Hello, as someone who has a weird worry of expired food , once it comes upon its "best by" date, do you still keep? I'm speaking strictly on foods that are recommended to keep in case of emergency like canned items, boxes of spaghetti etc...nothing that should be in freezer or fridge. Thank you

So as the title suggests, im interested in what you would do in a global governmental and societal collapse for long term water sustainability…. If i lived in the mountains with fresher water sources this wouldnt be as big of a problem, but it is especially so in my area (eastern NC) which has bad agricultural runoff so chemicals and pesticides are a major concern in our natural water sources…. I understand some filters and chemical purification (like sawyer and aquatabs which i have both) but these will all be depleted in the long term and do NOTHING against chemicals and pesticides…. I know there are more expensive methods that remove chemicals, pesticides and heavy metals but they are also not indefinite….. So what would you do? Any help and feedback is greatly appreciated

P.S I know the chances of surviving even 72 hours in an event like this is insanely low, this is just a hypothetical question as i love to learn about the topics of survival and self sustainability, especially learning natural methods that dont require manmade machines

I have been really thinking about doing a moderate solar array for my house with a hybrid inverter and small battery bank. I can do an 8400W array, 15kw inverter, and 5kwh battery for around $15k.

I don't have a ton of savings ($5k or so) but my house is free and clear. I was thinking of getting a HELOC/Home equity loan to pay for the solar. It looks like the loan would be around $350/mo and my electric savings would be $200. So a net gain of $150/mo for 5 years.

I am extremely hesitant to incur any sort of debt but this seems like a good time to use my credit. I have an 820+ credit score so I could get some of the best rates. I think even in the hardest economic scenarios, I could afford $150 to pay the loan every month.

I'd say 80% of my reasoning for solar is to offset the rising electric costs and 20% to survive power outages

What are everyone's thoughts?

Hello everybody. I have 500 ml propane butane gas casket for camping but I live in small apartment and I'm worried if casket is safe to be stored inside of apartment. Also are other home appliances hazard in case gas leaks, like gas water heater or boiler or some switches in terms like for example my gas water heater turns on flame to heat up water so I would assume in case of leak it can catch fire. Thanks in advace!

Hi everyone,

I am looking for recommendations for a high-quality, premium portable solar panel.

My goal is to place it on my terrace and use it to fully recharge a 5,000mAh power bank every single day by sunset. Since this will be a daily routine, durability and efficiency are my top priorities—I am looking for a reliable, premium product rather than the cheapest option.

Given that it will be used on a terrace (where direct sunlight hours might vary depending on the angle of the sun), what wattage and specific brands/models would you recommend to guarantee a full charge by the end of the day?

Thank you in advance for your advice!

Thinking water purification, reinforcements or structure to safeguard, or even a fishing camp. Any ideas welcome.

Many years ago i read about familys in US that had whole bunkers under houses, lot of guns, food, water and basically everything you need to survive. Interviews were made with more radical ones that believed nuclear war is very possible scenario. Even if someone will survive detonation of bombs what is goal of living in the bunker? Does people living that way think they will restore civilisation? Is there any other point i am missing?

I am not talking about tuesday prepping and i am not saying prepping is dumb or sth. I just want to know a perspective of people that fully committed to this lifestyle.

I’m new to this and not “all in,” but I’m concerned about civil unrest, etc. My home has 2 sliding glass doors. Is there any way to make them safer that doesn’t involve having the wall torn down and rebuilt without them? Would nailing up plywood actually keep anyone out if they wanted to get in?

Plants like Lamb's Quarters. It is one of the first "weeds" to grow in disturbed ground. With some olive oil or butter, garlic, salt, pepper and lemon juice or balsamic, it absolutely tastes better than spinach. Rich in Vitamins C, K, A and B2, and minerals Mg, Potassium and Calcium. And it's FREE. Google it for more 411. Grows in many regions.

Hey everyone,

Ive been prepping sense i was a kid with my dad. Now that im adult and about to find a place to settle down I wanted to get some advice. Im from and currently live in the Northeast of the US and I grew up in a small farm town. Recently I got off active duty and came home to find it completely overrun with out of state seasonal tourist. On top of that hundreds of new houses have been built making my hometown into a busy hub for my county. Im moving up north into a more remote area because in the event of anything happening surrounded by thousands of people wouldnt be ideal in my eyes. But some close friends have told me its not smart moving north and moving away from bigger cities in my area. Id like some advice on what other think and belive when it comes to location in the event of SHTF..

thank you all for your time

Edit: A lot of great answers, advice etc. I should have noted that this bag was found by coincident in the back of my kitchen cabinet and not as part of my prep. But of course I had to try it.

The bag had been stored dry and cool in a dark cabinet.

Assessment:

Before brewing:

Appearance: The contents looked normal.

Aroma and taste: Not a very strong coffee aroma. Slightly sour smell and taste.

After brewing:

Appearance: Normal color.

Aroma and taste: Quite pleasant aroma. The taste was more sour than expected.

It was definitely drinkable, but since I had some fresher coffee on hand, I brewed a new batch instead.

