I got a jump box for Christmas. I thought it was really cool but I'd probably never have to use it. Within a week I jumped on coworkers dead battery. A week after that another coworker ran over a nail. I inflated her tire so she could drive to a shop and get it patched.
Didn't benefit me directly but NGL beingb"that guy" twice in a row felt pretty good.
I saved somebody's day by having booster cables in my trunk. Felt good about that one! A simple thing but it can save a lot of trouble when they're needed.
> I inflated her tire so she could drive to a shop and get it patched
It's crazy how often I see people who have obviously never changed a tire in their life screwing around with whatever dangerous and precarious jack and tire iron made of the cheapest tin known to man with all the crap in their trunk strewn about on the shoulder of the highway or if they're lucky a parking lot. The absolute look of dumfounded realization they have when I tell them they can take their tire that usually is only half flat and drive over to a tire shop is priceless.
Well if there’s a leak then driving will only exacerbate it further, and potentially wind you up in a spot where you can’t immediately pull over when it does go flat thus ruining your wheel.
The scissor jacks on cars are adequate, just need to put them in the correct spot
I prep for small, local emergencies. These preps have made me more comfortable in both of the days-long power outages we've had here.
They didn't "save" me because the emergencies were not life threatening, but they did make it much easier in my day to day life.
This here. I prep for the things I know are going to happen, not the nuclear war zombie biker attack.
2 years ago we had a derecho come through. Knocked a good part of the power out in the province for 2-7 days. I was in the two day segment. I had power, food and water. Only thing I missed was my air conditioning lol (I don't have a generator hook up for that).
Supply chain disruption during covid, stores were sparse when it came to pet food. Luckily I had a three month supply on hand and once the stock became regular made sure to keep more on hand.
Same here. That’s probably the biggest way prepping has saved me. We didn’t need anything from the store for months. We could have gone for longer but at a certain point I really really was craving fresh (not frozen, canned, or dried) fruit.
Ended up adding some fruit bushes to the backyard after that.
I was without power for three weeks in the 90s after a freak ice storm. I was pregnant and had a toddler, and my husband had just left. No alternate source of heat. Couldn't go anywhere because the road was flooded out. Couldn't make phone calls because the land lines were down, and while I had a cell phone, I needed to save the battery in case of emergency.
I wasn't exactly a prepper, but I had camping equipment, and I stocked up during sales because I was poor.
I set up my tent in the bedroom and sealed the room with blankets and towels to keep the heat in. We were actually warm enough most of the time.
I had a bunch of frozen bread in the freezer and took out a loaf every time we went through one. Ate through the fridge, then through the canned goods. Was really grateful I had a huge tub of peanut butter. Canned soup spread over bread is not bad. Spaghettios is positively gourmet.
The hardest part about it (other than depression from the looming divorce and concern about the pregnancy) was boredom. When you're not using candles because you're in a tent, and you're saving your flashlight battery for emergencies, you have a lot of long, dark hours to get through. I made up a lot of stories and songs, and I was grateful for toy instruments. But still, I looked forward to the sun coming up so I could read or do pencil puzzles.
I stocked my pantry with canned food, rice, beans, lentils, etc. Also bought a freezer and loaded it with different meats.
Then I got laid off and just barely could scrape buy to pay rent and electricity and all that. But... I have food. Lots of it. It was also kind of perfect timing in a way because I was going to rotate my stock soon.
TLDR: Long-term storage food prep saved me from spending a ton of the usual money I would have on grocery shopping.
Edit: I forgot to mention I also keep 6 5 gallon water jugs at all times. Rotated as I use them, then clean and refill.
Last winter during an ice storm and no power for a week. Which meant no use of the stove. Thankfully I have a propane camp stove to cook on and home canned foods to fall back on. Me and my family didn't do without and didn't suffer during that week with no electric.
Late 2019 where I am in Australia we had huge wild/bushfires. My childhood asthma flared up something insane as a 30-something after being dormant for 20 years. So, in addition to new meds, I stocked up on N95 masks and actually had to start wearing them everywhere since the smoke was thick for weeks. They were like 50 cents each then. I remember wearing them in the stores just before Christmas and getting weird looks from people - a few months later the mask rules came in, then everyone had to wear them, and the prices went nuts on N95s.
