So im curious has anyone ever vacuum sealed their extra clothing or emergency blankets to keep everything dry/fresh or reduce space? I have both a ghb and vacuum sealer and thought why not? If folks are interested I'll post pictures of my experiment

Yes my bag is water proof. But the cloth in my kit starts to get musty after a few weeks

I use ziploc bags for the things I reach for often like maps, documents, cash, water flavor packets etc

Biggest reasons are the smell of fresh clothes is comforting and to reduce space

I bought the jackery 1000 but did not get the solar panel at the time bc I didn’t have enough for it. My question is are there other solar panels I can use for it or do I have to buy only jackery solar panels? Pls help

So I moved. Basically I used to live next to a large government facility that had a lot of resources that people would want in an emergency. My basic focus aside from food, water, energy, and sustainment was defense and comms. The place was ripe with natural resources as well, edible plants, game, timber, year round water, so I was really mostly concerned with protecting my family and my resources from other people.

Now I live on a bigger property without all of that, and honestly in an area where people wouldn’t usually go in an emergency anyway. Now I’m thinking a lot more along the lines of long term sustainability. I want to add a water storage tank to my well, build some hog pens, get the garden area squared away and ready to plant in the spring, things like that. I’m also in debt up to my eyeballs after buying this place so my budget is pretty grim.

Should I keep my preps from the old property and just slowly build up these new preps over time, or maybe sell some guns, ammo, and gear to fund these new projects?

Basically, Wikihow had kiwix take the Wikihow ZIM file down because of AI data scrapers. Im putting together an offline database and have the regular Wikipedia dump, but not the Wikihow dump. Does anyone have a link to get it or am i stuck having to scrape wikihow myself?

I updated my emergency kit and it made me think about backup phones... I noticed the tank 5 includes huge batteries, eSIM, camping lights, GPS, night vision, and even projectors. Do you guys think those features actually help in outages? Or do you think a simple cheap phone is still better? Help 🙃

Prepping itself is a rare niche. It's understandable that nuclear preps might be lower on list but I cannot understand why people outright deny it. Just defeatist responses like I'll go to center of nuke, I'll just die and blah blah blah. Or they start listing how I should focus on community building, food, fitness. For God's sake, do they really think that I'm prepping for a nuke but have no food and water in my home ?

Reality is even in a nuke, majority will survive and let's skip the nuke itself. A radiation prep is good to understand daily life radioactive things. It helps if you're in a sensitive job prone to radiation. Or if you are near a nuclear power plant. If something radioactive is being transported and god forbid an accident happens. A nuke isn't even 1% of radiation prepping.

Anyway I'll keep trying to discuss and raise awareness about it. Many of you said that the previous dosimeter/Geiger counter was bulky so I got this small one. It's ultra portable and you can carry it with yourself 24x7. Shows peak dose, total dose and average dose with 6 months battery. Remember the saying ? the best knife is the one you have when you need it. Same with this.

Sorry about the rant. But I really hate how certain topics are heavily derailed. Almost as someone don't want us to learn about certain topics and just be stuck in hoarding rice and bullets.

A lot of you have been following my different builds over the last several months. This past weekend I finally had a chance to put most of it together in one place and see how it worked with 9 people instead of just me.

Overall, I was pretty damn happy with it, but actually using everything exposed a few things I never would have caught building and testing it at home. I had to make a field modification to one setup, found some things I want to change, and figured out that one entire part of the system probably isn't worth bringing anymore.

We also had a trailer tire blow on the way home, so some of the recovery gear got an unexpected test too.

Probably the biggest thing I took away from the weekend is that actually using your preps will teach you a hell of a lot more than looking at them in the garage.

I also made a video of the weekend showing how everything came together if anyone is interested.

I was watching the show preppers and a lot of the episodes was a single family with dads training their teens at the gun range. Guns seemed to be so important and they seemed so confident that community was bad in a doomsday scenario

But I feel like in a doomsday scenario, community would be the supreme force. What happens when the 2,000 members strong discord community of "Nashville furries" or something gets the bright idea of working together?

Would those 5 gun trained family members survive 500 furries pulling up with rifles to rob their house?

Especially since people forget a lot of them are nurses, electricians, prison guards, etc. when not at their furry conventions. A lot of those suits are thousands of dollars. People forget a lot of those furries come from skilled careers and they would have a pretty good collapse community.

I'm just using furries as an example, but I mean this for any like minded community that decides to work together.

Do lone families think they really stand any chance?

With how beef import restrictions are being handled in the US, I’m concerned about possible contamination in unlabeled imported beef. Is there a test strip kit that can test for the different regulated antibiotics or chemicals in beef? If so, where could one obtain them?

Over the last 12 months our city water has gone down 4+ times. It’s off again today, due to yet another water main breaking. We live in an area that does not have great infrastructure, our utilities are outdated and to put this into perspective the water company only THIS YEAR started allowing folks to use cards & even pay online. For several years I had to physically go to the office and pay by cash.

