Posted: 5/12/2009 11:05:00 PM EDT
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If you were starting from scratch with your preps, where would you start? What would you concentrate on first, assuming weapons and ammo were at satisfactory levels?
Start with food and water preps? Gasoline? Generators? How did you start out with your preps, and what would you have done differently? Thanks. |
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I look at what will kill me first and then focus upon that.
First would be water then food then warmth/shelter etc etc I started by buying for 1 week, then 2 then 3 then a month then for several months on and on. Gas and generators are last on the list, you can live without electricity. But then again if your primarily prepping for power outages then that would be on the top of the list. First figure out why and for what threats are you prepping and go from there. |
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If you planned remotely well, you won't be fighting every day. However you do have to eat (pretty much) every day.
Decent water filter and a year supply of the basics would be your next steps. Power is nice but in reality a small contractor style gas generator (what most folks buy) isn't going to do much for you long term. When you get to that point, then you can start building a small AE backup system and actually get some real use out of your genset. These folks that think they will run a small gas genset for power don't seem to be worried about gas, don't seem to be concerned about the noise and haven't really thought through the long term logistics of that move. Lowdown3 |
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First water and food. Everything stops there if you don't have these, and you will waste time and energy (not to mention put yourself at additional risk) going searching for it if you don't have it in a SHTF situation.
Next is shelter. In your climate, how long can you go with no utilities? Fix that next. Might be as simple as extra blankets, firewood, etc. Next is sanitation. In a high rise apartment, this can become an issue in a few days with just a few people. Think sanitation buckets, keep bleach on hand, non-potable water to flush toilets, etc. Then there's utility tools. You have to have light, so get several flashlights, LED's are best since they go the longest. Get extra batteries. Get a headlamp. Lower on that list but great to have is a high intensity light, just don't use it except where needed. Basic tools to fix stuff, a multitool on your person all the time. There's tons in the utility category. Next security. Beef up your doors and windows, have a plan to protect your vehicle, be able to beef up any fence around your property. Have a gun. We all like to set up for the zombie invasion, but in reality, an inexpensive 38 revolver, with a holster and a single box of ammo is a HUGE leverage point against some dudes busting down your door. If you read accounts of gun use in SHTF, it usually involves only a few rounds of ammo... but those rounds were worth their weight in lives saved. Then think about morale. For some of us, sitting around doing basic stuff around the BIL might be a nice change of pace from the 90 hr work week, but for many, once the internet shuts down for a few hours, phones going dead, people might start going crazy. If you have family members (spouses, kids....) who might fall into this category, make a plan to keep their minds occupied. You don't want to waste energy dealing with people wigging out because they haven't LOL on line in 30 minutes or their Facebook hasn't been updated since this morning. Keep them occupied with team oriented tasks, take breaks with games, food prep, books, etc. Just think it through before hand. |
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Generators are used to accomplish something. I won't be running my whole apartment using a generator if the grid is down due to a mother nature hissy fit.
If I had a freezer full of food or an electric well pump then those items would require a generator. Some cases of bottled water, a big trip through the grocery to fill the pantry with a weeks worth of food that I eat on a regular basis, and a couple 5 gallon fuel cans would be a decent start. Depending on where you live then yeah heat and shelter might matter as well. My heating system is kereosene and propane space heaters that run without power so for heat I am all set regardless of power being available. Next step would be some 5 gallon water containers and more food for the pantry and a couple more fuel cans. At some point you will be looking at drums of water, long term food storage, and a bulk fuel tank. water food heat shelter fuel is kind of how I look at things. |
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the first thing you need is a PLAN. Write out the threats that face you, don't forget the everyday events like layoff, house fire, winter storms, etc. Write out a response, and use the responses to develop a response plan.
What you will find is that food, water, shelter, and defense answer 99% of the threats you face. Ops |
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Start with the basic rule of three needed to live no matter what.
