How much preps do you have stored for emergencies

I am finding that 90 days of food for 7 people takes up a whole lot of room!

Keeping the preps basic at the moment,but in genural we have a good balanced diet and water stored,we would probuly get 3 months out of our stores.

I have always kept a years supply of dehydrated and freeze dried food in the #10 cans with the nitrogen packing.  I also have 500 lbs of assorted grains in the nitrogen packed poly buckets.  I have topped all of that off with six months of assorted dried packages and wet packed cans, this is ideally for 2 adults, but I would expect to feed any blood kin that asked for help.

Water is another issue, I have the capacity to store 300 gallons, with water purification equipment, I hope to catch rain water if need be, I have no well or stream nearby, just city water.

I date and rotate most my preps, but some like dried milk and wet pack fruit, may go bad before we use, it.  All the same I feel better having this amount of food stocks on hand for most emergencies...

Joy to the world! 

I saw a commercial yesterday that had some generic family talking about how much they had prepped. It was the "Everyone is doing it" kind of commercial.

The thing that struck me as strange was that this commercial didn't come on late at night, or on a cable network. It came on ABC during the evening news! It involved the usual canned tuna and duct tape talk, but then even said that people should be stashing water too.

The commercial was made by the government too. I'm starting to wonder what that meant.

Wunjo Wagon wrote: I have always kept a years supply of dehydrated and freeze dried food in the #10 cans with the nitrogen packing.  I also have 500 lbs of assorted grains in the nitrogen packed poly buckets.  I have topped all of that off with six months of assorted dried packages and wet packed cans, this is ideally for 2 adults, but I would expect to feed any blood kin that asked for help. Water is another issue, I have the capacity to store 300 gallons, with water purification equipment, I hope to catch rain water if need be, I have no well or stream nearby, just city water. I date and rotate most my preps, but some like dried milk and wet pack fruit, may go bad before we use, it.  All the same I feel better having this amount of food stocks on hand for most emergencies... Joy to the world!

Oh my, you put my stash to shame. I agree that having a year of preps is a sense of peace/calm about impending emergencies which lends for better plans and reactions during a disaster not having to consider food and water. Good job!

    YOU DONT NEED TO KNOW HOW MUCH FOOD WE GOT.
JUST THAT WE ARE PREPARING. SIMPLE AS THAT.

I am shocked,3 days!??  

I must admit, the 3-day prep number is rather surprising.   We've never ran a poll with that short of a date range, so who ever knew ... 

Come on liverpool, give it up.  We need to know exactly how much you have.   

i voted 18 months for 3 people and 6 months for 7. my medicine is up to the 18 month level (very proud of that) w/my pantry being used and rotated. I have probably 9-10 cases of food that I have canned plus groceries that i have purchased on sale. Of course we have beans and rice and we are planting our garden next weekend (a little behind, but we almost have 9-10 month planting season here) Water supply is a little low, but we have a lake less than 2 miles from our home and industrial strength  plastic drums to catch rainwater.

Just went to the dentist. that is a good idea to get that taken care of. My family swears by gargling with salt water for teeth, gums, sore throats, etc...my 82 year old mom likes to brush with hydrogen peroxide when her gums get irritated in any way:O)

MelodyAtHome wrote:      Guest, what state are you in? Maybe the commericial was for hurricane preps? Just curious. I didn't see that commercial here in Ohio.

    
Sorry, guest was me, lol I got punted between then and now.

I was in Minnesota when I saw the commercial, but I also saw the same commercial on network television at my house in Missouri.

It was a federal government commercial, the news was national news, not local too.

I was very surprised that something like that would make it to the airwaves when those of us that have prepped for a possible disaster are viewed with suspicion or as strange.

I've only got preps for about a week or so. I'm single and though I own my own home don't really have the room for preps since I now live in a very urban area. I do have family nearby who are prepped without knowing it, and have been training my brother and two friends in Emergency medicine.

I had to get EMT certified to be a police officer and also had to go through battlefield medicine with the Air Force. I just distill the useful stuff from the stuff that I probably won't have to deal with and teach them that.

