rhoda_bruce
Almost Self-Reliant
You have any extra lumber? You can start working on the hutches/brooder. The actual animal can be obtained for very little money.
How to start prepping?
- Thread starter Jakejekel
- Start date
philpatton
Enjoys Recycling
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Jakejekel it always seems a bit overwhelming when one begins preparing.
I would suggest that you do a lot of reading. Explore the Internet and figure out how long you want to be prepared for, i.e. a month, 6 months, a year etc. There are some good lists on the Internet that will give you some suggestions on how much of each item you need to store per person. The LDS Church has some good lists that will help you to figure out your needs. This will be your goals.
Also learn how to store your supplies. Learn to dehydrate and vacuum seals products. Do an Internet search on how to pack buckets. There are several good sites that are a good resource.
Once you do your research do some planning on how you are going to accomplish your goals. I buy a lot of my supplies on sale. I also shop Big Lots, Dollar General and Family Dollar. For example I found tuna sized cans of chicken for $1 a can and bought all they had a couple of weeks ago at Dollar General. Big Lots sells salt for .35 a box. There are also suppliers of LTS foods that have sales. I have deal with a company called JRH http://www.jrhenterprises.com/main.sc;jsessionid=7E6E8C3D56D4880525DAD8858837128C.qscstrfrnt03 They sell a years supply of food for one person for $680.
Put together a list and keep track of what supplies you need and what supplies you have. I use a Excel spreadsheet but other folks simply keep track of everything with a pen and paper.
The areas that you need to concentrate on are:
Water
Food
Medical
Defense
How you are going to cook, heat and power your needs.
Then you have to decide if you are going to go somewhere, which requires you to determine how you are going to get there or if you are going to stay where you are.
As I said it can be overwhelming but you can do it. Feel free to write me at philpatton@earthlink.net if you want suggested sites or need any additional information.
I would suggest that you do a lot of reading. Explore the Internet and figure out how long you want to be prepared for, i.e. a month, 6 months, a year etc. There are some good lists on the Internet that will give you some suggestions on how much of each item you need to store per person. The LDS Church has some good lists that will help you to figure out your needs. This will be your goals.
Also learn how to store your supplies. Learn to dehydrate and vacuum seals products. Do an Internet search on how to pack buckets. There are several good sites that are a good resource.
Once you do your research do some planning on how you are going to accomplish your goals. I buy a lot of my supplies on sale. I also shop Big Lots, Dollar General and Family Dollar. For example I found tuna sized cans of chicken for $1 a can and bought all they had a couple of weeks ago at Dollar General. Big Lots sells salt for .35 a box. There are also suppliers of LTS foods that have sales. I have deal with a company called JRH http://www.jrhenterprises.com/main.sc;jsessionid=7E6E8C3D56D4880525DAD8858837128C.qscstrfrnt03 They sell a years supply of food for one person for $680.
Put together a list and keep track of what supplies you need and what supplies you have. I use a Excel spreadsheet but other folks simply keep track of everything with a pen and paper.
The areas that you need to concentrate on are:
Water
Food
Medical
Defense
How you are going to cook, heat and power your needs.
Then you have to decide if you are going to go somewhere, which requires you to determine how you are going to get there or if you are going to stay where you are.
As I said it can be overwhelming but you can do it. Feel free to write me at philpatton@earthlink.net if you want suggested sites or need any additional information.
VickiLynn
Lovin' The Homestead
Consider learning to can. That seems to be more acceptable to a reluctant spouse. I have canned jars of produce from our garden and the farmers market. DH is very proud of the rows of jars lining the basement wall. If those shelves were full of store-bought canned food, he would think I was nuts.
Neko-chan
Lovin' The Homestead
...
Mattemma
Lovin' The Homestead
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My lot is under and acre. I buy things that give me(or my animals) food. I just bought 4 double packs of nanking cherries,and 20 strawberry plants. I put in currants,grapes,plums,elderberry. I replace pretty trees with fruit or nut trees(pretty too!).Lawn is a waste of space,but a will leave a little for the kids.
For animals you could get some hens as pets. I have 2 hens in the house right now in cages.Not that hard.Last time I had a different one and she laid an egg every am.
Rabbits are another option.2 rabbits can supply a decent supply of meat.
I try to buy 2 of everything too. I think another thing to get is a water purifier. I don'th think a brita filter can make the rain water in my garbage cans(aka rain barrels) safe.
My mom was telling me her water bill is doubling from 40 to 80 every 3 months,and sewer will be triple the cost of the water. I told her to bury a cistern(sp) in her front yard to collect water,but ofcourse the city won't allow those. I cut my gutters to direct water into my cans,or into flower beds. The water WAS going into underground pipes and out to the sewer.What a waste of water!
The reason the water went up is because people were conserving so well that the water company could not make *ends meet*. Use less they make you pay more anyway.Same thing happened with the gas and electric!
Make a front yard garden if laws permit.Put a little fence around it,and on the outside of the fence just mask it with ornamental grasses. My neighbors had no idea I was growning food in the front till one year I grew some corn!
