Active New Top (30 days) Compact Card Case study: Long-term food storage without electricity Colorado Jones - October 25, 2022 A fascinating case study in survival and preparedness. What are your takeaways? Climate Change Comes for the Freezers, a Key Tool for Alaska Natives Threatened by stronger storms and a melting permafrost, Indigenous Alaskans are grappling with how to keep the power running to their freezers, which store their traditional subsistence foods. https://archive.ph/wkWn3 Read More 10 4 Scenarios Giveaway: New survival guide book from Alone’s S9 Juan Pablo Quinonez John AdamaStaff - October 23, 2022 Edit: All copies are spoken for To spread the news about the books release, current Alone season contestant JP is sending out 3 free copies to the TP community, with the expectation of a fair review shared here later! (Your help is how we keep the best books list updated too!) The book is THRIVE: Long-Term Wilderness Survival Guide. (It’s 120,000 words, so you’re not expected to read the whole thing. Just a fair shake.) Seems like more of a reference guide “covering modern survival skills with bushcraft techniques, step-by-step instructions, and over 400 illustrations.” First come first served. Reply here (we’ll email the address on your account) or contact us directly via email: hello@thissite Read More 10 15 GearNews Car battery jump starter advice SailorRunner - October 23, 2022 There are alot of vehicle battery jump starters out there these days. They seem like a great replacement to the old cables. I am fine tuning our 2 vehicles car kits in prep for winter in the Northeast of US and want to add 1 per vehicle in place of cables. That said I didn’t see any official TP gear review and wanted to see if anyone has any thoughts or advice? We have been AAA members for over 25 years so they are only a phone call away if needed but as everyone says on here, have backups to the backups and plan for the worst case. Thanks for any comments from those that have or used any of these jump starters. Read More 9 11 AdviceGear Bye bye landlines? Now how do we connect when there’s no power? Jonnie PekelnyContributor - October 22, 2022 Hi, everyone. I posted this on the Discord discussion but since I know that some people aren’t on that I’m also posting a duplicate question here. My question is about landlines (or more appropriately their alternatives in an emergency.) I LOVE my landline. First, because I talk a lot on the phone and my cordless phone has great sound and is comfortable all around. But also because in a power outage I’ll have connectivity — via a corded phone I have stashed for that purpose. But now it seems like the day is finally coming when the major phone companies will discontinue their copper wire services. What to do? I know that VOIP is available in most areas. I’m not really optimistic that the sound or reliability will be as good as my land line. But the other thing is that VOIP will go down if the power goes down. Even battery backups last only something like 12 hours. Not good in an extended power outage. I’m wondering what folks are thinking in terms of connectivity with remote loved ones or other things we might need to use a phone for if there is no power. I do have a cell phone, but reception in my house is not great. Read More 11 11 Nerd out on everything you ever wanted to know about batteries Jay ValenciaContributor - October 18, 2022 I came across a website called Battery University. https://batteryuniversity.com/articles has tons of articles on various battery types, best ways to charge batteries, how to prolong battery life, future technology, and so much more. It seems like everything we own relies on batteries. Phones, laptops, watches, ham radios, flash lights, power tools, and even our cars. The articles are in basic English that all of us here should be able to understand and comprehend, but does require a bit more focus than it takes to read a Facebook comment. Here are a few nuggets I’ve read so far and have been translated into Facebook comment easy reading – It’s better to slow charge devices than to use an ultra-fast charger. Have a slower charger (1 amp) by your nightstand for slow charging over night. And a faster charger (2 or 3+ amp) in another location for those occasions when you need a quick top off. It is better not to drain a battery fully but charge it more often. Lithium-ion batteries new from the factory start out at 100% capacity and lose their ability over time. Lead acid batteries start out at 85%, and actually gain more capacity as they age, but after hitting their peak will start to decline. Avoid aftermarket batteries and chargers to save some money. They might not have as much capacity or performance and are a safety hazard that take work arounds of knowing when to stop charging. Keeping lithium-ion batteries topped off at 100% actually stresses them out and causes them to decline and age. Keep batteries between 30-80% charge for longest life. This also means though for prepping that it’s important to have ways to charge devices without the grid. Elevated temperatures are one of the biggest contributors to battery decline. Table showing how temperature and battery charge affects capacity – One last note from myself. Don’t just throw away any electronics or your batteries. Electronics contain precious metals such as gold and silver, and other toxic materials like lead or acid. Best Buy recycles old electronics, or take things to your nearest Apple store for free recycling or they will even pay you for old devices, not just Apple products. https://www.apple.com/shop/trade-in Read More 12 1 Gear My experience of using a WaterBob during a personal disaster wildfireexpert - October 18, 2022 Recently, on another thread, Advice for a new prepper – hurricane/flood scenario in Florida, I spoke about actually using one of our water preps (for a family of five), a WaterBob. Biggest Pro: An opportunity to add 100 clean gallons of potable water in minutes without leaving the home. This water is safe to store/use for up to 16 weeks. Pro: The unit cost of $35-$40 is fairly reasonable. Buying 40 one gallon bottles takes up a lot of space. The WaterBob takes up a small amount of space and can be stored for years and only used during an emergency. Con: Once filled, the WaterBob is not reusable. If you don’t use it, it will need to be thrown away and another WaterBob purchased to be placed in your storage. Pro: If you think you may lose tap or well water: Hurricane, public health warning, possible wildfire evacuation, PSPS (California acronym for a Public Safety Power Shut off), or a broken water pump that has to be shut down for repair, this box can be pulled from under your bathroom sink, put in the bathtub, filled with 100 gallons