Thoughts on Prepping.

[SkyyFyre]

Thoughts on Prepping.

Having looked across the various forum articles, I thought this may be of use
to folks:

First, consider the reason to be prepped:

Car accident in a remote area: Think! Shelter, Water, Warmth, Food.

I have a mirror-film emergency tent, and also the same type sheet.
Good for accidents and basic shelter.
Emergency water packs (from EvacQ8)
Small gas stove and canister. Billy cans. Fire lighting bits.
Self-heat food pack, Seven Seas emergency biscuits (from
Evacu8), Jerky and pemmican (home made).
First aid kit (up to you.. I tend to get a bit of everything).
These allow a cpl people to last for a day or 2 in this situation and
packs into about 14" by 14" by 9" carrier pack.

In this world of 'Austerity', having to leave your home and still survive:

DON'T expect to move into a different 3-bed house in another area
and continue living with all your comforts around you! Do you really
want to live on the street in a town or city?

So, prep for longer-term stays, always think: Shelter, water,
warmth, food.

Shelter is fairly easy, a survival tent, normal tent, even a 'Concert
shelter' (the sort used at an open-air music concert). Cheap, light
and easy!

Water: I carry a TDS meter (Total Dissolved Solids). This shows
the level of dissolved contaminants in water, like pesticides.
Water filtration bag to get rid of undissolved solids, silt etc.
Aquaclear tablets. Container.

Warmth is obvious, a fire.

Food: some emergency packs, but try to live off what you can get
fresh. Forage! There's meat available if you can just go get it (let's
face it, there are rabbits and pigeons all over the place, let alone
other sources)!

Terrorist attack on your home/area:

Same as above, just more of everything!

Armageddon (Nuclear or all-out invasion):

Again, same as all above, also consider survival weapons, tools,
equipment to allow you to live in relative comfort instead of
shivering in a corner.

In ALL of this, KNOWLEGE! You need to know what you can do, how much
you can carry, how far you can travel, where you're going and how you're
getting there. What foods can you forage at what times of the year, what fish
is edible. What animals are edible safely.

Let's consider the worst possible situation: Armageddon. NBC-war (Nuclear,
Biological, Chemical).

First, where are you going to go? Get away from populated areas, they're the
first likely to be hit.
Second, How to get there. Trains will not be running, nor airlines, or coaches.
Fuel will be a problem.
Next: Once you get there, where are you going to set up? Unless you happen
to have a nice Nuclear bunker, underground is the easiest solution to start
with. This also sort of works for the B and C better than living above ground.
Next: Secure it as best you can, cover the entrance over to stop anything
coming in. Set up areas for sleeping, ablutions, waste, heat, etc. (this can
take a while, so go for the basics first). Get to know the area, what/who is
there, where clean water is available, food, forage.
Now you can consider contacting others, unless you have a portable HAM
station and kit, and something to keep it running (No electricity after
Armageddon!), you need to be out and about. Possible thoughts are Solar
chargers for Walkie-talkies etc. Same with mobiles/tablets for comms. Forget
the nice credit/debit card! Money will not be available, though some people
would go and try to amass what they could in the situation. You will get things
you need by trade/barter.

OK, this is absolute worst case scenario. BUT, scale it back depending on the
situation and timescales. No NBC means live above ground. Short-term, just
get comfy. Longer term, think a more permanent shelter.

This, I think, is what Prepping is about. Not just a fun week-end in the woods,
but a way of life for a future.

Tell me I'm wrong, tell me I'm over-reacting, if you like, but if something
happens to you, do not come complaining to me that you're not ready!

[Brambles]

You're wrong, you're over-reacting and no I won't come crying to you.
Prepping isn't just about ROTTW. It's about having your life ordered so that you don't have to ROTTW. Quite honestly if I did have to I'd consider myself an unmitigated failure.

As Andy says, If you're roughing it, you're doing it wrong.

Consider these topics too.

Fire, can you escape from your property? are you insured?

Flood, Are you in a flood area, have you any flood defences? are you insured?

Unemployment, can you feed yourself and family, do you have funds put by? are you insured?

Power cut, do you have alternative sources of heat and light for your house? Can you cook a meal? are you insured?

Interruped water supply, do you have an alternative supply? can you provide hygiene alternatives?

[Deeps]

Tell me I'm wrong, tell me I'm over-reacting, if you like, but if something
happens to you, do not come complaining to me that you're not ready!

