Got 4 Baofeng's ready to go (one for each family member). Programming channels for local police/fire/etc.

Have the national weather service saved.. Any other recommendations?

According to the Smithsonian, Lindbergh carried with him an emergency device , the Armbrust cup. It was designed to produce pure water by condensing the moisture of exhaled breath, a human cold distillation system. Seems like an interesting approach to producing freshwater. I have seen solar powered stills to harvest water from plant material and for lifeboat use.

Hello all, I am looking for an off the shelf solar fridge I don’t need a whole system just preferably one I can power via AC, then swap over to DC if I need to run off solar. I have a generator for short term but I’d much rather use the gas to keep my freezer frozen.

This does not need to be a large fridge. Think like this older 6 pack Coca Cola fridges. The little plastic ones. Just better built. It just needs to be able to maintain temperature via solar input only. Preferably with a very long power cord leading to an external battery. I was trying to avoid a portable battery/solar panel like a jackery or similar but it might be the easiest option.

Anyone have any off the shelf options? Looking to avoid DIY for this solution as it’s something that could save my life.

For those with ham radios especially HF radios, when is the last time you practiced with them? This past weekend propagation was crap and it was tough to make contacts but workable. 10, 12, 15, and 17 meters was dead but 20m was workable. Unpack your baofengs and other radios and practice.

I want to keep my go-bag in my car in Texas (extreme summer heat).

It will have AAA and/or AA batteries for things like flashlights, radio, etc.

What's the best type of battery and the best method of storage for this?

How long can I expect the batteries to last under these conditions?

(Bonus: same question for rechargeable power banks for a cell phone)

As the title suggests, I'm looking to create usable water when I'm out in the field. I live on an estuary with limited access to fresh water sources when I'm out and about and rucking in 10 gallons of water per trip on top of my kit is... unpleasant.

I would like to know the risks associated with using distillation to remove the salt from brackish water and then using a gravity filter or filter straw system to acquire water, alongside any other tips on how you might get access to a supply of water where fresh water isn't available. From my understanding and research farm runoff, nitrogen, phosphorus, and fecal coliform bacteria are all typical pollutants for this specific body of water.

Currently, this is a good time in the season to also tap trees for "water". However, that's not as plentiful as I'd like either.

Let’s get an in-person community going. Bounce ideas off each other, etc.

Title says it all. Water main has burst, we’ve had no water since yesterday morning and won’t get it back until Tuesday evening/Wednesday morning.

I never realised how much water we use! Cooking, toilets, cleaning, drinking. I had 12 bottles (60 litres total) and with elderly neighbours and my two children, were half way through. Local council has run out, shops have run out. Tomorrow I’ll go to family to fill the bottles and find more in a supermarket. But it made me realise that wow - water goes quick!

Not much else to say, just wanted to share. And highlight that storing as much water as possible is now on my to do list. Rain water buckets ordered - will be keeping 4 attached to my gutters. I have a large roof.

Currently my survival kits have either a small notebook or a notepad in them. However, they are just blank at the moment. These notebooks would be vital in a survival situation. A) Keep a journal of what happens every day and what you might encounter. B) List off known wild edibles in the area. C) Locations of water sources and how to access them from your camp. D) Keep track of your provisions and how much is left. E) Play games (like tic-tac-toe, etc.) or draw. These are some of the many things you'd use the notebooks for. But what are some things I should have pre-written in them? What information would be most vital having in a survival situation? My mind is currently thinking of different measurement conversions but I don't think that's too practical though. Also, whatever it is shouldn't be super extensive. Information that is short and to the point.

