I've always had a stash of food and water stored in the utility room.About a weeks worth. Mostly canned goods. But I rotate them out every fall and donate the whole stash to the food bank and re-buy a new stash.This year I decided to buy a Costco emergency food kit: Chef’s Banquet Emergency Food and Fuel Kit. About 1000 servings with fuel. Shelf life is what sold me....20 years.I also have $1000 in $20 bills stashed.......ever been in a week long power failure?CASH is still KING.Who else has a little insurance policy?

I just tend to have enough food on hand to last 2 weeks. If we had an extended power outage I'd run the trailer fridge on propane, 2x20lb lasts a long time for just the fridge. If the cans and fresh food gave out I've got about 2 weeks worth of rationed meals in freeze dried camping meals. I also have 4x 5 gallon water jugs that I fill if we're expecting potential power outages since I had power during the great NE blackout but the city lost pumps after a few hours due to insufficient fuel reserves (the water stations are fed by 3 different substations with one powered by the cities own power plant, don't think the engineers ever considered a multi-day full grid outage). None of this is really done as prepping, just an outgrowth of a life of camping and having 2 fridges plus the trailer. As far as cash, I only keep about $100 on me when not traveling, can't imagine what I'd need more for as it will buy me enough gas for a couple weeks of commuting or enough to get outside of the impact area of any disaster (though not with the trailer!)

Due to OPSEC I can neither confirm nor deny that I have 1.5 years worth of "stuff".:WThe real problem in Phoenix would be water.The only solution would be all the swimming pools.....filtered pool water, yum.:(

I started prepping maybe in the mid 2000’s. Lol disaster never came. Over the years the stash has been reduced to a big pantry, couple hundred dollars, and couple cases of ammo.

stew47 wrote:I started prepping maybe in the mid 2000’s. Lol disaster never came. Over the years the stash has been reduced to a big pantry, couple hundred dollars, and couple cases of ammo.Did you drop your life insurance because you haven't died yet :@

Not a prepper but living a quarter mile from the San Andreas fault, being prepared has always been drilled into us. I have found freeze dried food in the form of mountain house meals. 30 year shelf life if kept at room temperature is amazing and the meals I have tried have tasted pretty good. Definitely edible on a camping trip. I have maybe 2 months supply with the mountain house plastic buckets and a stash of peanut butter. Water is the big thing so I have a stack of bottled water that gets rotated. Again, enough to last for 2 months. The means to protect me and mine is also important. My view on protection is my own but recent history during hurricane Katrina and the LA riots show that groups of people will form up and start looting, or worse.

OT: Any Preppers Out There? | Good Sam Community

37 Replies

rbpru
Explorer II
Oct 17, 2017
I you are preparing for a Zombie apocalypse, you are way to deep into Halloween. :)
SidecarFlip
Explorer III
Oct 17, 2017
Bols2DawaLL wrote:
Uhhh , nobody has mentioned Zombies

Hornady sell those, they have green ballistic nylon tips....:h
Bols2DawaLL
Explorer
Oct 17, 2017
Uhhh , nobody has mentioned Zombies
austinjenna
Explorer
Oct 17, 2017
More for short term outages. Actually I already had a lot of stuff laying around from years of camping/backpacking and just combined it into 1 huge box.
Already have:
Small propane grill and single burner one as well
Bunch of 1lb propane bottles
Rechargeable camping lantern
2 Honda 2k generators and extended tanks
Wind up radio from old backpacking days
Water filters- again from old backpacking days
My rv is in a storage lot so yrs ago I bought a power bank that has a built in air compressor and a regular outlet that I can run something from. I keep that charged up.
We are all LED bulbs in my house so I can take a lamp off the night stand and pop in a 100w LED bulb and plug that into my power bank, take off the shade and pretty much light up my downstairs.
I have a bunch of Ryobi 18V lithium batteries and the Ryobi flashlight
I have inverters for back in the day when in the car the kids could run some electronics. I can always hook that up to our vehicles, or in winter I bring the rv batteries home and have them on the maintainer so I can use them if I have too. Also I have 4 other car batteries in vehicles if it gets that bad!
I have 5 jerry cans that I keep filled – bought them for the fuel perks so I don’t lose out, can use that for the generators
Candles..I have a whole box full – wife was a teacher and the kids always gave them to her for holidays.
I have a fluid transfer pump from back when working on cars I can use to get gas out of vehicles if I need to
About the only thing I did was on my furnace for the power coming to it I put in a for lack of better terms, a wall socket so I can easily unplug it and run and extension cord to the generator to be able to run the furnace.
Solar phone charger
Food – we buy on sale so I have a whole basement pantry, kitchen fridge, freezer in basement that could easily last us months – longer if need be.

