Top 100 Items to Disappear First During a National Emergency

I was very disappointed in that list, actually- it had two big misses.

Gas. I've seen few disasters where gasoline and deisel wasn't at a premium almost immediately.

Potable water. Seen fewere natural disasters where there wasn't' a break down in the water supply, either because the pumps were out, reservoirs were cut off, or there was a leak of some kind of contamination into the water supply.

Saw both listed as asides related to items, but they should be items themselves.
 
LittleHairyApe said:
6. PRESCRIPTION MEDICINE(S), FIRST AID SUPPLIES - You will need your medicines even in the aftermath of a disaster. Be sure to bring plenty because it may be a long time before you get more. Bring all first aid supplies even if it is just a box of band aids.
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Great thread.

After the SARS scare a few yrs ago and New Orleans I started to research and learn and prepare. Food is lower on the list than you may think. Potable water is the greatest priority. With the Bird flu lurking still I am happy I prepared.

Very important and often overlooked. The amount of meds people rely on to live is astounding.

I have a yrs supply for my family's needs and rotate them. Even things like antibiotics which will be exhausted in no time are a huge benefit as a small bout of pneumonia untreated has a huge death rate without antibiotics.

Often forgotten is hygene. With no waste disposal system your immediate environment will become toxic if not kept clean. Lots of bleach, soap and cleaners and a plan to dispose of waste. As they say, never crap where you sleep or eat anywhere near it, animals dont do it, neither should we.

All the food and guns in the world wont help if you are dead from infections and disease that some bleach and $3 in antibiotics could have avoided or fixed.

Something to think about.

Skam
 
swedishdwarf said:
For years, people have been saying to me, "If something happens, I'm goint to your house!"

I've just been asking them, "Why? You don't think you could find anyone else to shoot you?"
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None of our current neighbors are very neighborly. Most are pricks that moved to the country but want it to be like the city and spend their time worry about what I do. Pretty sure one is a doper. If they came by in the daytime they would get one warning, if they came by at night they wouldn’t get that.
 
Fuel, water, and ICE are surely the first to go. During Hurricane Rita gasoline dissapeared instantly but diesel was available everywhere. I drove down to Surfside ( a small town right on the surf in Brazoria county) and found Beach Bait & Tackle still open, just hours before the storm was scheduled to hit land. Filled my 100qt.+ igloo up with ICE and the owner said it was on him. What a great gift at the time everybody else was gouging customers on price.

SGB
 
CAsh as when the power goes out cash is king if anything is open in a few days. Batteries, living through a hurricane taught me that all common batteries go first D, AA, AAA and forget about odd types as they just dont carry enough in enough places (sorry Surefire fans facts are facts).

Good amount of C cells and 9 volt squares on the shelf tho.

Fuel, 1 station was open in town on a cash basis 24 hrs after and I couldnt believe the lines to get fuel after 4 days of warnings nobody filled up or they waited until the last minute and they ran out.

Propane forget it, better have it before.
Camp fuel forget it. Buy gallons before and store it as you use tons of it cooking for a family over a week with no power. Better have the camp stove as well.

Better have dozens of gallons of drinking water too as it was contaminated.

Smartest thing I saw after was my 75yr old neighbours cooked 10lbs of rice the day before as it lasts days without power cooked and can be turned into anything, saving precious fuel for the camp stove. When warned a smart thing to do as it costs nothing if you don't get hit.

Frozen food packed TIGHT in coolers lasted longer than left in the freezer. People lost $100's from freezer thaw damage.

Skam
 
Skammer, great tip on pre-cooking rice and the sort. Didn't think of that. Warm it, add a little butter, salt & pepper, tastes great.:thumbup:

SGB
 
skammer said:
. . .Smartest thing I saw after was my 75yr old neighbours cooked 10lbs of rice the day before as it lasts days without power cooked and can be turned into anything, saving precious fuel for the camp stove. When warned a smart thing to do as it costs nothing if you don't get hit.

Frozen food packed TIGHT in coolers lasted longer than left in the freezer. People lost $100's from freezer thaw damage.

Skam
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Great ideas. It seems that if you cook that rice up, bag it in Ziplock bags and then store in the refrigerator, the rice should stay good longer. Won't do me much good in CA, we don't see the earthquakes coming.

I do need one of the new coolers that will go something like 7 days. Very efficient insulation and good design. Cook that rice up, bag it in Ziplock bags and then store in the refrigerator after putting the food into the cooler. The rice should stay good longer that way. $.02
 
oldsaltgrassbear said:
Skammer, great tip on pre-cooking rice and the sort. Didn't think of that. Warm it, add a little butter, salt & pepper, tastes great.:thumbup:

SGB
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Over the 8 days we had no power they invited us over 4 times for a rice based meal of some sort with some meat. They had made a rice stew with veg and meat, rice pilaf, rice pudding for desert, spanish rice.

The list of what you can do with rice is endless and I am not even Asian haha.

Moral of the story, all this hype about this punk grylls and so called survival experts is BS. Visit your elderly neighbours and family and ask them about the rough times and how they got through it. Wealth of info and to our shame its not passed on to these new generations who would rather play the nintendo version of survival knowledge.
Be sure to include pictures and loud music for them as there attention span is very short.:rolleyes:

Skam
 
We had a pretty severe ice storm here in Oklahoma this winter that caused some shortages. The hot items were:

generators
chainsaws
light beer
baby food
dog food
batteries

The ones that shocked me were beer and dog food.

