To avoid hijacking thecamping thread how many people on the dope are over prepared for power outages and the like?
mrAru’s mom is a Missouri farmgirl, and my mom is an Iowa farmgirl, with the added fillip of my mom being a depression kid. Both of us were raised with stocking up ‘just in case’ despite the lack of need to survive
We have a stockpile of “survival” foods - freeze dried fruits [the strawberries are mixed with crack, they are downright addictive as snacks] potato cubes and flakes, diced onions, assorted veggies, dried eggs and dehydrated whole milk [not from this site] as well as assorted grains, legumes and other items we tend to use over the year. We also have canned fruit and veggies that we cycle through.
I bought a very expensive woodstove because I can cook on it and bake in it.
We have enough battery operated fluorescent lanterns to light the place, and rechargable batteries - and a solar battery charger to keep them topped off.
We have a cute little shower pump that can be used with a pot of hot water to give one a nice hot shower when the power is off, though now we have a generator to keep the water flowing when the power goes out [very important if you want to flush the toilet with no electricity and no ‘city water’] so we don’t need to use the PET toilet in power outages any more.
We could [with the house paid off] manage to live frugally on just mrAru’s navy retirement to pay a small electricity bill and the property taxes for quite a while, giving us time to break enough extra ground to grow all the fruits and veggies we would need, and giving us time to find new employment if absolutely needed. Our amusement would have to be games and reading the 5000 or so books stored in the barn, and what Tv programming is available through broadcast [thankfully we have newish digital TVs] and assorted dvds and video tapes we already own.
It just happened over the years as the power kept going off so often. I also have an interest in electronics and have acquired lots of supplies. As a consequence, I began to power things from batteries using standard AC type plug receptacles carefully marked for polarity. When the power goes out now, I have TV, radio, shavers, lights or anything else I might need. Of course the laptop still functions in these emergencies. I have enough power to go for weeks without recharging. All the recharging uses standby float type chargers that never overcharge the cells. On top of that I keep a bag prepared with clothes and personal supplies at the ready to grab and run in emergencies. Grab the keys, wallet and bag and I’m good to go if forced to evacuate. Given enough warning, I also have financial records readily accessible to bring along for a complete relocation. I don’t think I am completely prepared, but I have a start.
Same here - all in. But since I do Living History for a hobby and have been known to trek (live in the woods off my back and out of pocket for a week or more at a time) its just part of my nature. I could make do without a job or income for a few years if I had to and probably not drain the savings very much. Take the wife out of the equation and I would say I could live basically off the land for the rest of my life - and not mind it very much.
I think being prepared for the unexpected is great…as long as it doesn’t become an obsession. I belong to a couple of forums where this is discussed a lot with sub-forums devoted entirely to “prepping.”
Unfortunately, many of these people have become flat out paranoid and delusional about the whole thing. In one recent thread, a poster was concerned because the FedEx (or UPS) guy had delivered a box that was clearly labeled with the name of the company it had come from. She had ordered supplies from some emergency preparedness company and she was all freaked out that the delivery guy now knew she was stocking up.
These people live their lives in paranoia and fear that they are going to be “discovered,” and in the event the world comes to an end, all their neighbors for miles around are going to come and steal their preps.
I’m not a psychologist but I read those threads and really think a lot of these people have some sort of mental illness. I’m just not sure whether the mental illness existed prior to the stocking up or if the stocking up is a result of that mental illness. I often wonder how these people function in the “real” world when they are so paranoid and scared that someone is going to find out how many rolls of toilet paper they have!
For myself, I love having a full freezer and a well-stocked pantry. I garden and I get a lot of personal satisfaction when I see my shelves fill up with my own home-canned jams and other fruits and vegies.
I have chickens and I love my free-range eggs. I also have raised chickens, turkeys, and pigs for meat.
The winter before last, I was snowed in for almost three weeks and I had plenty of food. There was some comfort in knowing my kid and I wouldn’t starve.
I will, however, be more than happy to tell anyone what I have in my freezer and pantry and even how many rolls of t.p. I have - but I doubt if anyone really cares.
I am prepared as a city boy can be. It makes little sense to stock more than a few days worth, as I live in a flat so I can’t control things like water for non drinking purposes.
And anything you stockpile would just be taken off you, 'cause if you were in a city and the outages lasted more than a few days there would be riots and you’d lose it anyway. Even if you had a gun, one gun won’t hold off a bunch of looters, especially since they’re apt to have weapons too.
As far as I know, we don’t do the stockpiling thing here. We’ve set up an infrastructure that is built to deal with the problems we get here (cold and snow, basically). Maybe we don’t get enough snow; maybe people would stockpile more here if we got more snow. If it’s just cold, you throw on a parka and let your car warm up a bit before heading off to Safeway.
