Need help planning a survival stash
 

I know what I need and what I can have soon. My mom is a nurse and that covers most of the medical supplies and medicines. I own a .17 rifle and plan on buying a hand gun and start stockpiling ammo. While these are all common things I have not seen much mention of stocking up on books. Not like a good story but guide books on everything that would be needed but not available.
Things like plumbing, home repair, auto manuals, all that fun stuff.

I plan on keeping most of the stash in my house in several large plastic tubs, is this a good idea or bad iddea?
How do you guys keep your preps stockpiled. Please be as thorough as possible because I am absolutely serious about creating more than a three day supply of crap so FEMA can haul us away after. My learning cap is on and I am ready to absorb.

thank you.

Re: Need help planning a survival stash
 

Whoa up, son.........

Sounds to me like you need both a strategic and a tactical plan.

First of all

Never confuse the possession of equipment with knowledge.

And knowledge is best stored in your head and your hands, not in books or

Computers or CD's.

What are you trying to accomplish?

scyth

Re: Need help planning a survival stash
 

I'm guessing he's joking.

Not a funny joke if the stuff is ever needed.

Re: Need help planning a survival stash
 

My goal is to be able to keep my family and I sustained with enough supplies until either help arrives or we need to go long term. I was not joking about the books either. I know a lot, but not everything. (thats my GF) but there is always more to know, and being as I am a suburbanite much about practical long term survival eludes me. If not books, then where would I be able to acquire such skills?

Re: Need help planning a survival stash
 

Ok, then I'd suggest you read the relevant threads here starting with the stickys and ones that list the top 100 things you'd need. To last more than a few weeks you need to know what things you use in a week, then multiply by how long you think you might need to hold out without resupply.

Re: Need help planning a survival stash
 

instead of books can I suggest a good printer, plenty of paper, 3 ring binders, and maybe the sheath page protectors?

Printing documents and putting them in a 3-ring is advantageous in a few ways. You can print single pages (or just a few) of information that wouldn't make it into a book, not enough pages to make a profit...

Also the BIG advantage I see is that the book can be layed open, and stays at the page you want, allowing you to work the problem as well as glance over the reference material if you have to without needing four hands...

There are many PDF's and Ebooks available (go for the PDF format...not sure if you can print the ebook formats, someone else may know better...) for various things and many of them are free. Be aware though you will have as much or more cost in these "3-ring binder books" as you would in a regular book, particularly if you use the page sheaths instead of just punching a hole...

Re: Need help planning a survival stash
 

this is what i've been doing for most of December

70% of the stuff i've printed out has to do with wild edibles ( pics / characteristics )

DIY info printing means you can edit " articles " just for the good stuff and leave out the fluff
and i edit my wild edibles pictures with Photoshop to save ink


maybe think about making some 5 gallon pail caches in remote areas ?

Re: Need help planning a survival stash
 

wow, I hope it does not come to this.

Re: Need help planning a survival stash
 

Re: Need help planning a survival stash
 

Some often overlooked things include field surgery books and instruments. If it goes south, you will want to be able to treat possible gunshot wounds.

Re: Need help planning a survival stash
 

You need to climb up the chain of most needed necessities. A survival stash can be for a number of things: for surviving a short term disaster, like an earthquake, a Katrina like incident, a Mt. St. Helens scenario, etc. OR it can be for a SHTF senario. Thankfully there is a huge overlap for all of them. You want to get the stuff in the overlap first, and by doing so, you are killing two birds with one stone.

Also, you will eventually want to mesh your emergency plans with your normal life. That means rotation. If you start thinking of that at the beginning, it will help and will make your emergency prep much less expensive and more useful to you. Start by buying stuff that you use in regular life that can also be used for emergency.

The first things to concentrate on are:

(1) Water,
(2) Food
(3) Shelter
(4) Clothing

Then:
(5) Medical Supplies
(6) Defense
(7) Mobility
(8) Survival Knowledge
(9) Medium of exchange (that's where GIM comes in)

I may have these a little out of order and I might have missed a few, but it has been a long time since I have considered the "basics".

Once you get into it, it starts becoming part of your life.

TA's comment about picking up extras of on sale items when you shop is great advice. Consider also extras of everything you buy when you shop (as your budget allows).
Most of what you currently use will be needed in an emergency scenario.

You might start with the list at the Red Cross website. They also have a year-long buy a few things a week plan to get your started.

Good luck.

--Willie

Re: Need help planning a survival stash
 

:RockOn::RockOn::RockOn::RockOn::RockOn:

When there is no Doctor.......

Re: Need help planning a survival stash
 

BTW: it is also great financial advice to buy stuff on sale that you usually use. There are few investments that can compete with the return on your investment in items on sale.

--Willie

Re: Need help planning a survival stash
 

Download a copy of the LDS Preparedness Manual. It will help you form a realistic view of how much food will be needed to sustain yourself/family for an extended period of time.

Re: Need help planning a survival stash
 

QWAK,I started PREPING in 73 when I got out of the ARMY --- I had virtualy NO $$$ so mostly SCROUNGED and the majority of the stuff I had my first fiew years was SCROUNGED for FREE :23_30_104:or ocasionaly bartering LABOR for things people did not use but were too good to throw out or just give away! :s1:

Over time I bought stuff as I could and always bought the BEST QUALITY STUFF I could find -- QUALITY LASTS and you can depend on it to work when you need it to work! :thinkey::36_1_11:

CHEEP stuff that looks cool but breaks or falls apart just WAISTS your time and efforts AND will likely FAIL when you actualy NEED to depend on it! :signs14:

Millitary SURPLUS is what I prefer in most of my survival stuff -- it is often cheeper than the civilian equivlent yet much stronger and better built!:yes:

Try to avoid:36_1_30: "GADGETS" as nifty as most are, they tend to have plastic parts and often the materials they are made of are intende more to look good rather than be the BEST to do the job and LAST! :signs14:

GET PRATICLE about every thing and plan ahead -- look for or concider posable future PROBLEMS and SOLVE them :yes: by NOT making MISTAKES because you THOUGHT about it in advance!:thinkey:

Mostly SURVIVAL is about geting your HEAD RIGHT :thinkey::36_1_11: that way what ever happens you can ADAPT to the situation!:shine:

the DUCK :15_1_70v:

Re: Need help planning a survival stash
 

I did a little internet searching and found this one - http://www.dyscypher.com/church/Intr...p%20Manual.pdf - It's a little dated but the info is still good.

Re: Need help planning a survival stash
 

Start a garden. Great way to learn and eat your knowledge. Among what's been stated above, collect vegetable seeds for future use (personal gardening & barter) in case of a true shtf situation.