-Stephen
 
Your right about our elderly neighbors. There is another. Afew years ago I did some work for the city of Houston on their water distribution outlets all over the city. Some of them were in the Ward areas, if you know my meaning. What I noticed is that many people are already living the Survival scenerio on a every day basis. I looked at this house, the windows were open, there were chickens feeding freely in the yard, a couple of goats grazing on the grass, clothes on the line, kids playing in the yard and music coming from the home. I had a big awakening that day. These people were already living on the bare minimum and seemed to be happy and healthy. So who will survive in the so called troubled times to come. It makes you wonder.;)

SGB
 
SGB-
On another board once, a forumite related about the time a big ice storm knocked out their power for a couple weeks, when he was little. They were rescued by the Amish! I suppose they did just fine during the power outtage. :D Seriously there is a large Amish community in the next county. Might be worth a visit.

Visit your elderly neighbours and family and ask them about the rough times and how they got through it. Wealth of info and to our shame its not passed on to these new generations...
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Good advice. In rural areas, the "old ways" are certainly not lost. Lots of old timers could simply live the way they were used to growing up anyway. My dad's neighbor was born in a log cabin. Honestly. I always remember when we'd all get together in winter to butcher hogs; making the summer sausage, etc. He always liked to make a little blood sausage, and always stirred the pail of blood with a forked twig cut from an apple tree by his grandfather- I'm guessing weeeelll over 100 years ago.
 
LittleHairyApe said:
Top 100 Items to Disappear First During a National Emergency

1. Generators (Good ones cost dearly. Gas storage, risky. Noisy...target of thieves; maintenance etc.)
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I can state that from the security side that generators are incredibly hot items for theft. A person inside SBC/AT&T reported to me once that their portable generators are stolen at a phenomenal rate, regardless of the precautions they take...indeed, it's the number one item they lose from year to year.

Similarly, construction companies go to great pains to hide/secure/crane lift their generators, and still people manage to steal them.

This is a great list, and kudos to LittleHairyApe for compiling it for us.
 
I say

number one should be firearm and ammo. if you have this, you keep what you have and get what you need.

two, water and a way to get it, I have a ground water well in my back yard. along with a handpump. run that thru either a katadyn base camp or a sand filter and I am good to go.

Most big emergencys last a week to two weeks in AMERICA before stuff starts moving.

so always have enough enough for two weeks at least

cold may seem important but it is unnecessary unless you have meds that must be chilled.

Same with electricity, helpful but not necessary. If you have natural gas available in your community, then the natural gas powered permanent gensets are the best value, cheaper to operate than even gasoline powered gen sets, and very quiet, and very difficult to steal.

I have a diesel powered genset that works just fine, runs most of a week on 7 gals of fuel, My old gas gen set would suck that much before lunch.

gen sets only need to be run for short times. running one for two hours or so at dinnertime will keep food in a good fridge cool enough to prevent spoilage for a week or so, provided that you do not keep opening hte door.

TP, its just not that important. if you need to, use a rag with a bucket of bleachie water.

Meds, get enough to keep at least a months supply on hand, keep it together and keep it where you can grab it.

basic food stuffs. next time at costco or sams, buy a fifty pound sack of rice, 25 pounds of sugar. a gallon or two of oil, if you drink coffee, get a couple extra cans, get some dry lemonade mix, or sport drink mix. buy a half gallon of honey and a 5 pound jar of peanut butter and a big bottle of one a day vitamins. add ten pounds of kosher salt and a big sack of rolled oats. get this and put it in big sealed up rubber tub. will keep for a year. minimum. The above will feed a family of four for about a month. its not Outback steakhouse, but it will keep you alive and all you need to make it is water and heat.
Sure some canned tuna, pasta and the like will add variety, but you can feed your family long enough to survive on that.

add some basic hand tools, a good axe,(chainsaws are nice but use a lotof fuel) a good bow saw, hammer, five pounds of 16d & 8d nails, get a roll of tar paper and some roofing nails. some cordless tools are great, but if you have no way of recharging them then they are soon just deadweight. that said, a bucket of dry wall screws and some plywood are just the ticket for sealing up storm damaged windows. I would suggest you all go out and buy a few sheets of ox board or plywood and just keep them in the garage, I know a guy who parks both cars over a few sheets just in case he needs them in florida.

a cheap am/fm radio that uses AA or windup power. a good little joggers radio that will allow you to get info is a wonderful tool and mine lasts days if not weeks on a set of AAA's.

Getting back to the old days is not so far away, I am not yet 50 and i lived for two years in a house that had one coal stove for heat, and a propane "cook top" with only two burners. That was the parsonage of the church my dad was at. When it got cold the walls of the downstairs would get white with frost. The insulation was wadded up newsprint.

Game will go fast if the S really HTF. too many people needing too much too fast. Look at how fast the white tail and other game species populations plummeted during the depression. If you are in a city area, you will need to find a place outside of the city where you will be welcome, if not, BOAKYAGB. just the way it is.
 
a couple of deep cycle batteries and an inverter along with your generator might be handy could keep you from running your generator as often.

alex
 
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