How to Prepare Ideas

You need a minimum of one gallon of water per person/ per day. Probably the easiest way to store water is in plastic gallon jugs. You can clean them out with bleach water. Put in clean water and add 8 drops of unscented chlorine bleach. Chlorine bleach has a shelf life of one year. These water jugs should be replaced every 6 months. Water can also be stored in tanks, barrels, 55 gallon drums. There are collapsible containers you can purchase. Even glass jars. Storing 30 days of water must be done in your survival location because of the bulk. If your on the move or cannot make it to your survival location you can collect outside water from rain, steams, ponds and lakes. Avoid flooded water due to contamination and bacteria. If you are collecting outside water choose the cleanest water and strain it with a coffee filter or cloth then you are going to need to boil it before you can drink it. Bring water to a rolling boil for five minutes which will kill everything harmful. Other options for making water safe to drink is adding chlorine, iodine or filers such as the life straw.

Rice – First off, buy a 50lb bag of rice. These contain 504 servings and It is simple to cook and stores for years if you keep it cool and dry. A bag at Sam’s costs about $19.

Beans- A good size bag is about $5 and makes 126 servings.

Canned meat – Cans are great for fruits and vegetables and anyone can find something they will eat. For canned meat, I recommend tuna or chicken because you can easily mix that into your rice. For the meat you will need approximately 35 cans. Each can has about 3 servings.
Canned Vegetables – you will need about 40 cans of vegetables and again this can be whatever your family will eat.

Canned Fruit – again, simple fruits that your family will eat. These can even be fruit cocktail if that is the safest thing. At Costco they have the #10 cans of fruit like pears or apple slices and each of these has 25 servings. 5 of these will cost about $25 and give your family their daily dose of fruit. Oatmeal – Good old-fashioned oatmeal is simple to cook and store. A normal container has 30 servings each so purchase about 4 of these. At $2 each that is about $8 for breakfast for a month for a family of four. You can exchange some meals for Pop-tarts.

Honey– Honey is a miracle food really as it will never go bad if you keep it dry and cool. Honey will last you forever and Sam’s has large containers that hold 108 servings. You can use this in place of sugar to satisfy the sweet tooth. Honey even has medicinal properties and you can use this to add some flavor to your oatmeal for breakfast. Salt – Same as honey, salt will never go bad if you keep it dry and helps the flavor of anything. You can buy a big box of salt for around $1 and that will last your whole family a month easily.

Vitamins – Good multivitamins to augment your nutrition in the case of a disaster or emergency. Granted, rice and beans aren’t the best and you won’t be getting as many nutrients from canned fruit and vegetables so the vitamins help to fill in the gaps and keep you healthy. One big bottle costs about $8.

All of the list above will feed the average family of 4 for right at 30 days. If you are just one or two you can adjust the amount or plan to share the extra rations. The meat was the most expensive part but the bill comes to around $500 give or take but this will vary by where you live.

So by now you should have a plan for water and food to last you through one month. You can also expand on the items on your 72 hour bug out bag list such as energy bars, MREs and nuts.

This is a personal section that everyone must determine on their own the things they just do not think they can live without. In the 72 hour bug out bag I only listed 2 extra sets of clothing and this will obviously need to be expanded for a 30 day. Keep in mind the climate you will be leaving or entering and the changes in the weather produced by a pole shift. We could have 200 mph winds, temperatures over 100 degrees and well below zero. I could quote numbers but we really have no idea. It is possible outdoor conditions could be non survivable and harsh even inside of the cave’s shelter. Footwear is important. You want to have waterproof work boots or rubber mud boots and hiking heavy duty boots. Personal items you may want to consider:

• Dental floss, tooth brush, toothpaste
• Shampoo, brush, comb
• Soap, skin care products like lotions and Vaseline, lip balm, sun screen
• Extra reading glasses and sun glasses
• Necessary medications and OTC medications
• Anyone going to use deodorant or shave?
• Feminine hygiene

This section is a cut and paste off Survival 101 site

The next shoe to drop in a SHTF scenario is to plan for security. In a disaster; the rules get thrown out the window quickly and you may be left to defend yourself against looters or people who just want to take advantage of the situation. If you are really prepared with enough survival equipment and disaster supplies to last you through the emergency, chances are that you could become a target for people who did not plan.

Human nature is funny, but it is predictable in a lot of instances. Desperate people do desperate things. A mother who has starving children will do things for their benefit that she never would otherwise. In the same capacity a father who has a sick or starving family will act with their interests above all else, including his. This can lead to incredibly dangerous encounters and it is a good idea to anticipate these and plan for them.

