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until I got so sick of bean farts I locked myself in a closet and lit a match
moeb roflmao, roflmao, I am crying with laughter - thank you. The Mythbusters would tell you that it takes 33 hours of continuous flattus to gas yourself in a confined space
Sorry, can’t stop laughing thanks
moeb: If I may relate a true story - which is why the comment above made me laugh so hard! (I hope this is not one of those ‘you had to be there moments’.)
Some years ago, my mother and I were with my grandfather for a weekend. He had a colostomy bag and prior to retiring one evening had released the excess gas in the bathroom, thinking it would be some time before anyone else needed to use the facilities - wrong. As you can appreciate, the room was impossible to enter and, consequently, the need to do so became greater. Eventually my mother and I were standing outside the door, giggling like a couple of school girls, attempting to rapidly coordinate door opening, match striking, match tossing, and door closing! Half a box of matches later and desperately in need of a change of underwear we finally just literally rolled on the floor laughing.
;-)
New Scientist had a story some time back about how anthropolgists conjecture that “farting” initiated the first human humor. It will be “back to the future” for us for sure.
In the beginng of prepping, about 7–8 months ago, I was immediately terrified regarding lack of water. I believe that my water shortage will still be my weak link in breaking SIP. I am afraid that however much I can store will not be enough. I do not think that there is time for me to move to a location with a fresh water source. I will keep working on this issue.
Maybe not the right thread, but…I learned over the weekend that an elder couple who live 2 miles from us are preppers! (at least she is). Her husband stopped for a visit and casually mentioned that his wife had food “stuck everywhere - under the beds and so on…”. For the life of me, I don’t even know why he brought it up, seemed to just come out of nowhere. He said to “be sure and also have some water on hand” and mentioned that “you know the Mormons recommend a 1-yr supply.” He gave no indication of any particular motivation for their preparedness and I have no reason to think they are Mormons. Anyway, I’m very curious about it and hope to learn more from them, but I’m mostly excited they are prepping! I never would have guessed. (This man is 84 years old; his wife I think is quite a few years younger.)I’d (almost) bet my life they don’t have a computer and have never heard of FluWiki.
It was encouraging to learn this - maybe many others are doing the same thing, unbeknownst to the rest of us.
OKbirdwatcher - Lets see if your neighbor is 84 years old he comes from Depression era parents. Parents who had to struggle to make ends meet and raise a family, people who had to conserve what they had and save what they could get. Those folks learned prepping from their parents as a way of living. They also lived through the rationing times of WWII. People who lived through hard times like those never quite get over that.
Lots of older folks are paying attention to what is going on in the world. They see what is going on with disease outbreaks like SARS, and H5N1. They are looking at the war in Iraq and the terrorism rampant in the world. They are seeing history repeating itself and planning to duck and cover. Now those about 10 years younger than your neighbors…Those are the older folks that are not paying as much attention.
I’m good for 18 months, self contained, barring any MAJOR medical emergency.
LOTS of air freshener for the side effects ;-)
We’re good for at least a year, possibly a little more - as BG says, barring any major medical emergency.
My parents lived thru the great depression as well. Although they are both gone now, they certainly would have been preppers. They always had extra stuff around and always found creative ways to use anything that had any life left in it. Kicking and screaming, I learned many things from them - for which I am now very grateful. Thanks Mom and Dad.
Poppy at 12:42
Now those about 10 years younger than your neighbors…Those are the older folks that are not paying as much attention.
Yep. Like my dad:(
I agree with your thoughts about the experiences of the depression influencing people, but it seems if this was just a way of life for them and had been for many years, it wouldn’t even be mentioned, kinda like breathing. His comments seemed (at least to me) to have something of an instructional tone to them, as though he was offering a little advice or giving us some pointers, but not at all pushy about it and kept it brief.
My head was spinning with questions I wanted to ask, but by the time I had picked myself up off the ground and got my gaping mouth closed, he was leaving. (Just kidding) Maybe next time.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all our neighbors were secret preppers!!
The math is wrong on the Depression. My mom is 73, lived through the depression as a young girl, and she is prepping, too.
OKbirdwatcher – at 11:30 I learned over the weekend that an elder couple who live 2 miles from us are preppers!
