Practical Prepping Protocol even if Poor

NO QUESTION!!!!! In fact, do it much earlier than later!

Have always preferred my coffee just the way it comes out of the pot or maker - no enhancements to ruin the coffee.

Better take a close look at your honey container - if you bought it from the grocery, it's probably not pure honey. Won't do much for anybody.

Speaking of honey and speaking of OTC meds - gotta put them together - local honey, meaning bee hives are local and the bees used local flowers - will cure allergy issues almost always. Give it a try! A little honey every day and see if your symptoms don't subside. For some reason I always forget to do that. Have real honey, but from Idaho or Montana, not from here.

Get the real honey, and keep it only in glass. It will pick up odors through plastic and put them in the taste. Can you imagine a bite of honey which tastes like nicotine? THE WORST!!! Cooked dinner for an acquaintance from items at his house. Got out the honey to go on biscuits. He was a major smoker of cigarets - oh, what a horrible taste.

Imagine dryer sheets, or Christmas tree, or any other ambient odor going right into the flavor of honey. Just use glass and save yourself money and disgust.

People, did you add to KTee's Green Karma, please? She spent all hers on pinning this thread! She is so good here, she deserves the green even if she didn't pin the thread!

Thank you for your recent post, Ktee - lots of good information. Hope you can keep getting your needed supplies when they do turn up in the stores.

With my ticket Edit - don't know why I typed ticket!! Officer was a sweet young man, not a bit difficult. No ticket. Just ninety dollars twice. Ugh!! And just renewed driving license a month ago. Little holes in big plans. All will be well, even the new glasses needed--and having to license my vehicle two months in a row, more stocking isn't likely in the near future for much, but I have filled everyplace I can fill, including some very unusual places. LOL

Rearranged the livingroom and left no place for my girl to look out the window and bark. Filled two big matching boxes with preps and covered them, then wrapped a memory foam cushion and placed on top. Now she has a lovely happy perch just in front of the long windows from which to do her job - watching out for mommy.

Another place is under the Kratky buckets. Just looks mainly like shelving for them, but it's big boxes full of great stuff, all covered up with mylar, to reflect the light into the buckets. Final place I might be able to put something like one last box is in the garage.

So very grateful to have all this - it's nothing compared to many of you, Crunch for example, but it's what I can do, and there are only my dog and me to consider, plus whatever help I can be to whomever God seems to send my way. We will be able to eat for some time, thank God.

Someone asked in the past day or two how long we are prepping for and I recommend a minimum of two years. That's what the experts say now, and they are in the position to know more than we. Growing everything we can, indoors or out, or both, will extend that so much - and be so much healthier! Stock all you can.

Go to Bear Independent on yt and search for his spread sheet on food storage - he worked out exactly how much of what a person needs to store. If you join either there or his Patreon, tell him I sent you. He's amazing. Wait till you see his daily intel report!

Last Edited by Pooka on 07/09/2020 04:34 AM

Hello, A R K - welcome!! Teach or learn - we love both!

Just under a year ago I was able to collect a lot of chicken - a LOT - especially boneless, skinless breasts, and am stewing over everything in my freezer - if I lost it all in an EMP, I'd be sick. Smoking is soooo tempting! I would LOVE smoked fish, but I haven't any fish and it's so expensive, though I live right here where the fishing is done!

When is the second check supposed to come out for us???

I wouldn't count on a second check. I HIGHLY doubt there will be one.

Ofcourse explaining why would lead to politics so I wont.

LOL, Pooka!

I do have things stashed away. I have been stocking up for years and learning new things.

But, I am hardly 'living large' LOL.

I currently have about $23 in my checking account, $16 in the savings, and $14 cash in my wallet. Plus a roll of nickels.

But the freezer is full and most of the (important) bills are paid. Taking it one day at a time.

That Rectec looks like a nice unit. Pricey, though.

We heat our home with wood pellets, which are cheap but 'smoker' pellets are $$$!

I just have this homemade charcoal/wood smoker. A 16 gal. steel drum with a Weber 'Smokey Joe' lid (it fits perfectly!)

Two steel rods through the drum at the top support either the Smokey Joe grill or hooks for hanging meat. A couple of bricks at the bottom support a grate for the coals.

For example, I can cut a rack of ribs in half and smoke it on the grill, or cut a whole chicken in half and hang it on the rods.

I love this thing.

Sorry, I can never remember the proper code to embed an image on this site.