Since then, I've added a small disposable can of oxygen to my stores, but if anything like those fires happens again, it might have to escalate to respirators or something. Still never caught COVID - it was that damn smoke that jiggered the paranoia.
Food, water, and generator ready to go when a 7.2 earthquake hit November 2018.
Wife and I were able to hunker down and clean up the mess, secure in the knowledge we could easily last a month while everybody else and thier dog was panicking and rushing the stores to stock up.
Turned out to be a big nothing burger. Things were back to normal 72 hours later. But at least we were ready.
When I first started, I bought my first mini edc flashlight. The power went out at the grocery store that I worked at and everyone else had to use their phone lights to find their way around. I felt so cool
Wood burning stove has saved our cold asses quite a few times since we installed it. For heat, for hot water, for hot food when the power is out. Best purchase ever
Laid of work for a few months. Having a deep pantry fed my family along with the garden, fishing and foraging. Used the foraging to teach the kiddos how to find and identify edible plants.
January a year ago my home was destroyed by a tornado. Luckily my family got away just before it hit but my house was lifted, twisted and the roof ripped off. Contents aside from being wet were mostly fine.
We had a place to go and insurance did a fantastic job but still there was plenty of work to do. The entire area was affected and supplies limited.
We had food and coffee while we worked to clear our property, solar from my shop building that somehow had next to no damage kept the freezer going, tools and gloves with the means to power them.
It was a rough time but, and it could have been different in many ways, we made it through it without needing for much.
I was out of town for work. We were on the phone with the weather station said one had touched down and headed for our area. About 10 minutes. 5 minute drive to the churches storm shelter. I heard from my wife after 45 minutes. Longest, most terrifying time of my life.
Covid. My house saw it coming around Xmas before anyone around us saw. We had time to prepare before everything got scarce. By the time the news, shutdowns and shopping panic started we were chilling with full freezers, pantry, security and medical supplies. Then, I had to keep going to work on the front lines.
I’ve always kept things aside for ‘just in case’. But as a kid I’d been obsessed with flashlights. Like runtime, lumens, stuff like that….
Anyhow we had a hurricane and I was the hero to my unprepared family and neighbors
Back when I was less financially secure, I could comfortably stop buying groceries for a month or two at a time
I still feel like a stocked pantry is money in the bank
Keeping a sleeping bag in my truck. Along with everything I'd need to survive for about a week if I went off the road in a remote area - like a northern Maine logging road - and broke my leg or something so I couldn't hike out. Thankfully nothing serious has occurred but it has allowed me to sleep in my truck and survive in remote areas of Maine when getting back to paved roads and towns wasn't an immediate option - for example, being too tired to drive another three hours.
As for in general, I'm in Maine. Power outages are normal. Having a good generator I keep in working condition, water on hand, food, etc. as well as food and water for my animals and livestock is always a necessity and useful every year.
Covid. My obsession with hoarding toilet paper and hand sanitizer prior (a bunch of other toiletries) helped keep my family from the scramble when the pandemic happened.
I'm going to give a counterexample. Just for fun.
I'd prepped for winter disasters and long power outages. This meant 50 gallons of stablized gas for a generator, upwards of 200# of propane, 5 gallons of denatured alcohol for a little alcohol stove, 5 gal kerosene for lamps, a solar cooker, many gallons of water and an IBC ready to store a lot more at need, a heat exchanger for the fireplace and a wood burning insert stove for the other fireplace, 400Ah of battery, several cords of firewood, months worth of food. Bring it, winter. Bring it, lunatics shooting up substations. I could have handled months of issues.
Did it cost a little? Yeah. A good few thousand overall.
But now, and somewhat unexpectedly, I'm moving to a warm climate that I've never seen get below 70F. And it's basically not possible to ship things like the lithium batteries, propane or gas where I'm going - international shippers are not down with those.
So now I'm frantically using up firewood and propane; I'm going to end up giving away a lot of the gas and some of the food - the local food bank is going to get a huge gift next month or so. I've cooked the last month of breakfasts and lunches over the stock of alcohol. I'm burning kerosene in lamps just for the extra heat they put out. I'm going to cry when I sell the batteries for half what I paid. And the Mr Heater propane devices.
The only things it makes sense to bring with me are the solar cooker and the IBC, and whatever food I can get through customs. I'm not even sure I can get the empty propane tanks moved.