OKbirdwatcher, I saw a couple in their late 70s early 80s carefully comparing and filling their cart with prep foods at the grocery the other day. Week before, there was another man in his late 60s early 70s in front of me checking out with tons of canned goods. The clerk said, “Stocking up?” and he replied, “You bet I am.”
Now, whether these folks are just trying to make their fixed incomes go a little farther, who knows. But I got the impression from the couple I trailed (not on purpose, of course!) for several aisles that they were prepping. I almost—almost—reached out to talk to them, but chickened out.
My mom was one of the first people in my family to take me seriously about all of this. She’s really upset that a lot of my sibs (I have a ton of them) aren’t doing anything to prep. Can you imagine the agony of being a parent knowing what’s coming and knowing that your kids are not doing anything to protect themselves?
Not anywhere near as much as I would like to have. I don’t think I will really be comfortable until I have year supply of food, sanitary and medical supplies, plus a reliable way to have fresh clean water. I can have about 6 weeks worth of potable water, given an hour or so to fill up my containers, but that is about it. If something happened to immediately cut off tap water, I would only have a week supply on hand at any given time. Storing more than that on a regular basis isn’t really practical for my family.
Well, let’s see …
Food is probably 6+ months. But you have to remember that that is for a family of 7 and includes other basic comforts like TP, napkins, deoderants, cleaners, etc.
For water I have enough store bought and current water storage capacity for 2+ months. However, I believe that I’ve come up with a fairly good system of water renewal by utilizing rainfall. We won’t ever be able to relax and just waste water but we should be ok for the most part … that is assuming that power stays off for very extended periods of time.
Fuel for cooking is for about 3+ months or more. I need to stock up some more in this area; however, I do have plans for cooking in a pit out of doors when/if possible. Again, this assumes very extended periods of time without power.
The next few projects I have going are mainly for family unity and comfort. I need to get my holiday and birthday shopping done early … I have small kids at home and the holidays are very important in our lives. I also want to stock up on craft materials … if nothing else we would then be able to express our gratitude to one another as a family with handmade gifts. <shrug> I think every little bit is going to help when it comes right down to it.
6–7 months, long enough to get 6 people through winter into a garden harvest next spring/summer.
Husband “found” the old large windmill cistern It was there all along,just really never thought about what it was used for…. storage of water pumped for the cattle and horses.
The next trial will be to test for holding ability. It’s up hill from the house so we can have gravity fed water if it holds. :-)
Edna Mode at 13:27 -
I think that if my mother were alive she might be with me on this. She always kept plenty of food and supplies ahead although not to the level many of us are planning for now. But my dad is alone now and does good to have 2–3 days of food in the house. He’s 76. I think he just can’t believe that anything so catastrophic could happen in our lives to justify the kind of preparations we are talking about. I also think he would depend on his 3 children to take care of things. Which we would. But as far as I know, I’m the only one prepping.
I’m also prepping for my 21-yo daughter. She’s single and too busy livin’ that “don’t worry - be happy” lifestyle. She knows I’m prepping and has been surprisingly supportive; in other words, she hasn’t made fun of me…yet;)
We’re up to 3 months on food and supplies but woefully lacking on water. I need to stop focusing on everything else and turn attention to bringing the water supplies in line with the food.
One year or more of food, have an artesian well. Just have to take the deep well pump off and it overflows onto the ground. We are lucky
Just today went to WWW.Waltonfeed.com and updated some supplies that needed updated. Have one year of dried #10 cans, from them, and adding more of odds and ends. Made a statement before on another thread, but could SIP for at least 2 years to 3 years, but with some family within 1/4 mile and basically no one doing much, might have to share some. Over the last year, bought 20 pound bags of beans from COSTCO just for use by others in case close neighbors did not have much. Currently getting a handpump in place to put down our well, so will have a manual system for water. A neighbor already has it and works great. Getting that up and running now due to the increase of negative news coming out of ASIA.
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I’m 63 years old and have supplies that will/could last me for two years. My parents went through the depression also and were life-long preppers.
How long could I SIP tomorrow? Prep wise, not long. I’ve only discovered how serious the threat is since I’ve been here at the Wiki, and have since been in overdrive to “catch up”. Mentally, with two girls at each other all the time? 1 hour!
