Tag Archives: stockpiling

Still reorganizing

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Still working on re-organizng,re-arranging, and re-evaluating the mountain of things I have in storage. Its a slow and laborious project but it needs to get done. Its also sort of a de facto way of inspecting pretty much everything I have.

Im kinda tired at the end of the workday, so Im not terribly likely to spend my weekday evenings doing this sort of thong, so that leaves just weekends. Thing is, weekends are when I have to do all the things I’ve been blowing off all week. So…weekends wind up being dang busy.

As I’m moving stuff around and re-arranging, I’m also finding things that are probably ready for retirement and replacement. For example, packets of batteries from ten years ago, bottled water from five years ago, things like that.

Its a pain in the ass, doing all of this, but I’m getting some satisfaction about my levels of preparedness in various departments. I’m also keeping an eye towards the quantities I have so I can determine what is and is not ready to be halved and shuttled when I finally get the Chink O’ Nowhere in my portfolio.

Hows that coming, by the way? Slow. I am learning very quickly that western Montana is expensive, and eastern Montana is, comparatively, quite cheap. There are places in eastern Montana where I can get 160 acres for the same amount of money 20 acres costs me here. Problem is, eastern Montana is pretty flat, featureless, and open. I’m looking for something with a bit more features than what is essentially a grassy parking lot. But…I’m in no tremendous hurry. I’d really like to get the ball rolling on this in this year, but the longer I wait the more money I have to put towards the purchase, which translates into more options. But…I also dont want to wait so long that when I finally get what I want I’m too old to enjoy it and play with it. So, like everything else in life, the trick is timing.

In the meanwhile, though, I’m still working on getting what I already have more organized and ready. But, boy, when it’s time to split all this up and move half to the Beta Site it’s gonna be quite the adventure.

Continuing with the re-organization

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So I’m still working on this months-long project of straightening things up and organizing better in the area where I store all my stuff.  One of the things I have is racks of wire shelving where I keep my stash of canned goods. Although there’s plenty of different manufacturers of various can organizers, I usually wind up going back to the Shelf Reliance Cansolidator organizers. They are rather expensive for what they are, but, I have to admit, theyre quite durable and their modularity allowing them to be used to make long runs of cans is pretty sweet. But…dang theyre expensive. Yes, I could make my own with some 1×4’s and plywood but the Shelf Reliance versions allow me to reconfigure them endlessly as my needs change.

In addition to having to pick up a couple more of the Shelf Reliance uits, I also need to pick up a few more of the plastic black-n-yellow storage bins. CostCo has been selling the 27 gallon ones, and I have a stack of them, but it turns out CostCo is also selling the smaller 12 gallon ones as well, and theyre handy for stuff that you don’t have huge quantities of or are too heavy to fill a 27 gallon tote with.

And, in a final surrender to turning into a middle-aged man, I bought…a label maker.

Also, I discovered that the folks at repackbox.com no longer sell the cardboard box packaging kit for the long-term #10 cans of food storage. So, I need to head over to the LDS cannery some weekend and pick up some of the 6-can cardboard boxes.

Its a long process, but a deeply overdue one, doing this bit of reorganizing but its quite necessary. At some point I’m going to get that stupid land purchase crossed off my list and I’ll need to transport half this stuff there. It’ll be nice to have it organized enough that its a simple matter to just grab all those plastic totes and ammo cans and go.

Gotta say, though, I’d rather spend my weekends out at the range or something but when society descends into (further) chaos I’ll probably be glad I traded weekends at the range for getting my supplies and gear sorted out.

 

Offsite….just in case

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I was talking with Guido here in the office yesterday about Trump’s ear-piercing. He said, “..yeah if we were out shopping or on the road and I heard that news the he’d been killed I’d have said ‘lets go. Back to the house. Now. Some crap is going to go down.”

Curious, I asked him what he would do in a situation like that. “Dude..we’d probably head to her parents. They have a piece of land outside of town. We could stay there if we needed to.”

Interesting.

“You know”, I said, “If you really believe thats what you’d do, you might want to think about getting one of those big black-n-yellow storage tubs from CostCo and put some stuff in there…change of clothes, toiletries, dog stuff, a pistol, y’know…that sort of thing. Pre-stage it up there so it’s one less thing to worry about. Have your ducks in a row.”

Even if youre not an end-of-the-world kinda guy, this sort of planning has utility. Let’s say an event happens…forest fire, hurricane, tornado, etc….and, for whatever reason, you have to leave your nicely stocked and fortified home. Maybe you’ve got your little bugout location all prepped and awaiting your arrival. Great. But what if you can’t get to it? Or you don’t have such an option? For many of us that means asking family/friends outside the danger zone if we can crash with them for a few days until things blow over.