I can't stress enough giving a skill like that to others. In the event of TSHTF there's not going to be a doctor right down the street that you can go to and get treated.

Frankview, be careful with your medical preps as sometimes certain medicines do *VERY* strange things when they're aged. Some actually become stronger, some become weaker, and others will have unexpected results. And by unexpected I don't mean that you get to turn into the Hulk! Some medical stuff will be good forever. If you can figure out which those are, for instance Tetracycline antibiotic derivatives (I.e. Orthotricycline, Doxycycline, etc) if kept in the dark will last for a century. Yes though Ortho is a birth control it is also a very powerful antibiotic. (It's why a girl's skin will absolutely shine while she's on it!)

Some stuff, like Insulin or other injectables, has a rather short shelf life unless it's refrigerated. It might look okay but be rotten and deadly if injected.

It scares me that there might be a day where all diabetics and those with medical needs will die. Having to watch someone die from hyperglycemia would be horrible. I had to work on someone that learned the hard way she was now type 1 diabetic. She almost died and it was not going to be a nice peaceful death.

Remember that if your insulin vial gets covered in crap water that the rubber is porus, or after being submerged in garbage will be, and will probably pick up a biological or two. Maybe this is why it was thrown out?

My fear for diabetics isn't so much the insulin going bad, though that is a major possibility. My fear is that it will be nigh impossible to get. There's only so much of it around at a time.

In the event of a world-as-we-know-it ending kind of deal the first place many people are going to go is to the local pharmacy to get their hands on some happy time prescription drugs. It's one of the things that happened in New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina. When they went in there and pilfered the drugs they weren't exactly gentle, if you know what I mean.

Instead of only taking what they wanted, they acted like the animals they are and destroyed everything they didn't want. This included medications, like insulin, heart pills, and various other medications that people needed just to stay alive. That situation will be replicated across the entire country's pharmacies, I guarantee it. Maybe not the small town's corner pharmacies, they'll probably be very well protected by the, even now, xenophobic small town populace. The ones even near the cities will be completely destroyed and looted.

I have a niece that is type one diabetic. Right now she's two and a half. I seriously doubt that, even if I went and looted *ALL* the pharmacies in my city, I'd find enough insulin to last her more than a couple years, even if her diet was well regulated and the insulin diluted.

My plan for that is, and some probably will not like this, is that I'm going to be going down to that pharmacy with my team and we'll be taking everything a diabetic could possibly need, also I'll be filling my medical bag with all the antibiotics and the like I can find. I will use extreme force if need be. When I get there, there's probably going to be others there with more malevolent ideas, and drug addicts can be downright unruly. I, however, doubt that three white guys and a psychotic Asian guy (not me), all armed to the teeth with enough firepower to level a city block will get bothered too much while we make our rounds.

I may not be able to give her a whole lot of years, but I can give her some. And I just might be able to take a few potential predators off the radar in the process.

I live in a major metropolitan area now. It'll be tough at first, but not impossible.

Annere wrote: Turboguy, Be careful what you write as it could be used against you in a court of law, but then again, you are the law, right? Tell me if I'm wrong about you being a cop, but based on other threads here, it sure sounds like you're a cop. Frankly, I'm a bit disturbed by your plans. Two wrongs don't make a right. What about other diabetics that may need that medicine too? Isn't your job to protect the drugstore rather than loot it? What makes you any better than the other looters?

They can't use this against me in a court of law. I've never acted anything but professional in my career, further I follow all laws and am a upstanding citizen that is an example for all. What I'm talking about is in the event of a world is ending situation. This isn't what I'm going to go and do tomorrow.

Hmm.... How am I any better? Let's see:

1. I'm not going to destroy any more than what I'm going to take. The store's proprietor probably is sick, or more probably isn't coming back. I'm not going to go to the electronics store and steal a television or beer. I'm going there for what I, and my family, need. There is a very stark difference. Were I in New Orleans attempting to restore order and I saw someone looting a grocery store for water, food, baby formula, medicine, or any necessity I wouldn't say a word. The dirtbags that were breaking into stores and stealing beer, plasma screen TV's, stereos, etc should have been arrested and punished to the full extent of the law. You seem to have a difficulty in differentiating taking stuff to continue survival and the taking of luxury items.

