In a lot of your comments I have picked up a lot of useful information as to what people are doing to prepare for the difficult year to come.
There is no doubt that the next year or two will be pretty tough for a lot of people. Energy prices were already set to financially ruin families and that was before the Ukrainian war.
Some people do nothing and prefer to ride the wave, others prefer to plan for the worst and build nuclear shelters in their gardens.
So, what have you done to prepare for whatever comes our way this year? Have your stored extra food and water? Grown fruit and vegetables? Tried to becoming less reliant on the energy suppliers? Diversified your assets into crypto?
And for how long have you been prepping? Has the Ukrainian war pushed you to buy a few more cans of beans or have you been prepared for years now?
It would be great to hear what you are all doing so we can discuss what the best options are and maybe provide people with ideas that they had not thought of.
Been prepping (lightly) for many years, as the markets have indicated a collapse (not a recession, a collapse) for many years now. The programs of money printing (politely referred to as Q.E.) sealed our fate years ago. But since the start of Covid I have begun preparing more rapidly, on a very tight budget. Polytunnels, seeds, working on solar system now (when i can afford batteries!), basically just getting house in order.
Priority list for those new to prepping...
1. Clean Water - Collected rain is fine. Get a Berkey filter or similar. You can dig to water table, use streams, rivers, run off water, IF you have a GOOD filter and plenty of replacement filter units for it.
2. Security - Yes, before food. You can go weeks without food, especially if you're a bit chunky! Guns if you’re in a country which respects freedom. If you’re not (like me, UK), crossbows make a very nice legal loophole. Nowhere near as useful but certainly deadly. But I have to say (somewhat from experience), and bear with me here…. A 10 shot repeater CO2 BB gun (steel balls or pellets) is WAY more of a practical self defence tool than people give it credit for. I know those with ‘real’ guns will laugh at this, but try having the trigger of one of those pulled in your face a few times, blinding you and piercing your face, you will NOT be standing around for long, and it DAMN hurts. Only fire at bare skin, face and neck. Obviously, it won’t kill, but there are other things which are still legal (big knives, baseball bats) which make a good backup for a disarmed Brit! If you’re a bit naughty (which of course I most certainly am not ;) !) you can look up how to make a taser. APPARENTLY It’s remarkably easy with an 18650 battery and cheap bit of circuitry from Chinese sites (Alibaba etc). Look it up, fascinating, and could be a lifesaver. Obviously only do that if it’s legal in your country, which is nowhere, so don’t look it up at all!
3. Food - Tinned, dried, rice and pastas are best bang for buck. If you have money, look into pressure canners and learn about it. Can store food for decades easily, your own food, including what you can grow/produce. Chickens - Eggs are the easiest and most plentiful superfood. I knew a man, 6'4" built like a 'brick sh*thouse' who genuinely consumed goats milk and raw eggs every day, and nothing else, for MANY years. Strong as an ox and NEVER had flu or illnesses. He was a tad weird though. :D Get an incubator, get some hens, and a cockerel, and use this summer to learn. You only need one good book about chicken keeping, it’s remarkably easy and the return for effort/cost is unsurpassed, and the health freaks will know only too well the vitamins and goodness in eggs. They can be boiled and canned too, and eaten raw to save fuel if really necessary (and not as bad as you’d think, and full health benefit that way). Obviously meat is another benefit but I’d stick with the eggs as a priority and if poss, incubate some to run on for meat. Again crossbow, rifle, air rifle, even catapult - rabbits/pigeons/squirrels….. Get a trapping/snaring book. Fishing rod if you have rivers/sea nearby.
4. Shelter/Heat (Obviously in true survival this is number one even above water, as exposure will kill quicker even than dehydration). However since most reading have a home, shelter is taken care of. And a few layers of clothes will easily keep most warm enough without turning on the heating. But a wood burner or similar stove will work as both heating and cooking/boiling water. Worst case, if you have sufficient food, layers of clothing and some exercise, will do you good, raise morale, make you stronger, and keep you warm. Try doing 20 press ups every half hour, now that’s self-sufficient heating!
5. Basic First aid - all the usual suspects, plus make sure you have Hydrogen Peroxide, Magnesium Sulfate paste, aspirin, ibuprofen, bandages, iodine spray (best thing for wounds), antibiotics if you can (try the naughty web, there are sites in Turkey which will post stuff like that all over world). Anything else you know you’ll need, if you wear glasses, get a couple of spare pairs made. This is NOT an exhaustive list, just look up prepper first aid stuff and see what you think you’ll need.
6. Transport - My own personal tip this - If you don't have a half decent quality BICYCLE in the home, get one, NOW. If (when) combustion engines are inaffordable or fuel isn't available, imagine the time and effort it takes to walk a mile or two, versus a gentle bicycle ride. I think a bicycle could be one of the biggest regrets if we don't have one when that times comes. Speed is also a security protection (getting away, avoiding groups/gangs on foot etc)
I could go on, maybe I should make a decent post about this. The above is just a blast from top of my head. A few honorable mentions...
Candles.
Flashlights (solar/windup ideally or a good store of batteries)
Walkie talkies (again plenty of batteries or solar charger ideally)
Silent inverter generator with a good few hundred litres of fuel - not for cooking/heating but for charging laptop/flashlights or communication devices, use only when 100% essential.
Books on any subjects you think you haven’t got time to learn about now but will want to when you’re hunkered down. Medical, electronics, food/animals, any subject. Chuck in a bible perhaps, no good prepper forgets his bible, whether atheist or not! It might make more sense in such a situation too!
If you’re filthy rich:
Get decent night vision (Gen3 or above), and/or Thermal monocular (amazing for spotting both food/prey and threats), day or night, at long distances. Pulsar make the best value for money in my view. Being able to move in pitch black darkness while knowing where ‘they’ are but they don’t know where you are, is a great alternative for us who can’t have a gun to deal with such things.
Stab/Ballistic vest.
Above all, I’d advise to keep this in mind when considering all the above - IF things go THAT WRONG - You only NEED enough supplies to be able to hunker down and NOT go out begging/stealing/borrowing (like everyone else who didn’t prep will be doing). Stay home, eat and drink the minimum, but enough to keep morale up and stay healthy. And just stay OUT OF HARM’s WAY for a while. Let the Biden voters kill each other for a month or two, they surely will when suddenly nanny state isn’t helping feed their kids.
If you have supplies to be able to do that for THREE MONTHS - You can be fairly sure that by the end of that period, the outside world will have calmed a fair bit and it will be much safer to venture out. The inevitable gangs will have had their fill, killed whoever they were going to, or hopefully been killed by those who prepped more seriously than you did. Groups will form, humanity will (to some extent, I believe) come together, and you can then offer your support to small local groups, taking watches/sentry duties so people can sleep easy, start to support each other for food/skills, caring for kids while adults make plans etc.
Oh and one final tip, EXPLORE your local population for like-minded people. Not just online either! I tacitly mention the prepping subject to people I meet daily. I just drop a very subtle comment (literally to almost everyone I meet, shopkeepers, dog walkers, everyone!) where I’ll say something like “well if things keep going the way they are going we won’t be driving our cars for much longer”. If you get the more common response of either no reply, or a nervous chuckle or something which says they don’t know what you’re talking about, laugh and move on. But when you meet someone who nods and acts like they have just been thinking a little about this, discuss much more deeply. If they are local to you, swap contact details and get to know them. I did this a few months ago, chatted to a guy in a garage working on someone’s car. He wasn’t ‘on board’, but he said ‘you should talk to Steve who owns this car’. I waited around and sparked a conversation with him when he came for his car, and it turns out the guy is a HUGE prepper, and also a multi millionaire. Weird as hell… he lives just a few miles away from me, hidden in some woods, and he has tens of THOUSANDS of litres of diesel and petrol stored underground, massive solar system, off road vehicles, plantations of crops, wind power, the whole nine yards! I think he was insane to tell me all about it so openly (I sure wouldn’t!) but these people generally LIKE to talk about it with like-minded people. So I now have a place I know I can go and barter for some fuel, or maybe even hunker down with. I am sure he’d appreciate having someone he can trust helping secure the place. BUT.. here’s the catch, and why I suggest doing this NOW…. If I meet him AFTER it’s all gone wrong, how likely is he to trust me (or anyone) THEN?! Now is the time to build bridges, make contacts. Prepping for personal security is great, but having a plan for a group (if you can) is light years ahead of that. It would take one hell of a gang to tackle an encampment of well-armed, well-resourced, family men all there to protect their families!
Well, I had better go and find some money for batteries! Hope that is of some use to someone. And remember, sensible prepping is not about ego or length of reproductive organs. It’s about ensuring that, when you’re in the scariest time of your LIFE, you can be 50% calmer and more prepared than EVERYONE ELSE who didn’t have the foresight to do the same, and thus may not survive. And don’t be a hero. If you go, who looks after your family? Self preservation is your family’s best defence. Look after numer 1, then numbers 2,3,4, then others, in that order. Here’s to a world without Biden voters. :D
You made a good point when you noted that it is perhaps unwise to let people know how ready you are, unless you can trust people you tell with your life. When stuff hits the fan and desperate people are looking to survive, you don't want them to remember watching you and your family bring in supplies; you don't want to make yourself or your family into targets, if you can avoid it.
Absolutely. I have a man coming to fix our boiler, and the room it's in has some racking with hundreds of tins of food. I spent the past hour covering the shelves up with bed sheets. For exactly that reason.
Fernando Ferfal (Author of a book about Argentina 2001 collapse - well worth a read) said that one of the most shocking things he witnessed just DAYS after the banking system collapsed there, was how many white collar workers, accountants, bank clerks etc, were seen attacking people and in particular, women (to do the heinously unimaginable to them). He said it gave him a whole new view of humanity, when the SHTF, many (not all, but many more than you'd think) turn into complete animals.
The only people I tell locally about my prepping (or even my line of thinking about what's to come, as that's a tip off if you seemed to be in the know, you 'probably prepared' for it) are people I would trust. As an old friend used to say: "I call a friend someone you can trust with three things: Your life, your wife, and your money!". Those are the types I tell, and nobody else.
I live a couple of miles outside of town on a few acres. I have some poultry and a few elderly sheep. We also have Rottweilers. Because of the church across the street, people know that we have the large dogs. We have not had any real trouble until the past two years with sketchy people checking out our shop. We have not had any, "teenage type crime" at our place. Apparently the prior owners did, but they had a lab.
I am reluctant to discuss our prepping. We are more prepared then most, but I don't feel like we could go more then a month or so. Remember to stash some candy bars- chocolate lasts for years. Eating canned goods is much easier if you have some dessert.
UK? I'd add a few attack-trained dogs like german shepards that are good family pets. And a horse, if you have room. Few city people can ride, horses are versatile in terms of terrain, and harder to snatch from you as you ride by.
Now I am wondering if I could train my gelding to execute some offense moves like war horses of old.
haha. I left dogs out of it, for various reasons. Main one being ... I have trained dogs for years, including attack/protection dogs. Friends of mine in the trade (breeders and trainers) have had a MASSIVE spike in sales of working line GSDs and Malinois. Both (the latter especially) are NOT for the average owner, whether trained or not, and SO many dogs are suffering because millionaires are thinking the same thing. I just don't want to encourage people to get dogs for that purpose alone.
If they love dogs or want one as a pet as well, fine. but as a standalone security tool, they are generally not going to work as well as people think without being a fully fledged member of the family. yes you can get an attack dog to keep in a kennel but, speaking from experience here (quite a bit too!), those are serious pieces of kit BUT they are always so securely kenneled (away from kids, other pets etc!) that you NEVER have time to get them out when needed! I had some baddies turn up once, long story i wont go into here, and i had about one second to act. I needed about 30 to get over to where the dog was, just wasn't doable!
A good loyal pet dog is far more useful, it's always there, around you, in the car with you, etc. I trained someone's Border Collie to do bitework, it was friggin awesome too, fast as lightning and taught him to bounce in front of face gnashing teeth (all done with toy). The dog loved it, it certainly was intimidating, and the kids could tell him do it when required!
BB Gun - Yep, exactly. Better than nothing is how I'd describe it. A joke compared to a .38 or .44, but certainly not a joke when receiving 5 ft/lbs of energy in a lead pellet at point blank range in the face. The reflex is to cover face with arms and hands, turn away, and/or run away. Either way, you have a chance to get away, or finish the job with a more useful tool hanging on your belt :). I don't relish such things, but I also won't shy away from it if it comes my way. I would keep the body of course, dogs need feeding after all! And why not give them a taste for Caravan Utilizing Nomadic Travellers. ;)
I don't suppose you can buy bear spray where you live? That is a VERY effective deterent. Us mountain hikers always have it strapped to the belt (not in the backpack, sheesh).
Actually, very good point, and one I would have mentioned if I'd remembered.
1. No, in the UK that is probably covered under the Firearms Act as a 'Section 1' weapon, meaning you can't get it without Home Office approval, what a fecken joke, but what isn't in the UK? That includes CS, Pepper, Parva, and all other similar sprays.
2. I have a nice little workaround for it, and best of all, I have seen it work. And it DOES! A friend of mine used to run a small burger van. It was parked in a pub car park and he opened it on weekends. It was in a nasty area with a lot of 'smack heads' (heroin addicts). He showed me what he had made and I thought it was pretty cool, but one night I got to see it used 'in anger'.
He made one of the best chilli sauces I have ever tasted, and it was dangerously hot! The type that takes your breath away and can cause what looks like anaphylaxis in many who tried it! It was reserved for those who asked for something extremely hot.
He got some grief from some of the customers (I had to help out a few times, pretty nasty people even without being high and drunk) so he adapted the sauce into a very effective defensive weapon.
He had a blender, and he would buy huge bags of small red chills, dried ones. I forget the particular name but it doesn't matter, any hot red chills will do.
He blended them with lemon juice (bottled concentrate) and some olive oil or any other vegetable oil (to help it stick to surfaces!). When I say blended, i mean enough to turn it all to liquid, the seeds especially. Then he'd thin it with more oil and water or lemon juice until it was runny enough.
He then bought one of those kids water pistols, the good quality large ones (2 feet long) with a pump handle. You can pump up the pressure like a pump action shotgun, then when you pull trigger there’s a seriously strong jet which will travel easily 20-30 feet. He then had that under the counter.
