. . .sure, it might be in vain; but isn’t it a good feeling to know you are doing something proactive?     I really like to compare Safety Prevention and Safety Reaction.  Good example:  In neighboring Newport News, a 6-year old shot a Richneck school teacher.  The school is going all out for metal detectors and other devices (Safety REACTION!).  How about the rest of the neighboring school systems (LOL)?   Unfortunately, the school had the chance to take advantage of Safety Prevention, but chose instead to ignore the most scary warning signs.   Which brings us full circle to the original question:  What are the signs of (impending doom)?  . . .gotta look. . . .

Just our two cents, for forecasting extreme events.  There ARE warning signs. 1.  Example:  Always watch the weather RADAR.  We make our own decisions regarding storm events from every possible source – but we FOCUS on what we SEE on NATIONAL RADAR. Several decades ago, Virginia was struck with an ice storm that no one predicted – not a sole! Knocked out power to our community for 32 days!  Were we prepared?  Absolutely.  We could SEE this mess coming on our the national news.  Even then, we figured it to be only a few day event.  We topped off our supplies, aded a few wish-list items and carried on comfortably. You might suggest that there are times we’ve proceeded ‘unnecessarily.’  But really?  Can improving one’s Prepper position be a wasted effort?  Can the training and experience we gained in the face of a real pending threat be a waste? 2.  Real Life Warnings:  When we hear the words, “There is no need to hoard (food, fuel, toilet paper or the like),” we take it as the OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT that the supply system is starting to crumble and this is the LAST moment when supplies may be available in quantities we’re accustomed.  NOTE: Preppers are not the hoarders.  But that’s not to say you shouldn’t take the opportunity to improve on any shortcomings. . . .    3.  Be cognizant about world events.  Several years ago, Russia isolated their country’s web from the world for a month – successfully.  Balance that information with major news events indicating America can’t stop internationals’ from hacking our infrastructure and security systems. Where Russia can’t overrun Ukraine with conventional weapons overnight – what would happen, OVERNIGHT, if Americans could no longer access our financial institutions, use credit cards at the gas pumps, food stores or ATMs?  There would be immediate national chaos. Now I don’t believe for a minute America could be overrun by another country, but I believe another Super Power might just revel in delight about their passive aggression invasion of our country while proclaiming plausible deniability for the ensuing chaos. With the international news blowing in the wind, you might take this as a warning.  Do you have enough CASH on hand?  Reasonable plans for some fuel storage?  Good blankets?  Everything that ThePrepared promotes everyday?   The world knows what hardship is. I don’t believe the average pampered, entitled American has any idea what REAL hardship means. No iPhone? No Tweets? No Games? Whatever would some of us do!!! Watch the signs, and prepare.

I have several hundred #10 cans of Augason Farms, Emergency Essentials and Mountain House products plus.  Great foods to have around the house for camping and the SHTF scenarios!  There are many places to store these cans. I have raised our bed and made storage by replacing the mattress frame.  The wife loves the higher bed! I set aside a closet and made shelves specifically for these #10 cans. They also fit well under one of my sofas and under a bunk bed mattress. NOTE:  Notice that I do not store any of these in my attic or garage.  To achieve the best benefit and longevity from the freeze dried (or any other storage produce) it needs to be keep between 50 and 70-degrees.  The more constant the temperature the better for the product. Just my opinion, but since you asked, unless your garage can maintain a temperature less than 70-degrees, I would seek out other solutions.  My kid’s room (they are grown and gone) is a perfect place to establish a controlled temperature and storage location.  No pests in our house either – LOL! Pics:  The bunk bed holds 72 #10 cans.  The closet 65 #10 cans.  The bed (my wife would have a FIT if I unmade the bed and pulled off the mattress!!! More than 150!

Very nice setup offered!  Great suggestions too!  Here’s my approach, poor man approach based upon funds:   Biggest expense was the EU2200i Honda generator.  As the superintendent of a public utility in Hampton Roads for 20-years I found the Honda to take extreme abuse and function flawlessly.  It also uses less than 1-gallon of fuel for the same 8-hours run time as my 5500w Coleman for the same loads.  Since I can’t afford to run the HVAC or heating system with either genset I have, I simply supply three freezer chests, the water pump, our refrigerator and a fan or portable heater nicely (although I reserved the option to cycle between freezers to feed the electric heating, but never needed to do so). I avoided the automatic transfer switch (although an OUTSTANDING option worthy of imitating) by connecting directly to the genset.  The water pump is no longer hardwired.  I installed an outlet and male plug for the pump.  Everything is connected by 10-awg extension cords.  The Honda handles all the loads nicely. We have had many, many long term power outages and I have had no issues.