of potable tap water. Con: Yes, you lose the use of the bathtub. But, perhaps baths/showers aren’t a best idea if you’re short of potable water. One could always take out a few gallons from the WaterBob, heat it on a stove and take a spit bath. Pro: WaterBob comes with a hand pump included. The hand pump does work. (However, if one doesn’t have strong hands, a new, $12-$14 liquid transfer pump that requires two D batteries is much easier than the included hand pump.) My personal experience: Family of 5 in rural San Diego county had a broken water pump. In the 3 weeks until that pump could be repaired, we used the 4 WaterBobs from our preps to fill all 4 bathtubs in the two homes on the property. We also used a lot of our stored 16 oz. bottles, 1 gallon water bottles, and 5 gallon water containers for donkey/goat/dogs and to flush the toilets. Showers and washing clothes was done at the home of a nearby family member, and the empty 5 gallon containers were also re-filled at the nearby family member home to be used again (and again….) until the crisis was over. Even being careful, we used nearly all of the 400 gallons available in the WaterBobs. We were grateful for the much easier battery-powered liquid transfer pumps vs. the hand pump. After the pump was repaired, we actually tried to see if the WaterBobs could be dried and reused, but after 3 weeks of use, it was not feasible, so I purchased 4 more for $140. Even at $140, this was still cheaper and easier all round than getting 400 potable gallons any other way. (Trust me–we explored ALL of our many water redundancies first!) Feel free to provide your own pro/con statements. If anyone else has actually used a WaterBob for any reason, please tell your story. Read More 13 9 Gear Advice for a new prepper – hurricane/flood scenario in Florida Henry Vamvas - October 14, 2022 I am a new prepper currently getting ready for a hurricane/flood scenario ( I live in Florida). Any advice, particularly on handheld water filters, which I don’t know if I can trust Read More 14 19 Advice Nuclear disaster and water purification Holly Bradley - October 14, 2022 So, obviously we have quite a bit of water for emergency use, but at some point the stored water runs out. Does anyone have some good information on the best purification of water after nuclear disaster. I have read a combination of reverse osmosis and carbon filtering…. we have 2 wells on the property but one has an open holding tank 1500 gal which is great for most other disasters, but nuclear disaster would contaminate this one. We do have another and a well bucket, but concerned water would be contaminated by pulling it up or even through the ground. Read More 8 8 Dressing up ramen Adriaan - October 13, 2022 I’m looking for ideas on how to dress up Ramen to make a healthy meal. So far I’ve tried an eggs with a little sauerkraut. Anyone else? Read More 9 6 The grape trellis analogy Robert LarsonContributor - October 12, 2022 I was thinking about Redneck’s muscadine harvest and tried to think how it relates to being prepared. Correct me if I’m wrong, but grapes, muscadines, beans, and other climbing plants won’t do very well if you plant them in a flat bed with nothing to climb on. They need something called a trellis. This could be something orderly and fancy like this picture, or even a chain link fence. Because this sturdy scaffolding provides stability and direction for the plants to climb, they can grow healthy and strong and produce lovely produce for us. This picture is from Redneck’s post, linked above. It’s a great example to me of a bountiful harvest. We are the grape plant, and if we try and just go off and prepare on our own, we won’t grow very well. We need a good trellis, a good piece of scaffolding to give us direction, and something to lean on. I have tried prepping on my own and I often make mistakes, waste money on bogus products, and try to climb onto things I shouldn’t. The Prepared has been that trellis for me. It has been a source of stability, rational thinking, and good product reviews and the results have been a healthy strong plant/prep and delicious fruit/being prepared. And because I now have delicious fruit, I can share that with others who then will plant the seeds from that fruit and start their own prepping plant/journey. Thank you to all the wonderful staff here at The Prepared who have been master gardeners. You have built a strong trellis for me to climb on, and through the forum have shaped, pruned, and watered me to grow my best. Read More 10 1 (small) Ebola outbreak in Uganda Sun Yeti - October 11, 2022 https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-03192-8 tl:dr 64 people infected, 30 died, epidemic is 1 month old, different strain of ebola than the big epidemic in west africa 2013 to 2016. We’ve developed vaccines for this strain and tested them for safety, but we don’t know if they work or not and we don’t have many doses. Hope to god it doesn’t spread. Hope at least one of the vaccines works. I really thought we dodged a bullet with the big epidemic some years back. At the time, I was very worried that if it spread out of the region in any meaningful numbers it would be impossible to stop and would kill tens of millions or more globally. Having seen just how badly our societies and governments have dealt with covid, I think the hazards were in retrospect, even worse. Worth keeping an eye on. Read More 11 7 Article about “Best Before” dates Barb LeeContributor - October 11, 2022 I hope it’s appropriate to post here, but I think that as preppers, we probably pay particular attention to those “use by” dates – I know I do. I review my inventory according to “use by” or “best by” dates, but I’ll certainly be more reluctant to toss foods that are beyond those dates. best-before-labels-scrutinized-food-waste-concerns Read More 10 4 I just love watching Canadian geese fly over! RedneckContributor - October 9, 2022 It seems out house is on the local Canadian geese flock’s flyway between a neighbor’s lake and maybe their feeding grounds. Every day, the geese fly directly over our house on the way to the lake. I assume they use our house as a beacon to locate the lake. They fly over all during the day, from morning to evening. I find the Canadian geese to be beautiful & graceful in flight. I love listening to them honk. This morning, while working in the garden, a larger than normal flock flew over. Made my day! I took a picture of part of the lake that they head to, which is just a couple of hundred yards from our house, on our lane. Read More 6 9 Switch replacement amperage adrianalindgren - October 7, 2022 I have a nilight lightbar which I have wired to my starter battery. The rocker switch that it came with is a 12v 20amp switch but that switch does not fit in the dash- and I don’t want to custom install it. I found a switch that fits perfectly in the blank spaces but it is a 12v 16amp switch. My question is how do I determine if the 16amp switch is sufficient for the application? Read More 6 1 Skills 10/4/22 Great price for Life Straws Sharon - October 7, 2022 Costco has LIFESTRAWS on super sale now – 4 pack for 40 bucks!!That’s cheaper than the price we got for them as a retailer…….A great stocking stuffer or party favor?? 