You're wrong, you're over reacting. I'm not sure why I'd be searching you out to complain if one of your doomsday scenarios come to pass, I'll probably be a bit busy crossbowing zombies, my crossbow will have rhinestones (natch), all the cool kids are doing it.

As Brambles says, what happens if we don't get an apocalypse but we do get power cuts or you can't get money from a cash point because of a cyber attack ? My spider senses are detecting a hint of elitism in your post, your idea of prepping is a bit different to mine but feel free to feel as smug as you like if we get nuked and you're good to go in your underground lair.

[itsybitsy]

Errrrrr...I'm pretty sure that nobody will be coming to you for anything at all after that rant!

Meanwhile, back in the real world...I prep for possible redundancy, economic instability, adverse weather,. Work on the nuclear bunker will have to wait until next year, I'm afraid - my bad!

[Yorkshire Andy]

Car accident in a remote area: Think! Shelter, Water, Warmth, Food.

I have a mirror-film emergency tent, and also the same type sheet.

Well its forecast -5°c tonight....

Have you ever tried sleeping in your £2 worth shelter? Trust me its not present even on a early summers night

First gust of wind is also going to be interesting assuming your on about the Mylar tents. ..


Give me a goretex bivvie bag and compact sleeping bag any day

[Deeps]

Car accident in a remote area: Think! Shelter, Water, Warmth, Food.

I have a mirror-film emergency tent, and also the same type sheet.

Well its forecast -5°c tonight....

Have you ever tried sleeping in your £2 worth shelter? Trust me its not present even on a early summers night

First gust of wind is also going to be interesting assuming your on about the Mylar tents. ..


Give me a goretex bivvie bag and compact sleeping bag any day

A winning combination. Even the 'emergency' bags with a sleeping bag are warm enough although condensation can be an issue.

[Yorkshire Andy]

A winning combination. Even the 'emergency' bags with a sleeping bag are warm enough although condensation can be an issue.

yep i managed to get two almost unused army surplus olive goretex bags for £3 each at a local car boot sale

and at the moment have an army artic bag in the car boot in the mod compression sack with the goretex bag and its just larger than a foot ball and a 3/4 thermal themrarest esk mod roll mat....

Ok its a bit big and bulky but its there for worst case problems.. and the old visiting a friend been talked into a beer or 3 or 6 resulting in an overnight kip on the living room floor in comfort / getting too warm

i do carry the sol emergency bivvie bag in my mountain biking kit but its one of those "whilst waiting for an ambulance" rather than an overnight slip into hypothermia type jobs

[Yorkshire Andy]

. Work on the nuclear bunker will have to wait until next year, I'm afraid - my bad!

got you the perfect door handle for it

[Plymtom]

ive me a goretex bivvie bag and compact sleeping bag any day

I just got some of those, in all honesty with the intentions of one day doing an over nighter with my son, my interest in this sort of kit is largely due to the bush-crafty outdoor calling, you know that need to get the hell out of the city/house even if only for a few hours, I'm envious of those who have the freedom and money to do the "funky prepper" type bug out trips, not because I fear the alleged oncoming SHTF and feel I need to practice, but because it looks like bloody good fun in small doses

I don't get out much, and liked going out sort of wild camping as a teenager, it was good to get away but in winter, in snow on Dartmoor was a bit of an adventure which also made going home after nice I digress, getting home or a car breakdown (needing such things as survival tents) will not really be an issue for the foreseeable as I do not go that far off the main routes, almost all my prepping is home based or bug in if you like and for the mundane S that has been hitting the fan for two decades now, all this survival "out there" stuff is all well and good but I don't get out enough.

Tell me I'm wrong, tell me I'm over-reacting, if you like, but if something
happens to you, do not come complaining to me that you're not ready!

The single over riding factor which cannot be gotten around if you need prescription meds which several in our house do, is how long will you have without them? can you get more? and what else could go wrong, basically if the NHS goes down then after a time so do I.
Many of us simply cannot cover all the bases, most of those who think they can especially in the run to the woods bug out type way, if the S ever does hit, I feel won't be sitting pretty at all, the problem with the worse scenarios is they come as a surprise no matter how much you over react before hand

[Brambles]

. Work on the nuclear bunker will have to wait until next year, I'm afraid - my bad!

got you the perfect door handle for it

Do they do it in pink?