Can you survive without electricity, gasoline, and grocery stores

[LaurenG]

for three days? Would you know what to do and how to get what you needed?

The Ohio River valley is just coming out of days of a massive power outage. There are still 1/2 million people without electricity in the area and some of those are without water. We were blasted by the remnants of hurricane Ike, which no one predicted would cause so much damage. We had winds gusting above 80 miles per hour which downed trees and power-lines all over the area, causing a massive blackout for at least 1,000,000 people.

I think it's fair to ask; are you prepared for the sudden halt to civilization as you know it.

We did well because we had some camping equipment and enough canned food and garden vegetables to eat for a while. I have heard from several co workers how awful it was for them because they couldn't eat anything but cold food, had to wear dirty clothes and have dirty hair and bodies. They panicked because they had little/no fuel in their cars and they found that without electricity there were no working gas pumps.

So just a public service message; weather and blackouts happen, things can change in an instant and 1,000,000 people (or more) can suddenly find themselves having to make do. Prepare an emergency kit, make simple plans to get through at least three days of problems.

The really awesome thing about this was the way neighbors came together to help each other and the kids were outside playing together and riding their bikes, something that doesn't happen enough now a days.

(My best wishes to all those in the direct path of IKE and any other massive storm or catastrophe as this was nothing compared to what they have to endure).

[cali]

1. yep. I can.

and I've done it in the dead of a Vermont winter.

[LaurenG]

3. I think it's awesome that you knew what to do.

I'm amazed that so many people don't know how to hand wash clothes or start a fire to cook over. :hi:

[cali]

8. Well, my water is gravity fed from a spring. I heat with wood

I have lots of kerosene lamps and I lived without electricity or running water for years. Oh, and I keep a modest store of food like beans and rice and powdered milk.

[8 track mind]

29. i'm not surprised

It would be total chaos where i live in the DFW area if we were to lose power for three days. Fortunately, i have my folks and my grandparents to thank for teaching my brother and I how to live with no power. My Grandparents didn't have a choice in rural Oklahoma! Their washing machine was powered by a Maytag Gas engine up until the early 50's when they could afford to buy a used electric clothes washer. They had a few cows and they grew a massive garden every year.

Good memories of home made ice cream and home grown okra.

Alternative power is a hobby of mine and i am presently building a small DC wind generator that will keep a car battery charged just in case something like this happens.

[Javaman]

85. Yup. no problem. we can and jar most everything.

plus we have a newly installed water filtration system for our rain barrels.

We just planted our fall crops, so fresh stuff would be a month or so off. but we could get by for a few weeks.

[EFerrari]

2. I have to refurbish mine. It's always earthquake season

and right now, there's not more than a day's worth of food for these animals. Yikes.

[LeftyMom]

4. I think so.

We have blackouts due to winter weather so I know how to prepare- though they're rarely very long but I tend to overdo.

But your post reminds me that I should get fresh batteries for the flashlights and bring my camp stove home before winter hits. I should also get some bottled water- occasionally blackouts and flooding (which tend to go together here when the storms get hairy) knock out water purification for a few days.

[ITsec]

5. Three days?

The 3 day recommendation is a joke. Try 6 months. Minimum.

And no, I'm not one of those wacko "survivalist" types. Just thinking smart.

[LaurenG]

23. I agree that we should all learn how to make it

should things get so bad that we can't buy food, gasoline or the power goes down for a while. Good common sense and a few tricks to making it could make it so much easier. I worry that there are so many that will not know what to do and resort to panic. It happened here when no one could get gasoline for just a couple of days.

[LanternWaste]

30. Six months? Why?

Six months? Why?

:popcorn:

[ITsec]

36. 6 months... 4 weeks... 1 week...

It's what each individual or family is comfortable with, and their individual situation. The 3 day recommendation by our government just plain isn't adequate. Perhaps the 6 months I mentioned was borderline sarcastic, but yet has some truth to it.

I can't speak for anyone except myself and my family, but I don't plan on waiting for our Busch League government to help "save me" if some unforseen local / regional / national catastrophe strikes. As evidenced by recent disasters elsewhere, they won't. I'm on my own, and as such I have to plan accordingly.

