattler canning lids? If so, what tips do you have for making the darn things seal reliably? I've canned for years with the normal "Ball" canning lids and almost never have seal failures, but I have a tough time getting the Tattlers to seal reliably. Very annoying to work for hours to prep and can produce and then have 2-3 seal failures. I'm missing something important, despite having read all I can about proper procedure. Grrrrrrrr.


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## lenarenee (Sep 29, 2016)

DeeAnna said:


> Fresh mullein leaves are the best TP direct from nature. Buttonweed leaves are second best.
> 
> Mullein didn't grow around the seed-corn fields I detasseled in the summers when I was high school and college age. We had to make do with buttonweed.
> 
> TMI, yeah, I know. :mrgreen:


 
Oh my gosh...detasseling. I never did that...I cut corn outta beans instead and was thankful for that after watching the detasseling! Only thing worse than those jobs would be bucking bales....but only the guys could do that.


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## dillsandwitch (Sep 29, 2016)

DH get annoyed with how much canned and dry goods I have in my pantry.  I have things labeled and kept in their own sections of the pantry but apparently he can never find anything in there....  Id say I easily have 2-3 weeks of food in there for the 2 of us if needed. We also have a generator that is big enough to run a few lights, both the fridge and freezer, the fishtank pumps, Tv and PC and the gas pilot light if the power goes out. We have a big water tank so water wouldn't be an issue for a while. I wouldn't call myself a prepper but more being prepared for things that may happen (storms, floods etc.) doesn't hurt and we have had a few in the last few years that I'm glad we have the gennie for. The last big storm was a couple years ago but we had no power for 2 weeks. We were the only people in our street with lights and hot water


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## Susie (Sep 30, 2016)

Both sides of my family were from south Louisiana.  My mom's childhood home was taken in Hurricane Audrey, then the house that was built afterward was taken in Hurricane Rita.  I sold that land after that.  No more living south of I-10.  But, that is why I am a stickler for having food and water on hand to last a couple of weeks.  And every year at the beginning of hurricane season, you will find me rotating water supplies, batteries, and going through the pantry and making sure I have enough of everything.  I still have that habit, even though it is probably not necessary where I live now.  I don't think it is a bad habit, though.  The Red Cross suggests everyone do that.

I just last year got married and moved into a city.  Before that, I lived 22 miles from the nearest city.  And we were absolutely the last people to get power.  Even though the neighbors cleared roads WAY before anyone in the city even got started.  I could truly hear the chainsaws going even as the last of the wind was still blowing.


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## BrewerGeorge (Sep 30, 2016)

As a boy I had to detassle corn AND bale hay.  It was like a whole different world.  Heck, my high school football coach used to make us come clean his chicken coop. :mrgreen:

mx6inpenn, how do you plan on eating that wheat?  I've considered getting some because it's so cheap, but flour mills are NOT cheap.  Not at all.  A Corona-type mill will get down to about farina size, but not to a size you can make bread with.  I do have a bag of malted wheat (for brewing) that is much easier to crack and makes a delicious, self sweetened hot cereal, but hard wheat (or "soft" white) is still beyond me.


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## mx5inpenn (Sep 30, 2016)

BrewerGeorge said:


> mx6inpenn, how do you plan on eating that wheat?  I've considered getting some because it's so cheap, but flour mills are NOT cheap.  Not at all.  A Corona-type mill will get down to about farina size, but not to a size you can make bread with.  I do have a bag of malted wheat (for brewing) that is much easier to crack and makes a delicious, self sweetened hot cereal, but hard wheat (or "soft" white) is still beyond me.



We have a flour mill.  It's older but works like a champ.  I can grind from coarse to very fine.  I had a baking business for several years and my whole wheat bread was a favorite.
https://www.google.com/search?q=ble...d=0ahUKEwj3udXjqbfPAhWONx4KHbhaCTYQgjYI_wIwBw
We have a generator to power it and a hand grinder if worse comes to worst.


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## Scooter (Sep 30, 2016)

mx6inpenn said:


> We have a generator to power it and a hand grinder if worse comes to worst.



Can you recommend a good hand grinder?

Thanks!

--Scooter


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## mx5inpenn (Sep 30, 2016)

Scooter said:


> Can you recommend a good hand grinder?
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> --Scooter



Sorry, I can't. The one we have is ancient.  It was my grandmother's and doesn't even have a brand on it.


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## mx5inpenn (Sep 30, 2016)

mx6inpenn said:


> https://www.google.com/search?q=ble...d=0ahUKEwj3udXjqbfPAhWONx4KHbhaCTYQgjYI_wIwBw



I just noticed this link shows more than 1.  Mine is the one with the stainless steel pan that's shown larger part way down the page.


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## mx5inpenn (Sep 30, 2016)

I also grew up with one of these.  My mom did not buy bread for maaaaanny years.  I would bet I didn't eat bread that didn't get made with flour from a mill like this from ages 6-16.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Great-North...6660fde&pid=100005&rk=5&rkt=6&sd=152246472991


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## BrewerGeorge (Sep 30, 2016)

Generally considered to be the best flour mill is the Diamante brand, but that costs about a Grand.

