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How Long Prepping?

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    Posted: November 25 2019 at 7:11pm
How long have you been prepping?

2 Years or Less

3 - 5 Years

5 - 8 Years

8 - 10 years

10 - 12 Years

12 - 15 Years

15 - 18 Years

18 - 20 Years

20 - 25 Years

25 Years or More
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 25 2019 at 7:13pm
13 Years
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Technophobe Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 26 2019 at 9:36am
20 years successfully, my whole adult life trying.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote carbon20 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 26 2019 at 1:40pm
I don't prep anymore......

But I can post again.....

Yipee........
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Albert Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 26 2019 at 5:05pm
13 yrs here, same with fm.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Penham Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 28 2019 at 8:21pm
13 years, but I don't prep to the extent I used to. My freezer is not jam packed like it used to always be. I still have tons of canned goods, but they are more organized and I seem to rotate them better.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 29 2019 at 4:21pm
The reason I asked is 13 - 21 years of prepping for the 4 of us that replied and no disasters as yet!! Telling me either we will never have a disaster that required all of our prepping or we are closer than ever to a disaster that we need our prepping for. Not sure which but I am not doing as much as I use to do just worn out I guess.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Technophobe Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 30 2019 at 5:28am
Globally no disaster yet, but my preps have saved many.

Back in the late 80s - early 90s I was utterly broke. I was living in a single room in a house filled with other cash-strapped people. My store of beans, flour and rice kept the whole house full of other people and myself going for about 18 months. Eventually I moved away when I was promoted at work and began to get a little money together. The stores still saved 3 others even after I moved on.

When Hubby and I moved out of Norfolk 11 years ago, our prep stores (left behind) kept several other people going.

Those we now keep in our barn have regularily helped cash-strapped friends, although not to the point that they diminished by much, as I am a bit of a fanatic and keep adding to the pile. We even have some luxuries stored. Some of those made emergency presents/surprise celebratory booze-ups. So the stores pay off. In spring, wax logs and compressed sawdust logs are often flogged off cheap by supermarkets - I can't leave them there. So currently we are burning some of last year's preps. OK, I confess, they saved money for more preps. But they have proved their worth time and again
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Technophobe Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 30 2019 at 5:30am
Now if I could only get the bunker dug......................
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote EdwinSm, Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 30 2019 at 10:59pm
I have not really followed 'prepping' in the way that I see many in North America use the term (ie stock piling great amounts of goods).

Rather I have followed a path towards greater "self sufficiancy" concentrating on being able to survive shorter emergencies. Also, when I bought the house we are living in, 15 years ago, I had the idea that we would live here in retirement and so part of my plans was to reduce the running expenses (so we would be comfortable on the lower pension). This latter was a God-send as I was made redundant before turning 60 and then had to take early pension (so having to survive on about 2/3rd of what I had expected from the pension).

In areas like food production I have fallen woefully short of what I had hoped to achieve.

Probably the main success was to replace an oil heating system with a ground heat pump. This was the most expensive change we did to the house, but it paid for itself in 8 years (an annual 12.5% return on investment, which is fantastic in this age of near zero interest rates on savings).

Emotionally the best move was to put a wood burning stove into the kitchen. Comforting to know we could cook during power cuts, and also heat part of the house.

Also of great potential value was the installing of a hand pump on a well (which ran dry two summers ago, so in an emergency this will need to be used sparingly, unless it has been raining like the last month!)


With time I realised that I could never get as close to self-sufficiency as I had hoped (not enough land, not enough range of skills), so what I am looking at is to be able to survive an initial crisis period (say 1-2 weeks), and then to provide a supplement to what could filter through afterwards (in our area from some of the local farmers).

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Technophobe Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 01 2019 at 9:19am
A bit of both seems to work best for me.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote KiwiMum Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 19 2019 at 2:29pm
20 years. I started after reading a book about Y2K in 1998.
Those who got it wrong, for whatever reason, may feel defensive and retrench into a position that doesn’t accord with the facts.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote WitchMisspelled Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 22 2020 at 7:51am
18 to 20 years. I started soon after 9/11.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote PheasantII Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 22 2020 at 10:13am
Just a little over 20yrs here, I was a Y2K buddy.Currently I'm an quasi prepper, it's expensive, and need to update 1/2 of my stuff.
We have nothing to fear but fear itself
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote nc_girl Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 22 2020 at 10:44am
12 - 15 yrs but not like I did in the early years.

Like everyone else I slipped off when no big emergency hit. I did catch that earned swine flu in the first wave but survived thankfully.