I continue to suggest that the .22 long rifle is one of the BEST firearms for Prepping.   Especially if we’re taking about PREPPING in the event of the SHTF scenarios.  I offer this:        The sound is less likely to attract attention from ‘other’ hunters who might like to enjoy the fruits of YOUR labors.  If the SHTF scenario lasts too long everyone will be hunting for that last furry or feathered critter for dinner and listening for ‘others’ who might have been successful. . . . Moose have been taken with a .22.  Migratory birds, small game and the like of course.  YES, you do have to be proficient with your firearm or it does not matter what calibre or round you select.  Practice, practice and practice some more. .22 ammo is cheap.  I content that MORE is better, especially if the SHTF for the long haul.  I understand that many Preppers consider a minimum of 1000 rounds per firearm a starting point.  Most anyone can afford 1k of .22! You can buy a lot of .22 rounds for the price you will pay for shotgun rounds. That aside, the shotgun is an essential tool for defense and hunting as well.

I know this isn’t a section on vacuum sealing, but it is a great Prepper tool, not just for food items but for storing ‘stuff’ as well.  As you pointed out, our BOB has our clothes vacuumed sealed to reduce space.  Some disinfectant soaps, medical supplies and more.  We like the idea of water proofing what we can and the space reduction.  When I vacuum seal a firearm it is put away safely & securely. It is not a firearm I plan to use anytime soon. Having said that, easy tear open and cheap & easy to reseal.  It takes 4-minutes out of your day to vacuum seal after cleaning (more on that below).  Oh, and unless you notice that the vacuum bag is leaking (no longer tight around the interior components) the desiccants are good to go until after you open the package (also good desiccants can be reused after heating). As Matthew correctly pointed out, your home/personal protection firearm should be easily accessible, but secure from kids who may be up and around in the night.  Safe storage is inversely proportional to accessibility for most people.  A semi-expensive digital safe, securely mounted to a wall stud, by your bed and in your most commonly occupied room, offers a potential solution for both. But I digress, this question & forum is about Prepping & storage: I’m 67 years old, a good Prepper with 22 years military service.  I’m been flooded, lived through several hurricanes (we live on the coast) and had a very larger tree fall on our home making everything inside a miserable mess.  As a Prepper, I prep for the worse case scenario (that I can afford) and hope for the best.  Everything I have water sealed remained dry.  Transporting goods in a ferocious rain to bugout can leave a person & goods soggy indeed.  Never know, it might be good to have more items watertight, even for the short term, just in case.

I’m not new to firearms, but I could use some help if anyone out there has a Beretta 1301 (Tactical or Competition) shotgun with an older complete manual. I have always felt that an intimate knowledge of the firearm is essential to ensuring proper longevity, reliability and functionality. Does anyone have an OLD Beretta 1301 (any model) manual with illustrations which I might obtain a copy?  The new manuals offered by Beretta do not have any illustrations past page 7 (Beretta Service Center admitted there was an issue with their transfer to digital publications). This is my first Beretta. My first gas operated semi-automatic shotgun. All the manuals offered digitally by Beretta are incomplete. I wrote to Beretta for a hard copy. Got that Friday and it too is void of any illustrations past page 7. I watched the Beretta videos and they are a bit outdated as well and don’t answer all my questions. Now, I’m working it out using two illustration-missing Tactical and Competition manuals, but I don’t like the idea that I am making a SWAG on some of the instructions. Seems pretty straight forward, but that goes against everything I’ve learned about firearms in 22-years of military service. For $1200.00 I kinda thought a functional manual might be customary. . . . Beretta 1301 Tactical Generation 2 Suggestions?

