Our house has a well, 1500 gallon propane tank and 22k generator. That and 20k+ rounds of ammo, I should be able to survive here for quite some time. That is "IF" it's even worth sticking around. I've watched The Walking Dead and I think the novelty of shooting/stabbing things would get old quickly.
wearymicrobe said:Mndsm said:Liquor and cigarettes. If prison is Amy indicator, those things will be real valuable when society doesn't have regular access.
Not AMY!!!
I know right, I bet you could trade two Amy's and a cup for Cheyenne Mountain.
I'm sure our female members won't agree with the trading of women. Besides who's to say they won't go all Amazon warrior on us and trade us around?
Thinking about this more realistically... I could envision a cyberattack or major weather that takes down our entire electrical grid for an 4-6 weeks. If *that* were to happen, with what I have ready access to, I feel pretty good.
#1 concern is water, and I have that covered. I have a stainless steel tank of ~1,000 of potable water in the brewery. Also several gas ranges. Also... umm... hundreds of gallons of good liquor.
Things that I would need/want to acquire a couple months supply of that could be gotten even with all utilities down:
Food: rice, beans, canned stuffs, pet food. Root vegetables that won't spoil.
Extra propane for burners. Batteries. Flashlights and lanterns. Books.
I mean... about a week in, I'd get all my friends together for a giant party where we grill up and gorge ourselves on all the good meats that the grocery store has to give away before it goes bad.
It depends how long it will last. We're good for a few months, but since June isn't too far off, it's time to rotate out some of the long term food, like dry beans. We do this every 6 months.
How many of you remembered that a human with a bicycle and access to carbohydrates is a very calorie efficient way to turn things in a circle (pumps, generators, etc.)?
Like are we talking legit end of civilization type stuff? Cause in that case a E36 M3 ton of alcohol so I can drink until I can't feel feeling anymore. Cause berkeley it I don't want to live in that world.
Temporary something I can make it cause I have quite a few back country backpacking supplies like water filters etc.
Best advice I can tell people if they are truly trying to prepare for this is to look at what people needed/wanted/used 200 years and do that.
There are modern solutions to the problems they faced but it was a more basic time, and there wasn't much of a safety net. These are traits that you want to copy
z31maniac said:EastCoastMojo (Forum Supporter) said:Looking at the big picture, even if I play all my cards right and beat the odds of surviving the initial collapse of society, do I really want to be the last one standing on this earth, only to observe everything that was lost? I think not. Therefore one gun and one bullet are all I really need.
This. I don't get this weird fantasy some have of living in post-apocalypse world like it's going to be enjoyable.
Hell, move to the middle of nowhere Idaho/Montana and start now.
Middle of nowhere anywhere in America is not anywhere near a post apocalyptic let alone Idaho or Montana.
EastCoastMojo (Forum Supporter) said:Looking at the big picture, even if I play all my cards right and beat the odds of surviving the initial collapse of society, do I really want to be the last one standing on this earth, only to observe everything that was lost? I think not. Therefore one gun and one bullet are all I really need.
I don't disagree, the post apocalyptic fantasy land a lot of people want seems terrible but.....life finds a way too.
What do I grab? Lol. Nothing. It's the end of the world. If God is in charge of it, I'm good to go. If god "doesn't exist", then none of this ever mattered anyway.
Antihero (Forum Supporter) said:Best advice I can tell people if they are truly trying to prepare for this is to look at what people needed/wanted/used 200 years and do that.
That's why I'm surprised this thread is 3 pages and no one has mentioned a stable of horses.
Even if instead of storing fuel I can refine my own, what am I going to do about tires? The roads are going to deteriorate quickly.
Stampie said:I'm sure our female members won't agree with the trading of women. Besides who's to say they won't go all Amazon warrior on us and trade us around?
Death by snu-snu? Bring on the apocalypse.
Current house:
Pros
Cons
Grandparents' old farm in WV
Pros
Cons
If the E36 M3 hits the fan, I'm taking some firearms, my cameras, and my sleeping bag and heading to the farm. Come find me for some corn maple whiskey. I will straight-up be your Mother Abagail
I would hoard anything analog. A watch, firearms, knives, maps... things that I currently get from google, I would hoard the pre-digital version.
Thank God I won't need my cell phone anymore!
I wouldn't hoard anything. I travel light.
I have everything I need in my backpack already, and my leatherman on my belt. I'd start heading toward my cabin in the mountains, even if it meant hiking there. It borders 80,000 acres of National Forest land. Best trout fishing in the country, and no scary neighbors.
I would NOT have any firearms.
j_tso said:Antihero (Forum Supporter) said:Best advice I can tell people if they are truly trying to prepare for this is to look at what people needed/wanted/used 200 years and do that.
That's why I'm surprised this thread is 3 pages and no one has mentioned a stable of horses.
Even if instead of storing fuel I can refine my own, what am I going to do about tires? The roads are going deteriorate quickly.
For a situation like this, I'd rather have a good mule. You know, mustang vs land cruiser.
The known family bugout location is my sisters' house. At the end of a nearly unmarked dead end road, surrounded on three sides by water, high ground with good lines of sight of any intruders, her 15 acres abutt a few hundred acres of cattle farm (the farmer is a friend and has a ridiculously well equipped shop). Sis is a veterinarian, I was a medic before becoming a locksmith and professional handyman. Generally speaking we'd do pretty well with a relatively short term disaster but I agree with the point some have made, the true "end of the world" disaster would be a pretty crappy existence to live in.
Regarding the book I mentioned on page one "One Second After". Not giving away any spoilers particularly but the plot is that an EMP weapon is exploded over the continental US and instantly stops all electricity. Cell phones, generators, cars, airplanes, refrigerators, radio, etc etc all cease to exist in the blink of an eye. It'd be rough, disease and starvation become the norm pretty quickly and the rule of law rapidly falls to the law of the jungle. Diabetics and the elderly don't last long. Strong charismatic leaders gather little warlord bands around themselves. It'd be a hard life.
