Preparedness and you - How prepared are you for a 30 day shutdown

[greatwhite]

In the winter I would put my freezer outside and fill with ice and cover with snow, if it was summer I could salt and cure my meats.

[MarkB]

If that happened, we'd all be screwed. Even the so called "prepared". Because the minute everyone else is starving ... they're coming after the "prepared" ... you'd have to fend off an army ... and I don't care how many guns you have ... you'll lose sooner or later due to the numbers.

So, let's just hope and pray that never happens.

Being prepared for a 1 month shut down is a more realistic scenario ... power loss for up to 2 weeks ... realistic. Most people in Canada will recall the big ice-storm in the 90's (was it 97??) that took out power in major parts of Quebec for a couple of weeks in the middle of winter ... people survived, but it wasn't a nice experience, that's for sure. Most houses would be screwed without electricity, because not even the furnaces work without power ... and wood burning fireplaces have been restricted in new home builds due to insurance pressure on housing codes ... and the gas ones, most need power as well (although I have to check if it has to be 110V ... or if a smaller voltage battery can be used on other side of a transformer).

Most houses would have to resort to propane heaters ... and then how long before propane bottles are out of stock??

If it became dire ... I'd either re-jig the gas fireplace to work without power ... or I'd move the natural gas BBQ into the house, and just run the burners. Plus there's the gas stove ... would obviously be a hazard ... but we would be talking about an extreme situation here. If they cut natural gas ... we are all done ...

[greatwhite]

Some people lost power for even longer then 4 weeks. The ice storm was in 98. I was one of the worse areas, we had no power poles left.

[greatwhite]

Also firewood. Luckily I have a 4 year supply already cut.

[line052]

So, yes I have two small freezers, plus I make cheese, cure meats (basic), and working on the meat curing cabinets which will be a cold/hot smoker. As for freezer food if geny still works, then it won't be an issue, but I also have 200 watts of solar, inverters, charge controllers and all required cabling to charge batteries (which I have for small scale solar to provide power to keep those freezers in operation until eaten.
One of the basic preps is sea salt and lots of it, it (sea salt) contains no iodine or fillers and was used to preserve meats for 100's of years. You can't use table salt to cure meats. So having a good stock of sea salt is critical, unlike the US in Canada they dont sell 50lbs bags for consumers, so I have had to build my stock in 907grams Walmart Great Value boxes @.97 each box over the years. Salt like sugar, honey, hard wheat berries have an indefinite self life if stored properly.

When it comes to curing, Prague pink salt #1 which is sodium nitrite is required to cure quickly, Sea salt has sodium nitrate and during the chemical process of long term curing the nitrate turn to nitrite which how hams are cured in just sea salt. If you are smart storing 4 or 5Kg of Prague #1 will get you through immediate curing needs and larger cuts will take time using straight sea salt.
Mark Kurlansky does wonderful book on the boring, yet fascinating World History of Salt. For such a simple staple of modern world, people today have no idea how vital salt was, a days wages would be paid in salt, worth his salt is a saying - ironically the New World of Chris Columbus would not have been settled if was not for the salt wars of the 1600 and 1700 hundreds in Europe, and SOuth America, which caused settlements (In NA) to be formed for the sole purpose of burning trees to evaporate salt water in in giant tin pans on the east cost of NA. These salts were used preserve the fish stocks taken of the coast of NFLD for hundreds of years Today salt ponds still exist in the Caribbean and coasts of Spain and France (Fleur De Sel), which are left over from the salt wars. Napoleon could have won his war without salt, and neither would the North have won over the South if salt was not secured.

So yes, I have taught myself cheese and charcuterri skills and have raw materials to preserve and basic skills needed.

Line052

You say you have freezers full of food but when the power is out what do you then do?

It will go bad would you smoke or dry cure your meats ? This would make it last a while longer. During the winter it would be ok to keep it for a while but during the summer your freezer full of meat would have to be cured to salvage it awhile.



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[MikePal]

All sounds good until it goes on longer than a month or so then a million hungry people from Ottawa head south looking for food. It will be like a herd of Locust destroying everything (one) in its wake. They'll weed your vegetable garden and clean out your root cellar for you HaHa.

My Mom lived on a farm in Holland during the war....she has stories of the mass exodus from Amsterdam.

Back in the 80's our prepper gathering point was well off the grid , well out of sight.

[greatwhite]

Line052 buy your salt at the Bulk Barn

[line052]

Cool, The bug out location and having a MAG (Mutual Assistance Group), of like minded people with specific skill set at standard operating procedures...(SOPs) Skills will be become very hot commodities, post collapse, as money becomes worthless the longer the event goes on, or hyper inflation removes your buying power for basic goods. Eventually the barter system is the worth and "money", trading for items becomes the true value. Just thinkif you have all funds/assets tired to banking...poof it is gone in the electronic realm.

All sounds good until it goes on longer than a month or so then a million hungry people from Ottawa head south looking for food. It will be like a herd of Locust destroying everything (one) in its wake. They'll weed your vegetable garden and clean out your root cellar for you HaHa.

My Mom lived on a farm in Holland during the war....she has stories of the mass exodus from Amsterdam.

Back in the 80's our prepper gathering point was well off the grid , well out of sight.

[fishermccann]

What about pharmaceuticals? How are people going to get the life saving drugs they need? When we run out of insulin ,are all diabetics doomed? To be a true prepper do you need to be med free?

[greatwhite]

Some meds will still be around, they have been making medication for over 100 years. They might be hard to find. Yes people would die.
You probably were not in the ice storm of 98 where millions lost power.

What about pharmaceuticals? How are people going to get the life saving drugs they need? When we run out of insulin ,are all diabetics doomed? To be a true prepper do you need to be med free?