He had a customer being an a55-hole, calling him names, threatening to do x,y,z, and also making lewd remarks towards my friend’s 11 year old daughter who was there at the time. He told him to go away a few times but nothing worked. He called the Police, got the usual British reply “very busy, will get to you when we can”. Then the guy worked himself into a rage and came around to the end door to come inside the trailer. With that my friend grabbed the ‘water pistol’, pumped it up, and aimed it at the door. As it opened he let rip, plastering his face and torso in a second or two!
What followed was both the most shocking and hilarious thing I think I’ve ever seen. The guy backed up, fell over, and curled up in the foetal position on the tarmac, a crippled heap of screaming/crying 5hit! “Help me help me, I can’t see, aaaaaagghh”. This went on for about a minute, when ‘of course’ the police arrived! We told them he’d used the chilli sauce to protect himself as the man was making threats and actually came inside the van. With that the guy was arrested (possession of drugs and threatening behaviour). We wrote on the side of the water pistol “Baby Food”, and it had pride of place under the counter for many years!
Having said that, I wouldn’t boast about it to anyone, as in this POS country I am sure the Police could (and certainly would) try to call the ‘device’ a home made offensive weapon, and they may even win on that argument. So it’s best kept quiet, but at least while it’s sat ready for use, it is not illegal as its just chilli sauce and not a specifically defined prohibited article like ‘bear spray’ or ‘CS spray’ would be, and here those would carry a Statutory (which means minimum) 4 years in prison. Screw that, chill sauce all the way baby!! :D
I have some. Before I was afflicted with crippling nerve pain in my feet, I was hiking in CA regularly. Those days are over, but I still have the spray on hand. Good idea for others, too.
There's an alternative doc on Youtube that had some good episodes on nerve pain... I followed his advice with the B vitamins and D (got a sunlamp, which he did not recommend), cut back the few carbs remaining (though I cycle off and on), and the nerve pain in my feet went away. Don't know if it will help in your situation, but thought I'd share. My PT guy has me wearing vibram 5 fingers, too. He had me doing tons of swimming before I did anything on the ground.
Thank you for this, very thoughtful. Regrettably, my nerve pain is caused by a disc bulge at L3/L4, which must be corrected surgically (2 May, if we don't go into another lockdown). That said, after surgery, my PT routine likely will include swimming, I hope so anyway. I'll check out the doc on youtube; could you send a link or his name? Thanks, again.
Cool. I'm near Oxford, England, and when I first learnt about "preppers" I thought typical USA lunacy. But since 2018 I've been steadily building reserves and defences. Don't forget a couple of springer Air Rifles that you can legally obtain and hunt with.
Love the username! Yep, maybe 10-15 years ago I probably had the same prejudice. I now believe the reason so many Brits have that same prejudice is... JEALOUSY!
I mean, I don't care how much of a pink-shirted liberal you are, any red-blooded Y-Chromosomed male looking at Americans on YouTube firing AR15s or pump action Mossbergs on their 'lil patch' (usually of hundreds of acres!) who doesn't get a 'slight swelling in the trouser region', is frankly lying and riddled with jealousy! I think that's the motivation behind many of the 'stupid gun-toting Americans' comments so often expressed by Brits. I know one thing, I'd almost give my right arm to switch places, I am just no longer afraid to admit it :)
Thanks, it was an unplanned keyboard sprint! I should do a properly written and thought-out version and I think I will, as it's clearly a subject of interest to many on substack here.
I don't assume to know what will face me afterwards. I'd just like to have a chance to look and decide for myself based on the reality, rather than any premature guesswork. Yes, nuclear holocaust, I may be looking for that tree, maybe the branch next to you. Economic collapse though? Not so sure. But if you're volunteering to go first, let me know where and I will be there to pinch your shoes and give a quick tug to make sure you don't suffer. You can thank me in the next life :)
Happy to expand on this if anyone is interested but we are starting to grow our own vegetables, grapes (wine is important!), wheat, fruit. We have wild boar and deer on our land. We have access to lamb from collaborating farmers. We have our own chickens for eggs. We are considering goats for milk. We have a near inexhaustible supply of firewood, a large solar system for electricity and for hot water, a septic system producing biogas for cooking. We have our own water supply with filtration & purification for drinking. We also have extremely good security. We have a 1000 litre diesel storage system with fuel stabilisation.
I feel I need to add a supplementary comment. My earlier post was a simple list of components to our preparedness but I think it might be misinterpreted as rather tasteless bragging. This was absolutely not intended in any way & I hope it wasn’t taken that way.
By way of context…10 months ago we gave up a comfortable life in the UK to move to a remote finca in Spain. Like most rural properties in remote campos, it is off-grid. When we began our search for our home in Spain five years ago we never intended to live off-grid nor did we anticipate the downward spiral in the so called free and democratic west. We did not forecast today’s reality & plan for it, we have accidentally found ourselves living a self sufficient lifestyle because it comes with the territory but we are certainly glad that we have.
We’re not particularly smart or wealthy or special, and we know that we are fortunate. But I am pretty ‘handy’ so all of the work here on our finca is our own. I am happy to describe any part in more detail if anyone requests it.
My Patriot Food Supply 6 months. 25 year shelf life. Plus I'm waiting for the next BLM riots to go loot a jewelry store. Maybe pick up a new OLED and playstation to help pass the end times.
I bought a ton of rice and beans and other cheap and long life supplies last year when I suspected that jab mandates were coming. I was fired from my job in December for non-compliance with the mandates and the prepping has saved my family and I. This year I will be getting chickens and growing all our vegetables. It is shocking to realize that the government is not your friend. It has certainly woken me up to reality. My Substack keeps me going mentally; it keeps me focused and positive.
Good stuff. But don't be afraid of canned meats. In the typical American supermarket, within a few feet of the canned tuna, there are often 12.5 oz. cans of chicken meat. And whatever the "best by" date on the cans is you can safely eat them years past that. Experimented last year with some cans stamped as best by some date in 2015, 6 years past that date and they were perfectly fine.
Have you ever tried it? It's perfectly fine. If it had been put on your caesar salad, you would never know it wasn't something just bought from the store.
God bless you and good luck. Long run I think you'll be extremely glad you avoided the shot if you aren't already. I'm a 30+ year federal employee who has a religious exemption request in to avoid the jab. That's all been paused due to the Texas court case - but my agency was slow-walking it even before then. I have about a year until I'm retirement eligible so if they let me go it's not a problem. The last few years have really been eye opening, that's for sure. Been wanting to move a southern red state for a while to escape Michigan winters, but now it seems like an imperative.
It has bothered me for many years, how the most left wing animal rights activists, and naturists/conservationists, are always 'cat people'. We have a cat (unfortunately!). I don't expect to win a popularity contest of course, just to tell it how I see it. My cat in the past month alone has killed the Robin that used to sit and look at me when making my coffee in the morning, TWO woodpeckers, and TWO JAYS (extremely rare where I am, birdwatchers come to see them!). Meanwhile it doesn't bother with our rats or mice (it does take the voles though, which i'd rather he didn't!), and it doesn't try its luck on with the billion magpies, jackdaws and other corvids we have plaguing the place! Cats KILL indigenous wildlife. I don't get their popularity at all! Not hating them as an animal as such, more confused at their popularity among those who claim to love the environment and wildlife! Not that facts often matter to such people, feelings are WAY more important! And cat's are 'spiritual' after all, allegedly, and again they are especially popular with atheists. I can't make sense of this world any more :D
Good for you. I have a friend who built a big run out the back of his house, 2 inch cage mesh on a 2x2 wood frame, climbing poles, scratch poles, all sorts to play with, but no access to his bird feeder!
Funny how we can all be ignorant sometimes. Years ago I (and my wife especially) really didn't like people who kept their cats indoors and never let them out. We thought it was "cruel". Then years later we had a discussion with an animal behaviourist (PHD level) and that opened our minds, both to the damage cats can do to other critters, but also to why it isn't cruel at all as cats (like most animals) don't know what they don't know, so can't miss what they don't have! I felt so stupid, and ever since I think your approach is much better.
P.S. He did also say that he believed 'de-clawing' cats under anaesthetic was a very humane way to make them safer as outdoor creatures, preventing them catching and playing with (killing) all the little creatures they so enjoy teasing and killing!! Seems like a bit of a turnaround though, where the cat teases itself!!
That's because, while you're sleeping peacefully in your bed, the cats are covertly training the dog. Obvious really, smart feckers these cats ya know. They are the CIA of animals :D
That sounds like a great outdoor solution for the kitties *and* the birdies!
All but one of our cats started out feral, but they were able to transition to being indoor cats (much easier for the kittens) and are now totally blissful indoors. Indeed, when one of our cats popped a screen and accidentally wound up outdoors, he was absolutely *petrified*, and he yowled and zoomed back and forth across the yard before cowering in terror under a bush. We were finally able to capture him and bring him back indoors, after which he immediately relaxed and returned to his purring, happy self.
The only one we couldn’t convert was the feral mama, but she is now spayed and spends all her time on our patio. She is fat and lazy and never once has touched a bird to my knowledge. Indeed, birds have landed just a few feet away from her, and she’ll eye them casually for a minute and then go back to sleep.
“Declawing traditionally involves the amputation of the last bone of each toe. If performed on a human being, it would be like cutting off each finger at the last knuckle.”
It is a horrifically cruel procedure and should be outlawed.
I understand the emotional response. But that link provides nothing to back up the idea of "viciousness" or "brutality". On the contrary, it tries its best to come up with behavioural implications (might bite more?!), and provides not one shred of proof that any suffering is experienced. The arguments they use to try to persuade people not to do sound very similar to the arguments I used to have against keeping cats indoors. I could list a whole string of health issues cats get if kept indoors, obesity, boredom... bla bla. The facts of the matter (facts which that article doesn't dispute or even try to) are that a medical procedure performed under general aneasthetic by a qualified surgeon can not cause any suffering or even pain, any more than spaying or any other procedure done properly. The only possible negatives are the behavioural ones, like cats can't claw stuff, and that was kinda the idea.
So whilst I understand your response, I had the same one myself after all, I am not so sure it's more than purely an emotional reaction based on nothing more than guesswork and feelings. I am willing to be proved wrong, I just remain unconvinced without seeing some. I also wouldn't want an animal to suffer, and as a fervent opponent of dog tail docking, ear cropping, and even neutering, I do have a strong desire to prevent animal suffering, unnecessary pain, and behavioural problems caused by human over-intervention.
Just one letter could be changed there to make it a much more sensible plan. Change the 'n' to a 't' on the third to last word. I actually thought that's what it said at first!
Keep hold of him, he's a gooden. :D (Just kidding, I don't despise cats, just the majority of people who own them, present company excepted of course!)
I bought extra cans of chicken for my wee beasties 😂 it’s less expensive than the pricey soft cat food I have to feed one of them due to allergies/urinary issues plus I can eat it in an emergency.
Freezers are full of meat and vegetables, stocking up on non-perishables. Bought a generator to run the freezers if the power goes out. Crazy we have to be thinking like this in the year 2022. #FJB
I think the freezers are great. I wonder if you could run them off some cheap solar panels. They don't use much electricity. That way you wouldn't have to be concerned about fuel supply issues. I will have to look into this myself.
Yeah I was thinking about that too. I'm in southeast Michigan so we don't get a lot of good sunlight from November thru March, but it would be very helpful for a lot of the year. Would surely help stretch the fuel supply out any time of year.
We have our generator locked in a shed with a door facing the house. The door is secured so it can be left open about 8” only to allow ventilation but prevent removal. It is also a tri-fuel generator. It will run on natural gas, propane or gasoline. Some gasoline generators can be converted to tri-fuel. An online search will tell you if your model can be changed. It gives you good flexibility in case of shortages.
It was a good point nonetheless. Staying under the radar is better than fighting off hordes of looters, no matter how much firepower one might have. Sorry for your situation in Germany, which doesn't look to be improving. Hope you have been prepping, and good luck sincerely.
A partial work around: I have a solar generator, which is silent, and can run indoors. I also have a try-fuel generator. I can run the tri-fuel generator for a short time to power up the solar generator, which can run most household essentials. Ideally I would run the tri-fuel generator only when safe (noisy outside from storm, rain, wind etc. or just daytime city noise). I know it won't always work out that way but it's a partial safety measure.
I think about it daily. Yesterday I read about pistols. We are in our 70's. My husband is a doctor. I cannot believe the state of our world. Yes, we are preparing. With children and grandchildren there is no option.
I started to stock up last year. I bought extra dry goods - flour, yeast, rice, pasta, porridge oats. Also tins - tomatoes, beans, baked beans (wholemeal bread + beans = full protein). Candles and matches. Camping stove and gaz cannisters. Bought half a pig and froze it. I need to increase stocks but funds are LOW! Thinking of getting quinoa as it is a full protein and can sprinkle it into the rice etc. Going to be planting veg in garden - digging up front lawn to use. I managed to grow fair few runner beans last year and froze them. Going to preserve the ones this year with salt. Look into canning. Would like chickens but garden too small and concerned about how to feed them if there is a shortage etc. Watch Ice Age Farmer for tips etc.
You can feed chickens all your vegetable scraps from your vegetable garden if you run low on food. Chickens create great fertilizer for your garden and the eggshells are also great calcium for gardening.
Also - start learning about what we can eat that grows around us/foraging etc. Also stock up on medicines and learn about natural medicines/hedgerows/backyard
I began lightly prepping two years ago as Covid hit. Nothing special back then, just lots of canned foods, baby formula, diapers, jugs of water, and some first aid supplies. I had a newborn at the time and knew that I had to be prepared to feed my children in the event of societal & economic breakdown. Since that time, we moved to a new country so I had to start all over––although we're in a larger home now with more storage and room to grow food. My husband and friends teased me for my preparations back then––now, they're joining in. I should add, I CANNOT frickin' believe that 2 years later, not only are things not back to normal, but we're in an even more precarious situation.
Now my prepping is more extensive. For baked goods, I have stored a few months' worth of various grains, flour mixes, corn starch, yeast, baking soda, sugar, oils, etc. You need to be able to make your own breads and porridge from scratch in the event of major supply chain breakdowns.
Add to this dried beans & vegetables, nuts, dried pastas, milk powders (for the kids), and canned fish.
All of these things you can buy from bulk food stores online.
Have extensive first aid supplies on hand. I am working on adding additional vitamins and simple medicines (potassium iodide, magnesium, creatine, NAC, antibiotics, hydration powders for GI illness) to our stock.
I'm beginning to grow vegetables this spring and we're working on getting chickens for eggs and meat rabbits, which we'll butcher at home.
Get yourself a guard dog or at least a watch dog.