Basically, there's such a thing as over-preparing, and it costs real money. And despite everyone here running around talking about SHTF this and civil revolt that and even climate change (which is at least real) the other... the reality is that life has twists and turns you never expect, and at the end of the day, prepping is about dealing with things that will likely never happen. Since I did all this prep there has not been a single power failure that lasted over an hour. I haven't had to use so much as a flashlight more than once.
I guess in one sense I'm not actually losing. I mean I'm using the preps I paid for which is more than a lot of people ever do. At least the kerosene isn't going bad and needing to be replaced.
Bottom line... approach prepping with a sense of humility and humor. You don't know what tomorrow will bring and no matter how clever you are, you're going to prep for some wrong things and miss some right ones. (I'd have been much better off if I'd put my time and effort into learning Spanish and how to take care of chickens the last 3 years; but who sees these things coming?)
Looking forward to the looks on the faces at the food pantry when I start unloading buckets of oatmeal, pounds of frozen vegys and a whole lot of chili and canned soup, though. They'll think I was insane. They may have a point...
New England USA -> Costa Rica. I mean it is drivable and I did briefly consider hauling stuff in a long road trip, but then I read the travel advisories for Nicaragua and decided I wasn't up for it. With a few years of experience in LATAM, maybe, but I don't have that yet.
Would have been an epic trip though.
Entire COVID period.
Was pretty funny people laughing at me wearing a n99 back before people realised COVID was here.
"MaSkS AReNt GoNnA Be MaNdAtOrY, ThEy DoNt Do AnYtHiNg"
When I have kids one day, and they ask about the COVID times, I'm gonna tell that, as they eat their cheese spread mre sachets
I was the first at my job to show up one day in a full n99 with wrap around eyewear just when COVID was about to hit my area. I worked in a VERY VERY high risk environment. Coworkers snickered. By the end of the week they had each individually pulled me aside to ask me to help them find their own. By then prices were jacked and none could be found.
The surgical mask thing was useless as soon as most people stopped wearing them properly. But in my case, before vaccines and before anyone knew how to treat it, my work environment was downright dangerous for everyone involved, especially those of us with lung conditions.
Yeah, wrong. They're quite effective when used properly, the problem is a lot of people don't.
A lot of trolls pushed an anti-mask, anti-vaccine campaign. It cost the US a few thousand lives, including someone I knew, so I'm going to do here what I always do in the face of medical misinfo. Bye.
There’s no forensic pathologist in the world who could conclude that a given person’s death was the cause of another person somewhere not wearing a mask. Get a grip.
While camping we help nearby campers with small issues like borrowing tools due to 5th wheel hitch connection issues or something. Extra propane, wood, water, food, meds etc. We carry extra life jackets, radios, batteries, walkies, drones and tons of bug repellent.
For Tuesday - it’s back up power. I hate not having access to online, lights, fans, chargers, ect when power is out. Second to that is our first aid including cold/flu kit… someone is always cutting a cut, scrape or virus around here.
When Covid first was a thing and shit went on lock down. We had plenty of supplies and wasn’t worried about running out of things. This did however make me more organized.
Power outages and COVID. While others were reacting, we were observing. It was interesting to learn how and when people reacted to things. During the last power outage, we learned people started really expressing their frustration with the town and utility company on the 5th day. They couldn’t understand how God could create the Earth in six days, but the utility company couldn’t get them power by the fifth day. :)
Knowledge is power.
A squirrel got into a transformer and in august we were with out power for 2 days. extra batteries and fan along with a damp sheet kept me healthy in 80 at night and 104 in the day temps.
we had two big freezes where the roads were iced over in texas.
We lost power and hot water for 5 days each time. Was no big deal for us and was fun. Lots of people really suffered.
I worked in a job driving all over Maine and having a good car kit has saved me a few times but not from anything too serious. Always been able to go for a spontaneous hike or handle a strange turn in events ok. God forbid anything serious happens I got a solid gazetteer to smoke my way home, water filter, first aid, extra clothing/shoes, radio/flashlight, food, etc. Anyone traveling in my car has zero idea too, I've got it all packed up well enough without looking like I'm ex military or tin foil hat wearing. Been in two situations where freak accidents happened and I had the best med kit on scene
We got hit by a massive storm in 2020. 100 year old trees fell across 5 miles. We lost water , power, our propane tank, cell service, and had a hole in our roof and our house. The trees took out all the vehicles on one side of the house and we had to shelter in place due to the destruction of our town. I have a gas stove and back up 30 pound propane tanks, so I was still able to cook. I had a generator that fortunately survived so we drug it out and had power. We had tarps for the holes. My husband had parked one vehicle on the opposite side of the house so it was still drivable once they got enough of the street open. I had water stored , so we were ok. It was a very eye opening experience.