😉 Read More 9 11 Why all the bottled water? hikermor - October 5, 2022 I am seeing news stories, featuring people buying cases of bottled water – in my opinion, an unnecessary expense…. Granted, potable water in THE basic necessity, but I have never had problems with tap water, properly stored and at times, I have used raw water, properly treated ( usually boiled). Commercial water is a waste of resources. Right now, I have about 17-25 gallons of jugged tap water, ready for thee next earthquake or whatever. Read More 9 9 Can you just use bleach for safe long-term water storage? Kole Montanna - October 5, 2022 I have a question, I have a few water totes and barrels. Can a guy just use bleach for long-term water storage, keep it out of the elements, and how long will that last? Do you have to use aquamira? Read More 9 2 Iphone case with camera cover? doorwild36 - October 4, 2022 Hey Folks, Has anyone come across a decent phone case that has built in sliding front and rear camera covers? I now there are a few on amazon but the reviews don’t look so good and it seems that the covers break rather quickly with limited use? The little sliding stick on covers are okay for the front but suck for the rear cameras. thanks, Jesse Read More 5 8 Gear How long would white flour last? Cancheprepper - October 3, 2022 Hi y’all. I live in a country where it costs a ton to get cool prepping stuff (like oxygen absorbers and vacuum sealed bags and such) so I’m trying to think through extending the shelf life of white flour using what I have. Let’s say I fill a food-grade bucket and lid with 5-pound bags of flour, each sealed inside a gallon ziplock bag and then closed the bucket with the lid and kept it at room temperature out of direct sunlight. The expiration date of the flour is 6 months from its production date, but how long do you reckon it’d last in the situation I just described? Thanks! Read More 7 16 Advice Complications an HOA brings to prepping Mike Hill - October 1, 2022 Where I am looking to buy a house either has areas without a Home Owners Association and the neighborhood is pretty run down or houses in an HOA that are nice and well kept. Looks like HOAs attract certain people and do their job at keeping up the curb appeal. Now I am a person who will keep up their house. It will always be sharp and clean looking, HOA or not. And I want to live in a neighborhood with like minded people who feel the same way. BUT…. from what I am seeing, HOA’s also bring with them some not so friendly rules that would make me feel restrictive and also not allow me to prepare how I would like. I asked my realtor to pull the HOA rules for two properties I was looking at. And just for an example, both site that only domesticated animals were permitted, which means I cannot have backyard chickens. And one said you cannot erect a tent on the property. I get it, no having loud and messy animals or turning your house into a dump with bunches of tents and temporary shelters. I see why they said those things, but at the same time that means I cannot even go practice camping in my backyard? For those who live in an HOA, do you find it restrictive to your normal life and also to your prepping life? Read More 8 9 Advice Backyard fitness activities for weight loss Lena - September 30, 2022 Aerobic gardening Aerobic exercise is considered the most effective way to lose weight, and aerobic exercise for half an hour to an hour a day is very effective for fat loss. People rarely associate aerobic exercise with gardening, but the truth is that the role of gardening is not limited to beautifying the backyard, there is much more. According to authorities, being active in the backyard for 30-45 minutes can burn up to 300 calories. Digging. Digging up dirt in a garden or greenhouse tent is one of the most common tasks for every gardener. But it’s hard to think that sustaining half an hour of digging will cost you 186 calories, roughly equivalent to the calories spent on skateboarding or cycling. Weeding. When you do weeding tasks, you can add some strength training, such as doing proper squats and lunge exercises to exercise your core. You can also exercise your triceps by the way. For every half hour of weeding, you’ll burn 172 calories, which is the same number of calories you burn for doing aerobics. Backyard Trampoline If you think a solo backyard workout seems too boring, invite your family to join you! Trampolines are great for exercisers of almost all ages, and they’re so popular that no one can resist a sport that makes people look cool. The beauty of trampolining is that you won’t find it boring, and, well, you’ll grow to love it! Even if you’re just having fun on a trampoline, you can still burn a lot of calories. If you jump on a trampoline for ten minutes, you burn roughly the same number of calories as if you were running for 30 minutes. A person can burn 500 calories in one hour of jumping on a trampoline, which is more efficient compared to walking and running. Read More 7 2 How to prepare for jury duty Mike Hill - September 30, 2022 I just went through the jury duty process and wanted to share my experience and the things I wish I had known before that would have made it a much smoother process. This is all based off of my experience for the court that I went to and things may be different for you in your area. Getting your summons. When you get your jury duty summons in the mail, look at the date and make sure you are able to attend. If you have a trip to Europe booked or a surgery scheduled around that time you may want to request a postponement. In my state, you can submit a request to postpone jury duty for another time period within the next 6 months, but you do have to show up that day and can’t postpone again. After that, inform your employer of your scheduled jury duty date so they have proper coverage during that time. The night before. In my area, you are supposed to call the courthouse the night before your scheduled appearance and an automated system will then inform you if you are to come in or not. One time I called in and it was canceled, so I didn’t have to go after all. Get to bed early and lay out your clothes, breakfast, and a lunch you can bring. In the picture up above, everyone is nicely dressed, but in