I live in an area here in Bumphuque, South Dakota, where a few years ago we were without electricity for over 10 days because of an ice storm / blizzard. I live in the country, not in town. Fortunately, we have a small generator that kept our freezer / fridge and furnace running a couple hours at a time, and several gas cans in the shed to keep that running. We were able to have a few of the nearby neighbors over who weren't so prepared so they could keep warm and eat. We dug ourselves out, helped each other cope, and we all were thankful we had the support of each other. That's what it's all about. Even if we had heat and lights at work, we could still come home to something that resembled sanity, instead of living in some motel and eating at Taco Bell.

Not to sound tin foil hat-ish, but what would happen in the event of some staged or real catastrophic crisis, perhaps in multiple areas of the country? What if our current regime declared national martial law as a result... or the financial system totally crashed? What if after 3 days Safeway and Wally World were out of food?

What then? Wait for FEMA? The National Guard? Shrub to ride in on Marine One and bring me a Big Mac, just because he cares so much? Right.

Sorry, I'm not waiting for help. That's why I prepare for the worst. If I don't ever need it, oh well. But if I do....

[sakabatou]

43. Not long

Without that stuff, it'd be hard to get my meds.

[RaleighNCDUer]

32. Most people don't have storage capabilities for 6 months of

food and water. My little apartment feels like bursting and I have only a week's worth of emergency food and water stashed.

Three days is the barest minimum. If no help has arrived in 4 days, somebody fucked up.

[ITsec]

37. You're right. Most don't.

But 3 days ain't enough. Even if it's canned Hormel chili, Campbell's soup, or Spam, get a week or two stored up in a box under the bed. And a manual can opener.

Don't wait for FEMA. People need to realize that the Government help agencies are hopelessly broken. You're on your own.

Hopefully, things will start to change for the better after November.

[WheelWalker]

51. Roger that. I'm good for eight adults for a year. Time to get in the first harvest.

[WheelWalker]

52. I carry three days worth in my "go pack" alone, always with me in the jeep.

[napi21]

6. Yes we could. The only thing I haven't put in the pantry is water, and

that's just because I've always thought it was really stupid to pay those exorbintant prices for bottled water. BUT....I'd just have to have beer with breakfast, lunch & dinner.

[Cleita]

7. We have backup systems on account of the possibility of earthquakes

so we could actually survive for a couple of weeks. We also have back up generators if we need to turn on a computer for communicating and getting news.

[demnan]

9. Yes I've been through that twice

Camile in 1972 and Isabel in 2003. Both times lost power for several days. Camile was worse, we lost water. We used our backyard pool water for a week and a half.

When Gustav came through and gave us a rainy Saturday a few weeks ago people might laugh, but I went out and bought a case of drinking water, checked my canned supplies (I use a manual can opener anyway) and batteries for the radio and flashlight. I was almost going to fill buckets with water (to flush the toliet) but it didn't seem like it was going to be that bad. (It wasn't).

I've made dinner from canned tuna, canned vegetables and bread and the prospect doesn't make me feel deprived.

And I live in Northern Virginia where you rarely have any problems with these things.

[Project Grudge]

10. no power here in the ville

Our house in the Louisville Metro area is STILL without power. No gas or electricity and we are hearing up to 2 weeks to get it back. parents are grilling out every night and now fall asleep as soon as the sun goes down (without electricity natural rhythms kick in). I drove to my girlfriend's house around Indianapolis just to get out of there- lucky I had enough gas in my car. A refugee here until power is back on there.

[SmokingJacket]

11. After five or so days it would be a real pain in the ass, though.

Having a woodstove makes a huge difference: you can heat water for bathing and cook.

Most of my stored food is frozen, so it would be a bummer to lose all that.

Maybe a crank radio would be a good investment...

[The Straight Story]

12. We did here in Columbus, power just came on late yesterday

We have a large generator, plenty of food stocked up, and we went to the park for fun time away.

It was actually enjoyable time for many here in the hood :)

[silverweb]

13. Excellent subject for discussion.

There's been talk for some time about trying to get a separate group started for emergency preparedness.

Because that hasn't happened and because threads in GD tend to sink pretty fast, I've linked this thread over at the _Frugal and Energy Efficient Living_ group.

