Prepper closet

RedneckContributor - December 29, 2020

I’m curious if anyone else has built a dedicated prepper closet.  I did so a few years ago because my wife was getting tired of my stuff being everywhere.  So I cleaned out a corner of my upper barn & built a 16′ x 12′ closet.  The back wall is an exterior wall & I needed one for the AC unit to keep everything cold year round.  Living in north Mississippi means dealing with extreme summer heat so it is very well insulated, especially so for an interior room.  Lots of junk plus extra prepper gear, such as bee hives, are stored on its roof.

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I hope I can have a prepper closet some day! That looks really cool, thank you for sharing. 

I like your water brick tower too!

Is there anything you would like to add to your prepper closet? Drywall and paint? More shelves? 

 

If I need more shelves, I can easily add them.  There is no need for drywall or paint… it is a prepper closet not a doll house.  🙂  But seriously, since it is a room in a barn, I saw no need for drywall or paint.  Easier to hang shelfing and hangers if there is no drywall.

 

haha you made me laugh! I really like utility more than looks and would rather have exposed framing in my house so I could hang things and build shelves in between things easier. But would not go over so well with the wife. 

 

It’s not much, but I have my BOB, water and food storage, and tools under the stairs at my house. Not even worth showing a picture of. I like your setup though! 

Looks like you’ve done a good job getting things up off the floor that are likely to get damaged from a flooded floor. 

Have you had any mice or critters trying to get into your preps?

 

Yep, they get in there.  That is just a fact of life.  But I make life pretty miserable for them, as they can’t get to the food because of the containers and because of poison and sonic devices.  Haven’t seen sign of any lately.

 

What’s in your metal trash can? I’ve heard some people buy those to make DIY faraday cages to store their electronics in to protect against an EMP.

 

Actually both the trash can and the rectangular box are Faraday enclosures.

Also made Faraday enclosures for some solar panels.

And a Flex (AC/DC) well pump that can operate directly off of solar panels.

 

Your prepper closet just gained another 10 points! That sure is cool Redneck. 

Do you have any other cool things about your prepper closet that we can’t see from the pictures ? What kind of things do you have in there? 

You have your faraday cages, tons of buckets, #10 cans, 5 gallon pails of food storage, water bricks, extra toilet paper and trash bags. What is that thing with the tall stove pipe in the third picture?

 

Ha.  I was a Minuteman Missile Combat Crew Commander, responsible for nuclear weapons, and am very informed when it comes to the damage just one properly placed super EMP weapon could do to our country.  Even back in the 80’s when I served, we had an option for a high altitude fusing burst to deliver EMP. North Korea has these weapons & the means to deliver them.

That is an Instove rocket stove, that I think is now discontinued.  It was designed to feed a small group economically in 3rd world countries.  Mine is a 60 liter model.  It is also designed for my All American canner to fit inside.  IMO, it is way cool and you can tell by the design that it is incredibly efficient.  I like that you can duct the smoke away from the unit.  The black unit in front of it is another rocker stove.  I have smaller rocket stoves on top of the closet.

Most of the 6 gallon pails are long term food stores, with the majority being wheat berries.  Some are medical supplies and maybe a dozen are garden seed.  The garden seed doesn’t store anywhere near as long as the food, so I add a fresh pail or two each year.  This year I just did one and it holds the 3 sisters (field corn, pole beans & winter squash) plus a pound of collard seed.  I did purchase another pound of amaranth (around 750,000 seed) but it is in the freezer you see in front of the closet.

I store all sorts of stuff.  Out in the barn itself, I have a 160 gallon water tank.

 

I like your rocket stove so much better than my sad one. This is a DIY one that I made out of some quick setting cement. I poured in a bunch of cement into a cardboard box lined with plastic wrap. I stuck in two cups to create the rocket stove opening. I then placed four rocks around the opening at the top once it hardened a bit to act as little risers where you could put a pot on. 

This thing is heavy! And I still haven’t had a chance to use it yet, but it’s outside if I ever needed to.

That is a pretty sweet water barrel! I like how it has two spigots allowing you to fill a bucket if you had this placed straight on the floor.

 

OK.  I agree.  That is one sad rocket stove.  🙂

Back when I was in scouts, we used to make one into the side of a dirt bank.  That was before they had things called rocket stoves but it did the same thing by having a chimney to enhance the burning.  I keep fire bricks on hand and you can make a pretty nice one using them… even without mortar if you want a temporary one.   I’ve seen people use cinder blocks to make a rocket stove, but IMO that is a recipe for disaster.  Those cinder blocks are not rated for high temps & could fail with hot food on top, leading to sever burns.  Last thing you want during a crisis.

Since you are interested, those yellow bread trays on the side are full of cans of Spam.  My understanding is if they stay dry & cool, they can last as long as my other long term stores.  It is not something I eat anymore because it is not very healthy with the high fat & salt content.  However during a crisis, meat, fat & salt will be highly appreciated.

 

I am in love!!! That is a good looking rocket stove there! I’m going to have to get some fire bricks now. Can I ask where you bought yours from? I see they are available at lowes/home depot and are like $3-5 each. 

I especially like your entrance with the ash catchment area.

 

A beautiful setup, Redneck !  Compliments !

In reply: No; don’t have a prepper closet arrangement.  My loadout and inventories like your place pre closet/wife’s “concerns”. Here, stuff is in study where I am transmitting from, in barn and boathouse.

Indirectly ref Flex well pump; Is there a bolt on application kit to attach a hand pump to an electric pump in well house ?  I’ve got the hand pump but never attached it for use due most planning is for evacuation.

