Share your knowledge & learn from experts

Because prepping and community go hand in hand

Hands-on experience with a Scout Rifle?

Does anyone have any actual hands-on experience with any of the current Scout rifles (ex. Ruger GSR, Savage, Mossberg)?  What’s been your experience (good or bad)? 

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What are the best solar panel/generator brands?

Which one is the best?! Eco flow? Jackerry?

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DIY air filter protects an entire room from COVID-19

Will this pandemic ever end? We finally have vaccines, and we still have breakthrough infections. We finally reach herd immunity from vaccination, then a new variant is 50% more infectious and brings the pandemic roaring back. We’re not even recovered from that when another variant comes along, even more infectious and a bit resistant to vaccines. At this point we need 150% of people vaccinated to reach herd immunity again, and 6 months after that another variant will set us back to the beginning.

The problem is that we’re relying too much on vaccines. They’re a great tool, but just not enough on their own. That’s why we need a layered approach.

Every COVID precaution has some failure rate or side effect that prevents it from being the magic bullet that fixes everything. That’s okay. We can make up for this by using several layers of protection. If one layer fails 20% of the time (vaccine) and another layer fails 20% of the time (N95 mask) then you can combine both precautions for a failure rate of only 4% (odds that both fail at the same time). If that’s still not enough, just add a third layer.

Here’s one more layer you can add, either for added protection or as a replacement when, for whatever reason, you can’t wear that mask.

One of the most overlooked precautions is also the easiest to keep up long term. The virus can only spread if you breathe it in. Cheap and effective ventilation systems remove viruses from the air, so that you can safely breathe that air without getting infected. With enough room air filtration, it becomes possible for people to share a room together without spreading infection, even if none of them are wearing masks. This is especially important for places where people need to remove their masks, such as dental offices or restaurants. It also makes a great backup layer for especially high risk environments, like classrooms or shared offices, where it’s difficult to wear a mask properly for many hours at a time.

Just build one of these filtration systems for each place that you want to protect. One unit is enough to hang out with friends, especially if you spread out a little with the fan placed between you pointed up. Three of them will provide supplemental protection for a typical, crowded classroom, in which everyone is still wearing masks.

The best part about layered defenses is that you can always afford to drop one of the layers, and the remaining layers will still take care of you. A filtration system is just one more layer you can use, so that you can safely drop any other layer if it’s getting in your way.

There’s a whole menu of layers that you can choose from:

Filtration System – keep the above air filter near you Outdoors – because the ventilation is built-in N95 Masks – for when you need to visit areas that you haven’t secured Vaccines – 5 months of easy protection Distance – just stand further away while talking

(BTW, hand washing and scrubbing doorknobs don’t belong on this list. They might help a little bit, but not nearly as much as any of the above. COVID-19 usually spreads through the air, not by touching surfaces.)

I always aim for at least two layers of protection, and sometimes add a third if I need to be in a crowded room. Decide how many you feel comfortable with – you definitely don’t need to use all at once.

And the best part about filtration systems? If one business owner installs filtration, every single customer is that much safer and doesn’t need to work so hard on protecting themselves. Bring your own filter, or ask your favorite businesses to take care of it for you. You and everyone around you will be that much safer.

Imagine if all of our public spaces had good ventilation. Everyone would be protected, even those that refuse to protect themselves. We might finally end this pandemic.

Until then, this is one more tool that you can use to protect yourself and your community.

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What to do with a jug full of coins?

For as far back as I can remember, I’ve been saving up coins inside one of those two-gallon water jugs with the hopes of adding it to my account later on. Now that I actually can do that, though, I’ve been hearing some conflicting stuff about what I should do with the coins. 

My Dad seems to believe the coins wouldn’t lose their value in a major financial crisis and tells me to keep them where they are, but I’m not so sure about that. However, with the bank situation getting a little more volatile in recent news I don’t want to lose anything I’ve saved over the past 16 years. 

