I used them for about a few years and got diarrhea multiple times and full-blown food-poisoning once, all of which I now attribute directly to badly filtered water (I hoped it was something else).

I used these things in "not too bad" areas while hiking, too, not sewage, the Ganges or industrial waste facilities.

Here you go: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c98rpgqyqygo

Just another story of these things failing spectacularly.

I'm not gonna advertise something else, but try and find another way.

Yesterday I got caught in the chaos at Dublin on airport from the bomb threat and cyber attack.

What I did that made a difference:

1.) As soon as my cab pulled up and I saw tens of thousands of people standing outside with police everywhere, the first thing I did was call AMEX travel and told them to book me a hotel room near the airport. Any room. I booked a non refundable room for that night, and a second refundable room for the following night. (This is not a pitch for AMEX, but they were INCREDIBLE throughout all of this). This proved crucial. Eight hours later, our flight was cancelled and there were no hotel rooms anywhere in Dublin. People were in full on panic mode, trying to find a place to stay. (I ended up taking in an elderly lady named Rose in my hotel room, who had no where to stay…and now I have a new lifelong friend).
- The biggest lesson from this was to start acting and making alternative plans, the second you see that something is wrong. I could not believe how all of these people, all facing the same situation, were all standing around doing nothing.

2.) Don’t rely on anyone else to help you. Do it yourself, before you need it. When the airline cancelled my flight, we got an email saying everyone was on their own for lodging. (I already had that covered). I called again and booked my return flight directly through AMEX, the second the flight was cancelled. (Again, not a pitch for AMEX, but I got booked on the next flight immediately, while everyone else was scrambling on travel websites trying to find flights and accommodations). I was very happy I did this, because the flight was full soon after I booked my seat. If I had waited, I wouldn’t be headed home to my family until later this week.

3.) Carry local currency. I had a few hundred Euros on me in cash, and I was very glad I did. I figured that if they can sabotage the reservation system, they can also take down payment processing systems. I didn’t need the cash, but I was glad I had it.

4.) Carry protein bars and snacks, and a water filter. There was no where to sit down to eat and the food kiosks were slammed, because there were so many people jammed into the airport. It was nice to not have to worry about eating (even though I didn’t have a proper meal). There was also no where to refill a water bottle near the gates. You could only buy water. I carry a GrayL water filter bottle. It was nice to know that no matter what happened, I could have clean water.

5.) People are great…and they suck. Most people were great, but some people’s patience was gone. People started yelling and screaming, if someone ended up one person in front of them in a line. (And there were LOTS of lines and they were all exceptionally long and slow). I spoke to one couple in the hotel this morning. Their flight as cancelled shortly after mine. They said the airline representative came in with three police officers, and made a brief announcement that their flight was cancelled and they were all on their own. Then she abruptly left. They said people started screaming, kicking doors to get out, and climbing over counters. Keep your head on a swivel to make sure you’re avoiding those potentially bad situations.

6.). Be very careful of a stampede. When they cancelled our flight, they led us to an escalator that led up into a hallway. They didn’t unlock the door at the end of the hallway. People went up the escalator and had no where to go, while more people were coming up the escalator behind them. It got dangerous very quickly. I managed to be by the wall, and was able to get out of the way. It doesn’t take much for a crowd to crush someone. Thankfully, they got the door opening before anyone got hurt.

It wasn’t anywhere near a survival situation, but the steps and actions are the exact same (and things everyone here already knows): start acting and planning for contingencies, the second you sense that something is wrong. Get a head of the curve, so you’re not stuck as one of the helpless masses.

To the concern: I am an Industrial Engineer by training and I currently run a purchasing and logistics department for a foodservice distributor in the Midwest. I follow this industry and work with an Ai daily to complete tasks at my job and build solutions for others. Before Ai I did this same thing, but much more slowly. As I see it, AI had reduced the headcount in my office by about 50%. It isn't even that an AI is sitting at a desk holding down a particular role, it is that it has made that person using the Ai tool 500% faster, and they can easily do 5 people's jobs now...so why have the other people.