 

Are you talking about something like a Bison pump?  https://www.bisonpumps.com/

Few years back, when I decided to get a system to supply me with off grid water, I looked at such hand pumps.  They sound nice but are pretty expensive and don’t provide a whole lot of water… but plenty for drinking & other household purposes.  Since I live on a farmstead and prep so that I could be self sufficient during a long term crisis, I needed more water… and less work.

My solution is two fold and both first entail pulling the existing ac pump from down in the well.  I have the tool needed to attach to the pitless adapter and the winches to pull it all out.  First option is just a well bucket.  You can make your own but I bought a Waterboy well bucket.  Depending on size, you are looking at getting 1-2 gallons per trip down… once again plenty for household use.  You can add features like pulleys & tripods to speed up the process.  If I only had one option, this would be it because it is the cheapest, at around $100 if you buy one, and because it is portable.  If I lived in the city & planned to bug out into the country, I’d bring one of these & the tool.  Almost no rural folks have such a device so when the grid is down, they don’t have water.  Someone could make great friends if they brought such means to access water from a well.

Second option was the Grundfos flex well pump you see pictured above.  The most expensive option… but the best by far.  It can run off of ac or dc.  If you direct wire a solar panel to it, it will start pumping.  What is amazing about this pump is, under voltage doesn’t hurt or bother it.  On any standard pump, if the voltage isn’t just right, you can burn up the motor.  With a Grundfos, it just pumps less with low voltage (one panel attached) or pumps more with higher voltage (several panels attached).

Sorry for the long post but having water when the grid is down is very important to me.  For me, a hand pump just didn’t make sense.

 

The post isn’t long, Redneck.  The info is important.

ailureaI already have a deep well hand pump still in the box.  Had been looking for something to co-attack it to the well’s electric pump.  In case of electric failure – both Dominion Power and my generator  (was told that in some realistic cases NO electricity will be generated in the Navy Norfolk – Washington, D.C. corridor) wanted to attach my hand pump into the well house so electric failure “simply” means flipping a lever and can use manual labor to pump water.

We just got a new Aussie Rainman RO distiller; it’s portable,.. for water from the Bay or ocean.

 

Bob, that Waterboy well bucket looks awesome! It reminds me of the DIY version on The Prepared’s kit builder page.

If I ever have a well and get off of this nasty city water, i’ll have to invest in one.

 

That is one of the real benefits of living a rural life… fresh, cold, clean water straight from the ground.  Especially nice on a hot summer day when you’ve been running the tractor for hours out in the full sun.

As I said, if a were a city dweller ( I shudder as I say that), I would have one with me if my prepper plan was to bug out to the countryside.

 

That water sounds amazing! You’re making me jealous

 

I like! After my daughters moved out, I turned an upstairs bedroom into my prepper room. My wife doesn’t go in the room so my life is much easier. : ) 

 

Needs organizing, but some of the supplies in the vacated bedroom and under the beds. Not shown, I have 600 pounds of rice, 200 pounds of sugar, 100 pounds of salt, 120 pounds of various dried beans, 25 jars of raw honey, 90 jars of freeze dried coffee, and many cases of freeze dried foods and buckets containing mylar bags of foods.  And I still feel compelled to buy more.  My wife and kids think I have a problem.  But with wife, kids, and grandkids there are 12 people I feel I’m responsible for. This wouldn’t last long. Shortages and dramatic price increases could happen over night.  We may look back in 5 years as 2020 being the good old days.

 

Yes, without a doubt you need it organized so that you rotate the food before it goes bad.  Also, with all that pasta sitting out, I’d have most ruined by mice.  All my pasta is in sealed mylar in 6 gallon buckets.  They are sneaky little beasts.  So long as I don’t have food sitting out, they stay away.  But if I don’t protect the food, they come a running.

Once I got a case of Ramen noodles and just put in the closet, like yours, and the mice were mighty happy I did.  🙂  

 

Except for the one mouse that bit into the chili powder packet… He got quite the shock

 

Yeah, I’m planning on putting the pasta and Ramen noodles in mylar and buckets.   The good news, I’ve lived here 35 years and we’ve seen 1 mouse (rat).  He came in the house through the vent.  Must have accessed the system under the house.  Wife freaked, so we replaced all the duct work. : (

 

I like what you did there. You’ve clearly considered a lot of scenarios (building Faraday cages for equipment, etc). It looks like you’re well-stocked, too.

Out of curiosity, I’m wondering how you’ve addressed security for your prep closet. Have you something beyond a mere padlock for the door? I realize this is a work in progress, so, maybe you just haven’t gotten to that point yet.

Anyway, like others, I’m kinda jealous you have the space to do this. It looks great!

 

Actually, not a work in progress.  I’ve had it for a couple of years.

Security is not a huge concern.  That closet is inside one of my barns.  My property is on a dead end lane, about a mile off of a rural road.  There is no traffic passing thru to even see my property.  I know all my neighbors very well and we all watch out for each other.

I talked to an old farmer who lives at the end of the lane, who has lived there all of his life, and he has had only one thing stolen… and his family did that.  Right after I moved here, some of my employees said they wanted to come out & see the property.  They never came.  They said, soon as they turned on that narrow, dead end lane, they were to scarred to drive down it… and turned around.  

I have a security system but I’ve never turned it on. I do have 9 dogs inside the house.  🙂   I can leave, say to drive to Memphis, and never lock a door.

 

I laughed out loud thinking of the employees turning around.  You’ve got a great setup and location.  Unfortunately I live in suburbia.  Lots of good neighbors, but still people.  I don’t have a bug-out location, but in a real long term SHTF situation, I can wait it out for a month and go anywhere.  As horrific as it sounds, most people will not survive.