While prepping for unimaginable scenarios. . . . I had the same question after I purchased my .22 Marlin.  It’s intended for small game and hopefully I’ll never need to use it (or clean it).  I contacted Marlin.  I asked if vacuum sealing my new Marlin rifle in a plastic vacuum food storage bag, complete with desiccants, could be a viable solution for long term storage.  Marlin replied that they had not heard of that before but thought it to be a great idea.  So I took a sleeve from my vacuum food storage bags.  Cut to length, added desiccants, the manual, and an extra piece of paper towelto protect the bag from protruding firearm components and vacuum sealed it.  It’s been 2-years.  I check during my semi-annual inventories to make sure none of the protecting lubricant has had an adverse effect on the bags.  It had not.  Since it is sealed in clear plastic I look for any surface rust.  So far so good.

First, let me apologize to everyone who put a great deal of thought into this question.  My earlier answer was, well a weee bit witless (being kind to myself). . . .  I have learned a great deal from everyone’s postings and you all have my heart felt thanks! So I have revamped my selection.  I’m still in the defensive role but have cultivated a much more useful firearm portfolio for my location.  As such, in addition to my SIG M17, I have purchased the Beretta 1301 Tactical for home defense and a .22 Marlin for small game. 1.  Regarding the .22 Marlin:  I’m in the middle of nowhere unless it’s hunting season and we’re bumper to bumper pickup trucks, hunters every few feet and dogs aplenty!  As such, I believe larger game will be dispatched quickly should food become scarce.  I figure there will be more varmints and migratory fowl remaining in my area.  The .22 report might not attract too much attention either and avoid alerting others that ‘chow is served.’  Rounds are cheap and I’ve plenty.  I’m no hunter, and I’m not overly enthusiastic about cleaning firearms that I don’t regularly use so I wrote to Marlin about longterm storage.  As such, and with their blessing, I have not fired the weapon, leaving it in its factory lubrication, vacuumed sealed with desiccants, instruction manual and a small amount of cleaning supplies (see pic).  I vacuum seal everything now a days.  I waterproof-seal ammo with desiccants but NEVER vacuum sealed.  I’ve heard that the vacuum sealing process might remove sufficient oxygen causing a misfire.  Can anyone confirm this? 2.  The Beretta 1301 Tactical is a fine firearm.  FYI:  I’m a little bummed that Beretta does not have a functional manual for the model.  All the digital illustrations are missing past page 7.  The information on the Beretta website is ooooollllllllddddddd!  I got in a ‘heated discussion’ with my retailer regarding Tactical vs Competition.  I told them ‘this’ Tactical had a choke and only the Competition came with a choke.  I showed him the Beretta websites that confirmed this!  . . .well, once again I’m eating crow.  The factory confirmed that I own a 2d generation 1301.  Although all the Beretta website information indicates Tactical = smooth bore & Competitions = chokes, my 1301 2d generation Tactical and all newer 1301s now come with chokes.  Only the police and military are afforded a true Tactical without a choke.  It’s taken a bit of a pairing of two older manuals and forum comments to finally become fully familiar with this fine shotgun.  All things aside, I LOVE this shotgun!  Light weight, easy to maneuver in the home and heck, I’m glad it has a choke.  My wife would have a fit if I were shooting slugs in the house anyway.  . . .oh, and dead accurate with GREAT sights! 3.  The SIG M17.  9mm ammo easy to come by and cheap.  I think everyone should have a sidearm. Any, thanks again EVERYONE for the insight and thoughtful postings.  I’m a better person for it.

She might like having food that keeps its freshness in the freezer far longer than zip-locks will allow.  Saves a few bucks too when you cut up and store larger quantities of sale items.  I vac & freeze butter on sale too.  If you have any questions I’d be happy to offer my ‘experience(?)’ for better or worse – LOL! Yep, six months comes around awful fast!

Thanks for the kind comments!