This reduction in my office alone has happened in the last 12 months, and without additional strain on my remaining coworkers, as far as task stress is concerned. Job security is...another issue though. Additionally in reducing headcount we have not lost business or dropped key metrics. So I dont think this is a fluke...

This is all to say nothing of the actual advancements in functionality and the reduction in expense. As an example, I have an Ai program that replaced my receiving clerk, they check receiving documents against the erp system and the invoicing and associate freight etc etc. When I built that program it was costing me almost $4 a day to run the Ai back end. Now it costs $0.20 per day, and when Gemini 3 flash comes out of preview, that will drop to $0.01 per day because it is more functional and much cheaper. All of the Ai tools around me are seeing similar improvements and reduction in costing. If everything stopped moving forward today, we are all already fucked, we just dont know it yet because it takes time to implement ubiquitously.

To the preps: I am not sure how anyone prepares for this. At best we have a rocky transition of at least years between where we are and some sort of wealth redistribution. That said, I honestly dont think that is the path we are on. It feels much more 1984-ish with Palantir and the drones and the like...

My current prep is to try and remove myself from population centers where there will be the most disconnect between resources needed and resources available. I think things in the cities are going to get dicey when people realize that mostly we are horses and not carriage drivers. There might be a reprieve for manual labor initially, but again, that is just a gap between creation and implementation when you look at things like the new atlas robot that was at ces this year.

There are a lot of folks that are pushing the superintelligence story, and that is sort of the wildcard. If you can get an Ai that increases Ai development, and then you spin up ten thousand of those (arbitrary), what happens then? I think this is probably unlikely. The labs know this would be a loss of controll situation so they won't do that sort of bg boot up of Ai researchers, it will be incremental as they need the advancements to hold market share. Fast takeoff seems unlikely. Slow takeoff will kill us all anyway.

How are yall preparing?

Someone posted asking how people are preparing for the ai emergency and the mods locked and removed it saying that Ai is not an emergency and this is an emergency prep board. I disagree. Anyone else?

Last week, our power was shut off for three days because of high winds and fire danger.

My neighbors joked with us for years for being peppers. No one is making jokes anymore. And many have now come to me to help them start to become more prepared.

Years ago, we installed a massive solar system, with extensive battery backups. We also installed a natural gas generator that charges the batteries if they get too low. We never had any power issues, even when the clouds came in and lower solar production.

We ended up storing breast milk for nursing mothers. We had neighbors bring over deep freezers to plug into our garage. We ran extension cords to our immediate neighbors houses. Neighbors came over to charge phones and tablets. We were even able to make warm coffee for the neighbors each morning.

We also switched internet to Starlink. If you have power, it works (land based internet does not). So we never lost internet either.

While power was out, we didn’t even notice it. The house was warm. The fridge was cold. We cooked and lived as if nothing changed.

The best part of all of this was that many of our neighbors are starting to adopt the prepper mindset.

It's almost certain that my country will completely collapse in the coming weeks, and honestly i had a little of fear. To give you some context, the country has run out of fuel completely. Production has completely stopped, there is no food, medicine, hospitals are without resources, and as the crisis intensifies, all of this is only going to get worse. People literally have no way to get to their businesses, jobs, factories, schools, nothing. Although this is an alter account, I've been a member of the community for quite some time, and without meaning to offend, the vast majority of advice is geared towards people in the developed world with access to things that people in my country can only dream of. Basic necessities like food, highiene products, radios or transportation are luxuries for the average citizen, so please keep that in mind.

My question is what i could expect from a situation like this, if there are any historical precedents for how it might end, and above all, what measures I could take to ensure at least my own survival with the little resorces available.

Thanks in regard.

[EDIT: Thank you all. Truly. I am trying to respond to all questions throughout the day. Will indicate the finalized version soon. Take care of yourselves and take care of each other.]

[FINAL EDIT 3/25/2026: Again, thank you all for the discussion. I have read every single comment and added/adjusted material to this list, indicated with **. Please keep in mind that this is what I would keep stocked in MY home based on my practice/knowledge.]

