Weekly Prep Thread 17 Feb - 23 Feb
 

Well, good news all around. The order from USA Emergency Supply finally came in on Friday. Only took 2 1/2 weeks to do so. Today we got a deal on a 23.1 cf deep freezer (62" wide, 27 5/8" deep, 36 1/8" high) and went to pick it up. It's three years old and we got it for $160. Dang thing looks new!

Guess I'll have to work on filling it up now...

How are you all doing?

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 17 Feb - 23 Feb
 

I bought 2 of the Ozark Trail 6 gal. water containers on clearance at Wal-Mart. They had been $7.47 each and I got them for $3.50 each. I thought that was a pretty good deal.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 17 Feb - 23 Feb
 

Mostly guns and ammo. My Nagant/Mosin M44 and my SKS came in. Also picked up 500 rd. of .223, 150, rd. of .308, and 60 rd. of 12 ga. 2 3/4" 00 buckshot.

Also picked up a few pounds of dried beans (various types), a few tins of Treet, and two liters of Evan Williams bourbon. :wink:

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 17 Feb - 23 Feb
 

Did complete food inventory...we have a lot more than I thought. I do anticipate feeding family (if they make it here) and neighbors--We are thinking of getting an insulated shipping container for secure food and ammo storage.

Ordering Gamma seals, mylar bags, and looking for a good kitchen scale.

Will be picking up more .223, 7.62x39 ammo, mags and possibly another Bulgarian this coming weekend...

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 17 Feb - 23 Feb
 

KidNCO drinks apple juice *a lot* and I have been saving the empty gallon containers. For what, I didn't know. Today I filled 20 of them with water and put them in the freezer for a couple reasons:

1. The freezer uses less energy to keep the other food frozen.

2. Additional potable water supply.

3. The ginormous freezer doesn't look quite so pathetic from the lack of goods when I open it.

I can't wait to get back to Texas and stock it with deer, rabbit, and chicken! :D

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 17 Feb - 23 Feb
 

planted peach trees and apple trees and grape and blackberry vines and bought seeds for my vegetable garden{first ever} already have onions in the ground and sweet potatoes and regular potatoes, lettuce and herbs and spinach going also

added one firearm and extra clips and 1300 rounds of 223 ammo...........didnt need it but just to barter with later on if needed

Compost is doing great and got chicken tractor ready and soon to add the chickens

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 17 Feb - 23 Feb
 

I got a Dometic gas fridge from a used RV and piped it up to my 500 gallon LP tank.

Got grid power ?

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 17 Feb - 23 Feb
 

Got my order of canning lids today from Goodmans. With what I already had in stock, I figure I'm good for 5 years worth of canning at 2 jars/day.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 17 Feb - 23 Feb
 

Hey Andy, just don't start one of those 'How many canning lids are ya holdin' type polls :aetsch:

I was gona start a "how much pasta are ya sittin on" poll but decided to hold off.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 17 Feb - 23 Feb
 

started bringing in more firewood lots of almond trees blew over and there is a surplus of good wood at good prices when i go down with a load of bees i
come back with a load of wood.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 17 Feb - 23 Feb
 

I'm so unprepared it's sick. Where do you guys find the time and money to put into this stuff. Is there a step by step guide out there that covers:
classes to take/skills to learn
canning
reloading
storing
etc.

I want to open a book and on the first page there is a thing to accomplish. Preferably the first thing you should accomplish.
When you're done, you turn the page and there's your job for tomorrow.

Is that so much to ask...? I'm going in way to many directions. Do yopu guys ever feel like that?

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 17 Feb - 23 Feb
 

Easy to feel that way. Start with the most very basics....water, food, and so on. After while, it will become an illness :D

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 17 Feb - 23 Feb
 

I got 2 boxes of .22lr federal 550 round packs from wallyworld, $11.97 each today.

I stopped by to see the price increases everyone talked about this week... all I can say is WOW. Remington .22lr 550 round packs (my favorite) $13.8x, WWB 9mm 100rd. $18.42 OUCH!

25 roundboxes of the cheap winchester 12ga bird shot, almost 6 bucks! :no_ma: I haven't priced it in awhile but 2 years ago it was $2.50 each!

Anyway thats why I bought the two boxes of federal, they haven't been marked up... yet.

Other preps this week:
1,000 rounds of S&B .32acp for $158 from century arms (I'll buy another 1k if they shoot nice and look good, they couldn't tell me anymore about it which means it could be 15 years old and look like hell).

Misc mags from the CDNN sale this weekend, 3 more 16 round XD9 mags, 2 PA63 mags, 1 32 round Uzi mag, 1 sig 226 mag, just over 100 bucks delivered don't remember exact total.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 17 Feb - 23 Feb
 

I bought a cardboard case of 10 MREs. It's all I had money for at the time.
Problem is, my basement is a dirt floor with a stone foundation, so I'm worried about mice. I put the box inside a hard plastic box with a lid that clips shut, so hopefully that will keep the rodents out.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 17 Feb - 23 Feb
 

this reminded me I have not done anything yet this week. nice sounding freezer - what brand - I would like to get a freezer.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 17 Feb - 23 Feb
 

AgAuGal:

Get a small chest freezer to start....something in the 10-12 cuft range, then consider picking up one of these:

http://kegman.net/images/9025.jpg

http://kegman.net/9025.html

You can turn a small chest freezer into an ULTRA low power consumption refrigerator with this thermostat. Couple solar panels with a couple batteries and you can have refrigeration long after grid power is gone.

http://mtbest.net/chest_fridge.html

"My chest fridge (Vestfrost freezer turned into a fridge) consumes about 0.1 kWh a day. It works only about 2 minutes per hour. At all other times it is perfectly quiet and consumes no power whatsoever. My wind/solar system batteries and power-sensing inverter simply love it."

