I have most of these articles on the list. There won’t be children here so I don’t have those items for child play. I have comments about some of the items:
I see “ Small cooler that can be plugged in to solar power.” I don’t know about this and wonder if any of you have this? I will surely find one if they are made, and get one as I have no refrigeration for a long time emergency. I have a 20 watt solar panel with charger for all size batteries and it also has a female cigarette lighter plug to charge devices such as I-pads, phones and my Kindle – I’m putting books on my Kindle so I will have plenty to read if I have no power. The cooler may need more than 20 watts to work. If you have such a cooler, tell me where to find it. If I get no replies on this thread, I’ll search for it on the web.
Toilet paper: I got a $20 gift certificate for Christmas and I see $20 worth of more toilet paper in the near future.
Mountain House (or other) dehydrated ice cream: Say, what? Never heard of this – would expect some kind of freezing would be necessary and I won’t have that but I’ll check it out.
Gloves: Each of my bug out backpacks came with a pair of leather work gloves. Also got burn resistant gloves that come up to the elbow to wear when dealing with an open fire and skillets/pots. Also got a pair of gloves that looks like insulated rubber to carry hot meat like a turkey or chicken.
Fishing equipment: I’ve mentioned this before. Got Shakespeare women’s rod and reel with tackle box of lures. Rod and reel is pink so men won’t use it.
Long underwear: Years ago I did this – got silk long underwear and long sleeve top. I read silk is the best insulation for long underwear.
Candles: I didn’t make them – have enough jar candles for light at night for a year.
Spices: Very important, especially if you have gobs of dried beans. I have numerous spices so the beans won’t taste the same meal after meal. Also have Italian spices for meat sauce or other sauce with spaghetti. I got those spices in long term packing from Walton ‘cause I’ve got lots of spaghetti and wanted the spices to stay “fresh”.
Coffee: I don’t care what he says, coffee is a necessity. Have large cans of it.
Sewing kit: My mother sewed all my clothes and I learned from her, but she sent me to a summer sewing class given by Singer when I was in high school. I have two sewing boxes with every kind of thread, including upholstery thread and upholstery curved needles and the regular threads are of all colors and have plenty of various needles. I can also crochet due to my mother teaching me that as she crocheted all the time. I have a crocheted bed spread she made at night waiting for me to come home from wherever I was. I must have gone a lot of places to have a whole bedspread.
Fresh sheets and blankets: I have a zillion sheets collected through the years and almost threw them away a few months ago. Then, I thought about bandages and arm slings and holding up a wounded leg, and chest/body wraps, and I’m keeping plenty of those sheets. I’ll stick them in the back of a walk in closet and have plenty of bandages, etc., I can cut from those sheets. Always think of an emergency use for items before you throw something away.
Short wave radio receiver with rechargeable batteries: When Hussein’s government had an emergency drill, telling us our TV and radios would be shut off by him as a practice run “in case we have a country wide emergency”, I thought he just took my TV and radios away from me. I was furious. So, I bought a short wave radio receiver so I can get news from ham radio operators. Screw Hussein.
Kid pool: I have two plastic kiddie pools to put on an outside deck to capture rainwater.
Alcohol, the drinking kind: I don’t have this. I can’t decide what to get and don’t want to spend a fortune.
Hard Candy: I don’t have it but it’s not a problem to get it.
Magazines: I have numerous copies of American Rifleman from the NRA that I haven’t read. I looked through a recent one several days ago and found the new red laser made for my Ruger and it wasn’t expensive. Now, I have that. Wouldn’t have known about it if I hadn’t had that magazine. Other reading material is on my Kindle.
Rope: At one time, I had no rope, so I bought Paracord and that is very strong rope. Take the strands apart if you need to use it that way.