I also second what Mark Jones said above about having equipment like bicycles & firearms at home. BB guns are useful too––you can go dove hunting with BB guns for their meat. There are lots of doves in our area. Start buying propane and fuel now. We're gradually buying propane so we can grill in the event of power outages.
For the parents, don't forget to prep your homeschool materials. Get Christian or classical curricula ready, lots of books, art supplies & workbooks. Our kids are in nice little private schools right now, but the second shit hits the fan, we are ready to immediately switch to homeschooling.
My ancestors survived plagues, world wars, and the Great Depression. I ain't takin' this shit lying down. You shouldn't either.
Mar 9, 2022·edited Mar 9, 2022Liked by NE - Naked Emperor Newsletter
Another thing to consider is your mental state. How do you deal with isolation? Real isolation without internet, phones and so on?
Also, what do you do with your waste? If you live in an apartment of any kind as opposed to a house or lodge or something, well, number one you can do in the shower drain if you have to, but number two? A bucket will fill up, and stink up. Emptying it out the window tells others someone is living there (or if it's not a major societal prolapse will tell authorities to bring the hug-yourself-jacket...). Hauling human waste around carries its own risks. So, that's something you need to consider too.
Furthermore, it is a very different set of reactions and patterns you need to cultivate regarding risks, especially health. Starvation or lack for water will not be the biggest dangers, infection will. And if you need special medications, or even something simple like insulin, well good luck. Women especially needs to consider how to handle menstruation - are you prepared to use cotton/linen pads and handwash them using lye and boiling water? In your $300 000 Manhattan apartment? (Obviously I don't know Sack Jhit about Manhattan prices - I just grabbed a big number.)
There are a thousand and one little things to consider, depending on scope. And the thing is, don't fall into the trap of thinking "either - or", because that's a luxury one can't afford at the sharp end. It's both, always. Not flint and steel, or a magnesium lighter, or match sticks or a Zippo - its all of them, plus a lens and at least a sketch how to make a firebow. Keep that principle in mind when stocking up on stuff, and also try to think up small scenarios regarding "learning to do without". Example:
Do you use lenses? How would you cope without? Do you have spare glasses? How many pairs? Because the small irritations and minor infections you can get from being sloppy or unlucky with lenses can result in severe infection, even sepsis, necrosis or gangrene at worst (any nurse or doctor reading please interject if I'm shooting wide off the mark here!). And in a breakdown, triage will be enforced with firearms.
Maybe try a weekend completely without any tech post-1980, see if you get withdrawal syndromes. Being prepared mentally means the falls into place when you start putting it together in your mind. (Edited for spelling.)
Right back at you, and thank you. Ideas should be free, I think. When you have mastered a field, often it just means you have learned to do the same thing as everyone else, by rote, meaning you haven't really learned to apply your skills creatively.
I think it's my father's experience rubbing off on me, since he is career military, combat engineering corps, so learning to get the job done with whatever is at hand has been part of growing up.
I was a glutton for almost sixty years and about three years ago I started to crash after every meal. I hate needles so the alternative was to figure out why. First I stopped eating sugar and bread, which was helpful to lose weight but didn't stop the crash, then I learned about insulin resistance and reduced my eating, which helped me lose weight but didn't stop the crash. Then I stopped eating carbs other than what I grow myself and ferment. Now I eat mostly two meals a day in six hours and nothing other than water and black coffee goes in my mouth the rest of the time. I've done a few 66 and 42 hour fasts and one meal a day episodes to bolster my health and I don't ever remember feeling this stable. I went to all this trouble to tell you we are built for this, for catastrophe. Just have to not be shocked by change.
One of my long distance acquaintances told me about this over the phone a few weeks ago. He didn't say about the discipline part though. Interesting. I have to agree only through experience instead of actually being smart enough to have studied Orthodox Christian customs. Soon, but like a thief in the night for those not in the know.
If it comes to really hard times and you and your loved ones had to eat only a restricted number of calories, I think most research shows it's easier to eat just one or perhaps two meals a day than to parcel out inadequate morsels several times a day.
Mar 9, 2022·edited Mar 9, 2022Liked by NE - Naked Emperor Newsletter
I'm a herbalist and 90% of my medicine comes from wild foraging, in about a 20 mile radius and 50% comes from trees. I hate to feel like it's a boast, but so many ailments and disease can be navigated with by using herbs. at least thats what i have experienced and my clients as well and well millions of Chinese, Indian cultures etc who happily have herbs as there mainstay for successful health. . If I use allopathic medicine its for mechanical issues - i was very grateful that the surgeon fixed my ACL and also for diagnostic issues, although even that can get tricky, knowing to much sometimes is not the optimum path.
During the first 10 months of covid herbalists everywhere were working really hard and successfully to navigate covid and for the most part we felt confident in managing covid - the rhetoric changed when the vax came out.
personally I have land that has acorns and deer and medicine growing all around. It basically is the only thing that feels like sanity at this moment.
With a vaccine injured kod, kidney failure, nephrotic syndrome, now in remission. Loaded up on kilos of sodium ascorbate and hundreds of grams of melatonin powder. SA is for fevers and a mild antihistamine, a wound poultice, headache remedy. Melatonin does what prednisone does but better and keeps angry kidneys asleep and calm. Talking 5 to 20 grams vit c a day and 50 to 500mg melatonin a day, as needed. More.or less depending on day. Melatonin treats near anaphylaxis in my other kid, knocks out fever, more .
Lugols iodine
Bought a bunch of Redmond Salt.
Been buying more canned foods
Buying blankets
Buying the next size or 2 clothes for kids
Paying attention to where local streams flow
buying tweezers. Chin hairs suck period
bought extra cloth diaper pads for periods and menstruation
lodaded up on Charlie's soap for laundry
reading glasses
buying new tennis shoes for now and an extra pair
bought extra layers of coats for kids, something we don't need normally. just in case
white vinegar, cleans hair too if no shampoo. washes floors and dishes
Say, if your kidneys are suffering, it can help to avoid canned foods (BPA/BPS/F or aluminum liners all leach). There's a homeopath, Joette Calabrese (sp?), whose blog might have some suggestions. It can't hurt.
Canned foods for emergencies. Bad for kidneys, got it. Talking, when and if, buying fresh meat isn't as easy. We eat a beef and butter, low carb, near carnivore diet for renal protection. Dr Jason Fung, Dr Sarah Huen, Dr Richard Bernstein.
Eating beans is a rare treat due to their ability to disrupt zinc absorption and inadequate protein profile as well as the high sugar content.
Buying and storing canned food as an emergency, not as a want.
Mar 9, 2022·edited Mar 9, 2022Liked by NE - Naked Emperor Newsletter
we've been preppers for years in Silicon Valley of all places. We have water, storage food like rice and beans that will last for several years, fuel we recycle through so that we have some on hand for our generators. When we go to the grocery, I purchase double things we enjoy, like coffee in bulk. TOLIET PAPER. Towels will work, but you'll have to wash them!. We have medical supplies. In addition to international sites (which the government has been destroying medical supplies from btw) check out online vet shops. you can usually get medical drugs like antibiotics or (whelp) the "horsepaste" IVM for yourselves. Online there are documents that outline the safe amounts for humans of these drugs. Because, especially after Covid, do you really believe the medical industry will be helpful during the SHTF moments? We also have a bug-out bag for each family member, in case we have to evacuate, and a place we're heading if it gets REALLY bad.
BUT MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL. Have a plan, and make sure your family does too. I just can't stress how often we meet someone who, when we ask what they will do when it gets hard, states they will just go to their family member's house to mooch off their supplies. I'm not kidding. That will happen. And honestly, will you have the heart to turn them away? So, we've got extra supplies, just in case. We've tried to get them to purchase things like MREs, but it's with resistance. It sucks, but that's the truth of it.
After a few friends died due to infection by resistant pathogens, I started looking at alternatives. Found Buhner's work. It's worth checking out. We also used his work for a Lyme infection I picked up hunting.
I served on a Cybersecurity roundtable in DC for five years. The meeting content itself is not supposed to be shared, but a few of us went for dinner and drinks afterwards. During this dinner, the guy from DoE, who was in charge of getting the eastern seaboard back online after a cyber attack, discussed the hand pump he just purchased for the large property with a pond that he also recently purchased. I decided to get a hand pump for our well, in addition to filters, solar panels, and whatnot. It is difficult to dig a well, so if one has thoughts of this, it isn't bad to do it in advance. It is easier to call a company with the equipment now.
First thing is decide what's the scenario? Do you want to be prepared for a week long power outage at most, or are you going for TEOTWAWKI, or soemthing in between? Do you plan on staying put, or bugging out? Do you plan to roam or settle? So, start with a time frame and some notion of the scope of it.
Also, use your intelligence. Be creative. Think about your life experience - what skills and knowledge can you repurpose?
Cooperation is key. Be ready to get rid of people who have obvious problems relating to reality, i.e. the woke, the PC elite and such. A crisis does not mean they will comes to their senses - it means they will become even worse than they are now. Do not allow them to leech off of you and others.
The following are two good exercises:
Without preparation, try making it a week without buying anything, and using no power other than for cooking (simulating a battery or solar powered stove, f.e.). Try surviving on what's in your cupboards, fridge and freezer no matter what weird combinations you have to think up. This will let you get a feel for what you are missing re: stuff.
Second go, make your prep-list. The aim now is to go a whole month without buying anything. See how it goes. For advanced students, try it without power, phone off, no computer etc. (Work, family and so on permitting of course.)
After those two trials, you'll have the experience to correctly gauge what stuff you need, and how to get the most out of very few resources.
And remember: use your intelligence. We put "sapiens" in our definition for a reason.
Mar 10, 2022Liked by NE - Naked Emperor Newsletter
I have always had a number of things ready just in case. Such as a supply of food, generator, fuel, etc. It came very handy during lockdown. The two weeks to flatten the curve was, as a result, the most relaxing family time we ever had, with bread machine baking etc.
Caffeine. After much research, we realized that the Camellia Sinensis was the most viable source of caffeine in our zone 6/7. Ours are growing well, despite being eaten severely by the deer.
I'd like know what others are doing in regard to money. I have all my money in a local credit union, which is liquid and I have access to it all now. But with the government's now freezing bank accts, I fear this money is just waiting to be frozen at a whim. What then? What about bitcoin, which is also being frozen? Gold, silver? Bartering as the only option in the future?
Right now I am taking out cash and just maintaining that for the near-term future.
Biden just announced he wants a Digital Dollar, and many think that these CBDCs will be programmable; this is another reason to become as self-reliant as possible. I realized that becoming as independent as possible was important when I was fired for not taking the jab. It was shocking to think they could take away your living to push their agenda. If I had any money now, I would buy tools for self-sufficiency. One thing that has helped me to keep mentally alert and positive is writing a Substack. I think it's really important to work on your mental health at this time. And, yes, I think bartering will be very important in the future. Essential for someone like myself.
It's coming to Canada too. I saw this coming, well not all of it, but trouble, five years ago. That's why I live in a tiny town far from any city surrounded by homesteaders and self sufficiency types. The passport crap really divided the community here with the karens running rough shod over the rest of us but I think destroying communities and isolating individuals was all part of their plan.
One suggestion made by Catherine Austin Fitts in a panel discussion was to stockpile the single serving size bottles of booze which apparently has a tradition of barter value and high enough demand to serve as a substitute for currency. Metals are always a good hedge but only the physical metals the COMEX is paper fraud waiting to collapse.
There are lots of places to buy but Bullion Exchanges is a fab family owned operation that's been on 47th for eons and ship anywhere. https://bullionexchanges.com/
For investment level value Sprott is one of the few who have their own mining ops and vaults so you can buy physical gold and silver just like stocks and they will assure delivery. Craig Henke tweets @TFMetals and best straight shooter I know in that sector w lots of interviews and writing free for the public in addition to subscriptions.
There was a Netflix documentary about Georgia and how folks got by over there after inflation. Potatoes. So this fellow would stock up on nick nacks in Tbilisi, then head out to the country to sell little items like toys, clothes, and so on. He’d return with a truck full of potatoes. There’s are probably good lessons from other countries. Venezuela, Argentina come to mind.
Mar 9, 2022·edited Mar 9, 2022Liked by NE - Naked Emperor Newsletter
Not really. Oh, they may kill you sadly, but they won’t get your bitcoin if you don’t want them to and are properly prepared (hardware wallet, multisig wallets). Any other property, they can kill you and take your property (gold, silver, real estate) but bitcoin can be taken to the grave and never recovered.
Mar 10, 2022Liked by NE - Naked Emperor Newsletter
If you are fully prepared for any disruptive exogenous event and live in a populated area, the biggest issue you face when the “big event”(whatever that is) occurs is other people, including your neighbors. Assume over 90% of them will be completely unprepared. This will overwhelmingly drive your response to the event(say a total grid collapse caused by a Cyber and/or EMP attack).You are prepared but everyone around you is not and they soon panic and become desperate. How are you prepared for that and how will you handle it when the time comes? This involves more than just self defense.
The following information is from the book ‘Blackout Warfare’ by Dr. Peter Vincent Pry:
In the US the electric grid is almost completely unprotected and is totally vulnerable to cyber attacks or to non-nuclear or nuclear(high altitude) EMP attack by state or non-state actors. A well coordinated attack focusing solely on the grid control system (combination cyber and EMP attack) in strategic locations could knock out the entire US electrical grid based on cascading failures across the grid. If such an attack was accompanied by kinetic attacks to destroy specific high energy transformers in strategic locations, the grid collapse would last many months or longer. The US EMP Commission estimated in 2004 that a total continental grid collapse in the US that lasted for one year would result in US deaths equating to 90% of the population. The reason is that a total electric grid failure would cause total failure of the water and natural gas grids across the nation. The combination would result in casualties of epic proportions.
A major regional or nationwide nuclear HEMP attack resulting from detonation of a nuclear weapon at an altitude between 30 and 400 kilometers above the earths surface would result in no loss of human life from thermal or kinetic effects but would, within seconds of the attack, result in the failure of all surface power and electronics and electronic control systems due to high power electromagnetic/gamma radiation. This would occur over areas as small as 700 miles in diameter to as large as 2500 miles in diameter depending on the altitude of the detonation. In these areas all vehicles with electronic ignitions and electronic control systems would immediately cease operating, as would vital control mechanisms such as ABS braking systems, as well as all electronics such as cell phones, computers...
This would be accompanied by total electric grid collapse.
The 2004 EMP Commission concluded that the risks associated with the above scenario in the US are unacceptable. Nothing has been done to secure and protect the US grid.
