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

[Species8472]

no possible recovery for 12 to 18 months

No possible recovery for that length of time means no possible recovery for generations. After 12 to 18 months 90-95% of the world would be dead and all governments will have fallen. The expertise/ability to restart the infrastructure and the industrial/manufacturing machine would be gone. It would be possible to survive with good planning and even live relatively comfortably but nothing like we do now. So in that scenario your 12 to 18 month plan actually needs to be a lifetime plan.

Include a hard copy of Mark's Standard Handbook for Mechanical Engineers in your library. You could basically re-build civilization from scratch using the information contained there.

[Bushmoose]

also an Ice Storm lesson:

ever house should have one of these in the back yard. HaHa.

But do you have paper to go with it? The job ain't finished until the paperwork is done?

[greatwhite]

Not that hard to smoke or cure meats. Actually I just did 10 pounds. It's down at my buddies house aging right now. Still have another 20 pounds to do.

Not trying to challenge your comment, but do you know how to properly salt and cure meats? Have you got the necessary supplies needed to do this, for the amount of meat in the freezer? I wouldn't be counting on youtubing or googling the info when the time comes, there'll be no youtube or google when SHTF. Unless a person has the supplies and expertise now, waiting until it needs to be done, will likely be too late to start preserving meat? How about other foods items? Flour, sugar, yeast, coffee, tea, spices,? I read someone's post about having a quantity of rice on hand. Plain boiled rice would be a bit dull after eating that for a few days?

Has anyone gone looking for simple canning supplies this past summer and in the last few months? Mason lids were almost non existent on the shelves? Cider vinegar was sold out until just recently and my wife was at the store just at the right time to get a jug about 3 weeks ago. We didn't need it right now, but we wanted it. It will last a long time.
We do a lot of canning of meat, vegetables and fruit and we have a good quantity of all the supplies needed, as we're always on the look-out for jars, lids and other necessary items through-out the year.
How many folks have a pressure canner? Do they know how to use it? What are you going to use for a stove when the power is out? Another thing to think of is, if a person waits until they need to buy fresh food to preserve, it will be too late, as there simply won't be anything left on the grocery store shelves to purchase, not that a person would get there anyway due to the masses all trying to do the same thing.

I've had a few friends laugh when they see my larder, but I ask them why they have a spare tire on their vehicle. We all hope we won't need it, but it's better to be prepared?

[gbk]

Just my 2 cents-many things,from pressure canner to specialized equipment and knowledge did not existed up to 30-50 years ago,not at least in my neck of woods.
My mom would make heaps of canned everything-except meat, and we would have everything home made ,home preserved,home stored,from jam-fruits,tomato ,sour cabbage-whatever.Not only my family-half of Europe.
My dad who passed away many years ago,may rest in peace, built a simple brick smoke house,not much different size and shape as an outhouse-of course ,it was ONLY for smoking meat.He would do all our meat,sausage etc, and neighbors too,with next to no training.He would salt cure the rest of the meat/hams/slabs of bacon.Heck-my MIL (and many others)would deep fry in pig lard pork chops,then place them in layers in a big storage pot-and pour over the very same ,hot lard.After solidifying,the meat would last for months..... winter-summer,regardless.It was really juicy with all that grease enveloping them great chops..........NO CHOLESTEROL was invented at that time.

What i am trying to say is-most of that old,simple,yet proven technique is still out there,old people,old books,some Internet adresses still have all that simple,ages old knowledege.Much of that is very very simple to learn and remember,if one wants to.
It is not a must to approach everything with high tech savvy.Especially not in survival situation.

[canadaman30]

I have 2 years of toilet paper, I will be a survivor past 18months

[Bushmoose]

Just my 2 cents-many things,from pressure canner to specialized equipment and knowledge did not existed up to 30-50 years ago,not at least in my neck of woods.
My mom would make heaps of canned everything-except meat, and we would have everything home made ,home preserved,home stored,from jam-fruits,tomato ,sour cabbage-whatever.Not only my family-half of Europe.
My dad who passed away many years ago,may rest in peace, built a simple brick smoke house,not much different size and shape as an outhouse-of course ,it was ONLY for smoking meat.He would do all our meat,sausage etc, and neighbors too,with next to no training.He would salt cure the rest of the meat/hams/slabs of bacon.Heck-my MIL (and many others)would deep fry in pig lard pork chops,then place them in layers in a big storage pot-and pour over the very same ,hot lard.After solidifying,the meat would last for months..... winter-summer,regardless.It was really juicy with all that grease enveloping them great chops..........NO CHOLESTEROL was invented at that time.

What i am trying to say is-most of that old,simple,yet proven technique is still out there,old people,old books,some Internet adresses still have all that simple,ages old knowledege.Much of that is very very simple to learn and remember,if one wants to.
It is not a must to approach everything with high tech savvy.Especially not in survival situation.

Yes, everything now is being delivered to the door, portion packaged and ready to warm n serve The younger generations don't have a clue when it comes to so many things, feeding oneself and their family is just a part of it. It's all about "I want it and I want it right now"!
Both my parents are gone, but I enjoyed it when they would tell stories of their youth growing up in the 20's and during the depression. And stories my one grandmother would tell about cooking in the bush camps as a young woman during the early 1900's. One of the best stories was about how she was praised by the men in one camp she worked at, for making "pumpkin pie" from turnips. She said she'd make 20 pies at a time and many of the men eating it wouldn't know the difference until someone told them. Compare that to one of my nieces, who at 45 yrs of age admitted last year that she has never once even cooked a turkey? I think that's a typical story of many today? Sad actually.

[MikePal]

Compare that to one of my nieces, who at 45 yrs of age admitted last year that she has never once even cooked a turkey? I think that's a typical story of many today? Sad actually.

My own sister.....came for a visit once when I was raising chickens, gave here a couple of whole roasters to take home. She called a few days later and asked how to cook them , she had never done it before, she was say 50 at the time and had raised (?) two kids. Your right... Sad !!!

[MikePal]

Back in the 90s we used our farm for self-sufficiency farming ( raised livestock, sell 2/3 to pay for our needs). I was very fortunate to pick up this book as a discard from the Ottawa Public library for $2. Turned out to be one of the most valuable books I own when it comes to teaching you how to home butcher.

It ain't fancy, was written by what looks likes hillbillies from Pennsylvania. I opened it, saw a pic of a rabbit nailed to a shed wall being butchered and I knew that was the book for me HaHa..

We now have youtube videos now that teach us stuff like this, but a good prepper will have books like this in his abode.

Keep an eye out for this kind of essential..





Used copies available on Amazon : (my pic was for the first edition....I see it's different now.)

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/083...IOE1L9MO&psc=1

[greatwhite]

How many on here can bake bread or pie from scratch? I use to when I was in College, I had to learn as I had almost no money and friends who had left had given me a 50 pound bag of flour. I use to bake pie's etc. Not so much anymore as each kid came along I dropped doing more and more things. Although I have raised meat hens and had large gardens in the past.

Just bought a bag of flour and plan to make oatmeal bread from scratch (A family recipe) for my youngest as he doesn't remember his grandmother making it (She had a stroke when he was around 5 or 6).

[MikePal]

Just bought a bag of flour and plan to make oatmeal bread from scratch

GW you have to learn to make Bannock...it's was taught to me by a FN back in the 70's...can be done over an open fire...no need for a stove !!

this is a good recipe:

https://www.food.com/recipe/metis-bannock-175091