I'd encourage anyone interested in going into more depth on this subject to try our group there. It's not as busy as GD and topics don't get overrun as fast.

[uppityperson]

14. If my house, shop and car didn't get destroyed with their emergency kits, yes.

If I was away from one of my kits, it would be more difficult. Living in a rural area, I think I would have it easier since am used to a lot of that.

Make an emergency kit for every place you spend an amount of time. Home. Work. School. If you have a car put one there. Then make sure you help each other if kits are destroyed, or even if they aren't.

[Renew Deal]

15. People will be fine as long as they cling to their guns and religion

:evilgrin:

[slackmaster]

16. I believe I'm good for about 3-4 weeks

I have enough drinking water, non-perishable food, cooking facilities, prescription medication, etc. to live on my own for quite a while.

I have heard from several co workers how awful it was for them because they couldn't eat anything but cold food, had to wear dirty clothes and have dirty hair and bodies. They panicked because they had little/no fuel in their cars and they found that without electricity there were no working gas pumps.

I've done a lot of camping too, including backpacking trips of more than one week in the Sierra Nevada and other mountains in California.

Being dirty isn't so bad once you resign yourself to it. I remember how hard it was for me the first time I took a long hiking trip and was unable to bathe until about the fourth day out. My mentor on the trip just told me to shine it on and enjoy the beauty of the place. Pretty soon I had forgetten about the grime.

Cold food? It beats the heck out of NO food, and if you have a camping stove you can have hot food.

It sure feels good when you finally get a hot shower!

BTW thanks for the reminder - I have been planning to buy a 5-gallon can for gasoline for motor fuel, and I'm almost out of white gasoline.

[LaurenG]

21. I was amazed at the level of misery for so many people

None of the people I work with are campers or hikers and they were totally lost, especially when their cell phones started to go out. None of them had battery operated radios or working flashlights. I washed laundry in the tub and hung it out to dry and one of the guys here couldn't believe that I did that. :shrug: (I was a bit surprised since my father was a retired master sargent and he insisted we all know how to get by; collecting water, finding shelter, etc.) Anyway, I really think it's wise to know how to do things, just in case.

[slackmaster]

24. It's not just about having survival skills

Camping is FUN!

[Burma Jones]

17. Yes, I went through Hurricane Camille as a child and was in NY for 9/11 and I backpack....

I have a crank-powered charger for my Ipod and a Victrola with about 100 old 78s.......I have 78s of Johnny Cash doing "Ring of Fire" and "Big River" but they're framed.......

Having Children ages 10, 8 and 2 has guaranteed that we always have a supply of batteries......

I also have a microfilter for water, a Sierra Zip Stove, a Jetboil Stove, a gas grill (with side burner) with an extra full propane tank, enough rice and pasta to last for a couple of weeks, dried black beans and a freezer full of food that would have to be eaten pretty soon.....

We always have a couple big bottles of Dr. Bronner's soap around....

I keep most of the Camping Gear in a foot locker, so it's easily thrown in the back of the van.

We buy diapers and baby wipes in bulk.......I think that would be our biggest problem, if we didn't have the proper baby maintenance supplies.....

[kestrel91316]

18. 3 days is no big deal. Though I DO need to get a little gas grill for cooking

if the power goes out.......

[aikoaiko]

19. Family of three -- good for a week.

None of it requires cooking and I even have paper plates and cups.

eta: A case of baby wipes are the key to cleanliness when no showers are possible.

[Xithras]

20. Yes. 3 months in fact.

Though I live outside the worst of the earthquake zones, a major earthquake in Ca would still cut us off from power and supplies for an extended period of time. Buying in bulk is part of rural living just to minimize long trips to the store, but I'm stocked and ready for anything. I generally keep about 150 pounds of beans and rice in the pantry, along with at least 20 lbs of various pastas (and I rotate through them over time). Meat might be limited to whatever fish I can coax out of the river, but we'd have food to survive. As for water, I live along a waterway and have an MSR MIOX sterilizer that I could use "just in case".

I know how to start a campfire, how to dig and isolate a latrine, am Red Cross certified, and have enough camping gear to house 20 people comfortably (a tent for every occasion). I also have a 3Kw generator and enough fuel on hand to run it about 100 hours (not much, but I can fire up the freezer for a few hours a day and recharge batteries when needed).

