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News for the Week 2023-07-17

The Prepared Support - July 23, 2023

Make a top-level comment for a new story/topic. Discussions about the topic should be in the replies to the top-level comment. That way things stay organized and every main comment as you scroll down is a different piece of news.

News

Best home or neighborhood security system 2023

Eric - July 21, 2023

What are the best options to detect, deter, and prevent breakins in your home or neighborhood? My neighborhood had a nighttime burglary recently (involving a car, not the house) which has raised the issue of security in my neighborhood. I’m interested in recommendations for my own home’s security, especially detection/alerting, as well as neighborhood-wide options that I could present to the HOA.

Here are some relevant previous security articles and discussions, but I suspect some of the technology has advanced in the years since these were written.

https://theprepared.com/homestead/guides/home-hardening-basics/

https://theprepared.com/gear/reviews/alarm-systems/

Please share both ideas and experiences about how to setup home or neighborhood security systems.

AdviceGearScenarios

Documentary: A Refuge of Last Resort (about Hurricane Katrina)

Bigwig - July 16, 2023

Rewatched A Refuge of Last Resort and thought I would post it here. It’s a first hand account of some families that went through Hurricane Katrina at a hotel in downtown New Orleans. Having grown up in Louisiana, I’m well aware of what should be done, but not everyone has the means to accomplish this, so they take their chances. Many of these personal stories may make you think about how to prepare for these situations or how to handle them when they happen.One of the things that struck me is the hotel workers. They get paid next to nothing but they stay to endure the unknown: no power, upset guests, or worst.

Streaming on Amazon Prime, The Roku Channel (with Ads), and Tubi TV (with Ads) at the time of this posting.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0818515/

Is this still an alternative to Discord?

Jonnie PekelnyContributor - July 14, 2023

Hi, folks. I’m back to prepping after a pretty long fallow period. Miss my ThePrepared peeps, but I’m having a pretty hard time with the switch to Discord for discussions. Maybe it’s a generational thing, but forums or email lists or even Facebook groups (not my first choice) work so much better for me. I can come back after a day or a week and the info hasn’t scrolled away. I can keep my discussions organized instead of all of them being in one long string. And I can come back to the useful information exchanged months or years later.

None of this seems to be an option with the TP Discord, so I’ve found myself just not going to the Discord chat very often and therefore not knowing how to plug into the community. (I do volunteer for a very busy organization that uses Slack a lot. But our Slack discussions are broken out into multiple channels and all the info in each channel stays indefinitely available. The TP Discord doesn’t seem organized like that.)

I’m glad to see that some people are still posting in this forum. So is this still an option, or are we just the remnant that’s failed to adapt to the Discord future?

News for the Week 2023-07-03

The Prepared Support - July 13, 2023

News

“The Mandibles” Novel on near-term economic upheaval

NazSMD - July 10, 2023

I came across an interesting novel the other day and thought it would be a great catalyst for discussion here. Called “The Mandibles”, by Lionel Shriver, it portrays an extended family dealing with the slow degradation of society after a consortium of nations band together to create a new standard currency to unseat the dollar, and the US defaults on its debt in retaliation/response. It’s not Nobel-level writing (and a mix of realism with a smattering of satire), but it’s well researched and, especially, quite plausible in the long downward spiral of events it portrays. There’s a review here that gives you a little more sense of the story:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/may/08/the-mandibles-lionel-shriver-review-biting-near-future-satire

I enjoyed reading it and found the projected not-so-far-off future quite plausible, as well as containing many details about possible outcomes that I’d not considered but certainly will now (more on that in comments later after I kick this thread off). It’s not about the death of civilization, but rather how people (and governments) continue to survive, though in some pretty miserable circumstances.

I think what the author proposes is probably more likely than the apocryphal scenarios some preppers focus on (though even she makes references to a hacker attack that took down the grid and internet prior to the story in this novel, and that sets up some of the societal and economic changes that exist as the novel begins; also one character is a a more recognizable type of prepper who, long before the events of the novel, bought land and pursued a self-sufficient life for reasons often discussed in these forums).

Anyway, great food for thought and for expanding thinking on what being prepared actually means, as well as on how sustainable those preps are in a longer-term societal shift.

