SELF-RELIANCE FRIDAY EDITION FOR OCTOBER 23rd, 2020

 

 

GETTING OUT DRIVING         PLANNING: PART V

            After an event, a vehicle offers a number of positives from the amount of people and equipment it can carry to how fast it can get you to your safe haven. The negatives, however, have to be recognized and expected.

            First the vehicle has to be gotten to. Rubble, fire or downed power lines may prevent this. Know how to open your garage door without power. (You can open one with an extension cord that runs to an inverter plugged into a car’s cigarette lighter, or if possible, manually.)

            Then it has to be operational, having suffered no effects to prevent it from working, or being put back into operation quickly.

            Next, the roads themselves have to be unblocked enough to get out. A four wheel drive vehicle has some advantages here.

            And lastly, there is the question of fuel. Odds are an event will happen when you are at a half tank or so and hopefully not less. Try to keep the vehicle fueled.

            A vehicle also stands out and can be a target for looters and mobs, or can be stopped at a roadblock of police, or National Guard troops, who will direct you to a “safe containment zone” they have set up (a school, football stadium, etc.). The general rule here is :

THE FASTER YOU CAN GET OUT OF AN URBAN AREA THE BETTER CHANCE TO AVOID THE LOOTERS OR THE “AUTHORITIES”

            Fighting your way out or bailing out are possibilities, but have high risks. Leaving from home generally is safer than leaving from a work area.

            Your GOOD plan can include your vehicle, but also keep the option of walking out and plan your “GO” bags or BOB’s accordingly.

 

 MY COUSIN AND PREPPING   PART II

The next step in my cousin’s learning to prep is to know about the most important parts of prepping. I refer to these as “The Seven Sisters”

They are Water, Food, Shelter, Medical/Sanitation, Alternate Power, Money, and Security

Each one of these will be covered in depth from the standpoint of sheltering in place (hunkering down) or having to get back home (bounce back) or to leave home for a safer place (bugging out) for at least 3 days. (This will include a step by step putting together of a basic “bug out” bag.)

WATER: How much water do you need for the minimal 3 day period?  How can you store it or carry it? How can you have water in case you have to bounce back or bug out? How can you purify water to drink?

FOOD:    How will you eat for the three days or more? How will it keep? How will you prepare it? What can be carried if you need to go?

SHELTER:   How can you prepare your place? What can you have for an emergency shelter in your bag?

MEDICAL/SANITATION: What about first aid kits and items to have in a medicine cabinet? What about cleaning hands or bathroom needs when there is no water?

ALTERNATE POWER: This is everything from candles to solar pathway lights to keeping ice in your freezer to help preserve your frozen foods longer.

MONEY: Putting aside some change, ones and fives in case only cash will be useable if ATM’s and bank systems are out, and saving money on less costly alternatives to various items.

SECURITY: Options on protecting your person and property from break ins and looters using passive (unarmed) and active (armed) means.

All of these will be covered using the idea of keeping things simple, inexpensive, and proving that prepping does NOT take a lot of time, space, money or effort.

I am not out to make her some “Camo commando” but to keep her from being helpless and giving her a fighting chance in an emergency.

What about you?

LIGHT STICKS

            The electricity is out, night has come and you have a young child that needs to go to bed, but is afraid of the dark. What do you do?

It’s simple, break out a light stick.

Light sticks are great in that they are safe, colorful, make great nightlights, come in all sorts of shapes, even in bracelets for children and they can be gotten at dollar stores. On top of that they can be stored without any maintenance, as far as I know, last indefinitely in their package, and are easy to use.

As with anything else, the child must be old enough to know NOT to chew or bite on one, and they should be the size and shape to prevent being swallowed.

Emergencies are stressful enough on adults, and even more on children. A simple light stick can brighten up the darkness in many ways 

POOR RICHARD’S CORNER: SURVIVAL FOODS

            One of our newer readers, Richard Braxton, pointed out that you could get freeze dried food and MRE’s on line to help your food stocking. I agreed with him, but I promised him and the readers to point out the pros and cons of such items.

            As far as MRE’s they were just coming into use when I left the US Army. I’m one of the old C-RAT grunts and have used the old P-38 can opener more times than I can remember.  Like most “Army chow” the idea is to feed you enough to keep you going. That does not mean they taste good.  As a matter of fact, MRE’s are referred to as Meals Rejected by Everyone. LOL! One of our readers with ties to Puerto Rico said the people wouldn’t eat them. That’s kind of a big “con”

            Their “pro’s” are that they are light, very portable, need no prep and can be gotten at a moderate cost on line. I’ll add a personal note here. If you decide to get these, I suggest keeping them out of sight. Nothing screams “gun toting militia type” then any kind of “Army” looking item.

            Then there are numerous brands of various freeze dried items in various packages from various firms. I started back in the 70’s (Yes, I AM that old!!) with the Mountain House brand in my backpack. Over the years I have tried others. I haven’t found any really BAD tasting ones. Most are fairly good.

            All of them have the “pro” of being lightweight and portable. But they have the “con” of needing water to make them be eatable. You can be selective and find a mix of ones more ready to eat and ones needing water that works for you. Remember, the water will probably need to be hot if not boiled, so that means a fire and something to heat water in also.

            As you can see, they have a place in your BOB if you allow for the water and heating. But in your home or safe haven, I feel you are better off with regular, off the shelf foods. This is because item for item they are way more expensive than the regular foods and switching over to them only can cause “Tummy troubles” when you really don’t need it. If you are going to use them, gradually introduce them to your system. Be they MRE’s or freeze dried, they do have the “Pro” of taking up a small amount of storage space.

            If you have the money free, you might want to consider the larger cans of such things like powdered butter, and eggs for your pantry in your home or safe haven. I’ve toyed with the idea, but at $30 plus a can, I have to wait until we make a few dollars.

            I have come up with a combination of a freeze dried meal and other “off the shelf” non-perishable light items I make up in a pack I call a LAP (Light as possible) meal. I have these in our BOBs so if water is hard to find, we’ll have something to give us energy. I’ll cover them in another article.

            If you really want to and have the dollars to spend on them, I would recommend a two for one ratio for your home/safe haven stocks. 2 days/weeks/months or regular foods to 1 day/week/month of MRE/freeze dried. The MRE’s and other such freeze dried items should be your “last ditch” emergency reserves. In this way they can still remain in your GO Bag and BOB’s should you need to Bug OUT.

            But for the rest of us average Ann and Andy’s, I would suggest picking up a six meal sample pack many of the firms have and give it a try. If you think they are worth it to you, add them to your BOB’s, GO Bags and possibly your home/haven stocks.

            Keep in mind, our goal is for as many average Ann and Andy’s to be prepped up so we always lean towards the least costly in money, effort, space and time. This is one of the reasons we don’t have sponsors, as they would want us to tell you to buy two or four weeks of their products.