Tell us about your emergency stashes

[Ritter]

The big earthquake we had recently turned me into an emergency supply nut. We have the following organized all ready to go in case we need to leave the property:

• Tank of gas
• Torches
• Batteries
• First aid kits
• Sleeping bags
• Blankets
• Pet supplies and carry cases
• Water
• Baby wipes (essential for those non-showering situations)
• Paper plates and plastic cutlery (if the water runs out we don’t need to wash dishes)
• Documents (passports, insurance details, photo albums)
• Toilet paper
• Camping stove, gas and camping pots

That’s all I can think of off the top of my head but it seemed far more comprehensive when I was putting it together a few weeks ago. It is arranged so that it can all be loaded into the car in less than five minutes. We always have heaps of groceries so we could live off those for at least a few weeks. Sunscreen, bug repellent, cash and a bottle of something to warm the cockles would be good additions.

I feel so much better now having prepared the above. After the earthquake hit, I didn’t even know where the torch was, let alone have anything prepared.

I am fantasizing about having a generator stored in the garage.

[Uosdwis_R.Dewoh]

@Jack_Batty

My attorney has advised me not to respond to this thread.

That’s funny, my attorney advised me not to post in this thread at all.
Dammit!:smack:

[Ann_Onimous]

@Athena

Oh yeah! This reminds me: a semi-working knowledge of how to make insulin from animal pancreases. Heck if I’m gonna rely on refrigeration to keep me alive; I have at least one book that goes into reasonable detail about how Banting & Best created the first batches. Will it be fun? Heck no, but it just might keep me (and a few others) alive when the apocalypse comes.

Blood glucose strips, not so easy to make. But the insulin’s the important bit, right?

I need a book like that. And they used to test the blood glucose by tasting the urine. Kinda gross, but doable. I can guesstimate how high or low she is by the way she acts: I also can easily figure out how much insulin she needs for carbs eaten. So we could do without test strips. Mind you, I’d rather have them, but it’s doable without them.

[Bricker]

Here’s what I keep:

[ul]
[li]fire extinguisher[/li][li]flare gun and flares[/li][li]two empty five gallon cans, suitable for gas or water[/li][li]25 gallons of water[/li][li]water distillation kit and purification tablets[/li][li]two can-openers[/li][li]one case Sterno cans[/li][li]15 pounds canned Spam[/li][li]15 pounds canned tuna[/li][li]30 pounds canned assorted cooked vegetables[/li][li]powered milk and baby formula[/li][li]2 complete first aid kits, including syrup of ipecac and activated charcoal[/li][li]1 sting kit with epinephrine[/li][li]small collection of antibiotics and sulfa powder[/li][li]supply of batteries[/li][li]battery-operated shock-resistant radio [/li][li]handheld CB radio[/li][li]tool kit[/li][li]six rolls duct tape[/li][li]waterproof matches[/li][li]candles[/li][li]Coleman lantern and fuel[/li][li]compass and handheld GPS[/li][li]toilet paper and moist towelettes[/li][li]tampons[/li][li]three sleeping bags[/li][li]rain ponchos[/li][li]work gloves and work boots[/li][li]utility and hunting knives[/li][li]shovel, pick, spade[/li][li]12 ga. shotgun and shells - buck and birdshot[/li][li]Some assorted gold coins – Canadian Maple-Leafs, Chinese Pandas, American Eagles (After gold went sky-high I sold some of these off but kept a few)[/li][li]Pre-1963 silver coins[/li][li]Paper cash[/li][li]Handheld GPS[/li][/ul]

You make your own luck.

[Skald_the_Rhymer]

@carnivorousplant

Like I would tell you?
Your plan is to drive over from Memphis and steal my stuff and other Dopers along the way when the Big One goes down!

You haven’t thought that one through, plant. Since the Big One will be my doing, I’m looking for info on hwo to make your stashes inadequate.

Joking aside, I was looking for ideas. I hadn’t thought of the kinetic-powered flashlights, which I’m adding to my kit.

People keeping such kits: how often do you inspect them? I don’t mean adding to your stashes of insulin or canned beans or whatever; I mean assessing the contents to see what needs to be replaced and so forth. I’m on an every six-month schedule.

[congodwarf]

Tampons and antacids.
I have Tums and Zantac in numerous places in my house so that if I think I have run out, a 10-15 minute search will usually turn up something that will get me through until I can get to the store.

TMI in spoiler

I have tampons in the bathroom (enough for 4 or 5 really heavy months). I also have them in my school bag, the car, the Jeep, my winter coat hidden pocket. The hidden tampons really annoy my boyfriend but I’ll take his griping seriously when he grows a reproductive system that decides to spurt blood every 2-3 weeks.

I also have a stash of fingerless gloves. There’s at least one pair in the bedroom, living room, kitchen, bathroom, and one of the vehicles (though I don’t remember which one). I am prone to painfully cold hands.
I don’t think I have any other emergency stashes.

[carnivorousplant]

@Skald_the_Rhymer

You haven’t thought that one through, plant. Since the Big One will be my doing, I’m looking for info on hwo to make your stashes inadequate.

You mean…a 1920s style tin can neutralizing ray? What a fiendishly clever plan!

[Scumpup]

I keep some food and some ammo on hand. Not so much with the goal of surviving emergencies, but more as a result of stocking up when stuff is cheap.

[silenus]

@Skald_the_Rhymer

People keeping such kits: how often do you inspect them? I don’t mean adding to your stashes of insulin or canned beans or whatever; I mean assessing the contents to see what needs to be replaced and so forth. I’m on an every six-month schedule.

That’s about right. Battery check on everything is this week, actually, and just before summer vacation. Water gets rotated at the same time. Food stashes are on a 1 year cycle to use or replace. The bug-out bags get examined at that same time. The pantry rotates all the time, of course.

