Why are you stocking some items?

[Boogity]

In my opinion we should be very proficient at both prepping AND being self sufficient. Therefore both of these topics being discussed in this area of the thread are important.

If things go very, very wrong everyone will be effected in different ways and being SS may have to wait until the more immediate concerns are addressed. Immediate concerns like injuries, water and food, family, movement or relocation if required, communications, community efforts, etc. There will be many adjustments required and the preparations we make in advance just might buy enough time for us to become SS. Some folks handle change and crisis better than others so lots of PREP will help during the transition after the initial upheaval period.

So, to me, in a SHTF scenario Prep and SS go hand-in-hand. PREP first and SS later.

In a non-SHTF situation or normal every day life, if there is such a thing, family self sufficiency is #1.

 

[Marianne]

Going poo-less was pretty easy, I did that months ago.

Just add more fiber into your diet. Carrots are good for this.

Free, I don't quite know how to respond to that, other than -

Everyone's comments are very interesting. My own reasons for stocking up are echoed in ORChick's post. I don't stock for world's end, but by cracky, I'll surely be snowed in here for several days this winter. AND if I have no power for 8 days again, I'm going to be able to stay in my own home. Drives my husband crazy when I start collecting milk jugs for water storage in the fall. Each year I remind him that we have chickens, cats and dogs that all will appreciate a drink of water if we don't have power.

I have a home library, too! I love books and the feel of turning the pages. It's just not the same when I read on the computer. DH says it's too hard to take his laptop into the bathroom when he gets down to business so he has a Sports Illustrated subscription.

 

[k0xxx]

To me, prepping is part of being SS. Or maybe being more SS means that you more ready to meet the unexpected (or expected, in some cases) challenges that come along. Knowing how to grow and raise food, how to preserve that food, and how to prepare it, makes you more SS AND prepared. I don't believe that you can be really SS and not help but be a prepper, at lease by definition, if not intention. I don't necessarily mean buying up enough to survive without going to town for years, but rather having the basics on hand and knowing how to use them. I see it almost as a patriotic or civic duty to be both, SS and a prepper. The more that I am able to fend for myself, and to take care of my own family in whatever crisis come along, the more community resources that can be directed to those that can't.

 

[Marianne]

To me, prepping is part of being SS. Or maybe being more SS means that you more ready to meet the unexpected (or expected, in some cases) challenges that come along. Knowing how to grow and raise food, how to preserve that food, and how to prepare it, makes you more SS AND prepared. I don't believe that you can be really SS and not help but be a prepper, at lease by definition, if not intention. I don't necessarily mean buying up enough to survive without going to town for years, but rather having the basics on hand and knowing how to use them. I see it almost as a patriotic or civic duty to be both, SS and a prepper. The more that I am able to fend for myself, and to take care of my own family in whatever crisis come along, the more community resources that can be directed to those that can't.

 

[ORChick]

To me, prepping is part of being SS. Or maybe being more SS means that you more ready to meet the unexpected (or expected, in some cases) challenges that come along. Knowing how to grow and raise food, how to preserve that food, and how to prepare it, makes you more SS AND prepared.I don't believe that you can be really SS and not help but be a prepper, at lease by definition, if not intention. I don't necessarily mean buying up enough to survive without going to town for years, but rather having the basics on hand and knowing how to use them. I see it almost as a patriotic or civic duty to be both, SS and a prepper. The more that I am able to fend for myself, and to take care of my own family in whatever crisis come along, the more community resources that can be directed to those that can't.

I agree entirely, which is why I wrote both that my comments were a huge oversimplification, and also that I believe that there is a large overlap between SS'ers and preppers. The above statement about being SS, and therefore also a prepper is certainly true; but the reverse is not always. Preppers (from what I have read at various sites) do not always seem to have any interest in SS. Many do, if not most, but some do not. Therefore my personal opinion is that I will strive for doing for myself, learning how to do it myself, and make do with what I have (or can get cheaply), and *being prepped* will follow naturally.