We’re up to the 3-month mark. Our biggest worry is non-prepping family members with children. If we have to feed all of us, we’re down to a month of rations. And of course, we will share - but it worries me. No amount of pleading/reasoning/begging seems to have any effect at all. They think we’re nuts, and they all live the JIT lifestyle.
It seems like I have food everywhere, but I have a spreadsheet that shows - in black and white - that I really don’t have as much as I think I do. Another problem is trying to figure out how much food is really in those #10 cans from Honeyville and beprepared.com.
I have been canning all summer and when I make soup pressure a couple of jars at a time. Add an additional 3 months.
Prepared for teotwawki (the end of the world as we know it).
I would need about 2–3 hours to get last minute supplies, then I should be able to go about 2 months. I think. I’m still counting on a heads up before the rest of my community finds out.
About 9 months for my mom, myself and the cat. ( Yep, he’s family just like Mom )
I still have a few holes in the prep area; but not as many as I used to. I stay at home ALOT more; saving money; so that when I do go to the city; I can come home with a carfull. I keep whittling at that list; because I believe that we can NEVER have TOO much.
In 1918 , communication and medical being what it was; they had no warning. In 2006; we HAVE warning, and have had plenty of time, even with excellant medical care; we already KNOW what is coming…..
Even if we are lucky enough to have 1 more year before TSHTF; I will still be squirreling preps away until the last minute.
I have made a career of being prepared for emergencies, teaching prepardness when I was in the fire service. When I retired and moved to the southwest desert, I continued storing etc and expanded what I had and could stay on my 2 acres for at least 2 years. I am adding another garden area today to expand what I have already. Began by purchasing a year supply of freeze dried food in #10 cans. From that expaned into many areas including but not limited to: emergency hand pump for the well, 300 pounds of red wheat, a few hundred pounds of rice, beans, corn, in 5 gallon buckets from a emergency company, have enough water (even without the well) to last 3 months (rotated occasionally onto the garden now), have an enclosed 6 foot chain link 2.5 acres with barb wire on top, have an outside seperate room if needed as emergency sick room, have 55 gallon drums filled with dried beans, etc of all types, sealed and stored in a cool area of the larder (have pictures of the larder I created out here near Death Valley does keep cool enough for storage), retired from fire dept so have emergency supplies for first aid, etc, fire use, have a very large covered garden area (and expanding) and will supply neighbors around (most are preparing also), but I do not worry about electricity (although I did have 4 windmills and 22 solar panels getting rid of at this time and turning solar shed into emergency shed holding most of emerg supplies. Have been in prep field even when in the fire service, so just expanded when I moved to the desert. I dont like surprises as have been on so many emergency calls during storms, floods, fires, etc, that no one had any prep at all. Sad but most people do not prep anything. I would expect that I will be helping some family and/or friends but most live about 900 miles away. The valley here is about 330 square miles (13 miles wide and around 23 miles long or something like that), and being about 65 miles from Vegas if TSHTF, this place will be a dustbowl in a few weeks without food transport. Difficult to think about how bad it would be out here, and there are around 35 thousand people in the valley, most do not have gardens etc. Will be interesting for sure.
Probably about 4 months or more if we don’t mind verrry boring food. But we already eat very boring food and don’t mind! We have a well and a generator that can run it and gas, and a 750 gallon holding tank. Lots of very basic food ingredients. Rural area so that makes it a lot easier. Shopping tomorrow and will order some more bulk items at the local natural store, like another bag or two of flour, more beans, some dried fruit, and more oatmeal.
This summer/fall I made about 80 pints of grape, blackberry and peach jam, 30 quarts of grape juice (wish I’d made more) and have several bottles of elderberry tonic made. Have a lot of herbs and essential oils on hand which I use in my small practice already.
We actually could help others if need be; have friends in a couple of big cities some distance away.
I have a year of food,meds, toiletries, and cleaning supplies. three months of Stored water and scheme to obtain more if absolutely necesssary. Six months of lighting, three of cooking. None of heating except a month of Alco brite (like sterno, will heat small room closed off), material/insulation to block windows, tent, sleeping bag, warm layers of clothes.