2. I'm allowing it to be used to increase someone's life, preventing the medicine from being destroyed. The pharmacy is going to be obliterated anyway when it's looted. If I can prevent the stuff people need from getting destroyed by taking it, so be it.

3. I'm not going to defend anything but what is mine in a End-of-the-world-as-we-know-it situation. Trying to defend a pharmacy from a horde of addicts all by my lonesome doesn't appeal to me. Especially if there isn't going to be laws. I'd be target practice for any dirtbag addict with a gun, and they're going to overrun it whether I'm there or not. I might as well take what I can to help my family before it's all ruined.

4. If another diabetic came to me with hyperglycemia I'd gladly help them with as much as I could. I'd be protecting and benefitting far more people by taking it than letting it get destroyed by addicts looking for their next fix.

5. I'll do everything in my power to help as many people as possible. This doesn't mean that I'm going to get myself killed doing it. Quite frankly I'm disturbed that you'd rather sit back and watch medicines that could help many, being destroyed or misused to get high, rhater than I take it and protect it from them.

Now I know we're in trouble if we can't even trust the cops! Thanks for the warning! What makes you so sure that that business owner will want you confiscating his drugs?

So are you saying that you couldn't trust the police because I'd be preventing the addicts from looting and destroying? You're not one of them that would be looking for an oxycontin fix are you? I certainly hope not. From your tone I doubt you trusted the police in the first place.

but then again, you are the law, right?

And your point is??? This just gives further credence to my point that you probably already have an anti authority problem. You actually think that police can get away with crimes. Just for your information, as your'e obviously ignorant to this: Police are looked at with far more scrutiny than everyone else and are held to a far higher standard too. Everyone around me knows full well what I do for a living and they watch me to see if I'm going to do anything wrong.

Would you have trusted the police in the aftermath of the Katrina disaster? I saw them on television taking legally owned firearms from regular people so they'd be defenseless against the dirtballs that were victimizing and looting. Then I watched those same police officers joining in the looting of those defenseless people. I damn sure wouldn't have trusted them and it wasn't even nearly the same situation as the one that we're talking about, now is it?

Put yourself in the shoes of the business owner. You're stuff is going to get looted anyway. Would you rather it was taken so that someone may live, or perverted so someone can get high or just be smashed on the floor? He may not be overjoyed that his stuff is being taken, but were it my stuff I'd much rather it be taken for good purposes, than for someone's addiction.
    
    

Okay Guests, what are you taking as a natural alternative for blood pressure medication. This is something I would like to stock up on.

therese wrote: Okay Guests, what are you taking as a natural alternative for blood pressure medication. This is something I would like to stock up on.

Turboguy wrote: I heard somewhere that vinegar will lower your blood pressure. I think it was my mom when I was a kid. She watched me drinking the vinegar from a pickle I bought at a gas station and told me that it would thin my blood. After a quick Google search I found that it's Apple Cider Vinegar. Is that any help?

My mother used to drink apple cider vinegar and honey for blood pressure and never had to take any meds.

Annere wrote: You're certainly being extremely defensive about my comment. What you just said doesn't bear any resemblance to your original post and seems like backpaddling to me. In your post you sounded exactly like those police officer's in Katrina who were looting themselves.

No I'm not backpedaling. You raised concerns and I defended myself. You seemed to need clarification, I gave it to you. Quite simple really... I sounded like the police in the aftermath of Katrina? You sounded like one of the ACLU's trial lawyers that are just out to hang anyone that happens to wear a badge. Since we're attaching labels to each other, this is now yours.

Annere wrote: You seem to classify all those potential drugstore looters as less of human beings than yourself and somehow feel that they would all be drug addicts. Perhaps some will be looking for the same thing that you will be looking for. How then are you going to tell them apart? To quote you; "I will use extreme force if need be."