If you purchase a Berkey water filter I understand that there is an additional filter you need for it to be able to filter out chemicals.
Also, check out the Alexapure water filter. It is available at My Patriot and sometimes they run a special which includes an additional filter free. If you intend to filter your tap water take time to go to the EWG (Environmental Working Group) tap water guide. It shows current list of chemicals in tap water from water works all over the country. Take time to review the lab test that was done on the Alexapure. You can even send an email to the lab that tested the Alexapure and ask them about your tap water contents. They will respond to you.
Also, think seriously about rainwater catchment to run through your filter.
Mar 9, 2022·edited Mar 9, 2022Liked by NE - Naked Emperor Newsletter
last year I started teaching (by demonstration) my 14 year old how much better home grown garden food tastes. it was a weak beginning for gardening, but made quite an impression on him. this year we're amping up the raised beds to cover as much as possible of the yard that isn't going to be fruit/nut trees.
yes, I realize the trees will take years to produce. don't care, should've put them in long ago, but it's difficult to afford them except right after the tax "return" arrives. better late than never, assuming we survive and aren't run off our property.
the gardening experience will be good for him, and this way we can eat things that aren't soaked with glyophosphate. that's hard to find at the grocery stores these days even if you pay for organic produce (USDA organic standards are a joke.)
I also buy quantity when I find goods at the store on clearance or sale if I can keep them for any length of time. even with prices approximately doubled at the grocery store since last year, i can still get out of there at ~$10/bag when I'm careful about what I get, just like I have considered acceptable pricing for about the last decade.
Plant some autumn olive trees. The fruit is high in nutrients. Get the regular kind, not the yellow ones. The deer don't eat them, and they fruit when they are small.
It's listed as invasive here as the USG planted it in West VA to stop erosion.
Interestingly, the autumn olive trees do not act the way the forest service claims they do. They don't spread or take over the land, they just grow where the deer destroyed the natural forest and ground cover.
I'm into my third year of deep adaptation. Many people are speaking of building parallel structures. Trying to erect them has been tough but seeded with beauty.
I started writing about it. Meaning-making and goat philosophy in the age of the UNESCO World Order.
I look forward to reading your posts. Sorry I can't give any money at the moment. I lost my job in December for failure to comply with the New Normal World mandates.
I haven’t started serious prepping yet, but two food items are top of my list: ghee and canned fish (not tuna - sardines, pilchard, wild salmon). No. 3 would probably be rice, but we can all manage without carbohydrates. No. 4: essential amino acid pills/powder, probably Perfect Aminos, as they seem to be well-formulated. I already have a large supply of vitamin, salt and iodine.
Nutrition to cost ratio is best on the sardines. Also, lower down the food chain so less mercury than the salmon. I don't like fish, but I have a can several times a week because they are cheap and full of Omega 3. Mash it up with mayonnaise and make a sandwich. Don't forget the Vitamin D supplements for the winter when you can't get the sun.
We have 20ish chickens mostly hens one male duck, 3 domestic cats and two dogs. Also three Jackfruit, one coconut, six banana and two papaya trees. All of which are bursting with fruit and there's not a lot to show for it. An electric outage meanwhile got us staying in a beachfront hotel
Mar 9, 2022·edited Mar 9, 2022Liked by NE - Naked Emperor Newsletter
We have ammunition, gun, rice, pasta,beans,generator, some gasoline, kerosene, batteries, radio, can food, coffee, medicine, alcohol,jewelry for trades, some frozen stuff, flour, sugar,candles, flashlights, water filters, water, bag pack ready, dog food.
I have gardened and canned for many years but got out of the habit. Over the years we have planted many fruit trees. We are increasing our garden capacity and built a 10 ft fence around it (lots of deer eat stuff around here) So anything you need to garden and keep it safe is useful, fertilizer, pesticides, fungicides, extra tools, extra fencing, etc.
Got an amount of food, seeds, garden. Want to eventually get chickens. Loved the comment about bikes- need to get mine fixed. Going to stock up a bit more on propane. Stocking up on how-to books. And an Atlas. Thinking about all the things I’ll want when/if the Internet goes down.
Atlas is a great idea! I have been stockpiling maps just in case. Amazing how people can’t read a map anymore and are reliant on a gps to get anywhere 🤔
The plan for us is to shelter in place for most eventualities short of a nuclear strike. We live in a Canadian inner city neighbourhood which has a mix of modest (well kept) single family homes and more expensive infills. So professional, middle class and blue collar.
1) The first requirement is not for food, water or defense but social. The neighbourhood is compact and high trust, we already know our immediate neighbours so easier to create a support network.
2) This is one of the first places services would be restored.
3) Everything is in walking distance; we can get by without a car if gasoline is unaffordable.
4) The second requirement is shelter. We already have it where we are. I saw what happened in Houston when they received an imminent hurricane warning; the roads were jammed for a hundred miles in every direction. Joining the flight from the city almost guarantees being stranded on foot far from home, without friends, shelter or provisions.
5) Since any mass movement would be outward we are less likely to be targets for desperate hordes. Most people we see would be those who stayed in place with at least basic provisions like us.
6) Our food stores are mostly cheap carbs: pasta, rice, beans. A few hundred dollars can buy six months provisions.
7) Back to social: If you don't have enough food to share with neighbours you don't have enough. Food keeps the support network together and if the network has enough it can add other families to its number for greater strength.
Purchasing a home last year and locking in an ultra low interest rate (2.697%) on a 30yr mortgage right before inflation went into overdrive was one of the best recent decisions I've made.
Bad boy, everyone knows that preppers are rightwing extremists, or in other words, anyone who wants to be not helplessly reliant upon the kings or whatever they call themselves these days...
(In old times, we had kingdoms, ruled by kings... Today, we have cuntries, ...)
Well. When everybody had no toilet paper, I had. Because I did not run after it and tried to buy a year supply on one day. I smelt something like that might happen and just bought a pack more every time I would buy something anyway. It stacked up nicely.
Same goes for cans of beans, water bottles and stuff. (downside here is that I don't normally eat much canned stuff, so using that as a lossless FIFO buffer inserted by "best before" date is not working so great)
But I only have some weeks worth, due to lack of room. I'd have a few months worth otherwise.
No house (I was looking for a couple years, and as we all know, the market didn't exactly relax starting 2 years ago, argh), so the level of independence attainable is quite limited.
I am highly skeptical of crypto currency - it can just be "turned off" (perhaps a simplified expression, but in essence...). IDK whether you could go around with USB sticks with "1/10 coin on it" or so... But it needs electricity, you know, the stuff at least in Germany, politicians think of that everyone can have some at any time is kind of an outdated model.
And calling that crypto rollercoaster "investment" is a bit of a stretch, no?
Looks like Mark has us all beat. Hard to add to that list!
I “prepped” in 2008 but got out of the mindset in 2015 when I moved abroad. Back into it last year.
lots of dry food (oats, beans, rice)
canned cat food for cats
Berkey water filter
solar generator for charging phone/laptop (120 watt panels)
inverter for charging same from automobile
I have had chickens in the past (great fun) and used to fish constantly as a kid/teen, so thinking about getting back into the latter.
I have a bike. The advice about medical supplies is great.
Dehydrating fruits like melon, and veg from a summer garden harvest is a great way to go, IMO. I loved dehydrated melon and tomato. So much easier to deal with and store dehydrated tomatoes in comparison to canning!
Potatoes are a great idea for anyone without much gardening space and unlike rice and beans (which must be paired) have complete protein. Prior to Phytophthora getting their potatoes in the Irish potato famine, the Irish could feed an entire family on potatoes grown in a pretty small area. You probably only need about 100 linear feet or so of potatoes to feed an entire person per year (assume all goes well with the crop).
Mar 9, 2022·edited Mar 9, 2022Liked by NE - Naked Emperor Newsletter
About 6 months of food and water, two solar generators, candles, basic first aid, alcohol, comfort foods that I like, seeds for growing food, rainwater collection system, salt, canning jars, cards and a few games. Need to get more wood stored for heat, looking into purchasing a gun.
Mar 10, 2022Liked by NE - Naked Emperor Newsletter
Supposedly a great wheat crisis is pending because many countries will no longer export; wheat flour doesn’t last that long but if you can get wheat berries, that can last a long time & be ground into flour as needed. Amazon had it recently
Mar 10, 2022·edited Mar 10, 2022Liked by NE - Naked Emperor Newsletter
We've began prepping when the covid shutdowns happened in March 2020. We have a living pantry where we have stocked up on items we use a lot. We keep a good supply and put new purchases in the back and rotate older items towards the front. For longer term storage we have mylar bags with the packets that deplete oxygen. with rice and legumes I put them in the freezer for five days before bagging just to kill off any critters. We have a berkey filter, also we have stored water and several plastic containers that can be filled with extra water. We have a generator, firewood and extra propane for our grill that also has a burner. we are collecting seeds and have begun growing a garden, we also have a sprouter and an indoor hydroponic garden. We are in the mountains so have to grow food inside when it snows. We also purchased a long term food supply (6 months) and have six months worth of dog and cat food. There is still more to work out, we plan on moving soon and once we are settled we will have a very big garden, do a lot of canning and have chickens. The more self sufficient we can be, the better. Also have stocked up on basic medications, rubbing alcohol, betadine, bandages and supplements and we have a big supply of toilet paper.
Began stockpiling food/medication a year ago. IVM, antibiotics, steroids, vitamins/medicinal supplements. Bought water filter for 25k gallons. And spent about $2-$3k on canned/packaged food, protein powders, etc.
"prepping" since we were married 56 years ago. Then grad students didn't get paid enough to live on and wife was still going to school. So we used the University's common garden. We always had a garden, but when we moved to Vermont we helped a neighbor farmer. That grew into a large local farm market. We paid a local farmer for sides of beef and pork. Local eggs. We moved into the mountains of another state, on the side of a mountain, and created terraces to grow our own veggies. We get eggs from a local farmer. Meat is from a local store; some veggies from a local store. There's no point building up a big larder. We are remote, so we go to Costco or a Walmart kind of store for modern "essentials." Only need to go once a month, but stock up with a month's supply of what we need. But if toilet paper becomes unavailable, there's the woods. Plenty of turkey, squirrel, deer, bear, etc. Just need the ammo. My wife has a supply. She's the hunter. Within 30 miles are miles upon miles of truck farms, both outside and under glass. Water? That's a question of electricity. Water infrastructure is from a local coop. The water is under our mountain. On one side of our mountain is a large lake. No humans allowed near it. We have a generator for our own electricity- required because we live in the mountains and the electricity feed is vulnerable to falling trees. Generator runs off propane, so that is our weak spot. The weather is such we can do without electricity year round. Finally, church is within walking distance. So the prepping is to live where you don't need to prep and to be experienced living off the land. Mobility: bikes work fine. Security: One road in. Currently 24x7 guard; if they can't come just lock it up. Everyone has guns and dogs. Medical: EMT with personnel supplied by neighbors. Several doctors in neighborhood. Maintain a year of necessary medical supplies for us.
I should expand on one point, which is really the main point. Prepare yourself to serve the community. It will be your neighborhood and community sharing skills, comfort, and stuff. That's really the prep. It's not the government!
I'm a bit worried that those without the space or opportunity to lay down stores of food, fuel, medicines and so on, but with very large muscles and driven by significant hunger, are likely to make short shrift of even the best laid plans. Unless of course the stores of food, fuel, etc include very large guns as well. In which case this is unlikely to be a world in which I would want to be a survivor.
Edit: March 22nd - Since making this comment I've published a much more detailed guide here: https://freespeech.substack.com/p/prepping-for-economic-collapse-a
(Below is redundant now, but will leave in situ)
Been prepping (lightly) for many years, as the markets have indicated a collapse (not a recession, a collapse) for many years now. The programs of money printing (politely referred to as Q.E.) sealed our fate years ago. But since the start of Covid I have begun preparing more rapidly, on a very tight budget. Polytunnels, seeds, working on solar system now (when i can afford batteries!), basically just getting house in order.
Priority list for those new to prepping...
1. Clean Water - Collected rain is fine. Get a Berkey filter or similar. You can dig to water table, use streams, rivers, run off water, IF you have a GOOD filter and plenty of replacement filter units for it.
2. Security - Yes, before food. You can go weeks without food, especially if you're a bit chunky! Guns if you’re in a country which respects freedom. If you’re not (like me, UK), crossbows make a very nice legal loophole. Nowhere near as useful but certainly deadly. But I have to say (somewhat from experience), and bear with me here…. A 10 shot repeater CO2 BB gun (steel balls or pellets) is WAY more of a practical self defence tool than people give it credit for. I know those with ‘real’ guns will laugh at this, but try having the trigger of one of those pulled in your face a few times, blinding you and piercing your face, you will NOT be standing around for long, and it DAMN hurts. Only fire at bare skin, face and neck. Obviously, it won’t kill, but there are other things which are still legal (big knives, baseball bats) which make a good backup for a disarmed Brit! If you’re a bit naughty (which of course I most certainly am not ;) !) you can look up how to make a taser. APPARENTLY It’s remarkably easy with an 18650 battery and cheap bit of circuitry from Chinese sites (Alibaba etc). Look it up, fascinating, and could be a lifesaver. Obviously only do that if it’s legal in your country, which is nowhere, so don’t look it up at all!
3. Food - Tinned, dried, rice and pastas are best bang for buck. If you have money, look into pressure canners and learn about it. Can store food for decades easily, your own food, including what you can grow/produce. Chickens - Eggs are the easiest and most plentiful superfood. I knew a man, 6'4" built like a 'brick sh*thouse' who genuinely consumed goats milk and raw eggs every day, and nothing else, for MANY years. Strong as an ox and NEVER had flu or illnesses. He was a tad weird though. :D Get an incubator, get some hens, and a cockerel, and use this summer to learn. You only need one good book about chicken keeping, it’s remarkably easy and the return for effort/cost is unsurpassed, and the health freaks will know only too well the vitamins and goodness in eggs. They can be boiled and canned too, and eaten raw to save fuel if really necessary (and not as bad as you’d think, and full health benefit that way). Obviously meat is another benefit but I’d stick with the eggs as a priority and if poss, incubate some to run on for meat. Again crossbow, rifle, air rifle, even catapult - rabbits/pigeons/squirrels….. Get a trapping/snaring book. Fishing rod if you have rivers/sea nearby.