Has anyone else here read this? I’d be interested to hear your thoughts, and encourage anyone else who is curious to check it out as well.

Foraging Discovery: Apple Pectin

Barb LeeContributor - July 8, 2023

Hopefully the forum can tolerate a topic that may not exactly be “survival” oriented, but we do occasionally have more “homestead-y” posts, which this probably is. In this case, the end product does actually have some health benefits that could be beneficial when the medicine kit lacks a few items. I’m just so pleased with my results I had to share somewhere, hope you all don’t mind!

For years I have known that pectin for jelly and jam making could be produced from immature apples, but my old source of information didn’t include practical instructions for using it. This year we have so many apples on our trees that they’re in danger of another catastrophic branch breakage event. Thinning the the old giants should be a priority. The subject of apple pectin from immature fruit came to mind, so I did a search and after writing down notes from six or so sources, I had a satisfactory amount of understanding to give it a try.

In order to keep this short, I’ll just say my first attempt at making strawberry jam with the home made pectin was a huge success! So now I’m in the process of putting up enough apple pectin to last for a season or two. Sometimes the trees make such a heroic effort to overproduce fruit that they produce nothing for the next couple of years. My pectin is made from Yellow Transparent and Gravenstein apples – I’m sure immature wild and crab apples would be great.

Can’t say if the do-it-yourself pectin represents a cost savings over the $4/box Sure-Jell, as it requires water and power to make the product, ditto canning it, plus canning lids if using disposable ones.

Here is an article on the health benefits/side effects for using apple pectin for ailments such as diarrhea: https://www.verywellhealth.com/the-benefits-of-apple-pectin-89599

Relying on the Red Cross

Barb LeeContributor - July 8, 2023

I’m involved in a little conversation on another forum about getting prepared to bug out in case of wildfire (we have livestock, so it’s a big deal).

Every time someone directs me to contact the Red Cross to “find the resources I need” I get a little fried. They’re just trying to be helpful, but (as if I never heard of the Red Cross) I can’t figure out why they default to throwing your fate into the hands of a government subsidized “organization” instead of “I can take care of my own”.

Somewhere around here I have an article (oh! I just remembered where it is!) about what a bloated, bogged down, government funded “non-profit” the Red Cross is.

I want to yell “Ever heard of taking care of your SELF?” I know emergency agencies care for millions, but that may be just the problem. In our area, the PNW, if something like the Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake ever happened, we’ve been told in no uncertain terms, that NO agency will send personnel into an area until that area is considered safe. In case of “the Big One”, that could be months or years. And affect tens of thousands, if not millions.

That reads “You’re On Your Own” to me. First line of defense is personal preparedness. I’m not that far along, but I can sure as heck bug out successfully in a wildfire scenario (at least I THINK I can!)

Just decompressing, so I don’t say something rude on that other forum.

Season 9 of the Alone premieres this Thursday May 26, 2022. Get caught up on the items used by the winners of previous seasons.

Gideon ParkerStaff - July 8, 2023

Season 9 of the popular survival TV series Alone kicks off this Thursday May 26, 2022 on the History Channel. A quick summary of the show is that 10 participants are dropped off in the middle of no where and try and survive as long as possible with 10 items. Last man standing wins $500,000. Many survival TV shows are staged and may even fake some of the survival techniques shown on the show, but one thing that I like about Alone is that each participant runs their own camera gear, is truly out there on their own, and what they go through is real.

In this updated article, The Prepared breaks down down the 10 items chosen by each winner and runner up of the previous 8 seasons. Obvious spoilers in the article if you are planning on going back and watching previous seasons. What I like about this article is trying to imagine which items I would choose if placed on that show and how I would use them.

Something special that I am looking forward to in this next season is that The Prepared community member Jessie Krebs is one of the 10 participants. She has contributed to projects such as the Water Essentials course and How to use a compass and map. I will be cheering for her and wishing her the best of luck on this next season!

News

Sample Excel Prep Sheet Formulae

Kira - July 8, 2023

Hey all,

Not sure if this would be helpful to anyone, but I didn’t see a similar post in the forum already, so I figured I’d post in anyway just in case it is.