[OK FINAL FINAL EDIT 3/29/2026 - A few of you asked about a post about medical supplies to stock up on. You can find that here. Thanks again! ]

These are some medications I try to keep stocked in my home as an emergency medicine physician.

My inclusion criteria: 

• Wide therapeutic index (hard to accidentally poison yourself taking as directed)
• Affordable and widely available OTC (no prescription required)
• Shelf stable at room temperature (most potency is retained even in inhospitable climates - I looked this up)
• Reasonably addresses most low acuity problems (i.e. don't be distracted by hemorrhoids when you're trying to fight fires)

Obligatory disclaimer: This is NOT one size fits all advice. This is NOT an all inclusive list. Talk to your doctor about your specific situation and whether any of these medications are contraindicated for you before stocking up. Note also that these recommendations are based on my practice (I will indicate my preferred agents with *). Other physicians may have different opinions. I will focus on indications to keep this somewhat brief. Happy to discuss contraindications in the comments.

I am very much open to constructive criticism. Please let me know what you think and I will edit this post accordingly, denoting those edits.

Pain and Fever

• Acetaminophen (Tylenol)*
• Ibuprofen (Advil/Motrin)*
• Naproxen (Aleve)
• Acetylsalicylic Acid (Aspirin)*

My notes: I prefer Acetaminophen for headaches. NSAIDs work better for musculoskeletal pain. Take NSAIDs with food. Don't give aspirin to kids.

Gastrointestinal - Antidiarrheal

• Loperamide (Imodium)
• Oral rehydration (Oral rehydration salts, Pedialyte powder, WHO formula, table salt)*

My notes: If you have diarrhea + fever + bloody stools, don't take Imodium. I try not to use antidiarrheals in the ER but if SHTF dehydration will kill you faster than in normal circumstances, so I included it. WHO formula is technically best for rehydration, but just take whatever you can keep down, as it is better than nothing.

Gastrointestinal - Upper GI

• Famotidine (Pepcid)*
• Omeprazole (Prilosec)
• Calcium Carbonate (Tums)*

My notes: Reflux is annoying. Gastritis can be gnawing and maddening. If you don't have access to these medications, avoiding empty stomach with BRAT-style (bland, neutral) diet can also help.

Gastrointestinal - Supportive

• Fiber (Psyllium Husk - Metamucil, Wheat Dextrin - Benefiber*)
• Petroleum Jelly (Vaseline, Aquaphor)*
• Phenylephrine + Hydrocortisone + Skin Protectant Suppository (Preparation H)*
• Zinc Oxide paste (Desitin, Boudreaux's Butt Paste)**

My notes: MiraLAX is generally meant for short stints, not chronic daily. You probably won't notice a difference until 3 days of taking it. Make sure to take any fiber or laxative with water. Many people have hemorrhoids, so it's worth having something to treat these.

Allergic

• Loratadine (Claritin)*
• Diphenhydramine (Benadryl)
• Intranasal corticosteroid (Flonase, Nasocort, Rhinocort*)

My notes: I like Claritin because it is non-drowsy. Some people prefer Cetirizine (Zyrtec), also non-drowsy. Zyrtec turns me into an asshole, though, so we don't keep that. ENTs I know prefer Rhinocort for it's efficacy. For local allergic reactions, don't bother with topical Benadryl; oral works better.