They may very well not *ALL* be drug addicts. You are correct. The first ones that will go there to tear the place apart probably will be though. And yes I do believe that drug addicts are less human than I am. Anyone that will kill someone over a damn five dollar bill just to get their next fix is less human than both of us. I had a guy that broke into a car, using his bare fist to smash a car window (Not easy) just to steal pennies from someone's ashtray. This same guy attacked two people with the crowbar that was stolen from the car in front of Subway restaraunt to take their pocket change. One is brain damaged for life, the other only got slashed up. That doesn't sound like something a human would do to me. If you think that he just needs a hug and a handout, well, whatever stirs your oatmeal. I think he needs to rot in a cell for fifty years.

Again, as you have this utter disconnect between this little place called "Reality" I'll explain how you fail to grasp the difference between someone taking it to get high, and someone taing it to prolong someone else's life. Actually I won't, because you'll probably just ignore it anyway.

And if they are looking for the same thing I am looking for I'm not going to take it from them. You assume far too much. It's not like I'm going in there shooting first, asking questions later.

Annere wrote: DUH! What do you think? As you've illuminated above I believe there are good and bad people everywhere, including the police force.

So you don't trust anyone as it stands!?! My my my, this *IS* illuminating discourse isn't it? In a SHTF situation I'm not going to be trusting anyone that I don't implicitly know, but at least I trust someone, right?

Annere wrote: I think you're jumping the gun by thinking that the BF would create an end of the world situation. I don't like the idea that you're even contemplating the idea that you're looting would be any better than someone else's looting.

I think you're jumping the gun thinking that it wouldn't completely collapse this thin veneer we call society within fifteen minutes of the word getting out that something's going down. Annere, people are killing each other at gas stations RIGHT NOW and just because they've got to pay $3.40 per gallon and we've still got society and laws! I don't know if you've noticed but people have been very on edge the last couple weeks, imagine if they thought that it's all coming down. A pandemic that's going to utterly obliterate the economy, decimate the population, end modern medicine for quite some time counts as an end-of-the-world scenario is I've ever heard of one. This is the situation I'm (And the government's) preparing for.

Post Katrina, the social order completely broke down. There were killings in the streets and everyone *KNEW* that in a few weeks everything was going to be back to somewhat normal. If people think it's going to be like that for up to a year or more it's going to be insanity. That's what I like to call realistic thinking.

Annere wrote: I don't like the idea that you make assumptions about the business owner probably being sick or not coming back. I don't like your assumptions that all the looters would be dirtbag drug addicts.

You don't like it? Tough. I don't like the prospect of my family having to watch a child die a horrible, slow death because some idiot wants to look for a fix, or because an owner might be out product, or you don't like it. Again you've failed to distinguish the difference between taking pleasure items you don't need, and taking something to prolong someone's life. Further, there's the possibility that the store owner would just give it to me because he wants me to have it, or better yet maybe the srote owner, whom I know personally, would be there *WITH* me. In fact we've already talked about it.

Annere wrote: What I read in your post is someone who is going to abuse his authority to get what HE wants for HIS family and everyone else is assumed to be a bad guy. You believe that because you have a badge and a gun that your looting is somehow more justified than anyone elses.

Um... I'm talking about utter lawlessness for years or more. If that's the case I don't think my badge counts anymore, do you? If society comes back, sure I'll put the shield back on and take care of business, but during a crisis of those proportions I wouldn't be an officer anymore.

Wearing my shield is akin to drawing a target on my back RIGHT NOW! I'm not going to put that thing on in the end of the world situation. If I did I might as well just save the hassle and shoot myself.

And I read in your posts someone that has an unfounded fear of authority figures and believes them to be something other than human. Further you give more respect to drug addicts and criminals than to regular people doing what they're going to be forced to, to make sure they survive.

Annere wrote: Where does serve and protect fit into this scenario?

Ford v. Town of Grafion. Give it a read. It would fit in far less if a SHTF.

Annere wrote: Your scenario sounds like total anarchy and everyone will have to fend for themselves and defend themselves because the police will be out looting drugstores.