As lovely as The Prepared’s built-in kit builder is, I love the flexibility and computing power of Excel. You can automate calculations, color code, sort, annotate… really anything short of heavy statistics (and, fingers crossed, that might change someday). It’s a tool that’s as simple and as complex as you need it to be, really. Sadly, even a lot of graduates in STEM don’t know the basics of Excel. I’m far from a master of statistics, but even a few basic tricks in Excel can literally save you hours of manual formatting and calculating.

Okay, on to the sheet! Here’s a screenshot of what your final table will look like:

I like to start with a visual bc it helps me stay on track if I know what I’m working towards. I did try uploading the sheet itself, but it looks like that’s not supported on the forum (please correct me if I’m wrong).

Your first row in your shit is your headers. Those are gonna stay untouched during any other modifications we make later. I have these headers (in order) for most of my sheets: Item, # of item, Priority, In Kit?, oz, Est. Cost, Tot. Cost, Link, Description, Kit Notes. If you want to format these to make them visually distinct from the rest of the sheet, what you want to do is highlight the first row (I like to click on the 1 on the side to highlight the whole row, but you can also drag a box over all your headers), click on the Home tab, click on the Cell Styles box, and then select your favorite header formatting. My headers are still in the standard formatting because I prefer that look. This is a cosmetic choice really, but anything that makes this more clear for you while reading is worthwhile.

Next we’re going to look column by column. Your first column is your list of items by name. Your second column is the number you need (or have).

The third column is the priority. Priority is how I decide what I really need in limited space/on a limited budget. I break this into three ranks a la TP’s first aid kit, but you can use as many ranks as you want. You will notice this is broken into colors! Instead of manually highlighting each cell, what I do is I highlight the whole row, click the Home tab up top, and then click Conditional Formatting. From there, I go into Highlight Cell Rules, then Equal To. You should have a little pop-up box now. Under “format cells that are equal to”, type 1. In the drop down menu next to it, pick your favorite formatting OR hit the custom format at the bottom of the list (this is what I do). You can know pick your favorite color and/or pattern for the fill. I used the three middle values for the blue, but you can do whatever helps you visualize this. The same steps are used to highlight In Kit?, except you need to keep in mind that that is case sensitive (I believe) when using letters, so you need to stick with either N or n (or just enter two rules for N and n for formatting).

In Kit? is just whether something is already in your kit or not. This is usually a Y/N value, but I include a third value S (for Some) in cases when I have an item that’s heterogenous. For example, my BOB sheet says clothes, which I have marked S because I have some clothes but not all the clothes I plan to include. Usually when I have a value marked S, I include a tab for specifically that value. E.g., I have my BOB tab, and I have a clothes tab that breaks down each piece of clothing into a Y/N. It’s just easier to read the BOB sheet without so much clutter.

Oz is ounces of each item. I am lazy and have not bothered to actually weigh out my bag because it is small enough that it really can’t get to heavy for me, but eventually I’m going to fill this out. I know a lot of people here are more on top of weight for their packs, though!

Est. cost is estimated cost per item. Total cost is the total cost of how much that row is. So, if you need 10 $1 items, Est. Cost is 1 and Total Cost is 10. But wait! What if you have your 10 items already? In that case, total cost is 0 no matter what. Here’s how we make that happen: =IF(D2=”N”,B2*F2,0) Paste the formula directly below the header, hover your cursor over the bottom right corner until it looks like a black cross, and then drag the formula into every cell you want filled. Now you’ll see the true total cost per column.

Link is just a hyperlink to a site if I know where I’ll be buying an item. If I’m getting it from the local grocery store, that just never gets filled in. Description is a description of the item in detail so I know which one to get if it’s a little vague, like maybe you want a specific kind of paracord, and kit notes is notes about what I have in my kit/ how I’m storing it/ really anything. You could probably make this one Notes column, but I like breaking it out into two.

Okay, almost done. Now we head to the bottom of the sheet. We have two more things to fill in: total cost and total weight. These are the same formula, basically. Total cost is =SUM(G2:G4) and total weight is =SUM(E2:E4) (they just add up different columns). These don’t account for tax or rounding errors, but they should give you a good idea of the total investment for your kit.

