Has your view on prepping changed?

Has the global pandemic and the panicked response of society changed your view on prepping?

 

I'm not a prepper, I'm still not a prepper, as I see prepping as people who make provisions for months or even years. I just added some extra stock early Feb, which is fine... I have not changed my view on prepping. If I lived in a different country I would have prepped.

 

Hmmm.... I didn’t stash any dog and cat recipes.

 

I have been gradually getting into the prepper mindset. I started with guns and ammo. My in laws have always provided fresh veggies with their huge garden, but that resource is gone. I have been raising chickens for the eggs for 3 years. My 8 hens are giving me about 5-6 eggs per day, so we won't starve. I wanted to get a tiller and start a garden, but life got in the way with my son going to Korea and helping him get his situation in order. I did stock up on nonperishables before the rush, so we are OK. My job hasn't skipped a beat. I've always worked by myself on critical power systems and that isn't changing. My income is secure. I have eliminated all debt except my mortgage and I'm working on that. It's a gradual thing, but I will be a real prepper in 3-4 years who can self sustain for a long time.

 

You could adapt the rat recipes.

 

It's South Fl. here.

Any who dont prep for about 10 days, at least will burden the system. Bare minimum, prep.

 

I have a hamster, chinchilla, dog and cat. If it comes down to it, they'll be eaten in that order.

That cat would make me sad.

The rest I might just eat to get rid of them.

 

I'am that kind of people that always kept enough food for some times, I had to vote for the first option, but I'm not a real "prepper", however, that's a long time I was aware that kind of situation could happen (industrial accidents...) and that having simply what to eat for the evening wasn't something wise.

 

I could never eat my pet. I know that when you didn't have to eat for 2 weeks, you might change, in fact, I would probably kill them before they have to suffer, even if I hope that I would never have to do such a thing.

Have you a community in which you can be confident ? I was seeing a conference about prepping, and someone was saying that being integrated into a caring community was a huge perk when it come to prepping.

 

I filled my fridge and pantry with stuff I normally use sorta hit my normal max but not much over. So far have found pretty much anything I needed. Paper products are the only thing that have been iffy but I fine on them. Using delivery and takeout to help the local business.

See my previous post on why "price gouging" is an important regulator valve on a free market economy.

 

Hope it's a sparse season for hurricanes and they all recurve into the north Atlantic and die. We really have enough on our plates as it is.

I'm a Katrina vet and we really don't need something like that.

 

Always had more of the essentials on hand than we need. One is none and two is one. We have never owned a vehicle whose fuel gauge has registered below half a tank. A solid 100 batteries in the needed sizes as well as rechargeables. A 6000 watt generator as we do get occasional power outages after a storm. Freezer always full. Ammo is easy as it is made by me.
Just part of our lifestyle.
Millennials need to learn.

 

Yup. Any of us who live down here pretty much have a prepping season ...

 

Don’t have those either, unless you mean those things with the long bushy tails running around my neighborhood.

 

That’s twisted as **** dude. You are kidding, Si?

 

I hope I'm kidding. I would totally eat them before I starved to death. But a lot (to understate it) must yet go awry for that to happen.

I would like for the hamster, chinchilla and dog to go away though. They were kinda dumped on me, technically with my consent, but certainly against my preference.

I guess the cat was too, but I actually like the cat.

 

I have two cats and an awesome Brussels Griff. Never an option to kill and eat any of them, no matter how hungry I’ll ever be, which of itself is a freaking huge stretch of a proposition for anyone living n the US.

 

I have a big sack of MREs that was recently given to me, I consider that and sufficient water and prescription drugs, a bare minimum. If I need to bug out, a buddy who lives on the river, a few miles outside of town, has a spot we can go to. But that would be in the most extreme case (civil unrest in town, small as it is) I have a 6 ft fence, surround our home, I keep locked and the means to defend our home. I'm not expecting any real chaos but it never hurts to have at least the basics, on hand.

 

I have plenty of food in the house, but when the shelves went empty, I found myself "short" on quite a number of the usual items I buy.

It does occur to me that I could "do better". I really hate shopping in general and buy quantities of things which are shelf-stable so I don't have to shop as often. One of the stores I shop has sales which require "Must Buy 4" to get the low sales price. Things like cases of water or a dozen eggs, I usually "buy 4" when on sale and that is 4 or more weeks of supply. But I use almost all the supply, then buy 4 more on the next sale.

The empty shelves have me realizing that I shouldn't almost run out of stock before buying more. I shopped 6 stores last week and still have no eggs or rice, and I feel lucky I finally found unscented cat litter. I do have more than enough food, but really miss eggs. My diet has changed somewhat the last week.

Yes, I plan to have a "base" stock of at least two weeks after this. Fortunately I bought toilet paper and paper towels in late-January when the sale price was contingent on "Must Buy 2" multi-roll packages.

 

That's what the people of Venezuela thought about 2 years ago.

Fortunately we are out of food because of the selfish hoarders and not because an incompetent government is preventing food security for the majority of citizens.

 

Supposedly pickled eggs can be made shelf stable in the long term by hard-boiling and then canning in pure vinegar (as opposed to the more common vinegar/water solution) and then refridgerated for a minimum of a week prior to being put on the shelf. The pure vinegar plus one week of refridgeration will eliminate the risk of botulism.

I havn't tried this method yet, and I probably won't unless I can find a reliable method to test for botulism, given how deadly it is... but for those more brave than I...

 

~ As long as you have a 12 month supply of toilet paper you should be A-OK ... ´

 

If we were having an actual food shortage instead of a hoarding problem, I'd be interested in preserving all kinds of stuff.

I just have a strong preference for an egg breakfast with sausage, hash browns and toast on weekends and homemade breakfast burritos to take to work during the week. I'm set in my ways. I also "used to" give the cats an dog some egg yolks every week as an inexpensive and natural diet supplement. We shall survive.

This notice on Twitter today makes me think that my main store chain is about to catch up with stock....and make the hoarders look like idiots.

A lot of those hoarders were probably reselling and price-gouging their friends and neighbors. Their cash cow will dry up when the stores are restocked and they'll be sitting on piles of stuff they can't return.

 

Ah. Two rolls of TP to trade for a dozen eggs. Four rolls for a 2lb bag of rice.

.....but after that, I would need toilet paper.

 

I have been prepping for a few years, the country is so divided and even before Corona it was looking like another 1929 on the way

just smart to have some extra supplies on hand

preppers help in this situation as they did not need to raid the stores to prep