So, what’re your recommendations?

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Nat gas “sniffers” for friends who can’t smell anymore due to Covid

So here’s a fun prepping mashup: Both my mom and one of my friends have recently had gas leak scares when a gas-powered appliance began to malfunction and they realized, suddenly, that they would not necessarily be able to tell if it was leaking gas because they’d lost their sense of smell due to Covid. In my mom’s case, it was actually kind of funny, at least in hindsight, because she texted my husband and said, “Please don’t tell Sarah, because I know she’ll be worried, but…” My husband (who was sitting right next to me on the couch, watching Andor, and dutifully concealed their conversation from me) told her to call the utility, since they make free house calls 24/7 when a gas leak is suspected, and of course this is ALWAYS the best thing to do if one has any reason to believe that there might be a gas leak. That said, he and I were thinking that we should gift my mom and our other friend who can’t smell some portable gas “sniffers” (like this, for instance) as an added layer of assurance/protection (especially in my mom’s case, since she’s probably now going to lie awake at night worrying that there is a gas leak she not smelling, even now that her gas dryer has been ruled safe and repaired).

So my question for y’all: Do any of you have experience with these types of units? Are they reliable in general? (When we’ve called out PG&E because we thought we smelled gas, the technician has checked the house with a handheld detector, so presumably this technology can be good, but who knows what kind of units the utility uses? Not I!) Can anyone recommend a model? I searched for past threads on this but couldn’t find any (perhaps because there are so many candidate search terms… gas, propane, detector, sensor, sniffer…), but please feel free to redirect me if I missed something!

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Has anyone read the book “Easy Cellar” by Tom Griffith?

Has anyone seen/used the “Easy Cellar” by Tom Griffith? He is a terrific sales person but I would like some feedback from persons who are not making money from his book and site. Thanks. Eileen — 

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What are your tips for hiding food/valuables?

I was wondering where people hide their food/valuables? And by valuables, I’m talking about tools, solar panels, gasoline, medical supplies, etc… 

It gets to be quite a load, especially food for the family. I have a few ideas, and have a few stashes around our property, but I’d like to hear some other ideas please….

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No Grid Survival Projects book, has anyone tried it?

I’m tempted to order this, but thought I’d see if any of you have checked  it out? Might be pretty basic stuff, but looks like he’s made it easy to complete his projects by referencing exactly where to get supplies.
It might be a good one to have on hand in the prepping library, if his projects seem legit.

Please chime in with your thoughts!

https://nogridsurvivalprojects.com/book/

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The dead of winter is a great time for pruning.

There is so much to do on a homestead, even in the winter when nothing is growing.  Lately I’ve been cleaning up the garden, getting rid of all the dead plants.  That material all goes in the compost pile.  I’ve also been pounding in a dozen 8 foot T-posts, to hold my 6 foot trellis netting for a new location of pole beans.

For many plants, the best time to prune is in the winter when they are dormant.  I finished cutting back most of my roses and now I am working on my muscadine grapes.  They get real leggy because each shoot can put out a stem that can be 10 feet long… or longer.  They bear fruit on new growth, so it is extremely important to cut them way back each winter.  When done with the muscadines, I have around 150 fruit trees to prune next.

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Favorite source for storm warnings?

There have been some extreme weather effects in the US lately and San Francisco is about to have an another one. The National Weather Service’s Bay Area office issued “a frank and dire warning to citizens”:

“To put it simply, this will likely be one of the most impactful systems on a widespread scale that this meteorologist has seen in a long while,” the warning read. “The impacts will include widespread flooding, roads washing out, hillside collapsing, trees down (potentially full groves), widespread power outages, immediate disruption to commerce, and the worst of all, likely loss of human life. This is truly a brutal system that we are looking at and needs to be taken seriously.”

