"Prepper" mom prepares for sudden economic loss

KTAR ^ | 7/29/11 | Bob McClay

[Kartographer]

One Valley "prepper" is stocking up on food for her family even though she isn't worried about the world ending in 2012.

Lisa Bedford is a prepper. She stockpiles food and supplies for something that "could" happen like the loss of a job or the economy getting worse.

Lisa Bedford thinks it's foolish for people to prepare for a certain doomsday date. "Y2K still haunts people who wasted a lot of money getting ready for one day. And when they discovered the morning after that nothing severe had happened, they felt foolish. They had wasted a lot of money."

[Indy Pendance]

Chill out. I wasn’t being mean. Sorry I didn’t ‘get’ your comment.

[papertyger]

Gee whiz...remind me to leave you off my giggles list.

Sheesh!

[Kartographer]

How about we nail the scavanger’s body up and then hang a quarantine sign around his neck? The best of both worlds.

[papertyger]

You’re nothing if not flexible, K!

[Freedom56v2]

great find :)

[Ellendra]

Sorry, it’s sometimes hard to tell when someone’s joking or not when all there is is text.

[expatguy]

The day is getting closer. I'm watching the dollar drop each and every day over here.

An American Expat in Southeast Asia

[Indy Pendance]

LOL! I’ve thought of that! No entry, typhoid, or something similar! We’ve got the bullets, but ecoli would be more effective.

[Noumenon]

Besides holding up the gates, that’s why we have a log standard over our driveway entrance. String the bodies from the crosspiece with the attached sign: “Steal here, Die here.”

[papertyger]

That's so messy.

I think we've all settled on shooting a bunch of quarantine signs, and hanging them!

[30Moves]

I have “soup” bags too - all dehydrated. One head of cabbage, 4 carrots, celery and onions. If you cut up beef jerky into a pot of water and add the mix - soup!

[Ladysforest]

Here is one:

https://www.usaemergencysupply.com/information_center/packing_your_own_food_storage/packing_with_oxygen_absorbers.htm

And you can find some reasonable deals on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_7_27?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=mylar+bags+for+food+storage&sprefix=mylar+bags+for+food+storage

[Indy Pendance]

Thanks for the links, really great info!

[Ladysforest]

When I do the mylar packs, I set up my ironing board, put a wooden cutting board on it, get all my mylar bags filled, then as quick as I can I give each an absorber and place the open top of the bag on the cutting board, and just iron across to seal it up.

However, you can also use glass jars, maybe for dried beans, and just sterilize the jars, let them dry thoroughly, fill 2/3 -3/4 full, pop in an ox. absorber, screw on a sterilized lid. The absorber will suck up the oxygen which seals the lid. Keep in a dark cool location. Great for smaller jobs.

[library user]

Someone does it. Costco sells a 4-person 1-year supply of freeze-dried food for $3000. They wouldn't keep offering it if people weren't buying.

Dessert:

6 - Fudge Brownies (75 servings per can/450 total servings).

So... considering there's 365 days in a year, a FAMILY OF FOUR would have to SPLIT ONE BROWNIE FOUR WAYS every day? Very misleading ad.

[PLMerite]

“JMHO, you shouldn’t be advertising that you are “prepping”.”

First Rule of Prep Club: Don’t talk about Prep Club.

[PLMerite]

“We’ll never know how bad Y2K would have been, if there had been no preparation for it. Many billions were spent upgrading or replacing legacy systems. Perhaps, not all of it was wasted.”

I’ve always wondered about that. I’m sure some places on the planet weren’t able to upgrade. Did anything bad actually happen anywhere on the planet due to Y2K?

[Indy Pendance]

I use my jars for short term storage. Vacuum pack, short term, mylar bags are for long term. Oxygen packs are ‘normal’. We are doing the same prepping procedures you are. Isn’t it fun to hook up with someone that’s on the same page? We aren’t kooks, we’re preppers! And someday, we’ll not be kooks. When TSHTF, we’ll be heros. But, only some will know it. The takers will be lost. I can’t wait for the day the takers are doomed.

[Ladysforest]

LOL, “survival” food. Basic bare minimum calories, etc. So, sharing a brownie? Guess it’s better than no brownie at all.

Survival prep and “prepper” prep are not the same.

Those survival kits sell out fast though. I’ll bet a “one year” kit for four would only last them 8 - 9 months if they didn’t commit to ration carefully. Those would be OK for a busy family to lay in “just in case” of a real emergency. So much smarter than doing nothing.

Heck, we know that not everyone can make the commitment to going old school even using new options and technology.

I’m creeping up on pressure canning so slowly that it’s downright comic - but most people don’t even have that option. Geeze, it’s been a b**ch sometimes just to get my bread made since I committed to my “homemade only” bread experiment six months ago.

I now have a good sense of what even such a small change means in real terms of the convenience we are accustomed to.

[Stentor]

I’m creeping up on pressure canning so slowly that it’s downright comic - but most people don’t even have that option.

The Ball jars filled with chicken, beef and pork are increasing in the basement so quickly that I need a new shelf. I have told everyone that I'll eat it and they can have the commercially canned hams, beef and chicken.