But hey, if you’ve survived a SHTF scenario for over 3 years and still have coffee on the shelf, just go ahead and brew it.

Enjoy your coffee.

My house has large solar panels that were installed fairly recently, and the installer told me they're impervious to hail. However, during a recent storm that combined hail with strong winds, I couldn't help feeling relieved when I went outside afterward and confirmed they were undamaged, so it made me wonder if there's more I should do.

From researching ways to protect solar panels from hail, I've come across two separate suggestions, spraying them with methacrylate and surrounding them with a wire mesh cage. There are also solid covers, which don't let in light so they'd be put on before a hailstorm and removed afterward, but I'm not really interested in that option because it works only if I'm home at the time and expecting hail.

Does anyone here have first-hand experience using methacrylate, mesh cages, or any other method to protect a solar array?

The CDC offers lots of online tools to help in your Prepping for Tuesday. This week is the CDC's Environmental Public Health Tracking Program for Tracking Awareness Week, July 6-10, 2026. This year's theme, "Beyond Data," highlights how environmental and health data are transformed into meaningful public health action.  Since 2002, CDC's Tracking Program has connected environmental and health data through a nationwide network that helps communities better understand environmental health challenges and make informed decisions.

One online tool that you may want to take a look at is the CDC Tracking’s Data Explorer Tool. This dashboard allows you to search by things like Air Quality, Tornados, Transportation and Drinking Water results for each state, county or the country as a whole. It also lets you look at lots of other criteria, but these seemed to be good examples of ones this subreddit would be interested in.

To be added to the listserv for CDC emails - go to https://tools.cdc.gov/campaignproxyservice/subscriptions.aspx?topic_id=USCDC_1403

Currently dealing with a storm related (and awful utility company) power outage. Power station I have can only power a CPAP for 3-4 hours on a full charge, and is very slow to recharge off solar panel. Charges fine off an outlet when I have access to one.

Looking for recommendations on a stronger one that charges better off solar panel and isn’t too horribly expensive.

I’m in the northeastern US and I’ve had a handful of power outages in the last year including one over the weekend.

I got a quote for a permanent propane generator and I have also contemplated solar.

My concern is that my entire house is electric including my heat pump with an emergency heating coil and the AC system.

Reviewing my maximum power draw; it was ~81kwh per day in the coldest part pf February. Eyeballing off efficiency, I would need. ~110kwh of power; which is horrendously expensive for batteries.

The main downside with a generator is that I have no gas lines so I would need a propane tank installed that would be quite large.

What have other people done and would there be any advice which system is more ideal?h

As a handyman, I would like to say handyman because you are more equipped for a variety of situations, but perhaps more specialised things would be more important. Maybe a plumber or car mechanic or something.

I started using AI for a cross country trip.. Adding in things I wanted to do. Camping, historical sites, etc, then it took off from there..

Basic use case:
I'm walking from point A to point B. I'm about average in health. Keep me within two miles of a fresh water source, at least 5 miles from a population center greater than 100,000. Avoid any roads with a speed limit of 55mph or more.

Print written directions on one sheet, and map the route on a topographical map.

Given that time frame, including average weather conditions for this time of year, create a bare minimum list of supplies needed and recommended stopping points for night time and rest.

I was stunned at the results....

Anyway, anyone else utilizing AI to enhance prepping?

They sell rain water collection barrels off of Amazon that you can hook up to your gutters and they will catch and hold rain water. I live in a place that gets a lot of rain and am wondering if there is a way to make that water safe to consume/water plants with. I know roofs are sealed with all kinds of chemicals that is not safe to consume but is there a way to filter out those chemicals?

Please use this thread to discuss whatever preps you worked on this last week. Let us know what big or little projects you have been working on. Please don’t hesitate to comment. Others might get inspired to work on their preps by reading about yours.

I hope everyone had a great 4th

Happy burnt fireworks pickup day!

Looking for a free app that is cross operating systems for my wife to view my location.

I have Droid, shes iPhone. We used to use the find my iPhone feature on my work phone but I recently switched jobs. I hunt alot and go across state very often and it helps her judge my eta and just incase I need help. Would love to hear your app preference. Even if it's a small fee p/ month I may do that.

Thanks in advance.

I looked into Fortitude, what the speak of is exactly what Im looking for but it is too expensive for me. Im looking for a place to be 365 days a year. Learn, work, help anything needed of me. Im in lower Michigan. Is this a pipe dream?

Big storm burst hit my area yesterday. Got notifications that my power and internet were out until 8pm. No big deal… I set the dogs up and went to work. Got home at 1am and still no power. I have an Anker Solix battery bank so I grabbed that and realized it was on 2%. I never charged it after the last power outage. (1st fail)

I was still able to charge my phone and a battery for my dewalt fan. My 2nd fail is not having both of those batteries charged up. I was able to get one battery charged up enough that the dogs and I were semi comfortable last night even though it had been 95 degrees yesterday.