4. Shelter/Heat (Obviously in true survival this is number one even above water, as exposure will kill quicker even than dehydration). However since most reading have a home, shelter is taken care of. And a few layers of clothes will easily keep most warm enough without turning on the heating. But a wood burner or similar stove will work as both heating and cooking/boiling water. Worst case, if you have sufficient food, layers of clothing and some exercise, will do you good, raise morale, make you stronger, and keep you warm. Try doing 20 press ups every half hour, now that’s self-sufficient heating!
5. Basic First aid - all the usual suspects, plus make sure you have Hydrogen Peroxide, Magnesium Sulfate paste, aspirin, ibuprofen, bandages, iodine spray (best thing for wounds), antibiotics if you can (try the naughty web, there are sites in Turkey which will post stuff like that all over world). Anything else you know you’ll need, if you wear glasses, get a couple of spare pairs made. This is NOT an exhaustive list, just look up prepper first aid stuff and see what you think you’ll need.
6. Transport - My own personal tip this - If you don't have a half decent quality BICYCLE in the home, get one, NOW. If (when) combustion engines are inaffordable or fuel isn't available, imagine the time and effort it takes to walk a mile or two, versus a gentle bicycle ride. I think a bicycle could be one of the biggest regrets if we don't have one when that times comes. Speed is also a security protection (getting away, avoiding groups/gangs on foot etc)
I could go on, maybe I should make a decent post about this. The above is just a blast from top of my head. A few honorable mentions...
Candles.
Flashlights (solar/windup ideally or a good store of batteries)
Walkie talkies (again plenty of batteries or solar charger ideally)
Silent inverter generator with a good few hundred litres of fuel - not for cooking/heating but for charging laptop/flashlights or communication devices, use only when 100% essential.
Books on any subjects you think you haven’t got time to learn about now but will want to when you’re hunkered down. Medical, electronics, food/animals, any subject. Chuck in a bible perhaps, no good prepper forgets his bible, whether atheist or not! It might make more sense in such a situation too!
If you’re filthy rich:
Get decent night vision (Gen3 or above), and/or Thermal monocular (amazing for spotting both food/prey and threats), day or night, at long distances. Pulsar make the best value for money in my view. Being able to move in pitch black darkness while knowing where ‘they’ are but they don’t know where you are, is a great alternative for us who can’t have a gun to deal with such things.
Stab/Ballistic vest.
Above all, I’d advise to keep this in mind when considering all the above - IF things go THAT WRONG - You only NEED enough supplies to be able to hunker down and NOT go out begging/stealing/borrowing (like everyone else who didn’t prep will be doing). Stay home, eat and drink the minimum, but enough to keep morale up and stay healthy. And just stay OUT OF HARM’s WAY for a while. Let the Biden voters kill each other for a month or two, they surely will when suddenly nanny state isn’t helping feed their kids.
If you have supplies to be able to do that for THREE MONTHS - You can be fairly sure that by the end of that period, the outside world will have calmed a fair bit and it will be much safer to venture out. The inevitable gangs will have had their fill, killed whoever they were going to, or hopefully been killed by those who prepped more seriously than you did. Groups will form, humanity will (to some extent, I believe) come together, and you can then offer your support to small local groups, taking watches/sentry duties so people can sleep easy, start to support each other for food/skills, caring for kids while adults make plans etc.
Oh and one final tip, EXPLORE your local population for like-minded people. Not just online either! I tacitly mention the prepping subject to people I meet daily. I just drop a very subtle comment (literally to almost everyone I meet, shopkeepers, dog walkers, everyone!) where I’ll say something like “well if things keep going the way they are going we won’t be driving our cars for much longer”. If you get the more common response of either no reply, or a nervous chuckle or something which says they don’t know what you’re talking about, laugh and move on. But when you meet someone who nods and acts like they have just been thinking a little about this, discuss much more deeply. If they are local to you, swap contact details and get to know them. I did this a few months ago, chatted to a guy in a garage working on someone’s car. He wasn’t ‘on board’, but he said ‘you should talk to Steve who owns this car’. I waited around and sparked a conversation with him when he came for his car, and it turns out the guy is a HUGE prepper, and also a multi millionaire. Weird as hell… he lives just a few miles away from me, hidden in some woods, and he has tens of THOUSANDS of litres of diesel and petrol stored underground, massive solar system, off road vehicles, plantations of crops, wind power, the whole nine yards! I think he was insane to tell me all about it so openly (I sure wouldn’t!) but these people generally LIKE to talk about it with like-minded people. So I now have a place I know I can go and barter for some fuel, or maybe even hunker down with. I am sure he’d appreciate having someone he can trust helping secure the place. BUT.. here’s the catch, and why I suggest doing this NOW…. If I meet him AFTER it’s all gone wrong, how likely is he to trust me (or anyone) THEN?! Now is the time to build bridges, make contacts. Prepping for personal security is great, but having a plan for a group (if you can) is light years ahead of that. It would take one hell of a gang to tackle an encampment of well-armed, well-resourced, family men all there to protect their families!
Well, I had better go and find some money for batteries! Hope that is of some use to someone. And remember, sensible prepping is not about ego or length of reproductive organs. It’s about ensuring that, when you’re in the scariest time of your LIFE, you can be 50% calmer and more prepared than EVERYONE ELSE who didn’t have the foresight to do the same, and thus may not survive. And don’t be a hero. If you go, who looks after your family? Self preservation is your family’s best defence. Look after numer 1, then numbers 2,3,4, then others, in that order. Here’s to a world without Biden voters. :D
Ciao.
Very useful. Thanks, Mark. I just took a look at your Substack, and subscribed!
Me too!
Welcome. And thanks.
You made a good point when you noted that it is perhaps unwise to let people know how ready you are, unless you can trust people you tell with your life. When stuff hits the fan and desperate people are looking to survive, you don't want them to remember watching you and your family bring in supplies; you don't want to make yourself or your family into targets, if you can avoid it.
Absolutely. I have a man coming to fix our boiler, and the room it's in has some racking with hundreds of tins of food. I spent the past hour covering the shelves up with bed sheets. For exactly that reason.
Fernando Ferfal (Author of a book about Argentina 2001 collapse - well worth a read) said that one of the most shocking things he witnessed just DAYS after the banking system collapsed there, was how many white collar workers, accountants, bank clerks etc, were seen attacking people and in particular, women (to do the heinously unimaginable to them). He said it gave him a whole new view of humanity, when the SHTF, many (not all, but many more than you'd think) turn into complete animals.
The only people I tell locally about my prepping (or even my line of thinking about what's to come, as that's a tip off if you seemed to be in the know, you 'probably prepared' for it) are people I would trust. As an old friend used to say: "I call a friend someone you can trust with three things: Your life, your wife, and your money!". Those are the types I tell, and nobody else.
I live a couple of miles outside of town on a few acres. I have some poultry and a few elderly sheep. We also have Rottweilers. Because of the church across the street, people know that we have the large dogs. We have not had any real trouble until the past two years with sketchy people checking out our shop. We have not had any, "teenage type crime" at our place. Apparently the prior owners did, but they had a lab.
I am reluctant to discuss our prepping. We are more prepared then most, but I don't feel like we could go more then a month or so. Remember to stash some candy bars- chocolate lasts for years. Eating canned goods is much easier if you have some dessert.
BB gun...I guess it's better than nothing.
UK? I'd add a few attack-trained dogs like german shepards that are good family pets. And a horse, if you have room. Few city people can ride, horses are versatile in terms of terrain, and harder to snatch from you as you ride by.
Now I am wondering if I could train my gelding to execute some offense moves like war horses of old.
haha. I left dogs out of it, for various reasons. Main one being ... I have trained dogs for years, including attack/protection dogs. Friends of mine in the trade (breeders and trainers) have had a MASSIVE spike in sales of working line GSDs and Malinois. Both (the latter especially) are NOT for the average owner, whether trained or not, and SO many dogs are suffering because millionaires are thinking the same thing. I just don't want to encourage people to get dogs for that purpose alone.
If they love dogs or want one as a pet as well, fine. but as a standalone security tool, they are generally not going to work as well as people think without being a fully fledged member of the family. yes you can get an attack dog to keep in a kennel but, speaking from experience here (quite a bit too!), those are serious pieces of kit BUT they are always so securely kenneled (away from kids, other pets etc!) that you NEVER have time to get them out when needed! I had some baddies turn up once, long story i wont go into here, and i had about one second to act. I needed about 30 to get over to where the dog was, just wasn't doable!
A good loyal pet dog is far more useful, it's always there, around you, in the car with you, etc. I trained someone's Border Collie to do bitework, it was friggin awesome too, fast as lightning and taught him to bounce in front of face gnashing teeth (all done with toy). The dog loved it, it certainly was intimidating, and the kids could tell him do it when required!
BB Gun - Yep, exactly. Better than nothing is how I'd describe it. A joke compared to a .38 or .44, but certainly not a joke when receiving 5 ft/lbs of energy in a lead pellet at point blank range in the face. The reflex is to cover face with arms and hands, turn away, and/or run away. Either way, you have a chance to get away, or finish the job with a more useful tool hanging on your belt :). I don't relish such things, but I also won't shy away from it if it comes my way. I would keep the body of course, dogs need feeding after all! And why not give them a taste for Caravan Utilizing Nomadic Travellers. ;)
Border collies are incredible dogs!
Absolutely.
Damn. I'd forgotten about the idiots who keep dogs in the kennel.
Our dogs sleep on their couch near the door.
I don't suppose you can buy bear spray where you live? That is a VERY effective deterent. Us mountain hikers always have it strapped to the belt (not in the backpack, sheesh).
Actually, very good point, and one I would have mentioned if I'd remembered.
1. No, in the UK that is probably covered under the Firearms Act as a 'Section 1' weapon, meaning you can't get it without Home Office approval, what a fecken joke, but what isn't in the UK? That includes CS, Pepper, Parva, and all other similar sprays.
2. I have a nice little workaround for it, and best of all, I have seen it work. And it DOES! A friend of mine used to run a small burger van. It was parked in a pub car park and he opened it on weekends. It was in a nasty area with a lot of 'smack heads' (heroin addicts). He showed me what he had made and I thought it was pretty cool, but one night I got to see it used 'in anger'.
He made one of the best chilli sauces I have ever tasted, and it was dangerously hot! The type that takes your breath away and can cause what looks like anaphylaxis in many who tried it! It was reserved for those who asked for something extremely hot.
He got some grief from some of the customers (I had to help out a few times, pretty nasty people even without being high and drunk) so he adapted the sauce into a very effective defensive weapon.
He had a blender, and he would buy huge bags of small red chills, dried ones. I forget the particular name but it doesn't matter, any hot red chills will do.
He blended them with lemon juice (bottled concentrate) and some olive oil or any other vegetable oil (to help it stick to surfaces!). When I say blended, i mean enough to turn it all to liquid, the seeds especially. Then he'd thin it with more oil and water or lemon juice until it was runny enough.
He then bought one of those kids water pistols, the good quality large ones (2 feet long) with a pump handle. You can pump up the pressure like a pump action shotgun, then when you pull trigger there’s a seriously strong jet which will travel easily 20-30 feet. He then had that under the counter.
He had a customer being an a55-hole, calling him names, threatening to do x,y,z, and also making lewd remarks towards my friend’s 11 year old daughter who was there at the time. He told him to go away a few times but nothing worked. He called the Police, got the usual British reply “very busy, will get to you when we can”. Then the guy worked himself into a rage and came around to the end door to come inside the trailer. With that my friend grabbed the ‘water pistol’, pumped it up, and aimed it at the door. As it opened he let rip, plastering his face and torso in a second or two!
What followed was both the most shocking and hilarious thing I think I’ve ever seen. The guy backed up, fell over, and curled up in the foetal position on the tarmac, a crippled heap of screaming/crying 5hit! “Help me help me, I can’t see, aaaaaagghh”. This went on for about a minute, when ‘of course’ the police arrived! We told them he’d used the chilli sauce to protect himself as the man was making threats and actually came inside the van. With that the guy was arrested (possession of drugs and threatening behaviour). We wrote on the side of the water pistol “Baby Food”, and it had pride of place under the counter for many years!
Having said that, I wouldn’t boast about it to anyone, as in this POS country I am sure the Police could (and certainly would) try to call the ‘device’ a home made offensive weapon, and they may even win on that argument. So it’s best kept quiet, but at least while it’s sat ready for use, it is not illegal as its just chilli sauce and not a specifically defined prohibited article like ‘bear spray’ or ‘CS spray’ would be, and here those would carry a Statutory (which means minimum) 4 years in prison. Screw that, chill sauce all the way baby!! :D
That would be good. Still safer than a "zip-gun" with a shotgun shell. Single shot but gonna leave a big mark.
Shhh. Don't mention Zip Guns to we Brits. Just the act of reading your post could get us flagged :D
I have some. Before I was afflicted with crippling nerve pain in my feet, I was hiking in CA regularly. Those days are over, but I still have the spray on hand. Good idea for others, too.
There's an alternative doc on Youtube that had some good episodes on nerve pain... I followed his advice with the B vitamins and D (got a sunlamp, which he did not recommend), cut back the few carbs remaining (though I cycle off and on), and the nerve pain in my feet went away. Don't know if it will help in your situation, but thought I'd share. My PT guy has me wearing vibram 5 fingers, too. He had me doing tons of swimming before I did anything on the ground.
Aging isn't for sissies.
Thank you for this, very thoughtful. Regrettably, my nerve pain is caused by a disc bulge at L3/L4, which must be corrected surgically (2 May, if we don't go into another lockdown). That said, after surgery, my PT routine likely will include swimming, I hope so anyway. I'll check out the doc on youtube; could you send a link or his name? Thanks, again.
Cool. I'm near Oxford, England, and when I first learnt about "preppers" I thought typical USA lunacy. But since 2018 I've been steadily building reserves and defences. Don't forget a couple of springer Air Rifles that you can legally obtain and hunt with.
Love the username! Yep, maybe 10-15 years ago I probably had the same prejudice. I now believe the reason so many Brits have that same prejudice is... JEALOUSY!
I mean, I don't care how much of a pink-shirted liberal you are, any red-blooded Y-Chromosomed male looking at Americans on YouTube firing AR15s or pump action Mossbergs on their 'lil patch' (usually of hundreds of acres!) who doesn't get a 'slight swelling in the trouser region', is frankly lying and riddled with jealousy! I think that's the motivation behind many of the 'stupid gun-toting Americans' comments so often expressed by Brits. I know one thing, I'd almost give my right arm to switch places, I am just no longer afraid to admit it :)
Well written, thank you
Thanks, it was an unplanned keyboard sprint! I should do a properly written and thought-out version and I think I will, as it's clearly a subject of interest to many on substack here.