If your friends/family are like-minded individuals, then you’ve got a pretty good situation going on. If theyre not, well, blood is thicker than water so maybe they’ll let you couch surf for a few days.

But, what makes it a far easier experience for both host and guest is if the guest has their own supplies and gear so they don’t put out their host, who may already be operating under stressful circumstances if the disaster that affected you is affecting them as well. For example, if an earthquake knocked down your neighborhood and you’re staying with your sister and her family a mile away, her place, though still standing, may be without power..or water…so whatever you can do to ease the situation is gonna go a long way towards making you a more welcome guest.

All this to say that it isn’t the dumbest idea in the world to grab a big ol’ tote or two and stuff in some clothes, toiletries, batteries, flashlights, food, pistol, ammo, medstuff, and other essentials and tuck them away where you might need them if you have to beat feet from your primary location and cant get to your secondary (or don’t have a secondary).

Look, I’m a somewhat squared away guy and I have enough ‘extra’ that a houseguest or two isn’t going to be a practical problem. But it’s a far less problem if they come with food, fuel, sleeping gear, a folding cot, toiletries, fuel, water, etc, etc.

If things come crashing down and your plan is to head to Uncle Bob’s cabin or your brothers ranch? Start staging some stuff there, man. Ask if when a crisis happens, can you come to their place for a short stay? Emphasize that you’d like to preposition a couple totes in the basement or garage or attic of stuff so they don’t have to treat you like a welfare case.

It’s nice to think that if we had to leave the security and safety of our home we would have time to grab a dozen totes, pile them into the truck, and head to the Beta Site. But thats a best-case scenario and those almost never happen. Think more along the lines of you’re at CostCo and the way to your return home is cut off….bridge collapse, train derailment, roadblocks, ground fissures, rockslides, whatever….going home has suddenly stopped being an option. Nice to know you can head over to buddy Steve’s where you know theres clean clothes in your size, toiletries, food, a cot, a radio, extra cash and cards, and that sort of thing waiting for you in those boxes you left there last time you guys got together for a fishing trip.

Depending on the nature of your work, you can use your workplace for this sort of emergency caching. Maybe you own your own business and have a big steel building with a fence around it. Nothing says you cant keep a couple footlockers full of goodies in a corner of the warehouse, maybe a few five-gallon jugs of gas and water, and have that as your off-site resupply.

If you’re really dialed in, and you can afford it, you might go one or two levels of redundancy on this sort of thing. Identical stashes at dad’s cabin and at Steve’s house. Potentially an expensive way to do things but if the situation ever calls for such measures…well…the last thing you’ll be thinking about is what it cost.

Anyway, just something to think about as we continue our descent into clownworld.

 

Buying

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There’s just never a shortage of things to spend money on these days. Usually, based on my previous history, when an election year rolls around I wind up spending a fair amount of coin on things like AR lowers and standard-capacity magazines. Having done this for several election cycles now, I’m reasonably comfortable with what I have in terms of those items that I no longer feel the need to panic-buy more…although I want to.

But, the world is, hands down, a more dangerous place these days. I know that, for myself, my level of concern for my safety and security has been elevated for the last couple years. We see it on the news all the time — stuffs gettin’ weird. That weirdness can be distant, like Russia/Ukraine/Hamas/Israel…or it can be local, like homeless camps, home invasions, and impending layoffs. Pick your apocalypse, there’s plenty to choose from.

So, rather than just picking up the phone and ordering another couple cases of Magpuls, I’m trying to be more targeted and discrete in my approach. Take, for example, my recent purchase of a light-compatible holster… It’s something I’ve been wanting for a while but it was always a case of “someday’. Yeah, well, someday is now because it’s a weird world out there we’re in. So I’m really just filling all sorts of gaps in logistical, tactical, and strategic quarters. What does that look like? Well, I’ve got a dry erase board up on my fridge with a list that reads like this: Glock armorers tools, Glock threaded barrel, Glock night sights, ACOG TA-44, propane bottles, 10mm dies, part #121G, Magpul sights, Beretta G conversion, MP5 mag clamps, (more) .223 ammo, etc, etc.  It’s a bit of a list. But its a plan..and without a plan you wind up throwing resources around in a very inefficient manner.

And, of course, there’s still that little bugaboo that has been dogging me for years – a chunk of dirt. (Still haven’t seen the perfect place within my price range yet…but I’m being patient and adding to the war chest.)

It’s not an economically easy thing, this whole being a survivalist thing… but, I suppose I’d rather have these things (and their related expense) when I need them rather than the alternative.

 

Need to inventory

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I need to do some inventory this month. I’ve been a bit lax about adding things to the preponomicom and I simply cannot afford to be caught unprepared (or overprepared) given how it seems like everything in the country is in some sort of race to Third world lifestyle.

By the way, how can you be overprepared, you ask? Simple….you inadvertently acquire more of something than you could realistically need and that commitment of resources prevents you from being prepared elsewhere.

I’m reasonably confident that the future of me needing to use my preps does not look like Red Dawn, Jericho, Last of Us, or Walking Dead. I am more inclined to believe it looks more like …what it is now – inflation, scarcity, violent crime, homelessness, reckless government, and that sort of thing.

I know I keep saying it, but it’s true: Your likelihood of being in an emergency that requires remediation using $50 bills is magnitudes of order greater than being in an emergency that requires remediation using .50 BMG.

Not saying it won’t or can’t happen the other way, just saying that my experience says the odds favor the personal EOTWAWKI occurring more than it does the civilization-wide one.

A personal EOTWAWKI is something that directly impacts you a lot more than it impacts society as a whole. Job loss. Health crisis. Divorce. A close death. Bankruptcy. House fire. These are all things that bring your life to a screeching halt but barely make a blip on the radar of anyone outside your immediate circle. Those are the things that will happen far more often than UN troops going door-to-door giving forced Covid vaccinations.

So..I need to print out the preponomicon, grab a clipboard, and hit the shelves. Its a not unpleasant way to spend the afternoon when it’s 95 degrees outside. Hanging out in a cool basement working on that warm fuzzy feeling from knowing you can take care of your needs for the next year or so……not a bad way to spend a few hours.

 

Article – Drug Shortages Approach an All-Time High, Leading to Rationing

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Remember when things like drug shortages were things that happened in Third World and Soviet satellite countries?

Thousands of patients are facing delays in getting treatments for cancer and other life-threatening diseases, with drug shortages in the United States approaching record levels.

Hospitals are scouring shelves for supplies of a drug that reverses lead poisoning and for a sterile fluid needed to stop the heart for bypass surgery. Some antibiotics are still scarce following the winter flu season when doctors and patients frantically chased medicines for ailments like strep throat. Even children’s Tylenol was hard to find.

Hundreds of drugs are on the list of medications in short supply in the United States, as officials grapple with an opaque and sometimes interrupted supply chain, quality and financial issues that are leading to manufacturing shutdowns.

I’m lucky, I suppose, in that I don’t need any particular medication to keep my quality of life where it is. No insulin, no high blood pressure meds, none of that sort of thing. Sure, there are times I eat ibuprofin like M&M’s, but other than that….

And, fortunately, any meds I do want to keep on hand are all over the counter so I can keep a pretty generous supply around. Sure, maybe they lose a bit of efficacy after a few years but so what? Just up the dosage. I’d rather face a cracked rib with five year old Tylenol and Advil than I would without. Drugs that only deliver 85% of their effectiveness is orders of magnitude better than the 0% afforded by not having drugs at all.

Moral of the story: while you’re stacking up the .223 and 9mm, the freeze drieds and AA batteries, the water filters and toilet paper….stock up on the OTC stuff (and first aid as well) because thanks to Brandon we are, apparently, dipping our toes into the warm water of neo-Soviet supply issues.

Lotsa lids locally

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A few months back it seemed like you could not find canning lids for love nor money. As it turned out, from what I’ve read, US made canning lids are basically made at only one or two facilities and then sold to the major canning suppliers to be rebranded. Much like how, I am told, there are only a half dozen outfits that actually make AR lowers for all the various brands you see out there.

I was tooling around in the supermarket the other day and, interestingly, there was no shortage of canning lids and other canning supplies. Did the supply chain get caught up? Did the ‘panic’ die down? Probably a combination of both. But much like the Great Primer Scare of the 90’s, it’s a good lesson of how something can go from plentiful to unobtainium in the blink of a news report.

I have no doubt people will populate the comments section with tales of how theyve reused canning lids dozens of times, or that they use the reusable brand of lids and have had barely a hiccup.

This may be true. But its not ideal. As far as I’m concerned, when it comes to jar lids for canning the first choice, by a large margin, are brand new US-made lids from a reputable manufacturer. And I don’t mind spending the money to do that. “But what will you do when you run out of lids?” Well, my first order of business is to have enough of them on hand that this sort of thing is pushed down the ranks of statistical likelihood. The same question could be asked about the guy with the reusable lids….what will you do when they finally get damaged or worn enough that they arent safe to use? Their response will, no doubt, be “that’ll take years”. Well, guess what, I’m buying an equivalent amount of years worth of lids.

I actually don’t can very much at all. Its only in the last year that I’ve started canning some of the meat purchases rather thatn tuck them in the freezer. Prior to that the only things I canned were the occasional gumbo or soup. However, there is an undeniable convenience to having jars of food ready-to-go when you’re hungry. Nothing to thaw and in a pinch you can always eat the room temperature contents without heating.

