How prepared are you for a disaster?

[zelticgar]

Just got a new generator for the house. It got me thinking about how well prepared my family is if we ever needed to survive.  Figure if anything crazy happens, war, natural disaster, terrorist attack... I'm covered for about a month with the food and water situation. Anyone else ever think about survival preparedness? 

[lessthanluke]

Not a single bottle of water in the house so would not last very long.

[MercenaryChef]

but out bag at home, in the car, my personal backpack stocked as well.

enough food and water to last 6 adults 6 months. 

three tactical .223 rifles with 12 30 round clips each.

[zelticgar]

I need to upgrade my self defense system. I have some bad ass hiking knives but no guns. I keep thinking about getting a hunting rifle but I always spend money on new backpacking gear. Where do you store your food stash MC? 

[Dr. Pepper]

I was just thinking about this the other day.  Nothing, I pretty much have nothing but a couple bottles of water.  We had a boil water advisory a few weeks ago and we were so unprepared.  I drove an hour just to find some bottled water.  We have some canned foods, but not much as we mostly eat fresh stuff or occasionally frozen.  I used to keep a small disaster bag of basics, but now I barely have a basic first aid kit.  This is a time when I probably should be prepared considering tiny hand Donnie is in charge, but I just can't bring myself to get it done.

55 minutes ago, MercurialCannibal said:

but out bag at home, in the car, my personal backpack stocked as well.

enough food and water to last 6 adults 6 months. 

three tactical .223 rifles with 12 30 round clips each.

Are you for real?  In DC?

[zelticgar]

Dr Pepper - I always have a few backpacking water filters around just in case. They are pretty cheap and useful for any fresh water source. 

[Dr. Pepper]

6 minutes ago, zelticgar said:

Dr Pepper - I always have a few backpacking water filters around just in case. They are pretty cheap and useful for any fresh water source. 

What kind do you recommend?

[zelticgar]

Sawyer Squeeze or the Katadyn water filter are the two most commonly used filters on the AT. 

[Kelli Fury]

I live across the street from the nations largest natural foods Co-op. My survival plan is just looting.

[drawkcabi]

Always have bottles of water around, also have frozen water and a lot of frozen blocks in the freezer. If power goes out for a few days, if it's not 80 degree or above weather we're ok. If it is, or any other kind of disaster we're screwed.

[kairparavel]

1 hour ago, MercurialCannibal said:

but out bag at home, in the car, my personal backpack stocked as well.

enough food and water to last 6 adults 6 months. 

three tactical .223 rifles with 12 30 round clips each.

I see. 

 

@Dr. Pepper Not at all. He and I have discussed the need for basic prep supplies in our spare knapsacks - water, flashlight, batteries, first aid kit and extra clothes, cash etc but we've never actually gotten around to it. And we don't own any firearms to this point.

[zelticgar]

1 minute ago, drawkcabi said:

Always have bottles of water around, also have frozen water and a lot of frozen blocks in the freezer. If power goes out for a few days, if it's not 80 degree or above weather we're ok. If it is, or any other kind of disaster we're screwed.

I think about scenarios like in PR or Katrina. Some scenario where power and support is gone for over 2 weeks. I think most people are not ready to survive with reasonable comfort in those cases. For the most part I think I am ready to support the family in most weather conditions with food, heat and shelter regardless of whether was are in the house in Mass or Maine. I do need to get serious about buying a firearm soon though. Thats on my 2018 bucket list. 

 

[Dr. Pepper]

Our wifi went out for ten minutes.  Even the hotspot wasn't available.  The panic I felt was comical.  My mental preparedness is obviously terrible.  Anyone relate?

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

2 hours ago, MercurialCannibal said:

but out bag at home, in the car, my personal backpack stocked as well.

enough food and water to last 6 adults 6 months. 

three tactical .223 rifles with 12 30 round clips each.

DAYUM! Mercurial, yet prepared. 

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

9 minutes ago, Dr. Pepper said:

Our wifi went out for ten minutes.  Even the hotspot wasn't available.  The panic I felt was comical.  My preparedness is obviously terrible.  Anyone relate?

Yeah, I'd be dead inside a week. If it were not for breakfast cereal and milk, I couldn't feed myself. Not real fond of grub worms or grasshoppers. It would be a real short trip for me.

[Free Northman Reborn]

Chickens are the answer. I don't have any, but they just seem like a miracle food source. Three hens will give you 2 high protein eggs a day, between them. So that's 14 eggs a week. Seems like they eat bugs and stuff (if your stock of seed or whatever you are supposed to feed them runs out).

I reckon a dozen chickens (before the edit I said two dozen, but it seems even a dozen will be plenty) will feed a family for a long, long time, providing both eggs and meat. From googling it seems it takes around 8 weeks from hatching to get a chicken to a nice fat slaughter weight. Add a vegetable garden and a water source and you might just be set to sustain yourself through the apocalypse.

[Kalbear]

Chickens aren't nearly as good as goats. Goats eat a ton of different food, are easier to care for, produce milk and do so with reasonably low food consumption relative to cows and pigs and chickens. 

Also, I've watched like 7 seasons of Walking Dead so I figure I'm good

[Free Northman Reborn]

15 minutes ago, Kalbear said:

Chickens aren't nearly as good as goats. Goats eat a ton of different food, are easier to care for, produce milk and do so with reasonably low food consumption relative to cows and pigs and chickens. 

Also, I've watched like 7 seasons of Walking Dead so I figure I'm good

Haha. I must say, I know nothing about goats. I've never eaten goat meat or drunk goat milk. But I've eaten plenty of eggs and lots of chicken. And I like it.

Goat doesn't have the same appeal. But if it is the natural food producing factory as per your description above, then I guess one would have to consider it.

[Kalbear]

Goats also have the advantage that they can be used somewhat as pack/burden animals; they pull sleds and the like, or can be taught to. 

And two eggs is really nothing compared to half a gallon of milk every day, as far as food goes. 

My wife was a goat farmer and breeder, knows a ton about farming and agriculture and husbandry, and can shoot. My disaster plan is making her so happy with me that she'll want to keep me alive.

[drawkcabi]

2 hours ago, zelticgar said:

I think about scenarios like in PR or Katrina. Some scenario where power and support is gone for over 2 weeks. I think most people are not ready to survive with reasonable comfort in those cases. For the most part I think I am ready to support the family in most weather conditions with food, heat and shelter regardless of whether was are in the house in Mass or Maine. I do need to get serious about buying a firearm soon though. Thats on my 2018 bucket list. 

 

We don't even have a working car atm. We are seriously screwed for anything more than a few days of no power. Not only that, we lose our water when we lose our power here. In my old home we were on well water, we lost power there we still had water, as long as we had gas we had hot water.

If it's a disaster on a scale of lasting more than a few days but is not the apocalypse the best plan we have is find a way to bug out to a shelter/hotel. If it is the apocalypse and the first few hours don't take us out then the plan is use our firearm to take us out of the equation, let the better prepared survivors have whatever resources we would have used.