My concern isn't whether I could make it through a crisis, but how the roughly million people who live within 50 miles of me will react when they're without food for long periods. If the world degenerates into a Lord of the Flies style mess, I have tools on hand to deal with that too, though I hope to god it would never come to that.

[jannyk]

22. Yes, Living on the Hayward Fault is an incentive to be

self sufficient. We could last roughly 2 weeks or more here in the Bay Area if we were not injured. We also have a small (19ft) rv that I keep stocked and filled with water etc.

Also, we choose to spend 3 months of the year under the conditions you describe, on the Baja Peninsula (Mar de Cortez side). There we have solar and propane (hot water, stove and fridge), a 1,000 gal water pila and a composting toilet. We are 5 miles, down a rock road, from the nearest power pole and a village of 600.

Complaining about dirty clothes after 3 days? Why didn't they change them?

[LaurenG]

25. Good question, and why didn't they just wash their hair in cold water

if that's all they had? There are still some people without power here and they refused to try to clean up. It's weird, really weird.

[Broken_Hero]

26. Yep, sure can...

January of 07 SW Missouri, and other states where hit by a wicked ice storm, we were without power for 9 days...others in Oklahoma, were without power for 2weeks plus...We could've lasted a month plus without power, electric, or gas....

[guitar man]

27. yep

I could live out the rest of my days that way if I had to. :hi:

[RaleighNCDUer]

28. Yep.

In California, I had an earthquake kit. In Nebraska, I had a tornado/blizzard kit. Here, I have a hurricane kit.

It is essentially the same. Canned food, that does not require cooking. A week's worth of bottled water. A first-aid kit that's never had the seal broken on it. I've got a chainsaw in the trunk of my car, along with a small camp stove.

I could easily go a week, carefully go two weeks without any outside help.

[Booster]

31. I think I could if I had plenty of cat food on hand. Without that I

would go insane in one day listening to them complain.

[fla nocount]

33. Personal record, eight days after H. Charlie...

could have went eight more but that would have been it. When I lived in Newfoundland 2-3 months was considered a good store. My grandparents in Illinois and West Texas could go from fall to spring and that included cooking and heating the house. Of course they gardened, canned, butchered, made candles and soap, built barns, fixed and maintained mechanical equipment while raising children who were skilled at sustaining themselves as humans, spouses, parents and cannon-fodder.

We have grown lazy through convenience, we name stores after convenience, I pay fees called convenience when I use a plastic card to pay for utilities and water. We have traded our freedom for convenience.

I am blessed, I'm first generation off the farm, me and mine will survive.

[Hugabear]

34. If the Second Great Depression hits, we all might have to learn to go a lot longer than that

If you don't have a job, how are you going to pay your electricity? I hate to think how bad things might get.

[ColbertWatcher]

35. It would be really nice if we had an EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS forum. n/t

[spin]

38. I agree. (n/t)

[jannyk]

40. What a Great Idea!!!

[uppityperson]

41. What a great idea!

I was asked by someone recently to make sure you knew about the hurricane survivors forum on DU. I figured you did, but here you are anyways. Maybe we could make that into useful again? Be nice to have an EmPrep forum too. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=360

[Theres-a]

68. Stellar Idea! Let's get one!!!

Someday? maybe.. please..........?

[silverweb]

81. It's a topic in another group:

_Frugal and Energy Efficient Living_.

[cynatnite]

39. You survive because the alternative is death n/t

[tpsbmam]

42. Prepared. We could last about a month or two.

A year? Nah, we'd be as dead as everyone else. But a month or two we could handle.

[pleah]

44. Yes.

[countryjake]

45. Yes ma'am, we do it practically every year here, during flood season...

and it ain't just three days of "lack of conveniences" that we make it thru, those who aren't able to prepare for more than three days find themselves "reached out to" and they are the ones that neighbors help out, by sharing our stores. We do have quite a few who also regularly try and rip off recovery organizations, but most are well known, since this county hasn't got a large population, and we know who is hurting and who is not. FEMA was once a very helpful service and fairly trusted, until the prez destroyed its entire infrastructure, but long before that, FEMA and RED CROSS were always swamped with volunteers in our area, eager to help distribute, and work to end the "emergency" as quickly as possible.

