Disaster preparedness is important for everyone. It is difficult to believe that there are people with no preparations at all: no food in the house, no first aid kit, no attempt to accumulate even the most basic skills and knowledge.

Before I get into this, let me mention the PREPPER PRIME DIRECTIVE: Do not tell ANYONE else that you have a stockpile of stuff.

In this topic, I am not talking about having a five-year supply of freeze dried foods, 12 guns each with 1,000 rounds of ammo, a thousand-gallon water tank, and a complete ICU/Trauma center in the basement.

I'm talking about having 2-7 days of canned food you never touch (maybe you rotate it once a year), a few basic tools (like a can opener that doesn't require electricity), a few bottles of water and one of those purification straws, and a $20 first aid kit. And maybe one of those hand-cranked flashlight/radio/charger things. If you want a gun I'm sure you already have one, disaster prepping aside. Let's call this STANDARD PREP (LEVEL ONE). I am going to ignore things like MREs and freeze-dried food because 98% of it contains things I am allergic to, and frankly, I think canned food has a better chance of getting me through the "stuff" that "hit the fan".

I have seen no end of preppers with loads of stuff to run for the hills and go camping for a week. I think that is EXTREME PREP and I for one just ignore it. For that to matter, I would have to hike 15 miles into the open prairie and find a nice camping spot not already occupied by the other 200,000 people who live around here. If I cannot hang out at home or the office, I guess I'll just die or maybe make it to a FEMA camp.

It is much more likely you would need to survive a 24-hour problem involving a minor injury than that you would need to survive for years in a dog-eat-dog world where gunshot wounds were a monthly event.

The problem is that you do not know where you will be when "it" happens. That means you need to have a fairly good stock of stuff at home, and a smaller two-day stock at your office AND in your car. And you really need to think about this multi-part question: "If the stuff hits the fan when I'm at work, or running errands, and I cannot use my car for some reason, how am I going to walk home? What route will I take? How long will I need to get there? Do I know the way instinctively?" It might be fun sometime in nice weather when nothing important is on TV to actually try to walk home from your work. In my case it's about 10 miles. In my old Army days that was three hours; today maybe five or six with naps and breaks. Add more time if I have to avoid ... problems.

Preparing for Stuff Hits The Fan is a matter of flexible multi-scenario plans, starting with preps for the smaller ones. Zombie Apocalypse is a fun TV show but really not that likely.

Start with a power outage. Can you hold out 24 hours with what's in your house? If you have a few cans of food and bottles of water and a manual can opener, probably not going to be an issue, just a story to tell later. (STANDARD PREP LEVEL ZERO.)

Then figure on a flood or tornado with a 4-to-7-day hold out period. Just a few more cans but you're now into problems with water. You need four of those 1 liter bottles a day per person. You can hold out with two but you're going to have minor issues. If you don't have water stored, and the "immediate action drill" to fill every container in the house before the pressure dies doesn't work, one of those filter straws would at least give you a chance, assuming you can find a puddle. STANDARD PREP LEVEL TWO.

Big fires are a separate issue, but these are localized events. If you can get 20 miles to a hotel and have a valid credit card in your pocket you will get by just fine, but will lose everything you own. You might want to think about putting everything important (photo albums, birth certificates, the most important memories of deceased relatives) into one box in one closet so you can grab it on the way out. You probably don't need to stock 3 days of food (you have a credit card and can find a store) but in some parts of the country a fire "over there" might cut a road and trap the unhurt you in your house or office for two or three days. In that case, the "standard prep level one" will be fine.

Nuclear war is a vast subject, but I will mention the key point. If the blast doesn't get you, you need to stay inside away from fallout for at least 48 hours for the radiation to die down. Look around on line and you will find experts who will tell you that most of the bad stuff will burn out in 48 hours and you will find experts who say you cannot return home for 48 years. I can say that "staying in a rad zone" is much worse than "being in a rad zone for the brief time it takes to get out of it." You can buy some pretty good radiation detector equipment for $100.

I am going to mention what I will call STANDARD PREP LEVEL NULL. Tomorrow is scheduled to be bad weather in Amarillo. Do I have enough food on hand that if I just decide to stay home I won't be uncomfortably hungry? It's amazing how many people don't even have that. I don't think Domino's delivers during blizzards. Electricity, water, and natural gas will probably continue and I can do without electricity for one day. And given the notorious accuracy of weather predictions it will probably just be cold and not icy.