I find it helpful to get a “heads-up” about storms like this and sometimes they will appear in my regular daily news (The New York Times), but I’d like a more specialized source to check regularly.  My built-in iPhone weather app is pretty good at providing forecasts when things are normal but it didn’t warn me about the artic blast we received in December.

What’s your favorite source to check for storm forecasts?

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Has anyone trained a dog to carting?

Has anyone trained a dog to carting before?

As urban dwellers, a horse or pony isn’t an option for our family but well-trained dogs are allowed in pretty much every neighborhood I know of. I like the idea of training a dog to carting but am not sure what all is involved and was wondering if someone else had tips to share.

In regular situations, I envision the dog pulling a cart when we go out to apple-picking to collect more apples or ferry the 1 year old.

In a more serious situation, the dog already being trained to carting would add capacity to the supplies we could bring. Of course, the dog also adds to the supplies we need for an evacuation! So perhaps it’s a wash from the capacity perspective.

For clarity, we do not yet have a dog and will be adopting the dog from a rescue. I had rescue dogs growing up but we never trained the family dogs beyond the basic obedience classes to be good dog citizens. In other words, a dog will be joining our family whether it is trained to carting or not.

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Prepping with infants?

So, I’ve decided to start prepping. I’ve been reading all these articles bout prepping and gear. I’ve even read how to prep with kids but I’ve found nothing about prepping with infants. And so I don’t even know how to start prepping with infant.

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Do you know who the enemy might be?

Under the “situational awareness” heading, is knowing who to watch and who to trust in our preparations for anticipated emergencies and dealing with them afterwards. During the recent political unrest, I had a local who was a member of a certain fringe group and he was bold enough to put a huge sign in his front yard advocating changes to our government he was demanding, and on a particular day in January, he made a trip to DC to express his opinion. He’s one I’ll keep an eye on if things go from bad to worse. I am also aware of a neighbor who has that ” if the SHTF I’ll just use my firepower to take whatever I need from everyone else” attitude. Another one I’ll keep an eye on. Be aware of the extremist in your midst, not paranoid but aware, BEFORE the SHTF. They might be a potential problem when the time comes, or an ally. I tend to be too suspicious of others motives….a hazard of having spent some time in military intel: everyone is up to something, you just have to figure out what it is and if it’s good or bad.

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Help me decide on a portable generator. Single fuel but fuel injected or tri fuel with a carb?

Alright I’m ready to pull the trigger on a new electric start 11000 watt portable generator…but I have to choose one over the other of two possibilities. #1 is elect start, fuel injected so no carb to worry about…but is only gasoline powered. #2 is same brand, same wattage but with typical carb and is tri fuel…gasoline, nat gas or propane. So there’s trade offs. The tri fuel version is also $200 cheaper. I did the generac whole house estimate which came back at $10, 790. YIKES! There will still be some electrical contractor expense as I’ll get them to put in that sub panel so I can plug this portable in. I have a nearly new generac 3500 watt portable I’ll be selling so I can recoup part of the purchase price. So….which would YOU consider? Single fuel but fuel injected or tri fuel with a carb? I have a torn rotator cuff with damage so pull starting ANYTHING is out of the question now. So I’ll be selling the new chain saw, weedeater and generator. 

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Essential medical reference books for the prepper library

I wanted to start compiling a list of great medical references at different levels that are useful for austere medicine and hopefully longer term survival.  Also curious what books others have found useful to study or have on hand as reference. 

Quick reference

Wilderness & Travel Medicine – fairly good first step and comes with larger AMK kits, which I like for the packaging.  Written in an accessible and easily referenced way. NOLS WFA reference card – Good for rapid reference for those in your group who are less trained or practiced

First aid

Wilderness Medicine (Forgey) – Well written and it has a good focus on being more remove from definitive care Fix Your Feet – A good reference on foot care.  It is targeted more at runners and hikers, but if you suddenly increase time on your feet it will be valuable to know how to care for them Hypothermia, frostbite and other cold injuries – a good deep dive into cold injuries for those of us who live in climates with extreme cold.