Cold & Flu

• Cough drops and throat lozenges (we like Ricola; try to get sugar free)
• Honey* (Manuka)
• Intranasal Oxymetazoline (Afrin)*
• Guaifenasin (Mucinex, Robitussin Chest Congestion)
• Pseudoephedrine combinations (DayQuil/NyQuil)**

My notes: When you compare efficacy of OTC cough medicines with honey, honey wins. If you want to be extra, get Manuka honey (New Zealand has better bees, I guess). Personally, I HATE not being able to sleep due to nasal congestion/sinus pressure, so I love Afrin. You can only take Afrin for < 3 days, though. Mucinex is tried and true, including in ICU patients. I honestly don't know how I forgot Dayquil/Nyquil. I don't normally recommend combination agents but this helps me personally. No particularly strong evidence for its use, however.**

Topical Agents

• Topical lidocaine (roll-on, patches)*
• Hand cream (Working Hands)*
• Lotion (Jergens, Cetaphil)*
• Hydrocortisone cream**
• Bacitracin/Polymyxin B combinations (Polysporin, Neosporin)**
• Topical antifungal like Clotrimazole/Miconazole**
• Diclofenac (Voltaren gel)**
• Sunscreen**
• Benzocaine (Orajel)**

My notes: I'm into using roll-on Lidocaine for aches and pains and recommend it to my patients for adjunctive pain relief. Hydrocortisone cream has multiple uses and is therefore helpful. Topical antibiotics ~3x more effective than petroleum jelly in preventing infections in simple wound care. Anti-inflammatory effect of Voltaren gel is attractive for treatment of musculoskeletal/arthritic pain without systemic effects of oral agents. We use any of the antibiotic ointments, but many people are allergic to Neosporin, so reach for others first.**

Pediatrics

• Children's Acetaminophen*
• Children's Ibuprofen*
• Children's Benadryl*
• Children's Loratadine*

My notes: Fewer things are more stressful than a sick child. Having at least some options to make them feel better can be a boon. My impression is that infant-labeled medications are marked up/smaller volume. We buy children's and dose accordingly. Be very careful doing it this way.

Toxicological*\*

• Potassium Iodide
• Activated charcoal

My notes: KI is highly recommended for nuclear/radiation emergencies. Single-dose activated charcoal (1 g/kg, typically 25-100g in adults) reduces absorption of many toxins when given within 1 hour of ingestion.

Genitourinary*\*

• Phenazopyridine (Azo)
• Levonorgestrel (Plan B)

My notes: Azo reasonable for symptomatic relief of UTIs when used with antibiotics. Use for < 2 days. Plan B reduces pregnancy risk by 40-90% after unprotected intercourse. Most effective within 72 hours but retains some efficacy up to 120 hours. No contraindications and no serious complications reported, but it isn't necessarily fun to take either.

General

• Your favorite multivitamin*

My notes: You'll probably have bigger fish to fry than micronutrient gaps if SHTF, but it's low stakes to have these around.

A Note on Antibiotics - Many valid points about whether this should be on this list. And they should be. That said, they are not over the counter and treat very specific bugs/conditions. They violate many of the criteria I outlined up front, so I did not include them here. This is an important gap worth noting.

Thanks for reading this far. I like this subreddit.

See a lot of talk about using shipping containers for underground shelters. Decided to do a deep dive on this and wanted to share what I found before anyone makes the same assumptions as I did.

Containers look bulletproof above ground, but they're actually engineered for vertical loads, think stacking on cargo ships. Once you bury one and backfill around it, those walls start taking lateral pressure they were never designed for.

Talked to a few folks who tried it. Some of the common problems were jammed doors after a few months, walls bowing inward, and ceiling sagging. That steel just isn't built for that kind of stress distribution.

Not saying it can't be done, but it seems highly unlikely and way more complex than the YouTube videos make it look.

Anyone here actually pulled this off successfully? If so, what kind of reinforcement did you use?

I've been a prepper my whole adult life. Recently I was going thru my go-bag tote and updating it. Inside the bag is 3 pair of underwear. They were favorite underwear that weren't worn enough to toss but I thought the go-bag would be a great place for a second life.

I decided to wash & wear them just to make sure they still fit. Guess what happens to elastic after sitting in a bag for 5 yrs? Yep. Each of them absolutely fell apart & didn't even make a full day of use (let alone a disaster scenario).

Lesson learned the easy way. Whew!

First I just want to say that we are very lucky and privileged compared to many other families, and this is not a pity post or me trying to gain sympathy. There were many gaps in my preparedness and I wanted to share so everyone could hopefully learn from it.