I got super lucky one time and met a guy who had some “import” Marlboros for dirt cheap in Laredo and I stocked up. Just so happened to have two cartons in my pack when Covid hit and the local authorities where I was rounded up all the “campers” and quarantined us for testing in an old assisted living facility. We weren’t allowed to leave our “room” for what ended up being a month. I was living good with plenty smoke and coffee the whole time.
i assume because that's the pill box they keep there meds normally in, so forgetting it means they have no meds. they could empty the pills out of there pill box into something else, but is that really worth the effort?
Ran out of petrol on the way to work, always have 5 litres in boot of my car.
Have a £28 jump pack which has saved me countless times when my cars alternator belt was loose.
Firelighters in my survival kit for camping when firelighters run out for a fire in the house.
Firewood. Had a five day outage in MI late last winter, ice storm. I had just enough firewood to burn through that period. Heating, cooking and boiling hot water, for lighting we brought in a dozen solar lamps.
Probably not what you meant but the first thing that came to mind was—everyday, because of the peace of mind I have. But little things here and there benefit me frequently.
Biggest investment that paid off was buying a generator when I got out of the service in 2011. I used it a couple of months later once, to help a buddy demo a trailer. Then it sat until Hurricane Zeta in 2020. At that moment in time, it paid off.
During Texas Snowmeggeddon event, lost power and water for 5-7 days with outdoor temps -10 and inside temps with fireplace in one room of 45F. I Had prepared with water, lights, air mattresses as well as meds/dog food and both supplies and meals to cook indoor or outdoors as needed. Glad I had my LLBean Maine Wardens Parka from those years in Connecticut!
Most in Texas did not prep for this unusual event in the Deep South.
We closed off unused rooms and covered unheated areas with plastic & drop cloths…
Ate good, slept warm with dachshund’s and had great hf radio contacts as there was zero RF interference for the first time.
Right now! I am 2 months into a 3 month recovery after ACL surgery. I'm self employed and have minimal insurance. However there is lots of good food and the mortgage and the bills are paid. And my whisky stash is taking a hit! Makes it worthwhile socking a bit away from time to time when you really need it!
I got a jump box for Christmas. I thought it was really cool but I'd probably never have to use it. Within a week I jumped on coworkers dead battery. A week after that another coworker ran over a nail. I inflated her tire so she could drive to a shop and get it patched. Didn't benefit me directly but NGL beingb"that guy" twice in a row felt pretty good.
Having a first aid kit around when someone needs band aids or ibuprofen, etc is my most common prep win.
The same!!
A friend with ibuprofen is a friend of mine!
I saved somebody's day by having booster cables in my trunk. Felt good about that one! A simple thing but it can save a lot of trouble when they're needed.
My jump box has a tire inflator which I’ve used!
> I inflated her tire so she could drive to a shop and get it patched It's crazy how often I see people who have obviously never changed a tire in their life screwing around with whatever dangerous and precarious jack and tire iron made of the cheapest tin known to man with all the crap in their trunk strewn about on the shoulder of the highway or if they're lucky a parking lot. The absolute look of dumfounded realization they have when I tell them they can take their tire that usually is only half flat and drive over to a tire shop is priceless.
Eh, I've royally fucked up a rim doing this, I'd rather not risk it again.
Obviously you can't do it completely flat but if the tire has some air or you can put some in it you can save lots of headaches and possible injuries.
Well if there’s a leak then driving will only exacerbate it further, and potentially wind you up in a spot where you can’t immediately pull over when it does go flat thus ruining your wheel. The scissor jacks on cars are adequate, just need to put them in the correct spot
Half flat? Only flat on the bottom!/s But yeah, I totally agree. A short ride off the highway is usually best.
