Do you have a bug out bag? Emergency food supply?

[carpenter]

My parents were both born in the early depression. So basically dirt poor. No shame in that. They taught
me and my brother, save money and have food in the house. Accumulate no debts that you can not pay off quickly.
Mostly common sense. Save for your retirement and get to be
where you want. Grow food and be happy. I stopped watching news 2 years ago.

 

[fjblair]

No bugout bag. If the SHTF so fast that I don't have time to prepare, then a bugout bag is not going to save me. If I were a fugitive or a criminal or such then it might make sense, but otherwise it's a bit silly.

 

[BigDaddyLH]

Watch the BBC world news, guys. I promise you won't be turned into a zombie.

 

[Toto'sDad]

Yes, the two of us are at an age when we remember the FCC Fairness Doctrine, and what it required went away in the 1980s. I will give it credit for a whole bunch of new sorts of media and broadcast stuff but now one doesn't get the net effect if they don't do something like read both the Wall St. Journal and NY Times for breakfast - read their news first, not the opinion and editorials.

Eventually, though not in my time, things will eventually sort themselves out. People will one day be turned toward things, and ideas that have solidarity about them. If for no other reason, they will become jaded with participating in the got to have it right now lifestyle that many have embraced. I try not to get too upset about things national, because I simply can't control anything but my own affairs, just taking care of them can be a full-time job.

 

[imwjl]

Eventually, though not in my time, things will eventually sort themselves out. People will one day be turned toward things, and ideas that have solidarity about them. If for no other reason, they will become jaded with participating in the got to have it right now lifestyle that many have embraced. I try not to get too upset about things national, because I simply can't control anything but my own affairs, just taking care of them can be a full-time job.

I'm a late age parent so that is help to see good stuff. Same for working where there are a lot of 16-30 year olds. A whole lot are better than many will think they are.

Something really important is the seeing not just our kids. Most are pretty darn great.

Watch the BBC world news, guys. I promise you won't be turned into a zombie.

Yes. I listen to more than watch. My morning habit is Wall St. Journal and some NY Times. For drive time and evening kitchen time BBC and NPR. News before opinion content. Some podcasts and The Economist streaming while I work or take a walk or hike.

There is just not a news problems with that. It can be news I don't like to read or hear but that is life.

I make periodic purposely have lunch in a break room or watch regular TV if in a hotel. From that I catch the garbage and punditry stuff that is horrible. Watching it in a break room is a scary illustration of how the adulterated news product manipulates people.

 

[screefer]

From that I catch the garbage and punditry stuff that is horrible.

Agreed but I don't begrudge those "news" cats as everyone's gotta make a living.

 

[Spox]

Three or four years ago The Guardian had a couple of articles on preppers featuring bearded guys in checked shirts and the general consensus of the comments under the articles was that these people were dangerous idiots. Jump forward to about eighteen months ago and it had articles with bearded guys in checked shirts who had converted their yurt or whatever into a survival bunker and the general consensus was that if you weren't following suit you hadn't been paying attention.

 

[blowtorch]

Three or four years ago The Guardian had a couple of articles on preppers featuring bearded guys in checked shirts and the general consensus of the comments under the articles was that these people were dangerous idiots. Jump forward to about eighteen months ago and it had articles with bearded guys in checked shirts who had converted their yurt or whatever into a survival bunker and the general consensus was that if you weren't following suit you hadn't been paying attention.

that's a cycle that repeats every few years or so

 

[imwjl]

Agreed but I don't begrudge those "news" cats as everyone's gotta make a living.

We (Homo sapiens) made a living before the FCC Fairness Doctrine was trashed in the 1980s.

 

[kuch]

just remember, no one's going to take care of you if/when the even part of the grid goes down for any reason.
Grid: power, water, supply chain, communications, banking, etc

It doesn't hurt to be prepared to take care of yourself and family for a couple of weeks in an emergency. Especially if you have kids.

take care

 

[darkwaters]

I still believe that this is an orchestrated shortage that is intended to raise prices and boost profits for energy producers and commodity traders. And there is enough in the emergency reserves to supplement what is available on the market.

I’ve always believed that, by and large, the world is run by idiots. It explains so, so much.

“Hanlon's razor is an adage or rule of thumb that states "never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." Known in several other forms, it is a philosophical razor that suggests a way of eliminating unlikely explanations for human behavior.”

 

[imwjl]

I’ve always believed that, by and large, the world is run by idiots. It explains so, so much.

“Hanlon's razor is an adage or rule of thumb that states "never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." Known in several other forms, it is a philosophical razor that suggests a way of eliminating unlikely explanations for human behavior.”