Finally, I like to sort my kit by priority rank. You can do it by alphabetical order or cost or weight or whatever works for you; the way you do it is the same. You highlight your whole table EXCEPT for your headers and for the total cost and total weight rows at the very bottom (but including the Total Cost column in the sheet). Then you head to the Data tab up top. Then you click the box that says sort. Now you have a pop up with three boxes. In your first box, pick the column you want to sort by. For me, that’s priorities. In your second box, you probably want to stick to cell values. In your third box, you select how you want those values ordered. For me, that’s smallest to largest. Now your sheet is ordered based on priority!

Congrats! You now have an automated, color coded Excel prepping sheet. If anything was confusing, or if you have more Excel related questions, I would be super happy to clarify/explain! I’m a total nerd about this stuff (clearly).

Estate Planning – real life notes on why you should do it now

July LewisContributor - July 6, 2023

Hi everyone, I’ve posted about estate planning before because it is such an important thing that many people, even preppers, don’t do. Estate planning not only protects your assets and makes sure they go to the right people, it protects your family from dealing with a difficult, complicated mess at the worst possible time. My husband just passed away and I wanted to share one takeaway from my experience. And that is: don’t put it off until you feel there’s a need. Estate planning can become more difficult to do, not less, as death approaches.

My husband was diagnosed with cancer over 5 years ago. At the time we were told it could be managed for a long time, but would eventually become resistant to treatment and terminal. (he never truly accepted that ) I had made him do a will and some basic estate planning before the diagnosis. A couple years I made him re-do everything (because it needed updating) and check beneficiaries on his accounts, etc. We consulted a lawyer on medical debt and what would happen to it after he passed. He hated doing all of it, but he did it.

This past year, the cancer became more and more resistant to treatment. He fought the whole time. He held out hope that something would work, even as that possibility became more and more unrealistic. In the last couple of months, I would have wanted to tie up loose ends – close a couple stray accounts that he had recently opened, transfer the ownership of a car (he was on the title but it was his son’s car). But I didn’t bring it up. He was facing mortality, and fighting every step of the way. It’s the most difficult thing anyone can face, and it wasn’t worth the pain and conflict it would cause to try to make him deal with small issues. So we have a couple random, small balance accounts that we are probably going to walk away from, and an uninsured car sitting in my driveway until we can all go to the DMV on the same day and deal with the paperwork. But I’m INCREDIBLY glad we dealt with the main issues years ago.

Anyway, that’s my takeaway – if you think it’s hard dealing with it now, it will only become harder later. Do it for yourself, and make your parents/spouse/etc do it as well.

Here’s a good general article. The only thing I would suggest is do #4 first!! Check the beneficiaries on all your bank accounts, retirement accounts etc first. It’s quick, free, and easy to do.

https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/investing/estate-planning/estate-planning

News for the Week 2023-05-15

The Prepared Support - July 5, 2023

News

Whole house water filtration system

Chameleon - July 5, 2023

Tried looking at previous posts, but most just deal with portable filtration or Berkeys, which is great but not big enough. Looking to service the whole house. We are on creek water. So besides sediment, we also have to deal with diseases and other natural unwanted chemicals. The previous owner installed a filter and then a UV filter as well, and that system works just fine, but the system is getting old and would like to update it so we’re safe for the next 20 years. I’ve seen things like Aquasana, and that’s more what I’m going for, but wanted to see if anyone here had any recommendations. Thanks

What are the best rubber bands?

Jonnie PekelnyContributor - July 4, 2023

Recently I’ve discovered the existence of ranger bands — super tough survival oriented rubber bands. But the ones available on Amazon come in variety packs that include a lot of really tiny rubber bands that might go well over a pen, but not much else. Not sure what these might before but they’re wasted on me. I did see one offer of larger ranger bands on sale, but they’re crazy expensive — something like $12 for 8 bands. I would like to get my hands on larger rubber bands that are robust but somewhat reasonably priced and reasonably sized. Any suggestions?