That said, We keep multiple 5gal jugs filled, I have 8-10 1gal jugs for flushing, 3+ cases of bottled water and have several life straws & water bottles that have the filter straw inside. I also have a 5 gal shower jug with a rechargeable motor and a spray head. We use that for washing up and dishes when need be. We even have a little fold up square basin to wash up in so we can then reuse that water to flush with. Oh and I also got one of those wand water heaters that you just plug in & put under water in your bucket or jug, so we don’t have to take cold showers. We do have a generator but typically have to prioritize the fridges & deep freeze to preserve our food supply.

Is there anything else I could/should be doing, something I should have on hand? Anything I’m overlooking? At this point we’re looking into moving but selling and buying takes time & I don’t want to be caught off guard

We are: 2 adults, 1 large-medium dog, 2 cats and a gecko.

Would building a shelving unit and surrounding it with mylar be efficient for keeping water and canned/bottled food at safe temps in my garage or is there a better method? For context my garage sits below our condo followed by main level then 2nd story, the only heat hitting the garage is from the main garage door. (The walls are made from brick of some sort and on the outside to the left and behind I assume is dirt and to the right would be the neighbors garage.

I know people are storing rice and beans for the long term, but what rice are you storing and what's the plan if you need it?

What I mean is that normal rice takes 45 min to an hour on the stovetop (boiling water) and almost an hour in a rice cooker (lots of AC watts). Do you plan on running your camping stove for 45 minutes to eat a cup of rice?

Or, are you guys saving Minute Rice?

Thoughts?

Hi All: I have a daughter in college about 3-4 hours away from both home and our cabin. In most situations, she would stay put and shelter in place. In the event she needs to drive home in an emergency situation (school shut down, pandemic, incoming very dangerous weather) or for a real SHTF scenario, our cabin as it’s better equipped for that situation. I’m putting together a backpack go-bag so she can at least have some essentials if she needs to leave quickly. This is for a scenario she will be able to drive home, but could experience delays, diversions, weather etc. Let me also preface this by saying she is your typical suburban Gen Z 20 year-old (no offense to any Gen Z folks here, I love ya’ll.) She’s smart as hell, but lacking in street smarts sometimes, so I need to be realistic here.

I have so far:

Small first aid kit
Charged backup brick for phone
Solar phone charger
$200 cash in small bills
Headlamp/flashlight
Lifestraw
Mylar bivy bag
Printed directions to cabin
Printed phone numbers of family/friends
Paper maps of states she’s be driving through
Snacks - jerky, nuts, bars etc
Feminine hygiene products
Change of clothes/extra socks
Sunscreen (she’s a redhead, this is a must have)
Anti-bac wipes
Knife
Pepper spray

She has a good kit in her car with gloves, shovel, jumper cables, duct tape..general road safety/emergency items and a blanket.

Anything else I should add? Her roommates family lives out of state, so she’d going with her in a real emergency, so she wouldn’t be traveling alone at least.

Thanks!

Are you prepping to Bug Out or are you prepping to stay put? Or both?

Do any of you do dry runs using your equipment and/or supplies?

I highly recommend it. all your preps will be for nought if you don't know what you are doing.

I’m bored at work and had an idea, let’s discuss.

So let’s say you want to put together a serious team of preppers, not a full on militia and not just your average group of neighbors, something in between. I imagine this being a fairly realistic scenario where you want to build a group that is on board with prepping and takes it seriously but being associated with them doesn’t necessarily put you on a government watchlist. A team like this would perhaps help you secure your neighborhood during civil unrest, maybe help clear debris after a natural disaster, or even just help share resources during a troubling time.

What “minimum qualifications” would you expect somebody to hold before they join this team of yours?

Here is my list so far, let me know what you think.

CCW License: Depending on your state this could mean a lot or a little. In my state, a person interested in joining my team who has a CCW license would prove that they aren’t a criminal, can pass a basic background check, and likely share similar values in regards to self defense as me and the rest of my hypothetical team. I’m not looking for absolute weapon mastery or proficiency at this stage, because in theory that is something a good prepper team would practice together.

First Aid/CPR Certification: Very low bar, if they haven’t or aren’t willing to take an 8 hour AHA or Red Cross training that has a good chance of being used in the real world regardless of doomsday they they probably aren’t willing to pursue more advanced training that I would want my team to have.

Radio License: If my team were to have a comms plan using either HAM or GMRS radios I would want the person applying to already have that type of license. It isn’t hard to get either and having it before joining the team proves that they are willing to play ball with the team policies and procedures. Also shows that they are investing time in the training, which is in my opinion more important than simply just having the gear.

Be Able to Pass a Basic Fitness Test: Something realistic and relevant, perhaps being able to hike three miles in an hour while carrying a load or something similar. I’m not looking for Navy SEALs but I do want people who take their health seriously and won’t have a heart attack during civil unrest.