I live in a rented apartment in a city so have felt very limited in doing what I would like. I can see that I can do better with water. It would mean storage in the (shared, not locked, wide open) basement however.
If I owned a house with a yard(I guess that’s a title for my Fantasy thread!!) I would dig a root cellar. I would get a ventilated shed and store propane kerosene and some gas. I would put a tall fence around my property. I would definetly install a woodstove and solar panels and try to be semi-off grid even in the best of times. I’d try to live in a place where I could dig a well for water and have it shallow enough it could be pumped by hand.
. Can’t store fuels because small yard is shared, will be stolen.sss
I don’t know how sss got there, didn’t mean anything (!)
We assume that supply chain disruptions will cause severe product shortages and runaway inflation for more than a year, so our plan is to get by on our own for at least 18 months. We have met our caloric minimum of 3.2 million calories, and we are really close to a 2 year supply of toiletries and household supplies. Water is not going to be a problem because we have a well and the means to draw water discretely at the rate of 5 gallons per minute for 120 hours. Apart from the well, we have a Katadyn Gravidyn and plenty of bleach for treating rain water. For cooking, we have 3 stoves that use Coleman liquid fuel and another 3 that use propane. We have enough fuel to cook for 1 hour per day for 1 year. For heat, we have a Big Buddy, 4 Black Cats, and enough propane to keep us from freezing for about 6 very cold months. As for lighting, we have 5 Dietz lanterns and 3 Uco Candeliers, with enough K-1 and candles for about 2 years. We also have 4 deep cycle batteries and a solar charger, but that is just to run the sump pump.
If we lost every utility and service all at once, we could remain hunkered down for 18 months.
We are fairly prepared for a family of 7, but I’d give a whole lot to be prepared for a year or more. Depending on what point of the regular month’s groceries that we are at we could probably go for about 5–6 months.
I hope to bulk that up over the holidays with more canning, but it isn’t easy. Seven is a large number to prepare for even if 5 of them are just kids.
I need to add more cooking fuel as well. Isn’t going to do any good to have all the food we need if I don’t have a way of cooking it.
I also need to add more paper goods to our stores … but finding extra money during the holidays is very challenging.
We are good on all counts for a year at least though work still needs to be done for securing our property. As with others, a lot depends on how much aid we end up extending to family members. The only person we know who is prepping is my youngest sister who lives 300 miles away. We have my husbands elderly and ill parents, my sister and her husband and their foreign exchange student (actually they have prepped a little), assorted nieces and their offspring, my ex and his family, all nearby. We have just reached a stage in our prepping where our next big push will be to figure out just what we need to be able to supply these people with at least the basics for food, water, heating, cooking, sanitation, basic flu treatment supplies. It’s not that daunting really - we just need to dive in and get it done. If we can get my husbands folks to take in the nieces (the two of them rattle around in a huge house) the logistics get much simpler. Chances of that are slim to none but we are considering blackmail. ;-)
I feel so sad right now. I wish I would have found out about this sooner. right now, we are at a month of sustaining life. As I’ve stated, I have been in overdrive with the preps. I have ran out of room with the toliet paper and paper towels, a logic being a good barter tool. I have ran out of room to store more water, being that was my numer one prority. The food prep is coming in, and am gearing up to order MRE’s. I can not allow myself to feel overwhelmed, and will continue to prep until I am forced to SIP. And lordy the camping equiptment just about put me in the dog house!(see my post to Santa.) I have plans on trying to make my own MRE’s as my Dad and I often talked about. Nope. I’m not giving up until I have too. Thank you guys/gals, for posting what you have already preped. It gives me a guideline of where I need to be with mine.
We have 3–6 months of stored preps. These can be stretched a long way by our renewable food preps; Goat herd, rabbits, egg chicken flock,(If chickens start getting infected in the U.S. they will quickly be “roosting” in canning jars) well, spring, rainwater collection, wood stove, woods, wild game, fishing gear,garden. Our biggest hole is my wife’s insulin needs. Have 3 months supply and are working on 6 months. It is perishable so no way around needing resupply. Have solar radio and cell phone charger. If no pandemic by spring we will get a couple of bee hives for a source of sugar and candles. Already had shotguns and deer rifles but ammunition is expensive, so will be addding an inexpensive .22 rifle. An experienced hunter can get a lot of game with a .22 and 500 rounds of ammunition is $10.
