Emergency Preparedness

We rarely even have enough for one meal...were always having to go out to the shop for it

Prepared? Nope:S

 

Verseau miracle: I havn't been to Europe since before you were born. I remember people going to the markets in the afternoon to shop for dinner. I guess its still the same.
Dont folks keep a pantry of canned goods, dried goods or a freezer ?
Just wondering .... Dennis

I know folks here are alittle Anti-government, but here's a good info site put out by F.E.M.A. http://www.fema.gov/areyouready/

 

Greetings, Alaskan! Good thread; and hopefully it will encourage folks to stock up on supplies if they haven't already done so.

We are fairly set with preparedness-type food stuffs. About 6 months ago, some friends of ours were cleaning out their garage, and some of the items they chose to discard were about ten cases of "Mountain House" foods and drink mixes; as well as a number of those government rations. I saw all the boxes by their garbage receptacles when I was paying them a visit, and I said, "Man, don't throw away that stuff - that's food! You never know when world war three might break out and you'll need it!" They told me that "if world war three broke out, that food would be the least of all of our problems"; and if I wanted the food, I could take it off their hands. So, I loaded up the cases and took 'em home where they now reside. Each case contains (4) five pound cans of assorted foods and drink mix. Like, one case has a five pound can of freeze-dried Chicken & Noodles; a five pound can of Chili; a five pounder of lemonade mix and a five pounder of powdered milk. Each can gives instructions for reconstitution in quantity or in single servings; and each has a heavy-duty plastic cover for containment after you open the can. There are also five pound cans of cocoa mix, crackers, & cheddar cheese.
I actually opened one of the cans of Chicken & Noodles, and all's you do is add hot water; and then I also added some salt & pepper and butter, and it tasted really great!
I have a hook-up with a local Pak'nSave to retrieve all the canned goods that they discard because the labels have come off, so they throw them away! I retrieve them, and am very well-stocked on what I refer to as "Mystery Cans" of food! I have become quite skilled in determining what a given can contains - I can now tell what's inside an unlabeled can by it's size, shape, weight, and the final test is, I shake it slowly while holding it sideways in my hand - you can tell by how the contents moves in the can what it might could be!

What I am not well-stocked in is water; which this thread has brought to my attention that I must attend to obtaining. Can't reconstitute all that canned food without water, can I? I will take care of gathering water now with a quickness.

Once while on a motor trip, we heated up our canned food by setting it on a stable part of our automobile motor - heated up in no time flat. As well, my travelling companion actually cooked hot dogs on the engine by wrapping them up in aluminum foil and setting them in there - they were quite tasty, and amazingly enough, none of the food warmed up in the engine tasted like gasoline or engine oil! Just thought I'd mention this in this thread, 'cause it's kind of a survivalist mindset kind of thing, as long as one has an engine (could you do this on your generator?)

Being in Northern California, the thing I fear the most is the next "Big One". I live quite close to the San Andreas
fault line, and they say the "Big One" is long overdue - it's rumored that it will be far worse than the 1906 earthquake that leveled most of San Francisco - yikes!

Sincere Regards, Michaela
_________________________________________

"They will never make a perfect heart until they
make one that can't be broken."
....... The Wizard, "The Wizard of Oz"
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Thank you Michaela:
Mountain House product are very good, nitrogen packed and claim a 25 year shelf life.
We have many of their products in our emergency pantry.
For you meat eaters, they have a great selection of dehydrated meats, even dehydrated hamburger patty's, soak in warm water for about 15 Min's. Grill and enjoy.
Cooking on the engine, did that years ago during my traveling period. Made a box of on sheet metal and secured it above the exhaust manifold on my old VW bus. Called them "Manifold meals". Put your meal in the box, pullover in about a hour and a half and have a good cooked meal.
In the F.E.M.A. link I posted, they cover water storage in very simple and easy to follow terms.
The Bay area has had its share of shakers over the years. If you look at the 1906 quake and fire. 60 miles north of San Francisco in Santa Rosa was leveled by the quake
San Francisco got all the coverage because of the population and the fire that followed.
A few years back with the rolling black outs, What if the power went out and didn't come back on for a few weeks. In the south bay where you live, theres over a million people. How can any agency begin to provide even basic help to that many.
F.E.M.A and the Red Cross recommend least 3 days of emergency supplies, but go on to say 2 weeks would be better.
Like I said when I started this thread, I didn't want to turn this into a Rambo Site, but just to make people aware and being able to take responsibility of them selfs and their family's

 

Hey Alaskan its good to have a reserve for lots of reasons. Not that long ago I got hurt and was out of work and mainly unable to get out for a bit due to my knee being messed up. Now I have great insurance and it paid me well while I was off but it still took 30 days to get that first check with back amounts paid too but for those 30 days I was pretty much at home and not able to get to the store ect. So having that food already at the house made it alot easier for me to get by for that time.