the jury duty I went to people were in normal casual street clothes. My recommendation is to dress nice, but comfortably. The day of jury duty. When you arrive you will show your jury duty summons (your ticket to get in), and go through metal detectors. Make sure you left your knives, pepper spray, guns, and whatever else at home. Bring a book to read. After I arrived they had us wait for about three hours before they got started. You could dabble on your phone, but in general they don’t like phones on in courts because they are distracting, you could be looking up information on the case, or you could be recording the proceedings. All of these could get you in trouble and the judge can give you a contempt of court charge or the entire case might go into mistrial. Turn your phone off and bring a book or newspaper to read. Also bring a jacket. Even though it was in the 90’s outside, they cranked up the air conditioning inside and everyone was freezing, including myself. In the courtroom I went to I was permitted a closed water bottle, but no food. So leave your food in your car and have that during the lunch break, and only sip on the water, because they do give you bathroom breaks, but if you really have to go, you don’t want to hold up the entire court if they are in the middle of something. Jury selection. There were about 100 of us selected and eventually that gets whittled down to 12 jurors and 3 alternative backups. They will ask you a series of questions to see if you are going to be a good choice to be on the jury and will be fair and impartial. If the upcoming trial is only going to be a day or two, they probably won’t ask a lot of questions but the trial I was scheduled for was going to go on for three weeks because it was a pretty serious crime. So voice any issues you may have of sitting in on a jury during that time period. Things such as being a member of law enforcement, being a victim of a similar crime, or even being a single mother of five children with no options for child care could get you excused. Pros and cons of serving on a jury. Most likely if you are reading this you are a citizen of the United States and are subject to receiving a jury summons. The Constitution gives us this great privilege to be judged by our peers and not just a judge. So being able to serve my community in this way was something I was looking forward to. There are some hardships that come with it however. In my state, your employer is supposed to pay you for the first three days of jury duty, but after that the court will give you $50 a day. If I had been selected for that three week trial then that would have put some serious hardship on my family if I only made $50 a day. Have some emergency savings that you can live off of if you have to go through a trial like this. If you are a business owner, set procedures in place to have various shifts covered if one of your employees has to go through this. One poor lady there had previously served on a federal jury for 18 months! I don’t know how if payment was different for her, but could you live on $50/day for 18 months? That’s when tapping into savings and food storage would be helpful. Read More 10 13 AdviceScenarios Any ideas for how to fit solar panels for solar generators in a small back yard? Jonnie PekelnyContributor - September 28, 2022 Hello, everybody. I’m back on TP after a LONG absence. I just bought solar panels for solar generators. They arrived today. Kind of exciting. This is my first venture into trying to recharge my sogens from the sun. I got these two panels: Now I have my next problem. I didn’t realize the solar panels would be so big. Each of the two Allpowers is 7 ft long. The only place I have to put them is my back yard, but my back yard is small and there is some obstruction from trees and other plants. I don’t know if I can fit two of these things side to side. I’m wondering if there’s a way to arrange them in a more compact way? Perhaps one set of panels on some card tables and the other one on the ground underneath? Are there any frames or something out there I might get to stack these so they both get sun? Another problem is security. My back yard has a chain link gate that’s a little under 5 ft tall. Even with a lock someone in good physical shape could climb it pretty easily. And the fences on two sides of the yard are pretty see through. Now, I’ve never had theft on my property, despite it being a very urban neighborhood, and my back yard is removed from the street. But if someone spots two large solar panel arrays, plus a generator sitting out there, what’s to keep them from hopping my fence and stealing them? These are some of the most expensive items I own! Read More 9 10 Flood preps & emergency raft recommendations brekke - September 25, 2022 Seeing all of the flooding over the last week has moved prepping for floods to the top of my list of missing items. We are in a flood zone and have insurance. Our house was also built with the first floor 8 feet above the 500 year flood maps and flood vents in the foundation. We have a large stack of pre-prepped sand bags too. Along with power outage, food and fresh water supplies. However, our location is surrounded by roads below flood level and they are they only exit from our area. High ground is several miles away as the crow flies. We have an axe for the attic and life vests for the kids. (Life vests for us are on our list.) One thing I know we’re missing is an emergency raft and paddles. Any recommendations for that? Preferably in the under $200 range? Any other items specific to flooding, especially flash flooding, that you can think of? We live in the vicinity of two powerful rivers (one of them dam fed approximately 80 miles upstream) multiple creeks and holding ponds. Good chance for significant debris, chemical, and sewage in flood waters. With enough notice we would evacuate pre-flood. If our home is habitable, we would shelter-in-place. So, for the raft and attic supplies, they would be last resort/caught by surprise/no other options. Read More 12 13 Gear < Prev 1 2 3 … 14 15 16 … 58 59 60 Next > Recently Active News for the Week 2024-04-29 - 2 days agoHas anybody blood tested the Oroweat keto tortillas? - 1 week agoNews for the Week 2024-04-22 - 1 week agoNews for the Week 2024-04-15 - 2 weeks agoWhat is the best camp stove for an emergency power outage or camping? - 2 weeks ago RULES This forum is heavily moderated to keep things valuable to as many people as possible. Full community policies are here. The basics: 1. Be nice to each other. 2. Stay focused on prepping. 3. Avoid politics, religion, and other arguments. 4. No unfounded conspiracies, fake news, etc. 5. Debate ideas, not people. FILTER Show all Advice Gear Meta News Scenarios Skills

