r/TwoXPreppers

Partner’s phone went out to sea yesterday, reminding me again of how much information we access and store there.

I’m printing out my favorite recipes off our Paprika account, getting paper maps and atlases, getting prints of my favorite photos. I’ve already made sure we have all of our documents, plus photos of our IDs.

What other things should we be getting hard copies of for times the internet/cell service becomes either unavailable or unaffordable?

I am not fancy about my preps. I've been wanting to get a fondue pot in case of power outages. It could run on a tea light or fuel and heat up some food, or maybe even do some light cooking (I'm being optimistic). But I recently saw a butane stove burner and I'm wondering if it's worth it to splurge. I've never had one or a camping stove, or used butane. Part of the beauty of the fondue pot is it's built to heat with tea lights if commercially refined fuels aren't available (of course candles eventually run out too).

Does anyone have a tip for this?

I feel silly asking but I'd feel even more silly if I stocked up and then it turned out they had a short storage life span, like gas.

We get a lot of wildfire smoke so this is something we're definitely going to need, but i don't know if it's worth buying 2 years worth or not.

TIA!

Tuesday hit me in the face, literally.

I wear an N95 face mask whenever Im out or have a visitor. Im already immune disabled. I dont want it to get worse faster than it has to.

Anyhow, I was walking home from doing errands when I heard yelling and running behind me. Two people were fighting and running and chasing each other. One pulled out a big can of pepper spray. (Like the size my bear spray comes in.) Sprayed the other person exactly in time for a gust of wind. Carried the spray right into my face from across the street. Thankfully for my eyes, my mask and hair got the worst of it. So I could still see and get myself home safely.

I have asthma. So, I was curious how well my mask would do. Ive got a well-fitted mask. (I was fit tested in several models to find the one that sealed best for my face size and shape.) But not all N95 masks are suited for all contaminants. Some work better for oils, smoke, gasses, etc. Not to mention, even well-fitted masks can unseal at times. Id been running errands for close to 4 hours. My face was sweat. The inside of my mask was humid. No asthma! My lungs stayed great.

Ive been through a 26hr street medic training, which was also fortunate. I knew not to rub my eyes, even though the were spicy. And when I got home, everything I was wearing went into the wash. I grabbed the dawn dish soap on my way to the shower, and spent the next 20 minutes under a cold shower. (During which the pepper spray that was in my hair washed onto my face! Thanks hair...🤦)

Thank you to everyone who participates in this subreddit. It's been a great source of information. Im glad we can continue sharing and learning with each other. :)

Trying to solve one specific problem.

My 8 year old is a type 1 diabetic and her insulin needs to stay refrigerated between 36-46F. We're outside Houston and our power goes out at least 3-4 times a year. Sometimes just a few hours but twice in the past year it was 2+ days.

Every time the power drops the first thing I do is check the fridge thermometer and then spend the next 12 hours stressing about it. I keep a cooler and ice packs but by hour 8 the cooler isn't holding temp and I'm driving around looking for ice.

My husband keeps saying generator but I don't want to deal with gas, exhaust, or maintenance. I want something I can plug the fridge into and not think about for 2 days. What's the simplest option out there right now?

I keep my basement between 30-40% humidity. I don't think it ever really gets warmer than 65 degrees. I just opened a plastic jar of peanuts I had stored down there and they taste like basement. 😭

lots of stuff is in mylar/glass/cans, but what can I do about stuff in plastic like peanut butter? that's not easy to decant into something else?

Im also worried about my crackers/cookies/snacks that are just in cardboard boxes. Does it all need to move to mylar or glass jars?

I recently upgraded my hand fan. It's just an old fashioned fan. The heat wave sucks and it's lovely to have.

I bought a pack of 20 or so and have been handing them out.

It's an easy prep!

If you are almost due for an oil change, consider doing it now or grabbing some oil to have on hand for your next change! I am not sure if I can post a link, but if you just Google, there are several headlines with an Auto Zone memo, etc., outlining the "impending supply shortage":

"The document references an “impending supply shortage” tied to instability in the Middle East and claims average available supply in certain lubricant categories could reportedly fall by as much as 40 percent. It also warns employees to prepare for dramatic price increases, disappearing inventory, and widespread substitution of oil grades as shortages worsen."

Taken from the Auto Zone article memo.

I just scheduled oil changes for our vehicles that were due within the next few months. Stay safe out there!!

There's a well on my property that currently doesn't have a working pump, has not been tested since I moved here, and I don't know it's viability other than the fact there is water about 30 ft down. I don't know anything about wells, I've never lived in a farm that had one before. I've done plenty of rain water capture and irrigation setup.

Any advice on how to not get rolled on if I have to contact a "Well guy" to come out?

Also does anyone have resources to learn more terminology and knowledge base on function and repair?

It's sort of embarrassing to just not know sh*t about this when I'm like 80% off grid and the rest of the farm is solid. Thanks in advance y'all. 🙏

The news is getting to me today. How do we prepare for this in addition to all the shortages of oil coming?

https://www.reddit.com/r/UnderReportedNews/s/dk7CCTF1AM

We're packing up for a trip in the morning, getting all the last stuff ready. The power goes out briefly; I sigh and pull out the LED headlamps and an LED lantern. It comes back on and I continue packing.