It’s pretty easy to start and it sure makes the days locked in the house more productive & enjoyable.  Talk about a dehydrators glorious smell permeating throughout the house!  Pineapple (when on sale), bananas (when on sale), and strawberries – just for the smell of it (but they don’t really retain their taste very well for the money). Lots of information on the web.  Here is a teaser of how I started: I started with just the vacuum sealer for everyday use to extend fresh meat freezer shelf life.  Then I started sealing up rice, oatmeal, and beans as it was cheaper than the #10 cans.  Cheap enough to buy, even today. I got pretty imaginative!  I vac-sealed socks and clothing for our bugout bags, sealing extra soap in case of flooding or hurricanes (We live by the Bay), and several firearms. I’m not really involved in regular shooting anymore, and I hate to clean something I’m not using.  I purchased a new .22 Marlin for small game should the future call for it and cleaned up some older keepers with desiccant and vacuum sealed them too.  An email from Marlin concurred they thought vacuum sealing with desiccant was a great storage idea.  I also sealed our ammunition with desiccants as well, but don’t vacuum the ammo vac-sleeve, just seal it.  Vacuuming reportedly causes misfires by not having sufficient oxygen with the powder when you need it.  Sealing duplicate important papers in your bugout bag keeps them safe from water too! Here is a picture of my .22 Marlin with cleaning kit and manual included.  I vac sealed bugout bag clothes as well to take up less room.  Anyway, a Vacuum Sealer is a great little tool to start with.

That’s what I think is missing.  For the money it would be better to have several 2-person or 4-person packets within the #10 can.  I understand Augason Farms was starting some internal packaging before the pandemic. I do enjoy dehydrating and vacuum sealing my own items.  I buy fresh foods on sale (or what is reasonably available today), dehydrate them and seal them in 2- or 5-person packages. My vacuum sealer has a Mason Jar vacuum attachment so I can use different sized containers for storage (pasta can render a vac bag useless).  I get 20-cans (twenty) of dehydrated corn into a single 1-gallon Mason Jar!  And few things might reseal as well as a Mason jars incase the zip-locks are used up.

Absolutely – well, less & more. Since I was always involved in outdoor activities we always had several weeks of backup food and camping supplies around the house. It wasn’t until I retired from the military that I had enough funds leftover, after household necessities, that I began building a Prepper lifestyle in earnest. I started quietly, feeling a little ’embarrassed’ about what I was doing, until one social luncheon. We joined several career, very down to earth, sensible and responsible Warrant Officers at the table. These were the best in our field. Our spouses joined us. These are the type of W4s and W5s you expect to be so ground that ‘Prepper’ would not be in their vocabulary. After all, I served with them for years and no one EVER said a word. The conversation started to lag and my wife blurts out, “Tom’s become quite a Prepper!” AWWWW! Noooo!!! I shrank with embarrassment! Without missing a beat, the senior most respectable member’s wife said, “Oh my; Prepping?!? (name withheld) has .45 cal pistols hidden all over the house and talk about solar panels? We can power the County!” Everyone went on from there! Best food stuffs, heating options, wood cutting & hunting concerns so others would not hear, and more! All these closet liberal Warrant Officers were committed Preppers for years and proud of it. I had no idea! So, yeah, I’m keeping up the family tradition and involving the grandkids as well.  Pretty nice to have company, huh?

I had the same concerns regarding opening a whole #10 can, so I wrote Augason Farms: I wondered if I were to separate smaller portions from a  #10 can, add oxygen-absorbers and vacuum seal those units; would that retain the advertised shelf life of the contents?  Here is Augason Farms’ response: I did a miserable job of pasting a .pdf’ed email, so;  Basically, Augason Farms said they could no longer ‘guarantee’ their posted shelf life, but they believed it could retain shelf life comparability if done as I suggested.  Two years ago I did this with the contents of two #10 cans (onions & Stew Veggies).  If all goes well, I’ll check them out in another 8-years.

Wow!  FLASH BACK!  Your article brought back graphic memories from my childhood.     I come from a long line of ‘Liberal Preppers,’ but we didn’t know it or call it that back then.  When I was very young I loved to explore my grandparents attic.  They escaped Germany after WWI and never forgot what it was like to be destitute.  There were shoes of all sorts, dress clothes never worn which could be sold if necessary – and certainly better garments than my grandparents would ever wear themselves – plus canned and packaged goods from everywhere!  Military and work clothes on racks and dusty firearms in the corners.  They sold candy from a side room, but acquiring a piece of that candy for free, was quite the coupe for me and my brother!     I vividly remember my folks storing canned goods and rotating water jugs under the cellar stairs.  Teachers were leading us grade schoolers in evacuation drills into school basements, “Sit on the floor and cross your legs. Place your head down between your legs and cover the back of your neck with your interlaced fingers.”  I can relive, on command, the feel of the damp floor, the smell of mold filling my nostrils and sense the clammy atmosphere seeping into my clothing and moistening my skin within.  . . .all the while silently waiting in the dark basement for the town’s ‘All Clear’ siren to sound.      Everyone pulled together.  Prepping was never considered a political ‘thing’ unless you considered the international ramifications of Cuba or other international aggression against ‘all’ Americans.     My folks always had a Victory Garden, but it was many years before I realized what spawned every American to grow their own food.  The Victory Garden was essential to remain ‘independent’ TOGETHER, while collectively supporting our soldiers’ needs fighting abroad.     Then, the enemy was outside our gates. . . . 