Case study: Long-term food storage without electricity

Colorado Jones - October 25, 2022

A fascinating case study in survival and preparedness.  What are your takeaways?

Climate Change Comes for the Freezers, a Key Tool for Alaska Natives

Threatened by stronger storms and a melting permafrost, Indigenous Alaskans are grappling with how to keep the power running to their freezers, which store their traditional subsistence foods.

https://archive.ph/wkWn3

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Giveaway: New survival guide book from Alone’s S9 Juan Pablo Quinonez

John AdamaStaff - October 23, 2022

Edit: All copies are spoken for

To spread the news about the books release, current Alone season contestant JP is sending out 3 free copies to the TP community, with the expectation of a fair review shared here later! (Your help is how we keep the best books list updated too!)

The book is THRIVE: Long-Term Wilderness Survival Guide. (It’s 120,000 words, so you’re not expected to read the whole thing. Just a fair shake.) Seems like more of a reference guide “covering modern survival skills with bushcraft techniques, step-by-step instructions, and over 400 illustrations.”

First come first served. Reply here (we’ll email the address on your account) or contact us directly via email: hello@thissite 

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GearNews

Car battery jump starter advice

SailorRunner - October 23, 2022

There are alot of vehicle battery jump starters out there these days. They seem like a great replacement to the old cables.

I am fine tuning our 2 vehicles car kits in prep for winter in the Northeast of US and want to add 1 per vehicle in place of cables. That said I didn’t see any official TP gear review and wanted to see if anyone has any thoughts or advice?

We have been AAA members for over 25 years so they are only a phone call away if needed but as everyone says on here, have backups to the backups and plan for the worst case.

Thanks for any comments from those that have or used any of these jump starters.

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Bye bye landlines? Now how do we connect when there’s no power?

Jonnie PekelnyContributor - October 22, 2022

Hi, everyone. I posted this on the Discord discussion but since I know that some people aren’t on that I’m also posting a duplicate question here. My question is about landlines (or more appropriately their alternatives in an emergency.) I LOVE my landline. First, because I talk a lot on the phone and my cordless phone has great sound and is comfortable all around. But also because in a power outage I’ll have connectivity — via a corded phone I have stashed for that purpose. But now it seems like the day is finally coming when the major phone companies will discontinue their copper wire services. What to do? I know that VOIP is available in most areas. I’m not really optimistic that the sound or reliability will be as good as my land line. But the other thing is that VOIP will go down if the power goes down. Even battery backups last only something like 12 hours. Not good in an extended power outage. I’m wondering what folks are thinking in terms of connectivity with remote loved ones or other things we might need to use a phone for if there is no power. I do have a cell phone, but reception in my house is not great.

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Nerd out on everything you ever wanted to know about batteries

Jay ValenciaContributor - October 18, 2022

I came across a website called Battery University. https://batteryuniversity.com/articles has tons of articles on various battery types, best ways to charge batteries, how to prolong battery life, future technology, and so much more.

It seems like everything we own relies on batteries. Phones, laptops, watches, ham radios, flash lights, power tools, and even our cars.

The articles are in basic English that all of us here should be able to understand and comprehend, but does require a bit more focus than it takes to read a Facebook comment.

Here are a few nuggets I’ve read so far and have been translated into Facebook comment easy reading –

It’s better to slow charge devices than to use an ultra-fast charger. Have a slower charger (1 amp) by your nightstand for slow charging over night. And a faster charger (2 or 3+ amp) in another location for those occasions when you need a quick top off. It is better not to drain a battery fully but charge it more often.  Lithium-ion batteries new from the factory start out at 100% capacity and lose their ability over time. Lead acid batteries start out at 85%, and actually gain more capacity as they age, but after hitting their peak will start to decline. Avoid aftermarket batteries and chargers to save some money. They might not have as much capacity or performance and are a safety hazard that take work arounds of knowing when to stop charging. Keeping lithium-ion batteries topped off at 100% actually stresses them out and causes them to decline and age. Keep batteries between 30-80% charge for longest life. This also means though for prepping that it’s important to have ways to charge devices without the grid. Elevated temperatures are one of the biggest contributors to battery decline. 

Table showing how temperature and battery charge affects capacity –

One last note from myself. Don’t just throw away any electronics or your batteries. Electronics contain precious metals such as gold and silver, and other toxic materials like lead or acid. Best Buy recycles old electronics, or take things to your nearest Apple store for free recycling or they will even pay you for old devices, not just Apple products. https://www.apple.com/shop/trade-in

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Gear

My experience of using a WaterBob during a personal disaster

wildfireexpert - October 18, 2022

Recently, on another thread,  Advice for a new prepper – hurricane/flood scenario in Florida, I spoke about actually using one of our water preps (for a family of five), a WaterBob.

Biggest Pro:  An opportunity to add 100 clean gallons of potable water in minutes without leaving the home.   This water is safe to store/use for up to 16 weeks.

Pro:  The unit cost of $35-$40 is fairly reasonable.  Buying 40 one gallon bottles takes up a lot of space.   The WaterBob takes up a small amount of space and can be stored for years and only used during an emergency.