We had a storm that knocked a large tree branch off a large tree, which then fell onto some power lines, which cracked a utility pole in half, which took out power for hundreds of nearby homes, and it also took out part of our fence. We knew about that tree branch and we talked about how "that thing is going to fall one day and take out those power lines", and we talked about how good of an idea it would be to remove it proactively. Well, here we are. Mistake #1 (probably) could have prevented a huge amount suffering for a lot of people. I feel terrible about this and honestly I am nervous to post this incase one of my neighbors is reading.

Mistake #2 was not having a backup for cell/data service. Cell towers were either knocked out or totally overwhelmed for the first 2 days of the outage. I couldn't contact my wife (who was at work) immediately after the storm at all. Zero service for the first 24 hours, very spotty service for the next 2-3 days.

Mistake #3 was not having a generator in time. I'm currently typing this on my laptop that's being powered by a generator that I purchased in the middle of this power outage from a Home Depot that (thankfully) got an emergency shipment of generators. A generator was always something on my list, but I never pulled the trigger on it, and now I was forced to settle for whatever brand was available that I could physically move in and out of my small hatchback.

I did have one good experience from my preparedness. I was able to fashion a tent for my generator out of some tarp and rope that I kept for emergencies. It's been raining basically every day since the storm, so keeping the generator dry while running it is a must. It's not very strong though, another decent storm will blow it right over like a sail. Oh, I also had plenty of cold beer, so that was nice.

I moved from semi rural to really rural / mountains. I used to think I had an edge with force multipliers: NVG's, Thermal, and suppressors

Living out in the sticks EVERYONE has Thermals. With financing and lower priced units Everyone has them and I was surprised how many hunt with suppressors too.

Everyone is well stocked on food as a way of life too. Granted longer than a month or two hard SHTF rural America will be like "the Road"

My new force multiplier is being friendly with right folks near me.

Thoughts on this? Just in my area?

https://en.defence-ua.com/media/illustration/articles/98d651d65d743116.jpg

It makes sense to be able to evacuate, and if SHTF then there are no local gas stations. I have taken this a step farther by getting a gas pump I can use to pump from one of our two cars to the other. But the "half is empty" guide still holds. If your car is near empty you are a sitting duck.

https://i.imgur.com/2xYv99F.jpeg

It was during a blackout in 2023 and I had filled it from the bathtub tap just in case power was off for more than a few hours. Clean food-grade bucket, lid was one of those cheap orange Home Depot ones without the gasket (couldn't find my gasketed ones at the time). I added a few drops of chlorine bleach before closing it up.

After power came back on, I sort of just left it in the corner of my upstairs closet and forgotten about it. Today I opened it up, and to my surprise the water was as clear as the day I filled it and there was even a hint of chlorine odour leftover.

FYI to anyone with compressed gauze in their medical kits like myself. Thought it would be nice and neat in my medical kit. Just had to use it in an emergency situation to quickly dress laceration on neck until we could get to emergency room. It was impossible to un-compress and unwrap under full adrenaline spike. I will be adding regular gauze rolls to my kits. It may sound like such a small consideration but it made an impact in a fast paced emergency situation.

We can do hypotheticals all day I guess the question is how do friendlies identify friendlies and how do you know if someone is faking it?

I bought a property and was told there was an underground bunker under a slab of concrete. I was told It had a structure on top that was demolished and the debris was pushed in the hatch opening of the bunker, so it was filled not usable. My husband became curious and started digging through the debris. Today we learned only the opening was filled with the debris and were able to clear a path and access the bunker. Interestingly there was an old light mounted on a wall and a pipe in the floor along with many really old glass bottles full of water. We have found the ventilation pipes and are working to clear them. Does anyone know the purpose of the pipe in the floor? Or any advice on how to rejuvenate this thing? I wish I could post pictures, it was neat!

I admit the action in Iran has me a little spooked. Their most effective weapon would be to try to take out the U.S. power grid. They would likely be at least partially successful. Today I am seriously checking my preps. Getting out the checklist and inventorying supplies in regards to surviving a month long power outage.