Then with another big crash the power goes out decisively. My very elderly mother had just gotten up for something and I can hear her fumbling in the dark. I'm bellowing "DON'T MOVE!" as I feel for her headlamp, and she's calling "What did you say?" I get the headlamp on her and get her back to bed before she pitches over anything. Whew!

Grab Mom's phone, use its light to find the lantern, then my phone. My phone is low so I pull out a charger and get it going. Roll a spare battery into my room to power my CPAP. Continue packing. Mother Nature will not ruin my early start tomorrow!

Notes: Only one of the three battery-powered light bulbs came on. Great idea, alas not reliable. Mom's headlamp is dim. Need to check mine and change batteries as needed.

Who is gathering extra cloth and knows how to use a sewing machine just in case. I know I bought myself a 401a and antique sewing machine from the mid 1800’s to be able to outfit myself just in case I hit hard times and need to make my own clothes.

Were you in it? I got caught driving a normally twenty minute route that took seventy because I had to keep pulling over and frankly, I was in awe. A breath taking - literally disaster. My car got a sandblast. Birds were falling to the ground. ​Up to 80MPH gusts here. Mature trees down. ​​​​

Every time i pulled over I thought: I have my phone, my charger, my first aid kit. No liquids no goggles no mask.

What was your day like? ​​​​

I've been following Gov.uk guidance and a few other resources I've found online to prepare our family (2 adults, 2 kids, 3 cats) for emergencies. TBH it's quite overwhelming but I think I'm getting there. I made a spreadsheet for myself to track shopping lists, my store cupboard and quantities.

By my calculations to prep for 7 days I'll need to store 54L of water! 😄

I live in a mid-terraced 2 up 2 down house and I have no idea where I'll keep this!

What is everyone else doing? Happy to share my spreadsheet if anyone wants it.

Hi! I am pretty severely disabled by long covid so I’m asking for help somewhat from the community to help me evaluate this decision. This relates to my ability to prepare for my future as a disabled person.

It seems like it would be most cost-effective for me to build a small home under 1000 ft.² that meets my Disability needs because currently the apartments that meet those needs are the most expensive ones.

Where I live and own a lot, all pre built tiny homes are illegal and kits are challenging bc they don’t meet city guidelines. You would need to pay someone to modify it to get it approved. The city doesn’t want trailers and sees this stuff as the same thing.

However, there is a local firm that is experienced building 550 square-foot homes for around $133k total. the floor plans were designed with the guidelines in mind and these people are skilled at getting everything approved and it’s included in the price. Locally this is considered extremely useful.

I know that things are gonna get more expensive in a delayed way because of stuff with a straight of Hormuz… I’m just trying to figure out if people think that it’s reasonable that construction materials like concrete, wood, aluminum roofs, etc are going to spike in price in the next 6 mo as well, and how much.

I have a family member who is an architect who is comfortable overseeing construction, and making sure that things are done properly. I just have to be careful about the favors that I ask of people (When you are really disabled, you’re constantly asking people for favors from rides to doc etc) and I don’t want to start going into this tiny home project, asking ppl to go deeper thinking it’s going to cost $133 for 550 sq ft and it doubles during construction bc materials.

I’m just wondering if anyone knows off the top of their head what types of things will get more expensive because of that exact back up, and specifically how much more?

I know it’s gonna get more expensive I’m looking for people in the industry who can guesstimate potentially how much.

I have the ability to cover it financially if it were to happen, but it would not be ideal for me to spend a ton of money on a small house just because I happen to choose a really expensive time to build one.

thank you very much.

Ps. My disability needs are very specific. There is nothing else pre-built that is freestanding that meets my needs.

Is anyone else noticing that expiration dates seem to be shorter? After a short break I got back to my prepping and purchased a bunch of canned items. When I was putting stuff up and trying to rotate my stock I realized that things I just purchased are expiring sooner than things I purchased 6 months ago. That makes no sense to me. So now instead of automatically rotating things, I'm having to organize by date of expiration.

And to clarify, these products were all purchased at Kroger or Walmart - not at the Dollar Store which I know often has things with a shorter expiration window.

Is this some sign of impending doom I missed? Are they digging stuff out of the bottom of the barrel to stock the shelves? Is anyone else experiencing this?

I've decided it's time to get a chest freezer for the basement. Does anyone have any recommendations on brands and size for a family of 3?

We couldn't go grocery shopping yesterday, because we've all been feeling sick and my fridge was surprisingly bare despite spending $150-200 a week on groceries. We are going through so many fruits, vegetables, and meat just for me and two kids, it's been eye opening as I try to create food stores. I have a smaller size fridge and freezer, nothing like the modern ones they make now. So I can fit some things in there, but maybe only two weeks worth of food. I plan on using a chest freezer to store extra food and rotate it through my kitchen freezer. I've been reading up on them, but reviews are all over the place. I'd like to stay under $300 if possible.

Please contain all off topic discussion to this weekly megathread. This is where you freak out, talk about conspiracy, talk about unrealistic crazy scenarios, asked and answered questions, etc.