Edit March 22nd - After making the lengthy comment above, I produced a much more detailed post on my substack. You can read it here:
https://freespeech.substack.com/p/prepping-for-economic-collapse-a
Great, and then you walk out into that post-apocalyptic dawn, seen the devastation, and hang yourself off the nearest remains of a tree!
I don't assume to know what will face me afterwards. I'd just like to have a chance to look and decide for myself based on the reality, rather than any premature guesswork. Yes, nuclear holocaust, I may be looking for that tree, maybe the branch next to you. Economic collapse though? Not so sure. But if you're volunteering to go first, let me know where and I will be there to pinch your shoes and give a quick tug to make sure you don't suffer. You can thank me in the next life :)
Happy to expand on this if anyone is interested but we are starting to grow our own vegetables, grapes (wine is important!), wheat, fruit. We have wild boar and deer on our land. We have access to lamb from collaborating farmers. We have our own chickens for eggs. We are considering goats for milk. We have a near inexhaustible supply of firewood, a large solar system for electricity and for hot water, a septic system producing biogas for cooking. We have our own water supply with filtration & purification for drinking. We also have extremely good security. We have a 1000 litre diesel storage system with fuel stabilisation.
Ok you win
I feel I need to add a supplementary comment. My earlier post was a simple list of components to our preparedness but I think it might be misinterpreted as rather tasteless bragging. This was absolutely not intended in any way & I hope it wasn’t taken that way.
By way of context…10 months ago we gave up a comfortable life in the UK to move to a remote finca in Spain. Like most rural properties in remote campos, it is off-grid. When we began our search for our home in Spain five years ago we never intended to live off-grid nor did we anticipate the downward spiral in the so called free and democratic west. We did not forecast today’s reality & plan for it, we have accidentally found ourselves living a self sufficient lifestyle because it comes with the territory but we are certainly glad that we have.
We’re not particularly smart or wealthy or special, and we know that we are fortunate. But I am pretty ‘handy’ so all of the work here on our finca is our own. I am happy to describe any part in more detail if anyone requests it.
Wow impressive! Can I live on your compound?
My Patriot Food Supply 6 months. 25 year shelf life. Plus I'm waiting for the next BLM riots to go loot a jewelry store. Maybe pick up a new OLED and playstation to help pass the end times.
An alternative for those of us with food allergies and intolerances who can't handle all the ingredients in the mixed meal packages is Thrive Life.
I am investigating the bookstores and libraries.
What if you found a Playstation and only had XBox games?
Your generator would be more useful to charge your electrobike or almost anything else.
I retract this comment if you have an acre of solar panels.
I bought a ton of rice and beans and other cheap and long life supplies last year when I suspected that jab mandates were coming. I was fired from my job in December for non-compliance with the mandates and the prepping has saved my family and I. This year I will be getting chickens and growing all our vegetables. It is shocking to realize that the government is not your friend. It has certainly woken me up to reality. My Substack keeps me going mentally; it keeps me focused and positive.
Good stuff. But don't be afraid of canned meats. In the typical American supermarket, within a few feet of the canned tuna, there are often 12.5 oz. cans of chicken meat. And whatever the "best by" date on the cans is you can safely eat them years past that. Experimented last year with some cans stamped as best by some date in 2015, 6 years past that date and they were perfectly fine.
Good idea - Costco has multi-packs of canned chicken that are really good, and affordable.
I have a load of corned beef ready. Not a fan, but it will do the job.
Yes, but that's the most gross shit imaginable.
Have you ever tried it? It's perfectly fine. If it had been put on your caesar salad, you would never know it wasn't something just bought from the store.
God bless you and good luck. Long run I think you'll be extremely glad you avoided the shot if you aren't already. I'm a 30+ year federal employee who has a religious exemption request in to avoid the jab. That's all been paused due to the Texas court case - but my agency was slow-walking it even before then. I have about a year until I'm retirement eligible so if they let me go it's not a problem. The last few years have really been eye opening, that's for sure. Been wanting to move a southern red state for a while to escape Michigan winters, but now it seems like an imperative.
Stocked up on cat food. Our kitties shan't starve, and if we get desperate, we can open a can or two 😹
If it gets that bad, I’ll just let my cats out. They’re way more efficient than I am at hunting, the fluffy little murderers
It has bothered me for many years, how the most left wing animal rights activists, and naturists/conservationists, are always 'cat people'. We have a cat (unfortunately!). I don't expect to win a popularity contest of course, just to tell it how I see it. My cat in the past month alone has killed the Robin that used to sit and look at me when making my coffee in the morning, TWO woodpeckers, and TWO JAYS (extremely rare where I am, birdwatchers come to see them!). Meanwhile it doesn't bother with our rats or mice (it does take the voles though, which i'd rather he didn't!), and it doesn't try its luck on with the billion magpies, jackdaws and other corvids we have plaguing the place! Cats KILL indigenous wildlife. I don't get their popularity at all! Not hating them as an animal as such, more confused at their popularity among those who claim to love the environment and wildlife! Not that facts often matter to such people, feelings are WAY more important! And cat's are 'spiritual' after all, allegedly, and again they are especially popular with atheists. I can't make sense of this world any more :D
That's one of the reasons ours are living happily indoors and playing with faux prey while birdwatching through the window.
Good for you. I have a friend who built a big run out the back of his house, 2 inch cage mesh on a 2x2 wood frame, climbing poles, scratch poles, all sorts to play with, but no access to his bird feeder!
Funny how we can all be ignorant sometimes. Years ago I (and my wife especially) really didn't like people who kept their cats indoors and never let them out. We thought it was "cruel". Then years later we had a discussion with an animal behaviourist (PHD level) and that opened our minds, both to the damage cats can do to other critters, but also to why it isn't cruel at all as cats (like most animals) don't know what they don't know, so can't miss what they don't have! I felt so stupid, and ever since I think your approach is much better.
P.S. He did also say that he believed 'de-clawing' cats under anaesthetic was a very humane way to make them safer as outdoor creatures, preventing them catching and playing with (killing) all the little creatures they so enjoy teasing and killing!! Seems like a bit of a turnaround though, where the cat teases itself!!
Sadly my dog has killed more birds and moles than my cats ever thought about 😟
That's because, while you're sleeping peacefully in your bed, the cats are covertly training the dog. Obvious really, smart feckers these cats ya know. They are the CIA of animals :D
😢
That sounds like a great outdoor solution for the kitties *and* the birdies!
All but one of our cats started out feral, but they were able to transition to being indoor cats (much easier for the kittens) and are now totally blissful indoors. Indeed, when one of our cats popped a screen and accidentally wound up outdoors, he was absolutely *petrified*, and he yowled and zoomed back and forth across the yard before cowering in terror under a bush. We were finally able to capture him and bring him back indoors, after which he immediately relaxed and returned to his purring, happy self.
The only one we couldn’t convert was the feral mama, but she is now spayed and spends all her time on our patio. She is fat and lazy and never once has touched a bird to my knowledge. Indeed, birds have landed just a few feet away from her, and she’ll eye them casually for a minute and then go back to sleep.
Regarding declawing, I am shocked anyone with a knowledge of cats would advocate such a vicious and brutal procedure! Please read this post (https://www.humanesociety.org/resources/declawing-cats-far-worse-manicure) for more details, but here is the gist:
“Declawing traditionally involves the amputation of the last bone of each toe. If performed on a human being, it would be like cutting off each finger at the last knuckle.”
It is a horrifically cruel procedure and should be outlawed.
I understand the emotional response. But that link provides nothing to back up the idea of "viciousness" or "brutality". On the contrary, it tries its best to come up with behavioural implications (might bite more?!), and provides not one shred of proof that any suffering is experienced. The arguments they use to try to persuade people not to do sound very similar to the arguments I used to have against keeping cats indoors. I could list a whole string of health issues cats get if kept indoors, obesity, boredom... bla bla. The facts of the matter (facts which that article doesn't dispute or even try to) are that a medical procedure performed under general aneasthetic by a qualified surgeon can not cause any suffering or even pain, any more than spaying or any other procedure done properly. The only possible negatives are the behavioural ones, like cats can't claw stuff, and that was kinda the idea.
So whilst I understand your response, I had the same one myself after all, I am not so sure it's more than purely an emotional reaction based on nothing more than guesswork and feelings. I am willing to be proved wrong, I just remain unconvinced without seeing some. I also wouldn't want an animal to suffer, and as a fervent opponent of dog tail docking, ear cropping, and even neutering, I do have a strong desire to prevent animal suffering, unnecessary pain, and behavioural problems caused by human over-intervention.
Mine too.
Mine brings edible gifts. He will look after me 😜
:D
Just one letter could be changed there to make it a much more sensible plan. Change the 'n' to a 't' on the third to last word. I actually thought that's what it said at first!
While I wouldn't actually do that, you made me laugh! Especially since I am married to a non-cat lover, making these sentiments familiar.
Keep hold of him, he's a gooden. :D (Just kidding, I don't despise cats, just the majority of people who own them, present company excepted of course!)
😹🙀😼
In post war Germany, those creatures were called "roof rabbits", ...
Funny isn't it, that's true of course, but I now refer to them as Sky Rats :D. not for much longer perhaps!
now I'm confused, that's what some people call pigeons? I was referring to cats
HA HA HA. Sorry, I was referred to Pigeons! I will try my rabbit stick on the felines and let you know if I think that label fits for me :D
I bought extra cans of chicken for my wee beasties 😂 it’s less expensive than the pricey soft cat food I have to feed one of them due to allergies/urinary issues plus I can eat it in an emergency.
Now that's thinking! 🧠
🤢
Freezers are full of meat and vegetables, stocking up on non-perishables. Bought a generator to run the freezers if the power goes out. Crazy we have to be thinking like this in the year 2022. #FJB
I think the freezers are great. I wonder if you could run them off some cheap solar panels. They don't use much electricity. That way you wouldn't have to be concerned about fuel supply issues. I will have to look into this myself.
Yeah I was thinking about that too. I'm in southeast Michigan so we don't get a lot of good sunlight from November thru March, but it would be very helpful for a lot of the year. Would surely help stretch the fuel supply out any time of year.
Do note that a running generator is basically a loud "cooome looter looter looter, cooome here" non-stop running ad
We have our generator locked in a shed with a door facing the house. The door is secured so it can be left open about 8” only to allow ventilation but prevent removal. It is also a tri-fuel generator. It will run on natural gas, propane or gasoline. Some gasoline generators can be converted to tri-fuel. An online search will tell you if your model can be changed. It gives you good flexibility in case of shortages.
Ok, since you are in the state of "We don't call the cops, 2ndA 4ever" Texas, you might be well equipped to deal with too interested third parties ;)
I'm sitting in Germany, where they want to ban or make more difficult to own blank-only guns (no joke).
It was a good point nonetheless. Staying under the radar is better than fighting off hordes of looters, no matter how much firepower one might have. Sorry for your situation in Germany, which doesn't look to be improving. Hope you have been prepping, and good luck sincerely.
A partial work around: I have a solar generator, which is silent, and can run indoors. I also have a try-fuel generator. I can run the tri-fuel generator for a short time to power up the solar generator, which can run most household essentials. Ideally I would run the tri-fuel generator only when safe (noisy outside from storm, rain, wind etc. or just daytime city noise). I know it won't always work out that way but it's a partial safety measure.
I think about it daily. Yesterday I read about pistols. We are in our 70's. My husband is a doctor. I cannot believe the state of our world. Yes, we are preparing. With children and grandchildren there is no option.
My plan - capture and spit roast the predatory elite. If unavailable, I intend to do likewise to any of their minions that come my way.
You'd get quite ill. Imagining my last gov't meeting. Yeah. A transfat disaster.
lol
Prion disease risk too
Zarayna!! I found you on Substack! Whhhhhaaaat!? <3 (It's Monica from Facebook.)
Great! How are you doing? I'm still lurching about - just about. Hope you're enjoying life! xxx
As likely to have been vax’d, they’d surely be “unclean” so be careful 😂
I started to stock up last year. I bought extra dry goods - flour, yeast, rice, pasta, porridge oats. Also tins - tomatoes, beans, baked beans (wholemeal bread + beans = full protein). Candles and matches. Camping stove and gaz cannisters. Bought half a pig and froze it. I need to increase stocks but funds are LOW! Thinking of getting quinoa as it is a full protein and can sprinkle it into the rice etc. Going to be planting veg in garden - digging up front lawn to use. I managed to grow fair few runner beans last year and froze them. Going to preserve the ones this year with salt. Look into canning. Would like chickens but garden too small and concerned about how to feed them if there is a shortage etc. Watch Ice Age Farmer for tips etc.
You can feed chickens all your vegetable scraps from your vegetable garden if you run low on food. Chickens create great fertilizer for your garden and the eggshells are also great calcium for gardening.
Also - start learning about what we can eat that grows around us/foraging etc. Also stock up on medicines and learn about natural medicines/hedgerows/backyard
Same here to a T
I began lightly prepping two years ago as Covid hit. Nothing special back then, just lots of canned foods, baby formula, diapers, jugs of water, and some first aid supplies. I had a newborn at the time and knew that I had to be prepared to feed my children in the event of societal & economic breakdown. Since that time, we moved to a new country so I had to start all over––although we're in a larger home now with more storage and room to grow food. My husband and friends teased me for my preparations back then––now, they're joining in. I should add, I CANNOT frickin' believe that 2 years later, not only are things not back to normal, but we're in an even more precarious situation.
Now my prepping is more extensive. For baked goods, I have stored a few months' worth of various grains, flour mixes, corn starch, yeast, baking soda, sugar, oils, etc. You need to be able to make your own breads and porridge from scratch in the event of major supply chain breakdowns.
Add to this dried beans & vegetables, nuts, dried pastas, milk powders (for the kids), and canned fish.
All of these things you can buy from bulk food stores online.
Have extensive first aid supplies on hand. I am working on adding additional vitamins and simple medicines (potassium iodide, magnesium, creatine, NAC, antibiotics, hydration powders for GI illness) to our stock.
I'm beginning to grow vegetables this spring and we're working on getting chickens for eggs and meat rabbits, which we'll butcher at home.
Get yourself a guard dog or at least a watch dog.
I also second what Mark Jones said above about having equipment like bicycles & firearms at home. BB guns are useful too––you can go dove hunting with BB guns for their meat. There are lots of doves in our area. Start buying propane and fuel now. We're gradually buying propane so we can grill in the event of power outages.
