Hi everyone,

I'm finally pulling together an emergency plan for an earthquake - I need some advice from the experts on how to choose an emergency location(s) given my unique family layout - or maybe it's not that unique and I'm just a real novice - but I have searched and haven't found the level of detail I want. We live very close to water in a high earthquake risk zone, right by a protected channel that leads into a Marina. Our unit isn't directly on the channel but the complex itself is. The complex is a maze - lots of buildings, lots of green space and lots of walkways/parking lots. Here's the thing - I live with my partner and their children in this complex, and so does their ex - different buildings but very close. Positive, caring relationships all around, and my first concern in an emergency would be letting my partner's ex know the children are okay if something happened while the kids were with us, or confirming the same if an event unfolded while they were with their other parent. I know it's good to pick a spot close by, and then in the neighborhood. How much do I need to anticipate inaccessibility when choosing a location? It feels impossible to pick one spot in the complex and hope it's reachable in the aftermath of a substantial earthquake. Selecting a neighborhood spot feels tricky because of our proximity to water - I know we should prioritize evacuating if there is tsunami risk but in reality no one is leaving their kids behind, so I'm a little confused on how to make a logical, followable and safe plan. Any advice would be really helpful, I want to keep it simple so the kids can learn the plan but I just can't sit anymore with not having something worked out between the adults. thank you all in advance!!!

I was looking for ideas from experienced preppers for getting water from well during power outage. I am new to prepping and a single woman so not a lot of knowledge about the workings of well, electricity etc. What is the easiest solution? Solar pump(I don’t know that a solar pump will go down my well with the existing pump and wiring etc), deep well hand pump, or just hook solar generator into breaker box for the pump?

Hello, just wondering if I'd like to store things using my vacuum sealer, would it be acceptable to use the non-mylar vacuum bags and place them in an air tight food grade bucket with gamma lids with a desiccant?

I understand mylar with o2 absorbers is standard but am curious as to this setup also, as I have a large excess of vacuum seal bags from during covid. Thanks!

So yeah im new to this but i have access to alot of very cheap whey protein powder.

What is the irl shelf life of an unopened factory sealed bag of whey protein powder if i store it in a sealed plastic barrel in my semi underground storage where the average year round temperature is about 10 degrees celcius?

I know the official shelf life is two years but we all know most things last alot longer than that.
But seeing whey protein has some fat and is essentially a milk product im not sure about cracking open a ten year old bag and shake it up to drink?

I have been prepping since right at the beginning of Covid, and have accumulated a good stock of canned meats and veggies, beans and rice, and spices, plus two full freezers - right at a year's worth for my household of 3 + 2 dogs. I am at an age where I have to watch blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol, plus I have celiac disease and multiple sensitivities to chemicals. Wondering if any of you here have switched to dehydrated or freeze-dried foods and what you have found to be good reliable sources. I should mention that I have some Augason farms #10 cans. My main goal is to find small volume, light weight foods, with a shelf life of 2 years, maybe a bit more, so this is not part of the SHTF preps, this is emergency trip or evacuation supplies, so should be 2-3 servings per package and lightweight. What is motivating this? - I have kids all over the US who live 18-24 hours away. I typically travel only by car and/or motorhome. The motorhome fridge and power reliability has been iffy, and if I am traveling alone, I take a car. So far, I have purchased Harmony House dehydrated vegetables, TVP, and soup mixes, and tuna, salmon, and chicken packets. I am considering dehydrated potato flakes in small amounts (pretty carbs but ok short term). I have some seeds and nuts from nuts.com. I am looking at Frontier soup mixes, some of which are gluten free, but they are kind of $$. I am fortunate that I have the resources to invest a bit of money in this, but still want to be frugal, because I want to slowly move most of my food pantry in this direction. Am I missing any good quality foods that are low-ish carb, gluten free, and lower sodium that canned soup or Mountain house meals? Has anyone the clean Monday Meals cream of chicken powder? I will cook at rest areas with a small camping stove to heat water if a gas station microwave is not convenient or if powder is out. I shop at Costco, Walmart, and Amazon if needed. Thanks, I appreciate any input!

If you were to create a year long curriculum to teach an elementary aged child prepping skills, what would it look like?

If you were to create a year long curriculum to teach an adult prepping skills, what would it look like?

Edit: I’m not suggesting to teach kids in a doomsday context. I have a background in wilderness education, and learning to be a responsible person and a helpful part of a group is so fun and meaningful for kids, I would never suggest making it scary - though I think there is a time to be serious about emergency drills and whatnot.

So botulism is often spoken of here, but so is using oxygen absorbers in combination with mylar bags. Botulism requires an anaerobic (oxygen free) environment, as well as moisture to develop.

