I’m not a skilled writer but I’d like to share my story. I’m currently 35 yrs old and am located in the upper Midwest. There’s no real threat where I live of flooding, hurricanes, forest fires, or earthquakes. My only major concern is a food crisis brought on by a hyperinflation of the dollar, nuclear EMP or a solar flare catastrophe.
I work an average of 50 hours per week at a factory. My pay is meager. However – I don’t waste money like most people do (cell phones, cable/satellite, full coverage car payments, dining out, etc, etc) and so I have the extra money to do the things that I do. I’m married with four children and also have my widowed mother.
Until about 5 or 6 years ago I had never managed to accumulate much in life, living paycheck to paycheck. This was because of my spending habits and lack of concern of the future. I never prepared for Y2K [1] basically because I didn’t believe it. On September 12, 2001 I did however spend about $600 at our local discount grocery. As I was loading up the shopping-cart I wondered why there was nobody else doing the same. I bought canned fruits, canned vegetables, and canned jack mackerel. $600 dollars worth. It took me years to eat all that food. I finally polished of the last few cans in late 2006. That was interesting.
Then sometime in 2007 I happened upon an informational video by Ross Perot [2]. Indisputable facts that we’re screwed. I must stress that. The facts presented in the video are indisputable. There’s no hype, no fancy footage, no opinions, no political finger-pointing, no drama. Just dry monotonous facts. But it was the tipping point in my life when I realized that I had to begin to prepare for the inevitable collapse of society.
I began by first studying food shelf life. And calculating costs. One of the first things that caught my attention was botulism [3]. Which actually doesn’t concern me much anymore but it did at the time. I also happened upon Grand-Pappy’s “How To Survive Hard Times” [4] and the Survival Acres [5] web site.
I began buying #10 cans and 6 gallon buckets of dehydrated foods from Survival Acres (Everything. Beans, rice, flour, sugar, you name it). I bought a hundred pounds of non-dehydrated canned cheddar cheese from The Internet Grocer [6]. However their canned meat prices weren’t as competitive as their canned cheese, at the time. After many, many days of Internet research I realized it was cheapest just to buy these canned meats from your local grocery store or nearest cannery (non-dehydrated canned pork, beef, etc). We drove 2.5 hours to the nearest cannery. Canned “Treet” is cheapest at your local discount grocery store. To purchase it in bulk you’ll have to special order from the manager. I want to give credit to Emergency Essentials [7] for their reasonably priced canned freeze-dried meats. My most recent purchase was from Costco [8]. I bought their four-person One-year Supply of canned dehydrated food. And I bought 48 lbs canned clarified butter (ghee) from Camping Survival [9]. Also, I have found no other more convenient source for bulk sugar than Wal-Mart. Just buy a heaping grocery-cart full of bags, wrap it all in a couple of garbage bags and keep it in large storage containers. I found all of those items at Wal-Mart.
As I said in the beginning, I work 50+ hours a week and have little time for self-preparing my own preserved foods. Cheaper it may be but honestly who has the time? I also should mention that I’m one of those preppers stuck in the suburbs. I have no bug-out option. Below is a list of my current emergency provisions. I’ve estimated this to be about an 1 year supply for 14 people. Or a 6 month supply for 28. (or a 3 month supply for 56). Should there be a nuclear attack and nuclear fall-out, considering that nuclear fallout has a half-life of 80 days, then i imagine that i could ration this food and feed over a hundred people for that amount of time. Lack of water would be the problem in that type of scenario. God help us.
I purchased the Treet because it is an inexpensive canned meat. I reason that I can make “ham & beans” with it, or “dirty rice”. Treet has added preservatives so it’s my hope that this will extend it’s shelf-life. The canned cheese is mainly a comfort food. The imitation maple syrup flavoring is obviously to make pancake syrup. The TVP wasn’t my choice. It came with the 4-person One-year Supply. It could be saved for last or reserved for barter. I bought the toothpaste at an auction.
I also bought about 200 boxes of nicotine gum from the same auction. I regret the purchase of dehydrated peanut butter. The shelf-life is reportedly only 5 years. It’s intention was for peanut butter brownies or bread. You’ll notice that it would appear that I have an insufficient supply of salt (considering that salt is imported). However, the chicken/beef bouillon is mostly salt. Which gives me nearly 75 pounds of salt.
The regular unleaded gas is intended for cooking purposes only. The air-rifles are reserved for hunting small game, if possible. They’re nearly silent when fired compared to a real rifle. The amoxicillin tablets were purchased from a pet supply web site. The antifungals were purchased mainly to treat rashes. If nobody is taken daily baths/showers then perhaps this would be a wise thing to have around. (vaginal antifungal creams are excellent for diaper rashes, fungal skin rashes, jock-itch, athletes foot, and the like). The menthol extract was bought on eBay. Crystalized menthol is nothing more than mint extract. Mint has been used by humans for thousands of years and it’s medical uses are countless.