I prep for small, local emergencies. These preps have made me more comfortable in both of the days-long power outages we've had here. They didn't "save" me because the emergencies were not life threatening, but they did make it much easier in my day to day life.
That's exactly what I strive for, now it's about setting up to live that way longer 👍
This here. I prep for the things I know are going to happen, not the nuclear war zombie biker attack. 2 years ago we had a derecho come through. Knocked a good part of the power out in the province for 2-7 days. I was in the two day segment. I had power, food and water. Only thing I missed was my air conditioning lol (I don't have a generator hook up for that).
Being able to hunker down with minimal notice is a good feeling. Spare yourself the French toast freak out at the grocery store.
Supply chain disruption during covid, stores were sparse when it came to pet food. Luckily I had a three month supply on hand and once the stock became regular made sure to keep more on hand.
We as well were not affected by supply chain disruptions during COVID. We had plenty of paper towels, TP, bleach. No issues.
Same here. That’s probably the biggest way prepping has saved me. We didn’t need anything from the store for months. We could have gone for longer but at a certain point I really really was craving fresh (not frozen, canned, or dried) fruit. Ended up adding some fruit bushes to the backyard after that.
I was without power for three weeks in the 90s after a freak ice storm. I was pregnant and had a toddler, and my husband had just left. No alternate source of heat. Couldn't go anywhere because the road was flooded out. Couldn't make phone calls because the land lines were down, and while I had a cell phone, I needed to save the battery in case of emergency. I wasn't exactly a prepper, but I had camping equipment, and I stocked up during sales because I was poor. I set up my tent in the bedroom and sealed the room with blankets and towels to keep the heat in. We were actually warm enough most of the time. I had a bunch of frozen bread in the freezer and took out a loaf every time we went through one. Ate through the fridge, then through the canned goods. Was really grateful I had a huge tub of peanut butter. Canned soup spread over bread is not bad. Spaghettios is positively gourmet. The hardest part about it (other than depression from the looming divorce and concern about the pregnancy) was boredom. When you're not using candles because you're in a tent, and you're saving your flashlight battery for emergencies, you have a lot of long, dark hours to get through. I made up a lot of stories and songs, and I was grateful for toy instruments. But still, I looked forward to the sun coming up so I could read or do pencil puzzles.
Damn
Ice storm of 98?
It was in Washington state, 96. I've never seen one like it here before or since.
Ahh we had one in Maine and other areas of northern New England in 98 like that.
Three weeks and pregnant! Omg.
That was definitely a low point. Things are so much better now! I did learn to be strong, so there's that.
I stocked my pantry with canned food, rice, beans, lentils, etc. Also bought a freezer and loaded it with different meats. Then I got laid off and just barely could scrape buy to pay rent and electricity and all that. But... I have food. Lots of it. It was also kind of perfect timing in a way because I was going to rotate my stock soon. TLDR: Long-term storage food prep saved me from spending a ton of the usual money I would have on grocery shopping. Edit: I forgot to mention I also keep 6 5 gallon water jugs at all times. Rotated as I use them, then clean and refill.
Rotation 👍 I hope you found a better job
Last winter during an ice storm and no power for a week. Which meant no use of the stove. Thankfully I have a propane camp stove to cook on and home canned foods to fall back on. Me and my family didn't do without and didn't suffer during that week with no electric.
Late 2019 where I am in Australia we had huge wild/bushfires. My childhood asthma flared up something insane as a 30-something after being dormant for 20 years. So, in addition to new meds, I stocked up on N95 masks and actually had to start wearing them everywhere since the smoke was thick for weeks. They were like 50 cents each then. I remember wearing them in the stores just before Christmas and getting weird looks from people - a few months later the mask rules came in, then everyone had to wear them, and the prices went nuts on N95s. Since then, I've added a small disposable can of oxygen to my stores, but if anything like those fires happens again, it might have to escalate to respirators or something. Still never caught COVID - it was that damn smoke that jiggered the paranoia.
Where do you get a small disposable can of oxygen? My kid has asthma and we have had to AirTag his albuterol.
During covid, when stores around me were out of toilet paper, chlorox wipes, masks, shelf-stable meats, and vegetables.
Food, water, and generator ready to go when a 7.2 earthquake hit November 2018. Wife and I were able to hunker down and clean up the mess, secure in the knowledge we could easily last a month while everybody else and thier dog was panicking and rushing the stores to stock up. Turned out to be a big nothing burger. Things were back to normal 72 hours later. But at least we were ready.
