Sleepwalker - Member - The Prepared

Discussions

Reply to: Are you new to preparedness? Ask whatever you want here! Posted March 23, 2021

That sounds pretty smart to me. I hadnt thought about the cardboard absorbing spills and holding them against the barrel. My gas can definitely needs to be replaced, once its warm enough that grass needs to be mowed I’ll have to pick one up. It’s been empty all winter so I dont need to rush. Honestly hadn’t thought about a super cold spell. Our temperatures get into the teens pretty often in the winter. In the 5 or 6 years we’ve lived here, our garage has been pretty consistently just above freezing in the winter. I’m laughing now that in my attempt to be prepared for an emergency I didnt think about what an emergency (like freaky cold weather) would do to my preparedness. It looks like I’ll have to drain a bit of water to make sure I’m prepared for it to freeze. I really appreciate you taking the time to help with this. You gave me great advice. It’s nice that people here are helpful and dont laugh when people like me ask what are probably obvious questions.

Reply to: Best bug out bag backpack Posted March 20, 2021

In your “bug out bag list” you mention that your small children will be carrying mostly comfort items for them and lighter items as a redundancy for the adults bags. With that in mind, would a quality school type backpack work? Or do you still lean towards the higher end bags mentioned in this article?

Reply to: [Official comment thread] Supermarket food list Posted March 19, 2021

Thanks, I’ll look that up.

Reply to: Staying entertained during a power outage Posted March 19, 2021

We had our power out for about week last September(I think) after a massive windstorm. My kids range from 9 to 16. What my wife and I learned was to use the light you have in the day for outside activities. If the suns out, send the kids out too. At night we found that glow stick were really good for entertaining the kids. Luckily we had a couple of couple of these tubes from walmart with 100 glow sticks in them (I don’t have a clue why we had them). Even the 16 year old had fun with them. They invented games to play with them and found lots of fun and weird things to do with them. The kids were so entertained I bought more glowsticks after the power came back on, I just keep them in the same place as the flashlights.

Reply to: Are you new to preparedness? Ask whatever you want here! Posted March 19, 2021

I’ve got a water storage question. After some reading on this site I decided to get a 50 gallon water barrel and a bunch of 5 gallon containers. I wanted some variety to avoid having all my eggs in one basket. I have two options for where to put them, a garage and a crawl space. The crawl space is about 8’x16′ and tall enough for a short person (me!) to stand up in. Its completely concrete, no dirt floor or anything. I’ve put my 5 gallon containers down there on top of a broken down cardboard box to keep them off the cement. The access hole is only about 3’x3′ so i cant put them on a pallet. I also threw a black plastic garbage bag over the top because there is a small window and I wanted to make sure they weren’t getting light. I feel like I probably dont have any problems for the small jugs but if you see one, please point it out. The 50 gallon barrel is my garage. The house keeps it warm enough to be just above freezing in the winter, but its pretty hot in the summer. What concerns me the most is that my lawn mower, a gas can and some paint cans are in the garage too. I hadnt known until today that it’s not recommended to have them in the same area as my water. Is there a safe distance when keeping potable water and a gas can in the garage? Or do I just need to dump the water barrel and stick with my smaller water jugs? Thanks so much for reading all that, and for any advice you can give.

Reply to: [Official comment thread] Supermarket food list Posted March 19, 2021

It seems like if wheat berries are part of your food storage you shouldn’t count on a electric grinder. My quick google search shows there are hand powered grinders with prices varying from $20 to $500. Do you have suggestions on what to look for in a grinder? Obviously it would need to be of higher quality as it needs to be dependable in an emergency, i just dont have a clue how to tell the good ones from the bad.

Reply to: Best emergency water storage containers for your home Posted April 21, 2020

I’ve seen those big containers, used, on my local classifieds. How do you feel using them for water storage after they have been used for some other food product?

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Reply to: Are you new to preparedness? Ask whatever you want here! Posted March 23, 2021

That sounds pretty smart to me. I hadnt thought about the cardboard absorbing spills and holding them against the barrel. My gas can definitely needs to be replaced, once its warm enough that grass needs to be mowed I’ll have to pick one up. It’s been empty all winter so I dont need to rush. Honestly hadn’t thought about a super cold spell. Our temperatures get into the teens pretty often in the winter. In the 5 or 6 years we’ve lived here, our garage has been pretty consistently just above freezing in the winter. I’m laughing now that in my attempt to be prepared for an emergency I didnt think about what an emergency (like freaky cold weather) would do to my preparedness. It looks like I’ll have to drain a bit of water to make sure I’m prepared for it to freeze. I really appreciate you taking the time to help with this. You gave me great advice. It’s nice that people here are helpful and dont laugh when people like me ask what are probably obvious questions.

Reply to: Best bug out bag backpack Posted March 20, 2021

In your “bug out bag list” you mention that your small children will be carrying mostly comfort items for them and lighter items as a redundancy for the adults bags. With that in mind, would a quality school type backpack work? Or do you still lean towards the higher end bags mentioned in this article?

Reply to: [Official comment thread] Supermarket food list Posted March 19, 2021

Thanks, I’ll look that up.

Reply to: Staying entertained during a power outage Posted March 19, 2021

We had our power out for about week last September(I think) after a massive windstorm. My kids range from 9 to 16. What my wife and I learned was to use the light you have in the day for outside activities. If the suns out, send the kids out too. At night we found that glow stick were really good for entertaining the kids. Luckily we had a couple of couple of these tubes from walmart with 100 glow sticks in them (I don’t have a clue why we had them). Even the 16 year old had fun with them. They invented games to play with them and found lots of fun and weird things to do with them. The kids were so entertained I bought more glowsticks after the power came back on, I just keep them in the same place as the flashlights.

Reply to: Are you new to preparedness? Ask whatever you want here! Posted March 19, 2021

I’ve got a water storage question. After some reading on this site I decided to get a 50 gallon water barrel and a bunch of 5 gallon containers. I wanted some variety to avoid having all my eggs in one basket. I have two options for where to put them, a garage and a crawl space. The crawl space is about 8’x16′ and tall enough for a short person (me!) to stand up in. Its completely concrete, no dirt floor or anything. I’ve put my 5 gallon containers down there on top of a broken down cardboard box to keep them off the cement. The access hole is only about 3’x3′ so i cant put them on a pallet. I also threw a black plastic garbage bag over the top because there is a small window and I wanted to make sure they weren’t getting light. I feel like I probably dont have any problems for the small jugs but if you see one, please point it out. The 50 gallon barrel is my garage. The house keeps it warm enough to be just above freezing in the winter, but its pretty hot in the summer. What concerns me the most is that my lawn mower, a gas can and some paint cans are in the garage too. I hadnt known until today that it’s not recommended to have them in the same area as my water. Is there a safe distance when keeping potable water and a gas can in the garage? Or do I just need to dump the water barrel and stick with my smaller water jugs? Thanks so much for reading all that, and for any advice you can give.

Reply to: [Official comment thread] Supermarket food list Posted March 19, 2021

It seems like if wheat berries are part of your food storage you shouldn’t count on a electric grinder. My quick google search shows there are hand powered grinders with prices varying from $20 to $500. Do you have suggestions on what to look for in a grinder? Obviously it would need to be of higher quality as it needs to be dependable in an emergency, i just dont have a clue how to tell the good ones from the bad.

Reply to: Best emergency water storage containers for your home Posted April 21, 2020

I’ve seen those big containers, used, on my local classifieds. How do you feel using them for water storage after they have been used for some other food product?