STANDARD PREP LEVEL ONE is not that hard to do. Assuming a family of four you need (minimum!) one can (one pound) of decent food per person per day (two is better). Obviously, get a variety (meat, beans, stew, chili, chicken and dumplings). The four of you have six or eight cans of food for the day. Open two at each meal and let everyone eat a portion of it. Cut down to two means one can per person per meal if you think things will last longer than you prepped for. If you want to go crazy buy a bottle of multi-vitamins and take a couple per day. Most of us have 7-30 days of prescription medicine at all times (plus basic first aid supplies and over the counter pills) so I'm going to just ignore that.

Even that basic prep level can be endless. Include a flashlight, a multi-tool, some way to charge a cell phone or flashlight (that hand cranked radio thing will work), a roll of duct (duck) tape and fifty feet of parachute cord. That and a gun or a big knife.

By Jon Murdock (Xenocide) on Monday, November 11, 2019 - 11:38 am: Edit

I keep a 72 hour emergency kit in a backpack in my car and cycle the food twice a year. I also keep a change of clothes and shoes with it. If I am in dress clothing or a swimsuit then in a crisis I will want hardier clothing and, in particular, better footwear. I also keep some cash hidden in my car and a larger stash hidden at home. If things go sideways and power is not available to use credit or debit cards a couple hundred dollars could be a good help.

Got a hand cranked radio in case I need disaster news and have no other power. I stockpile quite a bit of food but in a short term disaster situation my plan is to share it with neighbors.

In a general apocalyptic collapse my plan is to assume that I will be one of the 95%+ who dies quickly. On the off chance I do survive I plan to get my knife and as much useful gear as I can carry and go to a friend's house who stockpiles a lot more food and an arsenal and help him defend his family. If I think I can make a longer trip I would then hike for my brother's house.

By Steve Zamboni (Szamboni) on Monday, November 11, 2019 - 01:27 pm: Edit

We had 54" of snow one weekend last March, and people were trapped in their houses for a week. Power outages lasting for a week are also not unknown. Having a couple weeks' worth of extra food is just normal (as is a set of thermal clothes for when the house chills down).

An extended outage means I'll be eating through the freezer first, so add an extra tank of propane for stuff that needs to be cooked or turned into jerky. (Unless there's a blizzard at the same time, then I can just toss everything into the snow.)

An extra bag of dog food is also commonly overlooked.

(My wife goes full Wendigo psychosis if the cable is out for an hour. My biggest disaster issue will be finding a way to manage her boredom, not running out of food.)

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Monday, November 11, 2019 - 01:52 pm: Edit

For give my being vulgar, but one of the things to also consider is that what goes in the mouth eventually comes out the other end. When making your plans, take this into account, particularly if it is your intention to "Hold until Relieved."

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Monday, November 11, 2019 - 04:03 pm: Edit

My sister sent me a book titled A LAND OF ASH edited by David Dalglish. It's a series of short stories set soon after the Yellowstone Caldera goes off. I've read the first three or four stories; they're pretty depressing as they're about people waiting to die when the ash cloud hits. Only one thus far had anyone survive, but it ended with the dad and young daughter leaving shelter to attempt to make it to safety. On foot, with minimum supplies. Hopefully some of the stories I haven't read yet have happier endings.


Garth L. Getgen

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Monday, November 11, 2019 - 04:49 pm: Edit

Garth L. Getgen:

Honestly, I think I will pass.

Principle problem is that major in history of mine. I have gone through such stories for real over the long history of mankind (both natural and man made calamities) that I just do not really want to be exposed to much more of it. Particularly of late reading Antony Beevor's works and a history of what happened when the Japanese occupied Nanking.

I have, in any case, gone through several "what would happen if Yellowstone let loose" discussions, and ... I just do not want to say any more.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Monday, November 11, 2019 - 04:56 pm: Edit

I will however, note for the record that I have often before, and will again, mention that everyone should take the time to arrange to have some "level zero" preparedness in their pockets. A good pocket knife (if not a multi-tool) can operate as a mini-tool set to fix a lot of problems (like unscrewing the hinges on a locked door to allow you access without causing real damage so that the building still acts as a shelter). Or using the blade to sharpen the end of a good stick for a spear. A lighter so that you have the ability to make fire. It is not a matter of paranoia. Things happen, and your brain can do a lot more to help you survive if you have a few tools already available.