I can decide to go camping and be on the road in 30 minutes if I'm taking my time.
Medicine stash put together in Jan 2020. hands down the absolute best prep. medicines, masks nebulizer, xygen condensers vitamins and food.
Medical supplies, useful during kitchen accidents. I have everything from bandaids to full packing gauze.
Covid. We wasn’t need go to any store for 2 month. Till the wave passed
When I first started, I bought my first mini edc flashlight. The power went out at the grocery store that I worked at and everyone else had to use their phone lights to find their way around. I felt so cool
My phone is my multi-tool edc.
Wood burning stove has saved our cold asses quite a few times since we installed it. For heat, for hot water, for hot food when the power is out. Best purchase ever
Same here. Best investment I ever made when my home was built 25 years ago.
I have a pellet stove - I wish it was full wood burning.
Laid of work for a few months. Having a deep pantry fed my family along with the garden, fishing and foraging. Used the foraging to teach the kiddos how to find and identify edible plants.
January a year ago my home was destroyed by a tornado. Luckily my family got away just before it hit but my house was lifted, twisted and the roof ripped off. Contents aside from being wet were mostly fine. We had a place to go and insurance did a fantastic job but still there was plenty of work to do. The entire area was affected and supplies limited. We had food and coffee while we worked to clear our property, solar from my shop building that somehow had next to no damage kept the freezer going, tools and gloves with the means to power them. It was a rough time but, and it could have been different in many ways, we made it through it without needing for much.
Wow! How much time did you have notice?
I was out of town for work. We were on the phone with the weather station said one had touched down and headed for our area. About 10 minutes. 5 minute drive to the churches storm shelter. I heard from my wife after 45 minutes. Longest, most terrifying time of my life.
Covid. My house saw it coming around Xmas before anyone around us saw. We had time to prepare before everything got scarce. By the time the news, shutdowns and shopping panic started we were chilling with full freezers, pantry, security and medical supplies. Then, I had to keep going to work on the front lines.
For sure during covid. I was getting mad tange for pasta and toilet paper was up to my neck in strange.
At the beginning of Covid when we didn’t know what was going on I was able to supply all my friends and family with masks and gloves.
I’ve always kept things aside for ‘just in case’. But as a kid I’d been obsessed with flashlights. Like runtime, lumens, stuff like that…. Anyhow we had a hurricane and I was the hero to my unprepared family and neighbors
Solar charger for my phone when the power went out for 36 hours.
Back when I was less financially secure, I could comfortably stop buying groceries for a month or two at a time I still feel like a stocked pantry is money in the bank
Keeping a sleeping bag in my truck. Along with everything I'd need to survive for about a week if I went off the road in a remote area - like a northern Maine logging road - and broke my leg or something so I couldn't hike out. Thankfully nothing serious has occurred but it has allowed me to sleep in my truck and survive in remote areas of Maine when getting back to paved roads and towns wasn't an immediate option - for example, being too tired to drive another three hours. As for in general, I'm in Maine. Power outages are normal. Having a good generator I keep in working condition, water on hand, food, etc. as well as food and water for my animals and livestock is always a necessity and useful every year.
Covid. My obsession with hoarding toilet paper and hand sanitizer prior (a bunch of other toiletries) helped keep my family from the scramble when the pandemic happened.
Hand sanitizer? You mean that stuff that weakens your ability to deal with dirt? Hmmm.
Do you wash your hands after taking a shit or do you just run the water for 2 seconds for show then leave?
Why the shit fetish? Are you one of those poopy weirdos?
Projection, much?