For the parents, don't forget to prep your homeschool materials. Get Christian or classical curricula ready, lots of books, art supplies & workbooks. Our kids are in nice little private schools right now, but the second shit hits the fan, we are ready to immediately switch to homeschooling.
My ancestors survived plagues, world wars, and the Great Depression. I ain't takin' this shit lying down. You shouldn't either.
Another thing to consider is your mental state. How do you deal with isolation? Real isolation without internet, phones and so on?
Also, what do you do with your waste? If you live in an apartment of any kind as opposed to a house or lodge or something, well, number one you can do in the shower drain if you have to, but number two? A bucket will fill up, and stink up. Emptying it out the window tells others someone is living there (or if it's not a major societal prolapse will tell authorities to bring the hug-yourself-jacket...). Hauling human waste around carries its own risks. So, that's something you need to consider too.
Furthermore, it is a very different set of reactions and patterns you need to cultivate regarding risks, especially health. Starvation or lack for water will not be the biggest dangers, infection will. And if you need special medications, or even something simple like insulin, well good luck. Women especially needs to consider how to handle menstruation - are you prepared to use cotton/linen pads and handwash them using lye and boiling water? In your $300 000 Manhattan apartment? (Obviously I don't know Sack Jhit about Manhattan prices - I just grabbed a big number.)
There are a thousand and one little things to consider, depending on scope. And the thing is, don't fall into the trap of thinking "either - or", because that's a luxury one can't afford at the sharp end. It's both, always. Not flint and steel, or a magnesium lighter, or match sticks or a Zippo - its all of them, plus a lens and at least a sketch how to make a firebow. Keep that principle in mind when stocking up on stuff, and also try to think up small scenarios regarding "learning to do without". Example:
Do you use lenses? How would you cope without? Do you have spare glasses? How many pairs? Because the small irritations and minor infections you can get from being sloppy or unlucky with lenses can result in severe infection, even sepsis, necrosis or gangrene at worst (any nurse or doctor reading please interject if I'm shooting wide off the mark here!). And in a breakdown, triage will be enforced with firearms.
Maybe try a weekend completely without any tech post-1980, see if you get withdrawal syndromes. Being prepared mentally means the falls into place when you start putting it together in your mind. (Edited for spelling.)
Brilliant advice. Lots that I hadn't thought about. Thanks, Rikard.
Right back at you, and thank you. Ideas should be free, I think. When you have mastered a field, often it just means you have learned to do the same thing as everyone else, by rote, meaning you haven't really learned to apply your skills creatively.
I think it's my father's experience rubbing off on me, since he is career military, combat engineering corps, so learning to get the job done with whatever is at hand has been part of growing up.
Here is one I bet no one has advised; getting used to one meal a day.
One of those European countries ravaged by war recently had a city totally cut off from imports and ammo became money.
Funny you mentioned this. I’ve been eating once a day for years.
I was a glutton for almost sixty years and about three years ago I started to crash after every meal. I hate needles so the alternative was to figure out why. First I stopped eating sugar and bread, which was helpful to lose weight but didn't stop the crash, then I learned about insulin resistance and reduced my eating, which helped me lose weight but didn't stop the crash. Then I stopped eating carbs other than what I grow myself and ferment. Now I eat mostly two meals a day in six hours and nothing other than water and black coffee goes in my mouth the rest of the time. I've done a few 66 and 42 hour fasts and one meal a day episodes to bolster my health and I don't ever remember feeling this stable. I went to all this trouble to tell you we are built for this, for catastrophe. Just have to not be shocked by change.
This is why Orthodox Christians fast. Discipline your mind and body for the tough times, like what we're soon approaching.
One of my long distance acquaintances told me about this over the phone a few weeks ago. He didn't say about the discipline part though. Interesting. I have to agree only through experience instead of actually being smart enough to have studied Orthodox Christian customs. Soon, but like a thief in the night for those not in the know.
If it comes to really hard times and you and your loved ones had to eat only a restricted number of calories, I think most research shows it's easier to eat just one or perhaps two meals a day than to parcel out inadequate morsels several times a day.
Yes indeed. And those not bothering to learn how to grow food will be eating perennial rye grass soup.
I'm a herbalist and 90% of my medicine comes from wild foraging, in about a 20 mile radius and 50% comes from trees. I hate to feel like it's a boast, but so many ailments and disease can be navigated with by using herbs. at least thats what i have experienced and my clients as well and well millions of Chinese, Indian cultures etc who happily have herbs as there mainstay for successful health. . If I use allopathic medicine its for mechanical issues - i was very grateful that the surgeon fixed my ACL and also for diagnostic issues, although even that can get tricky, knowing to much sometimes is not the optimum path.
During the first 10 months of covid herbalists everywhere were working really hard and successfully to navigate covid and for the most part we felt confident in managing covid - the rhetoric changed when the vax came out.
personally I have land that has acorns and deer and medicine growing all around. It basically is the only thing that feels like sanity at this moment.
Any books or sources of information you'd recommend to those who are just learning?
With a vaccine injured kod, kidney failure, nephrotic syndrome, now in remission. Loaded up on kilos of sodium ascorbate and hundreds of grams of melatonin powder. SA is for fevers and a mild antihistamine, a wound poultice, headache remedy. Melatonin does what prednisone does but better and keeps angry kidneys asleep and calm. Talking 5 to 20 grams vit c a day and 50 to 500mg melatonin a day, as needed. More.or less depending on day. Melatonin treats near anaphylaxis in my other kid, knocks out fever, more .
Lugols iodine
Bought a bunch of Redmond Salt.
Been buying more canned foods
Buying blankets
Buying the next size or 2 clothes for kids
Paying attention to where local streams flow
buying tweezers. Chin hairs suck period
bought extra cloth diaper pads for periods and menstruation
lodaded up on Charlie's soap for laundry
reading glasses
buying new tennis shoes for now and an extra pair
bought extra layers of coats for kids, something we don't need normally. just in case
white vinegar, cleans hair too if no shampoo. washes floors and dishes
Yes, you've got to watch for those chin hairs.
Say, if your kidneys are suffering, it can help to avoid canned foods (BPA/BPS/F or aluminum liners all leach). There's a homeopath, Joette Calabrese (sp?), whose blog might have some suggestions. It can't hurt.
Sorry to hear about the vaccine injury.
Canned foods for emergencies. Bad for kidneys, got it. Talking, when and if, buying fresh meat isn't as easy. We eat a beef and butter, low carb, near carnivore diet for renal protection. Dr Jason Fung, Dr Sarah Huen, Dr Richard Bernstein.
Eating beans is a rare treat due to their ability to disrupt zinc absorption and inadequate protein profile as well as the high sugar content.
Buying and storing canned food as an emergency, not as a want.
Best thing I found for periods- menstruation cups.
we've been preppers for years in Silicon Valley of all places. We have water, storage food like rice and beans that will last for several years, fuel we recycle through so that we have some on hand for our generators. When we go to the grocery, I purchase double things we enjoy, like coffee in bulk. TOLIET PAPER. Towels will work, but you'll have to wash them!. We have medical supplies. In addition to international sites (which the government has been destroying medical supplies from btw) check out online vet shops. you can usually get medical drugs like antibiotics or (whelp) the "horsepaste" IVM for yourselves. Online there are documents that outline the safe amounts for humans of these drugs. Because, especially after Covid, do you really believe the medical industry will be helpful during the SHTF moments? We also have a bug-out bag for each family member, in case we have to evacuate, and a place we're heading if it gets REALLY bad.
BUT MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL. Have a plan, and make sure your family does too. I just can't stress how often we meet someone who, when we ask what they will do when it gets hard, states they will just go to their family member's house to mooch off their supplies. I'm not kidding. That will happen. And honestly, will you have the heart to turn them away? So, we've got extra supplies, just in case. We've tried to get them to purchase things like MREs, but it's with resistance. It sucks, but that's the truth of it.
Yes, I will have to look into the antibiotics. Thanks for the that.
After a few friends died due to infection by resistant pathogens, I started looking at alternatives. Found Buhner's work. It's worth checking out. We also used his work for a Lyme infection I picked up hunting.
https://www.stephenharrodbuhner.com/
I served on a Cybersecurity roundtable in DC for five years. The meeting content itself is not supposed to be shared, but a few of us went for dinner and drinks afterwards. During this dinner, the guy from DoE, who was in charge of getting the eastern seaboard back online after a cyber attack, discussed the hand pump he just purchased for the large property with a pond that he also recently purchased. I decided to get a hand pump for our well, in addition to filters, solar panels, and whatnot. It is difficult to dig a well, so if one has thoughts of this, it isn't bad to do it in advance. It is easier to call a company with the equipment now.
Yes, I'm getting a hand pump. The water table is only 40' below me so I'm going to try digging it by hand as per youtube tutorials.
You're tough.
Hope you share the digging via youtube!
I'll ask the wife to do it.
She can dig it. I'll do the video. Half joking. She's a tough lady...
First thing is decide what's the scenario? Do you want to be prepared for a week long power outage at most, or are you going for TEOTWAWKI, or soemthing in between? Do you plan on staying put, or bugging out? Do you plan to roam or settle? So, start with a time frame and some notion of the scope of it.
Also, use your intelligence. Be creative. Think about your life experience - what skills and knowledge can you repurpose?
Cooperation is key. Be ready to get rid of people who have obvious problems relating to reality, i.e. the woke, the PC elite and such. A crisis does not mean they will comes to their senses - it means they will become even worse than they are now. Do not allow them to leech off of you and others.
The following are two good exercises:
Without preparation, try making it a week without buying anything, and using no power other than for cooking (simulating a battery or solar powered stove, f.e.). Try surviving on what's in your cupboards, fridge and freezer no matter what weird combinations you have to think up. This will let you get a feel for what you are missing re: stuff.
Second go, make your prep-list. The aim now is to go a whole month without buying anything. See how it goes. For advanced students, try it without power, phone off, no computer etc. (Work, family and so on permitting of course.)
After those two trials, you'll have the experience to correctly gauge what stuff you need, and how to get the most out of very few resources.
And remember: use your intelligence. We put "sapiens" in our definition for a reason.
I have always had a number of things ready just in case. Such as a supply of food, generator, fuel, etc. It came very handy during lockdown. The two weeks to flatten the curve was, as a result, the most relaxing family time we ever had, with bread machine baking etc.
If nothing else, the peace of mind is priceless.
Caffeine. After much research, we realized that the Camellia Sinensis was the most viable source of caffeine in our zone 6/7. Ours are growing well, despite being eaten severely by the deer.
We got them here, https://www.etsy.com/listing/1039372085/camellia-sinensis-live-tea-plant
(I did not hit the guy up for a free plant for sharing this link)
Illy coffee beans come in nitrogen sealed cans. Tasty all around, emergency or no.
Not going to say. Prepared.
That's the spirit
Sounds like you mean business. Respect.
I'd like know what others are doing in regard to money. I have all my money in a local credit union, which is liquid and I have access to it all now. But with the government's now freezing bank accts, I fear this money is just waiting to be frozen at a whim. What then? What about bitcoin, which is also being frozen? Gold, silver? Bartering as the only option in the future?
Right now I am taking out cash and just maintaining that for the near-term future.
Biden just announced he wants a Digital Dollar, and many think that these CBDCs will be programmable; this is another reason to become as self-reliant as possible. I realized that becoming as independent as possible was important when I was fired for not taking the jab. It was shocking to think they could take away your living to push their agenda. If I had any money now, I would buy tools for self-sufficiency. One thing that has helped me to keep mentally alert and positive is writing a Substack. I think it's really important to work on your mental health at this time. And, yes, I think bartering will be very important in the future. Essential for someone like myself.
It's coming to Canada too. I saw this coming, well not all of it, but trouble, five years ago. That's why I live in a tiny town far from any city surrounded by homesteaders and self sufficiency types. The passport crap really divided the community here with the karens running rough shod over the rest of us but I think destroying communities and isolating individuals was all part of their plan.
I'm in rural Nova Scotia!
I write about my experience here: https://mathewaldred.substack.com/p/free-riders?s=w
One suggestion made by Catherine Austin Fitts in a panel discussion was to stockpile the single serving size bottles of booze which apparently has a tradition of barter value and high enough demand to serve as a substitute for currency. Metals are always a good hedge but only the physical metals the COMEX is paper fraud waiting to collapse.
There are lots of places to buy but Bullion Exchanges is a fab family owned operation that's been on 47th for eons and ship anywhere. https://bullionexchanges.com/
For investment level value Sprott is one of the few who have their own mining ops and vaults so you can buy physical gold and silver just like stocks and they will assure delivery. Craig Henke tweets @TFMetals and best straight shooter I know in that sector w lots of interviews and writing free for the public in addition to subscriptions.
https://www.sprottmoney.com/
There was a Netflix documentary about Georgia and how folks got by over there after inflation. Potatoes. So this fellow would stock up on nick nacks in Tbilisi, then head out to the country to sell little items like toys, clothes, and so on. He’d return with a truck full of potatoes. There’s are probably good lessons from other countries. Venezuela, Argentina come to mind.
Gold, silver, nickel, copper, alcohol, food, tools another set of winter boots for next year, a generator. Stock it to the rafters.
Bitcoin can’t be frozen. Look into hardware wallets for bitcoin.
Rubber hose crypto hacks works against Bitcoin too.
Not really. Oh, they may kill you sadly, but they won’t get your bitcoin if you don’t want them to and are properly prepared (hardware wallet, multisig wallets). Any other property, they can kill you and take your property (gold, silver, real estate) but bitcoin can be taken to the grave and never recovered.
If you are fully prepared for any disruptive exogenous event and live in a populated area, the biggest issue you face when the “big event”(whatever that is) occurs is other people, including your neighbors. Assume over 90% of them will be completely unprepared. This will overwhelmingly drive your response to the event(say a total grid collapse caused by a Cyber and/or EMP attack).You are prepared but everyone around you is not and they soon panic and become desperate. How are you prepared for that and how will you handle it when the time comes? This involves more than just self defense.
