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"...besides love, independence of thought is the greatest gift an adult can give a child." - Bryce Courtenay, The Power of One

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Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Preppies

No, wait, that should be "Preppers", shouldn't it?

Eh.

When I met Someone (goodness, it's only been a little over two years since we "met" online and then in person...wowzers), he was into something called "prepping". I'd never heard of it, but it turns out I was doing it a little bit, any way.

Preppers, to varying degrees, store essential items against future need. They store food, water, non-food but useful things, and even weapons and ammunition. Me? At the time I had a case or two of water around and I always like to keep canned, dry, and frozen foods on hand, enough for a month or so. That behavior was a throwback to two things - when I lived where snow could make going anywhere a non-starter, and when I was working sporadically and didn't really know if there would be steady pay...and I have this silly habit of eating every day, sometimes more than once a day. I know, I know...

Since I wasn't a gadget gal and really don't care about clothing, makeup, shoes, purses, or other money-sucks, I bought foodstuffs.

Thanks to Someone and his uncle and a few other folks in the Blue Nowhere, I learned about prepping. Seem like quite a few people think life is going to get ugly very soon in this old nation of ours, and they want to be ready, so they're acting accordingly. Sometimes I agree, sometimes I don't, but I see the sense in having a good stock of food and whatnot on hand just in case.

Several time I've been glad for my small buffer, using it when the money ran low or ran out, or giving it to a friend who was broke with an empty cupboard. It's not the fanciest of eats, but when you are looking at hunger from a very close angle, a can of beans sounds just fine!

So I'm building up our preps, lately. Someone put some shelves in a closet for me - originally, we had things in bins with inventory lists, in case we had to grab and go, but the bins were getting in the way, and hopefully if the end of the world as we know it comes along, we'll have a minute or three to box our life and haul it up to Mum's (where we hope to move before the world ends, anyway).

When looking at this idea of preparedness from the outside, it looks weird. When stepping into the mindset, it feels overwhelming - where does one start?? With an empty box or closet, honestly. Then...fill it.

But with what?

Oh, hell, don't look at me for that - I am trying to buy extras of whatever goods I usually use, and sometimes grabbing things I don't use, like, or particularly want but may come in handy or be good for trade if we enter into a new Dark Ages. I have some cast iron pans, a few sewing supplies (because I will use them), some tools, games, seeds, first aid kits, and of course, food. As I shop, I put new items in the preps closet and pull old things out to use, keeping our stock as current as I can. Can...hah!

I've been reading up and taking notes and have a list of things to add to the closet as I can.

So my questions for you are: If you are a prepper or were to begin stocking and storing for a questionable future, what sorts of things, food or non, would you have? What is essential? What extravagances would you include? Would you prep for bad weather, rough finances, or the end of things as we know them? Would you prep for a community, or more as a hermit? Would you include family, friends, trade goods? Would/do you prep for complete self-reliance? And for how long? Days, weeks, months?

Tell me...

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am a prepper. A light weight compared to some. Start with food that the family will eat. And toilet paper. Nothing worse than being snowed in for days and running out of that!! As I live on a farm and we raise beef cattle, goats, chickens and I usually have a garden with, I can count on having something to eat most of the time. May not always be something I want to eat, but like you said, if you are looking at hunger up close, those beans ARE just fine, thank you very much. I mainly focus on weather and natural disaster related prepping but it is always in the back of mind that TWOTWAWKI could happen with a drop of a electro-magnetic pulse bomb. I figure that I will have family move home...right now that number with spouses and kids makes for a very full house. As it stands right now, we could do just fine for months with harder work than even we are used to.

Kyddryn said...

Hey, Sophiadawn, thanks for voicing your thoughts - I had forgotten toilet paper!! We have some paper goods on the list, but not TP...and that is SUCH a staple!

I'm hoping we can either move up to Mum's pr manage to buy the land next to her (c'mon, lottery!!) and start some serious gardening and canning so we don't have to rely so much on store-bought goods. We won't be able to have livestock (until we talk 'em into changing the convenants in the area), but there are some farms nearby that may be willing to trade, so that's a thought...

Shade and Sweetwater,
K

That Janie Girl said...

Smart girl, for being a prepper. I need to do the same.

HermitJim said...

Just a couple of things I might throw in, if I may!

First, a good rule of thumb is to buy what you eat, and eat what you buy! No use having a years supply of something no one likes!

Second thing...and with kids, this is important...keep some comfort foods handy! Nothing can help to ease the mind of a worried child in an emergency like some good ol' comfort foods and a hug!

If you keep an alternate light source (oil lamps and the like), plenty of water, an alternate way to cook, and a LOT of TP, then all will be well!

Don't forget to check the first aid kit and the feminine products!

Sorry, didn't mean to be so long!

Felinae said...

Yes, couldn't agree with Uncle Hermit more.

Store what you eat and eat what you store. Make sure to rotate it out, you know, newest in back, oldest in front. If you use it, replace it asap or as money allows.

Comfort foods, for the little ones, hot chocolate, mac & cheese, hard candy, etc. again stuff they like.

Yep, store up on any and all toiletries, ie. toilet paper, toothpaste, feminine necessities. I know some of the guys out there say Bullets, Band-aids and Beans and that is pretty much true.

Put together a good first aid kit, with various sizes of bandages, guaze pads, neosporin, burn cream etc.

If you have family pets...ours are staying/going with us, leaving them is not an option. put together some preps for them as well. With us we now have 3 dogs and the cats, so extra food for both, plus their own first aid kit.

Hand crank radio, flashlight, camp stove, oil lamps, candles etc.

It can be overwhelming when you first start, but once you get started it gets easier.

There are a lot of blogs out there to get more info. I know you follow a lot of them already.

My blog, I rarely post about the prepping, in fact I think I've only ever done one prepping post. No reason other than when I set it up it was as a comfort blog for others to get away from the more harsh, reality based prepping blogs. There are however some really good blogs on my blog roll where you can get more info, if they aren't on my side bar they are all in my profile.

Susan said...

Chardonnay. Toilet paper. In that order.

Kyddryn said...

Janie, thanks...but honestly, I think it's more that I have a sense of self-preservation and I REALLY like to eat.

Mister Hermit, sir, I had much of that covered...but forgot the feminine items! Yikes...there's something I wouldn't like to do without of have to improvise! Cheers...

Mizz Felinae, thanks...I'm slowly compiling and then whittling down a list...and y'all are helping!

Susan, you bring the Chardonnay and I'll bring the munchies...we'll weather the apocalypse in style!!

Phil said...

Some is better than none.

My new wife is in for a ride, she has nothing put back in the way of food and supplies.
I see a radical change coming her way but it will be discussed first. This hurricane coming up the East Coast will no doubt result in numerous stories about folks who were not prepared for the sheet storm. That will be some leverage.

Either way, she is going to be introduced to putting things away for emergencies.

Kyddryn said...

Holy cats, Ornery Bastard landed in my patch twice in one day?? The world really IS coming to an end. Ahem, Mr. Bastard...didn't you just get married? And, erm...not to be indelicate or an ingrate, but aren't you and Nasty Girl supposed to be up to something that bears very little resemblance to blogging??

While the storm may not be as bad as initially predicted, I do believe there will be plenty of opportunity to learn from it (and the recent quake that surprised some folks here in the East).

Felicitations, again, to you and your beautiful Mrs. Her dress, by the way, was lovely. I adore a bride who will wear crimson!

Cheers for stopping by...