I built an off-grid solar home in the 90′s. Worked fine until the inevitable week of gray winter weather came along, then the batteries would suffer despite all the bells and whistles in the system to protect them. Conservatively speaking, if you are planning on depending on a solar panel system work on a battery replacement plan for every 12–18 months. Most people will be unable to store enough fuel to run a generator steadily enough to keep freezers/refridgerators cold for more than a month. You are talking hundreds of gallons. Diesel generators are much more reliable than the “Walmart Variety” generators.
2 solid years. 3 frugal years.
For those with water concerns my solution was the Aqua Tank. 150 gallon “pillow type” tank 8ftx4ftthat rolls up to store like a sleeping bag before use was 109.00 plus shipping.(no involvement). Fill with a food grade water hose and you’re set.
Composting toilet with 2 years supplies arrives today!!!
Stick a fork in me…I’m done.
no-name
thank you for the info on pillow tanks. They are so much easier to store.
I have two solid years of food, plus some extra basic foods for friends, if needed. Heat for one winter, and water should be no problem at all. I still need to figure out the power problem.
84 percent of residents surveyed had at least a day’s supply of pet food available in the event of an emergency, compared with 53 percent who had a plan for child care in place, 62 percent who had at least a gallon of water on hand and 83 percent who had at least a day’s worth of nonperishable food.
The telephone survey was conducted in September. Sample size was 300 businesses, 300 residents and 220 faith communities. Margin of error ranged from plus or minus 0.9 percent to plus or minus 4.8 percent, depending on the sample group or question.
I have been too busy collecting and preserving foods to stop and figure out how much time worth of meals it is.I think alot and with my 17 cases of dried #10 cans and over 500 homecanned items,large freezer filled and 2 pantries packed to the gills with other foods I think we are probably good at least a year,maybe more.Water is another story.I have 1 month drinking water on hand.It is my hope I can drive the 6–10 miles once a month to refill at the secluded flowing well I know of,but if I can’t it will be the neighbors pond water or the river a mile or two away.Which do people think would be safer,pond or river?Of course it will have bleach and boil disinfection.Woodstove and wood for this winter is in place and I feel lucky that my home heating fuel is K1,so I have 300 gallons of that in a locked tank out back.Now to get the k1 lanterns,heater,and barrel pump and I think my family of 6 will be set for a year.
anonymous – at 10:31
As to river or pond, I’d go with pond water. You would have an idea of the contaminants in the pond. The river could have sewage, chemicals, dead bodies, etc. I know you have bleach.
cottontop — take heart — we are also at about 4 - 6 weeks. My feeling though is, once you have got some of the basic infrastructure down, actually adding food isn’t all that hard or expensive.
Thanks Oremus,I never really thought about the fact that with no electric and sip happening many people who live on the river could just decide to send their trash and all kinds of nasty junk floating away.Gross.I hate to think of the environmental damage that could cause.
One year( maybe 16 months) of food and supplies for people and pets, plus kitty litter! Tons of vegie seeds two months of water- planning on some access and being able to purify. Non-electric heat and cooking. Enogh solar batteries, candles, battery lamps/ fans, hand crank lights and radio to last indefinitely. Secure privete yard where if needed multiple privies could be dug. Lots of stay busy puzzles, art supplies, books.
Still …if hit panic mode would like to have enough supplies for 18 months.
cottontop, don’t feel sad- the most important part is that you’ve started to prepare. Remember you are miles ahead of everyone’ who hasn’t got a drop or a bean set aside. We all do the best we can and as much as we can.
Prepped for 6 months basic food and toiletries, etc. Secure and safe(with treatment) water source. Seeds and seed potatoes for 2 seasons plus a bit more, just in case. Wood stove in SIP location(wish I had one here right now!) and 2 years worth of wood. Homeschooling starting this year, so that wouldn’t change(except no internet for the questions I can’t answer)
I’ll feel alot better when we’re at a year for all the basics, but finances are pretty tight. Rome wasn’t built in a day:-)
will close due to Forum speed. Restart a new thread if needed.