Con:  Once filled, the WaterBob is not reusable.   If you don’t use it, it will need to be thrown away and another WaterBob purchased to be placed in your storage.

Pro:  If you think you may lose tap or well water:  Hurricane, public health warning, possible wildfire evacuation, PSPS (California acronym for a Public Safety Power Shut off), or a broken water pump that has to be shut down for repair, this box can be pulled from under your bathroom sink, put in the bathtub, filled with 100 gallons of potable tap water.

Con:  Yes, you lose the use of the bathtub.   But, perhaps baths/showers aren’t a best idea if you’re short of potable water.    One could always take out a few gallons from the WaterBob, heat it on a stove and take a spit bath.

Pro:  WaterBob comes with a hand pump included.  The hand pump does work.  (However, if one doesn’t have strong hands, a new, $12-$14 liquid transfer pump that requires two D batteries is much easier than the included hand pump.)

My personal experience:  Family of 5 in rural San Diego county had a broken water pump.   In the 3 weeks until that pump could be repaired, we used the 4 WaterBobs from our preps to fill all 4 bathtubs in the two homes on the property.  We also used a lot of our stored  16 oz. bottles, 1 gallon water bottles, and 5 gallon water containers for donkey/goat/dogs and to flush the toilets.    Showers and washing clothes was done at the home of a nearby family member, and the empty 5 gallon containers were also re-filled at the nearby family member home to be used again (and again….) until the crisis was over.

Even being careful, we used nearly all of the 400 gallons available in the WaterBobs.   We were grateful for the much easier battery-powered liquid transfer pumps vs. the hand pump.  After the pump was repaired, we actually tried to see if the WaterBobs could be dried and reused, but after 3 weeks of use, it was not feasible, so I purchased 4 more for $140.    Even at $140, this was still cheaper and easier all round than  getting 400 potable gallons any other way.   (Trust me–we explored ALL of our many water redundancies first!)

Feel free to provide your own pro/con statements.    If anyone else has actually used a WaterBob for any reason, please tell your story.

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Gear

Advice for a new prepper – hurricane/flood scenario in Florida

Henry Vamvas - October 14, 2022

I am a new prepper currently getting ready for a hurricane/flood scenario ( I live in Florida). Any advice, particularly on handheld water filters, which I don’t know if I can trust

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Advice

Nuclear disaster and water purification

Holly Bradley - October 14, 2022

So, obviously we have quite a bit of water for emergency use, but at some point the stored water runs out. Does anyone have some good information on the best purification of water after nuclear disaster. I have read a combination of reverse osmosis and carbon filtering….

we have 2 wells on the property but one has an open holding tank 1500 gal which is great for most other disasters, but nuclear disaster would contaminate this one. We do have another and a well bucket, but concerned water would be contaminated by pulling it up or even through the ground.

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Dressing up ramen

Adriaan - October 13, 2022

I’m looking for ideas on how to dress up Ramen to make a healthy meal. So far I’ve tried an eggs with a little sauerkraut. Anyone else?

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6

The grape trellis analogy

Robert LarsonContributor - October 12, 2022

I was thinking about Redneck’s muscadine harvest and tried to think how it relates to being prepared.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but grapes, muscadines, beans, and other climbing plants won’t do very well if you plant them in a flat bed with nothing to climb on. They need something called a trellis. This could be something orderly and fancy like this picture, or even a chain link fence.

Because this sturdy scaffolding provides stability and direction for the plants to climb, they can grow healthy and strong and produce lovely produce for us.

This picture is from Redneck’s post, linked above. It’s a great example to me of a bountiful harvest.

We are the grape plant, and if we try and just go off and prepare on our own, we won’t grow very well. We need a good trellis, a good piece of scaffolding to give us direction, and something to lean on. I have tried prepping on my own and I often make mistakes, waste money on bogus products, and try to climb onto things I shouldn’t. The Prepared has been that trellis for me. It has been a source of stability, rational thinking, and good product reviews and the results have been a healthy strong plant/prep and delicious fruit/being prepared. And because I now have delicious fruit, I can share that with others who then will plant the seeds from that fruit and start their own prepping plant/journey.

Thank you to all the wonderful staff here at The Prepared who have been master gardeners. You have built a strong trellis for me to climb on, and through the forum have shaped, pruned, and watered me to grow my best.

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(small) Ebola outbreak in Uganda

Sun Yeti - October 11, 2022

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-03192-8

tl:dr 64 people infected, 30 died, epidemic is 1 month old, different strain of ebola than the big epidemic in west africa 2013 to 2016. We’ve developed vaccines for this strain and tested them for safety, but we don’t know if they work or not and we don’t have many doses.

Hope to god it doesn’t spread. Hope at least one of the vaccines works. 

I really thought we dodged a bullet with the big epidemic some years back. At the time, I was very worried that if it spread out of the region in any meaningful numbers it would be impossible to stop and would kill tens of millions or more globally. Having seen just how badly our societies and governments have dealt with covid, I think the hazards were in retrospect, even worse.

Worth keeping an eye on.

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Article about “Best Before” dates

Barb LeeContributor - October 11, 2022

I hope it’s appropriate to post here, but I think that as preppers, we probably pay particular attention to those “use by” dates – I know I do.  I review my inventory according to “use by” or “best by” dates, but I’ll certainly be more reluctant to toss foods that are beyond those dates.  best-before-labels-scrutinized-food-waste-concerns

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4

I just love watching Canadian geese fly over!