It was recent news that among Ford's challenges were running out of the adhesive badges affixed to vehicles for generations. It was concurrent with my hearing some associates complain about the waits for their pickups and a Bronco. All they could say or think about was from a conspiracy mindset. I asked if they considered stupidity as a problem and put the news of the back ordered badges up on screen.

 

[BigDaddyLH]

Three or four years ago The Guardian had a couple of articles on preppers featuring bearded guys in checked shirts and the general consensus of the comments under the articles was that these people were dangerous idiots. Jump forward to about eighteen months ago and it had articles with bearded guys in checked shirts who had converted their yurt or whatever into a survival bunker and the general consensus was that if you weren't following suit you hadn't been paying attention.

Note to self: prepare by growing beard and stocking up on plaid.

 

[THX1123]

I used to have one. Now my plan is to quietly take them from all the Mr. Tacti-Cools while they argue about whatever nonsense they believe.

 

[imwjl]

Three or four years ago The Guardian had a couple of articles on preppers featuring bearded guys in checked shirts and the general consensus of the comments under the articles was that these people were dangerous idiots. Jump forward to about eighteen months ago and it had articles with bearded guys in checked shirts who had converted their yurt or whatever into a survival bunker and the general consensus was that if you weren't following suit you hadn't been paying attention.

Note to self: prepare by growing beard and stocking up on plaid.

I was going to point out the importance of fitness. Most I know into prepping and paranoid thought are not active, nimble and strong in important ways. Within a mile of my home we've had floods, tornado, and an active/mass shooter incident that actually proved how pathetic the type is much like the ones who joined our biathlon program to find out they are not really so good with guns.

When the floods stranded our neighborhood there were bizarre and now hilarious moments when the big pickup truck dudes were stranded by the deep water and the people helping each other and making most progress ignored the two homes where fools were standing there with automatic weapons. The people with some basic fitness waded and carried bicycles out. Flooded gas stations and some bridges out were not good for the pickup truck dudes once they could get out.

Now for some humor on plaid and yurts - long popular in upper Midwest, especially Michigan's UP, and a few yurts are the base area for Mount Bohemia. Your key survival skills at Boho are again, some fitness, don't hit a tree, and pace your partying.

The YouTube Mount Bohemia TV episodes I've posted are some serious plaid, yurt, survival and some prep needed.

 

[Kev-wilson]

I don't have a bug out bag but have a month worth of insulin in the fridge and a months worth of glucose tablets stashed everywhere I'm likely to be and enough basic dry food to last a week so I'm good to go

 

[trandy9850]

Bug out bag? Not exactly.

But we do have a remote cabin with enough food, water (and a water source on the property), firewood, and medicinal supplies to last at least a year.

Suffice to say it's a "3 gun" arrangement also...rifle, shotgun, and pistol....with sufficient ammunition.

I'm not a prepper...but I am a realist.

 

[imwjl]

Bug out bag? Not exactly.

But we do have a remote cabin with enough food, water (and a water source on the property), firewood, and medicinal supplies to last at least a year.

Suffice to say it's a "3 gun" arrangement also...rifle, shotgun, and pistol....with sufficient ammunition.

I'm not a prepper...but I am a realist.

Thinking about our cabin, its well, our pantries, I'd still say that's your title for what has become known as a prepper or prepping.

Having experienced unusual things in both places, I would still value our main home more than the cabin if only for the concentration of people that are smarter and more capable, and other resources and factors. For any sort of prolonged problems also considered survivable, I'd go where you know health care, distribution, utilities and other things are managed better.

I also consider being raised by people who escaped the czar's army and Hitler plus still having more distant family in Ukraine right now. Brain power and managing fear proved to be the right tools then and now.

 

[sloppychops]

The more I think about it, the more I find there's no way to put everything I'd need into a bugout bag. I don't even know where I'd go with it.

In a worst case scenario, the last place I'd want to be is in a car on roads full of desperate people trying to get somewhere. There'd be no power, right? So every intersection would be a chaotic free-for-all. I can't even stand rush hour traffic, so no way would I want to go anywhere with car-to-car combat raging. And when you inevitably run out of gas, what then?

Well, then you walk, right?

Thing is, if you're going anywhere on foot, with a big pack full of survival gear, it won't be long before you're attacked by a mob and have everything stolen.

Maybe you can pull out a gun and shoot your way out? Well, not if they've got guns on you first.

So, hunker down in place seems the best option. I'm about 10 feet from a nature conservancy with acres of tall cattails, and if there's house-to-house looting I guess I could go hide out there. If I were really serious about this, I'd scope out a spot and stash a cache of food and supplies there.

I guess I'm not all that concerned about a full-scale societal collapse happening. I just want to be prepared to survive a couple weeks hunkering down in place.

 

[Larry F]

In the zombie movies, people who have stores of food, have it stolen in the first half hour.