I really built up stuff when doing super couponing but I don't coupon anymore. I am planning to build my reserves back up for at least a three month timeframe.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote KiminNM Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 22 2020 at 4:30pm
20ish years, but when I left California I left behind a lot of stuff. I did some basic prepping during H1N1, but have used up most of those supplies as I've been sick over the intervening years. (masks, gloves, sanitizer, otc meds, etc) Definitely have to replenish.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote CRS, DrPH Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 22 2020 at 8:25pm
I'm nearly 65, and my late dad (US Navy officer) taught me about prepping when I was about 10 years old. He was very concerned about the Soviets and Red Chinese nuclear tests in the early 1960s, and taught me about stockpiling food & water. He didn't trust the Russians nor Chinese one bit.

So that is, oh, 55 years of prepping?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Graywolf Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 23 2020 at 8:00am
I been prepping 12 years here!
Something wicked these way comes!!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote quietprepr Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 23 2020 at 8:34am
It has been a solid 15 years for me. Still going strong, dealing with the occasional cycles of prepping burnout but still keeping stocked up.
"Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival." - W. Edwards Deming
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Scouts motto
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote cobber Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 24 2020 at 8:17am
I went out earlier today to get some more disposable face masks. 3 stores sold out. Quite Surprised. Get in early folks!

Funny... I've got the most hardcore milspec face masks CBRN. They look serious.

Maybe a bit over for dropping by the shops.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Technophobe Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 24 2020 at 9:10am
That is my reasoning. The gas mask and NBC suit could give our delivery guys a bit of a scare.
How do you tell if a politician is lying?
His lips or pen are moving.
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20
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I would like to get gas masks but have spent too much already! Where did you get your milspec face masks CBRN?
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Hi, everyone!

I have been a lurker on this forum for a long time, and recent events have kicked me in the bottom and inspired me to finally sign up. Thank you all for your commitment to solid, reliable information in times both good and difficult.

I’ve been prepping for about 11 years, now. We just moved and used up a lot of our shorter term consumables before we moved, so I’m rebuilding them — a lot faster than I had anticipated, thanks to the Coronavirus situation. However, it’s good to have the pantries filling up. I appreciate all of you and the forum you have put together!
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Welcome on board BeachMama!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BeachMama Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 25 2020 at 4:47pm
Thank you, FluMom!
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Welcome BeachMama - nice to hear from you

"Buy it cheap. Stack it deep"
"Any community that fails to prepare, with the expectation that the federal government will come to the rescue, will be tragically wrong." Michael Leavitt, HHS Secretary.
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Originally posted by cobber cobber wrote:

Scouts motto


BE PREPARED! Excellent, I've used that in government meetings!
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We know all about that, Chuck - my son just made Eagle Scout 👍🏻

"Buy it cheap. Stack it deep"
"Any community that fails to prepare, with the expectation that the federal government will come to the rescue, will be tragically wrong." Michael Leavitt, HHS Secretary.
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Thanks so much, JacksDad!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote cobber Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 25 2020 at 7:32pm
CBRN masks were purchased on ebay from the British police. Avon CBRN FM12. They were having a clearance sale and swapping out for a newer model. I can't remember what i paid.

I have 15 in mixed sizes and approximately 30 canisters. The canisters were more expensive than the masks from what i recall. Getting the canisters was difficult. I have CBRN filters but they are not listed as that. They have all the same codes but are considered civilian filters.

Buying a CBRN filter over the web will have the anti terrorists police kicking your doors in. Just a word of caution.

They were purchased for a real SHTF moment. I can move my entire family.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote roni3470 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 25 2020 at 8:06pm
Made a costco run tonight guys and another run to the grocery. I have to get some more water but other than that, i am good to go! Gun, ammo, food, sources to cook, etc.etc. I am seeing so much scary stuff but hard to tell what is real. Fingers crossed this is just a China issue with no regulations....love to all my fellow avian flu fam!
NOW is the Season to Know

that Everything you Do

is Sacred
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Hi roni, I did a sams club and Wal-Mart on Friday. Going to grocery tomorrow more water and gas for car and cans. Even though I am very prepped I spent $800, mostly meds I have used up. Stay well!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote KiwiMum Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 25 2020 at 9:51pm
I've just been back for another $500 shop. No one else seemed to be buying prepping supplies. I bought another 200 paracetamol tablets. Tomorrow I'll top up the fuel cans and gas bottles. I'll probably buy more dog food, just in case. I'm feeling confident with my supply choices.
Those who got it wrong, for whatever reason, may feel defensive and retrench into a position that doesn’t accord with the facts.
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