Here are my current provisions:
(non-dehydrated) 270 lbs canned – Treet 163 lbs canned – chicken 126 lbs canned – hamburger 84 lbs canned – beef 84 lbs canned – pork 60 lbs canned – seafoods 100 lbs canned – cheddar cheese 48 lbs canned – clarified butter (ghee)
(freeze-dried) 25 lbs canned freeze dried – beef 25 lbs canned freeze dried – chicken 58 lbs canned freeze dried – sweet peas 10 lbs canned freeze dried – broccoli 2 lbs canned freeze dried – pineapple 4 lbs canned freeze dried – mushrooms 12 oz canned freeze dried – blueberries 12 oz canned freeze dried – blackberries
(TVPs) 27 lb canned – bacon TVP 30 lb canned – beef TVP 25 lb canned – chicken TVP 10 lb canned – taco TVP 7 lb canned – sausage TVP 7 lb canned – ham TVP 7 lb canned – sloppy joe TVP
(dehydrated)* 123 lbs canned powdered – milk 80 lbs canned powdered – eggs 41 lbs canned powdered – butter 39 lbs canned dehydrated – potato flakes 20 lbs canned dehydrated – potato slices 80 lbs canned dehydrated – potato dices 90 lbs canned dehydrated – potato granules 9 lbs canned dehydrated – sweet potato 46 lbs canned dehydrated – onion 58 lbs canned dehydrated – carrots 24 lbs canned dehydrated – split peas 6 lbs canned dehydrated – celery 20 oz canned dehydrated – bell peppers 50 lbs canned dehydrated – sweet corn 75 lbs canned dehydrated – great northern beans 45 lbs canned dehydrated – pinto beans 21 lbs canned dehydrated – refried beans 24 lbs canned dehydrated – kidney beans 21 lbs canned dehydrated – small red beans 22 lbs canned dehydrated – black beans 10 lbs canned dehydrated – lima beans 33 lbs canned dehydrated – lentils 185 lbs canned dehydrated – egg noodles 68 lbs canned dehydrated – macaroni 35 lbs canned dehydrated – spaghetti 332 lbs canned dehydrated – rice 200 lbs canned dehydrated – hard wheat 18 lbs canned dehydrated – wheat cereal 18 lbs canned dehydrated – cracked cereal 24 lbs canned dehydrated – barley 30 lbs canned dehydrated – oats 31 lbs canned dehydrated – banana slices 19 lbs canned dehydrated – apple slices 10 lbs canned dehydrated – apple chips 17 lbs canned dehydrated – apple sauce 3 lbs canned dehydrated – strawberries 3 lbs canned dehydrated – raspberries 8 lbs canned – imitation blueberry nuggets 18 lbs canned dehydrated – peanut butter 78 lbs canned dehydrated – fruit drink 26 lbs canned dehydrated – chocolate drink 400 lbs canned – flour 94 lbs canned – cornmeal 200 lbs canned – instant pancake mix 47 lbs canned – whole grain pancake mix 20 lbs canned – brownie mix 6 lbs canned powdered – cheddar cheese 26 lbs canned powdered – cheese blend 6 lbs canned powdered – baking cocoa 9 lbs canned – baking powder 64 lbs canned – baking soda 24 lbs canned – beef bouillon 30 lbs canned – chicken bouillon 20 lbs canned – salt 500 lbs canned – white sugar 233 lbs canned – brown sugar 48 lbs canned – tomato powder 3 lbs canned – chili powder 6 lbs canned – garlic powder 4 lbs canned – black pepper 2 lbs canned – cinnamon 10 lbs canned – coffee 8 oz pure vanilla extract 1 gallon imitation maple syrup flavoring 10 lbs Jello instant banana pudding 200 packs of Kool-Aid *some items are not canned, they’re in buckets.
Gear:
1 cast-iron dutch oven 1 Coleman portable camp oven 3 Thermos type thermal cookers (available @ homedepot.com) 3 Coleman dual fuel single burner camping stove 35 gallons Coleman cooking fuel (white gas) 80 gallons regular unleaded gas 20 gallons kerosene 5 emergency kerosene lanterns 50 lantern wicks 75 large candles 2 emergency flashlights 250 disposable lighters 3 buck saws 2 two-man lumber saws
Archery, fishing gear, 3 semi-automatic rifles 3 tactical shotguns 3 semi-automatic handguns 6,000 rounds ammunition 2 spring piston air-rifles 2,000 air-rifle pellets
12 economy size buckets of detergent 2 gallons bleach 6 large bottles isopropyl alcohol 6 large bottles hydrogen peroxide 50 tubes toothpaste 1 big berkey water filter w/ 8 extra ceramic filters 70 bottles migraine headache tablets 12 bottles amoxicillin tablets 12 suture needles 10 boxes Nyquil 10 boxes antihistamines 5 cans antifungal sprays 5 boxes vaginal antifungals 3 bottles antifungal powders 10 jars petroleum jelly 1 lb pure crystalized menthol extract 25 cans mosquito repellent 200 boxes nicotine gum 300 gallons distilled water
120 ounces silver 10 ounces gold (fractional)
My home is paid for.
If need be I will take in select friends and extended family so that together we can defend our liberties. I will never allow an unconstitutional search of my home. Nor a forced evacuation.
I intend to Live Free – or Die Trying.