It's a lot easier to survive, anything, if a "community" exists.

[SoCalDem]

46. yup..

Most people have a barbeque grill and even if' it's a gas grill, you can line the tray with HD foil and use briquets..

step 1....

.......get that pricey meat out of the freezer and COOK IT..Invite the neighbors, have a block cook-out.. You CAN eat beans from a can..and chips from a bag..

step 2....BABY WIPES...

............not a refreshing as a shower, but in a pinch they will do quite nicely

step 3....

........keep on top of your laundry so you've got more than 2 or 3 days-worth of clean clothes:)

EVERYONE will be in the same boat, so it's not llikely that they will look down on you if your hair's a bit "mussed" ..

Use that frozen food..it's gonna spoil anyway :)

[sendero]

47. Most assuredly yes...

... I won't bore you with the complete list, but I've been preparing for years.

The breakdown used to be a remote chance, now it is a distinct possibility.

[bemildred]

48. Sure, no problem.

But I'm not saying I want to. And it's always a good thing to re-focus on how much we depend on each other. We are all in this together, and you can never remember that too often.

[malaise]

49. Congrats for being prepared

The best thing about weather blackouts that down trees and mess up the neighborhood is that people finally discover their neighbors.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

50. I Sat In A Car Surrounded By 2 Feet Of Snow, With No Food And Only Snow To Drink, For 3 Days Once.

So yeah, pretty sure that wouldn't be a problem.

[phusion]

53. wow, what happened? n/t

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

58. I Lived In My Car Through 2 Winters In Jersey, Including The Horrible 93-94 Noreaster Winter.

I lived in my 1980 Z28 Camaro. One of the hardest things about that time was finding a place to sleep at night, since just about every single night no matter where I parked, someone would call the cops and by 2 in the morning or so the cops would kick me out.

I finally found an abandoned parking lot area in Vernon NJ where there was literally no one around. Unfortunately, I also didn't know a huge noreaster was coming that night. As a side note, my window track was off a little so my driver side window was always open about a half inch or so. I say that because when I woke up the next morning freezing my ass off, it was cause I had a sloping hill of snow running down my arm that blew in the window (would've been a pretty funny sight, in retrospect). I raised my head and saw about 2 feet of snow all around me. No food, no water, no people anywhere. If anyone in Jersey might recall, there was a state of emergency that actually lasted for 2 days, so there weren't any cars goin anywhere either. Took me about 3 days to dig my way out, only able to eat snow, and get on the road again. 3 days felt like a month.

I will say lesson learned though. I religiously started listening to weather forecasts each night after that episode.

[truth2power]

69. I always heard if you ate snow for any length of time

it would kill you. You have melt it first. I can't remember what the issue is. Will try to Google it.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

72. I Did Melt It For The Most Part. Freshly Fallen Snow Water Was Pretty Good Actually.

I'd throw in a few sugar packets I had layin in my center console as well.

Never heard of anything happening by eating snow though. I'm curious now.

[truth2power]

82. What I found on Google..

I closed those those links, sorry, is either that eating snow lowers your body temp. and if you're already cold, well..

or, that it dehydrates you because a huge volume of snow only equals a very small amount of water. :shrug:

I still don't think I've got to the heart of this.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

84. That's Interesting. I'm Curious About The Latter One Though.

I'm surprised that would be an issue since generally, if someone is reduced to having to eat snow for drink, there would likely be enough snow around them to satisfy their fluid needs.

[phusion]

80. You are a strong person...

thank you for sharing. :hi:

[slackmaster]

54. Were you rescued, or did you end up pissing your way out?

:D

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

59. Dug Myself Out Basically.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=4022332&mesg_id=4024175

[progressivebydesign]

56. Yikes!! That's scary!

That's why I always have some type of snack in my car when I'm going anywhere beyond 30 miles... and water.

Glad your'e okay! Did you get frostbite?

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

60. To Be Honest, Not Sure If I Ever Did Or Not.

Story is here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=4022332&mesg_id=4024175

I don't really know what frostbite is technically, but what I can say is there were many times in my car when I thought for sure I was going to freeze to death. So cold sometimes. It's funny... when you get cold enough, the cold actually starts to 'smell'. To this day when I get really cold, I get flashbacks of back then and can remember that 'smell'.

