What most people forget in Preparing

[Hill-Billy]

When I was at the University (SUU) I had to do a survey for a class. I did one on Food Storage and what people had or didn't have. I surveyed over 100 families.

I was shocked to find out that NO one had stored water. I recomend in my seminars that everyone needs a 55 Gal for each person in the family.

Next, firewood. NO one had stored firewood. When the electric grid goes down. You will not be able to cook on the stove. You must have wood to burn and dutch ovens to cook with.

Food storage should be foods you eat now. Instead of purchasing a large variety of stuff. Just buy what you already buy. Instead of a can, buy a dozen cans.

If it is winter when the lights go out. How are you going to heat the home to stay warm? You will need firewood and a firewood cook stove. Even if it is in the garage, so live in the garage or install it when you need it.

Next, is sanitation. No water. Get a metal 55gal drum and dig a hole for it. Cut a nice comfortable hole in the top. Make sure the bottom does not have its top on. Use wood ash to pour into the hole at times with water.

These are just a few iteams most people don't have, make sure you do.

Don't be affraid of dropping me a note.

[WyomingEMT]

Water is right at the top for home and 72 hr prepardness. My favorite choice is 5 gal mylar bags. I've had water stored in these bags for years and have had great luck with quality water tasteing good. It's my choice for water storage, and can be stored 2 high against a basement wall.

[NeuroTypical]

We have five 55 gal barells. I don't think it's enough, because our horses would burn through all that in a few weeks.

A generator for the well, and maybe a hand pump, have been near the top of our to-do list for a while.

LM

[WyomingEMT]

I wish I had a well. The water in your well is probably pretty tasty and dosn't need alot of filtration. When your looking for a generator, you will probably need to buy a 240 volt generator with a capacity of 8000 watts minimum. My dads well is a 3/4 horse 240 volt submersible pump pulling a wopping 10 kw when it first starts. Most generators have a power surge built in. After the pump has started it drops off to 5 or 6 kw. All depends if your well has a submersible pump or a surface pump and how deep the well is. In any case I wish I had a well in my back yard. Edited November 29, 2009 by WyomingEMT

[Michael68]

To start a drinking water storage program, say with empty-clean 2 liter bottles, and the water is ran through a carbon filter on the fridge, would I also need to add bleach? The water is very good.

Also, even though it is pricey, there is a product out there that can mount on the top of a 4" well cap for deep wells. I think it is called a Bison Pump. Some models can draw water from 200' down by hand. If you Google "Bison Pumps", the facts will be there.

[Revelationstoo]

Dear Hill-Billy,

Thanks for your OP. These real tough 55 gal poly-urethane drums are low in cost. Also 1 gal. and 1/2 gallon empty juice containers are very rugged and for some, may be more easily stored and easy to manage than heavy 55 gal. drums.

Wood may not be readily available for many people. Propane is possibly a far more preferred fuel. Many municipalities permit as large as 500 gallon tanks. In rural locations much larger tanks can be used. A lot of cooking can be done even on a 100# or even a 20# propane tank when using a good 2 burner camp stove stove. Most people use these little 2 burner units with the expensive disposable 2# canisters. Many stores have very inexpensive adapter kits that allow direct connection to larger propane tanks. Propane can be stored indefinitely, is clean burning and can also be used to operate generators so equipped for LPG use. As a safety suggestion all fuel supply hoses should where possible be stored away from sunlight or be sure weather resistant materials should be preferred. At any rate they should be examined yearly to check for any hose deterioration. If this fuel as with any other fuel if used for heating all safety ventilation requirements should be complied with.

Potty's are also available in fold out seats or 5 gallon bucket seats with either type using plastic kitchen garbage bags. Not the most perfect, but either sure beats squatting in minus 45 degree storms! Contents in the bags are easily stored and disposable.

I hope the above will be helpful.

Edited February 1, 2010 by Revelationstoo
typo

[Akita]

Depending on where you live, it may be more important to store a means of purifying water than storing it. eg, in the east, you are rarely very far from a stream. In the west, water storage becomes a Great deal more important.

[chitchat]

At least get a Berkey or some other water purification system, so you can access a creek.

Berkey Water Filter Systems and Purifiers, Emergency Water Filters from British Berkefeld

[Revelationstoo]

Depending on where you live, it may be more important to store a means of purifying water than storing it. eg, in the east, you are rarely very far from a stream. In the west, water storage becomes a Great deal more important.

Dear Akita,

Although a means of purifying water may be important, it is not a substitute for storing water. Have the brethren ever suggested simple purification means in lieu of storing?

As a hint you might consider the prophesies in the book of Revelation pertaining to the last days, wherein the waters would be made bitter, even turned into blood as was done in Egypt anciently by Moses.

After carefully reviewing what has been prophesied by the apostle John, you may want to reconsider the concept of STORING WATER.

[NeuroTypical]

That's an interesting take on water storage, Revalationstoo. I hadn't encountered it before. I don't think it will alter my preparations much though, because there are more reasons to worry about water, than just preparing for the last days. There's also realistic preps against natural and manmade disasters that may keep the power out or the faucet off for extended periods of time. There's getting caught in a situation where you might have to travel long distances on foot.