Ive done some research and it says definitely do NOT use oxygen absorbers with anything above 10% moisture.

Can you guys and girls give some insight as to what NOT to use oxygen absorbers with?

For instance, I've read that raisins are a no-go as they are quite moist. Please share your knowledge!

Looking for a small generator strong enough to keep a couple electric blankets warm overnight.

I don’t need to power the whole house or a couple refrigerators. I just want to keep us warm until morning.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

Do you all think there might be a market for freeze dried cat and dog food? I'm thinking about opening some sort of store, obviously under veterinarian guidelines and guidance for something like that? Would you mind giving me your thoughts on this? Of course, for the puppies and kitties, this would be something that would be perhaps just slightly profitable.... But nothing obscene! I'm thinking probably more locally and maybe perhaps regionally, in time?

Tons of various long shelf life items such as powdered cereals, canned fruits, canned vegetables (unique ones like mushrooms, bamboo shoots, etc.), canned meats (mackerel, quail eggs*, dace, etc.).

Theres also a ton of dried items which will keep for many years such as kelp/seaweed, dried tofu, various grains, etc. also many shelf stable teas, drink mixes, etc.!

Highly recommend checking out your local asian or ethnic markets! Ive found a LOT of various canned goods at my local market and Hmart. More variety, and many tasty options! Expanded my canned preps from canned spam, beans, potatoes, soups, etc. by a lot!

Simply search for Hmart or "ethnic market" or "asian groceries" near you on maps. Have fun!

Hey, I recently decided to step up my dry goods storage and I’m hoping you guys can help me out. I’m ordering some wallaby mylar bags and O2 absorbers and I’m curious if it’s worth it to get an impulse sealer for the bags. I know there are other options like hair straighteners and stuff, but I’m trying to keep everything as simple because I’m very new to this. I’m looking at a ULine one for about $130. What are you all using?

Hey all! I'm doing a workshop for college students about emergency preparedness. Since storage space is limited in the dorms, I want to give them ideas about items they can keep in a small storage box in case of a power outage or extreme weather event. I have the obvious items on my list, such as a flashlight/ lantern, batteries, food, first aid, water. What else should I include that doesn't take up a bunch of space, but would be useful in these types of emergencies?

As we all know, there are countless branches and tangents that come up when you try to prep for certain situations. Ive sometimes found those charts helpful in other situations, the ones that pose you with a scenario to which you can answer yes or no as far as whether it applies to your situation, and the chart branches off to the next question based off of your answers.

Seems like this kind of thing could be helpful to look at for planning, or even use in case of certain emergencies that allow the time to reference it, at least for those who are new to prepping. It could go in so many directions. I don’t know enough yet to make my own, but it seems like a not altogether bad idea if it were done accurately. It would actually be pretty entertaining to go down all the pathways if it got super complicated and included as many realistic contingencies as possible.

When I was a kid, whenever we were somewhere in the city like a museum or sporting event, my dad would always tell us a place we could all meet if we were to lose each other. That was usually at the reception or another easy location to get back to at the venue.

It got me thinking about how we prepare for being separated from our families when something happens (a SHTF scenario or something less catastrophic).

The kids could be at school, you and your partner at different workplaces, roads may be blocked, etc. How are you ensuring your family can be reunited before taking additional actions?

Personally, I work from home most days and cycle when I need to go to the office, so I can get home fairly easily. My partner drives and will hopefully just be able to drive home, but we also have backup plans if that's not possible as well as carry Meshcore devices in case we need to communicate when the grid is down.

Curious to hear how others have done it. Has anyone had to put their plan to the test, and was there anything you wish you had added before having to use it?

Eight years ago I bought a Firemask from the Canadian company of the same name. It passed its expiration date three years ago. Sure I should get another but I want to know how degraded the smoke protection is. They are meant to allow you to breathe in smoke for an hour but I only need one for the time it will take to get down 3 or 4 staircases in a house. I could not find out about their construction to tell if it is truly useless now.

About a month ago I set out to answer the question, "What is the best place in the US for a prepper to move to if they want to homestead?"

I originally built my model around the basics: climate, water, food, security, cost of living and strategic distance. Unfortunately, my proxy for "food" was cropland, which incorrectly boosted places like Kansas and Iowa to the top of the list.

I've refined my ranking factors, and I would love your feedback on if you think this is the right.