A person never knows when having a little bit of things stocked back might come in handy, be it a simple matter of a few days or weeks being down, a job loss, a disaster or whatever, it cant hurt to take a little here and there to have for a later day.

 

Just reading the news in the U.S. today should be a wake up call. People being evacuated from the Lake Tahoe, south shore because of a large wild fire, floods on the east coast, active tornado's, and hurricane season building down south.
During Y2K, the non-event, here in my neck of the woods, we were closed in because our only road in was closed more often than not. The power grid follows the road, so long black-outs. The one store was seeing empty shelfs and signs warning to conserve gasoline, because the tank trucks weren't able to get through.
We were stocked up and found we could meet all our energy needs with running our generator twice a day for 3 hours at a time.I had over 300 gallons of fuel, which would have kept the generator and other fuel powered tools and vehicles running all winter.
We have 2 wells, one a submersible electric and one a hand pump (that works all winter).
Remember city dwellers, you have a back-up water supply in your water heater. About 50 gallons of drinking water.
In 1987 I was living in the Napa Valley in California, finishing my undergrad program, when a flood hit. We were still living like Alaskans, so 4 days without utilities didn't really phase us. On day 3 a women who lived a couple of blocks away stopped by my house to ask why we had electricity and she didn't? I told her we had our own generator, she told me that wasn't fair.
At that time my wife walked to the corner store, they told her they were out of candles and batteries, she told them we were good on those, but how do you stand on hot dog buns?, we had unsuspected house guests.
Just a little preparation can keep a small problem from turning into a disaster.

 

Maybe you'all have some things to say and then again I'm not sure. Who are you planning to fight or are you just "collecting" guns and amo. I'd be scared shitless of you guys if I thought there was any possibility of you getting to me where I live. Aren't you over emphasizing what might happen in the future. I prefer to live now. By the way for the first time since I was about 20 I'm starting to think a lot about my fists again, I don't like to have to do it, but it seems like I have no other choice right now. With my fists and just a wee bit of support from the community I might survive the city long enough to go back to a less urban setting.


If you ever do get to New Jersey and you still feel like fighting there must be at least 50 police agencies that would be more than willing to engage you.

One more thing, during Y2k I was living in a mental health facility in the community. The counsilors forced us to stock up on bottled water. I nearly fought with them over it, the alarmist bastards. It was just another excuse to invade the privacy of our homes and our peace of mind.

Never thought I'd hear myself saying this but: Power to the people, fuck the facist police agent pigs and the robot race whose laws they enforce and whose orders they carry out.

Peter, still calling myself an American dissident, while the psychiatrists laugh!

It's important to make an effort to communicate clearly in times of crisis, Alaskan. Were you reading the news in a magazine called "USA Today" or were you trying to say you were reading about the news in the United States today. I hope it wasn't the latter, but just in case it was I just want to remind you that Alaska is the United States, LOL.

 

When I started this thread I made it clear I hoped this would not turn into a Rambo thread.
I did know self defense would come up. Nowhere, until now has there been any mention of stand off battles with law enforcement.
During the past few weeks, in the United States we have seen people having to leave their homes due wildfires and floods. These are the situation I was focusing on.
As Katrina proved, the government is not able to take care of the people during a large disaster and that people ought to shoulder the responsibility for their own safety and well being.
As for your question, no I don't read "USA Today", I do read (scan) 30 international news sites on the NET. And yes I do see the stars and stripes on the flag poles here.
As for firearms, yes I have a few, this is Alaska and I hunt. I have 2 30 caliber rifles, a 12 gauge shot gun, a 22 cal. rifle. A 45 auto and a 357 revolver. May seem like a lot by lower 48 standards . But by Alaskan standards I'm a piker.
Hope this helps explain my position..

 

Hmm, safetypin I think you misunderstand the reason for some of us owning weapons. I don't think anyone here has any intention of going to New Jersey and harming you or taking on the NJ state police. A gun is a tool hopefully only needed to provide food, but is there to protect as well. I didn't see any poster in this thread indicate any aggressiveness with regards to their weapons. This thread is about what you have around to get by with in the event that the supply lines are interrupted. Having the knowlege and tools to hunt food could come in handy some day.