Cell phones are wonderful things, but sometimes help cannot come to you because help is helping someone else if the disaster is big enough. So even if you are good at keeping it charged, you may be told that you are on your own for a period of time. So improve your chances by having a few things to work with.

When your car slides off the icy road, you may survive only because of what you had in your pockets.

By Michael Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Monday, November 11, 2019 - 05:49 pm: Edit

any disaster kit NEEDS to have a firearm. Else all your stuff can be taken at gunpoint.

By Mark Steven Hoyle (Markshoyle) on Monday, November 11, 2019 - 06:51 pm: Edit

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Quote:

any disaster kit NEEDS to have a firearm. Else all your stuff can be taken at gunpoint.

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By Jeffrey George Anderson (Jeff) on Monday, November 11, 2019 - 11:43 pm: Edit

A thought on canned food.

We've got pantry shelves here with a couple weeks worth of canned foods. There is Corned Beef Hash, canned vegetables, black bread, tuna, deviled ham, canned fruits (pears, peaches, fruit cocktail), a variety of pasta types, and what-not.

We also have a propane grill in the back that, if we run out of propane, I can always fire up with the wood from our largely disintegrated redwood furniture.

We rotate the soda can sized water bottles and have a couple 24 packs, again in the pantry, and thanks to the lousy taste of local tap water, we have a month's stack of gallon drinking water bottles.

These are all just things for our regular, day-to-day living; they're not "Prepper Supplies." In an emergency, though, if we need to "Shelter in Place" for a week or two, our only problem will be not being able to properly do laundry; we'll just dip ourselves in the pool if we get... Fragrant.

This "Prep" was done without trying.

(On the other hand, if we're forced to "Bug-Out," as residents of the Los Angeles area, we're up the proverbial creek; there are so few ways out of SoCal and you KNOW those few will be constipated like nobody's business...)

By Paul Howard (Raven) on Tuesday, November 12, 2019 - 02:19 am: Edit

As with anything - very little can make a big difference.

However, it's probably also relevant to say where do you live and travel to on a regular basis?

If work to home is a maximum of 3 hours walk, you probably don't need 2 days of food in the car, but a Pen knife, 'Emergency torch'*, bottle of water, 4 energy bars, a change of clothes, a blanket and a shovel will resolve most problems.

* - They seem to contain fire lighters, seat belt cutter, safety glass breaking tip, personal first aid kit etc.

so that's the short term emergencies covered.

Medium to longer term (5 days+) is probably just for the home or office - but it would need to be a non-life threatening emergency for me to stay in my office and not try to get home to be with the family (i.e. most people will try to get to their loves ones).

I do agree though a Wind Up multi device is a must though (Radio, Torch, Charging Cable (Phone, other torches etc) - you never know how long you will not access to power/batteries.

The last issue is legal - what can you have in your home, office (and probably more relevant) the Car?

In the UK, if the police stop you and find a baseball bat in the car, they will ask you why? About the only reasonable reason (which they will check) is that you are going to or from a Baseball game/practice. Anything else infers your willing to use it - so that's pre-meditated.

Never mind the World might end - your in trouble now.

So the Pen knife needs to be 'legal' (for want of a better word, a hobby knife and not a hunting knife) and the big thing to hit someone or something (if required), can't be a bad - and something like a large heavy sturdy torch will hurt/break something just as well as a Baseball bat....

…. and the torch is perfectly legal.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, November 12, 2019 - 11:03 am: Edit

UK torch = US flashlight

Mag lights are the best for hitting people. Carried one in the State Guard (home guard in U.K.) every mission. Never had to use it but did have one case in which having it meant a potential problem turned around and walked away.

I despair to think of trying to survive SHTF in a nation of subjects. Good luck, my friend.

By Steve Zamboni (Szamboni) on Tuesday, November 12, 2019 - 12:50 pm: Edit

I used to keep a pair of the 6-cell Maglites in the car for emergencies, and a 2-cell in case I needed a flashlight.

(When I was working nights, there would be a Q-Beam under the seat. Take one of those to the face in the dark, and you'll wonder if your pupils will ever work right again.)

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, November 12, 2019 - 02:19 pm: Edit

Watched several Youtubes about storing food. They talked about Wise Foods vs Mountain Home and how long they would actually last. (When the apolcalypse comes, you won't be able to file a claim against the warranty.) Another guy bought bags of beans, repacked them in vaccuum bags, and packed them into 30 pound buckets on the theory that one pound per day would feed one person. (His theory is not entirely wrong. By the time you put the water back into the dried beans, it will be two pounds of food, but still 1500 calories, which isn't enough to do more than sit in a bomb shelter and play gin rummy.)