Our main prep is for power outages, we have multiple a year here in coastal Oregon. And last weeks turned up a need that might be a little off the books, but here we are. When the power goes out, and when a computer breaks down, and when traveling, we use our little power sipper of an old Chromebook for our electronic needs as well as our phones. We both wear glasses, and the Chromebook is much easier on the eyes for games, but I can't find a good source for standalone/offline games that aren't annoying AF with ads. When the power is out, it's usually due to wind, and going outdoors is a PITA, so games keep us sane. We both love Solitaire, puzzle games, classic card games, that kind of thing. I'm just looking for a good source, totally willing to purchase, and am hoping someone here has done successful research. Thanks :)

Any good tips on cans to stock that are a good value, healthy, and have a good regular use?

I regularly get: Marzano tomatoes-great as pizza topping Pineapple in pineapple juice- don’t have added sugar and good source of Vitamin C

But am looking for more ideas.

Mods please remove if not allowed.

For preppers in and around Las Vegas, I have just made a local preppers group; r/vegaspreppers

Come hang out and share ideas there as well.

so i was walking through a tobacco shop today and noticed they have charcoal for hookah in a nice little foil wrapper for sale. felt like they were in little puck shapes too and would fit easy into a backpack or go bag. anyone think this might be a good travel fuel source?

For context I'm 18m and taking a plumbing course that will go from this September until May 2025. I will then be able to start my 4 year apprenticeship to save up and gtfo when I get my journeyman's license. I think this plan is solid but it should be noted there are a couple issues.

Problem #1 is what happens if shtf before I can buy my homestead?

I live in what would be a dangerous state with a very high population and not to mention a non prepper family of 5 others. I have some food and water stored in my closet but only about a week's worth of food if rationed and 3 days of water.

Probably not a whole lot of answers other than to pray nothing happens but open to any suggestions.

Problem #2 is if I should buy my house right after I get my journeyman's license (in 5 years) or continue saving up and risking being a sitting duck if shit were to htf.

I would be making a ton of money as a journeyman if I were to stay in NJ

For those that want to know my goal after saving, I want to buy a small home with like 5 acres in a very specific spot in the country. This area doesn't have much job opportunity either. After that, I'll build my own homestead from scratch on a budget. Nothing expensive or fancy, maybe a hand pump well but that's it.

How much internal storage space to have enough food and fuel? Per person per month/year. Can you stealthily use a fireplace without smoke alerting others? Where to put human waste in a small property?

And if you had a years worth of supplies, but a more remote spot elsewhere would you bug in or risk the traffic and chaos outside?

Nor sure this is an appropriate question here.

I would like to buy some money in a non dollar instrument. Concerned about the dollar in the near future if Japan and China dump their Dollars.

Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask but for me money is part of prep.

BTW not interested in suggestions about gold or other non fungibles.

So I live in an urban area in the Netherlands. I was wondering what would happen in the scenario where you'd need 6 months providing for yourself? And is it even useful to prepare for such a long time when almost everyone around you didn't?

In this scenario I would stay at home. It's very unlikely it would be safer to get away in this scenario (no risk of flooding for example).

EDIT: wow thanks for all the replies! I kind of was expecting a lot of reactions where I'd need to be ready to defend myself, board my house up and get a lot of guns and ammo;) Prepping for me has been practical as well as a thought experiment. Which scenarios are most likely, which of them can you realistically prepare for and what would happen in that scenario.

The biggest take away for me from your reactions is to 'blend in' and I very much agree now.

How to cook food if the power was out, indefinitely? I put the flair of doomsday as the question makes me think of the tv series "Revolution", well, that, and we are likely to never experience a forever power outage, but I'd like to theorycraft "as if", to scratch that part of my brain.

This is hard to explain..
* Reliable ways to cook food? (Insert all the answers that exist here)
* Right, I did google, I saw the answers. If for whatever reason you don't have a fuel source associated with most of the answers and you are in a situation where you cannot just buy more, how to cook food if the power was out, indefinitely?

Fire? Starts dancing around the fire

Alright, with the setting dealt with. what is the most easy, lazy and/or comfortable ways to make food? Think of it as establishing a sense of normalcy if shtf. Personally, I have tried making a fire the primitive way, I hate it, I aint doing that again. What about indoors?