New (UK) Member saying Hi

Danny5 - July 1, 2023

Just wanted to say hello. Stumbled across this site somewhat accidentally but it’s already been life changing for me.

I’m based in the UK down near the Surrey/Kent borders. Live in a modest house with a great family and a decent job.

TL/DR – First forum post of a new guy in his 40’s from UK, been inspired to consider home safety, bugging in & general first aid. Done a handful of bits and feeling good about starting the prepper style.

Why the sudden interest and thought in this stuff. Well I have been watching some dystopian series and films and one of them had a first aid incident and it made me question how prepared I/we were even a simple moment to occur. The answer was both prepared and unprepared which sounds odd to say I guess. We had tons of first aid supplies BUT crucially none of them quickly accessible. This set me on a path of ‘readiness’ and has opened my mind.

I began looking into FAK’s and was quickly swallowed into a whole of stuff that I was not ready for or on my scope to be honest. I read through many articles and quickly started thinking about Bug Out Bags and caches etc and realised I was making the biggest mistake of would-be preppers. Bugging IN is the more likely scenario first so I ditched all thinking (well not quite all) of bugging out and concentrated on home, work and commuting.

I’m proud to say that in just a few short weeks I feel I’ve done a lot. A kitchen FAK on a wall mounted bracket was purchased (contents then improved), with a larger FAK slightly less accessible but re-organised, re-packed and contents improved upon. As a family man this gave me a great sense of relief and safety. We have 2 cars and whilst there was some FAK present they weren’t great nor were their contents. I upgraded them and doubled them – 1 FAK accessible in the front (door pocket) and 1 in the boot with the thinking that we’re far better covered regardless if it’s a front or rear collision and that potentially if we saw an accident both my wife and I could grab separate FAKs and help others quickly.

We also had them but a seat belt cutter with diamond tip for smashing windows is in each car too.

I carried out some home security updates – such as removing the shorter screws in our front and back doors and replacing them with much longer ones. Made some adjustments to our security lighting too. I added a keysafe which whilst I’m not crazy about the idea of them it is hidden and wouldn’t include our mortice lock key. There’s an added benefit that my wife and I are often out running individually so there’s no longer a need to run with a key. Health is also important for the prepper lifestyle!

All this got me thinking that home is safer and we’re better equipped on journeys too BUT what about work. I asked at work about the FAK and ensured we had a good coverage and supplies. I then invested in a cheapish but well reviewed multitool that’s now part of my work everyday bag. I’ve used this countless times already and whilst it won’t be the best tool out there it’s already paid for itself.

I’ve started introducing the idea of stocking up/bulk buying on certain foods and home items. Nothing fancy just a pack of extra toilet roll here, some double the canned goods order there – that sort of thing. Next thing is to create a storage area for this stuff.

Changing my outlook has crept into other areas too. Luggage is tough on family holidays and including the dog gets even harder. Whilst we recently bought a new car I was then offered a free large roof top box on the proviso that they key was lost. Replacement key sourced, roof bars sourced and I just need the specific roof bar fittings which I’ll purchase over the next weeks/month. Whilst this isn’t ‘prepping’ for my POV it IS being more prepared for all eventualities. I also play in a rock covers band so naturally there’s some logistics benefit to it there too.

So anyway I wanted to share with you where I’d got in less than a month and to offer thanks as I’d read a lot of guides and forum entries which really set me on my way.

So, I’ll leave you with ‘What’s Next?’
Some (legal) anti climb spikes on the gates by the side of my house. The roof box fittings.
I’ve found out that in the next 18mths our water supplier will be mandating water meters on all properties they supply. My plan is to pick up a few water butts.
Long term plan is to get some planters and grow some veg in it. We already have 4 chickens so adding any thing home grown combined with our bulk buying puts in a far better position than we were in just a short time ago. Problem is I have zero knowledge on that so no doubt I’ll create a forum post when the time is right.

I know I’ve only scratched the surface with this stuff. But if SOMETHING had happened a month ago compared with today I’d have 2 vastly different outcomes. Thanks all!

