I need recommendations for a food dehydrator machine and electric canner. My stove doesn't allow canning to be on the cook top. My fruit trees are finally growing fruit, and I need to be able to dehydrate and do canning to add to my deep pantry. Thanks in advance.
The people I work with probably think I'm just really into cooking because of how often I bring up what's in my pantry. My neighbors probably think I'm really into gardening (even though I mostly suck at it) although they already think I'm eccentric because I go rucking in the neighborhood 3-4 times a week. My extended family knows I'm into post-apoc fiction, wilderness survival, and that i "like to be organized." But aside from a few very close friends (and my immediate family), nobody really knows that I'm into prepping.
There's something a little exhausting about that. Is it weird that I'm occasionally self-conscious about this, almost like it's a really fringe hobby? I've put real time, money, and thought into building resilience for my household, and it's not something I can just casually bring up without watching someone's face do that thing where they're trying to figure out if you're a conspiracy nutcase.
The doomsday prepper stereotype is so sticky. The second you say the word most people picture bunkers and tinfoil and someone counting bullets in a basement. It doesn't matter that what you're actually doing is storing food, learning skills, and thinking pragmatically about very possible risks, scenarios that aren't even that unlikely these days.
I've gotten better at speaking in translation, or "dumbing down" my process for casual conversation. Instead of "I'm freshening up my bug out bag," it's "I like being ready for power outages." Instead of "I'm working on comms redundancy," it's: "I bought a weather radio on a Prime Day Deal." It kindof works, but it also means I'm never really having the actual conversation.
Have any of you actually managed to talk openly about your own preparedness pursuits with people outside the prepping community? Did it go well or did you immediately regret it? Curious whether anyone has found a way to normalize this topic without it becoming a whole thing that defines who you are for the rest of your life.
This is the answer I’m getting from Google AI. It seems pretty far-fetched to think chicken will last even five years, let alone indefinitely. So why would fat have a shorter shelf-life than meat? What about the fact that there’s fat on the chicken I’m canning? The tinned meat I buy only lasts a couple years, max.
When someone asks "Best staple food?" the standard answer is "Rice and beans". A very good answer, that for me personally it has been 'misleading' for years. When I read beans I mainly read brown beans. Also a few other types, but I must admit for a long time in overlooked dried soy beans.
Soy beans are quite a bit different from 'normal' beans. Different taste (nutty) but also very different nutrients. I think it's important to aim for a balanced diet. Replace brown beans with soy beans? Certainly not because variation is king.
In google type: dry brown beans vs dry soybeans nutrition
AI will give you a nice starting point. You will get a lot of articles to read.
Also handy tables, but unfortunately I can't post images here.
Variation is king. Not just for your appetite but also your health.
It's not just soy vs brown. No every bean has it's own strength and weakness when looking at nutrients. But I think you should consider adding another staple king (soy) to the rice and brown beans kings in you pantry.
Will soy have a huge impact? Only you know, because only you know what's in your pantry. Maybe it's already so diversified that soy doesn't add anything you already have in abundance.
When prepping is all about calories (and carbs), the only thing you need is a barrel of olive oil. Obviously that's total nonsense. Keep that in mind when evaluating your pantry.
Protein: Soybeans pack a massive \(36\text{ g}\) of complete protein. Brown beans average around \(9\text{ g}\) to \(12\text{ g}\) and lack some essential amino acids.
Fats: Soybeans are unique among legumes, containing about \(20\text{ g}\) of healthy unsaturated fats (including omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids) per 100g. Brown beans are very low in fat (less than \(1\text{ g}\)).
Carbohydrates: Brown beans contain higher amounts of complex carbohydrates and starches. Soybeans are much lower in carbohydrates, making them highly suitable for low-glycemic or keto-friendly diets.
Fiber: Both are excellent sources of dietary fiber, but brown beans typically yield a slightly higher percentage by weight
Soybeans stand out for their exceptionally high levels of calcium, potassium, magnesium, and iron. They are also famous for isoflavones (like genistein), which may reduce menopausal symptoms and lower heart disease risk.
Brown beans offer a higher concentration of folate (vitamin \(B_{9}\)), vitamin \(B_{6}\), and selenium.
Hello all, so i have packed the following items in my car. I drive a Honda accord and live in urban NE.
Trunk:
Gerber Etool (shovel for snow etc)
Rain coat
Aluminum emergency survival blanket
Ferro rod with striker
Lifestraw
Inflatable pillow
2 flashlights: 1 let's maglite &1 everready
In front:
Altoids with Bic lighter & swiss army knife
Emergency glass breaker/seatbelt cutter tied to headrest with small paracord.
