Will You Survive?
A lot of peoples minds have been playing around with the question of "what would I do" in the case of a big time disaster. Could you provide food and water for your family? What about defense from mobs or the government? Out here in the country, I have to laugh at how unprepared most urban-suburban-city folks are. I really don't know whether to laugh or cry. This lifestyle we have out here, out of necessity, makes being able to cope and adapt to change an everyday event. Its second nature for us to "get it done" no matter what. If it means milking the cows off the intake manifold on a old gas tractor or the power brakes off an old car, that's what we do, we get it done. We have pulled off some harebrained things around here in emergencies. Survival comes natural to us. Every day seems to be a battle of sorts. So when I see folks who can't get water without a faucet, or can't feed themselves because the store is closed up, I shake my head in disbelief. How could society ever get to the point where men could not provide for themselves the very things that sustain them? Here are some ideas for your family "survival kit".
Water....... See Chads post on water storage.
Food.....You want stuff thats easy to store, keep, and move. Canned goods are important. Home canned garden crops and store bought stuff. Meat? Try canning your favorite meat. No refridgeration needed. We can loan roasts and stew meat right in wide mouth canning jars. MREs take up a small space and keep a long time (taste like crap). If you don't have chickens and a cow, store powdered milk and eggs. We store it anyway, never know what might happen. We keep grain on hand to grind for flour. When we lived in Alaska we always kept 25 and 50 pound bags of flour on hand. Dry beans are a must. Whether you grow it and put it up yourself or buy it, its a good idea to have a years supply of food on hand. If you store bulk dry goods........make sure you know how to cook with them.
Misc.... First aid stuff. Extra batteries. Solar chargers. Inverter with batt. clips. Gas masks. PI pills to flood thyroid in case of radiation. Short Wave- AM-FM radio. Steel ammo cans for storage. Wool blankets....... the list goes on and on.
Firearms. A general purpose hunting rifle and or shotgun. Anti-Assault Rifle with plenty of rounds. I like the AK.
This is by no means an exhaustive list. It will get you started, if you haven't.
posted by Scott M Terry @ 6:05 PM
8 comments
8 Comments:
great blog! will be back often
Can you tell me about the "pills to flood the thyroid in case of radiation"? I've never heard of this.
Peggy
Welcome, and glad you found us!
Kelly
The pills are Potassium Iodate. These pills block your body’s thyroid gland and prevent it from absorbing radioactive iodine during a nuclear emergency.
You can order from Major Surplus PH# (800)441-8855.
Glad you mentioned the Potassium Iodate - they should be in everyone's medicine cabinet.
Heidi
I'll have to take your word on the tortellinis, I've never had them. This brings up a good point though. Folks should try some of this stuff out and see if they like it before they buy a big box of them. I talked to guy that was over in Iraq, he loved his MREs so much he traded them to locals for livestock. He said they got chickens, a lamb and a goat!
Even though we are "city folk" we do a lot of what you mentioned. During Y2K when everybody was buying that nasty freeze dried stuff, I was thinking I already have about 100 quarts each of peaches, pears, tomatoes, plums.. Bags of beans, flour, cornmeal.. I would like to do water collecting and maybe some day some alternative power. I think more can be accomplished in the city than people relize, but it takes a bit of "want to" because the other options are so easily obtained. Also, a SAH mom is probably really important too..(To get all the canning done. :)
Thats something else for homesteaders to think about. A lot of things can go wrong gardening. Don't take for granted that your first year, or any year for that matter, will be sucessful. Over the years it all works out. Really good years you have plenty and extra to can. Save the extra for the lean years. Your first year on the land however, you should have lots of "store bought" stuff stored away, just in case. Its to easy to lose tomatoes becouse of an early frost, for example.
thanks for all the tips!
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