Inflation everywhere. Any tips?

wildfireexpert - June 28, 2023

With limited education into macro-finance, and only news sources for input, how do we as “sane preppers” deal with this issue?
(Personally I don’t believe precious metals are a solution/plan for many reasons )

News for the week of 2023-06-26

The Prepared Support - June 27, 2023

News

Washington Post article

Steve Martin - June 27, 2023

Ok Im hoping this link will work for ya’ll. Wash Poo has a good article this morning on expiration dates on food.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2023/05/17/food-expiration-dates-best-by/

News for the week of 2023-06-19

The Prepared Support - June 26, 2023

News

Learning from the past – The 1815 volcano that covered the world

Jose Martinez - June 24, 2023

On April 5, 1815, the Indonesian island of Sumbawa (to the north of Australia) was alerted to the sounds of the Tambora mountiain coughing up ash and fire as the volcano awoke. People hundreds of miles away recalled that it sounded like cannon fire. These small eruptions continued for days until April 10th when the whole mountain exploded. Three plumes of fire and rock shot upwards, merging into one massive blast. Lava flowed out of the volcano and engulfed the village below. Midday felt like midnight for weeks as ash continued to fall, piling as high as two feet in some places.

Throughout the world, people stared in awe at vibrant sunsets over the coming months but little did they know that disaster would follow. In the coming year, the weather would turn unpredictable and be devastating to many.

Because of this eruption, in India, temperatures dropped and thousands were killed from cholera (infection in the small intestines which leads to watery diarrhea, vomiting, and muscle cramps). In China, the normally mild climate was disturbed with summer snowstorms and brought flooding rain that destroyed crops. In Europe, food supplies dwindled leading to starvation and panic. In North America, 1816 was called the year without a summer where there was snowfall and frosts that ruined entire crops. Thousands of people throughout the world had to flee and relocate during this period because of effects caused by the volcano.

To the people all over the world at that time without news and social media explaining what was going on, these events must have felt apocalyptic. The Mount Tambora volcano was the most powerful volcanic eruption in recorded human history ejecting 38-51 cubic miles of material into the atmosphere. It is mind boggling to think that a small mountain on the other side of the world could affect the entire world killing 10,000 from the initial explosion and 90,000 from famine and disease in the coming years. Our world is so fragile where a drop in 0.7-1.3°F can cause so much devastation.

Previous episode of Learning from the past: Otzi the Iceman

Scenarios

UK Manchester Arena Report

K9medic - June 20, 2023

At the moment I am working my way through part two of the Manchester Arena Inquiry report, and to put it mildly, it is uncomfortable reading, especially in profession.

I am often employed as part of the medical staff in nightclubs and events. I knew before the Manchester attack that medical help was not minutes away, and it would be self / bystander help that would save the lives. But like many I got complacent.

As I have not finished reaping the report (something like another 700 odd pages to go) I am still working on personal changes to both my CPD and additions to my equipment. But my initial thoughts are plan for a minimum of 3 hours before professional help gets to you.

Skills

News for the week of 2023-06-12

The Prepared Support - June 18, 2023

News for the week of 2023-06-05

The Prepared Support - June 12, 2023

News

What don’t we know about online safety?

Kira - June 7, 2023

I’ve always been pretty confident in my online safety skills because I grew up with so much of it and I don’t go to sketchy websites, trust random links, etc., but I almost got my identity stolen and did get malware installed on my phone because I didn’t know that people can fake the number that they’re calling from. I felt like an idiot afterwards because so many other red flags were present (building trust, asking me to do smaller things before larger things, creating a sense of urgency, unexpected call, slightly incorrect descriptions of how I know things actually work), and I’m taking all the steps I can to be safe now (filing reports, freezing/alerting credit scores, changing banking information, new phone), but I’m still a little stunned that I got so close to it.

(My sister has been laughing at me since because she, apparently, has an app on her phone that lets her trace the IP of scam callers, and she likes to address them by their full real names and ask about other people they live with and listen to them freak out and then use their information to sign them up to get spam themselves, so that’s another way you can go I guess.)

We’ve had other threads on online safety that cover the basics really well, but what are some strange or specific tips you’ve all had to learn the hard way? It seems like scam strategies have been evolving faster than ever.

New for the Week of 2023-05-29

The Prepared Support - June 4, 2023

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