Daily "Prepping"

[6933]

What do you do on a daily/weekly basis to stay prepared? I mean the little things that could make a big difference. We have several little ways of living that hopefully keep us just a little bit better prepped, such as... We don't let vehicle gas tanks get below a half tank. For cooking, heat etc. I bought several spare LP tanks and keep them filled, if the one in use gets low, I rotate it out and get it filled. We visit the grocery store at least 2X/week so food doesn't run low. I look at it as the pantry(non-long term supplies), fridge,freezer, and "garage" fridge being full adds several weeks onto long term food stores. Potatoes and apples store well for longer periods and can be used in everyday meals/snacks.

If we lose power, I'll deal with it. During Katrina I was able to cook out of the fridge/freezer for four days. On days 3/4 I cooked up the rest of the food, put it on ice and it lasted for 3-4 more days depending on what it was. Bought a smoker and will be able to salt(use non-iodized) and smoke meat/fish to make fridge/freezer food last for an additional 2-3 weeks easy before getting into the preps.

Back to daily preps. We do laundry every day. We've been through several hurricanes while living in the Caribbean and went through Katrina. Washing clothes can turn into an ordeal. Having clean clothes in a SHTF situation is a big mental help. While living on St. Maarten we went w/o power/water for almost a month after Lenny. Sucked and one of the biggest headaches was washing clothes. We would set up three large coolers; first cooler had dirty clothes in it w/soap. Agitate by hand. Next cooler was rinse, as was third. When first cooler's water became grimy, it was dumped and second cooler became first. Trust me, keep your clothes washed if you think trouble is brewing.

If you have the space, plant a garden. Don't forget some veggies can grow well into winter, depending upon your zone. Nothing like picking food and taking it right to the table. I include this as a daily prep. b/c it is a daily issue that adds food to the table. We also like to keep cash on hand just in case. If there's no power, then there are no ATM's and credit won't fly. Just don't forget in a long term SHTF/TEOTWAWKI situation, cash won't be worth sh**. Add a rain barrel or two if you can. It's a "daily" prep you don't have to fool with often. I'm sure I'm forgetting something but I just took the mother-in-law to the airport so I'm on a natural high.:D

[larryp]

Let's see. I have a garden and can my veggies, cut firewood so I have backup heat for the house, raise horses and ride in case of vehicles going down, roads being out etc. Planning on building a chicken coop here in the next few weeks so I can raise my own meat and eggs. I have kerosene lanterns and buy 5 gallon cans of kerosene every so often to add to the stockpile for power outages.
Physical conditioning is an important part of daily prepping in my opinion and so I exercise regularly.
Reloading allows regular target practice to keep my shooting skills.
I also am building up a supply of hand powered tools to use in case of extended power outages. My aim for the next couple of years is to raise 90% of my food and be able to live a 1800's lifestyle if need be due to an extended shtf.

[Belmont31R]

Im not a huge fan of Wal-Mart but when Im there everytime I try to pick up a few extra cans of canned goods, batteries, a case of water, and meander over to the ammo counter to see what they have.




If you buy 5-10 extra cans of food a week, a pack of batteries, water, ammo, ect you can build up a good stock in a few months. At least enough to survive a week, and you'll barely notice you are doing it. I buy other stuff too but those are the basics I try to grab regularly. Sometimes Ill buy a couple cans of camp fuel, propane cylyders (the small ones my BBQ uses), oil/filters for the cars, medical supplies, medicines, ect.


Also keep your gas cans rotated. Im bad about this but trying to do better. Seems like before I know it half my cans are empty, and gas will be very hard to come by when you need it most. I usually do fill up at around 1/2 a tank. My wife is horrible at this. We'll get in the car to go somewhere, and the light will be on. The digital display will say 0 miles til empty. Another reason I have cans....

[The_War_Wagon]

IF your beans, bullets, & bandaids are squared away, gold & silver are STILL good buys (silver more than gold now), cos' they're only going higher in price. Thanks to the 'magic printing presses' at Helicopter Ben & flip-boi Timmy's touch, dollars will be 'fancy toilet paper' in short order. :mad:

[6933]

larryp- Good point on the p.t. I have the luxury of being able to hike 4-5 times/wk. right now as my cardio and then it's to the gym. Physical fitness simply can't be understated. It's good for so many reasons; all of which would help one to get through a rough patch.

Belmont- I do the same things. Pick up some WallyWorld brand canned food, nuts, etc. every time. Their line of canned goods is usually less than a dollar per can. Can't help but cruise the ammo just to see what's in stock. Can't always buy, though.