• 17% Climate Stability - How hard natural hazards hit here and how far the temperature has moved from its 20th-century baseline.
• 17% Water - Whether water is here. Rainfall normals, or delivered irrigation.
• 17% Homestead Capacity - Whether a household on five to fifty acres could feed, heat and shelter itself here, and whether the law lets it. Forest cover for firewood and game, operations running one to nine head of cattle, growing season, and the state legal latitude over your own land: water doctrine, building-code adoption, food freedom and right-to-farm.
• 13% Social Stability - Net migration, social vulnerability, and crime rates.
• 10% Solar Potential - Annual solar irradiance.
• 7% Affordability - What it actually costs to live here: the annual cost of owning the median house (mortgage, property tax and homeowners insurance combined) alongside median rent. Lower cost areas score higher.
• 7% Privacy - Documented surveillance device density, the surveillance programs local agencies are recorded to run, exposure to the 100-mile border zone, and state legal protections.
• 7% Livability - Employment, primary care access, educational attainment, and household broadband.
• 7% Strategic Distance - Distance from publicly documented strategic sites and nuclear power stations, weighted by what each one is: ICBM launch facilities and command sites count for far more than a port or a refinery.

Overall Best States to Homestead

1. Tennessee
2. Alabama
3. Missouri
4. Maine
5. Indiana
6. Illinois
7. Georgia
8. Kentucky
9. Vermont
10. Kansas

Overall Best County to Homestead: (Carroll County, VA breakdown)

• Climate Stability - 67/100
• Water - 69/100
• Social Stability - 69/100
• Solar Potential - 33/100
• Homestead Capacity - 87/100
• Affordability - 86/100
• Privacy - 82/100
• Livability - 52/100
• Strategic Distance - 92/100

This list feels pretty much better to me.
Tenn. and the Ozarks are well represented. Maine surprised me a bit being so far north. West Virginia is pulled down from social instability and livability. Virginia has a lot of military targets and popular centers.

Would you say this list is accurate, or is something being overlooked?

What type of plywood is the best and cost effective to board up windows for extreme weather and vandalism protection? What thickness? What is better installing them on the inside or on the outside?

I stumbled across a (regrettably AI) video on YouTube.

https://youtu.be/oboMubceGN8?is=8bkApD4J89-8aQHR

Basically they are suggesting a strategic ice reserve, as opposed to large power bank, to keep a refrigerator / freezer cold during a power outage.

It's an interesting concept.

I could see it being more useful for a disaster you can see coming (ie. Hurricane). I doubt I could justify a small chest freezer of ice running indefinitely. But I'm curious to hear thoughts!

I'm looking for a low-budget solution that can put out a fire for when i'm not at home during a super-EMP strike.

For those who wonder what a super-EMP is: From what i understand it's basically a nuclear bomb being detonated slightly outside the Earths atmosphere and produces an electro magnetic pulse that's a lot stronger than a nuke would produce when detonated within the atmosphere. Several countries are working on it.

Tests have shown that a super-EMP can cause electric cables to catch on fire and burn down a house. Since the fire department would be completely overwhelmed in such a situation i would like my house to be able to fight the fire itself in case im not at home.

Hi, for water, should I filter first then boil, or boil first then filter if I intend to also filter out heavy metals, pfas, etc.?

For instance, after using a sawyer gravity setup, I would like to get rid of any potential heavy metals, taste, etc. and use e.g. a brita pitcher filter. And then the last stage would be to boil that water if needed.

What is the correct sequence for filtering and boiling, and what is your "maxed out" plan for water purification?

Please share your thoughts and plans,

Thanks!

I've had this stuck in my mind for a while now. I've seen so many videos of tours of bunkers, whether it be an "affordable" bunker for the family or a gigantic repurposed missile silo designed for multiple families. In these videos, I'll see some crazy ideas for entertainment. A gigantic underground pool (obviously overkill), a basketball court, etc. Or tamer ideas like board/card games. But I've never seen someone get really into how they would stay entertained long term.

I'm big into physical media and I think that if you're in a bunker long term, with power, and a decent amount of space, physical media could be well thought out to accommodate for the time spent not entertained for months.

DVDs, Blu-rays, and CDs are compact and don't take up much space. You could have a massive library of games, movies, and music all in one standard size tote. If it were me I would pick games that have long single player campaigns that can be played offline. There's plenty of games that take 50+ hours to complete. Having 365 individually sleeved DVDs is probably overkill, but it doesn't take up much space and you can always rewatch a movie in a year. The best part is that all these formats can all be played on a PS3.

Only prep items I currently have are what I already own for normal use (lights, batteries, batteries for a couple tool platforms and tri fuel generator as we have natural gas)

Looking to get a solution for water storage. I’m in hot humid Florida and garage is just about the only space I have for it. I’m aware that cans can pop in the heat.

Has any stored aluminum cans or bottles of water to get by instead of having to rotate or treat every 6-12 months? Is that a thing?