Important

We have "minimums" that must be kept on hand at all times.
this is for various things. 6 months is the minimum time frame. I figure if I can't get our shit together and figure ot a way to feed ourselves after 6 months of living on stored goods, then we should die anyway for sucking.

Truth^^^

And the TP is a good idea too. That would get gross fast!!!!!
 
Every time i bring up preparing for apocalyptic situations to my wife she freaks out and wants to go back to her happy go lucky cloud of a life.

the one thing that i have gotten through to her is our plan if something bad where to happen. only problem is we would have no food if it happened right now.
water wise, well there is 30 gallons in that hot water heater so that would last a couple days.
 
Every time i bring up preparing for apocalyptic situations to my wife she freaks out and wants to go back to her happy go lucky cloud of a life.

the one thing that i have gotten through to her is our plan if something bad where to happen. only problem is we would have no food if it happened right now.
water wise, well there is 30 gallons in that hot water heater so that would last a couple days.

Make her read the book 'one second after'

A realistic look at what could happen if the country was hit by an EMP.

The guy who wrote it based it off a report the government put out on the subject. It never got any attention because they released the report the same day the 9-11 commission released their report on the bombings.
 
I have no guns anymore. Sold them when I came on hard times after my last divorce. I have friends that have guns. I also have a friend that is a bit 'out there' that has a complete compound stocked with weapons and food. I'm on the short list of guest should all hell break loose.
 
I am officially the owner of a 1967 Chevy step side short box. Going to drive out to get it a week from Saturday. MAJOR project since it is a rolling chasis and a gutted cab and everything else is in boxes or in the bed. No drive train but it will be receiving a full 5.3 w/ auto drivetrain. Already have a line on some drop spindles and coils....gonna roll 18's up front, 20's in the back and probably even wear my hat backwards.

Cheese "new projects rock" Man
Congrats dude!! Bowties will always be a sign of class. ;)
We have "minimums" that must be kept on hand at all times.
this is for various things. 6 months is the minimum time frame. I figure if I can't get our shit together and figure ot a way to feed ourselves after 6 months of living on stored goods, then we should die anyway for sucking.
6 months seems like a reasonable amount. And that last bit made me laugh, but it's so true.
you'll be happy to know that we keep an ample supply of toilet pape on hand as well.

Food is important, but a shitty ass is just unacceptable.
This is a very inexpensive "luxury" in that situation. Swampass is very demoralizing.
Bulk ammo trumps food, water, and TP supply. With my ammo I can "use" my friendly neighbors food, water, and TP.
Bulk ammo...yep, that too.
I have no guns anymore. Sold them when I came on hard times after my last divorce. I have friends that have guns. I also have a friend that is a bit 'out there' that has a complete compound stocked with weapons and food. I'm on the short list of guest should all hell break loose.
I would advise you to find yourself some weapons again, but your situation is nearly just as good. Not everyone in my family has guns, but there are enough to go around. :smoker:
I have 1 month supply.


If things are not getting better by then we are bugging out.

No, I will not tell you where, but I know......


Rev
We also have a bugout plan. I really need to get my pack situated. I always imagine if the day comes, I'm driving my Jeep through the front doors of Gander Mtn before hightailing it.
 
We really need to have a sensors, multimeter and you class sometime buddy.

Ugh, as the son of an electrician I should know how to use one...I do...but I don't have the patience to use it well.

mac 'not an electrician but all my buddies think I am' gyvr
 
I had an instructor at GM tech school. Mike Povinelli. Nobody that I knew really liked him. Total engineer type nerd that had very little real world application knowledge. (Not that all engineers are like that. Andy... HoBag... you guys have your heads screwed on right. Which is just wrong enough. :D)

He once told the class that when he and his buddies get together, they like to get drunk and play with their multimeters for fun. Some people's kids...
 
Trust me I have that department covered. But do you know for a fact that your "friendly" neighbors don't have guns too?

Nobody is friendly in a crisis.

Hopefully I don't have to get close enough to find out with a .308 and a scope.

Polar 'professional American' Jeep
 
K'man no need to buy water. Save containers fill from the tap. If you have well water like I do then it is 8 drops of bleach to one gallon. Good for 4-5 years out of the sun. My water tested great but if it is too be stored then that adding the bleach is recommended.

I'm more than covered. EMP pulse loses a ton of range from it's source. Anything thing more than 50 miles from a nuclear blast has a better than 60% chance of working. Small electronics like computers and items with similar guts would be toast but there is a great chance your older vehicles and power lines would be fine.
 
My trailer is always stocked with enough to live out of. Only issue is no water in it in the winter.

mac 'we could last a while in it' gyvr
 
K'man no need to buy water. Save containers fill from the tap. If you have well water like I do then it is 8 drops of bleach to one gallon. Good for 4-5 years out of the sun. My water tested great but if it is too be stored then that adding the bleach is recommended.

I'm more than covered. EMP pulse loses a ton of range from it's source. Anything thing more than 50 miles from a nuclear blast has a better than 60% chance of working. Small electronics like computers and items with similar guts would be toast but there is a great chance your older vehicles and power lines would be fine.

rain barrels or cistern.