First responder

Outdoor Emergency Care – This is the textbook use for national ski patrols certification.  I don’t love it, but it is a reasonable textbook at the FR/EMT level that also includes some more environmental emergencies and dealing with more austere situations such as backcountry rescue.  

Advanced

Auerbachs Wilderness Medicine –  THE textbook for wilderness medicine.  It is a 2 volume medical textbook, which is very comprehensive.  Depending on your science background this could be a hard read.  

What have others found?  

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Prepper podcast recommendations, please

About to have a three day road-trip. Anyone know of and can recommend some good prepping podcasts to listen to? TIA

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Off-grid cabin/land purchase

Hi all!  My husband and I are in the research phase before purchasing some land/acreage for an off-grid cabin.  Can anyone recommend good resources on how to evaluate the land prior to purchase, or what to know before building a cabin? We’re focusing generally on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, planning on well/septic with solar (and have varying degrees of familiarity with those systems), and do not plan on living in the cabin full-time. We know just enough to suspect there’s a lot we DON’T know, thus the extensive research before a potentially expensive mistake.  Those of you who have done this – any words of wisdom?  Thanks!  

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Preparedness podcasts?

Hi all,

I’m curious as to whether any of you have any preparedness podcasts that you enjoy, or even singular podcast episodes — perhaps interviews with preparedness experts talking about what they have and do and why, scientists who have expertise relevant to natural disasters and response thereto, first responders, structural and civil engineers, or people who work in government on disaster readiness and response.

I like that The Prepared doesn’t pick sides politically and is focused on providing high quality information, so anything that is similar to this site in those dimensions would be especially appreciated. The one thing I’ve found so far that I like is “Getting Through It” with Dr. Lucy Jones, which is really interesting, but it’s a lot more about the social and natural science of disasters than how we prepare for them.

Thanks for any ideas!

[Edited to add: I’m asking because I often stay up too late sewing or reading preparedness-related content on the internet. Listening to preparedness-related content while sewing seems like it would be an efficiency gain.] Read More
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Teach me about life insurance

I don’t feel any immediate need to get life insurance because I am relatively healthy, but accidents happen. In addition, with things costing more lately than they have been in previous years, I am seeing how hard keeping up with the bills and cost of living would be for my wife if I were to pass away.

I know nothing about life insurance, but might want to consider it. Can you all tell me if you have it, do you know of anyone who has had to cash it in, how do you shop for it, what kinds are there, things like that.

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A prepper’s perspective on gratitude this November

Hello! I’ve spent the past few days browsing this site since seeing it on 60 Minutes and have to say that so far it’s exactly what I needed in my life right now. Who knew there were AA batteries with a USB port in the side to charge them with!? Well apparently this site!

Something that is always on my mind this time of year and something I want to personally work on is gratitude. To make it relevant to this forum though, I want to share my thoughts about how being grateful is important for your mental health and for preparing in general. I have been prepping for the past 4-5 years, so I’m in no way an expert, but can say I have a basic knowledge that hopefully applies.

I find it ironic that on Thanksgiving day we sit down and with our loved ones and talk about all the things we are thankful for and then head out the next day and fight people over a coffee maker that is $20 off and we already have one that works.

Gratitude is overcoming discontentment of wanting more things. And not necessarily just things, but also wanting more experiences, more success, more recognition, a better job, a better marriage, and more more more more.

While those AA batteries that I saw and are so fascinated with are now definitely things I want, I took a moment to realize that I have about 30 disposables still and a handful of rechargeable ones that you plug into a brick to charge. I don’t need any more and need to be content and grateful for what I have. The cool batteries though will be on my mind when it does come time to replace the older rechargeables and if you didn’t have any rechargeable batteries before then that could be a good investment. Take a minute to analyze if you really need something versus just being a want.