RedneckContributor - October 9, 2022

It seems out house is on the local Canadian geese flock’s flyway between a neighbor’s lake and maybe their feeding grounds.  Every day, the geese fly directly over our house on the way to the lake.  I assume they use our house as a beacon to locate the lake.  They fly over all during the day, from morning to evening.

I find the Canadian geese to be beautiful & graceful in flight.  I love listening to them honk.  This morning, while working in the garden, a larger than normal flock flew over.  Made my day!  I took a picture of part of the lake that they head to, which is just a couple of hundred yards from our house, on our lane.

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Switch replacement amperage

adrianalindgren - October 7, 2022

I have a nilight lightbar which I have wired to my starter battery. The rocker switch that it came with is a 12v 20amp switch but that switch does not fit in the dash- and I don’t want to custom install it. I found a switch that fits perfectly in the blank spaces but it is a 12v 16amp switch. My question is how do I determine if the 16amp switch is sufficient for the application?

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1

Skills

10/4/22 Great price for Life Straws

Sharon - October 7, 2022

Costco has LIFESTRAWS on super sale now – 4 pack for 40 bucks!!
That’s cheaper than the price we got for them as a retailer…….
A great stocking stuffer or party favor??  😉

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Why all the bottled water?

hikermor - October 5, 2022

I am seeing news stories, featuring people buying cases of bottled water – in my opinion, an unnecessary expense….

Granted, potable water in THE basic necessity, but I have never had problems with tap water, properly stored and at times, I have used raw water, properly treated ( usually boiled).  Commercial water is a waste of resources.

Right now, I have about 17-25 gallons of jugged tap water, ready for thee next earthquake or whatever.

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Can you just use bleach for safe long-term water storage?

Kole Montanna - October 5, 2022

I have a question,

I have a few water totes and barrels. Can a guy just use bleach for long-term water storage, keep it out of the elements, and how long will that last? Do you have to use aquamira?

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9

2

Iphone case with camera cover?

doorwild36 - October 4, 2022

Hey Folks,

Has anyone come across a decent phone case that has built in sliding front and rear camera covers?  I now there are a few on amazon but the reviews don’t look so good and it seems that the covers break rather quickly with limited use?  The little sliding stick on covers are okay for the front but suck for the rear cameras.

thanks,

Jesse

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Gear

How long would white flour last?

Cancheprepper - October 3, 2022

Hi y’all. I live in a country where it costs a ton to get cool prepping stuff (like oxygen absorbers and vacuum sealed bags and such) so I’m trying to think through extending the shelf life of white flour using what I have. Let’s say I fill a food-grade bucket and lid with 5-pound bags of flour, each sealed inside a gallon ziplock bag and then closed the bucket with the lid and kept it at room temperature out of direct sunlight. The expiration date of the flour is 6 months from its production date, but how long do you reckon it’d last in the situation I just described? Thanks!

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Advice

Complications an HOA brings to prepping

Mike Hill - October 1, 2022

Where I am looking to buy a house either has areas without a Home Owners Association and the neighborhood is pretty run down or houses in an HOA that are nice and well kept. Looks like HOAs attract certain people and do their job at keeping up the curb appeal.

Now I am a person who will keep up their house. It will always be sharp and clean looking, HOA or not. And I want to live in a neighborhood with like minded people who feel the same way. BUT…. from what I am seeing, HOA’s also bring with them some not so friendly rules that would make me feel restrictive and also not allow me to prepare how I would like.

I asked my realtor to pull the HOA rules for two properties I was looking at. And just for an example, both site that only domesticated animals were permitted, which means I cannot have backyard chickens. And one said you cannot erect a tent on the property. I get it, no having loud and messy animals or turning your house into a dump with bunches of tents and temporary shelters. I see why they said those things, but at the same time that means I cannot even go practice camping in my backyard?

For those who live in an HOA, do you find it restrictive to your normal life and also to your prepping life?

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Advice

Backyard fitness activities for weight loss

Lena - September 30, 2022

Aerobic gardening

Aerobic exercise is considered the most effective way to lose weight, and aerobic exercise for half an hour to an hour a day is very effective for fat loss. People rarely associate aerobic exercise with gardening, but the truth is that the role of gardening is not limited to beautifying the backyard, there is much more. According to authorities, being active in the backyard for 30-45 minutes can burn up to 300 calories.

Digging. Digging up dirt in a garden or greenhouse tent is one of the most common tasks for every gardener. But it’s hard to think that sustaining half an hour of digging will cost you 186 calories, roughly equivalent to the calories spent on skateboarding or cycling.

Weeding. When you do weeding tasks, you can add some strength training, such as doing proper squats and lunge exercises to exercise your core. You can also exercise your triceps by the way. For every half hour of weeding, you’ll burn 172 calories, which is the same number of calories you burn for doing aerobics.

Backyard Trampoline

If you think a solo backyard workout seems too boring, invite your family to join you! Trampolines are great for exercisers of almost all ages, and they’re so popular that no one can resist a sport that makes people look cool.

The beauty of trampolining is that you won’t find it boring, and, well, you’ll grow to love it!

Even if you’re just having fun on a trampoline, you can still burn a lot of calories. If you jump on a trampoline for ten minutes, you burn roughly the same number of calories as if you were running for 30 minutes.

A person can burn 500 calories in one hour of jumping on a trampoline, which is more efficient compared to walking and running.