Stampie said:I'm sure our female members won't agree with the trading of women. Besides who's to say they won't go all Amazon warrior on us and trade us around?
My only hope....
I would say that the single biggest concern is to be in the least densely populated area that you can put yourself into. Cities will rapidly become a dog-eat-dog arena where the strong will prey upon the weak for scarce resources. You won't find rioting and looting halfway up a mountain somewhere in Wyoming.
Since I asked the question I should probably throw my 2 cents in.
My house is perpetually prepared for unsavory situations. We live in a hurricane area and surprisingly enough an earthquake area. We are also subject to the occasional tornado as well as ice and winter weather that shuts the area down until the roads clear. The pantry has enough canned foods to last several weeks and I have emergency rations for another month. Our range is gas with a tank in the yard so cooking won't be an issue. The freezer is fairly well stocked and I can keep it running for a few weeks without issue. There are several vehicles on-site that have fuel in them to keep the generator running. I do make sure my daily vehicles are topped off just in case. When everyone else is scrambling to get food and TP for an emergency, we are sitting at home.
For an extended situation, I'd do the same as Curtis and head for the family farm in the Jeep. It's 460 acres on a sea island on the coast of SC. The original open well is still in use and there is a fairly large freshwater pond to take care of water. It's 200 acres of tillable land and 150 acres of forest. The rest is lowlands and marsh. That takes care of farming and wood. At the moment, it's planted in corn. It also has pear, orange, lemon, and pecans trees growing on it as well as 200' of grape arbor. The island is practically overrun with deer for hunting and being on a saltwater creek we would be eating a lot of seafood.
I keep a couple of rifles handy and several thousand rounds of ammo for a just-in-case situation. The 22 would be for small game. The 5.56 will work for deer in a pinch. While not an ideal round I figure there will be ammo available for a long time. To be truly prepared in that regard, I should probably pick up a shotgun and shells for it as well.
Medical supplies I keep on hand as well. The house kit is large and extensive and will go with us if we have to leave. My day bag has a kit that will work in a pinch. I keep 2 weeks of my BP meds with me at all times. An apocalypse diet and exercise would probably solve that issue by the time I ran out.
I see most of the population scramble every time the news says jump and I wonder why they aren't already prepared for situations like the ones that happen every year.
Antihero (Forum Supporter) said:EastCoastMojo (Forum Supporter) said:Looking at the big picture, even if I play all my cards right and beat the odds of surviving the initial collapse of society, do I really want to be the last one standing on this earth, only to observe everything that was lost? I think not. Therefore one gun and one bullet are all I really need.
I don't disagree, the post apocalyptic fantasy land a lot of people want seems terrible but.....life finds a way too.
I also think it's pretty unrealistic. Humans are generally social animals. We've naturally created relatively stable societies for pretty much the entire history of our species. The modern niceties have only existed for a tiny blip of history. If something catastrophic happened, for the most part, people would be getting along. Oh yeah, you'd get some toughs who want to take advantage of things, but it won't be long until all the people who want to just... live... will band together and far outnumber the problem folks.
Heck, in most of human history, when catastrophe strikes, people's natural reaction is to work together and help each other. The opportunistic looters tend to strike abandoned and/or poorly guarded locations, not places where there are people.
If basic municipal utilities suddenly all failed, it's not like we've got any less arrable land. The biggest survival problems would become safe drinking water, and logistics of getting food to people. The simple solution to that would basically mean a mass exodus of people leaving cities to bring the people to the food. Grab what you've got of value to trade, some sturdy clothes, and a small set of hand tools; hop on a bicycle and start heading for the nearest farm that's going to need workers to replace the heavy equipment that is rapidly going to run out of fuel.
In reply to Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) :
You'd be the one to ask. In a situation like this, what would be the best farm animal in terms of food requirements vs working ability?
Ox, mule, donkey? Something that can pull a plow, but is going to want a people sized portion of food?
Or
Goats/sheep/other smaller critters that maybe can't plow an acre but can keep up on maintenance without needing extra everything?
1988RedT2 said:I would say that the single biggest concern is to be in the least densely populated area that you can put yourself into. Cities will rapidly become a dog-eat-dog arena where the strong will prey upon the weak for scarce resources. You won't find rioting and looting halfway up a mountain somewhere in Wyoming.
I'd wager nearly everyone will fall into the camp of either bugging out fast, or just settling in waiting for things to pass. The looter types will hit abandoned locations. There aren't going to be a bunch of marauders. The people killing/getting killed will be the ones panic-looting stores.
The thing that would kill most people is gastrointestinal disease from drinking untreated water.
We live on a mountainside with ridge line on 3 sides and the valley below on the 4th. Plenty of nuts, berries, turkeys, deer to scrape by so the sustaining side of thing isn't a huge fear. Already have 30 chickens for eggs, bees for honey and a couple veggie plots, good spring water etc.. We aren't "prepping" just like living off our land.
Usual foods would change to what grows locally, in the Appalachia's Sugar would be honey/sorghum, rice would be beans/corn, lots of buckwheat etc.. Blackberry jam made with sorghum syrup is very tasty 
What would be a problem though is other people, those that can't support themselves will start taking from others as shown by all the hoarding/conflict. For some time at least until people band together.
What I'm hoarding? Spaghetti O's with Meatballs, Rule #32 Enjoy the Little Things.
Gas/Fuel is an inevitable scarcity, might as well get used to doing things manually. Most foods are perishable as well, locking yourself into a monument of a food store would be problematic for the people problem. Being adaptable and flexible seems to be a good focus.
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