Look at your unfulfilled desires and be okay with not having everything. “I’ll be happy when I buy that new car.” or “That new camp stove sure will make life easier” There’s always something to strive for and want isn’t there? Take the richest man in the entire world for example. He is still trying to obtain more things, the company Twitter being the latest example. It’s only in our nature to want more things and there is always one more thing you could have, even if you are the richest person in the world. Gratitude is being content with whatever you have, be it only the clothes on your back, what you currently have, or even if you are filthy rich.

It is hard to not compare yourself with others. Hearing about that person who just won over 2 billion dollars in the lottery, or someone driving by in their nice sports car, you think about what it would be like to be like that person don’t you? I do. Something that can help you though is to consider that if you are reading this right now, you probably are in the top 5% of wealth in the entire world. There are so many people who have so much less than you. People who may have no home, no food, no job, no legs, no sight, no family, no friends, no hope. There’s always someone above you who has more than you, but there is most likely a lot more people who would do anything to have what you have. Your life might just be that sports car envy of someone else. And just how I think about how I wish all those super wealthy people would just walk up to me and pay off my house, what do I do with my wealth and helping those around me?

I don’t want to go too long with this, but just want to remind people that it is important to be grateful for what you have. When we were born, we came into this world with absolutely nothing. You have much more than what you started off with right? Even if you lose it all in an earthquake tomorrow, you have so many past experiences and even the ability to read my ramblings right now. We have so much!

Survival is about being resourceful with what you have and making the best out of your current situation. Replacing the old generator with a new one would be nice, but you have a functioning one now that you can tune up and get more life out of and even if you didn’t have that, you probably could get by like so many people did before the generator was even invented.

Gratefully yours,

Debby

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What to attach to a Plate Carrier

I’m thinking of getting a plate carrier and some level III+ body armor, but want to plan out what gear I will attach to my plate carrier because that will heavily influense which one I get. 

I want to have a small ham radio, at least two AR15 mags, and two glock mags attached. 

What do you have attached to your plate carrier? What does your ideal setup look like?

I’d love to see pictures of your setup if you could snap a quick pic.

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A reminder to check the expiration dates on your IDs

Today I had a head smacking moment when I was looking through my wallet and realized that my concealed carry permit expired back in February! 9 months expired!

This could have been really bad if I had used my weapon in self defense and then had to show the officers an expired permit, because I have been carrying constantly during that entire time.

I am going to have to pay for my mistake now because since I passed the 6 months of having my permit expired I can’t just pay the renewal fee online but have to attend an entirely new class, go through the background check and fingerprinting again, and pay the full new permit holder price. Yikes! It’s going to be a multiple month long process to get going again and cost three times as much.

I have definitely learned my lesson and am making calendar reminders for the expiration dates on all my IDs in my wallet and will help my wife do the same.

Check your expiration dates!

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How to prepare with pets

I’m fairly new to prepping (I’d been thinking about it for a good while, but the pandemic combined with world events really kicked things into gear for me) and while I have a solid go bag and a plan in case I need to leave the city with my two kids – I’m at a complete loss with regards to how to prepare for travelling with my cat. I don’t drive, and even though my partner does, I don’t want to rely on that necessarily, so all of my plans are based on walking to my folks’ house in the country, a journey that could potentially take 2 days. Anyone in a similar situation? What do I need to keep my cat safe and warm in an emergency situation that could involve camping overnight?

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Philosophies for good mental health

Prepping can really take a mental toll on preppers. I find myself paralysed by thoughts of the worst, and am interested in learning about philosophies that can combat this.

What philosophies have you lived by or come across that you’d recommend to other preppers? Are there books or resources you think make a good starting point?

I notice that there are plenty of medical books in the prepper book list, but none on mental health or the philosophies needed to get through disaster.

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Some basic questions on water storage

This is a really basic question about water storage. Can I fill one of those storage containers and just leave it in the house indefinitely? Does the water need to be changed? If so, how often? TIA!

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