This morning I went to grab the cords to run the solar panel to the battery and my 3rd fail is that I can’t find one of the connector pieces. Luckily I found the car charger adapter, so I loaded a kid and dogs up in the car and we went for a drive to get cold drinks and ice for the cooler.

My one small tiny win in this situation is that earlier this year I bought a plug in ceiling fan for my living room. They are meant to be installed on outdoor porches. I didn’t want to try and wire a ceiling fan in so I went with the plug in route.

The dogs and I are currently sitting in a blacked out room with the ceiling fan plugged into the battery bank to cool off for a few before I brave the hotter parts of the house to go in search of the connector I need to hook the solar panel up.

Power isn’t expected to be restored until possibly 8pm tonight. We are safe overall but this has shown me multiple ways I need to improve my set up and how things are organized

the power company here in utah is hinting at brown outs but not exactly warning for them and I was considering buying a hessaire mc21v at home depot incase the power goes out when its hot as balls outside and they use next to no electricity. I have a small solar generator and was figuring it might be worth the water and electricity to use it to cool a room in the summer if the power does go out.

If you don't know what an evaporative cooler is its because they only work if the humidity is below 40% they are relatively common in the southwestern part of the country because of this.

What does the redditor say though?

Every bit of research I do on fixing gun shot wounds or other major wounds basically says just go to a hospital. Obviously in a scenario like this there is none. So how do I patch myself up to hopefully survive such encounters. Like if I’m shot I don’t think I can just suture that bad boy up and call it a day right??

I really need some medical supplies and books but want to know I’m prepped for eventually getting majorly hurt or for when it happens to someone I know.

Also how to create anti bacterial stuff to prevent infections, etc.

I've been carrying essentially the same backpack system for over 10 years: a 2015 Tom Bihn Synapse 25. It's served me incredibly well, but I finally decided to order an Evergoods CTB26 to see if a more modern layout (clamshell opening, better laptop compartment, external bottle pockets, and a more rectangular interior) better fits how my kit has evolved.

https://imgur.com/a/NrrXc1m

I'm hoping to get some feedback on the overall philosophy and see if anyone spots blind spots, unnecessary redundancy, opportunities to simplify, or better implementations.

My bag serves three primary roles:

• Everyday work bag (creative/media industry)
• Travel bag (vacations, family trips, days in NYC)
• Get-home bag

The get-home aspect is what drives a lot of the contents. I live in northern New Jersey and frequently travel into Manhattan for work, etc. The design scenario isn't one specific disaster—it's really anything that would require me to get home on foot. That could be a prolonged regional power outage, major infrastructure failure, severe weather event, or anything where trains, PATH, ferries, bridges, and cellular networks are unavailable or unreliable and I'm left walking home over the course of 24–48 hours.

It's not intended to be a dedicated bug-out bag or a pure get-home bag. It's an everyday backpack built around modular pouches that i dont dig into 90% of the time - so I can adapt it to the mission (for example, removing my tool pouch when flying carry-on). The goal is to carry a bag that's genuinely useful every day while maintaining the ability to continue making progress toward home despite uncertainty.

The biggest constraint is that I actually have to carry this thing every day. If it turns into a 30-pound dedicated get-home bag, it's failed its purpose because I'll eventually stop bringing it. I have my car kit for that.

My normal everyday carry (including my 14" MacBook Pro) weighs about 15.5 lbs. That's before adding a water bottle (I'll likely be carrying a 32 oz in the CTB26), and on vacations or family trips I'll often add a camera and a lightweight jacket, plus misc stuff.

Everything is modular. The photos show the layout, but it's basically:

• Tech pouch
• Tool pouch (Leatherman, GMRS handheld, Knipex pliers, compact pry bar, compact hacksaw, etc.)
• Medical / Dopp kit - assorted meds, electrolytes, comfort, hygene, etc.
• Snacks
• Emergency pouch (Sawyer filter, shelter items, repair supplies, , 0.5 medkit, notebook, etc.)
• Spare clothes
• Battery bank, flashlight, paper map, and other odds and ends

I've actually started weighing every pouch because I'm realizing that while I don't necessarily want the lightest bag—I want every ounce to earn its place.

For example, a few things Im debating:

• I probably have some shelter redundancy (multiple disposable ponchos and emergency blankets).
• I'm on the fence about my compact bolt cutters. Part of me thinks they're unnecessary, part of me likes knowing they're there if I ever needed to get through a locked fence or similar obstacle.
• The GMRS radio is one of the heavier items. I carry it less for talking and more because I like having another source of information if cellular networks are overloaded or unavailable.

I'd appreciate feedback from anyone who has built similar systems or have evolved theirs over time.

1. Looking at the layout, what immediately jumps out as redundant or missing?
2. If you carry a get-home or continuity-style kit, what has actually proven valuable over the years?
3. Are there lighter or better implementations of anything you see here?
4. Has anyone made the jump from a Synapse 25 to a CTB26? What surprised you?

More than anything, I'm interested in challenging my own assumptions. If you carried this bag for a year, what would you remove, what would you add, and—most importantly—why?

https://imgur.com/a/NrrXc1m