Crazy Preppers....

11192 Views 180 Replies 24 Participants Last post by 2full, 2 mo ago

Lone_Hunter

Discussion Starter · Jan 28, 2021

So has the last 13 months or so turn anyone into a Prepper? I already had one foot in the door under the guise of "Disaster prepardness" with about 4 weeks of food and water in case of a natural disaster.

Today my basement looks more like a freaking bunker, and my home office looks like a freaking TOC.

I have to laugh at myself. Never thought id see the day when I'd turn into a prepper.

Someone once mentioned making a prepper thread. I'm bored, so here's my attempt at starting one. Discuss, or laugh, either way, I get it.

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DallanC

· #41 · May 8, 2021

Ketchup. Thats the next shortage apparently.

On a serious note, there are some pretty good indicators that there will be fuel shortages over the summer. A bulk tank with some non-ethanol fuel might be in order. Personally, I keep quite a few gas cans full of fuel, rotate them every few months. We're rotating fuel as we speak, going into last winter I filled the fuel tank on my trailer with 40gal of non-ethanol fuel, starting to burn it up so that we can replace it. Its a bit annoying to rotate, but easier and safer to store as bulk.

Really though... if we're down to shortages of ketchup and chicken wings, everything can be in short supply. Its really no longer a prepper mentality to stock up on things you need, just "prudence".

-DallanC

Critter

· #42 · May 8, 2021

I think that the ketchup manufactures started the rumor that we were running out of it just so that they could raise the prices.

I was at the store yesterday morning and there was plenty of ketchup on the shelves along with everything else, including TP.

Now chicken wings I didn't see any. Chicken tenders were there but not the wings.

2full

· #43 · May 8, 2021

If I can't get ketchup...... I'm in BIG trouble for sure.

Lone_Hunter

Discussion Starter · #44 · May 9, 2021

www.forbes.com

From Chicken Wings To Mother’s Day Flowers, Here Are The Shortages You Need To Know About—Plus A Few Gluts

The pandemic has upended global supply chains and disrupted the delicate balance of supply and demand in many industries.

www.forbes.com

colorcountrygunner

· #45 · May 11, 2021

I bought a 20 pound bag of rice last time I was at the grocery store. My wife gave me a funny look haha. Little preps at a time.

Lone_Hunter

Discussion Starter · #46 · May 13, 2021

colorcountrygunner said:
I bought a 20 pound bag of rice last time I was at the grocery store. My wife gave me a funny look haha. Little preps at a time.

If you want to get A LOT of funny looks, go to costco and buy 6 months worth of food (sans the obvious stuff like produce). Call it a leftover effect from covid, but we've taking to going to costco twice a year now. It's just nice to not have to worry about stuff for awhile. If I actually fill a tag or three this year, freezer space might become an issue. 🤣

DallanC

· #47 · May 13, 2021

Has your Costco allowed that? They generally wont allow us to make big purchases like that. Try and get 4 bags of rice, unless you say you are commercial food services and ran of something requiring lots of an item that day, they've told us to put stuff back. We usually have to stock up over a couple days.

Macy's "case lot sales" used to be the bomb for soups and whatnot, but those kindof died off or only have crappy items.

-DallanC

DallanC

· #48 · May 13, 2021

colorcountrygunner said:
I bought a 20 pound bag of rice last time I was at the grocery store. My wife gave me a funny look haha. Little preps at a time.

Just under 2 bags fit nicely in a 5 gal bucket. Put down some dry ice in the bottom under some paper towels to keep the rice from touching it, sit the lid on loosely. The ice melts, is heavier than air... forces the air up and out. Just hold the lid down and feel the bottom of the bucket. When its no longer cold, seal the bucket. It will store for years in a cool place.

We've used up alot of our staples, getting time to restock on flour and rice... oh and canned sweet corn. Love that stuff.

-DallanC

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Lone_Hunter

Discussion Starter · #49 · May 13, 2021

DallanC said:
Has your Costco allowed that? They generally wont allow us to make big purchases like that. Try and get 4 bags of rice, unless you say you are commercial food services and ran of something requiring lots of an item that day, they've told us to put stuff back. We usually have to stock up over a couple days.

Macy's "case lot sales" used to be the bomb for soups and whatnot, but those kindof died off or only have crappy items.