Things i know i need to replace:
emergency gas container i had a cheap 2 gallon one that leaked into my trunk ... was a headache to get detailed. Recommendations welcome
battery powered jump kit *had or and it no longer works
i have the crappy tire changing tools that come stock but not sure if it's worth investing in something more ergonomic/less back breaking.
So, in your view is this a good kit or are there any absolutely vital pieces that i a missing or that you feel are pretty important? I am open to suggestions but would like to avoid spending an unreasonsble amount. Also, i have these stuffed in a shopping bag, perhaps i ought to get an organizer? Thank you in advance, I'm still relatively new to this.
My in-laws are moving to a new house in the desert. The well water has just above safe levels of arsnic and they are putting in a RO system to filter it out, but that leaves alot of waste water and being in the desert, obviously water is scarce. The system they are installing is pretty efficient at a 1 to 1 conversion rate, but thats still a ton of waste water. Any ideas?
I'm buying some rice and beans since we cleared up space for it. Can I leave the rice in the regular (plastic) bags they come in? I'm planning to stack them in a rubbermaid container indoors (air conditioned but it may get hot if the AC breaks for a while).
Hello everyone,
I am searching for a 72 Hour Kit/Bug Out Bag suitable for an elderly person with back problems. They can't wear heavy backpacks.
My initial thought was a hybrid carry-on luggage with wheels/tactical backpack with Molle webbing on the outside. That way there is nothing on their back and they can roll it easily on the ground. Also, the First Aid Kit and water bottle can be easily accessible on the outside attached to the Molle. I thought the dual suitcase/backpack option was best in case someone else can carry the bag if the elderly person cannot. I found this one on Amazon that fits the bill, but the capacity seems quite small: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0F629W5RG
Additionally, this person has a pet cat and needs to put a cat carrier on top. I found a lightweight cat carrier that attaches to carry-on luggage handles that are double-barred, so I will be purchasing that.
I read online some other preppers recommended handcarts, but that's too bulky and not realistic to store (way too big, ideally it should fit under a bed) and most likely this person would go to a hotel first or a sports stadium in their city in an actual emergency and not travel on foot long distance.
Does anyone have any advice on what to do for a 72 Hour Kit bag? Any specifications I should look for?
Looking for recommendations of gmrs radios that will get me legitimately 3-4 miles in the $50-$75 per two radio package. This would be for emergency communication in the event cell phone towers went down. Thanks for any input!
I have long been friends with the guy who brought the Area Study to the prepping community. I loved it from the beginning and took the time to produce my own area study.
For those unaware, the area study is something anyone can do on their own time. It is the process of getting to know the resources, influences, plans, projects, and infrastructure, gangs, threats, and such in the area where you live.
How many people are doing this kind of intel locally? To me, it has given me a much better understanding of the REAL things I should worry about.
Please use this thread to discuss whatever preps you worked on this last week. Let us know what big or little projects you have been working on. Please don’t hesitate to comment. Others might get inspired to work on their preps by reading about yours.
Got a number of cases of these SOS water pouches many years back, they say the expiration was 2013. It’s water, so the water itself I’m guessing it’s fine but maybe there’s a deterioration of the packing that happens? At this point are these just garbage?
Update: thanks for all the feedback, as I don’t really need them for water storage anymore as we have other sources I decided to junk them.
There were a few different styles of pouches that I found as I opened all the boxes which I thought was interesting. They’re all from the same company and same outer boxing, but the interior pouches varied slightly.
The other thing that I thought was interesting was that when you cut a pouch open that it gave off an odor that I can only describe as what you would smell when you open a box of cake mix from the grocery store. The smell was not really strong, but it definitely smelled like cake mix to me, my wife and son smelt it as well. We didn’t try drinking anything so I can’t tell about taste. It seemed like some of the pouches did have a slightly cloudy color to the water. But not all of them.
We got these probably around when they were made from emergency essentials. Back then I don’t exactly remember, but there was some sort of promo that basically made them free. I know we were purchasing a crazy amount of emergency candles and the reusable hand warmers that you boil in water to recharge as my son‘s scout troop was selling those as fundraiser items. I can’t remember what the exact deal was, but if you spent so much money or something you got them for free. Either way, I just remembered that we got them for free so I don’t feel bad about throwing them away.
As someone else pointed out in one of the responses, they served their purpose, they were there in case of emergency we just didn’t need them. That being said, if California has the big earthquake in the next few days, sorry, that’s on me for throwing away emergency supplies.
I built a tool that works backwards from calories to seeds. Accounts for germination failure, pest losses and your climate zone. Please take a look and let me know if this is useful. It’s all free, no sign-up, no catch.
Just would like to thank, in advance, all those who say they’ve been growing food for 20 years and this is rubbish. This is not for you, this is those of us whose only experience is a couple of growbags of tomatoes each year.