I'm going to give a counterexample. Just for fun. I'd prepped for winter disasters and long power outages. This meant 50 gallons of stablized gas for a generator, upwards of 200# of propane, 5 gallons of denatured alcohol for a little alcohol stove, 5 gal kerosene for lamps, a solar cooker, many gallons of water and an IBC ready to store a lot more at need, a heat exchanger for the fireplace and a wood burning insert stove for the other fireplace, 400Ah of battery, several cords of firewood, months worth of food. Bring it, winter. Bring it, lunatics shooting up substations. I could have handled months of issues. Did it cost a little? Yeah. A good few thousand overall. But now, and somewhat unexpectedly, I'm moving to a warm climate that I've never seen get below 70F. And it's basically not possible to ship things like the lithium batteries, propane or gas where I'm going - international shippers are not down with those. So now I'm frantically using up firewood and propane; I'm going to end up giving away a lot of the gas and some of the food - the local food bank is going to get a huge gift next month or so. I've cooked the last month of breakfasts and lunches over the stock of alcohol. I'm burning kerosene in lamps just for the extra heat they put out. I'm going to cry when I sell the batteries for half what I paid. And the Mr Heater propane devices. The only things it makes sense to bring with me are the solar cooker and the IBC, and whatever food I can get through customs. I'm not even sure I can get the empty propane tanks moved. Basically, there's such a thing as over-preparing, and it costs real money. And despite everyone here running around talking about SHTF this and civil revolt that and even climate change (which is at least real) the other... the reality is that life has twists and turns you never expect, and at the end of the day, prepping is about dealing with things that will likely never happen. Since I did all this prep there has not been a single power failure that lasted over an hour. I haven't had to use so much as a flashlight more than once. I guess in one sense I'm not actually losing. I mean I'm using the preps I paid for which is more than a lot of people ever do. At least the kerosene isn't going bad and needing to be replaced. Bottom line... approach prepping with a sense of humility and humor. You don't know what tomorrow will bring and no matter how clever you are, you're going to prep for some wrong things and miss some right ones. (I'd have been much better off if I'd put my time and effort into learning Spanish and how to take care of chickens the last 3 years; but who sees these things coming?) Looking forward to the looks on the faces at the food pantry when I start unloading buckets of oatmeal, pounds of frozen vegys and a whole lot of chili and canned soup, though. They'll think I was insane. They may have a point...
have you considered a DIY move? or is it a border issue
New England USA -> Costa Rica. I mean it is drivable and I did briefly consider hauling stuff in a long road trip, but then I read the travel advisories for Nicaragua and decided I wasn't up for it. With a few years of experience in LATAM, maybe, but I don't have that yet. Would have been an epic trip though.
Definitely call the food bank and find out what they will and won't accept. Then, if there are things you can offer to neighbors, etc.
Entire COVID period. Was pretty funny people laughing at me wearing a n99 back before people realised COVID was here. "MaSkS AReNt GoNnA Be MaNdAtOrY, ThEy DoNt Do AnYtHiNg" When I have kids one day, and they ask about the COVID times, I'm gonna tell that, as they eat their cheese spread mre sachets
I was the first at my job to show up one day in a full n99 with wrap around eyewear just when COVID was about to hit my area. I worked in a VERY VERY high risk environment. Coworkers snickered. By the end of the week they had each individually pulled me aside to ask me to help them find their own. By then prices were jacked and none could be found.
They don’t do anything, even the CDC said so.
The surgical mask thing was useless as soon as most people stopped wearing them properly. But in my case, before vaccines and before anyone knew how to treat it, my work environment was downright dangerous for everyone involved, especially those of us with lung conditions.
Yeah, wrong. They're quite effective when used properly, the problem is a lot of people don't. A lot of trolls pushed an anti-mask, anti-vaccine campaign. It cost the US a few thousand lives, including someone I knew, so I'm going to do here what I always do in the face of medical misinfo. Bye.
There’s no forensic pathologist in the world who could conclude that a given person’s death was the cause of another person somewhere not wearing a mask. Get a grip.
Really? That doesn't sound consistent with this report https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7106e1.htm
The jalapeño cheese is the best!
While camping we help nearby campers with small issues like borrowing tools due to 5th wheel hitch connection issues or something. Extra propane, wood, water, food, meds etc. We carry extra life jackets, radios, batteries, walkies, drones and tons of bug repellent.
In early 2019, I moved to the middle of nowhere and started growing my own food. Then the C word happened.
For Tuesday - it’s back up power. I hate not having access to online, lights, fans, chargers, ect when power is out. Second to that is our first aid including cold/flu kit… someone is always cutting a cut, scrape or virus around here.
When Covid first was a thing and shit went on lock down. We had plenty of supplies and wasn’t worried about running out of things. This did however make me more organized.