-DallanC

I guess. My family is small though. Just myself, wife, and 1 kid. What is 6 months for us will be a lot less then 6 months for someone with 5-6 other mouths to feed. I'll bet if more people start stocking up like that, they'll stop it quick.

colorcountrygunner

· #50 · May 18, 2021

DallanC said:
Just under 2 bags fit nicely in a 5 gal bucket. Put down some dry ice in the bottom under some paper towels to keep the rice from touching it, sit the lid on loosely. The ice melts, is heavier than air... forces the air up and out. Just hold the lid down and feel the bottom of the bucket. When its no longer cold, seal the bucket. It will store for years in a cool place.

We've used up alot of our staples, getting time to restock on flour and rice... oh and canned sweet corn. Love that stuff.

-DallanC

Nice, Ill have to do this. Just picked up another 20 pound bag of pintos.

Lone_Hunter

Discussion Starter · #51 · May 20, 2021

Here's a question that would have been (and probably still is to some) considered absolutely tin foil hat crazy talk a few years ago:

How much time do you think we have before things go to crap?

I don't think it's a question of "if", but a question of "when?" and "how bad will it be?". I don't think there is anyone who can accurately answer that. It could be something negligible and laughable, or it could be something where the social and economic upheaval will make the great depression pale in comparison. No idea.

My gut feeling is we'll start to see gas and food shortages in the future. Not sure when, or how bad. Could be minor, could be major. No idea. For about a minute, I genuinely questioned the validity of surrendering my panguitch deer tag, as I questioned what fuel prices and availability might be like in September....... and then I went back to studying maps for that hunt.

Anywho, I guess you can say I am not optimistic about the future.

Reactions: 1

colorcountrygunner

· #52 · May 20, 2021

Lone_Hunter said:
Anywho, I guess you can say I am not optimistic about the future.

I'm not optimistic either. My wife told me I was a doomer the other day lol. I don't want to watch the world burn and I would love to see my negative predictions be proven wrong. You have to admit that things dont look all bright and rosy at the moment though.

Lone_Hunter

Discussion Starter · #53 · May 20, 2021

colorcountrygunner said:
I'm not optimistic either. My wife told me I was a doomer the other day lol. I don't want to watch the world burn and I would love to see my negative predictions be proven wrong. You have to admit that things dont look all bright and rosy at the moment though.

HEH, I've had similar discussions with my wife. Though she didn't call me a doomer, it was more along the lines of "tedious", I forget the exact wording. We have our 10 year coming up in November, and she wants to do something special; and I'd much rather stay closer to home territory, then go traveling somewhere. One thing I've come to really dislike, is placing my life, and control of my life, into someone else's hands, counting on them to do their job properly, and/or being locked into a situation I can't extricate myself from. Can't we just rent a cabin somewhere for a weekend? Nope, not good enough. Normally very level headed, she picks NOW of all times to get her head into the clouds.

colorcountrygunner

· #54 · Jul 27, 2021

Now the zombie hoards are making a run on bottled water again. My wife was at our little Walmart neighborhood grocer last night and the bottled water section was wiped out! She talked to her sister down in Sanpete County and it was the same story there. After I donated plasma tonight I was curious about the situation, so I poked my head in Costco. They had a decent amount, but they had a sign up limiting each customer to 5 cases. That little trip to Costco to look at water ended up being a $200 stock up trip in various items. The wife and I are making good progress on preps. If/when a real food shortage hits I don't wanna be fighting it out like animals with a bunch of desperate people for the last remaining scraps on the shelves. Farmers market in Spanish Fork starts next week. We will be picking up lots of stuff there this year and get busy canning. Then of course you know the other food gathering event that will come shortly after that!

DallanC

· #55 · Jul 27, 2021

Drought in the west all the way to Washington affecting crops, Grasshoppers are out of control in Idaho and Wyoming eating whats left, and recent massive storms just destroyed 90% of farm crops in the midwest in a few areas.

Just say'n... be aware of whats going on. Food prices next year may cause some serious heartburn for folk living on the edge.

-DallanC

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colorcountrygunner

· #56 · Jul 27, 2021

DallanC said:
Drought in the west all the way to Washington affecting crops, Grasshoppers are out of control in Idaho and Wyoming eating whats left, and recent massive storms just destroyed 90% of farm crops in the midwest in a few areas.