Having a selection of good firearms and being trained in their use is going to give you a greater ability to defend your family and your possessions in a true collapse or grid-down type of disaster. I think that anyone who does not have a means to defend themselves will eventually become the victim of some form of theft or violence. History is just too full of examples of this type of atrocity happening to otherwise good people. My philosophy in cases like this is to pray for the best and prepare for the worst.

If you don’t have any firearms at all, the current political climate and government meddling may have stirred in you a sense of angst to acquire some means of defending yourself with a firearm. You could be on the other end of the spectrum and believe that all guns should be banned and people should all just “get along”.

There is no real reason for me to try and change the opinion of any true pacifist. I will only say that no law ever stopped a law breaker. The only people who won’t carry guns if you make a law are the law abiding citizens and it is foolish to believe that a law will stop either guns or violence from being tools used by bad people.

Ammunition is the next important thing to get because without bullets, those firearms you purchased for self-defense will be just about worthless. As of right now, Ammo prices are incredibly high and inventories are low. This makes finding ammo hard because everyone is out there looking to replace and augment what they already have. If you are just starting, I would have no less than 2 boxes of hollow-point ammo for any handguns regardless of the cost. You just have to bite the bullet (no pun intended) and get enough for basic protection. Shotgun ammo is still in relatively good supply so make sure to stock up on shotgun ammo as much as possible. You will probably never regret spending money on guns or ammo if you ever get to the point of needing them for security. You will definitely regret not having anything.

Emergency Fund – Everyone needs to have some money in a safe place that they can get their hands on quickly. Do not plan on being able to get money out of the bank or ATM. I would recommend having a few to several hundred dollars in small bills somewhere you can access it whenever you need it. There maybe a period of time you can still buy gas or food using cash only before cash has zero value. This may help you reach your survival location.

Bartering supplies – Of more value than cash money maybe gold and silver. Even more so people will want to trade goods for services. Bartering has been foreseen as what could potentially be the method that people choose to conduct commerce in a future . If you have supplies you can trade others then you will have a form of currency. Ideas for bartering are skills, supplies, cigarettes, alcohol, tools, ammunition; pretty much anything that will be of value to those who are just trying to survive

Eventually in a total collapse, groups will form and bartering will be more common.

As we begin to prepare our homes and families for surviving after an emergency a highly important consideration is staying healthy. The biggest threat to health, notwithstanding a plague type of incident is injuries and infections. If emergency services are overwhelmed during a disaster, you may have to be your own first line of defense on medical care as well. Having the supplies you need to treat mild to major injuries could be the difference between life and death. Sybil is working on detailed lists of medical supplies and equipment for the group but everyone needs to pitch in it maybe you or your loved ones that need the supplies. So watch for those detailed sign up lists to circulate.

Humans are incredibly resilient creatures and our bodies have the capacity to heal themselves in a large variety of circumstances. What you need to consider are how you can apply first aid to your family or group in the absence of the family doctor, calls to 911, trips to the emergency room or the local clinic down the street. My first aid supplies are mainly focused on stopping blood loss and treating infection so that any wounds can heal.

Its better to build your own medical kit vs buying one because they tend to stick a lot of band aids in those kits and you think you have a helpful tool and its not. Sybil and or I can do a detailed list of must have first aide items for you if you feel you need it.

If you look at what soldiers carry into battle, you will get a good indication of two primary threats they are worried about. The IFAK which stands for Improved First Aid Kit or sometimes Individual First Aid Kit is fairly small and each soldier wears one on their gear. The main items are a combat tourniquet and a nasopharyngeal airway tube. The Army knows that the two main killers are loss of blood and not being able to breathe. You will see a couple of bandages in here, but no band aids. No anti-itch cream, no moist towelettes.

If possible, take a wilderness first aid course, advanced CPR or survival first aid. This will give you some training and experience with saving lives. This will train you to get someone stable, stopping a major blood loss or clearing an airway could save a life.

You can add to a regular first aide kit by adding a field surgery kit, extra bandages, blood clot and blood stopper tourniquets. I recommend including antibiotics and topical ointments. You can research purchasing fish antibiotics and also herbs and flowers for a wide variety of ailments. You can also include a field medical manual.

Lastly, if you have medications that you need to live, now is the time to stock up. You may have to speak with your doctor regarding a longer prescription but even this will run out if the disaster is wide spread or lengthy.

Everyone is talking medical needs but we also need to find out what dental knowledge we have in the group and find out items we need to collect in this area. Like dental repair kits?