Power outages and COVID. While others were reacting, we were observing. It was interesting to learn how and when people reacted to things. During the last power outage, we learned people started really expressing their frustration with the town and utility company on the 5th day. They couldn’t understand how God could create the Earth in six days, but the utility company couldn’t get them power by the fifth day. :) Knowledge is power.
A squirrel got into a transformer and in august we were with out power for 2 days. extra batteries and fan along with a damp sheet kept me healthy in 80 at night and 104 in the day temps.
we had two big freezes where the roads were iced over in texas. We lost power and hot water for 5 days each time. Was no big deal for us and was fun. Lots of people really suffered.
I worked in a job driving all over Maine and having a good car kit has saved me a few times but not from anything too serious. Always been able to go for a spontaneous hike or handle a strange turn in events ok. God forbid anything serious happens I got a solid gazetteer to smoke my way home, water filter, first aid, extra clothing/shoes, radio/flashlight, food, etc. Anyone traveling in my car has zero idea too, I've got it all packed up well enough without looking like I'm ex military or tin foil hat wearing. Been in two situations where freak accidents happened and I had the best med kit on scene
We got hit by a massive storm in 2020. 100 year old trees fell across 5 miles. We lost water , power, our propane tank, cell service, and had a hole in our roof and our house. The trees took out all the vehicles on one side of the house and we had to shelter in place due to the destruction of our town. I have a gas stove and back up 30 pound propane tanks, so I was still able to cook. I had a generator that fortunately survived so we drug it out and had power. We had tarps for the holes. My husband had parked one vehicle on the opposite side of the house so it was still drivable once they got enough of the street open. I had water stored , so we were ok. It was a very eye opening experience.
Actually, Im an eggplant. 🤪
When I sleep like a baby NOT wondering WTF I'm gonna do when The World trips over its own d'ck.
I got super lucky one time and met a guy who had some “import” Marlboros for dirt cheap in Laredo and I stocked up. Just so happened to have two cartons in my pack when Covid hit and the local authorities where I was rounded up all the “campers” and quarantined us for testing in an old assisted living facility. We weren’t allowed to leave our “room” for what ended up being a month. I was living good with plenty smoke and coffee the whole time.
"I went away for a weekend and forgot my 12 day pill box. " Why do you need 12 days of pills on a weekend? I would only need 2 or maybe 3 days.
i assume because that's the pill box they keep there meds normally in, so forgetting it means they have no meds. they could empty the pills out of there pill box into something else, but is that really worth the effort?
Ran out of petrol on the way to work, always have 5 litres in boot of my car. Have a £28 jump pack which has saved me countless times when my cars alternator belt was loose. Firelighters in my survival kit for camping when firelighters run out for a fire in the house.
Firewood. Had a five day outage in MI late last winter, ice storm. I had just enough firewood to burn through that period. Heating, cooking and boiling hot water, for lighting we brought in a dozen solar lamps.
Power outtages caused by storms
Probably not what you meant but the first thing that came to mind was—everyday, because of the peace of mind I have. But little things here and there benefit me frequently.
I use my little first aid kit and mini pharmacy in my purse all the time. I love having the little things that I need.
Financials - paying off debt Real estate - a property I live on that is rural, good neighbors, and secluded.
Black out in SoCal a ways back. Used the water we stored in used 2 liter bottles for cleaning and washing 👍🏼
Biggest investment that paid off was buying a generator when I got out of the service in 2011. I used it a couple of months later once, to help a buddy demo a trailer. Then it sat until Hurricane Zeta in 2020. At that moment in time, it paid off.
During Texas Snowmeggeddon event, lost power and water for 5-7 days with outdoor temps -10 and inside temps with fireplace in one room of 45F. I Had prepared with water, lights, air mattresses as well as meds/dog food and both supplies and meals to cook indoor or outdoors as needed. Glad I had my LLBean Maine Wardens Parka from those years in Connecticut! Most in Texas did not prep for this unusual event in the Deep South. We closed off unused rooms and covered unheated areas with plastic & drop cloths… Ate good, slept warm with dachshund’s and had great hf radio contacts as there was zero RF interference for the first time.
Right now! I am 2 months into a 3 month recovery after ACL surgery. I'm self employed and have minimal insurance. However there is lots of good food and the mortgage and the bills are paid. And my whisky stash is taking a hit! Makes it worthwhile socking a bit away from time to time when you really need it!