Check Lehman's store for all kinds of prepper slash traditional life sort of stuff.  They have a whole section on grain mills.


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## nsmar4211 (Sep 30, 2016)

DeeAnna-my choices for TP would be oak leaves, pine needles, palmetto fronds, or rub butt on ground... no thanks! *hugs TP*


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## TeresaT (Sep 30, 2016)

BrewerGeorge said:


> As a boy I had to detassle corn AND bale hay.  It was like a whole different world.  Heck, my high school football coach used to make us come clean his chicken coop. :mrgreen:
> 
> mx6inpenn, how do you plan on eating that wheat?  I've considered getting some because it's so cheap, but flour mills are NOT cheap.  Not at all.  A Corona-type mill will get down to about farina size, but not to a size you can make bread with.  I do have a bag of malted wheat (for brewing) that is much easier to crack and makes a delicious, self sweetened hot cereal, but hard wheat (or "soft" white) is still beyond me.



If you have a Kitchenaid stand mixer, there is a grain mill attachment that works great!  I have one and it mills wheat to a super fine flour.  It makes awesome nut, bean and rice flours, too.  I really like mine.     (BTW:  I used it on the standard "Mormon" red wheat that I bought at the cannery in Knoxville, back when Knoxville had a cannery.)

https://smile.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=kitchenaid+grain+mill+attachment


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## DeeAnna (Sep 30, 2016)

Many of the farmers around here grow oats for Quaker. Since Quaker Oats pays a premium for plump, clean "heavy" oats, the farmers specialize in high quality oats. I wanted so badly to hull and grind my own oats for us humans to eat (in addition to feeding oats to my horses), so I schlepped a bucket of oats from the barn to the house and started studying how to hull and grind oats. Imagine my disappointment to learn oats for home use need to be "naked" oats rather than the normal hulled oats that horses eat and Quaker buys. The hulls are next to impossible to remove without special equipment, so people have bred oat varieties that don't have hulls -- the naked varieties -- for homegrown use. I've wanted to grow a patch of naked oats in my garden to try them out. Until that happens, however, I'm stuck with oats from Bobs Red Mill and Quaker.

PS I also have a Kitchenaid grain mill. For small quantities, it works well. I bought it from a Mormon neighbor who had upgraded to a stand-alone mill. I was envious -- but I don't grind enough grains to justify the expense.


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## BrewerGeorge (Oct 1, 2016)

FWIW, conventional wisdom on the KitchenAid mill is that it's good, but a hobby piece of equipment that's not up for everyday use long term.  One of my online friends wore one out herself - in fact she wore the mixer itself out in about a year of daily heavy use grinding grain and meat.


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## TeriDk (Oct 1, 2016)

I prepped for Y2K, champagne and extra water, which obviously wasn't needed so the water was used and the champagne sat until I got word that the manager from hell was leaving a few years later. Drank both bottles that night. Ever so sick the next day...but I was happy.  If things go bad, real bad, not sure I'd want to survive.


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## TeresaT (Oct 1, 2016)

BrewerGeorge said:


> FWIW, conventional wisdom on the KitchenAid mill is that it's good, but a hobby piece of equipment that's not up for everyday use long term.  One of my online friends wore one out herself - in fact she wore the mixer itself out in about a year of daily heavy use grinding grain and meat.



Yeah, those Kitchenaids are not for everyday, heavy use.  If you need frequent use, you need to get specialized equipment for the job.  But then again, if you're grinding your own wheat every day, a good quality wheat grinder/flour mill is a worthwhile investment.  

I've got friends that really live off of their food storage.  Not only do they do the whole Mormon year's worth of food, but they actually incorporate that food storage in their daily lives.  This way, if they ever need to eat just their food storage, it will not be a shock to their digestive systems and they'll already know how to cook with the stuff.   

The biggest waste of time and money is having all of this stuff stockpiled and (1) not knowing how to use it (2) not liking any of the foods you have stockpiled and (3) discovering all of your food has lost its nutritional value or has spoiled.    All of the dedication and faith is out the window if your kid starves herself to death because she despises lima beans and you've got 50 lbs of limas.  Or your food storage has a shelf life of 5 years and you bought it 15 years ago.  Yes, you can probably eat it (as long as it isn't rancid or spoiled).  No, it probably won't taste good.  Yes, it will fill your belly and keep you from starving.  No, it will not provide you the adequate nutrition you need.


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## azgirl (Oct 1, 2016)

lenarenee said:


> Oh my gosh...detasseling. I never did that...I cut corn outta beans instead and was thankful for that after watching the detasseling! Only thing worse than those jobs would be bucking bales....but only the guys could do that.



Yes bucking hay bales is hard, I did that as a teenager we (bucked) and stacked them as high as a barn. It was amazing, I will look for a picture.   Now these kids want safe space hehehe give them a hay bale


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