Solar shower: I use camp showers and the latest ones I got have a temperature gauge on them – put one in the sun, you can see the temp. of the water and when it’s where you want it, take a hot shower. I have camp showers to have running water at the kitchen sink, bathroom sinks, and the shower. The other bathroom has a tub, not a shower, so that is where I will put the food grade Waterbob that holds 100 gallons of good water from the tub faucet.
I know I will lose power the next time a hurricane comes through here and Ike was the last one. My preps are to make my life better when power goes away for any reason. I prep because it would be stupid not to as I know I will need these preps.
President Hussein has mega preps to keep him and his family alive. I am “more” important than he is and so are you. We paid for his preps and we pay for our own. Anyone who knocks preppers can go to the White House instead and complain they used his/her money to prep and no one needs to prepare as nothing is going to happen and he/she wants the money back.
But yes, they work.
/johnny
I'm somewhat colorblind, and not self consious at all, so yep. I'd use the rod and reel. Heck, I've shot a pink rifle. ;)
/johnny
Coffee is a necessity. I load up at every sale. I also like the coffee with chicory. Since I have plenty of Chicory growing, I plan to dry the roots and make the coffee last longer that way too.
Now that I have successfully grown a lemon tree indoors and harvested the wonderful fruit, I plan to experiment with a coffee plant. We are planning to have a greenhouse/solar room attached to the house to expand my indoor gardening area and gardening supply storage area.
Hubby can build it once I have the design. I am still reading and sketching. If SHTF too soon, it is not a necessity, as we can continue what we are doing indoors. Our winter wheat is doing well outdoors, and we have plenty from last year’s crop to keep going till the new harvest.
Funny thing about pink. I bought a pink thermos for the same reason. Every time I had a thermos, it disappeared and was eventually inadvertantly left on the job. I knew Hubby would not take a pink thermos to work.
I was wondering what sort of emergency would require a blackout of all other stations? An interruption to switch to the Emergency Broadcast System which has been tested as long as I can remember is one thing, but you’re right, If can block it, they don’t have to turn it back on.
We are finding bulk spices at the Asian Markets when we go to St. Louis so much cheaper than our local stores, we have quite a lot of those, except for the ones I grow myself.
Lots of spices are easy to grow and dry yourself, and for some I prefer to have fresh, so I grow them in little pots year round.
One small point on that: I have a high-performance portable receiver (Degen 1103). It is super sensitive with terrific selectivity yet eats batteries, as most electronics with a power-hungry CPU will do. I'd be surprised if a freshly charged 2800 mah set of Nimh batteries will run it for a full 24 hours. So just the other day I ordered a new but old-fashioned analog-type portable, also from Degen/Kaito. Won't match the performance, but they say it lasts months on a (smaller) set of batteries.
Yes, I have the solar chargers, gasoline and diesel fueled charging, many spare batteries, and a lot more, but some time I may end up in a tent with just the radio in my hand, and I want it to last.
Fresh sheets and blankets: I have a zillion sheets collected through the years and almost threw them away a few months ago. Then, I thought about bandages and arm slings and holding up a wounded leg, and chest/body wraps, and I’m keeping plenty of those sheets
I was just about to throw a set of sheets away. Will hold onto them, thanks.
If you live in an arid area, you can take an unglazed clay pot, fill any holes in the surface (like the drainage hole in the bottom), and invert it over the things you need to keep cool. I use the water catcher base from a much, much larger pot as the base and the lip of the inverted pot fits INSIDE of the base. If you keep the outer surface moist, evaporation will bring the internal temperature down somewhat. The base will catch any water that spills off the sides as you are soaking the pot and form a seal to keep the cold(ish) air in and the hot air out.
I've used this method out at the farm to keep some stuff cool. I wouldn't actually call it "refrigeration", but it does keep the contents somewhat cooler.
Every time you lift the pot, the accumulated cold air spills out, so you can't open it very often. Once or twice per day is about right.
I've had a 12 v cooler and it was much, much more efficient than the clay pot. But it only lasted a few trips. The pot is probably 10 years old or more and still works fine.