Food-Water-shelter-air Shelter is usually already covered with your home, but it means blankets and means to stay warm if the temps where you live are rather low, and you have hard winters. Concentrate on food, and have no less than 2 weeks worth of water, a minimum of a gallon per person, and make it a top priority to ensure a safe water source (well, nearby lake or river). You’ll need a good water filter too. Also, get at least a handgun as fast a s you can. The problem with firearms is that when you need them you need them right now, like a first aid kit or fire extinguisher, and unfortunately it’s something that may come impossible to buy if social unrest starts. So, gun with a couple boxes of ammo (if you don’t already have one) food and water. As Ops said, you need a plan make a risk assessment list based on roughly chances of such an event occurring and how dangerous it would be. For example , little green men invading: serious but not at all likely, storm, maybe it’s a certainty in your location, social unrest due to current financial situation: likely. You’ll see that no matter what, food, water, shelter and defense are required no matter what, so its always a good starting point. FerFAL |
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Quoted:
Start with the basic rule of three needed to live no matter what. Food-Water-shelter-air Shelter is usually already covered with your home, but it means blankets and means to stay warm if the temps where you live are rather low, and you have hard winters. Concentrate on food, and have no less than 2 weeks worth of water, a minimum of a gallon per person, and make it a top priority to ensure a safe water source (well, nearby lake or river). You’ll need a good water filter too. Also, get at least a handgun as fast a s you can. The problem with firearms is that when you need them you need them right now, like a first aid kit or fire extinguisher, and unfortunately it’s something that may come impossible to buy if social unrest starts. So, gun with a couple boxes of ammo (if you don’t already have one) food and water. As Ops said, you need a plan make a risk assessment list based on roughly chances of such an event occurring and how dangerous it would be. For example , little green men invading: serious but not at all likely, storm, maybe it’s a certainty in your location, social unrest due to current financial situation: likely. You’ll see that no matter what, food, water, shelter and defense are required no matter what, so its always a good starting point. FerFAL I forgot about the fire protection... that's huge. You always see the news stories of the people outside thier burned down house... crying that their life is over, they lost everything, etc. Then they go to a friend's house, a family member's house, call the insurance company, and life goes on except for the emotional scarring, loss of their big screen TV and the Beanie Baby collection. In a SHTF situation, what happens if you loose your house and your months of food? It's entirely possible the fire department won't make it at all, so you are on your own. Have a plan. Same goes for vehicle. I came close to watching my truck go up in flames on a deserted road in central Texas at 2am. I didn't have a fire extinguisher, but I had tons of drinking water, so that truck still is on the road. Also, know how to use the fire extinguisher... years ago my friend worked at a an indoor shooting range. Some idiot shot a tracer into a rubber backstop block and it caught fire. My friend is a smart, prepared guy, so he grabs the fire extinguisher, jumps in there to put it out without hesitation. Then he looks back at us, looks at the fire extinguisher, and says "How do I work this thing??". Part of it was stress, but mostly he had simply never deployed that safety device. |
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Quoted:
the first thing you need is a PLAN. Write out the threats that face you, don't forget the everyday events like layoff, house fire, winter storms, etc. Write out a response, and use the responses to develop a response plan. What you will find is that food, water, shelter, and defense answer 99% of the threats you face. Ops to expound upon what ops said, take your list of potential threats and rank them from most to least likely. then, starting at the top, make a list of what you would need to live through this disaster. for example, if your top item was job loss, then some items you'd need to survive it would be stored food/water, a cash reserve, etc. begin preparing for your most likely SHTF event and when you have that event covered, then move down to the next, and continue on. what you will see is that by the time you get to the bottom of the list, except for a few specialty items, you'll have most of the bases covered. here's my list in order: job loss tornado ice storm pandemic chemical spill liberals MZBs as far as food goes, i try to have 3 months of what we normally use and then a year of longer term storage, which we are slowly rotating through. if you have a weeks worth of food, then double it, then double that until you reach the 3 month mark. then focus on long term food stuffs. |
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1) BOB for me and the family, family emergency plan and bugout todo list
2) Vehicle get-home goodies 3) Threat analysis, OPSEC plan and procurement plan 4) Home protection 5) 72-hour home kit 6) one-month supply kit 7) six-month preps 8) one-year kit Start with basics - cover "the 10 essentials" first in each step, then go on to other items. Read: - "the 10 essentials" - it's on the internet - "10 packs for survival" - it's on the internet - "church of latter day saints emergency preparedness" - on the internet - "emergency preparedness" - on the Red Cross web-site - browse the SF archives - check out "alpha contingencies" on the internet - send me an email after that |
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Quoted:
If you were starting from scratch with your preps, where would you start? What would you concentrate on first, assuming weapons and ammo were at satisfactory levels? Start with food and water preps? Gasoline? Generators? How did you start out with your preps, and what would you have done differently? Thanks. A gym membership. |
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FWIW, here's what i did.
i prepped around 2 week increments. am now up to 3 months, which is much as i want to store in my studio apartment. if something is going to have me living off of preps for 3 months, it's time to head to the BOL. |
Food, water, defense in that order. I had to add a generator and fuel pretty early in the game, due to my wifes work as a caterer. Lossing a freezer would be a disaster of monumental proportions. The good thing is we would probably GAIN weight if we were stuck in the house for a couple weeks.  Propane to cook with and well maintained vehicles are at the top of the list as well |
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Actually, axillary heat and lighting would have been first on my list of had it all to do over.
Its not that hard to put a few days food and water back but a very cold winter night or two with no power can be downright miserable. You spend all your time trying to stay warm. Having a wood/coal stove always around in my childhood it was one of those things I took for granted later in life. 
The most often left out item of the Rule of 3s is shelter. Tj |
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Quoted:
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If you were starting from scratch with your preps, where would you start? What would you concentrate on first, assuming weapons and ammo were at satisfactory levels? Start with food and water preps? Gasoline? Generators? How did you start out with your preps, and what would you have done differently? Thanks. A gym membership. Gym membership is covered. Thanks. 
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Quoted:
FWIW, here's what i did. i prepped around 2 week increments. am now up to 3 months, which is much as i want to store in my studio apartment. if something is going to have me living off of preps for 3 months, it's time to head to the BOL. Very helpful. Thank you sir. |
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I began my preps this way because I've had to evacuate my home before, grew up in way south Louisiana. And I figured that I'd go from short term/most likely to long term/least likely. |
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Dependent on your AO.
For my area, extra food, then a water filter, then stoves, lanterns, batteries and fuel. Water would prolly take precedence in other areas first, while in some really remote areas communication might be the first priority...just depends. Speed |