Major outcome of the site? Keep a couple of bags of quinoa at the back of the fridge…..
https://www.foodwhentheshopsstop.com/
EDIT: I have added a two-year calendar to the results page so you can see how quickly, or slowly, you get your garden to the point of providing at least 100% of your calories. This in turn gives you the real prepper dimension as it tells you how much stored food you need until you get there. You can adjust the starting month so you see how much harder it is to get to self-sufficiency depending on the time of year.
Hey everyone, not looking to turn this into a political thread at all, genuinely just curious how people here are thinking about it from a practical preparedness standpoint.
There's been a lot of noise lately with tensions between major powers and I think most of us regardless of where we stand politically can agree that uncertainty is uncertainty, and that's really all that matters from a prepping perspective.
So setting politics completely aside, has any of it changed how you're approaching your preps? Are you prioritizing anything differently, stocking up on specific things, or thinking about scenarios you weren't really considering before?
I'm also curious if people think this kind of geopolitical tension actually changes what you prep for in a practical sense, or if the fundamentals stay the same no matter what's happening in the world.
Just want to hear honest perspectives on the preparedness side of it, no political debate needed.
Hi All,
Few questions here:
If these both have the same exact ingredients, what makes the PA+ different, if anything?
Is there anything on the package or the bottle that can give me an idea of their manufacture or expiration date? I don't really see any stamps except Lot #.
How long are they good for provided I can determine their age? Is it useless if expired, or can you just let the treatment sit longer or what?
Thanks for any help!
(Sorry it won't let me add a picture, here is image: https://imgur.com/a/3BYLYaU)
I’ve noticed something interesting in the survival/prepper community:
Most people don’t build their kits all at once.
They slowly collect useful gear over time — one solid item after another.
Sometimes it’s a water filter.
Sometimes a flashlight.
Sometimes a tool you originally bought “just in case” that ended up being surprisingly useful.
So now I’m curious:
What’s the single BEST survival item you’ve ever purchased that was actually worth the money?
Not the most expensive.
Not the coolest.
Just the one that genuinely made you feel more prepared.
I’m trying to discover which gear people regret NOT buying sooner.
I store water in IBC 1000 liter totes. They have 2" coarse thread outlets. I would like to connect several totes together without having to drain in the winter.
I have had one tote 90% full for four winters with no breakage from freezing, even though the tank is frozen solid. (I'm in Maine). The plastic valve in the tote survives winter just fine.
PVC freezes and breaks, of course.
Obviously when frozen no water passes when frozen. I want to let water accumulate from roof runoff in the early spring when I may not be present.
What is the plastic used for totes? Can I get 2" piping, or maybe something smaller that I can get adapters for? (I have never seen a pex adapter go to 2" coarse thread, nor pex in 2" or 1.5"). I would like the connections to be for potable water, although not absolutely necessary
Anyone else here have a job that makes family prepping majorly complicated?
I'm a flight attendant for an international airline, so yeah. My work (which I love) creates a problem I don't see discussed much in preparedness groups: I'm not always home.
Sometimes I'm in Tokyo, Sao Paolo, or New Delhi when my family is back home asleep. If something big ever happened, I could be stuck on another continent with no realistic path back and limited communication options. My wife and kids are great, but they aren’t particularly preparedness-minded individuals.
I've slowly been building up our home supplies and trying to have casual conversations about what they'd do in different scenarios, but I know that if I were 8,000 miles away and SHTF happens, they'd be largely on their own and figuring it out in real time.
It's a different kind of anxiety than the standard “how do I prep for X” calculus. It's not just "do I have enough food and water”, or “how do we bug out”, it’s more like "would my family know what to do without me, and what would I even do stranded in a foreign city with just my rollie bag and a hotel room."
I keep some local currency, a lifestraw, a packable backpack, some basic travel sized first aid supplies when I'm abroad. I know where embassies are, and leave a simple one-page emergency plan on my fridge my family can follow. But honestly I feel like I'm guessing.
Does anyone else here have work situations that create this kind of split-location problem? Truckers, military families, travel nurses, offshore workers, performers, etc? If so, how do you actually plan around it?
So I’ve got an old fashioned mountain bike, but after doing the EV thing I’ve thought it might be time to also add some sort of e-bike to the stable.
The question is, what kind? Are there some that are better suited to prepper use?
I would imagine things like durability, weight carrying capacity, range, ease of charging, and repairability would be important.
But at that point, are you past e-bike and more into e-motorcycle?
Where’s the sweet spot?
I downloaded the latest/largest openstreetmap ZIM file from https://download.kiwix.org/zim/other, hoping I might find actual map data in there, but it seems to just be a ZIM of the OSM wiki? Is there a way to get a ZIM of the actual OSM maps?