What do you think? What would you add or take away?

Watching the latest evacuation alerts on the news got me a bit stressed, so I spent 20 minutes running around the house to see what I’d actually grab if we got a sudden notice to clear out.

Packed the bin and loaded everything into the trunk.

Right now my instant grab-and-go stack is basically:

1. Bluetti Elite 100 V2 (mostly to run the CPAP and phone charging)

2. Heavy-duty power strip (so neighbors can plug in their phones)

3. Waterproof folder with docs & cash

4. First aid kit + essential meds

Curious what else you guys usually toss in the car. Hoping I don't actually have to use any of this.

Howdy y’all, I just wanted to touch base with you on a few issues, but also I wanted to update you on me.

Me first, I guess. I’ve recently put my money where my mouth was and have taken steps to turbocharge my prep situation. My ultimate goal is to be 75%-80% decoupled from the supply chain and grid. This required a move, to a remote location, which is always a little tricky. Immediately got hit with a hurricane (40”+ rain), and the next week a tropical storm. I am 100% off the grid for utilities, the food situation will take 3-5 years. Happy to share more if there is interest.

On to the subreddit stuff.

We’ve been getting a lot of news links posted. My impulse is to take them down, for several reasons:

1. We’ve rarely allowed news in the past
2. There is an assload of other places for the news
3. No national news sources are trustworthy
4. We are an education subreddit not a news subreddit

So what’s up, keep it news free or let some in? If you pick the latter you need to explain why, what the limits would be, and how we determine which sources are okay.

Next issue, crossposts. We’re getting many more extremely low effort crossposts. I hate that shit and want to disable that feature so that if someone has a question, or a thought, they have to use their brain long enough to type something out. Am I being unreasonable, or should we have “high standards”?

Finally, businesses. They come knocking on our doors quite a bit. Most are stupid and just try to spam us (instant ban), some try some slick shit (they too end up unhappy), but a few do actually do it the right way. Currently, I’ve had several conversations going on with multiple well known brands who want to do promotional stuff: like giveaways, pimp their products, offer discount codes, etc etc etc. I’m generally receptive to this of they are transparent and actually offer value to the community. But I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject.

Not related to anything above, just a reminder: do not bring your political opinions to this subreddit. Fuck Trump, Fuck Biden, and Fuck every other lying sack of shit who’s been elected or confirmed. I don’t care how much “engagement” a post has, it’s getting nuked and you are getting banned.

v/r your friendly mod

Could I see some photos of how did you managed to store in tight spaces? I live in a 2 room department.

Gradually been working on an emergency cabinet in the garage for my wife daughter and I. Kind of a shitty picture but I’ll comment a list of what alls in it

Quick question. I wear contacts. I have glasses as well. But how do you prepare if you can’t get those anymore? Contacts don’t last forever. Glasses break. So what is the plan for nerds like me that weren’t lucky enough to see 20/20?

I have several good size ponds around my neighborhood. One is 100ft behind my house, very large. Maybe 10 houses around it. There are several others in the area also. I have a ton of water filter systems from small sawyers all the way to a lifestraw community. I also have a ton of water in gallon size containers, water bottles as well but I keep getting paranoid that I'll never have enough. Also have a rain catching barrel tied to the gutter system.

I want to run a small hose from the pond up to my house with a small pump. I'd put the hose 4-6" under the dirt so it's not visible so I have a constant supply of water that I can filter, boil, etc. Is this something I should do or being so close to the pond not worry about it and fill containers as needed?

I have a ton of food prepped, rice(100+lbs), beans(50+ lbs), canned goods, 100 MRE's, lots of food that was near expiration vac sealed in 5 gallon buckets but water always seems to be a big worry for me.

Would you run a pumped fed hose to the house or just worry about containers/storage walking to the pond instead?

I'm looking at the El Niño predictions for this winter and the comparisons to winter of '98. I remember the ice storm of 1998 - we were out of power for a number of days. It is my first extended multi day memory.

I'm thinking about this because we had a wood burning fireplace. We holed up in the room with the fireplace and stayed there for the whole time. But we managed okay. However in my current home I do not have a functional fireplace.

I'm looking for advice on how I can prep to prepare for a multiday power outage with very cold temperatures, in my specific situation.

I have a large Anker Solix power bank and a heat dish heater. Last power outage with freezing temps was 8 hours and almost drained the battery using the heat dish. We may or may not have access to weather that allows recharging the bank. Don't suggest relocating please - we have livestock so we will need to stay on the property to care for them. I have access to a gas generator but would rather not depend on having enough gas, either.

I DO have a gas fireplace but can't build a wood fire in it. The gas portion does not function.

I'm open to suggestions for weather survival that don't include a heat source, if that exists.

Any thoughts?

Thanks y'all!