Perfect review.  I have many #10 cans of whole and scrambled eggs by Augason Farms.  I’ve mixed them in an assortment of ways and ‘enjoyed’ them while hiking and camping especially when I’m REALLY hungry.  The majority of the #10 cans, however, are designated for our dogs.  I’ve mixed the eggs with cooked rice and veggies in the field and found that our dogs eat them without batting an eye (but then again, they will suck on dead worms too).  I set the eggs aside with log grain rice as my answer to an extended-shelf-life-dog-food for potential emergencies.  Their routine diet is Blue Buffalo, and the 30-lb bags get rotated, but dry dog foods don’t have the type of shelf life I’m looking for and stockpiling canned dog food for Labs is expensive and bulky. . . .and if all else fails – we can eat the dog food!

There appears to be a number of educators chiming in.  Might history be repeating itself? I often consider the Aztecs and the Maya and our approach to Covid-19.  How it applies to our kids and grandkids going to school.  I compliment all Preppers who plan for the worst, rejoice when the worst doesn’t materialize and ready in case all goes wrong.  But other principles of thought raise the hairs on the back of my neck, especially when it affects our kids.  Too many people condone the loss of life as merely the cost of doing ‘business’ in America today. Once ancient, cruel and unenlightened civilizations offered public human sacrifices to appease apparitions they did not understand for a bountiful crop or successful year – for the greater good. We’ve heard that the death of the elderly is acceptable under the circumstances.  More recently, the infection of youth is tolerated because ‘most’ will survive because of their health.  Now we’re considering opening up our schools because the children are resilient and most will survive.  That, of course, does not take into consideration the health liability to those childrens’ parents or the educators in the classroom. There was a time when civilized nations were appalled by the discovery of a 13-year old child exhumed in China whom had been sacrificed around 1600- to 1040-BC.  The practice of human sacrifice was abandoned in China in 221-BC before becoming accepted today as merely the cost of conducting business in America.    Is there any difference between the the Aztec holyman of yesteryear standing  atop his pyramid with blood soaked hands and the civilized programmed discarding of human lives for the greater good today? I’m afraid posterity will demonize America’s Covid-19 approach as the darkest time of an unenlightened and barbaric civilization which practiced human sacrifice against a phantom ‘some’ could not comprehend for the delusional hopes of a successful ‘harvest.’ If human sacrifice is acceptable today, then the future looks grim and Preppers need to be prepared even more than ever.  OUR KIDS ARE STAYING HOME!

Outstanding! I agree 100%.  Being a Prepper means preparing for the worse, not throwing caution to the wind and ‘hoping’ for the best.  My grandkids are going to be taught at home this year.

Our grandkids offered their thoughts and anxieties about the new school year.  They are much more aware of what is going on than we initially gave them credit for.  Since Covid-19 is increasing in the Virginia Beach area, particularly around the military reservations, they asked, wouldn’t 5-days of actual school (2-days one week & 3-days the next week) be more dangerous than 10-days of home schooling?  This got us thinking.  Apparently part of the school experience will include pre- and post-cleaning and disinfecting areas of instruction.  We’re also not sure about any impact the bus situation might have for children and bus drivers in a closed ventillation environment.  We’re thinking cruise ships, the Theodore Roosevelt, meat packing plants, nursing homes, and the like).  Would that be an incubator for passing one infection around?  The vote seems to be swaying toward home schooling this year.  I mean, we’re not school teachers, and we’ll make mistakes, but we’ll have twice the time to get it right!  . . .we might even learn a few new things ourselves!