[Skald_the_Rhymer]

@Athena

Oh yeah! This reminds me: a semi-working knowledge of how to make insulin from animal pancreases.

Seriously? Because I’d like a link. Never know when the zombie apocalypse will come along, after all.

[Skald_the_Rhymer]

@silenus

Water gets rotated at the same time.

What about water purification tablets?

Also, do y’all have just the one kit, or multiple? I have the big one for the house and a lesser one for the car.

[silenus]

Multiple kits. The house stuff is scattered various places. Main kit is the camping kit, which stays packed. Makes heading off into the boonies for a weekend a breeze, just toss the bags in the truck and go. The truck kit is actually more complete unto itself. Two duffles and a tool chest.

I use filter straws more than I do purification tablets. But the bottle of iodine tabs in the kit expire in 2012, I think.

[Skald_the_Rhymer]

@silenus

Multiple kits. The house stuff is scattered various places. Main kit is the camping kit, which stays packed. Makes heading off into the boonies for a weekend a breeze, just toss the bags in the truck and go. The truck kit is actually more complete unto itself. Two duffles and a tool chest.

I use filter straws more than I do purification tablets. But the bottle of iodine tabs in the kit expire in 2012, I think.

I had a reason for choosing the tablets over the straws, but damned if I remember what it was.

[Moonlitherial]

Iodine tablets are good for nuclear exposure too aren’t they? Or would the dosage be wrong?

I keep a winter driving emergency kit in the car about 8 months of the year. It’s back in there now and has socks, hats, scarves and a blanket. I also keep year round a bowl(water for the dogs), protein bars and some water. I don’t deliberately keep a survival kit in the house but I do usually have a couple of weeks worth of meals in the freezer and 2-3 17l water bottles.

Although I don’t use cash much I carry cash all the time now. I started this after the north eastern power outage. I didn’t really have any issues then, and I did have some cash on hand but I had friends who were stuck with no money, no gas and no way to get either.

[Tethered_Kite]

Living in snowstorm country we have always carried emergency supplies in the trunk of the car during the winter season.

As far as the hope that I can forestall any disaster which afflicts the greater population I guess I’m somewhat fatalistic. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best is my credo.

But my husband has been a city Emergency Management Director for more than a decade and since he took that job he’s always making plans to protect, not only a city, but also his family and he’s a bit gung-ho.

So we’ve got the works - water, food, generator, wood-burning stove and sundry other disaster-defeating supplies filling up our attic, basement and garage. I may mention that should we expire it might take folks a while to find us in here. Heh.

We grew up in a time when it wasn’t unusual to have no electricity for a week and little ability to get out of a snowbound house to get supplies. So I suppose our mindsets may be more matter-of-fact about such things than people who have been accustomed to an occasional blip in our conveniences.

We had a chuckle last week during a snowstorm over the number of phone calls he got from people who were bewildered, angry, demanding, frightened over being out of electricity for only, at that point, a day without the convenience. I think some people have a mindset that everything should run smoothly forever after and that humans will never again be subject to the powers of nature. Or at least, certainly not them!

And, of course, they were calling the wrong person in the first place. It was quite a long day trying to explain that it was currently impossible to flip a switch and instantly bring them their priveledged right to power.

My main concern is medication. Most local pharmacies would run out of necessities faster than most people realize.

Since a partial thyroidectomy some years ago I require a daily dose of thyroid hormone to prevent developing into a cretin. (Can I still say that?) We all know how useful a cretin, with her sluggish thinking and moving, would be for emptying the potty and making meals.

More seriously, I did ask a couple of pharmacists about what my Plan B would be in case of a shortage and they laughed at my question. It wasn’'t a laugh like “You’re SOL, Lady.” It was a laugh of disbelief as in, “That could never happen.”

How very blindly trustful we are in our infrastructure.

ETA:

And, in mind of that classic “Twilight Episode” I sometimes wonder what would happen when people learned that we have survival supplies. How many people would we be able to help without jeopardizing our family? Interesting moral question.

[jjimm]

Half a pack of Marlboro Lights and a lighter in my glove box.

[Tethered_Kite]

Way to go, jjimm. You’ll be the go-to guy when TSHTF. Seriously.

I think stockpiling drugs, beverage alcohol and cigarettes rather than gold will bring a person more reasurrance of continued existence.

However, then you have to make sure you can hang onto them.

Better get a lock for the glove box. And a gun.

[JohnT]

Once when I was in school my friends and I got lit up one night and completely lost my (nearly) brand-new 1/2 oz of quality herb. Couldn’t find the damn thing anywhere and we tore the apartment apart looking for it.

Fast forward 2 months later, Christmas break. I’m at the apartment (didn’t want to go home except for the Big Day) and there’s no weed to be had anywhere. So I’m sitting on the floor, playing the SNES and wanting some smoke when I spy a glint of reflected light from under the loveseat.

Score!!

Other than that, I got nothing.

[Athena]

@Skald_the_Rhymer

Seriously? Because I’d like a link. Never know when the zombie apocalypse will come along, after all.

It’s possible, definitely. Safe and easy? Heck no.

The Discover of Insulin has a decent number of details about how Banting & Best came up with the first insulin. Not exactly a recipe, but enough to go on if we’re talking about the apocalypse.

At least one person has successfully made it - Here’s the story of Eva and Victor Saxl, a couple who managed to make insulin during WWII.

So, it’s possible to make something at home that has a hope of keeping an insulin-dependent person alive. I can’t even get my head around using the insulin of 20 or 30 years ago, much less something made at home. But hey, you can’t be picky during the apocalypse, so it’s worth keeping the books around.

[Lumpy]

“two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers… and also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls…”

Oh, wrong stash.