Our soil is either fill dirt or clay. I either put soil on top or I did a hole and put good soil in the hole for the plant I am planting. I have red wigglers to compost scraps and give poo soil for plants.
I wish I had rose hips!
For animals you could get some hens as pets. I have 2 hens in the house right now in cages.Not that hard.Last time I had a different one and she laid an egg every am.
Rabbits are another option.2 rabbits can supply a decent supply of meat.
I try to buy 2 of everything too. I think another thing to get is a water purifier. I don'th think a brita filter can make the rain water in my garbage cans(aka rain barrels) safe.
My mom was telling me her water bill is doubling from 40 to 80 every 3 months,and sewer will be triple the cost of the water. I told her to bury a cistern(sp) in her front yard to collect water,but ofcourse the city won't allow those. I cut my gutters to direct water into my cans,or into flower beds. The water WAS going into underground pipes and out to the sewer.What a waste of water!
The reason the water went up is because people were conserving so well that the water company could not make *ends meet*. Use less they make you pay more anyway.Same thing happened with the gas and electric!
Make a front yard garden if laws permit.Put a little fence around it,and on the outside of the fence just mask it with ornamental grasses. My neighbors had no idea I was growning food in the front till one year I grew some corn!
Our soil is either fill dirt or clay. I either put soil on top or I did a hole and put good soil in the hole for the plant I am planting. I have red wigglers to compost scraps and give poo soil for plants.
I wish I had rose hips!
Mattemma
Lovin' The Homestead
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Besides getting all the stuff together my friend(who owns a gun or 2) likes to remind me that neighbors will not be neighborly after a while.
People find out you have food and water stocked they will ask first and then often take by force if you say no.
While I like all my neighbors I don't want to lessen how long my family can survive by feeding everyone who comes knocking.
Consider knives,fishing gear,bow and arrows. Guns are better for home defense if your bullets are limited. Though I did see on one show people MAKING bullets.
Yea,my kids don't want me to kill what they eat.You'd think they would appreciate the fresh healthy meat! I had an uncle in Hungary that raised rabbits for meat. People in that small village all had chickens and pigs to eat.
People find out you have food and water stocked they will ask first and then often take by force if you say no.
While I like all my neighbors I don't want to lessen how long my family can survive by feeding everyone who comes knocking.
Consider knives,fishing gear,bow and arrows. Guns are better for home defense if your bullets are limited. Though I did see on one show people MAKING bullets.
Yea,my kids don't want me to kill what they eat.You'd think they would appreciate the fresh healthy meat! I had an uncle in Hungary that raised rabbits for meat. People in that small village all had chickens and pigs to eat.
Neko-chan
Lovin' The Homestead
...
Sunny
Lovin' The Homestead
Yup give them food names.. My aunt named her pigs food names. The pink pig was Ham.. THe brown pig was Bacon..Neko-chan said:
The only animals that got good pet type names were the breeders. Animals you knew you were going to keep around..
The tom turkeys name was Gravy..
THEFAN
Lovin' The Homestead
We have been preppers for many many years and somethings come to you over the years. Building up a garden, building up composts, getting a yearly firewood system, etc. Be patient!!
When we decided to be more self-sufficient it wasn't easy at first. A lot of baby steps the first yr. I believe in the yr cycle. After a yr you really get to see and feel what is right and needed.
The first thing we started with is out bills. We got rid of everything and changed a lot of our habits with conservation. The money saved on our bills we put towards bulk buying food. Then we used some of our expendabe money to finish food off and start a garden.
That is just us. Our electric, phone and internet has only been 100.00 a month.
Used to be 200. The extra 100.00 got us a lot of extra food each month.
One project we did was invest in a rototiller. It is an upfront investment but after 2 grow cycles I had it paid for by doing small gardens for people. It didn't take me more than 10 jobs to pay for my tiller.
Now I have a regular client base and us that money for items like fencing, wood for raised beds and a greenhouse project.
Good luck. Just some tips and ideas.
When we decided to be more self-sufficient it wasn't easy at first. A lot of baby steps the first yr. I believe in the yr cycle. After a yr you really get to see and feel what is right and needed.
The first thing we started with is out bills. We got rid of everything and changed a lot of our habits with conservation. The money saved on our bills we put towards bulk buying food. Then we used some of our expendabe money to finish food off and start a garden.
That is just us. Our electric, phone and internet has only been 100.00 a month.
Used to be 200. The extra 100.00 got us a lot of extra food each month.
One project we did was invest in a rototiller. It is an upfront investment but after 2 grow cycles I had it paid for by doing small gardens for people. It didn't take me more than 10 jobs to pay for my tiller.
Now I have a regular client base and us that money for items like fencing, wood for raised beds and a greenhouse project. Good luck. Just some tips and ideas.
THEFAN
Lovin' The Homestead
Another great idea to get started is to sell off ALL essential items in your possession. Right now seems to be a good time to dump all that stuff. Some people are prepparing in the weirdest ways from what I see.
Some reason older toys are selling on the secondary markets really high. Usually tells me a few things since I have been at this for over 12 yrs.