In other words, I'm not about to throw away the water filters from our get-home bags and bug-out kits, just because water may or may not go bad in the events leading up to the millenium. I'd feel pretty dumb the next time I'm thirsty from having to walk 20 miles home after a tornado closes the roads, but it's not raining frogs and the moon is it's normal color...

Have the brethren ever suggested simple purification means in lieu of storing?

Instead of storing? I don't think so. But they do indeed talk about purification. Here. They even provide links to government websites on how to purify water, and suggest some specific kinds of commercially-available filters.

LM

Edited February 10, 2010 by Loudmouth_Mormon

[LDSVALLEY]

We use 2lt pop bottles with a few drops of bleach in each one. One brethern took a bottle in he had stored for 20 years and the water tested pure and drinkable.

[Akita]

I'm not sure what you mean by 'bretheren', Revelationtoo. (I'm not LDS)

Even if the water is poisoned by some means(eg overturned RR tanker), it can be cleaned up via filters and/or boiling/distilling. Certainly I would never tell anyone NOT to store water. When a water pipe breaks, the well pump fails, or whatever short term outage it may be, trekking down to the crik is tougher than tapping the storage supply even in good weather! Backups to Backups to Backups!

[Revelationstoo]

Dear Akita,

Perhaps I need to clarify my position. I believe that both storage and purification means are important. We should never neglect either.

I believe we should be self sufficient and capable of sustaining our life needs in the face of any and all emergencies. Both short or long term.

We ought to give careful heed to both biblical prophetic and latter day prophetic warnings as evidenced in part below.

Matthew 24:15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)

Near the end of Christ earthly ministry he proclaimed the following solemn warning regarding the events to occur in the last days.

Matthew 24:6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

24:7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.

24:8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

Luke 21:20 And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.

We are admonished to "stand in holy places". It is just possible that one such place where all men and women can so stand is in their well prepared homes. The scriptures state among other things that "they shall see an overflowing scourge; for a desolating sickness shall cover the land." This desolating sickness that will cover the earth could be a chemical/biological warfare agent, but more likely is very possibly radiation poisoning resulting from nuclear war detonations. People can survive the effects of fallout if they could safely remain in their homes for two or three months.

For those who failed to prepare, the mere leaving the safety of their home to seek food or water could expose them to terminal doses of radiation. In other words by failing to prepare, they may sign their own death warrant. I do not wish to portray an alarmist impression, but rather a picture of peace and survival that all can benefit therefrom. If we would but review and heed the message of some of the last talks given by the late Elder Bruce R. McConkie you might observe several very clear prophetic and preparatory warnings given in this regard.

Have a wonderful prepared day!

[survivaltime]

Even though I live out in the country, use a well for water/irrigation...the very first thing that came to mind was "when the power goes out...the pump won't work!" So for this I have installed a bypass and a manual well pump (one of the newer models of the old style hand pump). This will allow drawing water from the well without power. Now you can one-up that by installing a solar powered pump to keep the house supply pressurized with no need to go outside.

Food storage is great, however..it's not permanent solution to a long term problem. I would say to stock at least 6 months to a year's supply in non-perishables/freeze dried, but...to also have open pollinated non hybrid seeds to plant in order to grow food which is long lasting.

Just as in my days working in network security, where I discovered the ultimate weak spot is the end user, but the end users lacks money to obtain tools, knowledge to provide themselves security. I started a free website and shared the tools and knowledge to help others (and what a success it was!!).

Likewise, I have constructed a site Disaster Preparedness  MRE's Freeze-Dried Food & Solar Energy to aid those who are unprepared for any disaster we routinely face, let alone a global one! I have used my years of practical experience with outdoor and urban survival and mostly from my life and surviving hurricane season.

When I moved from South Florida to Central Florida, I came to find that not many had any idea of what they were about to experience during and after the hurricane hit. I can only imagine that when the global event takes place, the scale of needs and loss will be magnified.

[gabelpa]

Survivaltime, do you also stock SPAM?

[stltraveler]

I would agree with a lot of what I have read on this thread, water storage and purification are both critical to long and potentially even short term survival. One thing I noticed though that concerns me are the references that even if a creak or stream is contaminated it will still be filterable. Not all water filters are created equal. And somethings can't be filtered out, I live in a community surrounded by industry including plants which have had previous problems with their spills leaching into the ground.

It's important to know where to draw your water from if your getting it from a stream, whats up stream of you that might be dumping chemicals due to damage by whatever disaster has recently hit. You might need to go up stream of the polluter a ways to get "cleaner" water.

It's also equally important for those with wells to get their water tested, when I worked with the health departments and EMA's in Indiana during the flood it was a critical concern for us, since many of the private wells had been flooded over. This flooding exposed the well to a wide variety of hazards not previously found there. Just something to consider...

[Revelationstoo]

Survivaltime, do you also stock SPAM?

No there is enough Spam for everyone on the internet! LOL!

[Gwen]

i know a woman that says a key element everyone forgets is spices and honey. she keeps a lot of it and has said that if things really get that bad money will be useless and ppl will operate on trade. spices and honey become very valuable. she keeps enough for her family and some for trade.

[lindapruss]

I heard that the Culligan man will make arrangements to provide storage bottles and rotate them every 3 years! I'm looking into that presently.