 

Alaskan,

don't take offense, I'm just angry from a post you made in a thread I started some time ago. But seriously, it is important to make sure you don't say things that you don't mean, because unless I'm mistaken in your last post you said the very opposite of what you meant. The last thing I want to do is fight. I have no intention of doing it, I just get carried away with thoughts about it sometimes. See, I grew up in rural suburbia and everyone had guns there. I never touched them myself except for a .22 that I shot at a camp I went to for two summers. But being in close proximity to fire power does something to you and I just don't think it's as necessary as the two of you might think.

peace bro's

 

By the way, was this not mentioned because it is too obvious... flint struck on iron to make a spark to start a fire or rubbing two sticks together over dried or dry grape vine bark.

 

SafetyPin: I don't understand where you think I'm giving mixed messages in this thread. The intension of this thread, I thought I was very clear. The point was to put back something for a "Rainy day". or a earth quake day or ????
As freeinalaska, said, to get by if the supply lines go tits ups..not a quote.
Not to worry about us armed Alaskan folks showing up in New Jersey. Been to N.J. once, didn't leave anything there or saw anything there to go back for.
Sorry but I have no idea what your talking about.........Alaskan

 

I don't know what you are talking about either but here is a direct quote from your 28th post:

"When I started this thread I made it clear I hoped this would turn into a Rambo thread."

I'm tired of this shit from you doctors, no matter what you do or whoever you say you are, it's always that ugly shit, making everyone else out to be crazy or that I don't know what you are talking about crap that always ends up coming out of you when all it is is that you just don't want to understand. Find me a doctor who is actually different than any other doctor; it can't be done.

So I'll be clear about this too, I hope this turns into a Rambo thread too, you stupid fuck, motherfucker.

Just venting! You know what would happen to me if I talked to my psychiatrist like that. Hey man, your giving me some "real" therapy. Don't get a big head though, I know you have not attained the exalted level of psychiatrist, your just a plain old doctor, lucky for me though, because there's no return at all from wherever the minds of psychiatrists have ventured out to these days.

By the way, I've been to Alaska once too. I didn't see anything worth going back there for either but it was cool as hell while I was there. Loved the sort of like day light at nite. I was there in June.

One last thing, don't apeal to freeinalaska for help, he ain't shit either and it's insulting to think a grown man needs someone else to speak for him.

audios hermanos (I'm including you freeinalaska)

 

SafetyPin : Sounds like your having some problems. Not to worry. We all do.
Question is you keep calling me doctor, don't know where thats coming from , I'm a retired boat capt, who now owns a heating business and greenhouse.
The purpose of this thread was to make people a little more self-sufficient in times of an emergency situation.
Please don't curse me, I don't deserve it. In my real life I'm A pretty nice guy.
I don't need freeinalaska to come to my rescue. He happens to be a man that lives the similar life style to me.
Peace.....Dennis

 

If you are feeling isolated out there as well as cold, don't worry about the isolation part, I'll always be here to talk to you. I guess physical isolation could turn into psychological isolation, I've always had to approach it from the other way around though, psychological isolation turning into physical isolation.

I did learn something about being more self sufficient, but I'm wondering if these times we are in right now are are not already emergency times.

 

Sorry Safetypin: I don't have any feelings of being isolated, this may be a town of about 3,000 people in the surrounding area which I know most of them. Much different than if I lived in a major city.
Here is a page out of the Alaskan page on putting an emergency kit together.
http://www.ak-prepared.com/homelandsecurity/pdf/7_Day_Supply_Calendar.pdf
Hope we can return to topic.....Dennis

 

I could be doing better job at stocking up myself... I mainly have the radios and non-food stuff ready.
However it;s the food that is important, and I don't have that stocked up.

 

Jedite: Follow the Alaska plan of stocking up, a little each week and it wont hit you in the wallet so hard.
Last week I heard on national news they were recomending people grab their emergency kits and prepare to evacuate from one of the flood areas.
I hope this thread opens folks eyes to the situation that you may have to leave your homes or dig in for a while.
As Ive said befor, I was brought up poor, If I have a lot of food on hand, I feel rich.
................................Dennis.................

 

I have knives...all I need. I realize that's pretty Rambo-ish but if the shit hits the fan, nature will provide.

 

Biggen: I also carry a pocket knive everywhere I go. A handy tool many times a day.
But your going to have to explain how a knive is going provide for you in a SHTF situation.
My pocket knive is stout enough to open canned goods, but you have to have the canned goods to open.
I see you are from Ohio, Guess you've seen some pretty harsh winters. Don't know if your rural or city. But I can't figure out how a knive and mother nature will provide for you ?
I have a meat market walking through my yard all the time, in the form of a moose, but trying to take a moose down with a knive isn't a happening thing. I live about 3 miles from the ocean, but a good fishing pole would be my tool of choice.
If you have a good plan for knive survival other than robbing someone at knive point, I'd like to hear..........Dennis....