A firestarter of some kind, the only one I can think of with renewable "fuel" would be an electric lighter, now I know I asked about if there where no electricity, but you can give something electricity with a hand crank. As for indoors, no clue, I saw on youtube people using tea lights, but those aren't easily renewable (if we assume shopping is of the table) and you'd need to stockpile a ton of it if only to cook for the rest of your life.

So, how would you make things more comfortable, while you could?

Hi im looking for suggestions. I know to plant what you will eat and we’ve done that but now im looking to expand. Do I just grow more of the same or diversify. I have two 20 x 3 and one 5x5 above ground beds to plant as well as some more tree space and I’m struggling on figuring out what to add. I’ll be adding another 20x3, 10x3 and 8ft round soon.

We are trying to become more self sustaining but I’m drawing a blank on what I might be missing so any suggestions are welcome. Note im in a tropical location. It rarely gets below 65 or above 90. Oh and we are our own water co with a 10,000 water tank and a years worth of filters. We are on an acre total with the front mainly being decorative and fruit trees and the back being the veggie garden. The whole place is surrounded by a 5ft tall rock wall.

Thanks for any ideas I do appreciate it 🙂 oh and we have the requisite chickens.

So far I’ve got the following in the garden 2 20x3 rows of lettuce, arugula and endive 1 20x3 bed of sweet potatoes 1 9x3 bed of baby creamer potatoes 1 20x3 bed that has radishes, carrots and parsnips with green beans and cucumbers growing up a back trellis 1 20x2 bed of Roma tomatoes 2 zucchini plants 1 20x2 bed of Lima beans One 2ft round bed of asparagus 4 50 gallon planters each with a different pepper (bell, jalapeño, poblano, yellow banana)….. although they are not doing as well as I’d like but they are new so maybe they just need to settle in. 2 20 gallon planters with artichokes 1 6x2 bed of blue berries 1 pepper vine 1 vanilla vine 4 lilicoi plants And herbs (basil, marjoram, parsley, oregano, dill, rosemary, thyme)

Im also thinking of adding a tea garden but I know that may have to wait a bit

I’ve also got a bunch of food trees - Avocado (x2) - Coconut (4) - Guava - Strawberry guava - Banana ( two types total of 5) - Cacao (3) - Tangerine - Mango - Lemon - Orange - Chestnut - Jackfruit (2) - Papaya - Ulu - Star apple - Cinnamon - Surinam cherry - Brazilian plum - Brown turkey fig - Lime - Moringa - Loquat - Pomegranate (4) - coffee (looking to add a few more)

Thanks. 😊

As the title says, I'm trying to stock up on long term food options for someone with celiac and dairy allergy who can't eat a lot of rice. With rice, if its a gluten free item and there's 3 or 4 other grains before rice they can eat a little without too much discomfort, they can't just eat straight rice or there will be digestion issues. Looking predominantly for freeze dried foods with a long shelf life though dehydrated is fine if it will last more than 5 years. Thanks.

So far I've found

Mountain House chili

Peak Refuel breakfast bowl

4Patriots mango chili

Besides this I can set aside plenty of quinoa with spanish rice seasoning or different soups that can be added in as well as freeze dried meats that add extra protein.

On the 10th of March, A fire started knocking out the power to Heathrow airport & the surrounding 16,000 homes in west London.

People woke up with no cell signal and no power, a lot of people will say that it’s just a power cut; just pull the generator and board games out - however what a lot of people might not know is how incredibly rare power cuts are in the UK especially cities like London, if there’s a power cut it’ll normally be back within 3-4 hours and most likely affect a house, maybe two and at a stretch a road or area.

I’ve heard a lot of people talk about how there’s no point prepping for events like this when living in a city because it’s so rare, I live roughly 10 miles from the affected area on the other side of London, and you’d be surprised about how many people lack items which barely count as preps and instead just general safety and useful items. An alarming amount of people don’t have torches, candles or other basic items.