I reopened our cistern, and there's an old school hand pump and all the fittings to hook it up to our water lines in the basement.

country backyard will be self sufficient, with the exception of 220V stuff for the shop.
 
I'm more than covered. EMP pulse loses a ton of range from it's source. Anything thing more than 50 miles from a nuclear blast has a better than 60% chance of working. Small electronics like computers and items with similar guts would be toast but there is a great chance your older vehicles and power lines would be fine.

You should read that book as well. There is a well regarded theory that says that if a certain type of emp pulse was fired off above our atmosphere that it would only take three modest sized bombs to completely wipe out 90% of our electronic infrastructure. It has something to do with the atmosphere amplifying the effect of the pulse.

This was all explained by this study the military put together on the issue.

It's the little simple things you don't think about that would wipe us out. For example.... In this book they talked about how a very large majority of the town (small town in West Virginia) thought they could hunt for food, which they did but the game didn't last long and soon it was hunted out. There are just way too many people to support that now. 150 years ago the population could sustain much more hunting but as our population has grown we have relied on our food sources coming from further and further away. If you look at how much of Kansas, Nebraska, eastern Colorado and other parts of the Midwest supply the rest of the country it's insane. All of that food relies on vast amounts of rail, truck and shipping to get to everyone.

If there is no transport to places like Boston, NYC, California and the NW it won't be long and those people will starve. Honestly the MIdwest will probably survive better than the rest of the country but the population density is a lot less. Those of you in Chicago are hosed unless you can get out.

Then you need to think about people on insulin. There will be no more. That was one if the more brutal sub-stories of that book. The main dude in the books daughter was insulin dependent. He was ex military and knew how to survive but he sit and watched his 12 year old kid slowly die.
 
Then you need to think about people on insulin. There will be no more. That was one if the more brutal sub-stories of that book. The main dude in the books daughter was insulin dependent. He was ex military and knew how to survive but he sit and watched his 12 year old kid slowly die.

This, for sure. Personally, I'm on enough meds, including insulin, that I'm on the short list of non-survivors. And it won't be pleasant. Anybody who's on maintenance meds more complicated than acetysalicylic acid will be in trouble.
 
You should read that book as well. There is a well regarded theory that says that if a certain type of emp pulse was fired off above our atmosphere that it would only take three modest sized bombs to completely wipe out 90% of our electronic infrastructure. It has something to do with the atmosphere amplifying the effect of the pulse.

This was all explained by this study the military put together on the issue.

It's the little simple things you don't think about that would wipe us out. For example.... In this book they talked about how a very large majority of the town (small town in West Virginia) thought they could hunt for food, which they did but the game didn't last long and soon it was hunted out. There are just way too many people to support that now. 150 years ago the population could sustain much more hunting but as our population has grown we have relied on our food sources coming from further and further away. If you look at how much of Kansas, Nebraska, eastern Colorado and other parts of the Midwest supply the rest of the country it's insane. All of that food relies on vast amounts of rail, truck and shipping to get to everyone.

If there is no transport to places like Boston, NYC, California and the NW it won't be long and those people will starve. Honestly the MIdwest will probably survive better than the rest of the country but the population density is a lot less. Those of you in Chicago are hosed unless you can get out.

just eat the people you don't like first.
 
for those of you storing water... how are you doing it?? I see containers that are ridiculously priced for doing it... but how expensive is it... if you need it and don't have it...
 
I've spent a total of $15 on it. I use food grade storage containers that I picked up from the restaurant down the road. They had cooking oils in. Cleaning them out is a pain but Dawn dish soap takes care of that.. Watch your military auctions or restaurant auctions. Large ammo cans are great dry good food storage with a bag of desiccant in there with them.

Dr Moab I have some reading to do I guess.

I was taught that a ground impact gives minimal EMP contained within the blast zone due to the earth absorbing the EMP. An air does give more EMP but never heard of it amplifying EMP from a sub space explosion that it would wipe out the US infrastructure I will be doing some reading.

On another note I've been raising a bunch more of my own food. Chickens, pigs, and beef cattle. I canned 60 quarts of tomatoes and fruits, with 15 quarts of it being salsa. I also just butchered two pigs, two cows, and a dozen broiler chickens. I have no pigs or cows now but I do still have 18 chickens with two roosters. Lets just say the eggs are definitely better tasting and I get an easy 3-6 eggs a day, but I know it will go down over winter. I have one cow and pig in my 2 1/2 freezers and I gave one pig to the local restaurant in trade for the leftovers I could pick up every day for free. I sold one cow to the butcher shop and had all my slaughtering, butchering and packing done for free and still made $190 on that cow over my feed and live stock price for the beef. Upfront costs were high but it is cheaper than overall costs. I may not do it next year on the beef as feed prices are getting nuts here. I buy bulk chicken feed and it's costing me about $30 a month for feeding them. I do not get $30 in eggs but it does teach my kid responsibility.
 
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