Stocking Up, Putting Back, Prepping = Paranoia?

[Britesea]

I TOTALLY agree with you! I need a new place to live.

So which one of you is going to buy me that 20 acres in the Flint Hills that I have been dreaming of?

Actually we never intended on staying in this house this long. Then life (and three kids) sorta happened. When we moved here it was a nice historical neighborhood and if you drive past it still LOOKS that way. It is just the heart of the people that has changed. We do still have some good neighbors. I am just afraid that most of them would not last very long in a situation.

At least it IS paid for, which with the economy going belly up is a total blessing.

Your good neighbors will last a LOT longer in a situation if all of you start now building some kind of cooperative connections with each other. Are any of them preppers? or maybe receptive to the idea? You could approach them with ideas like buying something everyone uses, in bulk amounts for less money. Or throw a canning party-- we did that once: got a huge amount of beets and everyone worked together to make pickled beets. We ended the day with a potluck dinner and went home with a case each of luscious pickled beets. It doesn't have to sound like "paranoid prepping for the end of the world"... instead, approach it as a way to save some money and have fun doing it.

My point is, the better you know each other, the more likely that everyone will hang together in the event of trouble. Very few people bother to get to know their neighbors anymore; a result of our highly mobile society.

 

[sunsaver]

I am friends with many of my neighbors, but i have no idea how well prepared they are.

 

[Boogity]

Hi there! I'm new to this website. Found it through Backyard Chickens.

Anyhow, I have some questions regarding stocking up.

1. How do you store your canned goods? As you will learn, we do lots of canning, drying, and freezing of food. Most of us have pantries, basements, and/or freezers.
2. How long are they good for? Each item we stockpile will have it's own shelflife and the fact that you asked this question indicates that you are a good thinker as this is a very important consideration when planning your "stash".
3. Do you buy any of those emergency freeze dried meals? I think you will find that the freeze dried emergency packs are quite expensive and you never know exactly what has gone into that package. The folks here are into being self sufficient and making purchases like that sorta goes against our intentions. Most of us prefer to DIY whenever we can.
4. How do you calculate your needs? (How much food do you store per person? A weeks worth? Longer?) There are several websites that offer lots of information on what to "stash" for emergencies. One that comes to mind is the Latter Day Saints website where they have a convenient calculator to help determine ones needs. But I cannot for the life of me find the link to it right now. I know it's here somewhere. Maybe someone will jump in here and help us out.

Looking forward to getting to know all of you and learning how to be prepared.

Thanks in advance for all your help/suggestions!

Hi Zippity and welcome to the funny farm.

I'll try to address each of your questions (in italics above) but there are many other answers, and maybe much better answers, to your questions than I could cover in my reply. My answers will be group type answers and not so much my own personal ideas.

Please hang out here and read, read, read to get the answers you need. There are many very good folks here who are eager to help.

ETA: Boy! My spelling really sucks.

 

[Farmfresh]

I TOTALLY agree with you! I need a new place to live.

So which one of you is going to buy me that 20 acres in the Flint Hills that I have been dreaming of?

Actually we never intended on staying in this house this long. Then life (and three kids) sorta happened. When we moved here it was a nice historical neighborhood and if you drive past it still LOOKS that way. It is just the heart of the people that has changed. We do still have some good neighbors. I am just afraid that most of them would not last very long in a situation.

At least it IS paid for, which with the economy going belly up is a total blessing.

Your good neighbors will last a LOT longer in a situation if all of you start now building some kind of cooperative connections with each other. Are any of them preppers? or maybe receptive to the idea? You could approach them with ideas like buying something everyone uses, in bulk amounts for less money. Or throw a canning party-- we did that once: got a huge amount of beets and everyone worked together to make pickled beets. We ended the day with a potluck dinner and went home with a case each of luscious pickled beets. It doesn't have to sound like "paranoid prepping for the end of the world"... instead, approach it as a way to save some money and have fun doing it.

My point is, the better you know each other, the more likely that everyone will hang together in the event of trouble. Very few people bother to get to know their neighbors anymore; a result of our highly mobile society.

I have basically identified three to hang on to. An electrical engineer/blacksmith/gun collector and his spinning, weaving, knitting wife and another couple that are SCA and the wife is a RN and of course my GEEK son who lives next door. We have all spoken and have an accord.