Just say'n... be aware of whats going on. Food prices next year may cause some serious heartburn for folk living on the edge.

-DallanC

Yep. But unfortunately most folks will be caught with their pants down.

Lone_Hunter

Discussion Starter · #57 · Aug 1, 2021

colorcountrygunner said:
Now the zombie hoards are making a run on bottled water again.
...
We will be picking up lots of stuff there this year and get busy canning. Then of course you know the other food gathering event that will come shortly after that!

Personally, to one degree or another, I expect a repeat of last year when it comes to the grocery store, and/or a huge (crippling for some) increase in cost of food.

Reasons:
- The coof is following the same trend this year as it did last year. It may even become greater in prevalence
(see latest numbers and compare this year to last year. Case Counts | coronavirus )
Thats not to say people will react the same, but if there is enough fear and panic being stoked, they will react.

- For reasons along the lines that Dallan posted. Food prices are most likely going to go up. There is no way we can have the biggest heat wave and draught in 50 years, and have it NOT effect food production. End of year harvest yields will be the biggest indicator I think.

- Economics. The most colorful metaphor I can think of, is America has been shat into a big toilet called inflation, the powers that be flushed it, and now we are spiraling down toward the drain. Not that I'm an economic expert, I'm just a layman, and everything I've seen and heard indicates this.

DallanC said:
Drought in the west all the way to Washington affecting crops, Grasshoppers are out of control in Idaho and Wyoming eating whats left, and recent massive storms just destroyed 90% of farm crops in the midwest in a few areas.

Just say'n... be aware of whats going on. Food prices next year may cause some serious heartburn for folk living on the edge.

-DallanC

I'd give this a like, only I don't like this situation.

On a side note, my wife has already encountered, what seems to be food shortages. Just on very select items, so it's probably going under the radar. We just harvested a ton of tomatos, and other bits in our backyard garden. Decided to make salsa out of it and freeze dry it. Problem was our cilantro bit the dust. So wife goes to the store to buy cilantro. Couldn't find it anywhere. No seller of produce in town had it. I think we're going to see more of that in the future, how much I couldn't guess.

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Lone_Hunter

Discussion Starter · #58 · Aug 1, 2021

For some reason I feel compelled to encapsulate 90% of the prepper stuff you'll find on streaming media:

Beans, Bullets and Bandages.

Gets thrown around a lot, makes it easier to remember.

Beans:

Shelf stable food. (Don't forget your food groups)
Water. ( General rule of thumb: 1 gallon, per day, per person. Minimum.)

Bullets: (probably something few here are in short supply of, and the thing most people focus on)

Firearms, and spare mags. (ideal number per rifle i'd say would be 9 mags, 6 +1, and 2 spares. YMMV)
Ammo ( I forget the exact number, but its something to the tune of have at least 1400- 2000 rounds cached per rifle)
Spare parts. ( because firearms are mechanical, and anything mechanical can break)

Bandages:

First aid ( for ouchies, boo boos, and other minor things not worth crying about)
Trauma (israli bandages, quick clot, chest seal, CAT tourniquets, and other things that exist to "stop the dying")

Yes, it's all expensive. No your not going to acquire everything right away.

Rule of 3's.
Get enough of your "Three B's" for:
- 3 days, then 3 weeks, then 3 months, etc etc. Start small, expand out. Something is better then nothing.

There, I just saved you a lot of reading/ video watching.

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DallanC

· #59 · Aug 1, 2021

Add some SAM splints to your first aid kit. Last year we made a first aid bag to throw in the ATVs / boat whatever to handle moderate injurys. I found out about SAM splints and they are mighty useful if someone breaks a limb, and rolled up they dont take much space.

SAM:

www.ebay.com

SAM® SPLINT - ORIGINAL 36" - ORANGE/BLUE ROLL | eBay

The SAM SPLINT can be used to splint every bone in the human body.

www.ebay.com

I also added some sutures to our home kit. Hopefully we never need any of if, but I'd rather have the stuff and never need it than need it and not have it.

-DallanC

DallanC

· #60 · Aug 2, 2021 (Edited)

It just snowed... in Brazil. First time in 64 years, a massive cold snap. Agriculture is being dramatically affected. Coffee and Sugar prices already jumped in price.

The whole world is being scourged it seems. Time to add some more food storage.

-DallanC

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