[a1fabweld]

I set weekly/monthly goals for things to get or stock up on. I'm pretty much set (as far as the necessities) go. Just adding duplicates of everything now. One of my preparedness friends motto is "one is none & two is one". Also keeping the vehicles as full of fuel as possible.

[mlk18]

I tend to shop the clearance carts and bins. A few cans of food a week adds up quickly, but I have also found ridiculously cheap deals on nutrition/protein bars and over-the-counter medications (like ibuprofen).

[Redneck19]

If you have land (and time to maintain them) animals like milk cows are good choices. Milk cows can supply you with milk for your family, from which you can make other dairy products, and produce a calf a year if she has access to a bull.
Hogs and Honey Bees are examples of good low maintenance investments that you can barter with later.

Anyone have any ideas on non electric alternatives to washing machines?

I go back and forth on ammo reloads. Part of me says "yeah, you'll save some money", then the other part says, "no, you'll kill yourself and destroy your gun".

[sadmin]

Im with you on the ammo issue. I was so close to getting into reloading and buying all the equipment, then opted out. Now, I just a system where the very day my paycheck is deposited into my account, I order some ammo. May be a case, 1/2 a case, or just a few boxes, but I always have some in route twice a month. Its worked out well for me and built up fast. It also shows me how little I train which kind of sucks. :mad:

[Redneck19]

Im with you on the ammo issue. I was so close to getting into reloading and buying all the equipment, then opted out. Now, I just a system where the very day my paycheck is deposited into my account, I order some ammo. May be a case, 1/2 a case, or just a few boxes, but I always have some in route twice a month. Its worked out well for me and built up fast. It also shows me how little I train which kind of sucks. :mad:


I should start doing that. Buying ammo more regularly and training, that is.

However, at some point, someone in my community is going to need to know how to reload/gunsmith.

[HES]

One of the things we do each day is spend about an hour doing a little more research. We find helpful how to articles and save them to a file where we print them on 4x6 cards and laminate them. We also look for new ideas and adjust our master plan / shopping document.

Every time we go food shipping we pick up a bit extra of canned goods and dry goods and see if there are any pickle barrels that we can have.

Every time we go to wally world we pick up just a few boxes of ammo of multiple calibers.

We budget about $50 to $100 a month in camping / survival gear.

We've started a garden as well and are already canning.

The thing is that a bit here and a bit there constantly spreads out the physical and economic impact and within a few months you already have a good load for you and yours.

[Naxet1959]

When I travel (almost every week) I take home the shampoo and soaps plus the coffee from the room. The shampoo and soap work for us plus could be barter items; the coffee is the same.

[Beat Trash]

When I travel (almost every week) I take home the shampoo and soaps plus the coffee from the room. The shampoo and soap work for us plus could be barter items; the coffee is the same.

Not a bad idea...

Thanks

[afff_667]

As stupid as this is going to sound, this thread popped my eyes open. I'm late getting to the party, so to speak, on a lot of things and have been giving serious consideration as to how best to begin preparations. I can't believe it never ocurred to me to simply start picking up a few things here and there on the weekly trips to Walmart/grocery store, etc to begin the process.

Geez, I'm dense....

I have, however, started the ammo deal pretty much as described by sadmin. I've began ordering some amount of 9 mm and/or 5.56 every paycheck as well as a magazine or two here and there when I find good deals on them. I unfortunately lose out on some of the better volume pricing for ammo but feel like I'm making up for it by simply getting the ammo into my hands and not waiting until prices go back through the roof.

Thanks for the eye-opener, and I'll be watching this section closely.

[762xIan]

Living relatively rural, being prepared kind of comes with the territory.

I keep the pantry full, keep an eye on the flyers from the stores for sales on canned food and what not. The large plastic bins with snap on lids are great for storing and stacking stuff away. If you are putting food in them, a seal of duct tape around the lid and body will keep mice and what not from "helping themselves".

Fire up the generator every 6 months or so and check it out. I keep the gas cans and cars full. All necessary tie ins for electric are done. House has well water and septic so that's not an issue.

We have had power out several times in the winter, once for 5 days due to an ice storm. That was a great test! Wood stove was cranking, ran the generator only a few hours a day to keep the freezers/fridge cold and run the well pump. I wound up buying another Coleman lantern (liquid fuel type) and a couple more kero lamps as well as a kerosene heater. Water storage jugs are now part of my home preps, I also keep quite a few 1 gallon milk jugs full of water to flush the toilet with.

Boredom was the big issue, make sure you are well stocked with things to do with no power..board games, cards, etc.

Don't forget to rotate your perishables.....takes only a minute with a sharpie to write on a can the date you bought it.

Don't forget toilet paper......the currency of a post-apocalyptic world.:haha: