Hypothetical Domestic Outbreak

What do you think will happen when the very first human to human transmiision of the Avian Flu is confirmed within the United States? Panic? Disbelief? What will you do?     

Close my Diner and kick back at home and watch in wonder as it spreads.I dont think most of the people will care much until its knocking on there door or they lose someone close to them.Everybody I talk to about this says it cant happen here.It amazes me how people think we are untouchable when it comes this"avianflu"  

Danny, They're Americans and they have cell phones!!! I've heard this come from someone's mouth. The cell phone part anyway. They think the technology seperates us from 1918 Americia. They think this makes them exempt from nature. I think it's also a pride thing.

I am going to the store also. But as I take things off the shelf I will feel differently about it than I do now. Now the item will be replaced, then everything I take will be unavailable to someone else. Someone with children. I know I will feel bad about this but I have to think about my family first. Everyone I tell about this thinks I am trying to enroll them in my doomsday cult. I have a lot of stuff now but not enough for the long haul.
I think everyone will instantly be a pandemic flu expert. They will want to talk about it when it is too late to prepare. And then they will remember the people who told them about it months ago. I wish I could move into a cave in the middle of nowhere and hide. I am much more afraid of people that the virus.

Salt, flour, sugar, yeast, garlic, in that order.

At the hardware store: caulk, sheeting, nails, screws ITO

At the fabric store: rubber packed curtain cloth.

Boondocker wrote: Salt, flour, sugar, yeast, garlic, in that order.At the hardware store: caulk, sheeting, nails, screws ITOAt the fabric store: rubber packed curtain cloth.

    
I must say I'm confused about all the flour, sugar, yeast and whatnot, wouldn't it be easier to buy regular food products than bother with basic ingredients? If the power goes out and the water goes, you won't be able to bake bread, you won't be able to cook anything. Everything frozen will go, boxed meals need to be boiled in water for the most part, the govt recommends non-perishables and non-prepared foods. Peanut butter and tuna for instance. Even the big bags of rice are pointless, there's no way to cook them. I think we need to masterplan - what other types of food do not need to be heated or prepared using electricity?

  I will head to the store for some last minute items like, fresh produce, orange juice in the box,this is a good replacement to use on dry cereal if you have no milk at all.  A few more bottles of alcohol, handy wipes, onions and garlic.  I don't have a lot of last minute things to get.   If I don't  get a chance to get any of  things I would be ok.  I would like to be able to stock up on a little more comfort food. 

    Parents, remember gov't suggestions - get comfort things for your kids, like games, candy, things that will help their anxiety. If we as adults are afraid, think of the children.

I've done some calculations. For $32 dollars (Sam's prices) 25lbs of rice, 5qts oil and 24lbs redbeans will supply 126 meals of 865 calories. This is about 3406 calories per dollar. If you could stand to eat 2000 calories of it a day (and you will if you have nothing else) that would be about about 58 cents a day. A can of LeSueur peas has 210 calories per dollar. And the dry stuff keeps well if you can keep the bugs out of it. I have a lot of my rice vacume sealed but not all of it. When I was checking the labels to get information for my calculations I saw some tiny little bugs. Almost too small to see. Vacume seal bags are expensive but necessary.

"If the power goes out and the water goes, you won't be able to bake bread, you won't be able to cook anything. Everything frozen will go, boxed meals need to be boiled in water for the most part, the govt recommends non-perishables and non-prepared foods. Peanut butter and tuna for instance. Even the big bags of rice are pointless, there's no way to cook them. I think we need to masterplan - what other types of food do not need to be heated or prepared using electricity?"

As well as several hundred cans of vegetables, chilli and pasta sauce, I have about 150lbs of rice and 100 lbs of flour stored so far, along with a butt load of pasta, dried beans, etc. I have no plans to include anything frozen in my preps. As far as cooking all that stuff goes, I don't need electricity - I have dual fuel stoves that run very economically on unleaded gas. When the announcement is made I'll fill up all the gas cans I have. The trick to making your fuel reserves last is to use a modern version of a haybox oven, which insulates the food, allowing it to cook itself (made any progress on that, Boondocker?). The only reason you have to continually heat food on a stove is because you're repacing heat lost to the atmosphere. It's an expensive balancing act - heat in, heat out. Partially cook your food on the stove then drop it into your haybox oven and it'll do the job itself. As far as baking is concerned, a simple camp oven over your stove, BBQ, etc will do the job nicely.
Boondocker is right. You can buy all the food you want, but in the end it'll be clean potable water that'll determine how well you prepped. I'm looking at solar stills and filters for that. I'm going to look into getting at least one 55 gallon drum as a reserve, but I want to be able to make my own water whenever I need it.
    

Just checked them out. Nice price. Wish I wasn't broke right now :(
I've lagged on the haybox we talked about. I have a box made up and a couple of stock pots I was planning on using, but work got in the way. What kind of foam were you trying? The solid kind or the spray kind? I bet there's got to be some high temp stuff around for some weird off the wall application. Maybe an aluminum lining (thin sheet metal as opposed to foil) between the pot and the foam might protect it while still reflecting radiant heat back. It would probably hold up better than foil in the long term as well. Just a thought.

Has anyone ever worked with stained glass? Could you buy several large and small magnifying glasses and combine them "stained glass style" into a crock pot lid. The winter sun is intense and if the pot could be insulated enough it may work.