I still like cans. But then, I'm 68 and can expect to live 15 more years. Canned food is almost always good for 30-100 years.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, November 12, 2019 - 05:07 pm: Edit

This is worth a watch, both for the comic value and for a couple of serious bits of wisdom.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSSFAGx3GNY

By John Sickels (Johnsickels) on Wednesday, November 13, 2019 - 12:57 pm: Edit

In an apocalyptic disaster, my family would have no hope of survival since my son is non-verbal and completely dependent on having a functional society around him for support. We would have no way of sustaining his life without a strong surrounding civilization. Accordingly, if we somehow survived the initial stage of an apocalypse, we have an exit plan. Grim, but necessary to think about occasionally.

Like SPP, my knowledge of history is enough...I don't need to read about or watch movies about fictional disasters.

By John Sickels (Johnsickels) on Wednesday, November 13, 2019 - 12:58 pm: Edit

As for non-apocalyptic disasters, we always have about three weeks of canned food in the house and some jugs of water. I always carry a pocketknife, and go to the gun range every few months to keep my skills with a my kit revolver up to snuff.

By Michael Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Wednesday, November 13, 2019 - 04:58 pm: Edit

Actually, you can't live on JUST Beans, or white rice for that matter.

You CAN live on Beans & Rice. IIRC there are nutrients that one or the other is missing. But together they are a "complete food." The Japanese Navy figured that out a LONG time ago.

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/eating-too-much-rice-almost-sank-japanese-navy-55917

You also need some water soluble vitamins (B and C, IIRC) and minute amounts of iodine.

By Jeffrey George Anderson (Jeff) on Thursday, November 14, 2019 - 12:49 pm: Edit

Ahh, the crude jokes I could make about trying to live on a diet of just beans. Some might think it's a gas, others will think they stink to high heaven...

... Aaaand here comes my friend, the Slirdarian Corporal, Punishment, to throw me back in The Booth...

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Friday, December 13, 2019 - 07:08 pm: Edit

An odd week.

On monday, I pulled into a parking space, and the SUV in the slot next to mine backed out and ran his left front bumper up against my car ($1,583.00 repair cost).

On Wednesday, I apparently picked up a bug, as I was freezing to death in what to me is normally mild temperatures.

Today, the plague has developed into a constant nagging cough, and I probably will not be in the office tomorrow (seriously considered not coming in today and tried to keep some distance between myself and others).

Also today, there was an "active shooter" incident near where Jean lives (did not involve her or Al), and I wound up having to interact with John Law, but managed to stay "just off camera" of the local news crew.

I wonder what tomorrow will bring?

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Friday, December 13, 2019 - 09:37 pm: Edit

Why are you tempting fate by asking that???

RE: Car damage ... did you catch the SUV driver and make him pay?

RE: Active shooter near Jean's place "did not involve her or Al" ... well, no, because Jean would just use a frying pan on him, if a Gibb's Smack didn't straighten him out.

Hope you feel better soon!!!


Garth L. Getgen

By Kevin Howard (Jarawara) on Saturday, December 14, 2019 - 12:06 am: Edit

My money is on the "active shooter" being Petrick himself, having tracked down the SUV driver and making him pay the repair bill.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Saturday, December 14, 2019 - 02:25 am: Edit

I did not have to chase him down. He pulled the SUV back into his slot and presented his insurance information, and his insurance company acknowledged full liability.

It, for what it is worth, was very civilized.

You can ask Jean and Al about it, as they were both in my car when the incident occurred.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Saturday, January 04, 2020 - 03:35 pm: Edit

You go to war with the weapons you have, not the weapons you wish you had.

On the other hand, you go to the Apocalypse with the weapons you carefully selected for that purpose, but you don't know which Apocalypse will be the one you get, so choose wisely.

Any gun will be better than no gun, but the difference between $220 for a Taurus G2C (10 rounds, three inch barrel) and $270 for a Taurus G3 (17 rounds, four inch barrel) is astonishing and well worth the $50. (This is 5 minutes of quick research into a local gun store website for a 9mm semi-auto. Taurus is a low-cost option, but a similar Baretta would be $450, a Glock $650, and a SIG about $850. In the Apocalypse, a gun is a gun.