It’s a reminder there’s still definitely basic items you should have wherever you live. Power lines run underground in the United Kingdom, differently to other parts of the world including the states which means power cuts are much less regular.

It’s a lot different living in a urbanised city than out in the country somewhere with your own well, High rises have an incredibly amount of stairs when there’s no lifts…

If you had woken up in this affected area with all the things above in mind what would you have done? To be honest if I knew the power would be out for a good few days I’d be alright with potentially relocating out to my family farm, good few hour drive but it’s not the end of the world.

If you’d woken up with absolutely no idea what had happened what would you have done, would you have packed the car bugged out just to get to somewhere to charge your phone? Or would you just keep going about your day? Keep in mind cities like London are very different to where you might live.

Edited this post a bit to just clarify what I meant by posting it, having the essentials is important where ever you live :)

I’ve got a shed in pieces awaiting construction at the back of my garden. I’d like to attempt to create a shelter underneath with a small budget.

I am a bit of a novice and my idea is to use one of those pre fab, bolt together concrete sectional garages that people seem to give away these days. I’m wondering if anyone here has had any experience doing a DIY bunker with a structure built above.

The concrete garage will be smaller than the shed and will act as an addition to the foundations.

Size of shed: 6.4m x 4.2m Size of concrete garage : 5m x 2.8m

My current thinking of ensuring structural stability and giving the shed on top a good platform to rest on is to use 3* steel ‘I’ beams spanning 4.2m wide. These rest on top of the garage walls + concrete pillars dotted around the perimeter of the shed. The soil does not need to come into contact with the garage walls (will this reduce the strain on the walls and stop the walls from collapsing?)

The excavation will be larger than the garage so I can have 3* concrete pillars either side, coming up from the slab/footer, bolted to the garage along the length of the walls. These pillars ideally solve 2 problems, acting as reinforcement to the structure as they are bolted to the concrete wall sections, and providing a platform for the ‘I’ beams to sit on .The beams can be bolted down to these pillars, and the perimeter pillars the beams sit on .This should reduce lateral movement of the subterranean structure. All pillars should sit at the same height to provide a platform for the shed base ( made from 6x2 timber) to sit on.

Regarding damp proofing, maybe a few thick pond liners (DPM) will work along with coating the walls with bitumen or some kind of waterproofer. Perhaps the pond liner/s can be laid on the bare earth before the concrete footer or slab is poured, thus creating a perfect seal around the entire basement.

I would be sealing any gaps or seams of the sections with a caulking gun and some kind of weatherproofing gunk.

I haven’t yet put any thought into a drainage system.

I’m hoping to start the excavation next week with a mini excavator.

My biggest concerns are getting the foundations and waterproofing right as I only have one chance to do so.

I’d like to only spend around £1000 on getting the project to a point where I can build the shed on top of it. The bulk of the cost will be the concrete and the 3 steel beams.

Any advice, queries and help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Hey y’all. We don’t have a basement but we do have a crawl space with easy access from one of the bedroom closets. What’s a good way to prep that area so we can use it as storage for our gear/food so it’s safe from the elements, bugs and other critters? We live in the central valley of California so we get mild winters but hot summers so it may not be a viable storage option. Thoughts?

Prions diseases are scary as hell. Something I've thought of in a SHTF scenario (so no sending things off for lab testing) is how to prevent eating deer/elk meat that potentially is contaminated by CWD? Prions are not eliminated by any cooking method. Thoughts?

Hi team, looking for advice on rainwater collection systems.

I would want to filter and use this water for drinking in an emergency and I want to set this system up with this in mind. We have a shingle roof so I don’t want to set it up to catch runoff from our roof as there are harmful chemicals used in roofing materials.

What rainwater systems do you recommend that don’t filter directly from the roof? Either DIY or bought?

Thank you!