[progressivebydesign]

55. Yep. Did it last year for at least 5 days!

We had an ice storm from hell a few years ago in the PNW, and we were without all those things for 5 day (no phones), no heat, no lights, etc. We survived. Made sure that we added to our emergency supplies after that.. and now have a hand crank phone charger and light/radio. You'd be surprised how industrious you become when you're forced to.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

57. Only three days? That's a walk in the park.

We sometimes do it on purpose. It's called camping.
When you plan something like that out, it can work out. With a Hurricane, you know at least a week in advance. You can plan ahead. Everything you need is in the camping section of your nearest sporting goods store.
Duckie

[doc03]

61. Yep sure can, We have guns and fishing equipment

we can shoot a squirrel or catch a fish and get our water from a spring. Country folks can survive.

[debbierlus]

62. We always have enough food for at least a week

Plus, water in the basement.

A wind up radio and flashlight combo

Candles

And, all your standard stuff.

[RichardRay]

63. Silly question.

There are lots of us who do that and more every winter. Hell, given drinking water you could sit in a snow cave for three days while a storm blows itself out. (I know that because I've done that.)

6 weeks is a better test, though. Without a few days warning I'd be hard put to get that far without having to get a bit radical.

[LaurenG]

70. Silly for you and many others here...

but after what I just saw, there are people who cannot make it for 2 days much less a week. The first thing they did here is panic and whine.

I don't know why but it caught me off guard that sooo many people would be that ill prepared to just wait it out. There were a few gas stations that did have power and people went nuts. Someone I know was in an altercation just trying to park her car. She hit a man with her little Cincinnati Reds bat after he rammed into her car with his. She hit him in the face when he ran up to her car and told her she wasn't cutting in line in front of him at the gas station. There were cars on the street lined up trying to get gas. There was nowhere to go so why did all these locals need gas?

Anyone who went through this has to throw out all of their refrigerated and frozen foods and there is still little or no refrigerated/frozen food, D batteries, or ice at the grocery stores that are open, so you get the picture. That is why I thought it was important to bring this up. Everyone should have enough to make themselves as comfortable as possible and avoid the mess for as long as possible.

Cincinnati has NEVER had winds that severe and not even the weather people thought this would happen. There was a report that there could be strong gusts but overall no one expected it would knock the power out on such a grand scale and in the big picture this was nothing.

Silly, maybe, but worth the silliness if just one person prepares and their life is made more comfortable because they had enough to get by should it happen to them.

[RichardRay]

71. True, and don't miss the point...

that they all thought they were in trouble and got cranky, but even that didn't keep them from making it for three days. The outcome was never in any real question, although their experience of it may have been different. It has to go on a bit longer than that for the real problems to start showing up.

Mind you, I am not talking about folks on life support of any kind that depends on electrical power, or a family with a newborn. If someone had a dialysis appointment the day the storm hit then it's a whole different deal. But, for a reasonably healthy person, three days isn't a real threat.

I think it might be easier to just take a water purifier, a tarp and a sleeping bag and go spend three days next to a creek catching up on sleep and talking to friends. (for real comfort and luxury take a roll of toilet paper :-)

[LaurenG]

73. LOL on the TP

No, three days is nothing and you and I know this but three days can be made to last 6 days or longer if need be. Something is better than nothing especially knowing how tenuous our lives could be in a real disaster.

[pnutbutr]

64. country living

Living in the country I have a natural spring on my property which actually used to be used as the main water supply to the house prior to drilling a well. It was good water. I want to get a windmill or solar to at the very least power the well pump and eventually the whole house. Main heat source for the home is a wood stove and there is no shortage of wood. There are deer everywhere, wild turkey and tons of small game for meat, a garden for veggies and even a small apple orchard. Never mind the farms within a few miles walking distance and if nothing else, can get there by horse. Knowing my neighbors and people in the community I'm sure it wouldn't take long before everyone was pitching in on the larger farms to help grow food for the community. With the low population and number of hard country folk with guns we'd do just fine in a zombie attack also.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

65. I bought a book about surviving in times of chaos

It tells you a lot of obvious things - bulk up on things like nuts, granola bars,peanut butter, dried fruits, beef jerky, etc.