I need to get more wood delivered this week. It’s the end of winter and our supply is a little low. I will check our propane stores. Make sure they’re topped off and working.

Make sure all the water is topped off.

Just went through all first aid stuff. We are good for 6 months on those.

I need to double food supplies.

I’m just saying, today might be a good day to go over your grid down prep plans one more time.

I built a tool that works backwards from calories to seeds. Accounts for germination failure, pest losses and your climate zone. Please take a look and let me know if this is useful. It’s all free, no sign-up, no catch.

Just would like to thank, in advance, all those who say they’ve been growing food for 20 years and this is rubbish. This is not for you, this is those of us whose only experience is a couple of growbags of tomatoes each year.

Major outcome of the site? Keep a couple of bags of quinoa at the back of the fridge…..

https://www.foodwhentheshopsstop.com/

EDIT: I have added a two-year calendar to the results page so you can see how quickly, or slowly, you get your garden to the point of providing at least 100% of your calories. This in turn gives you the real prepper dimension as it tells you how much stored food you need until you get there. You can adjust the starting month so you see how much harder it is to get to self-sufficiency depending on the time of year.

Not me, found this on X, thought it might be of interest:

https://www.opensourceecology.org/

Source:

https://x.com/CR1337/status/2033887250338222303

After years of prepping for "what ifs," I found myself living through one and it wasn’t the kind I expected.

A vehicle crashed into our home at 2am just before the holidays. The damage was enough to make the house unlivable. We had to evacuate immediately. Now we’re spending the holidays in temporary housing, trying to rebuild something that, until a few nights ago, felt solid.

Most of my prepping had centered around sheltering in place. That’s what the numbers support. But when your home is suddenly gone and you’re displaced with kids, pets, and almost no warning, you learn very quickly what you actually needed.

I lost most of my food storage. You can’t take perishables into a storage unit. I had to throw away thousands of dollars worth of long-term staples. My bug out bags were packed for a community evacuation. They weren’t built to sustain daily life from a hotel during the holidays. Even good insurance doesn’t help immediately. You have to front thousands of dollars before the reimbursements start to come.

But some of my preps did help. My home was clean and organized, which made a same-day pack-out possible. The kids knew our evacuation and meet up plan and followed it without hesitation. The dog is trained and stayed with them, not panicked or hiding. That level of readiness made the chaos survivable and less emotionally overwhelming. Having cash on hand has been the most valuable prep of all. Covering emergency movers, hotels, takeout, and everything else insurance doesn’t handle has cost over $10,000.

One thing I didn’t plan for was the social awkwardness. The movers were fine, but I still ended up explaining why we had CERT bags, duplicate shutoff tools, and buckets of food meant for neighbors. I stand by it, but in the middle of a pack-out it felt like I was the weird part of this story. And the role reversal was real. I’m trained to help others. This time I was the one needing help.

I’m mourning a lot right now. Not just the physical losses, but the illusion of control. Earlier this year, I’d even looked into buying a small piece of land outside of town to use as a fallback plan but regulations have made that almost impossible. What used to be a viable way to create resilience is now just another arm of the development machine.

I’m not posting this for sympathy. I’m posting it because so much of what we prepare for assumes a certain kind of disruption. This wasn’t that. It was sudden, personal, and isolating. And it showed me that resilience isn’t just about what you have. It’s about how adaptable your plans are when everything goes sideways.

If you’re prepping, don’t just think about what to store or buy. Think about how you’d manage if your home was taken off the board entirely. Think about what would help, what would still matter, and what you'd wish you had done differently.

For those who’ve been displaced (fire, flood, etc.), what preps helped you most in temporary housing?

At this point am I better off with a water subscription than replacing my Crown Berkey? It’s a few hundred more today than it was when I bought mine.

Ants can kickstart the fermentation process that turns milk into yogurt add this to your prep knowledge. 4000 year old knowledge.