[link to i.imgur.com (secure)]

This may have been posted previously but is worth repeating~

That is AWESOME! Nice work! You can usually find smokey joe's at 1 of 4 garage sales, lol!

Might need to make one of these too!

.

I had a couple of Smokey Joes over the years, the bottoms rusted out. Of course, I saved the other parts.

I still have an extra lid and grill. Looking for another drum. I'd like to have two of these :)

I do also have a Brinkmann 'bullet' type smoker. But with the open bottom, it is hard to maintain temp, especially in cold weather. The drums work great, with just a few 1/2" holes around the bottom for draft.

'Set it, and forget it', in the words of the Great Ron Popiel.

Last Edited by Crunch62 on 07/10/2020 02:36 PM

Got another 10lbs of sugar for $3.87 today! Now to focus on oils and fats. Stopped at a church rummage, got a handful of books, a 2 drawer, one cabinet tool chest and a 7" digital picture frame that I hope to use as a daily reminder display. All for $10.

Reminder: delete stuff off of digital media that you want to donate. I wouldn't do anything but there were several pics that could have been given some humorous captions.

Edit: also got a dashcam. Cheap Chinese thing but I'm going to see how it works. Maybe I can start posting the weird stuff that I deal with on my commute.

Last Edited by Lowkey Cyberpunk on 07/10/2020 05:09 PM

People forget about yard sales and garage sales. All kinds of stuff can be found for cheap there. Also, I have had things given to me for free just by asking friends or family if they knew someone who had an extra _______ they wanted to get rid of.

People will willingly give something away just so they don't have to make the effort to haul it off.

I bought a couple of them a few years ago. Idiot on my daily commute found it humorous to run me off the road every day in his big truck.

He enjoyed watching my reaction, I guess. I figured I would record several days of this a-hole's antics and deliver it to CHP.

As luck would have it, the second day I drove with the cam in place, he noticed it and calmed the f**k down. Good enough.

I still drive with it. Nothing memorable recorded other than deer and baby turkeys on the road. Oh, and that USPS driver a few weeks ago that was apparently hammered at 8:30 on a Sunday morning.

Cheap cameras. Regular memory card errors and failure to start up.

That is how we acquired our pellet stove 15 years ago. It wasn't the latest model with all the conveniences. It is 'manual' everything. But it was free.

Free is a very good price! My favorite!

You have a little more money than I do, I think, but we'd be down to comparing pennies to be certain. LOL Those who have carbuoys and gallon jugs and coffee cans full of change will be those in the chips before long, when the gubmint figures it has collected all it can and will now pay higher and higher prices, just to get all coinage out of circulation so they can get on with their plan. I've spent several rolls of quarters, right after collecting them, in recent years, and the other sizes, too. Now I am down to not much, just when it might be useful to have.

I'm so glad for everything you have - truly I am - and that you have been at this for a long time. Since I had to go from owning to renting I don't have the storehouse of "stuff" I used to keep in the barn that could be so useful now. I have plenty of "stuff" - way too much and I feel sorry for the people who have to clean out this place when I pass - but except for those things collected in the past year or so, not much is particularly useful for what is to come, around the corner.

More and more comes to mind the likelihood of grid down and loss of heat. I have no option other than electric heat. Purchased a safe-for-indoor-use propane heater six or eight months ago, and a few small canisters to go with it. However, I have a couple larger containers that came with my trailer - not the five-gallon type but a step up from those. Just a matter of working up my courage to attach one of those to use. Neither are full and I cannot lift them even in this condition, and nobody to help to get them filled.

Life is so interesting - every step of the way. Don't you all agree?

Last Edited by Pooka on 07/11/2020 05:18 AM

Interesting about the 'coin shortage'. I rarely carry cash, but when I do, I'll end up with a pocket full of random change. I would always dump it into a little bucket I have sitting on the dresser. When the bucket got full, I would dig out the rolls and roll it up.

I had a couple of coffee cans full of rolled coins. Probably 10 years' accumulation. A few weeks ago, before I had heard about any 'coin shortage', I took most of the rolls (everything except pennies) to the local (10 miles away) corner store because I needed some things (and I was broke). They accepted the coins, but were not very happy about it.

Then last week, 'coin shortage' was all in the news. The local (15 miles away) Ace Hardware store posted on their FB page that they desperately needed coinage. They stated they would gladly count, roll and buy and coins from customers.