So I am prepared for short term outages. If there is going to be a SHTF scenario then make sure they drop one right on me so I don’t have to worry about it. So I have really bought nothing specifically for a disaster its just that after all these years I have thought about the stuff I have and put it all in one place.
jimlj
Explorer
Oct 17, 2017
I used to live in a small town, about a mile away from the only grocery store. Every evening I drove by it and saw the same cars in the parking lot buying groceries for the day. I also saw the same store with bare shelves a few times when the truck was delayed. Although I don't consider myself a prepper, I think it would be foolish not to have some basic things on hand. I fill the propane tanks on my TT after each trip, not before I leave for the next one. I put Stabil in the gas tank on my generator and fill it after each use. I could go for weeks without a visit to the grocery store. I try to run my vehicles on the top half of the fuel tank, not the bottom like most of my friends. I have enough water for several days, and a filter if I need to drink river water. Prepper, no. Practical guy who has seen the roads closed for several days at a time due to winter weather, yes.
SidecarFlip
Explorer III
Oct 17, 2017
I guess I am a Prepper then. I'm like you, on a farm in the middle of nowhere with a well stocked root cellar and standby generation with a 1000 gallon diesel tank.

The fuel tank is for filling farm tractors but the genset draws it's fuel from it too.

Spam lasts about forever and my wife and I like it many different ways. We have out own on the farm meat supply, eggs and milk too.

I could be cut off from civilization for a couple months and not be any the worse for anything actually. For fresh meat I can butcher a steer or take a rifle and hunt wild game.

Guess I'm a prepper too....
CavemanCharlie
Explorer III
Oct 17, 2017
I am not a prepper of extremes. I live in the rural midwest on a farm miles from town. I have extra water, food, and supplies around in case of a emergency. I have been without power for 4 days in the last ice storm. I have a back up generator for that and plenty of fuel. I have about a months worth of food around all the time. I have an emergency tote in the basement with a few supplies in case things get worse then that. I don't store a lot of water but, I have water filtration systems and water testing kits in that basement tote. Water is easy to find around here but, it is all so polluted already that you may not want to drink it. That is why I have the test kits.

Usually shelter in place is the best advice around here.

If I can't shelter in place then I consider my Travel Tallier part of my prepper kit. I have it ready to go at all times with food water and batteries and plenty of gasoline to get a few hundred miles away.

If things are worse then that ,,, Oh well. Nothing I can do then. Not worth losing sleep over.

I don't have any freeze dried type MRE food because it is too expensive. Good old canned food will last a long , long, time.

At least as long as I will. lol :B
SidecarFlip
Explorer III
Oct 17, 2017
rbpru wrote:
For those of us who grew up during the Cold War years, where school kids practiced ducking under their desks and Popular Mechanic's along with the other DYI magazines routinely featured home and basement bomb shelters, complete with filtered air systems; our emergency needs are often based on what is likely to happen, not what could happen.

I have been snow bound by a blizzard twice in Indiana, I prepare for that. Hurricanes, floods, forest fires, volcanoes and other longer term disasters, not so much.

Being retired, I like snowbound. I can sit in front of the fire and read a book. I have this philosophy now that I don't have to go to work... stay home and be happy.
Naio
Explorer II
Oct 17, 2017
Eh, I am not into the fudamentalist god, the one who sends little babies into a lake of fire just because their parents worshipped differently. He seems like a dickwad.

I like the love thy neighbor, least of these, peace and love guy Jesus much better.
Passin_Thru
Explorer
Oct 17, 2017
Ya! All the "Farms" burned down or flooded. Besides, if it becomes real you will have to fight for your food, not barter. Every T, D and H in the city will dump their pet dog, cat or monkey in the country. Money won't be worth anything. Guns ammo etc will be the currency. Dream on, Apocalypse? Better be a Christian when it comes. Apocalypse-the complete final destruction of the world, especially as described in the biblical book of Revelation.