A Letter To A Friend

As previously noted I have been successful in getting a friend to show some interest in preparedness. I also have hope of bring a few more around. I was thinking what to tell my friends. It will also be useful for some readers who are either new here or of the armchair variety of survivalists. I am going to take a jab at them because I don't have an armchair and I want one. The beginning of ones preparations is a daunting task. Almost so daunting it is easy to just blow it off, grab a 6 pack and sit on the couch. I like relaxing and having some brews on the couch more then most but I do like preparing.

I suggest starting with the most realistic and common situations and working out from there. In the Pacific Northwest we had a mother of a snow storm this year. Lots of people were stuck in their homes for upwards of a week. Thankfully the power remained on so the picture was also easier. In any given year there is almost always a power outage of at least a couple days. The 3 areas I suggest starting with are food/water, fuel and warm clothes/ blankets.

Food and water are essential because without them we get really grumpy then are weak for a long time then we die. I will talk about water first because it is simpler. The Red Cross suggests at least a gallon per person per day just to drink and another if you are going to cook staples that suck up water, wash dishes, take a little bath, etc. A gallon a day is a reasonable amount to base your numbers off of for the short term. In any case this point is mute because you are going to stash as much water as possible. The cheap and easy way to store water is in containers made to store liquids that are already empty. I have had great luck with empty milk jugs, I don't drink soda but 2 litter bottles work well also. The best part of them is that we all tend to drink milk so every week or two there is another jug. Just empty the jug, rinse it out good with soapy water then fill it up and forget about it. [I've found it is best to immediately rinse them out, fill em with hot soapy water and leave them for a little but then fill with plain water and leave em for a couple days. Finally refill and they are good] I've been told these will break down over time but I've drank from one that had been sitting filled with water for a couple years with no ill effects. In any case when you get to that point of having 30 or so of them when you put one in toss an old one. What you will find about these is that they are easy to slip into a nook here and a cranny there for awhile. At some point in a few months you will realize an entire wall of your place is lined with a bunch of milk jugs full of water. At some point you will move to 7 gallon jugs because they are far more water storage for the space then milk jugs. The square ones are stack able and 3-4 of them in the back of a closet will pretty much deal with water storage for at least a week and a half.

Now comes food. You can do a whole lot with some staples but ultimately getting a bunch of stuff you don't eat doesn't make sense. You will not rotate it through and sooner or later it will go bad. For getting enough food to deal with a week or two here is a plan that will work. This week go get 20 pounds of beans, 20 pounds of rice, a big assed thing of bisquick and a big asssed thing of syrup. These are dirt cheap, have very long shelf lives and are just good to have around.

The next step is so brilliant I can not claim credit for it, the credit goes to Pearls. Do this every time you go to the grocery store. When shopping every time you are going to buy a shelf stable (not frozen/ refrigerated item) item that has a good shelf life get a second one. Two things of cereal instead of one, two cans of chili instead of one, etc. This way pretty quickly you will have a good stash of stored food that you actually eat. This makes rotation a lot easier, more on that later. Also this will not break the budget.

Also as Hermit noted don't forget to watch the sales. Sometimes chili is .66 cents or veggies are 3/$2. Spending 5 or 10 bucks can get you a lot if stuff is on sale. Don't buy a ton of something you will not eat but having a few cans of something that isn't your favorite for a great price is not a horrible thing. Clam chowder or whatever isn't your favorite might sound pretty decent when the shelves are getting empty.

Next is warm clothes and bedding. In most places in the US it gets cold. Even in the Deep South it can get cold at night. Keeping plenty of warm clothes and bedding around is a good plan. Enough to stay warm at home or around without heating in the home. Don't panic about how much this stuff costs. I suggest acquiring it mostly by just keeping things you might otherwise throw out. That warm blanket with a big stain you don't want in the living room anymore gets washed, folded and put in the closet, ditto for clothes with a stain or tear that are serviceable but aesthetically unpleasing.

Since it would be impossible to deal with everything at once this will be the first in a series of letters/ posts on the topic. I might write another next week but it could be longer.