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How to prepare for jury duty

Mike Hill - September 30, 2022

I just went through the jury duty process and wanted to share my experience and the things I wish I had known before that would have made it a much smoother process. This is all based off of my experience for the court that I went to and things may be different for you in your area.

Getting your summons. When you get your jury duty summons in the mail, look at the date and make sure you are able to attend. If you have a trip to Europe booked or a surgery scheduled around that time you may want to request a postponement. In my state, you can submit a request to postpone jury duty for another time period within the next 6 months, but you do have to show up that day and can’t postpone again. After that, inform your employer of your scheduled jury duty date so they have proper coverage during that time.

The night before. In my area, you are supposed to call the courthouse the night before your scheduled appearance and an automated system will then inform you if you are to come in or not. One time I called in and it was canceled, so I didn’t have to go after all. Get to bed early and lay out your clothes, breakfast, and a lunch you can bring. In the picture up above, everyone is nicely dressed, but in the jury duty I went to people were in normal casual street clothes. My recommendation is to dress nice, but comfortably.

The day of jury duty. When you arrive you will show your jury duty summons (your ticket to get in), and go through metal detectors. Make sure you left your knives, pepper spray, guns, and whatever else at home. Bring a book to read. After I arrived they had us wait for about three hours before they got started. You could dabble on your phone, but in general they don’t like phones on in courts because they are distracting, you could be looking up information on the case, or you could be recording the proceedings. All of these could get you in trouble and the judge can give you a contempt of court charge or the entire case might go into mistrial. Turn your phone off and bring a book or newspaper to read. Also bring a jacket. Even though it was in the 90’s outside, they cranked up the air conditioning inside and everyone was freezing, including myself. In the courtroom I went to I was permitted a closed water bottle, but no food. So leave your food in your car and have that during the lunch break, and only sip on the water, because they do give you bathroom breaks, but if you really have to go, you don’t want to hold up the entire court if they are in the middle of something.

Jury selection. There were about 100 of us selected and eventually that gets whittled down to 12 jurors and 3 alternative backups. They will ask you a series of questions to see if you are going to be a good choice to be on the jury and will be fair and impartial. If the upcoming trial is only going to be a day or two, they probably won’t ask a lot of questions but the trial I was scheduled for was going to go on for three weeks because it was a pretty serious crime. So voice any issues you may have of sitting in on a jury during that time period. Things such as being a member of law enforcement, being a victim of a similar crime, or even being a single mother of five children with no options for child care could get you excused.

Pros and cons of serving on a jury. Most likely if you are reading this you are a citizen of the United States and are subject to receiving a jury summons. The Constitution gives us this great privilege to be judged by our peers and not just a judge. So being able to serve my community in this way was something I was looking forward to. There are some hardships that come with it however. In my state, your employer is supposed to pay you for the first three days of jury duty, but after that the court will give you $50 a day. If I had been selected for that three week trial then that would have put some serious hardship on my family if I only made $50 a day. Have some emergency savings that you can live off of if you have to go through a trial like this. If you are a business owner, set procedures in place to have various shifts covered if one of your employees has to go through this. One poor lady there had previously served on a federal jury for 18 months! I don’t know how if payment was different for her, but could you live on $50/day for 18 months? That’s when tapping into savings and food storage would be helpful.

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AdviceScenarios

Any ideas for how to fit solar panels for solar generators in a small back yard?

Jonnie PekelnyContributor - September 28, 2022

Hello, everybody. I’m back on TP after a LONG absence. I just bought solar panels for solar generators. They arrived today. Kind of exciting. This is my first venture into trying to recharge my sogens from the sun. I got these two panels:

Now I have my next problem. I didn’t realize the solar panels would be so big. Each of the two Allpowers is 7 ft long. The only place I have to put them is my back yard, but my back yard is small and there is some obstruction from trees and other plants. I don’t know if I can fit two of these things side to side. I’m wondering if there’s a way to arrange them in a more compact way? Perhaps one set of panels on some card tables and the other one on the ground underneath? Are there any frames or something out there I might get to stack these so they both get sun?

Another problem is security. My back yard has a chain link gate that’s a little under 5 ft tall. Even with a lock someone in good physical shape could climb it pretty easily. And the fences on two sides of the yard are pretty see through. Now, I’ve never had theft on my property, despite it being a very urban neighborhood, and my back yard is removed from the street. But if someone spots two large solar panel arrays, plus a generator sitting out there, what’s to keep them from hopping my fence and stealing them? These are some of the most expensive items I own!

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Flood preps & emergency raft recommendations

brekke - September 25, 2022

Seeing all of the flooding over the last week has moved prepping for floods to the top of my list of missing items. We are in a flood zone and have insurance. Our house was also built with the first floor 8 feet above the 500 year flood maps and flood vents in the foundation. We have a large stack of pre-prepped sand bags too. Along with power outage, food and fresh water supplies.

However, our location is surrounded by roads below flood level and they are they only exit from our area. High ground is several miles away as the crow flies.

We have an axe for the attic and life vests for the kids. (Life vests for us are on our list.)

One thing I know we’re missing is an emergency raft and paddles. Any recommendations for that? Preferably in the under $200 range?

Any other items specific to flooding, especially flash flooding, that you can think of?

We live in the vicinity of two powerful rivers (one of them dam fed approximately 80 miles upstream) multiple creeks and holding ponds. Good chance for significant debris, chemical, and sewage in flood waters. With enough notice we would evacuate pre-flood. If our home is habitable, we would shelter-in-place. So, for the raft and attic supplies, they would be last resort/caught by surprise/no other options.

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Gear