As Bidenflation continues to screw with food prices (Thanks Brandon!) it makes more sense to, when you find a good deal, capitalize on it and preserve it for that later day when its either unavailable or priced out of your range (either due to job loss or wild inflation). And to do that…lids.

If you’re that rare survivalist who isn’t knowledgeable or informed on the how-to’s of canning, or you’ve just been too intimidated by the process, you really should invest a few bucks and take a swing at it. It’s a marvelous way to preserve food long term without the expense of a freeze dryer or the liability of a blackout-vulnerable freezer.

Recommended reading: Ball Book on Canning

Recommended canner: Anything from All American

Those All-Americans, by the way, are not cheap but it is a buy-once-cry-once sort of thing. Yes, you can buy a Presto or Mirro cheaper but the sheer ruggedness of the AA, and its gasketless design, will pay dividends down the road.

But you know what? Even if you don’t can, pick up a buncha lids because its one of those rare consumer products like matches and .22 rimfire that are cheap to buy, cheap to store, and have virtually no real adequate substitutes that you can make at home.

Article -In Remote Alaska, Meal Planning Is Everything

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That first summer in the Arctic, Adam, who had already spent several summer seasons in Bettles, arrived a few weeks before me and told me that I had to go to the grocery store in Fairbanks and buy as much food as possible. What he really meant was, buy as much food as you can push in a grocery cart back to your hotel, repackage it into boxes, then get it all into a taxi to the small Alaska Bush plane office, and pay for it as freight on the flight.

What Adam hadn’t shared — but what quickly would become second nature to me — is that in the tiny town, we would develop our own rituals around eating. Yes, things like fresh strawberries would be hard to come by, but together we’d craft innovative solutions to tasks more easily accomplished in less remote places. We’d communally grow vegetables with our neighbors. We’d order food from thousands of miles away, weeks ahead of time. And we would hardly ever be eating alone.

An interesting read on what you have to deal with when the nearest Trader Joe’s, HEB, or Safeway is hundreds (or thousands) of miles away.

Have you actually done menu planning for The End Of The World? I mean, I know you’ve got all sorts of stored food, but have you actually thought about what a particular meal, say breakfast, would look like? I have. For me, breakfast looks like the following:

  • Oatmeal, Cream of What, Cornmeal porridge
  • Scrambled eggs
  • Hash browns
  • Corned beef hash
  • Pork chops
  • Orange drink
  • Biscuits
  • Strawberries, blueberries, bananas
  • Instant milk

Thats actually a better breakfast than what I eat now. See, it isn’t enough to just throw back an assortment of storage food. You have to give some thought to what sort of menus youre going to be looking at. How many different breakfasts can you do? Lunches? Sinners? Snacks?

For some ideas, I have always recommended this website and it’s very impressive list of ‘storage food recipes’: http://safelygatheredin2.blogspot.com/2008/11/alphabetical-recipe-list.html

But the important thing to take away from the article listed above is that you have to plan out what your meals will be if you have any hope of efficiently and economically getting your food storage squared away. Go plan a weeks worth of breakfast, lunch, and dinner. How many ingredients ‘cross over’ to other meals? Figure it out, get the most variety and utility from the least amount of items. Its a good exercise.

Bargains — $5 AK mags

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You know I love you crazy, prepping deplorables, right? Well, I do. Most of you, anyway. But…as much as I love you, I need to put my needs first. Thats why when I come across a bargain I don’t share it until I’ve taken my bite. Once thats done, its a free for all. Case in point:

A Friend of The Blog ™ and fellow blogger tipped me off to this deal:

AC Unity (Bosnia and Herzegovina..screw it, just call them Yugoslovian) AK mags in 30- and 40-rd capacity for a mere $5 ea.

20-PACK GERMAN MARKET AC AK47 30RD MAGS, UNDER $5 EACH

20-PACK GERMAN MARKET AC AK47 40RD MAGS, UNDER $5 EACH

While I respect the AK platform, I’m an AR guy. And, somehow, I’ve managed to wind up with a handful of AK’s as of late. Well, might as well get mags for them, right? I ordered a hundred of these, a mix of 30- and 40-rd, and they arrived today. They seem to fit well enough, and they have metal reinforcements at the magazine contact points (nose for the ‘rock in’, and rear for the magazine latch.) For $5 a mag, theyre a nice hedge against the looming bans.

I went long on AK mags a few years ago when those Korean-made AK mags were coming in. Good mags, although the metal was thinner than youre average Chinese mag. Worked fine though and the price was right. These are even cheaper. Go grab a few and tuck ’em back in the attic or basement for that rainy day. Or buy a bunch and resell them for a couple hundred percent profit. Either way, not a lot of reasons not to drop a hundred bucks (or more) on this.