 

[valmom]

FF- sounds like you have the right neighbors! I worry about what happens on our road once the hard narcs aren't flowing anymore. It's going to be ugly. They most likely grow their own pot, but that won't replace the "good" stuff. :/

 

[garden pixy]

What started as a simple quest to save money so I can stay home with my children has turned into a well stocked pantry, large garden, a flock of hens and a new skill set. Since the significant inflation over the last 3 years and the lack of a pay increase my husband does not make enough to cover all of our expenses, so we have cut back and I have started working weekends. We have ditched our cable and land lines, DH's company covers internet and cell phone because he needs them for work. We do our best to buy in large quantities when things are on sale, we can our in season fruits and veggies and do our best to cut down on extras, we survive without air conditioning and have made significant cuts on our gas and electric bills. I have learned to make more products myself and cut my dependency on disposables. If something happens my family will be well fed, not because I fear a huge society collapse, not because of paranoia, but because being prepared is a bi-product of living frugally.

 

[old fashioned]

There is a difference between being prepared, and paranoia. What I never understood was the compulsion to buy all the guns and ammo you could get. You do realize, that if you really have to defend yourself with all your guns, along with any hunting you might be doing, that your ammo WILL run out? Sure, it might take a while, but eventually it will. And if SREALLYHTF, fat chance you'll be able to get any more. Guns are the obvious and not very wise answer. If you really want to defend yourself, you'll have to get crafty and sustainable. (Which is why I'm vaguely annoyed with the government down here not allowing bow hunting.)

Anyway. I'm going to have a large garden growing this year (er, well, "large" doesn't really apply, but big enough for us, I hope), and hopefully, I can coerce and arm twist some of the neighbors into thinking chickens are a good idea. If I can convince the old people around us that gardening is the way to go, then we'd all be better off, and I'll have "neutralized" potential zombies if S really did HTF.

2000 rounds of .308(7.62 military round)
6000 rounds of .223 (military round as well)
4000 rounds of .40 caliber(military round as well as police)
10 cases of 12 gauge
8 cases of 20 gauge
4 cases of .410 gauge
I am guessing well over 20 bricks of .22 caliber
LOTS of muzzle loader stuff.
Lots and lots of compound bow stuff.
Lots and lots of crossbow stuff.
Not to mention the .44 magnum revolver and ammo or the reloading stuff I have.
It's gonna be a LOOONG time before I run out.

I see nothing wrong with being well armed & having your stockpile include weapons & ammo to defend yourself & family, life & liberty. Yes, it's also good to know & befriend your neighbors in a group effort of defense. Some people in society refuse to be reasonable and as a last resort may need further prompting.

On another note....if I remember correctly...I can't remember Skr8pn ever mentioning stockpiling anything other than guns & ammo so is he trying to say he's going to be one of those zombies the rest of us have to watch out for????

AND currently in the news is a shoot out with 8 people dead in rural Ohio. I'm hoping & Skr8pn & his neighbor lady weren't involved.

 

[garden pixy]

I agree with having a gun to protect your family, it's perfectly normal to keep properly stored ammo stock piled to avoid eventual inflation or lack of availability. Especially if one relies on the ammo for hunting or for protecting livestock from predators. I seems that some here believe that one day those predators will be your neighbors, if you are preparing to protect what you have from those who intend to take it, hopefully the show of force will be enough that the use of ammo is unnecessary, for both the sake of the intruder and yourself.

I don't think I could ever live with killing someone who is simply unprepared and trying to feed his family, but hell if I will allow my family to starve because others are unprepared. My first choice would be inviting my neighbors to help work the land in exchange for food, but in the meantime I pray that I am never put in that situation.

 

[FarmerChick]

guns are good for short term troubles you must defend yourself against.
we hunt. we have LOTS of ammo for our guns. and I am not going to list 'LOTS' lol
we must shoot some livestock when medical troubles happen...like a dog attack 'maiming' over 10 goats. Tony had to put down a few.

guns against people coming against me in bad times, darn right I will shoot. Never would want too, but I have that defense.


if you aren't into guns, then that is fine.
if you take your chances on 'talking your way' out of a SHTF scenario then fine.

it an option I will include in my long term plans thru life. it is an option some people do prepare for and handle.

 

[Britesea]

I agree with you Garden Pixy, I desperately hope we never have to kill anyone, or even turn someone away. But. My family comes first, and 1/2 acre sure ain't gonna feed the neighborhood. Luckily, I've been seeing lots of other gardens and greenhouses in the neighborhood.

Actually, I think the slide will be slow enough that most people will see what is happening and start producing some kind of food- whether it be a garden, or hunting or fishing. I don't think the food will suddenly disappear from all the shelves and all the stores will close forever. Instead, it will cost more and more, and maybe some luxury imported things will become difficult to get - like coffee and sugar.
Ammunition and reloading supplies will likely be very expensive and hard to get-- perhaps even impossible if the Gov declares martial law.

Those people that think stockers and preppers are "paranoid" may be the last to see the light, but I think it will only take a couple of times where their particular favorite brand of cereal becomes unavailable and they will start buying a few extra of things they like