We practiced living off the grid this weekend.

We didn’t go to a park We camped in our own woods. One thing that surprised me is how much more water we need to get ahold of, or at least we need a couple different forms of water purification tools. We went through 3 to 4 times more water than we had anticipated. Drinking water, cleaning water, we simply need more water than expected,

Grabbed our bug out bags and set up camp in an out of the way place. We used no electricity, sorted out our individual jobs of who will do what if/when/as needed and it was a great learning experience. We made coffee a couple different ways with different pots/sources. We cooked an assortment of foods and discovered what pans work better for pancakes, which pans worked better for hamburgers, and other items. Not everything tasted great. Burned the first couple of eggs, then after a couple changes with our fire the eggs and other food greatly improved. We also used two different stoves besides the fire pit area. All in all we learned a lot.We took pleanty of notes. It definitely was worth it to get out of our comfy home and practice a little bit. The MRE “test” sure brought back a lot of memories.

I recommend everyone try to find a way to practice, master their survival skills before you need them. You never know what small item you’ll wish you had remembered to have with you when you can’t easily go grab it.

I do it alot too, where did you head out too? Upper Michigan and Ozarks here are my places to go.

Some of my gear.

Thread: Share your favorite bugout bag and camping equipment!

We learned...
- we need more water. Have a deep well if close to home but will need a pump.once power is lost. Have filtration straws but not brave enough to stick my head in a swampy pond yet. Really makes you think when it smells bad, its a serious consideration everyone should work through ahead of time.
- Cooking food smells travel with the wind, must be careful who’s downwind, should know and think about which way the wind is blowing, who’s there, who will keep watch, etc.
- slow cooking on an older fire made for better tasting food, compared against to different types of camping stoves, including one with a closing cover/lid. Hope to improve on outdoor cooking skills, including identifying and implementing more outdoor, natural food sources.
- I swapped out all my plastic silverware with steel. Switched my larger utensils out too.
- high heat on a camp stove should only be used when needing to boil something. Percolating coffee is easy and highly recommended if you’re a coffee drinker.
- no phones, no electricity, no appointments = peace.
- teamwork makes the dream work.
- everyone old enough, responsible enough, should have their own knife.
- I learned much and we all thought about things.

I do it alot too, where did you head out too? Upper Michigan and Ozarks here are my places to go.

Some of my gear.

Thread: Share your favorite bugout bag and camping equipment!

Karma pinned for useful info. Many do not practice scenarios. My plan is to bug in shtf, but you must also be prepared if your domicile is hit in some way. Fire, flood, etc. you must have the capability of moving quickly to a secondary or third location. Also think about what you can load quickly in a vehicle , but also what you can load in packs if your vehicle/transportation is no longer viable. Learn land navigation using a topographical map and compass . Bring at least a handcrank SW radio( 20-30 bucks) so you have some sort of comm access that keeps you informed. You can go up from there on comms ( CB/ Ham) but at least have a way to hear info. Also, during a national emergency, you would not need a ham license to transmit, you don’t need any license just to listen.

Let me add to this, by the end of this month it’ll be illegal to buy certain ham radios online that function in certain frequencies. Get one while you can . A descent hand unit will run you about $50

Completely agree on water being a critical prep. I just finished designing and building a Wirtz wheel for our homestead... mainly for gardening and animals, but also a back-up for the house and shop.

We shot a brief video when we launched the wheel a couple months ago:

Everyone talks about finding a place to bug out. What's wrong with your home? It's a pre-built shelter...you just need to make sure you have access to water and food. But what if you're on over 5 acres? Why would you leave that? Honest question...

hordes

We hope to stay put. As soon as you are on foot you are a refugee.

We are on a dead end road, bounded by two rivers. Multiple outbuildings, multiple places to set up an LP/OP. Other layers of security as well, human, animal, and electronic.

It would be pretty hard for someone to take our homestead by force. Not impossible, of course, but not easy. They could burn us out, maybe, but to what end? Spite?

Plus, you can't grow food or free range chickens in your home.

Berkey filters $100/pair and quantity 2 five gallon buckets work great. The Upper bucket will need some small wholes drilled in the bottom to let the stem of the filters through.