Yes my scenario is that it will be total anarchy, everyone will have to fend for themselves and defend themselves, but not because the police will be out looting. I think the police will be too busy ensuring that their families are safe and well defended than to come out and save your bacon, or loot either. My family is numero uno on my list of priorities. You're of the opinion that I'm supposed to go out and potentially get sick, and probably bring it back to my family, so you can be protected in the event of a pandemic. Well that's your opinion, but the dept. has already discussed the possibility.

Annere, your protection IS UP TO YOU AS IT STANDS RIGHT NOW, and there's nothing major going on. It's not my job to protect you anyway. (Give the case law I gave you a read, it blew me away the first time I read it too) I've got upwards of ten to twenty minutes to respond to calls as it stands. If you've got a wacko in your house and it takes me ten minutes to get there, whose duty is it to protect you? I think it's yours. It shows that you should be preparing to take care of yourself that much more.

Annere wrote: How about giving me your police chief's name and address so I can forward your posts to him?

    
Yeah, that's exactly what I'm going to do: Post personal information on the internet, especially a police officer's personal information. Particularly so someone that's got a major problem with authority figures can make a pathetic attempt to make nothing into something and cause me grief. Chances are my chief has already read this forum as it was specifically cited on a couple government preparedness publications as a resource and already knows who I am.

Why don't you give me your employer's name and address so I can give them a call and tell them that you've got paranoia problems and some major anti authority issues that you need to have addressed?
    
    

Annere wrote: I don't have a problem with most authority figures. We have a lot of good and close friends who are cops and they'd laught at the **** you've posted here. I have a problem with you spouting your "I'm for ME and MY family crap" If we do have total anarchy, you will be one of the reasons for it because you will decline to do the job that you were hired to do.

Sigh... The anarchy wil happen regardless if there's just me fighting crime, or the thousands of officers out there now doing their best and only keeping this veneer called society together with bailing wire and bubble gum.

Again I'll point you in the direction of Katrina where people went totally crazy and they knew it was coming back. There's no guarantee that society will come back after a pandemic for a long time. In that Katrina situation there were police from all over the US there trying to help and anarchy reigned anyway.

You're no better than all those doctor's and nurses who will quit their jobs because they just want to protect THEM and THEIRS!

I wouldn't fault them one bit if they didn't come to work. I can't imagine being a doctor and getting threatened with force to "Do something!"

I think you're under the impression that it's up to others to take care of you. Remember the Grasshopper and the Ant? The Grasshopper got killed because he decided that he didn't have to get ready and that he could just rely on the ant in a pinch.

You're a real tough guy arent you?

I might be.

Annere wrote: Well tough guy, quit getting your panties in a knot. I guess a rogue cop with a gun isn't to be feared all that much because most of them can't hit the broad side of a barn. My husband teaches marksmanship to cops like you and the civilians are far better, so don't be so cocky. I don't doubt for a minute that you wouldn't protect me. You're probably too busy stuffing your face with doughnuts like all the other fat and grossly obese cops on the street. Why don't you guys have to pass physicals anyway?

WOW! Ad Hominem anyone? And just so you know I'm tall and well built, work out two hours every day, and never eat doughnuts. Further I go out and practice with my guns regularly, even though the price of ammo has skyrocketed in the last couple months. I work out consistently because just as I prep my food and effects, I've got to prep my body to be able to survive any catastrophe.

Oh and we've got to pass a 1.5 mile run in a certain time based on our age. In my age bracket I've got to run it twelve minutes.

And yes civilians are typically far better shots than police officers. Most officers aren't hired because of their marksmanship skills. LOL! I saw a female officer from a neighboring department shoot a score of seven on her marksmanship exam. That's seven out of one humdred! There is truth that many police officers can't shoot.

I particularly liked this comment from you:

You're probably too busy stuffing your face with doughnuts like all the other fat and grossly obese cops on the street.

Again with the angry, vitriolic, anti authority! You seem to think that because some officers are in fact fat, all of us are, and you'll ignore all the evidence to the contrary to fit your little prejudice.

I like you Annere, you make me smile.