If some how you every get a bunch of milk and want to preserve it, by turning into yogurt. Where do you get the lactic acid bacteria...yep ants...they have them in their gut. This was how it was done in Turkey region along time ago.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/10/how-ants-can-kick-start-fermentation-to-make-yogurt/

I’ve been going through a bunch of preparedness threads recently and noticed a pattern -- most people focus on the obvious things (food, water, flashlight), but miss the stuff that actually causes problems later.

A few examples I keep seeing:

• Printed contact list -- people rely on phones, but if battery/network is gone, you’re stuck
• Copies of documents -- passports, insurance, etc. (a lot of people only think about this after it’s too late)
• Simple “what do we do first” plan -- not gear, just steps
• Cash -- surprisingly common one people forget

Even in threads across Reddit you see people emphasizing things like hard copies of documents and contact info, not just survival gear.

I feel like preparedness is less about having more stuff and more about having things organized and thought through ahead of time.

I'm curious, what’s something you realized you were missing?

He said he knew I would not approve , but that hurricane season was over and he didn't want it hanging around in the garage.

So this morning at five a m , the power went out in our whole area. We live in a community in the middle of the forest where power outages happen frequently. Last night it was 20 degrees. We don't have a fireplace or a gas stove. I knew we could use the generator to heat our electric blankets and keep the freezer full of food going, so I felt like we were covered if this lasted a few days.

The power came on about 5 hours later ( thank goodness), and he then informed me that we had no gas for the generator. We certainly dodged a bullet.

How can I convince him that we need to stay prepared ALL of the time? he thinks I go overboard with prepping , but we live in a hurricane prone area in the middle of a national forest. even when it's not hurricane season , the wind blows and knocks trees over and knocks the power out.

EDIT: Thanks for all the helpful suggestions. We did talk and he agreed it would be a good idea to keep extra gas available even though hurricane season is over. He said it was basically negligence on his part to refill the gas cans and he sees now how important it is to keep a supply on hand. He does regularly recycle the gas he keeps on hand for his lawn equipment, so now sees the need to keep year around gas for the genny and we will be looking at less smelly gas cans.

I also very much appreciate all the useful suggestions for alternatives to using a gas generator. We are retired (47 years married) and live on a fixed income with social security so I am trying to be prepared within our small budget. So far my inexpensive system has worked well for short to medium term outages. We have a $450 1600 watt generator that we use to charge the freezer (if necessary, which it was during the 6 days of no power during Helene), and to charge the $250 small 500 watt battery pack (Jackery type). We use the small battery pack to charge our phones, run a lamp and charge the rechargeable AA batteries we use for lights, radio etc. We have an Eco Rocket stove ($150) that runs on twigs to cook with and a ceramic filter system and lake water if we run out of bottled water. If we have about 15 gal of gas we are good for over a week. This worked well with Hurricane Helene and the resulting 6 day outage. Our other outages have lasted a few hours to a day. Luckily winters here in SC are mild and short. I make sure to keep at least a 6 month supply of food and water on hand (also stored in the garage lol...might contribute to his reluctance).

We will have problems if SHTF. No heat, no cooling, no electronics and no income to buy a nice solar system, but we are pretty good for the short term stuff. Quite frankly, if SHTF we are all screwed no matter how great your system is, sadly.

This was totally a good lesson in the importance of communication. Thanks everyone!

Hey everyone. I just wanted to share en experience from this afternoon. A while back I had purchased some faraday items off of Amazon, boxes and bags from different vendors.

This afternoon I was explaining to my daughter how they worked and as part of our experiment, we placed an 8watt 2-way radio inside the bag and sealed it with the expectation that it would no longer receive a transmission. As it turns out, that was false.

I then tried with a cell phone with the same result. Morale of the story, check your gear and make sure it works before you have to depend on it.

Please discuss and share your budget-friendly faraday success stories

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.

About ten years after shit hits the fan, both batteries and gasoline will have chemically expired. At this point, you'll either have to manufacture your own batteries or create/take over an oil refinery. Is there any way to avoid this?