I needed to get a 3" sewer line coupling to fix a leaky line under the house (I hate that sh*t LOL), so I took in my rolled pennies the next morning. They were happy to receive them, I bought the coupling, and got cash $ as change!

Now I am down to a roll of nickels, some dimes and quarters, plus a bag full of pre-1982 95% copper pennies. At least I am no longer tripping over those coffee cans in the closet!

Our heat options are also electric. We have a propane-fired forced air furnace that requires electricity. I haven't run it in over 15 years because I can't afford to fill the big propane tank out front.

The pellet stove we use for heat requires electricity, but this 'free' pellet stove also has the option of running off a 12V battery. I once ran it for 3 days on the battery out of my truck during an extended outage.

Our cooking and hot water are propane. I just fill a few small tanks every month for that.

Not much need for heat today, It is over 100F outside right now.

We are dependent on electricity for water however, due to being on a private well. I do have a generator to run the pump and the fridge/freezer. Fuel is not unlimited, so I only run the generator a few hours a day during outages. Water, showers, flushing toilets, etc.

I do have 150 gallons of water stored in drums. Also a propane camp stove with several small tanks and a butane stove with a case of fuel for it as well.

A small solar power system with a battery and inverter runs my wife's CPAP, charges phones, etc.

Trying to be prepared is just a way of life here. Nearly 35 years in this spot.

Water, obviously. It is necessary for survival. I have related this before, but I have often been amazed that many of my neighbors in this area (we are all on private wells) do not even keep one flat of bottled drinking water in the house. Even if you are on city water, there is no guarantee that your water service will be viable after some disaster.

Fire = heat. For warmth, for cooking, for hot water. Even people who don't smoke need to keep some disposable lighters and matches handy. Seal them in foodsaver bags if you can, to keep them dry. No vacuum necessary (don't want to suck the fuel out of the lighters or moisture into the matches). Have a means to cook without power or gas supply. Have a means to cook food without utilities. Even a cheap charcoal grill and a bag of charcoal stashed away are better than nothing.

Food. Don't think that fast food is going to be available when things go sideways. Don't depend on frozen microwaved 'convenience' meals that will spoil in a day without power. Consider long term storeable foods. Grow some. Can some. Buy some 'prepper' dehydrated food. Mix and match. Rice, beans and pasta store for a long time and don't require refrigeration.

Canned tomatoes and sauces store for years.

Start thinking outside of the box, and soon you will be living outside the constraints of that box.

You won't be taken by surprise when a disaster such as an earthquake or terrorist attack (or plandemic) cuts off your utilities, food supply and your daily way of life.

God Bless All.

Some of my garden. Some of the olive trees are visible in the background. Again, I apologize for forgetting how to imbed an image here.


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My generator interlock. I can power the entire place (within reason).


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Generator connection for my portable generator.


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A good pressure canner is an investment. I canned several jars of cherry tomatoes a few days ago because I have an abundance at the moment. They will be used over the next year in sauces, stews, etc.


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Last Edited by Crunch62 on 07/11/2020 04:12 PM

Very informative site all packed into one~

[link to besurvival.com (secure)]


Went back to the beginning of thread to see if I could find that shtf pdf. Not able to locate it. Were you able to d/l it Pooka?

Never stop learning how to do stuff. Just had an electrical problem pop up and I tracked it to an outlet that had gone bad. All of $0.39 to fix. (Well, I also stopped at a few other places to pick up supplies. That's why I look at weekly sales, I draw up a list in case I happen to be going by. Always double up on trips if you can.)

Replaced the lid latch on my washing machine a few days ago. It's all problem solving that I've learned over the years.

And you can learn too.

I'm really tired of stuff breaking but success breeds success.

Thank you for this video, KTee - great stuff!

No, I didn't get that PDF, I don't think. Sorry.

Some good things to think about. Preppernurse1 has a lot of good videos and insight.


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MULBERRY TREES!

I don't know why I never saw this as a "prep"!

Not only do mulberry trees give you a fruit similar to a raspberry...they make the greatest poles...straight & strong & perfect for a teepee or shelter.

They grow fast...and when you cut one down, 10 shoots spring up from the trunk & all grow into perfect building poles.

I have a few growing in my yard & I cut them all the time & pound into the ground as tomato stakes. I use a sledge hammer so you know how strong they are.

If you don't have the yard to grow any...you should atleast be able to identify them because they're very useful...and the fruit is delicious!

But they DO grow fast...cutting them can get to be a royal pain in the butt.

Will they grow in hot climates?