 

[sunsaver]

My whole reason for being ss is a pathway to early retirement. If i produce all my own food, water, and electricity, What's the need to work? Money to me is just a means of getting the tools i need to be ss. I like having all the free time to spend in the garden, usually just looking at things, daydreaming, or propagating my berry bushes, inventing ss devices. I place no value on money other than a means to an end. I worked hard to pay off my home, and buy solar panels, etc. I guess if had to keep some teenagers stocked up with the latest tech and toys, i would have to work for money more often, but i would quit work as soon as they moved out

 

[dragonlaurel]

"If you are stocking up for a major crisis situation, why would you stock toilet paper? Wouldn't it be better to have a 5 gallon bucket, toilet seat, stash of rags and a plastic coffee can with a lid (for storage of used rags)? Little to no cost, less space used, etc."

I would have both. The rags and and outhouse, or bucket for me.
The tp, would be to keep the hubby from going nuts. There are some things he isn't ready to deal with. I would prefer tp if I had any kind of intestinal bug. Disposable stuff makes more sense if you are sick. It could also be a good trade item, along with soap, shampoo, razors, chocolate, sugar, tampons, etc.

I learned how to keep some food in the house. I put it in the cupboard disguised as ingredients. Anything that can be eaten as is - or after a minute in the microwave :/ disappears.

I hope things don't fall apart too bad, but think skills and knowledge will last longer than stockpiles if they do. Even if the gov'mints get their acts together fast, Mother Nature hasn't been acting all that happy. Fires, floods, lightning, tornadoes/ heavy winds, snow/ice or hurricanes can take the power grid away. Some of them mess up the water supply too.

I have to stock up on certain foods, because the stores that carry them are too far away. I tried making my own tahini and the grinders smallest disk still didn't work at all.

A little baking soda- diluted in some water gets my hair clean. Then rinse with water and a bit of vinegar to get the Ph right. I don't ever want to go back to normal shampoos. Deodorant stones rock! (pun intended)
Most of the house can be cleaned with baking soda or vinegar- so I need to keep plenty of them. Gotta find a way to get lots of that! Borax is good too. That reminds me to stockpile DE too, in case it comes down to me -vs- the cockroaches.

I would want to have a greenhouse or sunroom by then, so I can have more food growing year round. I want to be making more homemade pickles, dried fruits, veggies and herbs and some canned goods too.

 

[garden pixy]

DH says it's too hard to take his laptop into the bathroom when he gets down to business so he has a Sports Illustrated subscription.

lol. My DH takes MY laptop to the "thinking chamber" because it is lighter than his laptop. I get annoyed when I can't find my laptop and he says, "oh, it's on the hamper in the bathroom"

 

[Marianne]

I really need creative storage ideas! This house has NO mouse-proof, dry storage in it. :/

This would be a hassle, but what about putting your items into the container of choice and then putting that container inside a metal trash can with a tight fitting lid?
Or, if you could scrounge up some of those cute metal tins/cannisters, maybe you could find a little cabinet or dresser to do double duty as a functional piece of furniture and put your stash in the tins, then tins in drawers, shelves or on top for decor. ? Or canning jars? (I think someone mentioned that earlier.)

I don't think that everyone has to have a big, stocked pantry to be on the road to SS. Sure it'd be nice, but some people just don't have the room or resources. Even small steps are still steps.

 

[hoosier]

. . . I have visited some other forums (fora :/?), and read posts from people who have all sorts of *preps*, many of which they have no intention of using until *TSHTF*, and seem to have little idea of how to use, even then. Or have large amounts of canned and packaged food stuffs that (IMO) most of us here wouldn't actually consider to be real food ... either because that is the way they eat now, or because some *survival guru* says that that is what is needed. Personally, I have a large pantry for several reasons, *TSHTF* isn't first on the list.

I agree. I was told about one person posting ('99/pre Y2K)about stocking up by buying McDonald's hamburgers and putting them in the freezer so he would be able to microwave them, while others were purchasing all manner of foodstuffs they didn't like because they were told they should.

I grew up in a household that always purchased items on sale and stored them in the basement, and canned extra food in case the following year was not a good one for growing