Stocking Up First Step

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Edited by Admin

Komet,

I moved your post because it didn't belong in "News".

Your list looks good.  BTW, how long are you prepping for?  Looks a little thin on the food side, but a great start.

corky52 wrote: Why bottled water and bottled drinks?  Buy mixes and put the rest of the money toward a big water bladder, easy to store till you need to fill it and hold much more than the few liters you could store on a long term basis.

I agree, Corky.  I like the idea of powdered mixes, gives you more flexibility in how you use your stored water, take up less space, don't have to be stored where it won't freeze, if a leak happens imagine getting sticky liquid out of the carpet & padding vs. vacuuming up some powder.  Powdered gatorade is available at Costco and Walmart.

Komet, you have a good list there - one thing I might add is candles.  You already have solar battery chargers (which are terrific, BTW) but the weak link there is technology, if any part fails in the devices that charge or use electricity you can be SOL.  You can compensate for this to a degree by redundancy (which it sounds like you have, good) BUT another consideration is that most flashlights, lanterns and even those chargers are probably designed for occasional use, not constant use.  It's hard to know in advance how a given device will stand up to "real world" use as opposed to a camping trip 2-3 times a year. 

One of the benefits of using candles is they can be given out to others without diminishing your lighting capacity.  Also they are not EMP suceptible, if that threat is on your radar.  Best of all, they are cheap.  I bought packages of 10 emergency candles from our local "Dollar Store", 10 candles for a dollar.  I cleaned them out.  I have a wine box full of them now. We tested them yesterday, two candles both burned and provided 8 hours of usable light in a hurricane lamp.  The light is not as bright as an LED lamp, but it is enough to see by so you're not sitting in the dark. I have a few LED flashlights and plan to get a couple of LED headlamps for things like washing dishes and reading.  I need to follow your example and get some solar chargers and rechargable batteries as well.  That's on the list for today.

Another good option would be an oil lamp.  I've always been a little leery of glass oil lamps, too afraid they would break, turning the carpet into one big oil-soaked wick.  Some are made of tin instead of glass, in fact I have one of these.  However, the supposedly "smokeless odorless" lamp oil creates fumes that bother my wife.  I can smell it but it's not terrible to me, but she is sensitive to such things.   We could never have a kerosene appliance indoors, lol.  Another reason it's good to try things out before you actually need them.

Edited by bruss01

FWIW...

I saw a blurb on DIY yesterday (or one of those channels) that said if you soak your candles in salted water for an hour (?) they would 1) Last longer 2) Burn cleaner and 3) Drip less.

Don't know if this is true, but it sounded worth a shot, especially for the more inexpensive emergency type candles.

Another candle tip...one I didn't know until recently.
If you use something to gently bend the wick into the hot wax after you have
extinguished your candle, it will burn much better the next time. Then be
sure to put it back into its upright position. Also, keep your wicks trimmed
to 1/4 inch for even burning and less smoking.
Rocky

Bird feces on the roof might make rain catchers very questionable!

Edited by corky52

corky52 wrote: Bird feces on the roof might make rain catchers very questionable!

Unless you have gallons of water storage, having a replenishable water supply is probably THE most important survival issue.  Tarps can be washed or replaced and round here, my observation is during heavy rain you don't see too many birds.

We live in a rural area and depend upon our rainwater tank as there is no city water lines.  I strongly recommend a removable tarp with hose  attached to a fitting for easy bottle fill up.