My household fridge uses about 2kw/hrs per day. This would be 20 TIMES more efficient ( though smaller ).

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 17 Feb - 23 Feb
 

Great idea, but in my case, money is always an issue. I don't have spare FRNs kicking around to pick up a freezer right now.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 17 Feb - 23 Feb
 

Ordered application for FL concealed carry permit. Still won't be able to carry in my state, but will be able to in 3 neighbooring states and 26 states total.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 17 Feb - 23 Feb
 

Congratulations Lt Dan. :)

I have been busy this week. I have been gathering all my items to start pails. I also ordered three starter kits from The Latter Day Saints. http://tinyurl.com/3afvec. I'm going to give each of my Daughters a kit along with a months worth of food, water and emergency supplies.

On the downside I am going BROKE and think I am going to have to sell an OZ of gold to finish! I have spent a ton on money the last month. My husband is also getting freaked out again as the big bags of food stack up waiting for storage.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 17 Feb - 23 Feb
 

The problem is there is no "right answer" to that.

Everyone has their own opinion on how to prioritize the different supplies and requirements.

And then there's the whole issue of everyone having different resources available. You might live in a city in some apartment and will have a vastly different "todo" list than someone who already lives on a couple acres of land next to a lake and a big 'ol root cellar.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 17 Feb - 23 Feb
 

costco run today, brita water filters, canned refried beans, canned salmon,doubled up on coffee beans, extra on almonds and peanuts. fueled up vehicle@2.84/gallon. just try to put up a little extra each trip. 1% cash back yearly if using the credit card. the store in portland off of sandy ave. has good selection and NO state sales tax. paid down some long term debt, about 2 and 1/2 percent of principal. the loan is @ 0% interest, so good progress there. getting the garden beds ready, want to go heavy there this year, have frn for continuing preps. good week!

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 17 Feb - 23 Feb
 

If you have rodents, I'd suggest putting your food in a metal garbage can. Rodents will eat through those plastic boxes, and they love MREs.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 17 Feb - 23 Feb
 

old file cabinets are another place to store food so the rodents don't get it....

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 17 Feb - 23 Feb
 

Good call.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 17 Feb - 23 Feb
 

Sending out resumes and cover letters to get a decent paying job. Collapsing economy = best college graduation present ever. :sarc::sarc:

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 17 Feb - 23 Feb
 

You'll be fine. I left high-school and tech college and went straight into a recession basically, I have ALWAYS had work when I wanted it. The plan though is to build wealth so you don't have to work like a dog forever.

In a way it was a really good thing, you need to know what the bad times are like before experiencing the good.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 17 Feb - 23 Feb
 

You won't find a job when all these companies continue outsourcing off-continent expontially.
This recession will be different from the rest, because TPTB are de-industrializing our continent.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 17 Feb - 23 Feb
 

Don't remind me. :thumpdown

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 17 Feb - 23 Feb
 

You could just buy a solar refrigerator and a couple PV panels, forget the inverter.

http://www.sundanzer.com/Home.html

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 17 Feb - 23 Feb
 

You priced them ?

A 5.8cuft SunDanzer chest fridge runs right at 1000 bucks.....plus shipping of 200 or so, unless you just happen to live near a dealer.

You can buy a new Plain Jane GE chest freezer about the same size for 150-200 bucks...1/2 that if you hunt around used.....and if the power goes down, they will be all OVER the place for about nothing. Add the thermostat for 75 bucks, and that leaves you about 900-1000 bucks to put in an inverter.....

You can buy an 1800 watt inverter for 199
http://www.theinverterstore.com/?gcl...FRptOAodhnokbg

NOW you have 7-800 to apply to the panels, or whatever.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 17 Feb - 23 Feb
 

My 6 CuFt Dometic RV refrigerator cost me about $300 used but I like the ability to run it on grid AC power, DC battery power or Lp gas.

I think having choice of alternative fuels and being able to make several trays of ice is nice.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 17 Feb - 23 Feb
 

Well.....I got sort of a semi-close count on them now.....somewhere in the 6,000 lid range. Since some of them are the re-usable kind, I'm probably good for 10 years worth of canning.

If I up and die, it's gonna be one heck of an interesting estate sale.....ahahahahaaaa

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 17 Feb - 23 Feb
 

Hey Andy, how many jars have you got. Do you find you do more quarts or pints?

sb

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 17 Feb - 23 Feb
 

We use mainly quarts.....not so much pints. About 85 cases of quarts and 12 of pints.

Re: Weekly Prep Thread 17 Feb - 23 Feb
 

That's cool, Andy!

Another good option for fridge/freezers ... AC/DC portable units by Engel: http://safecastleroyal.com/category.sc?categoryId=65