It also tells you how to collect and purify water. You MUST always have regular plain old bleach on hand to do that. It also shows how to build a solar oven.

I think that a lot of the canned things I buy in bulk anyway - beans, diced tomatoes, chicken broth, could be combined and make a completely edible meal.

Pet food is a definite issue. It would be good to have a big old giant bag for emergencies only. I do have a case of canned food tucked away for the 2 cats. I often thought that if I let them them out (they're strictly indoor) that they would bring back squirrels, birds, rabbits, etc.

Mormons make planning for survival a part of their culture, and I think the book I bought was written by a Mormon.

[RichardRay]

76. Some of the best stuff out there on this subject comes from LDS

I understand that fully practicing LDS families are required to keep a full year's supply of necessities on hand at all times. Homes built in largely Mormon communities have a 'Mormon pantry' set aside for the storage of that requirement. I'm not certain how the requirement came to be, though.

[proud patriot]

66. Yes

plenty of wood , food, and water .

probably could go 5-7 days . We would need
more water and a generator to go longer .

[truth2power]

67. I'm in the Ohio River Valley...

Lot of devastation here. Trees down etc. I think some people still don't have electricity. My electric was only out for about 6 hrs. but other family members didn't get theirs back on until Tues.

I can survive quite well over the short term (3 or 4 days maybe), but this was a good test for me. On Sunday evening I was boiling water on a sterno stove (it takes a looong time) just so I could make a cup of coffee (my comfort food whenever things go badly).

I have plenty of oil lamps and candles. There were no gas stations open, so traveling any distance was not an option. No (or vanishingly few) grocery stores open either. But I always have lots of spaghetti and sauce. And cereal.

How I'll prepare better for next time: I must get a camping stove (Coleman or the like). I have about a dozen jars of home-made soup in the freezer. Would have been ruined over several days. Get ice right away and put in cooler. Stores were out of ice in no time at all.

Best idea ever for candle holders -- Get a box of Ball 4 oz. (smallest size) jelly canning jars. They're heat resistant and make great holders even for the taper candles, which you can affix with a little candle adhesive.

And if you can find them anywhere -- plumber's candles. Fat, white things that burn forever. I can't seem to find these anywhere these days.


* * * *

edit> A friend of mine told me that his neighbor had a generator. The guy hooked it up so it fed some of the electrical outlets in his home. (I have NO idea how you do this). 'bout the time he had it all set up, the electricity came back on. Fried a bunch of stuff - computer, TV etc. As I understand it sent 220 into these devices (110 + 110). My friend said there were scorch marks around the outlets.

I don't know. Just passing on what I heard.

[K Gardner]

74. My son is in Ohio and just called.. I hadn't heard from him for THREE days and couldn't figure out

why.. he said it was very frightening, no power.. horrible storms.. no gas. I was clueless that he was even in the WAY of the storms !

[Sanctified]

75. I have about 6 months of supplies on hand.

I could definitely go longer if I supplemented my food supplies by hunting and growing my own vegetables.

[burythehatchet]

77. Since I was a small boy I have felt that I needed to survive in a minimalist

fashion. This feeling has been getting stronger for the past 20 years. For the past 4 years I have survived without using heat in the winter or air conditioning in the summer.

I think I will have the innate ability to survive. Maybe because I was born in the year of the Rat. :)

[knitter4democracy]

78. Sure we can. We're Michiganders.

I grew up in rural Michigan, and we lost power all the time as a kid. I learned that you fill up the bathtub at the first sign of a storm so you can flush the toilets and always have food and bottled water around. Deep freezers can last three days, though you might lose everything in your fridge before then.

We flooded with the remnants of Ike, too, but thankfully we saved the basement (by sandbagging the basement windows and the city pumping as best they could), and we never lost power. I was prepared to, but we were lucky.

[Lorien]

79. Did so for two weeks after Charley

the heat and humidity-and darkness and silence at night-did get to me, but I managed. Now I have a stockpile of emergency supplies.

[dysfunctional press]

83. no problem whatsoever.

kick on the generator and carry on as usual.

we always have at least a couple weeks worth of food on hand.