The following information is from the book ‘Blackout Warfare’ by Dr. Peter Vincent Pry:
In the US the electric grid is almost completely unprotected and is totally vulnerable to cyber attacks or to non-nuclear or nuclear(high altitude) EMP attack by state or non-state actors. A well coordinated attack focusing solely on the grid control system (combination cyber and EMP attack) in strategic locations could knock out the entire US electrical grid based on cascading failures across the grid. If such an attack was accompanied by kinetic attacks to destroy specific high energy transformers in strategic locations, the grid collapse would last many months or longer. The US EMP Commission estimated in 2004 that a total continental grid collapse in the US that lasted for one year would result in US deaths equating to 90% of the population. The reason is that a total electric grid failure would cause total failure of the water and natural gas grids across the nation. The combination would result in casualties of epic proportions.
A major regional or nationwide nuclear HEMP attack resulting from detonation of a nuclear weapon at an altitude between 30 and 400 kilometers above the earths surface would result in no loss of human life from thermal or kinetic effects but would, within seconds of the attack, result in the failure of all surface power and electronics and electronic control systems due to high power electromagnetic/gamma radiation. This would occur over areas as small as 700 miles in diameter to as large as 2500 miles in diameter depending on the altitude of the detonation. In these areas all vehicles with electronic ignitions and electronic control systems would immediately cease operating, as would vital control mechanisms such as ABS braking systems, as well as all electronics such as cell phones, computers...
This would be accompanied by total electric grid collapse.
The 2004 EMP Commission concluded that the risks associated with the above scenario in the US are unacceptable. Nothing has been done to secure and protect the US grid.
If you purchase a Berkey water filter I understand that there is an additional filter you need for it to be able to filter out chemicals.
Also, check out the Alexapure water filter. It is available at My Patriot and sometimes they run a special which includes an additional filter free. If you intend to filter your tap water take time to go to the EWG (Environmental Working Group) tap water guide. It shows current list of chemicals in tap water from water works all over the country. Take time to review the lab test that was done on the Alexapure. You can even send an email to the lab that tested the Alexapure and ask them about your tap water contents. They will respond to you.
Also, think seriously about rainwater catchment to run through your filter.
Good ideas. Thanks. Are you still fixing up that fishing boat, Andy?
The water filter will not work on saltwater Matt........
last year I started teaching (by demonstration) my 14 year old how much better home grown garden food tastes. it was a weak beginning for gardening, but made quite an impression on him. this year we're amping up the raised beds to cover as much as possible of the yard that isn't going to be fruit/nut trees.
yes, I realize the trees will take years to produce. don't care, should've put them in long ago, but it's difficult to afford them except right after the tax "return" arrives. better late than never, assuming we survive and aren't run off our property.
the gardening experience will be good for him, and this way we can eat things that aren't soaked with glyophosphate. that's hard to find at the grocery stores these days even if you pay for organic produce (USDA organic standards are a joke.)
I also buy quantity when I find goods at the store on clearance or sale if I can keep them for any length of time. even with prices approximately doubled at the grocery store since last year, i can still get out of there at ~$10/bag when I'm careful about what I get, just like I have considered acceptable pricing for about the last decade.
Plant some autumn olive trees. The fruit is high in nutrients. Get the regular kind, not the yellow ones. The deer don't eat them, and they fruit when they are small.
interesting list of nutrients. listed as invasive, though the MO Dept of Conservation points out it probably already grows all over the state.
I'm not super fond of tart or even sweet tart fruit, but will add it to my list of plants to grab seed from should I happen across some.
It's listed as invasive here as the USG planted it in West VA to stop erosion.
Interestingly, the autumn olive trees do not act the way the forest service claims they do. They don't spread or take over the land, they just grow where the deer destroyed the natural forest and ground cover.
Good luck growing.
Well done! Trees we plant for our children, not ourselves and teaching your son that lesson is priceless.
I'm into my third year of deep adaptation. Many people are speaking of building parallel structures. Trying to erect them has been tough but seeded with beauty.
I started writing about it. Meaning-making and goat philosophy in the age of the UNESCO World Order.
https://walkingwithgoats.substack.com/
I look forward to reading your posts. Sorry I can't give any money at the moment. I lost my job in December for failure to comply with the New Normal World mandates.
Thank you for standing strong. The posts will always be free. I'm grateful to be part of the growing network and that people care enough to read.
I haven’t started serious prepping yet, but two food items are top of my list: ghee and canned fish (not tuna - sardines, pilchard, wild salmon). No. 3 would probably be rice, but we can all manage without carbohydrates. No. 4: essential amino acid pills/powder, probably Perfect Aminos, as they seem to be well-formulated. I already have a large supply of vitamin, salt and iodine.
Nutrition to cost ratio is best on the sardines. Also, lower down the food chain so less mercury than the salmon. I don't like fish, but I have a can several times a week because they are cheap and full of Omega 3. Mash it up with mayonnaise and make a sandwich. Don't forget the Vitamin D supplements for the winter when you can't get the sun.
We have 20ish chickens mostly hens one male duck, 3 domestic cats and two dogs. Also three Jackfruit, one coconut, six banana and two papaya trees. All of which are bursting with fruit and there's not a lot to show for it. An electric outage meanwhile got us staying in a beachfront hotel
Sounds fab! <3
Slightly concerned about eating vaccinated meat 🤔
Are you talking about long pig? Don't, you'll get real sick on top of all the other issues.
We have ammunition, gun, rice, pasta,beans,generator, some gasoline, kerosene, batteries, radio, can food, coffee, medicine, alcohol,jewelry for trades, some frozen stuff, flour, sugar,candles, flashlights, water filters, water, bag pack ready, dog food.
I have gardened and canned for many years but got out of the habit. Over the years we have planted many fruit trees. We are increasing our garden capacity and built a 10 ft fence around it (lots of deer eat stuff around here) So anything you need to garden and keep it safe is useful, fertilizer, pesticides, fungicides, extra tools, extra fencing, etc.
I am grateful I have a backyard garden where I grew vegetables. I will be freezing them to prepare to stock up.
Got an amount of food, seeds, garden. Want to eventually get chickens. Loved the comment about bikes- need to get mine fixed. Going to stock up a bit more on propane. Stocking up on how-to books. And an Atlas. Thinking about all the things I’ll want when/if the Internet goes down.
Atlas is a great idea! I have been stockpiling maps just in case. Amazing how people can’t read a map anymore and are reliant on a gps to get anywhere 🤔
Stocked up on good media. The stuff big brother Hollywood is making is toxic to the brain. Don't trust the cloud services. Get it from torrents lol
It's a psychological stockpiling along with some food lol
Westworld
Mr robot
The leftovers
1984
Etc
It sounds like you are stocking up on junk food.
Love Mr Robot
Feel like we’re living it in some way
Organic garden, stocked canned goods, water purifier, bicycles, a survival kit, trauma kit with surgical equipment and a Mossberg 500.
The plan for us is to shelter in place for most eventualities short of a nuclear strike. We live in a Canadian inner city neighbourhood which has a mix of modest (well kept) single family homes and more expensive infills. So professional, middle class and blue collar.
1) The first requirement is not for food, water or defense but social. The neighbourhood is compact and high trust, we already know our immediate neighbours so easier to create a support network.
2) This is one of the first places services would be restored.
3) Everything is in walking distance; we can get by without a car if gasoline is unaffordable.
4) The second requirement is shelter. We already have it where we are. I saw what happened in Houston when they received an imminent hurricane warning; the roads were jammed for a hundred miles in every direction. Joining the flight from the city almost guarantees being stranded on foot far from home, without friends, shelter or provisions.
5) Since any mass movement would be outward we are less likely to be targets for desperate hordes. Most people we see would be those who stayed in place with at least basic provisions like us.
6) Our food stores are mostly cheap carbs: pasta, rice, beans. A few hundred dollars can buy six months provisions.
7) Back to social: If you don't have enough food to share with neighbours you don't have enough. Food keeps the support network together and if the network has enough it can add other families to its number for greater strength.
That's as far as I've thought.
Purchasing a home last year and locking in an ultra low interest rate (2.697%) on a 30yr mortgage right before inflation went into overdrive was one of the best recent decisions I've made.
Bad boy, everyone knows that preppers are rightwing extremists, or in other words, anyone who wants to be not helplessly reliant upon the kings or whatever they call themselves these days...
(In old times, we had kingdoms, ruled by kings... Today, we have cuntries, ...)
Well. When everybody had no toilet paper, I had. Because I did not run after it and tried to buy a year supply on one day. I smelt something like that might happen and just bought a pack more every time I would buy something anyway. It stacked up nicely.
Same goes for cans of beans, water bottles and stuff. (downside here is that I don't normally eat much canned stuff, so using that as a lossless FIFO buffer inserted by "best before" date is not working so great)
But I only have some weeks worth, due to lack of room. I'd have a few months worth otherwise.
No house (I was looking for a couple years, and as we all know, the market didn't exactly relax starting 2 years ago, argh), so the level of independence attainable is quite limited.
I am highly skeptical of crypto currency - it can just be "turned off" (perhaps a simplified expression, but in essence...). IDK whether you could go around with USB sticks with "1/10 coin on it" or so... But it needs electricity, you know, the stuff at least in Germany, politicians think of that everyone can have some at any time is kind of an outdated model.
And calling that crypto rollercoaster "investment" is a bit of a stretch, no?
Looks like Mark has us all beat. Hard to add to that list!
I “prepped” in 2008 but got out of the mindset in 2015 when I moved abroad. Back into it last year.
lots of dry food (oats, beans, rice)
canned cat food for cats
Berkey water filter
solar generator for charging phone/laptop (120 watt panels)
inverter for charging same from automobile
I have had chickens in the past (great fun) and used to fish constantly as a kid/teen, so thinking about getting back into the latter.
I have a bike. The advice about medical supplies is great.
Dehydrating fruits like melon, and veg from a summer garden harvest is a great way to go, IMO. I loved dehydrated melon and tomato. So much easier to deal with and store dehydrated tomatoes in comparison to canning!
Potatoes are a great idea for anyone without much gardening space and unlike rice and beans (which must be paired) have complete protein. Prior to Phytophthora getting their potatoes in the Irish potato famine, the Irish could feed an entire family on potatoes grown in a pretty small area. You probably only need about 100 linear feet or so of potatoes to feed an entire person per year (assume all goes well with the crop).
Not sure about having anyone beat, some great stuff in these comments above! But I did just finally publish a much longer article covering the subject more fully, in case you care for a peek.. https://freespeech.substack.com/p/prepping-for-economic-collapse-a
About 6 months of food and water, two solar generators, candles, basic first aid, alcohol, comfort foods that I like, seeds for growing food, rainwater collection system, salt, canning jars, cards and a few games. Need to get more wood stored for heat, looking into purchasing a gun.
I have a long series on prepping in ways that are a little more usable day to day in addition to emergencies https://ordinary-times.com/2020/03/17/non-doomsday-prepping-part-3-staples-and-beyond/
Maybe it’s time to start canning meat and fermenting rutabagas.
If you have the space, maybe get some chickens and rabbits? That's my plan.
Supposedly a great wheat crisis is pending because many countries will no longer export; wheat flour doesn’t last that long but if you can get wheat berries, that can last a long time & be ground into flour as needed. Amazon had it recently
We're carnivores who only eat animal produce, all local. So empty supermarket shelves are never a problem for us.
We've began prepping when the covid shutdowns happened in March 2020. We have a living pantry where we have stocked up on items we use a lot. We keep a good supply and put new purchases in the back and rotate older items towards the front. For longer term storage we have mylar bags with the packets that deplete oxygen. with rice and legumes I put them in the freezer for five days before bagging just to kill off any critters. We have a berkey filter, also we have stored water and several plastic containers that can be filled with extra water. We have a generator, firewood and extra propane for our grill that also has a burner. we are collecting seeds and have begun growing a garden, we also have a sprouter and an indoor hydroponic garden. We are in the mountains so have to grow food inside when it snows. We also purchased a long term food supply (6 months) and have six months worth of dog and cat food. There is still more to work out, we plan on moving soon and once we are settled we will have a very big garden, do a lot of canning and have chickens. The more self sufficient we can be, the better. Also have stocked up on basic medications, rubbing alcohol, betadine, bandages and supplements and we have a big supply of toilet paper.
https://rumble.com/vwxwbf-prioritizing-your-prepping-resources-for-maximum-survival.html
Don't forget Cardio.
Began stockpiling food/medication a year ago. IVM, antibiotics, steroids, vitamins/medicinal supplements. Bought water filter for 25k gallons. And spent about $2-$3k on canned/packaged food, protein powders, etc.
"prepping" since we were married 56 years ago. Then grad students didn't get paid enough to live on and wife was still going to school. So we used the University's common garden. We always had a garden, but when we moved to Vermont we helped a neighbor farmer. That grew into a large local farm market. We paid a local farmer for sides of beef and pork. Local eggs. We moved into the mountains of another state, on the side of a mountain, and created terraces to grow our own veggies. We get eggs from a local farmer. Meat is from a local store; some veggies from a local store. There's no point building up a big larder. We are remote, so we go to Costco or a Walmart kind of store for modern "essentials." Only need to go once a month, but stock up with a month's supply of what we need. But if toilet paper becomes unavailable, there's the woods. Plenty of turkey, squirrel, deer, bear, etc. Just need the ammo. My wife has a supply. She's the hunter. Within 30 miles are miles upon miles of truck farms, both outside and under glass. Water? That's a question of electricity. Water infrastructure is from a local coop. The water is under our mountain. On one side of our mountain is a large lake. No humans allowed near it. We have a generator for our own electricity- required because we live in the mountains and the electricity feed is vulnerable to falling trees. Generator runs off propane, so that is our weak spot. The weather is such we can do without electricity year round. Finally, church is within walking distance. So the prepping is to live where you don't need to prep and to be experienced living off the land. Mobility: bikes work fine. Security: One road in. Currently 24x7 guard; if they can't come just lock it up. Everyone has guns and dogs. Medical: EMT with personnel supplied by neighbors. Several doctors in neighborhood. Maintain a year of necessary medical supplies for us.
I should expand on one point, which is really the main point. Prepare yourself to serve the community. It will be your neighborhood and community sharing skills, comfort, and stuff. That's really the prep. It's not the government!
I'm a bit worried that those without the space or opportunity to lay down stores of food, fuel, medicines and so on, but with very large muscles and driven by significant hunger, are likely to make short shrift of even the best laid plans. Unless of course the stores of food, fuel, etc include very large guns as well. In which case this is unlikely to be a world in which I would want to be a survivor.
Guns and ammo. An extra freezer, stocked and rotate foods. Dry goods, water. More guns and ammo. Getting kit to load ammo.
I will get a filter as Mark Jones below mentioned; thanks Mark!
If you don’t have guns and ammo then all your prepping may be for naught when people come by and take all your stuff.